November 2001, shooting “The Panic Room”
by laneia & riese
Today on The Daily Beast, Jodie Foster published an essay she wrote asking the media to lay off Kristen Stewart. It’s really lovely and compassionate and evocative in parts, and then in other parts it gets especially weird. The thesis of the essay is that Jodie Foster believes you should leave Kristen Stewart alone. As you may have heard on every website in the world except this one, Kristen cheated on her Vampire Boyfriend with the director of Snow White & The Huntsman and then publicly apologized, or something. We don’t think the specifics of that are any of our business, and apparently Jodie Foster agrees.
Foster begins the piece by drawing on her own experiences as a child actor, saying she wouldn’t have gone into the industry at all if she’d been subject to the scrutiny actors like Stewart are regularly subjected to. She then notes that she’s been able to keep her private life private by “inventing [her] own gothic survival tools” and “organizing [her] career choices to allow [herself] (and the ones [she] truly loves) maximum personal dignity.” She notes that celebrity culture today is cruel and merciless, offering little room for stars like Kristen to have feelings in privacy without the relentless snapping of cameras and invasive questions. This is relatively familiar territory.
Foster laments that the world would’ve suffered in her absence (“Sarah Tobias would never have danced before her rapists in The Accused. Clarice would never have shared the awful screaming of the lambs to Dr. Lecter”) and then goes on to discuss the vulnerability required to be a successful actor and her time working with Kristen Stewart on Panic Room. Page two of Foster’s essay opens with a description of an image of a “perfect moment” Foster has in her head involving an 8mm home movie made in the 70’s with a white-haired girl twirling in the surf, spinning and singing.
Which brings me to today’s Feelings Atrium, as jump-started this morning when this article sidetracked our editorial meeting. The point of the essay aside, writing on this topic at all seems like an interesting direction for Foster to take as a woman who has kept her sexual orientation a secret throughout her career, only briefly mentioning “my beautiful Cydney” (her then-girlfriend of 14 years) at an awards ceremony in 2007. Perhaps part of Jodie’s desire to keep her personal life private comes from being in the public eye from day one, from needing to keep some things close to avoid feeling so exposed.
What are your feelings?
[8/15/12 10:59:14 AM]
Riese: i’m still thinking about jodie foster
Kristen: i’m thinking of autostraddle undies and cookies
Laneia: this article is insane i can’t believe she wrote it, edited it, reread it like a million times probably, and then published it
Riese: i know!
Laneia: like not even on her own blog, would i expect to see this
Riese: is she friends with somebody from the daily beast
Laneia: remember when rosie had her blog and she’d write about everyone and her feelings?
Riese: yes rosie’s blog was amazing
it was all in tiny little sentences
Laneia: i would expect this kind of thing from that kind of person
but jodie foster
who won’t even talk about her partner? is talking about kristen stewart?
Riese: yeah it could have been classier
Laneia: this is like when tom cruise jumped on the sofa and i could never watch top gun again
Riese: she probably sees herself in kristen
Laneia: yes i think she does too
[twenty minutes and two serious conversations about actual news later]
Laneia: i feel so weird about jodie foster still
Riese: me too
Laneia: like i almost can’t move on
Riese: me neither!
Laneia: is she high do you think?
b/c gawker is right, that one paragraph was insanely out of nowhere
Riese: i don’t know
she was my hero growing up
because she directed and starred in her own movies
and that’s what i wanted to do
Laneia: picture of jodie foster or a cat as jodie foster
Riese: do you think she’s protective of kristen stewart because she’s afraid that if she’s queer at all that she won’t ever feel comfortable coming out now
i mean, jodie foster of all people to advocate privacy
of her personal life
like is this just self-justification of never really coming out herself?
i mean i love jodie unconditionally, but
Laneia: i think the coming out aspect has something to do with it, definitely
just b/c i think that has something to do w/ literally everything that j.foster does
bc when you’re not out, it does affect everything.
