BY JEANETTE LENOIR
Want to know how women truly love each other? Read the book, Tripping The Prom Queen. But first, read the recent tribute written by a so-called girlfriend honoring the late legendary journalist and broadcaster, Barbara Walters. It’s what sparked my need to discuss a controversial topic: the disingenuous elements of the relationship between women.
Walters’ long-time friend and fellow journalist, Cindy Adams, took her thoughts and jotted them down in a tribute to honor her friendship with the icon. Adams highlighted the many experiences she shared with Walters, from their travels around the world, shopping sprees, dining at fancy restaurants to smooching with celebrities on fancy yachts. Adams wants the world to know that Barbara Walters was her best friend. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with these bragging rights. However, Adams, in her last sentence, made a Freudian slip and showed us the dark side of their friendship: jealousy.
“I’ll tell you one thing — it’s tough to lose a longtime best friend. Number One. Nobody could beat Barbara Walters. But the very day she left us, so did His Holiness the former Pope Emeritus Benedict. For the first time in a quarter of a century, Barbara Walters took second billing,” Adams ends her tribute to her late friend. After reading everything else she wrote, even disregarding the fact that she didn’t even mention Walters’ daughter, Jacqueline Dena Guber, I was let down. It’s an anguish I experience regularly and it’s knowing deep down that some girlfriends, sisters and even mothers harbor jealousy and ill-will towards one another. Adams revelation broke my heart, however, it brought to the surface an important issue women must confront. And that is jealousy, rivalry and how we secretly don’t like each other.
Another recent example of this betrayal is the disturbing case of GMA3 co-hosts, TJ Holmes and Amy Robach, who for whatever reason are determined to glamorize adultery and lack of decency. These two families were apparently friends. But sadly, Robach was only pretending to be Holmes’ friend and colleague because in actuality, she wanted her girlfriends husband for her own, despite having her own husband and children. Amy Robach is no woman’s girlfriend. She is the epitome of the black heart some women hide when they pretend to laugh with their girlfriends, when the truth is hiding gnashed teeth filled with bitterness, envy and hate that another woman is happy. Another phenomenon of the state of our bond and loyalty is that some women are taking their home wrecking skills to social media to brag about stealing other women’s husbands. We saw this play out on the hit TV show, Love and Marriage: Huntsville on the OWN Network. Yes, even our television guru Oprah Winfrey benefits financially from exploiting this ugly truth between women.
Why can’t we be happy for each other? Has there ever been loyalty amongst women? Can we truly trust each other with our significant others? Do we only join hands to hate men and the women who threaten us? Amy Robach is the tragic testament to this ugly truth of the phony friendship between women. And we hear of this soul conflict all the time. We share stories of how women don’t dress to impress men but other women, how the babysitter or housekeeper turns into the mistress and/or baby momma (Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger) and the list goes on and on. Men do this too, but women are the greatest offenders of loyalty. They just hide it better.
Nevertheless, this year women plan to congregate on January 22nd as part of the Women’s March movement to fight for our families, our freedom and our future. However, considering the state of our fraying bond and disloyalty toward one another, it may be wise to keep significant others at home. Forget fearing a Karen, but be weary of the Amy Robach’s running loose.
