Hollywood Unhooked (Un-Glued, more precise)

This past week, with all the drama surrounding Eddie Murphy questioning the paternity of Mel B.'s baby, it would appear that Hollywood has sunk to a new low with respect to relationships. In a December 4 television interview with Dutch magazine program RTL Boulevard to promote his new film, Dreamgirls (see clip, dated 04-12), Murphy, 45, was asked by an interviewer on the show: "So, are you happy with her? Because she is pregnant from your child." He answered, rather scoffingly we thought, "You're being presumptuous, because we're not together any more, and I don't know whose child that is until it comes out and has a blood test. You shouldn't jump to conclusions, sir." What a difference a couple of months make. Place Mr. Murphy's comments within the backdrop of the subsequent announcement that he and Tracey Edmonds, a film producer and the ex-wife of singer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, are now dating, and the allegation that Mr. Murphy seemingly forgot to tell Ms. Brown that their relationship was over, and it becomes clear that fame and wealth have nothing to do with class, or a sense of decency. Some could liken Mr. Murphy's new relationship with Ms. Edmonds to a bold "career move," similar to that made by Kevin Federline when he dumped his then 7-months-pregnant girlfriend, Shar Jackson, for Britney Spears. But, at least, as far as we know, Mr. Federline never added insult to injury by publicly questioning the paternity of Ms. Jackson's baby.

To be sure, it would be wise for Ms. Edmonds to take a step back from this situation, at least until the dust clears. Of course, we are being very presumptuous, also, in believing that she would care either way. But, if Ms. Brown’s story is straight, and Mr. Murphy is, indeed, her baby’s father, then we cannot imagine how Ms. Edmonds (or any decent woman, for that matter) would be able to build a lasting relationship with Mr. Murphy at this point in time—certainly not one based on trust. Without question, her new beau’s character, and his integrity, is at stake in this unfolding saga. In the glow and promise of new romance, couples tend to view the objects of their affection through rose-colored spectacles, never fully grasping that what they’re seeing is what they'll actually get...even more so as time progresses. More often than not, they reason that they’ve got the “goods” to beat the odds, and that they'll be the exception. However, we can bet our bottom dollar that Britney Spears is learning these life principles the hard way: What goes around comes around, and no matter how great the sex is, ultimately, what looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…

In any event, we believe there’s a more fundamental issue at hand. Why are strong, balanced, principled men seemingly so rare today—even viewed as oddities? Why are there so few men of the same stature and uncompromising strength as in past generations? Likewise, traditional, virtuous women constitute a dying breed, as scarce today, it would appear, as rain in the Sudan. What has happened to our culture? M. Wayne Icenhower attempts to answer these questions in an essay entitled The Way We Were… and Now, which was recently republished by Real Truth magazine (and posted on The Real Proposal™ magazine’s Marriage In The News web page on December 7, 2006). Icenhower postulates that one of the perplexing ironies of history is that there are many difficulties that accompany the material prosperity and power of a dominant culture such as that of the United States. People become governed by human nature and moral relativism, typically becoming much more selfish and self-centered. Associated with this change in human behavior are all forms of corruption and evil, which never fail to turn the social landscape upside down. In our day, we are witnessing gender roles being blurred, homosexuality considered normal, and marriage redefined. Traditional roles and values, once clearly defined and understood, are now being dismantled and reshaped. But this "new" way of thinking, Icenhower points out, is not new at all. Indeed, history demonstrates that, prior to total economic and military collapse, prosperous and dominant cultures always produced a final generation of weakened and softer men.

Be that as it may, in light of this real-life Murphy-Brown saga, and such increasingly common Hollywood spectacles as the Britney Spears-K-Fed divorce drama, we believe it is propitious to spotlight a newly published book by Dawn Eden, a New York Daily News editor and blogger with an eclectic background, entitled The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On. What we love about this book is its counter-culture, revolutionary stance. For sure, it turns upside down the pervasive sex-in-the-city message that the way to make a man fall in love with a woman is for her to have sex with him... by any means, and in any which way, necessary. In fact, Ms. Eden points to an undeniable truth that she had avoided acknowledging for so many years—that all the sex she'd ever experienced hadn’t brought her any closer to marriage. Eventually, she came to the astonishing and truly life-altering conclusion that engaging in premarital sex had actually prevented her from gaining the emotional maturity necessary to sustain a marriage.

Revolutionary, indeed. Perhaps, we’ll mail a copy to Us magazine, because we were startled recently—even shocked—by their wanton disregard for any sense of propriety in posing the following question at the end of a recent report on the Jennifer Anniston-Vince Vaughn real life break up: Who should Jen date next? Now while we recognize that perpetuating such inane drivel solidifies their position in the pop culture of the absurd, here's a revolutionary thought: Perhaps, Jen should not date anybody for a while and try to figure out her life... without any more sex in the city!


EDITOR'S NOTE: Eddie Murphy, Tracey Edmonds Suddenly Split People magazine, January 16, 2008
Eddie Murphy and Tracey Edmonds have called it quits just two weeks after their intimate wedding in Bora, Bora on New Year's Day.