Riese: when she says like “i wouldn’t have survived in this climate” she’s not talking about young Jodie getting caught having an affair with a married director
Laneia: yes
truth
Riese: she’s probably talking about being a lesbian and how that would’ve been terrible for people to know when she was younger
Laneia: “i couldn’t have had lesbian sex in college”
Riese: “it would’ve been on gawker”
Laneia: remember when romi was mad bc no one knew she was a celesbian. what if romi and jodie foster had to have a conversation.
Riese: i don’t think jodie foster could take romi seriously
Laneia: it’s just that i’ve had a lot of caffeine today. i’m very jesse spano today i’m sorry.
Riese: you’re just so excited
Rachel: omg all i want to do now is watch a video of romi explaining to jodi foster what a celesbian is as if she does not know
Riese: i think kristen and malaika have checked out of this intellectual conversation
Laneia: we could make one of those cat videos
Rachel: SORRY GUYS
Riese: and how romi is a celesbian but jodi is not because jodi is not out as a lesbian
Kristen: the romi, the romi got me back
Riese: romi always brings people back
Discuss.
Way to miss the point of the article.
I know I completely missed the point of the article because all I ever think is, “KStew ruined my name.”
I’m with Kristin here. Undies and cookies.
Kristen, rather. I’ll just remember to spell it like KStew’s.
In spite of some of the awkwardly emotional abstract passages, I really love Jodie’s central point. She is talking, in my opinion, about the protection that artists must have from intrusion in order to continue making worthwhile stuff. As she puts, art (or acting) is “all about communicating vulnerability, allowing the truth inside yourself to shine through regardless of whether it looks foolish or shameful. To open and give yourself completely. It is an act of freedom, love, connection. Actors long to be known in the deepest way for their subtleties of character, for their imperfections, their complexities, their instincts, their willingness to fall. The more fearless you are, the more truthful the performance.”
I think about this in the context of musicians and how there is an increasing perception that we must sell or reveal every aspect of our personalities in the Internet media age. Musicians too often feel they must remove any distance or sense of privacy between themselves and the public. Obsessive tweeting, Kickstarter campaigns reliant on selling personal experiences with musicians, people going on reality tv to gain exposure for their crafts, etc.
I see Jodie’s point as being, more or less, that if art can’t speak for itself than the incentive to create it in the first place is threatened too. By default any artist talking about their craft or complaining about her circumstances sounds pretentious or strange, so few people actually investigate the psychological and cultural effects of their professions/vocations. Props to Jodie.
I’m starting an MFA in a week or so and your comment was super helpful.Thank you so much. <3
To clarify my point: as much as I negatively view the perception that social marketing must rely on increasing amounts of personal connection, I think it’s worse in Stewart’s case, whose personal life is not intentionally public. If the only people who are attracted and comfortable with public life are those 100% comfortable with their personal lives being intruded upon, our culture will be dominated by the genial, the ordinary, and the dull. As Jodie Foster said, she wouldn’t have continued acting if the media climate were the same. I took her point to think about all the other greats we’re missing out on who don’t want to be subjected to the inhumane scrutiny that’s par for the course these days.
Is there a term for when an older lesbian “beards” for a younger lesbian? Because I feel like that is what is happening right now.
Just thought of one:
JODIE FOSTERING.
Quick, someone Urban Dictionary that.
oh my god this is brilliant
perfect.
win
Beautiful
I came here to comment on Jodi’s article, but I can’t stop thinking about Romi’s tantrum.
All roads lead to Romi; there’s her celesbian moment. I’m ‘a go visit her blog now.
It’s written super melodramatic, but I think the point she is making is a good one. I didn’t neccesarily read into it that she was justifying not coming out, but yeah, that makes sense. Especially because the decision of not coming out is going to influence everything you do/write.
The point that I agree with, is that fame is part of being an actress in big movies, but having the public intrude into every aspect of your life, should not be part of the deal. Or if it is, we’ll miss out on some great artists because they’re scared of the endless criticism of their personal lives.
“this is like when tom cruise jumped on the sofa and i could never watch top gun again”
<3
Someone should send Jodie this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxnf6CrTTYI It’ll explain everything she needs to know about being a “celesbian”.
Am I the only person on the planet who didn’t know Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson were dating in real life until this “scandal” hit the news? I obviously read way more queer media than mainstream media b/c I always thought she was just secretly gay.
