Afternoon TV is Illuminating

There’s another article about those "racy, racy books" (like mine!) in Newsday today.  Link to Article

It’s interesting how MTV is elbowing into the literary market that they feel they ‘created’. If I can just add my two cents, it’s not just about putting sex scenes together and throwing brand names around, whenever I write a love scene, I always ‘feel’ it as much as the characters do, and I *believe* their emotions and their excitement, to me, it’s very real, which I think is why readers like my books… And I do such a huge fashion edit on my books to make sure everything is the hottest and coolest and something I own/wear or my fabulous friends own/wear.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a funny story… yesterday morning, Mike and I were watching TV, and the preview ad for Oprah came on… she had Terry McMillan on, the writer who wrote "How Stella Got her Groove back" whose husband (who was the inspiration for the guy who gave her her groove back) came out recently as gay. It was a big scandal, and she was very humiliated.

Anyway, the ad showed Oprah, looking all mad and stern, saying, "How could you keep this a SECRET from your wife??? How could you do this??" and then the camera pans to Terry McMillan, looking SO PISSED OFF, and totally indignant, saying "How could you KEEP this from me???"

And then, the camera pans to the ex-husband…. WHO IS THE GAYEST GUY I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE!!!

Mike and i just doubled up in laughter. I mean, what secret was he keeping??? Anyone who saw this guy would think he was gay in a nanosecond!!

It was just truly hilarious….

Oprah and Terry McMillan just looked so ridiculous.

I mean, it was like if the camera panned to…Carson Kressley being accused of keeping his gayness secret! I’m sorry, but he was just that gay.

I don’t mean to belittle McMillan’s pain, at all–I can imagine how hurtful that would be. But sometimes, people, you just need a CLUE!

I have BEEN there. I was once so IN LOVE with my gay best friend I couldn’t see straight. (Pun definitely intended.) And all my girlfriends were like, "But Mel, he’s… gay!!" (He wasn’t out yet then.) I just refused to see what was right in front of me…

I think perhaps Ms. McMillan did the same… so I am sad for her, that she went through the whole relationship and divorce and heartache…

So many of my best friends are gay, and they were even the ones who told me the guy I was in love with was gay, but I refused to believe them…

But at least, for me, I didn’t lose my marriage, or money, just a few years of college, which are wasted anyway right?

And yes, the guy I was in love with came out the day before graduation, and we remained friends for a long time after that.

Maybe McMillan’s ex is more flamboyant now, or more "out" but..there was just something about the fraudulence of it–the stern indignation of Oprah and McMillan that just looked so off-base.

There’s keeping secrets, and there’s determined blindness.

Let’s keep our eyes open! Have a great day everyone.

xoxo
Mel