Jill Zarin Episode 13 Exclusive Extended Blog
I thought I would be lounging in the Hamptons this June. Boy was I wrong! I have had to come back to the city every week and this week was no exception. I think it was a record 6 nights out in a row which I haven't done in a very long time. Phoenix House Charity event in the Hamptons on Saturday, dinner with friends Sunday, Swan Lake Monday, Luann's CD launch party Tuesday and Cirque du Soleil Wednesday and a wedding Thursday night. Add to that meetings all day and I am literally pooped out! I should be looking forward to going out July 4th weekend and all I want to do is crash in bed and watch TIVO all weekend. Fat chance of that happening. Bobby loves going out and I don't want to ruin his good time so I will suck it up and smile. But all of you know what I REALLY want to do. SHHH. (Boy am I being honest this week!) I want to share a few details from this past weeks festivities.
Bobby, Lisa and my niece Joanna and I attended the first performance of Swan Lake at Lincoln Center, Monday night. Irina Dvorovenko and Max Dvorovenko (yes they are married) were supposed to dance together and we were so excited to be there. Sadly, Saturday, Max had to back out due to injuries he has been battling this season. His replacement was wonderful but there is nothing like watching this married couple dance with the passion only a deeply in love couple can dance with. Bravo to Irina for a magnificent performance and I am looking forward to your next performance. Ballet is definitely an acquired taste, but once you are exposed to it, you can't help but fall in love with the art form and crave more. If you have never been, I encourage you to start with The Nutcracker Suite during Christmas and take your children, grandchildren or borrow someone else's! Treat yourself to a performance you will never forget. Promise.
Tuesday night, Bobby and I celebrated the release of Luann's second song, Chic C'est La Vie. Kelly, Cindy and I were thrilled to be asked to be a part of the video and we all made it our business to get to The Borgata. When I told Bobby that the blondes were a no show, he jumped in his car at the last minute with his son Jonathan and his friend to come support Luann (and get in a little gambling on the side!) Jersey, her fabulous stylist, had practically no budget but managed to make it look like a big production. He had hair and makeup waiting for us and a roomful of clothes. We all felt like big stars. Fans were there to cheer us on but they had no idea what we were actually doing. We had so much fun. I called Cindy during the day to come surprise Luann even though she couldn't stay for filming. She made the effort and came 4 hours round trip and didn't make the final cut. Not sure why, but she showed up and that's what counts in life.
I have had meetings about Skweez Couture everyday this week. I have the "design bug" back and will be coming out with lots of new product lines. My mission statement, " Beauty begins with a great foundation" says it all and now I am building the "house." I can't wait to tell you all the details but until the deals are closed I have to keep my mouth shut as hard as it is to do sometimes! I will probably spend the entire summer designing everything but it will be worth it when we see the fruits of my labor come to life in a store near you. Follow us @skweezcouture and LIKE us on Facebook. You can check out the new website at skweezcouture.com.
A few months ago I filmed a TV show called My Favorite Place on HGTV. It will air this Saturday, July 2 at 6PM. I will give you a tour of my apartment with Nicole Gibbons, and Jonathan Adler will give design tips. If you haven't seen enough of me, my guest starring role on USA's White Collar will finally air Tuesday, July 5th. I will also be ringing the bell of NASDAQ to celebrate Tuesday morning's opening. Follow me on Twitter for behind the scenes photos, LIVE from everything do. I would love to hear what you think of my acting so please comment on jillzarin.com (remember...if you have nothing nice to say.....hahaha)
Now onto this week's crazy episode....
We begin with Cindy's Vajewel party for Completely Bare. Everyone was having a good time until Simon came over to me while I was sitting with Kelly. He asked me to set a date to have a talk with him. I realize now he was trying to get camera time and make the show about him. If he really wanted to talk with good intentions he would have called me off camera, right? I felt a little on the spot so I said yes. Then Kelly jumped down my throat saying it was inappropriate. Was it? I didn't know what to do so I called Bobby. He is always the voice of reason and gives me the best advice. He said to say "no." Bobby thought it was weird for Simon to want to talk (film) with me alone. Bobby knew he was involved with haters and didn't want to give it any oxygen. Here is the truth. I am a reality star on a TV show. I realize that love, love to hate and even hate is part of the landscape. I signed up for that. But those people are total and complete strangers. Simon and Alex and even Ramona have engaged with these haters who have tried to hurt me and my family outside of the show. I would NEVER follow, talk to, invite to my house, be hosted by or communicate with someone who threatened another cast mate. We need to leave the drama on the show and support each other to the outside world. It was Simon's relationship with these people that prompted Bobby to speak with Simon at Avery's party. Even though Simon promised not to communicate with these people anymore, enough time hadn't passed yet for Bobby to feel comfortable for me to talk to Simon alone.