I always thought they were both gay and that the dating thing was tabloids. apparently it was real? or is this still just tabloids? I’m so confused. kstew’s hot. these are my thoughts.
^This. I’m mostly still in shock that the person she cheated on him with is male.
I still think that relationship never existed for anything more than the tabloids.
I honestly did not know, I thought it was just a rumor. And they were just close friends
I always thought Robert Pattinson was straight-up too cool for her.
Re: reading too much queer media, I was talking today with some of my straight friends about this whole Kristen Stewart/Jodie Foster thing, and they asked me why I was so interested in it. So I told them it was because Jodie Foster is gay and we all think Kristen Stewart is gay, so it’s, you know, interesting. First, one of them said, “Jodie Foster is gay!?” Second surprising thing, none of them had heard any rumors about Kristen, or believed me when I told them she was super queer. Of course, they asked me why I thought she was gay and I couldn’t really say anything other than, “She just seems gay…”
It’s times like these that I remember straight people live in totally different worlds.
When this whole story first broke I was talking to my (straight) co-worker about it, and she also had no idea that people (i.e. queermos) think KStew is gay. And I had no idea KStew and RPatz were actually dating. So it was a very enlightening conversation on both sides. But she also asked me why people think Kristen is gay, and I really had no answer except for that she just looks super queer, but then I thought to myself that that’s stereotyping which is not cool. So I was just kind of like, “Just… because…,” so I’m pretty sure that co-worker thinks I’m an idiot.
a friend asked me to explain why kstew seemed gay yesterday. I fumbled for about ten minutes. you can’t really explain it, you just…KNOW…you know?
You could show them any interview or situation where she is in public with her massive crush on Charlize Theron. You can see it from space.
AH THIS! Me and my sister were talking about Inception, and I said I felt like I should like it because Ellen Page is such a queereye, and she was like “What?! As if, I heard she’s dating Leonardo DiCaprio.” me:”UMMMM I heard she was dating Clea Duvall and have you seen her hats and shoes?!” sister:”Not everyone is gay, you know.”
THE IRONY. HYPOCRIT HETERO.
I seriously honestly thought Kristen was gay but that the twilight franchise was benefiting from them being perceived as a couple. I just assumed that they would conveniently break up or Kristen would come out after the last movie was released. Clearly I spent more time thinking about any of that then I would admit to anyone but you guys but how can you not when it comes to someone as hot and lesbianish as Kristen Stewart? When this whole cheating thing came out I was really only shocked she was caught with a man.
Dating boys or not – she is only 22. I didn’t really come into my gayness until my mid twenties sooo…I guess I’m still holding out hope (as if I have a shot??)
I just love Jodie Foster so really that’s all I’m thinking about right now, apart from undies and cookies.
I’m really glad that jodie foster said this, because jesus, someone had to; the invasion of privacy and public shaming of kristen stewart is just not ok. And Foster is one of the few people I give a pass to for not being more open about her sexuality, because it seems fairly understandable to me that after a fan has tried to assassinate a president because of their obsession with you, you might decide not to share your personal life with the public. Yes, she’s a little crazy, but i think that’s part of her point; artists should not have to be PR-friendly. And actors should not have to be perfect girlfriends at the age of 22.
Sort of off topic, but I get so fed up with how the woman gets jumped all over and the guy skates. The director who is twenty years older and married and a father of two kids who will now be made fun of for the next decade or so, is the real asshole in this thing.
this exactly.
yup. everyone’s blaming the (much younger) actress for the situation when, at the least, the blame (not that it’s anyone’s business to begin with, but since the media has made it so) should be 50-50. at the least. frankly I’d go significantly further than that, but there ya go.
Those are exactly my thoughts. The power imbalance there (he’s older AND her director?) is just nuts, but no one seems to care about him.
Yes, I feel really bad for her, because if she hadn’t got accidentally massively super-famous by being in Twilight this would be a classic Hollywood Babylon story of a sleazoid, much older (married with kids, for pity’s sake!) director taking advantage of a young starlet in his film. It’s almost the casting couch, except for her being accidentally super-famous. He should get his ass kicked. I hope his wife has done so.
