10 NEWS People
Dornan’s dislike of the modeling life
Jamie Dornan does not like being treated as
just a pretty face, said Jonathan Heaf in GQ
(U.K.). Now best known as the smoldering and
often shirtless star of the Fifty Shades of Grey
film adaptations, the Northern Irish actor first
made his name as a model in the early 2000s.
At age 19, he dropped out of college and—still
reeling over the death of his mother three years
earlier—began “drinking aggressively” in Belfast pubs. “My fam-
ily were worried about me being so directionless, so my sister put
me up for this TV show where you could win a modeling con-
tract.” Dornan, now 39, didn’t get the top prize. But he pursued a
modeling career and was soon working for Dior and Calvin Klein.
Dornan was hailed as “the male Kate Moss” and made good
money, but he didn’t enjoy the work. He didn’t care for the “hyper
energy” and “vanity” of the other male models and was frankly
embarrassed about his profession. “Whenever I went on a date, I’d
say I was a landscape gardener or worked for Google— anything
but admit to having my photo taken for a living.” Even now, he
doesn’t like posing for photos. “I find it an unnatural thing to hap-
pen. It’s not fun to be told continually to move your head about
like it is on a swivel. ‘Chin up. Chin down...’”
A teacher’s Bollywood dreams
A decade ago, Richard Klein decided he wasn’t living his best
life, said Sheila Yasmin Marikar in The New York Times. He
was content in his job as a teacher at a Hebrew day school in
Oakland and had a group of friends who were like a family. But
“one morning I woke up and thought, ‘If I don’t do something, I
could be here for the next 20 years,’” says Klein, now 55. “That
wouldn’t be a terrible outcome, but it wasn’t the one I wanted.”
He’d studied India in graduate school, went backpacking there
in the 1990s, and had long dreamed of breaking into Bollywood.
So, six months after his revelation, Klein moved to Mumbai. He
found work editing subtitles for English- language TV shows, then
started getting calls to dub Bollywood movies and, eventually, to
audition for acting roles. Klein has now appeared in dozens of
Indian films, TV shows, and commercials, playing a scientist, doc-
tor, chef, spy, and, quite often, a “mean British officer.” The initial
challenges of adapting to life in India—he often stayed in cheap
accommodations without hot showers—were made easier by his
intense love for the country. “I’m in India, the land of reincarna-
tion,” he says, “but as far as I’m concerned, I have this one life
that I’m dealing with. I want to make the most of it.”
Sarah Jessica Parker is returning to the world of Sex and the City,
where much has changed over the past 17 years, said Naomi Fry
in Vogue. There will still be an abundance of shopping bags and
Upper East Side hookups in the revival of the smash HBO series,
but the show’s stars are now middle-aged, and many viewers
can’t seem to get past that. “There’s so much misogynist chatter
in response to us that would never happen about a man,” says
Parker, 56. “Gray hair gray hair gray hair. I’m sitting with Andy
Cohen, and he has a full head of gray hair, and he’s exquisite.
Why is it OK for him? I don’t know what to tell you people!” The
social media peanut gallery can’t seem to make up its mind about
whether Parker and co-stars Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis
look too old or not old enough. “Everyone has something to say.
‘She has too many wrinkles, she doesn’t have enough wrinkles.’
It feels as if people almost enjoy us being pained by who we are
today, whether we choose to age naturally and not look perfect,
or whether you do something if that makes you feel better,”
Parker says. “I know what I look like. I have no choice. What am I
going to do about it? Stop aging? Disappear?”Getty
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ters,^ NewscomParker’s acceptance of aging
QBritney Spears is free at last from her
13-year conservatorship. Hundreds
of the singer’s “#Free Britney” fans
celebrated last week outside the
Los Angeles County Courthouse,
where a judge said control of
Spears’ estate, estimated to be worth
nearly $60 million, will be transferred
to her trust. Her attorney said a “safety
net” is in place for Spears’ personal
care. “I think I’m gonna cry the rest of
the day!” Spears, 39, wrote on Instagram.
It was the culmination of a dramatic
legal saga that included Spears saying
she’d been “traumatized” by the conser-
va tor ship and forced to accept such
restric tions as being required to wear anIUD so she couldn’t have more children.
Spears’ attor neys are seeking to depose her
father, Jamie, and other conservators about
whether they mismanaged her finances.
QFormer Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon
Gruden sued the NFL and its commissioner,
Roger Goodell, last week, saying he was the
victim of a “ Soviet-style character assas-
sination.” Gruden, who signed a $100 mil-
lion contract to coach the Raiders in 2018,
was forced to resign last month after he
was shown using racist, homophobic, and
misogy nistic language in emails he sent over
seven years to a former Wash ing ton Foot ball
Team executive. The messages surfaced af-
ter an NFL probe found that the Wash ing ton
team was a hostile workplace for women,
which led to a $10 million fine. “There is no
explanation or justification for why Gruden’semails were the only ones made public out
of the 650,000 emails collected in the NFL’s
investigation,” Gruden’s attorney said. The
NFL denies leaking any emails.
QAdele revealed this week the moment she
knew her marriage was doomed. Speaking
with Oprah Winfrey for a CBS special, the
British pop star, 33, recalled playing a ques-
tion game with friends. Asked “What’s some-
thing that no one would never know about
you?” Adele answered, “I’m really not happy.
I’m not living. I’m just plodding along.” Her
subsequent divorce from Brit ish charity CEO
Simon Konecki, in 2019, led Adele to take up
exercise and lose about 100 pounds. Some
heavyset fans felt betrayed. “I feel bad if any-
one feels horrible about themselves,” Adele
said, “but that’s not my job. I’m trying to sort
my own life out.”