Hiding in plain sight.

May 10, 2016 3:35 AM

How Kerry Washington Became A Publicity Magician. A fantastic article by Anne Helen Peterson at Buzzfeed, on celebrity, fame, privacy, race, motherhood, and feminism.
posted by ellieBOA (6 comments total)

I love AHP's stuff! This is especially interesting to compare/contrast with her piece on Jennifer Garner from a few weeks ago.
posted by sallybrown at 6:11 AM on May 10, 2016

AHP's stuff is so good. I really enjoyed her book, Scandals of Classic Hollywood, but I think I enjoy her writing about modern celebrities even more.

Really interesting piece on Kerry. I unabashedly loved that Apple Music commercial.
posted by saturngirl at 7:34 AM on May 10, 2016

The "Hang Up and Listen" sports podcast has a segment this week on "the marketing of star players Skylar Diggins, Diana Taurasi, and Brittney Griner." They talk about the three women's deliberate choices in building their own public image, and where they diverge. The segment's starting point is an article from ESPN The Magaine by Kate Fagam titled "Lost and Found in Russia."
posted by wenestvedt at 7:35 AM on May 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Also, I had totally forgotten that she was engaged to David Moscow. He may be the "Big" guy to AHP, but he'll always be David from Newsies to me.
posted by saturngirl at 7:38 AM on May 10, 2016

“If I don’t talk about my personal life, it means I don’t talk about my personal life. That means not only did I not tell you when I was getting married, it also means if somebody has rumors about what’s going on in my marriage, I don’t refute them, because I don’t talk about my personal life.”

This, I can respect. Not so much those nobs who trot their latest relationship out across the talk shows and then retreat behind "Respect my privacy" when things are less good.
posted by Etrigan at 9:00 AM on May 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

“There were a couple of actresses whom I felt were having the upper hand careerwise,” Washington explained, “because they knew how to work that red carpet. I was like ‘I’m missing a really important tool. If I am the CEO of the Kerry Washington Corporation, my marketing department is really lax.’ So I sort of developed a new character: Red-Carpet Kerry.”

I love how explicitly she says this.
posted by Zephyrial at 9:23 AM on May 10, 2016 [5 favorites]