If Pattinson and Stewart weren’t a real couple, then what to make of the supposed affair she had? That was another facet of the sham? As was her bizarre public apology? Certainly stranger things have happened in Hollywood (John Travolta’s marriage, for instance). If everything about this scandal is really all a ruse (to conceal her lesbianism), then that speaks to the absurd lengths that she has already gone to compartmentalize her life and fabricate dramatic illusions for the public…If the media are this vicious about a phony affair, how vicious would they be about her real self? I don’t know; the possibilities are pretty surreal if you assume that it’s all a sham, which it very well may be.
is twilight over? maybe they just needed an escape route
So she ruined a marriage, the lives of the kids in that marriage, and her public image for an “escape route”?
ps, that kind of looks snarky but I didn’t mean it that way, fyi.
tbh, saying she ruined a marriage and the lives of children is kind of ignoring the fact that a married man and father did way more damage than she ever could. she wasn’t married and doesn’t have kids, as far as I know. it’s his family, this is on him.
No, of course, but the whole “this is a PR stunt/elaborate sham” narrative that’s circulating is suggesting that Kristen herself would have orchestrated all this, therefore ruining a marriage in order to… get whatever she would get out of the “stunt”. Seeing as it’s probably just a regular old affair, no ulterior motives, it’s the dude who is responsible for his own marriage, definitely.
Okay, can we just acknowledge that she didn’t ruin a goddamn marriage, infidelity ruined a goddamn marriage, and infidelity requires two (or more) people. Not that it’s any of anyone’s business, but if you’re going to blame, blame 50/50. I don’t see anyone saying that the married director ruined Stewart & Pattinson’s romance.
#sexism
As I just said above, I meant that if this was all done just because Kristen wanted an “escape route”, or like, to disassociate from Twilight or whatever, then she wouldn’t have orchestrated something that would ruin a marriage. Because it’s obviously an affair in which both willingly participated then yes, it’s on him.
word.
The “sham” argument makes absolutely no sense, though. Kristen isn’t the only one implicated here… there’s a host of other people who are being affected by this… Rupert Sanders, his wife, their children, Pattinson– who is currently trying to promote a movie and having to deal with the brunt of the media glare right now. Not to mention she’s now dropping herself out of movies she was excited about… and reportedly being dropped by the studio. She had a tenuous public image and whatever goodwill she had is gone now. Plus if those pictures were staged or something, you’d think they wouldn’t make them so… dirty and gross.
i agree with you on this one. while i think the whole ‘fake date then break up in public’ scheme is a good cover up and part of me really does want to believe it, i just can’t find logic with the way it happened. it doesn’t make sense to bring others into it (especially when married with children) and villianize yourself in public if its unnecessary and there are other ways things could have ended.
I’m sorry but it does. The fact Kristen may have not been dating Robert doesn’t take away the fact she seemingly had an affair with a married man. There’s still infidelity and she’s still involved in it, but instead of being two people the ones getting cheated on, it would be just one, the director’s wife, who, by the way, very quickly forgave him.
I feel like a very possible scenario is that the director manipulated/assaulted her. These things definitely happen, this is just one time it happened to be so public. Sure, she’s super awkward, but she definitely looks uncomfortable in those pictures/not like she’s enjoying it at all.
I like that she’s half Aussie like moi and I used to really like her but I wasn’t too impressed when she started ranting about how her teacher’s failed her. That kinda turned me off a bit. I don’t know if the whole relationship was just a sham though. I do think it’s possible. I think it’s a bit naive to say that it definitely isn’t a stunt because “it’s been kept secret for so long! if it was for publicity they wouldn’t hide it for so long!” Hollywood is a fickle place. Rock Hudson sure kept a charade up for a long time. I think the author from Crushable’s theory is quite interesting.
http://crushable.com/entertainment/kristen-stewart-cali-on-the-road-robert-pattinson-staged-affair-cheating-reasons-943/
I’m honestly kind of surprised by the mental gymnastics lesbians are doing to continue believing that Kristen Stewart is gay. If it were a stunt to build up the names of Rupert Sanders and his wife, would they be getting divorced now?