It appears on the show that the only issue was what Simon was tweeting. That is not entirely accurate. Simon has hosted a person who has stalked me at my home and office, in their home for one of the boy's birthday parties. He knew exactly who she was, as he met her through another person who has seriously threatened my family to the point we had to call the police and postal service security. For them to deny it now is simply ridiculous as there is a paper trail a mile long thanks to my cyber assistants. As usual Bobby's instincts were right. My cyber assistants later discovered that Alex actually attended my anti-bullying luncheon the day after she and Simon entertained someone they knew to be my stalker, in their home. Not someone who just stalked me, but was also accused of stalking a former employee of hers. How would you feel?
I went over and told Simon how I really felt about it. I was kind and gentle. I was NOT at all aggressive. Simon was not happy to say the least and actually THREATENED ME! He told me to watch out!! Watch out??? What the heck did that mean? Simon is over 6 feet tall and is an imposing figure. Was he going to hit me? What man threatens a woman? You would never see Bobby say that to a woman, ever. What he meant was that he was going to continue to support people that have stalked my family and sent me personal threats through the mail. Cyber-bullying is an overused word that is defined differently by anyone you ask. It means using the Internet to foster hate. Most of last season and during the time we filmed this season, Simon was doing a lot of that. After he was called out on it by Bobby at Avery's party, I was informed that he deleted his most egregious tweets. I will not tolerate bad behavior from children, so why would I tolerate it from grown adults? The fact that we are co-workers makes it so much worse. Simon has crossed the line and Alex can't control him.
I'm a little confused about Alex's opinion about what's going on with Simon. First she says if someone is not friends with Simon, she can't be friends with them. Yet when Kelly confronted her about Simon she says they are two separate people and she wants no part of it. Sounds like a contradiction to me, what do you think? She then suggests that Kelly take it up with Simon directly. Why wouldn't Alex film a scene with Simon asking him to respect her cast mates wishes and "back off"? First Sonja had a problem, then I had a problem and now Kelly. Why doesn't Alex deliver "that" message?
Alex has alluded in her blog once again that somehow I was responsible for Simon losing his job. Last summer Simon gave a press release stating that he resigned to start his own company. Which is it? I recently met a friend of the owner of the hotel Simon worked for who told me exactly what happened. If Alex wants to continue to blame me, I will share exactly what he told me really happened.
I only wish all of us success. I was responsible for getting Alex a couple of appearances after season one when we were friends and I have had a few opportunities since that I could have shared with them if they would have stopped all of this nonsense. It has been in their control. After Alex and I had a "heart to heart" and agreed to start over, I really made an effort to build our friendship. After watching each week's episode I feel I was deceived. Alex stated in her "confessionals" throughout this season that she still didn't trust me and that she never really liked me. I wish she had just been honest with me and said she doesn't want to be friends and I would have respected that.
Onto lighter scenes....
As everyone knows I love to decorate and fix little things in my apartment. I have to thank two people. "Patty the Painter" who did an amazing job painting my apartment in Venetian plaster and repairing lots of scratches on the walls and doors. Also, Aline Matsika who made some custom furniture for my bedroom and helped pick out some new fabrics to update the apartment. I am so busy that I sometimes ask professionals for help and I am so glad I did!
How much did you love seeing Luann helping to paint my apartment while wearing her Skweez Couture tights? I love days like that when we get together as friends and just enjoy each others company. As I said last week, I wish it was like this with all of the ladies.
Bobby and I are getting ready to go to England next week to see our friend, Robbie Williams in concert at Wembley Stadium. I can't bring Ginger so she will stay home with Ally. Ally is working at a local day camp and doesn't want to miss five days of work. We will miss her very much but I have to respect her work ethic. I am so proud of her.
I know you will be bombarded with lots of 4th of July recipes, so I will add to the bunch. My friend Pamela Morgan is a foodie and chef and I want to share one of her most recent recipes from her newsletter.
Last but not least I will be on my sister Lisa's radio show "Live With Lisa" live at 5:30 EST on Friday. Go to LisaWexler.com and click "Live." Please call in with questions that I know your dying to ask at 203-845-3044. Don't forget to follow me on Facebook and Twitter.
See you next week! Have a happy and safe 4th!
Love,
Jill XO