Why do we care?

Why do we care about the Sandra Bullock /scandal? I surely did not care about the Tiger Woods fiasco or the peephole book by Andrews about Edwards and his affairs. But I find myself, who wants to know as little as possible about the private lives of actors, really saddened to hear of the betrayal of Ms. Bullock. I don’t know the woman but I always enjoy watching her work and she ‘seems’ a nice person. I was so touched by her comments to her husband after accepting one award when she said that she had never known, until him, what it was like to “have someone who has your back.” Ouch! Then he betrays her in such a public manner. It struck a personal note with me as I did not know that feeling until later in my life and I can’t imagine what it would have felt like to have it betrayed.

When she married the unlikely tattooed Jessie James I loved her comment on the subject during an interview, “You have to love a person’s history when you love the person,” she said. I found that very profound and true. I’m thrilled when anyone finds his or her true love, there’s too little of that going around.

So when the big betrayal (I consider adultery to be treason, what else can you call it?) was publicized I found myself very saddened. Now you know me, I can normally be found over at the New York Times, The Economist, Discover, or SWAT but one of my guilty pleasures is to occasionally click over to People.com to see what the pretty people are wearing – after all, that is their job – to be pretty.

I hate knowing too much about their private lives however as it tends to limit my viewing pleasure. After Tom Cruise went on his Scientology rant and told Brooke Shields that she was handling post partum depression all wrong (I’m sorry - if you don’t have a uterus, you don’t get to make those kind of statements) I can no longer watch the Mission Impossible series and I loved those movies. After Mel Gibson went on his anti-Semitic and anti-anyone but Roman Catholics (and some of those he’s not sure about) will not reach “heaven” rant – it ruled out a slew of movies I had loved. I just prefer the old studio system that kept the actors under wraps and trotted them out for premieres and the occasional serial wedding – thank you Liz.

But for some reason, perhaps it is her choice of roles, or the way she conducts herself in public, or the fact that she has two dogs who are missing limbs that makes me care. I find myself going over to People.com to read what is happening with Ms. Bullock. I’m really pissed at Jessie James and especially that he couldn’t see that he had married up (his last wife was a porn star), and went back to the trailer park. I say that not knowing what kind of person the young woman is – other than the fact that she slept with a married man and now seems intent on cashing in on that fact.

All in all I find it overwhelmingly sad and I send my prayers and good wishes toward Ms. Bullock (I don’t have to know her to do that) no matter what course she decides to take.

Ciao sniff