I’ve read that his wife has forgiven him and that the status quo has not been disrupted. Am I just behind in teh nooz?
Oh, I forgot to add. I don’t think the stunt has to do with either party being gay. I just think it’s possible that it’s just a PR stunt for the sake of the publicity.
Do a lot of lesbians intensely, stoically assert that KStew is absolutely gay and all this is an elaborate PR stunt? I doubt that. I personally know very little about Kristen or all the other parties involved. I always just thought it was this fun thing to entertain the idea that she might be queer…
Is “fun” the appropriate word? Interesting? Intriguing? I don’t know.
I’ve always sort of wondered if she were bisexual rather than gay. I thought the relationship with RPatts was real, but the girl-loving vibe was there to.
And actually, I’ve always thought the same thing about Foster. Maybe her reluctance to throw open the closet door and strut out is because she doesn’t identify as gay, and figures the bisexuality would be too hard for people to understand. Which would be a reasonable position to take.
Also, I too have always given Foster a pass on trying to stay private because of the Reagan assassination attempt thing. That would make me want to hide in my room forever.
No passes on the Polanski thing or the Gibson thing, thought. That as just flat out wrong.
interesting too as there are rumors she’s being dropped from the Snow White sequel
Jodie Foster has also publicly defended Mel Gibson and Roman Polanski, so I personally have no time for her, queer or not.
She is the worst, right in this moment.
Oh, I didn’t know she was one of the Polanski defenders. Well there goes any good opinion I had of her.
who cares who she defended in the past? Her article raises a number of interesting questions, regardless of the scandal’s veracity, in a heartfelt way from someone who ought to know: how is the media glare affecting people? has social media increased the vilification of public people and made us more mean-spirited? how does that affect the ability of current entertainers/artists to perform/create as well as influence future g1enerations? …im glad jodie took the opportunity to transform a trashy and perhaps untrue story into an emotionally driven but still substantive discussion.
yeah, ditto, I wasn’t into her defending polanski or gibson, but take each defense as its own thing; this one I fully support, and I would hardly put poor kristen in the same camp as the other two. I think j. foster’s just super protective/defensive of the people close to her, and sometimes she’s on point and sometimes she’s not, but here I think she makes some really good arguments and just shows that she can be a protective mama bear when she needs to be. which, how can you fault that?
Right. I think the Jodie Foster piece was sort of odd, but I commend her for attempting to change the conversation. It seems, judging from all the attention her article is receiving and the discussion it’s inspiring, that her efforts have been effective.
…and I’m over-commenting so I’ll stop…On that note, yay Autostraddle woo! fuckin’ love this website. will investigate how to ‘become a member’ soon. especially looking forward to the prospect of t-shirts, and sundry other merchandise, and maybe one day soon, my own avatar.
Maybe the affair with the director was real but Stewart’s relationship with Pattinson was not? Maybe the lesbian vibes we all get from Stewart actually mean she’s bi, not gay?
Maybe none of this actually matters because who cares about the personal lives of celebrities? They certainly don’t care about you that way.*
*Says the boy who reads RPF…But hey, I don’t actually believe it’s true or anything…I just think they’re pretty people… :S
I think she’s just saying that not everyone is as bad as their worst moment. Obvs (to me) if Kristen is cheating on her boyfriend, there’s some issues going on, which may or may not be orientation related. It was likely a good feeling for her to have this director treat her like a “muse” as opposed to Rob being on equal playing ground with her.
I almost hate to bring it down to this but I’m gonna anyway. These situations are worse for women. Look at Tiger woods! He did what he did, got shit for it (and still does) but the majority of people are just like “i don’t care just want him to play golf as good as he used to,” whereas women (imo) are still more subjected to slut shaming. Less high fives all around for being such a “player” or whatever, and more “oh what a terrible woman she’s a pariah forever.” Pisses me off.
I read celebrity gossip, and since I write (and enjoy writing) young adult fiction I tumblr a LOT keeping up with current teen trends and things are getting pretty ruthless towards Kristen.
