Elisha Cuthbert has been named Maxim magazine’s hottest woman on TV. While yes, even though it’s just stupid Maxim, the “honour” does seem like a good indication of Elisha’s likeability right now. She’s emerged as one of the funniest on Happy Endings and she is, as Maxim claims, extremely “hot”. A far cry from a few years ago when everyone totally hated her.
Elisha got herself into a real bad situation a few years back, based on crappy work and an even crappier personal life. She was universally reviled as Kim Bauer on 24, something I’m not sure was entirely her fault. That show was, while insanely watchable, very conservative and as such the writing was typically unkind to beautiful women. Much like Kim, left for dead in that bear trap/puma cage/terrorist nest, Elisha’s only option was to struggle and suffer.
Then there was the Justin Timberlake situation. You’ll recall that Elisha used to be the fiancée of JT’s best friend, Trace Ayala. When she called off their wedding though (SO Alex Kerkovich of her!), Justin burned Elisha HARD with the song What Goes Around. In the video she’s played by Scarlett Johansson, comes off like an unfaithful bitch and then dies. It was not a good look for Elisha, but it was only one side of the story and like, maybe mind your own f-cking business, Justin Timberlake? Maybe your friend was really horrible in bed? Maybe he was needy or possessive? People break other people’s hearts every damn day, so it seems unfair that EC got vilified for this.
The Paris Hilton factor also played a part. Elisha was pretty close to Paris during the early aughts and being a satellite to a planet made of racism and garbage is bound to bring anyone down. Old time photos of the two are attached. Know what though? If I was a rich and sexy blonde 20 year old in Hollywood in 2004 and I was invited to do drugs off the roof of Tinkerbell’s dog house with Simon Rex until 6:00 AM in Paris Hilton’s back yard? I’d probably have said yes too.
Now though, it seems like Elisha’s overcoming her past and earning herself another shot. At first she was totally forgettable on Happy Endings but over three seasons she evolved her character into the most hilariously stupid and useless little sister on primetime. It’s sad that Happy Endings is getting cancelled, while that show about a suburban alien family lives on, but here’s hoping this Canadian girl can keep her momentum going.
