By ASHLEY DOS SANTOS
Oh young love. It isn’t easy for anyone, especially if you’re under the media microscope with your love life on one end and studio execs, paparazzi and a nation of tweens on the other.
Yes, it appears that Wyomissing native and pop-music golden child Taylor Swift has found a new beau in “New Moon” hunk Taylor Lautner. Or maybe not. In fact, neither Swift nor Lautner will confirm or deny their relationship, feeding into the tabloid machine that has proclaimed them young Hollywood’s new “it” couple.
If you’re wondering why their publicists are keeping this so ambiguous, there is a very simple, PR-based rationale. The not-knowing keeps the public talking and the tabloids interested. And that’s how you turn a client’s 15 minutes of fame into a lucrative career.
Swift secured her famed status after Kanye West’s social gaffe during September’s MTV Video Music Awards, putting a damper on his career and skyrocketing Taylor to a level of fame even she wasn’t expecting.
Combine that with actual talent and you’ve got a megastar. Her sophomore album “Fearless”, which has sold nearly 4 million copies and millions of digital downloads, was so successful that it was recently re-released with bonus tracks, and is likely to be the biggest album of 2009.
Suffice it to say Taylor Swift didn’t need Kanye West to make her truly famous: she did that all on her own.
So what’s Taylor Lautner’s story? Lautner, who presented Swift with her now infamous MTV award, is starring in the movie “New Moon” that comes out this Friday – the sequel to the cash-cow tween-sensation “Twilight”. Landing the role of the hunky teen werewolf helped him achieve what can only be described as mythic celebrity status among the nation’s tweens (and even some parents).
For the part, Lautner gained 30 pounds of muscle and is now essentially more famous for his ripped abs than he is for his acting chops. Though he may not be as famous as Swift, Lautner is likely to have a successful career for the next few years, assuming his future roles prominently feature him while shirtless.
Put the two Taylors together and you’ve got a media frenzy. Speculation about their relationship first began when Swift and Lautner filmed romantic scenes together for the upcoming movie “Valentine’s Day”. After photos of their on-screen kiss appeared, bloggers were begging to see Taylor and Taylor as a real life couple.
When the two were spotted at a hockey game together, the speculation turned into rumor mania. In Swift’s recent appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” she sang her opening monologue, which included a Lautner mention while blowing a kiss and winking at the camera. That small gesture not only scored Swift major media attention and boosted the sales of her record even further but also brought more attention to Lautner just in time for the “New Moon” release.
So is this relationship a farce concocted by Hollywood executives to drive ticket and record sales?
The jury is still out. Yes, it is convenient that they both have starring roles in major projects. But if you ever had a teenage romance, you may want to cut the Taylors some slack.
If you can imagine combining the angst of your first romances with the unimaginably intense pressures of celebrity, then I think it’s fair to assume that the Taylors are doing the best they can in extenuating circumstances. Buy into the media machine if you must with “Fearless” and “New Moon” and embrace their effort to be an adorable young couple trying to live a normal life in the very un-normal glare of the spotlight.
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Ben Grinspan contributed to this article.
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Ashley Dos Santos serves as a senior account executive at Crosby~Volmer International Communications in Washington D.C. She received her bachelor of arts degree in women & gender studies and romance languages from Dartmouth College.
November 19, 2009
THE TALE OF TWO TAYLORS
November 5, 2009
JON & KATE PLUS A RABBI
By ASHLEY DOS SANTOS
As thousands of Americans dressed up as Jon and Kate Gosselin for Halloween last week, Jon Gosselin also donned a new costume: spiritual pilgrim.
Jon, despite identifying as an evangelical Christian, recently had a very public meeting with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach for spiritual guidance on his quest to extend his 15 minutes of fame.
If there is one thing that the Gosselin media circus was missing, it was a good old fashioned dose of artificial piety.
Before their tabloid explosion, Jon and Kate Gosselin were actually considered role models by some religious communities because of their refusal to use selective termination when they found out that they were having sextuplets.
Now, it seems like Rabbi Shmuley is about the only religious figure willing to interact publicly with Jon Gosselin.
If the name Rabbi Shmuley sounds at all familiar, it’s because he was linked recently to Michael Jackson as his spiritual leader for a short time. The Rabbi’s book, chronicling the singer’s most private and confidential sentiments, was released in September after Jackson’s untimely death. Now that those 15 minutes of fame are up, Shmuley has conveniently found a new advisee in Jon Gosselin. You do the math.
Jon’s visit with the Rabbi is his latest public effort to clean up his image. We’re all painfully aware of Jon’s recent philandering, and how the slew of bad press forced TLC to drop him from his own television show.
So what did Jon learn throughout his deep spiritual quest? Jon told reporters after the meeting, “I am well aware that my behavior over the past few months has not always reflected my personal and religious values…I have allowed myself to become somewhat severed from my own moral anchor and be carried away by the challenges of fame.”
That’s an understatement, Jon. Just wait until your kids are old enough to Google you. Then try to teach them life lessons about morality and see how they react.
If there is one positive outcome from this ridiculous event, it’s that Jon Gosselin has reportedly “slowed things down” with his 22-year-old party-girl companion Hailey Glassman.
Previously, rumors were swirling that Glassman and Gosselin had discussed marriage, sending shivers down America’s collective backs.
The idea that this 22-year-old, whose Facebook profile is rife with photos of binge drinking and drug use, could possibly serve as a stepmother to 8 children under the age of ten would be laughable if it weren’t so utterly sad.
So while Jon Gosselin deserves credit for making one good decision, it’s pretty clear he hasn’t reached nirvana.
This meeting with Rabbi Shmuley conveniently took place a few days before Kate Gosselin’s highly publicized interview with NBC’s Natalie Morales aired on TLC. You don’t have to be a biblical scholar to figure out that this is yet another publicity stunt from a man who is watching his fame wane as his soon-to-be ex-wife’s stardom keeps rising.
To paraphrase a famous Bible verse: “It’s easier to get a camel through the eye of a needle… [than to get a man with tabloid money, hair plugs and a trashy college co-ed girlfriend into heaven].” Let’s hope Jon takes this message to heart and uses his new spiritual side to turn away from spending time with media-loving Rabbis and other C-list celebrities to focus on the truly important people in his life: his children.
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Ben Grinspan contributed to this article.
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Ashley Dos Santos serves as a senior account executive at Crosby~Volmer International Communications in Washington D.C. She received her bachelor of arts degree in women & gender studies and romance languages from Dartmouth College.