The man involved made the decision to be with her, so I don’t feel comfortable with so many folks throwing mud at her saying she’s ruined and broken up a family. Kristen was in the wrong for cheating on her boyfriend, and yeah could’ve used some judgement tweaking with who she did it with, but that’s all irrelevant to me. That guy made his choice, all she did was participate.
I’ve known a nice handful of girls that have done shit like this and recovered from it. And SADLY a lot of them are on facebook singing crap in Kristen’s direction now that they are settled down with their husband and kids in their safe little house nest. Whatever, you did that shit once too girlfriend, don’t even jump into this mix if you’re gonna sling.
I agree that Jodie see’s herself in Kristen. YES Kristen was I guess, unfaithful to her boyfriend, that’s messed up, but we all do stupid crap from time to time. Sometimes I feel like (and I think perhaps Jodie is alluding to this) a lot of “Average” folks, ie non-celebs project their own shadows onto the famous people and forget that they have done stupid things too. Then it turns into a sport of seeing who can say the worst thing about whoever the popular person is at the time.
I also agree that is Kristen is indeed a ladygay or a lindsay lohan vaguesexual this event is surley not going to put her in a easy place to come out of. If that makes sense, this post is already too long for me to explain what I mean, I think that makes sense though. I dunno #feelings
Whenever people mention Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart I think of this picture
…
Really!? Am I the only one who thought that KStew & Robert were a perfectly matched couple? Because they were.
Also since learning of Kristen cheating my attraction to her completely deflated and retracted. Now she’s just a sleazy attractive person to me.
I don’t really have any feelings on Jodie’s essay. This is mostly because she basically did the same thing for Mel Gibson. She seems to have an affinity for ‘misfits’.
Lizard people.
Autostraddle: The Feelings Atrium
I think Kristen went along with Married Director Man (putting the moves on her), because she wanted to put a rocket up the whole Twilight franchise and their annoying, obsessive fanbase.. I mean, why else would you carry on in a public space like that, when you know you’re being followed everywhere?
Twilight made her super-rich and while many actors would dream of being part of something like that, I just don’t think she was ever into it. Being continually told to be grateful and smiley about being *locked* into a long series of bad teen movies (and a staged relationship) may have taken its toll and she probably realised real life was tick-tocking by.
I notice in KStew’s earlier interviews, she’s working with huge Hollywood names yet she’s not that anxious – until Twilight hits, then she’s a bundle of nerves. Maybe that was because she was in a set-up relationship with Rob and living a lie?
This saga reminds me of a quote John Mayer once said about “Every artist needing to alienate their original fanbase, in order to move on” (paraphrasing). I think this might be the case.
Being a woman, KStew will have the “cheater” tag thrown in her face forever, which is unfortunate, because I don’t think we even know half the real story. That sucks for her.
I actually didn’t find that paragraph of Jodie’s too strange. At first, I was a bit confused but by the end I found myself picturing an innocent, young child, completely carefree and dancing around. Then she brings you to today and KStew, and I found it easier to connect with her innocence. With the inner child that has always been on camera and is suddenly in the spotlight and being pulled apart into pieces. It all connects with her point about how we treat each other. How we are just human and we do cry and we do have emotions and aren’t at all perfect, but we seem to forget that with public figures and have the tendency to tear them apart, forgetting that words really do hurt. Who just yesterday, was a carefree child at the beach is today being constantly scrutinized in a not-so-un-cruel world.
i agree that K.S.’s relationship with that dude was a tad front-ish but how did we get to the point she’s a lezob as much i am attracted to her… is THIS just a ploy for earnings too….sorry i am really pessimistic
Also btw, I will admit I did look at the photos with her and the dude and he is (at least the ones I saw) just hugging her from behind and she doesn’t look that into it.
This is exactly what I was thinking. I’m totally projecting here but she looks more into the power of having him be so massively into her than actually being loved (or even sexed) up herself. It’s a really heady thing, when you’re young and hot but still a bit unsure of yourself to think you’ve cut to the core of a powerful worldly person. At some point she might discover that older men cheating on their wives and families is less about her all-conquering allure and more about his inability to grow the f**k up.
