The Wicked Ingénue

I heart reality television. My love affair with it began back in ‘96 when I saw an episode of “The Real World: Miami”. It amazed me that those people had the balls to live every second of their life, including their freaking sex lives, on national television. I was too young at the time to realize that these types of programs don’t necessarily reflect reality in every sense of the word, but coming to this realization as an adult hasn’t diminished my fondness for watching everyday people being filmed 24/7. It’s great mindless entertainment, and we all need to be mindlessly entertained from time to time.

I stopped watching “TRW” series several years ago (I grew out of MTV in my early twenties), but my enthusiasm for reality shows remains intact. I’ve since graduated to the Bravo network, and I’m a big fan of several of their programs: “Tabitha’s Salon Takeover”, “Top Chef”, and “Project Runway” (which, sadly, is no more) are among my personal faves. None of them quite compare, however, to my favorite reality show of all time: “The Real Housewives”.

If you aren’t familiar with “TRH”, here’s the gist of it: the lives of five well-to-do women in exclusive areas of the country are chronicled. Thus far, the cities included in the series are Atlanta (my personal fave), New York, New Jersey, Orange County, and Washington D.C. (which debuts sometime this year). Right now, it’s the Orange County gals’ turn, and although I find most of them to be extremely annoying, I’ve been watching the show because I’m from Southern California and it’s neat to see familiar people and places on the show.

One OC gal in particular is in the news (well, gossip columns, I should say) quite frequently, probably because she’s the youngest, most attractive, and most engaging cast member. Her name is Gretchen Rossi, and she joined the show last season. At that time, she was engaged to a wealthy man who was twenty-five years her senior and who was battling cancer. These facts instantly gave her a reputation for being a gold digger who takes advantage of old men. Her fiance ended up passing away, and rumor has it he left her two million bucks in his will.

Naturally, this didn’t sit well with the other women on the show. They saw it as an Anna Nicole Smith-type situation, and naturally, they began to speak badly of Gretchen. Women can be so cruel, jealous, and hateful toward other women. It just breaks my heart.

First of all, I see nothing wrong with May/December romances. I don’t think love and attraction should or can be relegated to age or other specific qualities. That’s why it cracks me up when people make checklists of what they’re looking for in a mate. So silly.

Second of all, who’s to say that Gretchen manipulated her late fiance into falling for her, spending money on her, and including her in his will? I think this assumption is rather insulting to the fiance. And even if they had some sort of “deal” worked out (i.e., you take care of me personally, I’ll take care of you financially), so what? If both people are consenting, I see no issue. But apparently other people think it is an issue (most likely people who’re unhappy with themselves and with their lives).

So this is what the poor girl is dealing with at the end of the last season. Then, a few months before this current season aired, some pictures of Gretchen surfaced on a website called The Dirty. Some of them were typical drunken party girl pictures that most of us have fallen victim to, but some of them were more provocative. Bare breasts, vibrators, sexual situations, bowel movements, etc. Pictures that someone else took, probably someone she knew and trusted, then decided to post for the world to see.

I don’t know about ya’ll, but I think the person who posted these private pictures should be chastised, not the person who’s in the pictures. Yeah, yeah, she allowed the pictures to be taken, but still, I’m sure she had no idea that everyone would see them and that she’d have to explain them to the world on television. She wasn’t hurting anyone with her behavior – she was having fun in a way that she deemed appropriate. I can’t understand why people are so judgmental about the situation.

I’m not emotionally invested in this incident or “TRH” cast members, but this whole thing caused me to contemplate how quick people are to judge others so harshly. Yes, people in the public eye must realize that they’re going to be judged before they put themselves out there – and I’ll experience this myself when my memoir comes out – but that doesn’t make it right, and it certainly doesn’t make it any less irritating. I think there’s a big difference between having an opinion and judging, but I don’t think many people recognize this difference. You can’t let it get you down, though, and it doesn’t seem like Gretchen is. And hey, she’s the one getting the most attention and publicity, so it appears that the joke’s on everyone else.

If you’ve never seen an episode of “The Real Housewives of Orange County”, check it out tonight – it airs at 7PM EST and 10PM PST on Bravo. I’ll certainly be watching. Go, Team Gretchen!