So many people have sent me the Sophia Bush podcast interview and commented on how frustrating it can be to watch celebrities who market themselves as voices of enlightenment and tellers of profound truths. (Yes, this kind of personal branding is marketing.)
There are actresses who do this and there’s also people who do this and turn into celebrities (like Glennon Doyle, Jedidiah Jenkins and Jay Shetty). A common pattern is the major life change paired with truth bomb: “This is my truth now. Last time I said I said that, I was unhappy and pretending.” Rinse and repeat. This sent me back to the Vogue coverage of Sophia’s wedding, in which she said she broke the news of her engagement to her ex on Instagram because she had “been spotted” and needed to be in control of the story. She also said, “I have truly never felt so much positivity at once, so much clarity,” (in regards to the ceremony). She tells us now that internally she was in turmoil and wanted to run away. She has said, multiple times, that she is aware of online conversations and responds to them with her posts (such as her anniversary post for her ex). Now her fans are going hard on Ali Krieger, including a horrible nickname. So if she’s so engaged with her fans, she sees this, too.
There’s two “comeback” stories I’m going to roll into one: Lori Loughlin, who has fully re-entered public life, and Ellen DeGeneres who tells Vanity Fair she was “kicked out of Hollywood” (in promo for her new Netflix special). So the professional work, which frankly neither of them need, is back on track.
And on the social side, I don’t think either of them missed a beat. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ellen got a jar of THE jam.
This morning, Sarah wrote about the how the gains made during #MeToo have been lost. In some ways, things seem worse because the deniers can easily discredit, shame and scare off victims pretty quickly (especially online). I thought of that when seeing this story on Randall Emmett, who is famous in the Bravo fandom for his relationship with Lala Kent (“I’m sorry fofty”), and as a producer of “geezer teezers”(direct-to-video action movies). There was some deep reporting on him that he denied. Now, he is directing films under his middle name.