Hear
There are television interviews that went down in history due to the expertise of the hosts in taking the conversation to unexpected places or because of the chemistry they achieved with their guests. And there are also the others, which also remained in the memory of many – and which now come to light again from time to time on the networks – for the opposite reasons: mocking, abusive interviewers totally obsessed with other people’s sexuality.
Being a megastar, a woman and a teenager didn’t come cheap for her. Britney Spears. At the beginning of the century, the little princess of pop could not enjoy her reign due to the permanent harassment she suffered from certain sectors of the press, which were much more interested in her budding sexual life than in her talent. she. With the protection of the uses and customs of other times, Different interviewers insisted again and again that she tell them, in great detail, if she had already lost her virginity.. The storm turned into a deluge of offenses when the singer ended her romance with her colleague, Justin Timberlake. And it was at that moment, in 2003, when journalist Diane Sawyer sharpened her teeth and aimed all her venom at the artist, who was 21 years old at the time.
“We all know that you did something that caused Justin a lot of suffering. “What did you do?” He inquired, placing all the blame for the separation on Britney. “I have only slept with one person in my entire life, two years after my relationship with Justin,” responded the singer, already tired of having darts pointed at her. But her response, clearly hers, did not satisfy Sawyer, who was willing to continue hitting her until she fell to the floor. “However, We all have the impression that you were not faithful, that you betrayed him”, he insisted.
But the journalist’s obsession with Britney’s sex life led her to take it a step further: “If you were talking to your younger sister now [Jamie Lynn Spears, de 12 años], and with little Britney who said she would remain a virgin until she got married… What would you say to them? Sawyer also joined the wave of criticism for the clothing that the artist wore in shows and in photographic productions. Showing the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in which the singer is seen with her naked torso, she questioned him: “What happened to your clothes?… What is it about?” She asked him. And, without being intimidated, Britney responded: “What is it about? It’s about providing a beautiful image. I feel comfortable in my skin… I think it’s okay to express yourself. “Kate Hudson did it, Jennifer Lopez did it, Christina Aguilera did it, but if I do it, it’s a problem.”
Sawyer then took it a step further and brought into the conversation the terrible words of the wife of former Maryland governor Kendall Ehrlich, who expressed that she would like to kill Britney Spears. Then, the interviewer reflected that the woman surely feels that desire “because of the example she sets for children, how difficult it is to be a parent and keep all this away from your children.” To that, Spears responded tallly: “Well, it’s very sad that she said that… I’m not here to take care of your children”.
Friends Not only did it mark a new way of doing comedy and launch six actors to stardom, but it also imposed aesthetic trends for an entire decade. Above all, because of the haircuts that Jennifer Aniston showed in each season. However, it is one thing to praise a star’s hair and quite another to suck it.
That’s what David Letterman did in 1998, in the middle of an interview. While the actress was answering what were the strangest situations in which she established relationships with her fans and remembered her funny encounter with a viewer in a sauna, the presenter interrupted her to make a strange request. After she placed her chair behind the star and placed his hand on one of her shoulders, she shot back: “Forgive me if this is rude. I just want to try one thing…”
Then, to Aniston’s astonishment, he put his mouth close to the actress’s face, put a lock of hair in his mouth and began to suck on it. Then he tried to justify his action with a joke about the sauna, but it was too late. From that moment on, the actress began to appear very uncomfortable. “It’s something I will never forget“She said after removing the presenter’s saliva from her hair with a handkerchief.
Brooke Shields He described as “practically criminal” an interview that Barbara Walters conducted with him when he was just 15 years old. The talk with the controversial presenter took place after she starred in an advertising campaign for Calvin Klein, in 1980, in which Shields said, looking at the camera: “Do you want to know what comes between my Calvins and me… Nothing” .
