Taryn Manning Regrets Licking Buttholes and Supporting Trump

On Tuesday, The Hollywood Reporter published a revelatory profile of Taryn Manning, the beleaguered but brilliant actress best known for her roles in Orange Is the New Black, Crossroads, and most importantly, this BET Original Movie, Karen.

Throughout the interview, Manning is her usual candid self. She was swift to share details on coming of age alongside Kirsten Dunst and Evan Rachel Wood: “They weren’t the friendliest girls at the time. They were not ‘girl’s girls.’” She discussed her complex relationship with her mother: “My mom’s rad. But we don’t see eye to eye. She doesn’t like me at all. I remind her of my dad.” And spoke of her growing frustration with an industry that’s only offered her roles as a sex worker, addict, or rabid racist: “Look at my body of work. I can do this in my sleep, but nowadays, since the pandemic, it’s like playing Monopoly. I must go all the way back to the beginning.”

But things got really interesting when Manning was asked about her brow-raising posting habits on social media–namely, her defense of Donald Trump and her dalliance with a married man’s butthole. In case you–ahem–memory-holed the latter, Manning took to Instagram in August to share that she’d been having an affair with someone else’s man who happened to have a particular fondness for rim jobs

“Every night, well, for about three nights in a row…I was licking [a man’s] butthole because he liked it, and I didn’t mind doing it! Is that weird? That is what demons do,” Manning said in the since-deleted video. Manning continued that she intended to buy him a boat, simply because she was “so in love” with him though he was already married to a woman who had referred to her as a “lunatic.”

“It was the most humiliating thing,” Manning told THR, claiming that she didn’t actually recall making the video despite only having two drinks that day. “I can’t explain it. It feels like it wasn’t me. It was a spiritual attack, and it changed my life to the point where I don’t really care anymore. I feel like nothing matters. Just live your life and say what you want.” So, does that mean we can look forward to more recitations on the rectum? I guess we’ll see!

As for her endorsement of a certain former president, Manning hypothesized that it was an act of self-sabotage, as if she were “putting the final nail in the coffin” of her career. Hollywood, she described, has become akin to that of a “distant relative that doesn’t call anymore” and as a result, Manning–THR thinks–is hurt enough to revolt. I get that, but since when is rebellion taking up for Trump and other sex offenders (i.e. Danny Masterson). Whatever happened to head-shaving??? Apparently, she’s since had a change of heart on the political front and has already opted not to vote at all in the 2024 election. I’ll be honest, that seems like the most measured approach for a noted conspiracy theorist.

Until Hollywood starts calling again, Manning said she’s remaining hopeful about her future and just trying to find work wherever she can–including a local dog groomer that ultimately hired someone else. She’s also teaching acting classes at a local studio in Palm Springs.

Good on her, I guess! After all, when The Man writes you off, you’re entitled to get your licks back.