Reality Review

So the Gosselins are breaking up. It wasn’t that long ago that they renewed their vows in Hawaii. I’ve been wondering if, because the trip was free for them, they didn’t take the ceremony as seriously as they might have had they had to scrimp and save for it. Was it just something they did for the show? Did they think it would help their marriage? I had thought that they had a special bond of support, that, because they didn’t seem to have the support of their families, they relied on eachother. I guess I was wrong.

I watched Tori Spelling’s reality show when it first started jsut to see what it was like. Surprisingly, I have watched every episode. Not sure if it’s because it really is interesting or I have some personality flaw. The last few ahve driven me crazy though. At every turn, viewers are reminded that Tori has to cope with life on her own while Dean is in Calgary for 5 weeks. Literally every ten minutes, whenever the scene shifts to the next thing Tori has to do (go to NY for an appearance, go to Tampa for HSN, go back to NY for her book meeting. I guess it was all to make us feel that much more elated for her when Dean surprised her in NY on Valentine’s Day. It was touching when she saw him ans was so surprised. She admits to being a workaholic but to tell us how stressed she is having to deal with her various enterprises falls on deaf ears in my case. I realize she needs to do these things to have income, but these are some incredible opportunities the rest of us would love to have the chance to complain about!

So Kendra is engaged (getting married tomorrow!) and pregnant. Some wonder just what her relationship with Hef was all about. I’m not close to the situation (so far away that you can’t count all the stars between us) but I have always thought that he was more of a father figure to her. He can’t possibly be that active in bed to satisy 3 or more girls. Being with Hef is a great door-opener, a great opportunity to see new things, meet new people, and start a career in Hollywood. I think that’s what it was for her. He settled her down, gave her security, gave her a path to go on which it sounds like she needed from she’s been quoted as saying. I was a bit worried her show would be thin on plot, just showing how blond she can be. I think they do need some variety of people. Kendra is still the playful one with Hank as her straight man. But it’s entertaining.

Gene Simmon’s Family Jewels shows how unreal a reality TV show can be. What girl is going to let her father tell her that an old non-practicing  Jewish rock star should be her child’s godfather? For drama, they show Gene and his girlfriend Shannon rushing off to NYC to get a gift for the baby and getting to the church just a few minutes late enough to make people start to wonder if they would show at all. That show is so obviously planned. But yet I still watch.

And Jessica Simpson is going to show us all the extremes people will go to for fashion and good looks. I’ll watch because she’s another person who interests me. Interesting coincidence that the movie she said was a factor in her decision to divorce Nick is at about the same time he and his girlfriend Vanessa break up. I watched the movie to see if I could figure out what in it was so key to her. I think it was when Noah says (it’s not an exact quote) “What do YOU want to do? Not what your mother thinks, not what (the fiance) thinks. What do YOU want?” that made Jessica think just what did she want… She is so close to her parents that she probably thought about what they wanted, so this gave her permission to think for herself. I woudl think they are so different that they would not try too imitate star-crossed lvovers, but who knows…

True Love – Celebrity Style

So Kendra Wilkerson has jumped from a ‘relationship’ with Hugh Hefner to being engaged to Hank Baskett. Was she ever really in love with Hef? Is she in love with Hank? I personally think Kendra has more of a respect for Hef because he brought some order to her life and gave her experiences she’d never have otherwise. I don’t think they had a romatic relationship.

Remember when Benjamin Bratt was with Julia Roberts and all seemed right in the world? Then they broke up, he got into a relationship with Talisa Soto and then married her? Was the relationship with Talisa a relief after the high profile relationship he had with Julia?

Another example, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. They had a very public relationship then quickly found others after it ended. Is it the media attention that gets in the way? Is plain Jen Garner the true love of Ben’s life? Didn’t she know who he was and who he dated before they met? How did she come to decide that she loved him?

We were supposed to believe Jessica loved Nick. But then she suddenly ‘grew up’ and knew he wasn’t the one for her. See my other posts for more about what I think of her.

Do stars really know what true love is? Or are they just having relationship after relationship because they tire or get bored of who they’re with? Do actors become actors and need to play roles and do PR stuff because they aren’t comfortable with themselves or need constant change? As much as I’d like to earn what they earn and get the perks they do, I think you need to be a certain kind of person to want to live that life.

Those house bunnies are hopping away

I’ve become addicted to the Girls Next Door so I am sad to hear that Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt, and Kenra Wilkinson are apparently ending their relationships with Hugh Hefner. The future of the show may entail watching Hef pick the new girlfriends. I can’t see myself being interested in that or in the new girls. Holly, Bridget, and Kendra made the show what it was for me. In a sense, the fact that these relationships are changing shows that they are not the ‘dumb blondes’ some might want to think they are.

Being in a relationship with Hef is certainly not what we are used to. One must be open-minded about a lot of things to live in that household. Holly may have thought she was becoming very important to Hef when the girlfriends wascut down from seven. She said she felt a sense of validation when she finally was on the cover of Playboy, as all Hef’s previous serious girlfriends had been there. Still, she had a goal of getting married and having children, and did what some people are able to do, give up love for the hope of attaining those goals.

Bridget has been furthering her education during her tenure and finding job opportunity in her show on satellite radio and movie productions. Kendra has opened her world by being with Hef, seeing the world, attending all kinds of events. Kendra knew on some level it wasn’t going to last forever.

I’m sure it was a trade off to adhere to a curfew and not be able to travel anywhere at any time while in a relationship with someone who you wouldn’t get to spend a lot of personal time with. But they got to do a lot of travel and appearances, meet lots of people, have their food prepared for them, their laundry done for them, (presumably other expenses were taken care of too).

I envy the forethought that they each had to take advantage of the opportunity they had to be in a relationship with someone who could give them so much in terms of a world experience and the opportunity to further their goals. I also envy their ability to be able to walk away when things no longer suited their needs. Perhaps being wedded more to their goals was the key.