I still totes love her though and I so get the gay vibe. What is it? Some inner ‘otherness’ that’s still a bit unfocussed?
When I went to a taping of the Talk with my Mom, (I made a joke about going to see the Talk one day and apparently my Mom took it seriously…) they had a segment about this whole Kristen Stewart/director mess. Everyone was ripping on her, then Sara Gilbert said something along the lines of: “She’s young, the media should lay off, we all made stupid mistakes yada yada” I then leaned over to my Mom and said: “See? What did I tell you, she’s defending a fellow member of the gay lady club.”
That has been my input on this matter.
I just want to point out that Ryan Murphy linked to this article on his Twitter via fucking Perez Hilton, who, SURPRISE, copied the entire article sans attribution. I am just baffled at the hypocrisy.
My attempt at lesbian mental gymnastics, or whatever the commenter somewhere above called it is as follows:
She’s in this relationship and all the straight people are thinking “oh god what a perfect match, their relationship is amazeballs” but KStew is thinking “if this relationship is as awesome as everyone says why do I feel so empty still, I feel nothing, is it me, no it’s the other person, it’s just not the right one, oh hey bad opportunity, let’s shake things up, maybe it will be different this time” but then that leaves her feeling just as empty as before and she starts thinking “nope still not working, let’s try another…wait hmm that girl is cute…could I be gay? No, not me, impossible! More men folk will fix this I’m sure of it” and so she continues with this cycle a few more times until she finally realizes that it’s not that specific man folk, it’s ALL men folk and accepts that she too is a beautiful unicorn of a gay lady and is happy for the first time in years and lesbians everywhere rejoice in the knowledge that they totally called it.
^This.
Let’s be real she’s always given me a queer vibe. But she’s still a kid. What if she is queer and doesn’t know it yet and is messing around because she’s still hoping to find the right person?
(she could be not queer, of course, there is that possibility)
Very true, 22 is still young and when you have to spend so much time cultivating an image to present to the public it could be easy to actually know very little of yourself. Where does the persona end and the real KStew begin? Does she even have time to figure out who she is when it’s buried so deep?
And she might not be gay but where’s the fun in talking about that?
Re: ‘mental gymnastics’ — I don’t think KStew is queer because I’m attracted to her and want to believe it. Other way round — I wasn’t in to her at all until bits and pieces of interviews/public appearances/commentaries made me aware of her overwhelllllming queer vibe and then she was just hot. Now I am like ‘Girl, seriously, would you look at yourself?’ Queer as fuck.
As to the affair etc — I did roughly 27 stupid relationship- and life-related things when I was flailing around in my early 20s trying to figure out why everything felt so wrong (hint: I was a giant gay) so I can easily see this being one of them. The majority of blame rests on the married party who cheated, not the decades-younger person he was in a position of authority over. He’s a skeezy bastard. I’m not giving her a pass, because cheating is a horrible thing, married or not. But I have no problem judging him far more harshly than her.
Amen to all of this. I think she is just young and still trying to figure herself out, and it can be a lot clearer to other people than to yourself when trying to sort out your sexual orientation. I went through the same struggles up through my early 20s, and by now I’ve met far too many lesbians to not be able to tell that KStew is one of the club. The main thing I find baffling is how she can manage to rock the queer style so well if she’s still so confused.
And I agree that at least half the blame, if not more, falls on the the married dude. The power dynamics of it in particular are so slanted–he’s older, was her director, etc etc.
To everyone saying there’s no proof that she’s gay, there is so much evidence!
Have any of you seen the Runaways? As well as being super hot in that movie, she partakes in a gay kiss with that blonde chick who plays Cherie Currie, and afterwards there’s interviews of them together and she talks about how much of a good kisser she is, and they are really flirty. Also, she’s totally friends with Joan Jett, who says that she ‘reminds her of her at that age’. And when asked about who her first childhood crush was, Kristen told the interviewer that she liked THE PINK POWER RANGER and some other girl. In conclusion: she’s totally gay, or at least bisexual.
I aspire to the level of coolness where my conversation is reported entirely in lowercase with strange line breaks.
How nice it is to read this 3 years later + all comments and think ‘yup, queer.’