As you might have gathered from this post I wrote about Octomom, or even this sort of tongue-and-cheek mention of Madonna, I’m not a celeb-worshiper. I like the actors and musicians and others entertainment types, or don’t enjoy them, based on their work, and for no other reason. (I might except some personalities from that “I don’t care so much what you think as a person” divide in some cases; for example, I do admire the work supermodel Christy Turlington does with Every Mother Counts, which aims to increase awareness of maternal and infant health and mortality globally.)
Turlington hasn’t said, to my knowledge, that she engages in this advocacy to explain anything to her daughter (she also has a son), but if she did, I’d applaud that.
I bring this up because I’m spending a wee bit of time, today — the day after Father’s Day, in fact — calling out a new “author” who came out with a new “book” that is getting a lot (too much) press. And I’m pissed off because one of the reasons this person is offering as her reason for publishing her “book”, her tell-all, is that it’s for her child.
If you have not guessed (or read my Twitter feed today, @DeniseSchipani, by the way; follow me!), I’m talking about Rielle Hunter, the videographer-turned-John-Edwards mistress, who bore a child that was first allegedly covered up and then admitted to by the erstwhile hairdo who wanted to be president. So now, Hunter’s publishing a book, with the make-me-gag title What Really Happened, that digs and dishes and calls her lover “Johnny” and calls the late Elizabeth Edwards “a witch” and “crazy.”
It’s sick and gross and — I’m only guessing based on the quotes I’ve read in this Yahoo! article — probably really, really poorly written. That’s not the worst part. Also, the worst part isn’t even the fact that the book’s already getting coverage by “serious” news outlets (when I clicked on the Yahoo story, I was treated to a clip from Good Morning America, with George Stephanopolous, and also found out that she’d be appearing on other “serious” “news” shows this evening.
[I'm really going heavy on the quotations marks today, huh?]
The worst part is that she claims to have written this book in part to explain things to her daughter.
And I quote:
Hunter says she was driven to write the book because she wants daughter Frances Quinn to “have one entirely truthful public account of how she came into the world. After all, this is her story too.”
Really?
Be honest, please.
You wrote this book because
(a) a publisher approached you looking to mine a smarmy story for a quick buck for you both;
(b) you figured it might burnish your “star” for a few minutes past your allotted 15;
(c) you wanted to stick it to “Johnny.”
But if you wanted to do something for your daughter, this wouldn’t be it. It wouldn’t even be close. Just ask Christy Turlington.
I could not agree more. Totally self-serving.
On a related note, I do not understand the phenomenon of writing personal letters (to children, for example) on blogs or other publicly accessible media. Maybe it’s just me, but isn’t that what baby books (or personal correspondence) are for? If it’s personal (this does not apply to Rielle Hunter, certainly), why the need for public consumption?
Here, here! I’m sick of people claiming self-serving acts as doing something for others, especially their children! If she wants her daughter to know her story, then tell it to her. Don’t write a tell-all attacking others and profit from it!
You are completely right.
I’d consider changing my full agreement with calling bulls$#t on this attention whore if she, say, donated all the profits to Every Mother Counts …