Well, I braced myself and watched the CBS interview in full - I try to exclude the sight and sound of H&M as much as possible here at Chez Shady! - but it was only nine minutes long, and as it turned out, it was worth watching to listen to the sad experiences from genuinely traumatised and bereaved. It is important that tragedies like this aren't hidden, even as I question why they have to be brought into the open by H&M.
So firstly and most importantly, my heart goes out to those bereaved families featured (and to anyone who has suffered such a terrible loss). Listening to their stories was by far the most moving and informative part of the piece. All my very best wishes to them.
As for H&M, well...
I honestly don't think PH knows what he is talking about, just a load of babble about "the olden days" and "first responders", very much the armchair expert and completely unqualified to make pronunciations about the matter in hand unless his five and three year old children are some sort of technical prodigies. I'm sure there are plenty of fully qualified paramedics (as we call them in the UK) and other medical professionals who would be rightly affronted by his ridiculous and offensive assertion that even they can't see the signs of self-harm (I am calling it that as I do not wish to use the word he used).
Perhaps it was just as well the whole thing morphed into an opportunity for MM to talk about herself as per, and I'm not convinced she didn't know the subject of her own "experience" was going to be brought up, despite it being presented otherwise, especially as they inserted a clip of her talking to Oprah - are we seriously to believe she didn't know about this? Come on! If nothing else, we know that MM has to be in control of everything she does!
So having got past that likely staged part, MM said she hadn't "really scraped the surface" on her "experience" which can be interpreted as yet another veiled threat to the BRF. So there's more to come folks! As if we didn't know in spite of the puff pieces and olive branches, but I get the impression she won't discuss it in PH's presence. Which means it will be either via a solo interview/documentary series or a book, further down the line, which to look on the positive side will be something for her remaining fans to look forward to.
She then bravely says she will "take a hit" if her speaking out helps others, despite the fact that neither she or PH have ever publicly done anything to help stop the co-ordinated group online assaults on others by the "squad" named after them (much as PH has said nothing publicly to support the Baku people), which indicates that their willingness to help people only goes so far.
Personally, I found her performance (for want of a better word) rather fake and not very convincing; it just didn't ring true so to speak, the way she spoke about the children, the way she spoke about "overcoming", but perhaps that's not surprising as since Oprah I don't believe a word she says about anything - an opinion I am entitled to have and based on fact.
On a humorous note, there was one quite amusing moment when the interviewer referred to MM touching PH's hand "for support" when she was actually grasping his knee (as per the ESPYs). I don't think PH was playing, even when the interviewer pointedly referred to it and gave him his cue, he didn't budge; unlike the Beatles, PH most definitely
didn't want to hold MM's hand! I think this threw the interviewer slightly, and then at one point PH definitely has to force himself to pay attention to what MM is saying. Much of the time he looked as if he didn't want to be there, and after the interview off he would have gone, most likely to his naughty step
To conclude on a more serious note, the families gave an intelligent and moving insight into their genuine grief and trauma. I applaud them for doing this, but I fear they are being used by H&M in their own quest for relevance and publicity; I would have preferred to have seen other celebrities on board, who have experienced their scale of loss or have a genuine level of understanding of the issues involved (I can think of a few). My only hope is that these families do genuinely get something positive out of The Parents Network.
And on that note, I'm off now to enjoy a pleasant afternoon. Have a good day everyone!