In that talk, in which Teri Shields, mother and agent of the actress, was also present, Walters asked the actress The blue Lagoon his measurements, if he has the feeling of not having had a childhood and if he keeps any secrets from his mother. The interviewer was willing to do anything to get Brooke to confirm what at that point was just a rumor: that her mother was addicted to alcohol.
The truth is that although Shields began working in show business at 11 months old and by the time she was a teenager she had already become a star and a premature sex symbol, her daily life was not very different from that of any girl in the 1980s. . That contrast was evident in that interview, when Walters began to shamelessly investigate her sexual life, generating great discomfort in her.
“She asked me what my measurements were and asked me to stand up. And I stood up and she was like comparing herself to this girl. And I thought, ‘This is not right. I do not understand what it is’. But I just behaved and smiled“Shields told Drew Barrymore, in 2022.
Walters seems not to have lost his obsession with other people’s sexuality. Twenty years after the interview with Shields, in 2000, she forced Ricky Martin to come out of the closet. With the help of Madonna, the Puerto Rican singer had made his way into the United States through the front door and had conquered the English-speaking public. Although he systematically refused to give details about his love life, the presenter wanted a scoop, no matter what.
Martin came out publicly as gay a decade later, when he was already the father of his two oldest children and his father made him understand that having a “secret” life was not a good example for them. However, in the first interview with Walters he had to juggle to avoid falling into his trap. At that moment, bluntly, the host “invited” him to deny the rumors about his homosexuality.
“You could say, ‘Yes, I’m gay. Or, no, I’m not,’” she pushed him away with a certain perverse glee in her eyes. The artist, clearly uncomfortable, surprised and violated, responded: “I just don’t feel like it.”
“I just wasn’t ready to come out,” Ricky explained much later. “I was very scared. “I have a little PTSD from that.”, revealed. Walters, for her part, assured in 2010 that she was not proud of that interview. “When I think about it now, I feel like it was an inappropriate question,” she admitted.
In 2015, a very young Cara Delevingne gave an interview to the program Good Day Sacramentofrom CBC, as part of the promotion of the film Paper cities. It could have been just another television talk, but it remained forever in history. So much so that this year it resurfaced on the networks as an example of everything that should not be done.
At first, they introduced her as “Carla”, showing that they did not have the slightest idea who the person they were going to interview was. From that moment on, everything got worse. The first question was whether she had read the book on which the film’s script is based. AND She, displaying her particular British humor, replied that no, that she had not read the book or its lines and that she had simply improvised..
“I think the book is amazing. John Green is an incredible author. Really, if you haven’t read his books, you should,” he added later. But his interviewers, three people with more desire for prominence than grace, then began their manual of what not to do and used it in its entirety. “Looking back at your career, it’s like you’re doing one thing after another, after another. Do you find it difficult to concentrate because you are so busy? If you had downtime, maybe it wouldn’t be so hard,” one advised, without being asked.
“No. I don’t know what that’s about. I love what I do, it’s not crazy, it’s my passion. I’ve wanted to do this since I was a girl, so there’s nothing too difficult.“, answered. But things continued from bad to worse. She continued to respond first sarcastically and then seriously, and although the strategy was repetitive and there were three drivers, none of them understood the game.
“I saw you in London speaking a couple of weeks ago on TV and you seemed much more excited than you are right now. “Has your enthusiasm run out?” they asked. The actress, who was actually in London, trying to listen to her questions, was surprised by her observation. “Oh no. I’m still very excited. Last night was the premiere and it was an emotional night, it felt like the end of an era, but I’m no less excited than I was a couple of weeks ago. Maybe he had a little more energy. “It’s morning,” she tried to justify herself.
But there was no case. There came the fatal blow: “You seem a little irritated. We’ll let you go, so how are you? “I’ll let him go, maybe take a little nap, get a Red Bull, how about that?” the news anchor shot. Even though they ended the conversation, Cara remained connected for a few minutes, not believing what was happening. And far from ending the issue, they continued criticizing her for a long time.
THE NATION
