I doubt Hef had much to do with that headline. If he had, it would read: "Why We Love the 30s (the decade, not the women of that age. At that point, they become useless to me)!"
It's sad that Tara Reid chose 'Playboy' as her comeback cover. It is a magazine that classically objectifies women and is typically read only by men.
In regards to Reid having to "prove" herself to the public - Does this mean she is only proving herself to the male audience that 'Playboy' attracts?
Is she categorizing her success based on acceptance into the male realm of "hot girl"?
This girl obviously has a lot more problems than botched plastic surgeries. Sad. So Sad.
@laurbear: I applaud your efforts to find semiotic and psychoanalytic meaning in the fact that Ms. Reid has chosen to grace Hef's mag this month...but really, I think most of the significance is that she's a beautiful woman (always has been, to me), and one of the benefits of being a beautiful woman is the ability to garner money, attention, and a little bit of power by having your picture taken.
I propose that those might be plenty sufficient explanations for her choice, right there. I don't dispute your interpretations...but I note that they seem to rely on a lot of additional assumptions that might or might not be warranted here.
I don't feel sorry for her and I don't care about her having more chances at success and fame. I also don't want to kidnap Lilo and wrap her in a warm blanket and spoon-feed her cookie dough, like everyone else seems to.
Check out some of the comment's on today's SJ with the Jersey Shore people, or any other current one with Paris Hilton, or assorted Real Housewives. They're the same ones you'd read back in Tara Reid's day. People saw her as overexposed and undertalented and wished she would go away already. So why not now?
There are millions of talented actors who never make it and would love to have the chance she had. Let somebody with more respect, graciousness, and professionalism have a shot.
@Hana Maru, used up old slutbag on the pole: I think that a lot of the feelings of wanting to "save" whatever has been, damaged entertainer (Lilo, Tara Reid, Britney Spears, pre-Iron Man Robert Downey Jr., etc.) is partially that after awhile there is a backlash against constant media portrayal of someone's public breakdown. It just becomes gross to watch someone's life fall apart in front of your eyes. And I think part of it is that for whatever reason, people still seem to buy into the idea that fame and money will buy you success and happiness. And we always seem surprised when it becomes painfully obvious that this is not the case-these people have the time and money to get help for their problems, and yet they often just use it to further a cycle of self destruction. It's infuriating (especially if you've been friends or had family members who display these sorts of behaviors) and selfish-I mean think how many other people would kill to get a tenth of the success that tabloid regulars have- but it's also very human.
Your argument sounds to me like "stupid woman, nobody liked her then so why would we like her now? It's her fault for getting botched plastic surgery." This is a human being. A male actor would never find themselves in the position she's in, and it's not because they're any smarter.
@5ft of fury: I see where people are coming from with the pity for fallen stars, although I don't remember it being there in the same way for RD Jr. Which makes sense, because there's something particularly female about the phenomenon. Because it's only women who are pigeonholed into sex object status, and sex objects have a built-in expiration date, women relate to that. I also think we're more apt to see women as childlike, manipulated by handlers and influenced by bad friends, and that also contributes to the pity and deflection of blame/desire for them to succeed.
I won't be at all surprised if, when Megan Fox or Paris Hilton or Heidi Montag crashes hard, the people who were criticizing them and wanting Jezebel to stop promoting them so they can go away to make room for serious actors will be filled with sympathy and talking about spoon-feeding them something or other.
It just bugs me that after Jezzies go on about their fantasies of nursing Britney/Lindsay /whomever back to health and happiness, they wish for them to make a grand comeback. I liked Lindsay in Mean Girls, but she's not a great actor, and I think she's gotten a ridiculous amount of chances. Same with Britney, she's not even a great singer. I remember reading in the NYT almost 10 years ago that she was worth over $400 million. That was before all her perfumes and everything, so she's probably made a ton more since. She really doesn't have to suffer all this burdensome fame that she complains about.
@prismatism is Team Bella: What are you on about? I don't think she's stupid for getting bad implants. She's an untalented actress who squandered her lucky break with non-stop partying. She made herself look irresponsible and a liability. I don't know to what extent it caused her to lose jobs, but the many rumors that it did aren't hard to believe.
Lame argument. There is not a finite amount of fame that Tara Reid is taking up.
There absolutely is a finite amount of space in the press, and more importantly, in roles for actresses, and budgets for salaries. What a strange thing to say.
I know she's a human being. I hardly tore her to pieces. A successful film career and great wealth is not a human right. Talented struggling actors with serious work ethics who were passed over for her are human beings too.
