It’s a way of feeling like you have a human connection to someone that you really don’t even know.
Jennifer Rubell: Well one thing that really blows my mind is how almost anytime you know something about a person when you read about them in a gossip context, it’s totally untrue. So sometimes there’s a kernel of truth. Sometimes there’s no truth. But it’s . . . it’s pretty weird. And then even I, knowing that, when I read about Britney Spears I think, “Well maybe it’s not all true, but there’s gotta be a kernel of truth in there somewhere.” People wanna believe it. I don’t know. I mean I . . . I think . . . I don’t know. I respect people’s interest in gossip, and I feel the same way. I’m totally guilty of (01:02:07) it. I think it’s a way of . . . It’s a way of feeling like you have a human connection to someone that you don’t actually really have. And I think that gossip has been going on forever. I think it’s like if you lived in some little town, then you would . . . you might be gossiping about the . . . Well it’s very . . . it’s all very tricky, you know? People do live in little towns today, and it doesn’t necessarily have the same gossip environment about the other people; but it’s . . . they are also gossiping about Britney Spears. And I don’t know. On the other hand I don’t think it’s all bad, because I think that you see examples of other people’s lives and things that might have gone wrong. And maybe . . . I don’t know. Maybe people can be a decent example. It’s so easy for me to talk about food and so hard for me to talk about anything related to, you know, sort of . . . I . . . I have a very deep respect for journalists, and I think what journalists do is amazing. Gossip columnists don’t live up to those standards.
And I mean for instance there was an article in the New York Post about a custody litigation that I was involved in. And the article was talking about a litigation that had already been settled, and they simply didn’t do the research to know that that was the case. So aside from whatever junk they said which was false . . . aside from all of that, this was a case that was already settled. So you’re not dealing with the truth. You’re dealing with something that’s a half-truth, which is what gossip sort of is. So I don’t know. You know and obviously when it comes to my daughter, I would like her to be completely out of the public eye and make some decision when and if she is in that position to be public or not. You know I mean the only real reason why people subject themselves to the public eye is to sell stuff. That’s why people are in magazines. When you read about an actor, they have a movie coming out. When you read about an author, they’re selling a book. That’s why it’s a form . . . Media is a form of advertising even in the content. And . . . and the interesting thing about gossip is it isn’t that. It isn’t people using the media to sell stuff. So I don’t know. It’s fine. We live in America. It’s free. It’s fine that it exists, and you know I have definitely not been caused any harm by that.
Recorded on: 12/13/07
