Tag: Connie

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Connie Britton on Dirty John, the Zombie Apocalypse, and More

Post author By news22
Post date October 17, 2018
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Actress Connie Britton first captured our hearts in 2006 on Texas sports drama Friday Night Lights as Tami Taylor, a compassionate guidance counselor and wife of Dillon Panthers high school football couch. Next, she scared us all in season one of Ryan Murphy’s cult show American Horror Story and then showcased her vocal chops on Nashville as Queen of Country Rayna Jaymes alongside Hayden Panettiere. She subsequently went onto star in two more Ryan Murphy backed projects, 2015’s American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson and this year’s 9-1-1.

Starting on November 25, Britton will star in the much anticipated true crime podcast turned Bravo limited series Dirty John as Debra Newell, a successful woman looking to fall in love online and ends up in quite the situation. To promote her new eerie role, Britton candidly answered “The Big Questions” for Glamour’s November issue below.

What’s your full name, and where does it come from?

Constance Elaine Womack. My mother had a really dear friend named Connie, who passed away of cancer right before my twin sister and I were born, so I was named after her.

What’s your most irrational fear?

Failing. But one thing I’ve learned is that even if you do fail, you grow so much from that experience that it isn’t really failure.

What’s your idea of true happiness?

That’s such a funny one because there’s the macro version which is you know the world being at peace and all people communicating and relating to each other in a productive way. And then there’s the more immediate tangible one which is being with my dearest, closest friends and family and great conversation and time to spend together and good food and laughter.

Illustration by Helen Green

On the other hand, what is your idea of hell on Earth?

People being oppressed and being in a situation where people have no power and have no voice.

What’s the greatest invention of all time?

The wheel!

And the worst?

The freeway.

If you could be anyone, real or fictional, who would it be?

I would be interested in like what it would be like to be Mother Theresa because she seemed to be able to have such a completely generous life in a way where it felt completely authentic and her selflessness didn’t seem to take a toll on her. I would be fascinated to get into her skin and know exactly how her heart and her brain work.

When the zombie apocalypse comes what skill will you contribute to the new society?

I’m doing Dirty John right now and there’s a character in our show that is basically obsessed with the zombie apocalypse so it’s put the zombie apocalypse in a whole new light for me. I’d be a really good lead hugger. I’d be really good at giving hugs and that would remind people like, “Hey take it down a notch. You don’t need to be so aggro. Let’s all connect with each other as we’re rebuilding society.”

What’s something you wish you’d written?

Thelma & Louise, but I got to do the second-best thing and work with the film’s writer, Callie Khouri[on Nashville].

You’re stuck on a desert island and can bring only three things. What are they?

I’d want to have a man there, a knife, and a memoir called To Shake the Sleeping Self that my friend Jedidiah Jenkins wrote. I can give him a shameless plug. He’s the most beautiful writer. It’s an incredible book about his travels. He took a bike journey for a year and in the course of doing that he really learned a lot about himself.

Would you rather be able to stop time or speed it up?

Definitely stop time. I don’t even know what the speeding of time means. It just causes me immediate stress to think about it! As far as I’m concerned the idea of stopping time sounds fantastic. You can stop at a particular moment and hang out there for awhile? Great news.

If you could phone a friend right now, who would it be?

My phone a friend is really always my friend Carla. We’ve been friends for a very long time. She always has amazing insight. She’s one of those friends that I feel like she can see me so clearly even when I can’t see myself. And so she can always give me really wonderful insight when I need it and can’t find it.

What chapter of your own life would be most fascinating to read?

This one! I know more now than I ever have.

This story appeared in Glamour’s November issue.

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Tags Apocalypse, Britton, Connie, Dirty, John, Zombie

Health

Connie Chung Reveals She Was Sexually Assaulted in a Letter to Christine Blasey Ford

Post author By news22
Post date October 3, 2018
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In a powerful op-ed in the Washington Post framed as a letter to Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser Christine Blasey Ford, journalist Connie Chung reveals that she is a victim of sexual assault.

“I, too, was sexually assaulted — not 36 years ago but about 50 years ago,” Chung writes. “I have kept my dirty little secret to myself. Silence for five decades.”

She says the abuser was her family’s trusted doctor—the man who had delivered her as a baby in 1946. Much like Ford’s recollection before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the exact time and date may not be clear in her memory, but Chung writes with certainty about who assaulted her.

“It was the 1960s. I was in college. The sexual revolution was in full swing. The exact date and year are fuzzy. But details of the event are vivid — forever seared in my memory. Am I sure who did it? Oh yes, 100 percent.”

Similarly, Ford told the committee of her certainty about Kavanaugh when asked by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) how she was sure it was him. “The same way that I’m sure that I’m talking to you right now,” Ford said.

The details Chung describes in the piece are painful to read (and may be triggering to some). She visited her doctor to secure birth control and found herself on his examination table awaiting her first gynecological exam.

“While I stared at the ceiling, his right index finger massaged my clitoris. With his right middle finger inserted in my vagina, he moved both fingers rhythmically. He coached me verbally in a soft voice, ‘Just breathe. Ah-ah,’ mimicking the sound of soft breathing. ‘You’re doing fine,’ he assured me. Suddenly, to my shock, I had an orgasm for the first time in my life. My body jerked several times. Then he leaned over, kissed me, a peck on my lips, and slipped behind the curtain to his office area. I don’t remember saying anything to him. I could not even look at him. I quickly dressed and drove home.”