@Hana Maru, used up old slutbag on the pole: Yeah, I do think this is a female phenomenon, since women are marketed as only being entertaining/valuable as long as they are considered fuckable. Personally, I don't understand the desire for Lindsay and Britney's "comebacks" -I think that they would be much better off getting whatever professional help they needed, seperating from the negative influences in their lives, and getting the hell out of Hollywood. I think most of the washed up actors we hear about would be much better served if they were able to sit down and go "hm, well I don't like being known as "the girl who dated Carson Daly"-I could a) pose on Playboy and hope to star in some D movies or b) move out of Hollywood, go to college, find a job doing whatever is my passion-since I probably have some money left." . There are some actors who are able to make comebacks (Drew Barrymore, Robert Downey Jr.) but usually they have the benefit of not only having taken time off, but actively working to improve themselves and grow as a person before trying to jump back into the frying pan of fame and fortune again. I don't think that celebrities do just need to put up silently with the crap that goes along with fame though-some of it, like the constant media speculation about EVERYTHING , from the size of your ass to your sex life, is just insane. And I feel that if we were able to portray celebrity more honestly (it has its perks, but there are also a lot of very really negative things that go along with it) then maybe people wouldn't have such pie in the sky kind of hopes about becoming famous. I don't know, I personally tend to think that people who are desperate to become famous-not because of their accomplishments, but just to become famous-have some issues.
@5ft of fury: I don't think that celebrities do just need to put up silently with the crap that goes along with fame though-some of it, like the constant media speculation about EVERYTHING , from the size of your ass to your sex life, is just insane.
I think you're actually right about this, particularly with regards to Britney. I think she's someone who wants to be a star and have the fans and the money. Not that that's automatically wrong, anyway, I don't know how much she's really ungrateful for all she's had the opportunity to do. I do think that people tend to talk about her like she's one of the rebelling kids on an episode of Toddlers and Tiaras. It comes off as a bit patronizing and I think there's a sexist component to it.
Did you ever see "Scott Baio is 46 and Single"? He was going around talking to old girlfriends about why he became this inveterate pussy hound. At one point he was on the phone with Henry Winkler and lamented about how being famous since Happy Days made him think Playboy was a catalog. Henry Winkler was like "Cut the crap, I've been famous since Happy Days and I've stayed happily married to my wife.
Fame doesn't chew up and spit out most people, just a highly visible minority. It's about upbringing, but it's also about choices and attitude.
@Hana Maru, used up old slutbag on the pole: "I see where people are coming from with the pity for fallen stars, although I don't remember it being there in the same way for RD Jr"... You're kidding, right? How many more chances could RDJ get? Drugs charges, rehab, jail... and yet he's still up there, like some prodigal son. All Tara did was party hard and go for some ill-judged cosmetic surgery.
Yep I agree with you to an extent cause I don't also think most of the people you listed are talented but then look at how Robert Downey Jnr. and other male stars who fucked up were able to pick up their careers. When Drew Barrymore crashed during her early teen years, and then started working - she was asked to pee in a cup to prove she wasn't still using which male stars on the rise again are never asked to do. Charlie Sheen, Mickey Rourke and countless others anyone? :-)
I mean despite the level of talent, it seems easier for people to re-embrace male stars who have crashed than female stars.
@yearofthewoman: I'm talking specifically of the ultra-sympathetic, almost patronizing attitude toward fallen starlets at Jezebel, and contrasting it with how many of us view the overexposed, under-talented young women who are today's version of Tara Reid. If she had never disappeared from the gossip pages would we be instead complaining that she needs to go away?
I don't understand the mentality Jez. It's not ok to snark on another woman's body *unless* she's had work done and poses in Playboy. Is that the rule? If Ms. Reid is now in a good place in her life, shouldn't we all be behind her instead of saying she's "sad"? Who are we to judge? This is an example of women hating women, no mater how you intellectualize it.
It is understandable that Reid is upset that pictures of her botched surgeries are going around the internet, but there's something very "see? I'm perfect again! You can love me!" about the whole thing.
Well put, Hortense. I've thought the same thing about Britney Spears. Her success - or her "fitness for public consumption" - is measured less on the quality of her songs than on the size of her ass.
Seeing an actress that used to star in teen movies on the cover of Playboy is sort of like finding out at your ten year reunion that a girl you used to sit next to in Algebra II is now a stripper.
She previously had dated Russian hockey star Sergei Fedorov. In the late 1990s, she dated actor Steve Burton and still is close to him and his family. She briefly dated American football players Tom Brady, Jerome Bettis, Jeremy Shockey, Kyle Boller, Kevin Mawae, and tennis player Mark Philippoussis.
