Getting Emotional

I know a few things happened in this episode but am going to skip to what affected me the most…Saks. Not sure why Jill said that she thought I was crying for some reason unrelated to her. My emotion was a direct response to her actions.

At Saks I told Jill that my feelings had been building up since Ungaro. Let me shed a little light on just what had been building up. Over the past three years, Jill has never missed an opportunity to give her opinion about my children. She has told me where they should go to school. She has told me what they should eat. She has told me that she thinks they need to be tested for various disorders, and that I should apply for extra time for them to take tests. She has discussed their diets and their behavior. Let’s pause on the behavior, because that certainly didn’t start at Ungaro. One comment at one party is no big deal – if it were only that I’d have let it go. It’s all the comments built up over years – Ungaro was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. Jill shouts it from the rooftops when she thinks our sons or my husband are being inappropriate. To give her a little credit, she was equally loud when we were at her home in the Hamptons and the boys were being lovely, but that wasn’t on tape and I think Jill thinks that (particularly when the cameras are around) making digs is a lot more fun than paying compliments.

I would also like to bring up one more thing. Earlier at Saks LuAnn and I are discussing my client Second Time Around, when Ramona flies in and accuses LuAnn of not wanting us at her house, which I tend to believe, given past behavior and particularly after what happened next. After Ramona and Simon drifted away, I asked LuAnn about the kids at the dock, and she said Jill told her about it, not the other way around. THAT was the reason I then felt the need to confront Jill immediately instead of taking her out to lunch, as I’d told Bethenny earlier. I know you guys didn’t see that, but I really wanted to get the two of them together to find out why they were each blaming the other. After somebody dragged her out of the bathroom, LuAnn did a 180 and owned it, which was helped along by a flashback. Yes, LuAnn was the one told the story about François at Ungaro, after Jill brought it up because she thought it was the “perfect time.” Parties are apparently the perfect time for her to make fun of my children by encouraging LuAnn to tell the story, but parties are not the appropriate setting for me to react to that? Hmmm.

That scene in Saks was the first time Jill ever acknowledged any of the three years of comments, and while doing so she wouldn’t let me speak, she played with my earring, she adjusted my blouse, and generally fussed around with every piece of my shell instead of looking into my eyes and connecting. Jill asked me “do you feel better?” and proceeded to tell me I should. I didn’t feel better at all, quite frankly. Once I starting crying she covered me with apologies, in my opinion not because she was actually sorry but because I was crying. I had my jaw on the floor, looking completely confused because I really couldn’t believe what I’d just heard. What do I know? I know that at Ungaro, Jill thought it would be the perfect time to make LuAnn tell a story, and she did. I know that much because I saw it played back on tape. At Saks, it appears I jumped on the instigator, not the pawn.

So yes, this has been a build up. After the Ungaro party, I started thinking not only about the dock story but also about all the stupid little petty digs Jill has made about my husband and my children over the past three years, both on the show, off the show, in print, etc., and it built into a tidal wave. That wave hasn’t crested yet. Watch what happens.

OK, now that we’ve dealt with that, there were a few other things that happened in the episode. Nice to see Avery – she is growing up into such a young lady.

Bethenny’s Skinnygirl party was hilarious; I had a front row seat for Kelly and Bethenny, part three! One thing in particular that cracked me up that got cut: while Kelly was making a huge effort to apologize to her, Bethenny kept making comments (that were funny and meant to help the situation) but Kelly just wasn’t catching them. Finally I told Bethenny to stooooop so Kelly could get her apology out. I thought it was a good effort on both parts to meet in the middle. Let’s see whether that lasts…

Twitter.com/mccordalex Mccordvankempen.com
Twitter.com/simonvankempen Mccordvankempen.com