Chung thinks she may have told one of her sisters, but did not tell her parents or report the doctor to authorities. “It never crossed my mind to protect other women. Please understand, I was actually embarrassed about my sexual naiveté,” she writes. “I was in my 20s and knew nothing about sex. All I wanted to do was bury the incident in my mind and protect my family.”

In another heartbreaking detail (and an added layer to why some women don’t report assault), she says that her mother could neither read nor write in English—and she could not drive. (Her parents immigrated from China the year before she was born.) So that she did not have to return to the doctor’s office, Chung told her mother he lived too far away. She eventually told her husband, but doesn’t recall exactly when.

Like Ford, she says she is “terrified” about making this public revelation. “I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. Can you?” she asks. “If you can’t, I understand. I am frightened, I am scared, I can’t even cry.”

“I wish I could forget this truthful event, but I cannot because it is the truth. I am writing to you because I know that exact dates, exact years are insignificant. We remember exactly what happened to us and who did it to us. We remember the truth forever. Bravo, Christine, for telling the truth.”

Bravo, to you both.

MORE: Watch Donald Trump Publicly Mock Christine Blasey Ford at Mississippi Rally

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Tags Assaulted, Blasey, Christine, Chung, Connie, Ford, Letter, Reveals, Sexually

Health

The Full Story Behind Connie Britton's 2018 Golden Globes 'Poverty Is Sexist' Sweater

Post author By news22
Post date January 10, 2018
No Comments on The Full Story Behind Connie Britton's 2018 Golden Globes 'Poverty Is Sexist' Sweater

Of all the black looks to walk down the red carpet at the 2018 Golden Globes, Connie Britton‘s was arguably the most statement-making.

As part of the Time’s Up-backed black-out, the actress wore a Max Mara ballgown skirt with a Lingua Franca sweater to the ceremony. As with all of the latter label’s signature knits, it was embroidered with a phrase across the front; Britton’s read: “Poverty is sexist.”

PHOTO: Kevork Djansezian/NBC

When images emerged on Twitter of Britton wearing the Lingua Franca sweater without context, many were confused by the sentiment. Go through Twitter, and you’ll find people wondering what she could’ve meant by it and whether it was just another slogan slapped onto a shirt. Then, when the style was attributed back to Lingua Franca (the embroidered script being pretty recognizable), some characterized it as contradictory or even hypocritical, as most of the brand’s products carry three-figure price tags. But a crucial detail was missing in the equation: “Poverty is sexist” is the name of one of ONE Campaign‘s gender equality initiatives, which Britton has been supporting for a while—and the sweater was made by Lingua Franca at the request of the organization.

“The phrase was inspired by ONE Campaigns ‘Poverty is sexist’ initiative, which aims to break down the barriers holding girls and women back as part of broader efforts to end extreme poverty,” Rachelle Hruska MacPherson, founder of Lingua Franca, tells Glamour over email. “We’re so honored and proud to be standing in solidarity with so many incredible women, both on the red carpet and everywhere.”

ONE Campaign requested that Lingua Franca make a sweater with the name of its campaign to give as a gift to Britton, she explains. The brand has received inquiries about recreating the sweater post-Globes (anyone can order a custom style via email), and will be donating $100 of each purchase (each sweater usually goes for around $380) to the Campaign for Female Education, “in support of their work ensuring women and girls get the education they deserve.”

The price tag was highly scrutinized in the aftermath of the Golden Globes. “The response [to Britton’s sweater] has been largely positive but we’ve definitely had some negative comments—more about the price than the actual saying,” Hruska says. However, as soon as there were detractors on social media, there were just as many folks responding to set the record straight on the brand’s ethical practices: Though the price can feel prohibitive to many, it’s due to Lingua Franca’s commitment to paying their workers fair wages, sourcing responsibly, and giving back to charitable causes. (Plus, Britton and Lingua Franca found supporters in Sally Kohn, the National Women’s Law Center, who backed up the sweater’s statement.)

“We never set out to make mass products for low- or mid-level pricing (fast fashion),” Hruska explains. “That’s just not us. We stitch everything by hand on luxury cashmere (sourced ethically, using clean energy and fair trade) and care deeply about paying all of our employees and our embroiderers (who all work locally in NYC) a living wage. We also care about our brand as a platform for creating dialogue and inspiring change, not selling tons of sweaters.”

Britton, too, went on the record to clear up any lingering questions about her Golden Globes look.

https://twitter.com/conniebritton/status/950881962805280768

This won’t be the last time you see Lingua Franca involved with conversations of gender equality in Hollywood. The brand created two sweaters partnership with Time’s Up—a collaboration that actually came through Instagram. After posting a picture one of its knits with embroidery reading “Time’s Up” on its social channels, Hruska says that “Reese [Witherspoon] contacted me through a friend to request them for her executive team.” Lingua Franca then decided to produce them “as a fundraiser for the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, to which we donate $100 of each sale.”