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In regards to Reid having to "prove" herself to the public - Does this mean she is only proving herself to the male audience that 'Playboy' attracts?
Is she categorizing her success based on acceptance into the male realm of "hot girl"?
This girl obviously has a lot more problems than botched plastic surgeries. Sad. So Sad.
12/13/09
I propose that those might be plenty sufficient explanations for her choice, right there. I don't dispute your interpretations...but I note that they seem to rely on a lot of additional assumptions that might or might not be warranted here.
12/13/09
Check out some of the comment's on today's SJ with the Jersey Shore people, or any other current one with Paris Hilton, or assorted Real Housewives. They're the same ones you'd read back in Tara Reid's day. People saw her as overexposed and undertalented and wished she would go away already. So why not now?
There are millions of talented actors who never make it and would love to have the chance she had. Let somebody with more respect, graciousness, and professionalism have a shot.
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Your argument sounds to me like "stupid woman, nobody liked her then so why would we like her now? It's her fault for getting botched plastic surgery." This is a human being. A male actor would never find themselves in the position she's in, and it's not because they're any smarter.
12/13/09
I won't be at all surprised if, when Megan Fox or Paris Hilton or Heidi Montag crashes hard, the people who were criticizing them and wanting Jezebel to stop promoting them so they can go away to make room for serious actors will be filled with sympathy and talking about spoon-feeding them something or other.
It just bugs me that after Jezzies go on about their fantasies of nursing Britney/Lindsay /whomever back to health and happiness, they wish for them to make a grand comeback. I liked Lindsay in Mean Girls, but she's not a great actor, and I think she's gotten a ridiculous amount of chances. Same with Britney, she's not even a great singer. I remember reading in the NYT almost 10 years ago that she was worth over $400 million. That was before all her perfumes and everything, so she's probably made a ton more since. She really doesn't have to suffer all this burdensome fame that she complains about.
12/13/09
Lame argument. There is not a finite amount of fame that Tara Reid is taking up.
There absolutely is a finite amount of space in the press, and more importantly, in roles for actresses, and budgets for salaries. What a strange thing to say.
I know she's a human being. I hardly tore her to pieces. A successful film career and great wealth is not a human right. Talented struggling actors with serious work ethics who were passed over for her are human beings too.
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I think you're actually right about this, particularly with regards to Britney. I think she's someone who wants to be a star and have the fans and the money. Not that that's automatically wrong, anyway, I don't know how much she's really ungrateful for all she's had the opportunity to do. I do think that people tend to talk about her like she's one of the rebelling kids on an episode of Toddlers and Tiaras. It comes off as a bit patronizing and I think there's a sexist component to it.
Did you ever see "Scott Baio is 46 and Single"? He was going around talking to old girlfriends about why he became this inveterate pussy hound. At one point he was on the phone with Henry Winkler and lamented about how being famous since Happy Days made him think Playboy was a catalog. Henry Winkler was like "Cut the crap, I've been famous since Happy Days and I've stayed happily married to my wife.
Fame doesn't chew up and spit out most people, just a highly visible minority. It's about upbringing, but it's also about choices and attitude.
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Yep I agree with you to an extent cause I don't also think most of the people you listed are talented but then look at how Robert Downey Jnr. and other male stars who fucked up were able to pick up their careers. When Drew Barrymore crashed during her early teen years, and then started working - she was asked to pee in a cup to prove she wasn't still using which male stars on the rise again are never asked to do. Charlie Sheen, Mickey Rourke and countless others anyone? :-)
I mean despite the level of talent, it seems easier for people to re-embrace male stars who have crashed than female stars.
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yep, ok.
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Well put, Hortense. I've thought the same thing about Britney Spears. Her success - or her "fitness for public consumption" - is measured less on the quality of her songs than on the size of her ass.
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Poor thing.
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sorry, I know it doesn't add much, but thats all I could really say to that.
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She previously had dated Russian hockey star Sergei Fedorov. In the late 1990s, she dated actor Steve Burton and still is close to him and his family. She briefly dated American football players Tom Brady, Jerome Bettis, Jeremy Shockey, Kyle Boller, Kevin Mawae, and tennis player Mark Philippoussis.
12/13/09
And Shockey? Ugh. I mean, I have him on one of my fantasy teams...but he looks like Football Frankenstein. With Brees's old, terrible hair.
12/13/09
I know this is a bit of a generalized statement but I saw the list and rather went, "ah-ha!"
I really just feel sad for her and can't even be snarky in any way, shape nor form (save for me not liking any of her "work" as an actress)
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