2022-02-01 Vanity Fair

BILLION- FEBRUARY 2022
DOLLAR
HUGH
DAVE JACKMAN
CHAPPELLE’S
GIVEON
GAZA’S LUCY

SANTE
ADAM
McKAY

AND

SNOOP
DOGG

PORNHUB
PALACE?

P R I YAN KA

The GLOBAL STAR on SHAKING UP HOLLYWOOD,
SMASHING STEREOTYPES, and SETTLING in WITH NICK JONAS

By R E B E C C A F O R D Photographs by E M M A S U M M E R T O N









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Contents /Issue No. 735

Vanities PAGE 80

27 “ I am
undertaking
27 / Opening Act something
R&B crooner Giveon on his enormous that
big breakthrough. should have
been done
30 / The Gallery decades ago.”
William Wegman’s
Weimaraner shows off a new —LUCY SANTE
Hermès bag.
Features 52 60
31 / Arts & Letters
An appreciation of Niki de 42 The Music Man The House That
Saint Phalle. Porn Built
Everything’s Coming BY MICHAEL RIEDEL
32 / Beauty Up Priyanka PHOTOGRAPHS BY BY ADAM LEITH GOLLNER
Vibrators go (even more) ANNIE LEIBOVITZ ARTWORK BY JONATHAN HARRIS
mainstream. BY REBECCA FORD
PHOTOGRAPHS BY The untold story of bringing Pornhub is wildly popular—
33 / Trending EMMA SUMMERTON the beloved musical— but not everyone is a fan. On
Low-key luxury: denim and Hugh Jackman—back the hunt for the arsonist who
and diamonds. At home with the global to Broadway. torched the CEO’s mansion.
superstar and Nick Jonas as
35 / Travel she shakes up Hollywood.
In Paris, a grand hotel
reawakens wanderlust. On the Priyanka Chopra Jonas’s dress by Fendi. Hair products by Anomaly. Nail enamel
Cover by Bio Sculpture. Hair by Shon Hyungsun Ju. Makeup by Lisa Eldridge. Manicure
Columns by Michelle Humphrey. Tailor, Michelle Warner. Set design by Sean Thomson.
Produced on location by Shiny Projects. Styled by Leith Clark. Photographed exclusively
38 for V.F. by Emma Summerton in London. For details, go to VF.com/credits.

Dave Chappelle’s
Big Lie

BY JAMILAH LEMIEUX
ILLUSTRATION BY
QUINTON MCMILLAN

The outcry over the
comedian’s Netflix special
missed his biggest sin.

40

Into the Metaverse

BY NICK BILTON
ILLUSTRATION BY
QUINTON MCMILLAN

The perfection of
augmented reality is a holy
grail for Silicon Valley and
science fiction. Now that the
tech is here, just how
promising—and dystopian—
might it be?

14 VA N I T Y F A I R PHOTOGRAPH BY R YA N M C G I N L E Y FEBRUARY 2022



NEVER A DULL MOMENT

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Contents /Issue No. 735

Features

72

Generation Gaza

BY JANINE DI GIOVANNI
PHOTOGRAPHS BY
FATIMA SHBAIR

The veteran war
correspondent returns to
the Palestinian enclave
and discovers resilience and
hope among its 2 million
residents—two thirds
of whom are under the
age of 25.

P R I YA N K A C H O P R A J O N A S ’ S D R E S S A N D C U F F S BY P R A DA . F O R D E TA I L S , G O T O V F. C O M / C R E D I T S . 80

Becoming

BY LUCY SANTE
PHOTOGRAPHS BY
RYAN MCGINLEY

The celebrated writer and
cultural critic opens up
about her late-in-life gender
transition.

86

What Lies Beneath

BY JULIAN SANCTON
ILLUSTRATION BY YUKO SHIMIZU

A secretive archaeologist,
opportunistic treasure
hunters, and an eccentric
president battle to claim
an 18th-century Spanish

42 shipwreck.

66 “Who the Fuck Cares About Adam McKay?” 23 Editor’s Letter
24 Contributors
BY JOE HAGAN 102 Proust Questionnaire
PHOTOGRAPHS BY SEBASTIAN KIM

With comedy and candor, the director of Don’t Look Up and The Big Short
weighs in on everything under the sun, from his stand-up roots to
his breakup with Will Ferrell to the sun itself.

VA N I TY FA I R PHOTOGRAPH BY E M M A S U M M E RTO N FEBRUARY 2022 17

®

Editor in Chief Radhika Jones

Creative Director Kira Pollack Deputy Editor Daniel Kile Executive Digital Director Michael Hogan

Director of Editorial Operations Caryn Prime
Executive Editors Claire Howorth, Matthew Lynch Executive Editor, The Hive Miriam Elder Executive Hollywood Editor Jeff Giles

Director of Special Projects Sara Marks Global Head of Talent Alison Ward Frank
Managing Editor, VF.com Kelly Butler Awards and Audio Editor Katey Rich Editor, Creative Development David Friend

Senior West Coast Editor Britt Hennemuth Senior Editors, The Hive Michael Calderone, Claire Landsbaum
Senior Hollywood Editor Hillary Busis Vanities Editor Maggie Coughlan Senior Editor Keziah Weir
Entertainment Director Caitlin Brody E-Commerce Editor Morgan M. Evans

Senior Media Correspondent Joe Pompeo National Correspondent Emily Jane Fox Politics Correspondent Bess Levin
Senior Hollywood Correspondent Anthony Breznican Senior Vanities Correspondent Delia Cai Senior Awards Correspondent Rebecca Ford

National Political Reporter Abigail Tracy Chief Critic Richard Lawson Senior Features Writer Julie Miller
TV Correspondent Joy Press Senior Staff Writer Joanna Robinson TV Critic Sonia Saraiya Art Columnist Nate Freeman
Staff Writers Dan Adler, Kenzie Bryant, David Canfield, Cassie da Costa, Yohana Desta, Charlotte Klein, Chris Murphy, Erin Vanderhoof

Staff Reporter Caleb Ecarma Special Correspondents Nick Bilton, Bryan Burrough,
Joe Hagan, Maureen Orth, Jessica Pressler, Mark Seal, Gabriel Sherman

Writers-at-Large Marie Brenner, T.A. Frank, James Reginato Web Producer Jaime Archer Associate Producer Maham Hasan
Assistant to the Editor in Chief Daniela Tijerina Editorial Assistants Arimeta Diop, Kayla Holliday, Savannah Walsh
Special Projects Manager Ari Bergen Special Projects Associate Charlene Oliver
Business Director Geoff Collins Director of Product Mindy Yuen

Design & Photography
Design Director Justin Patrick Long Visuals Director Tara Johnson Art Director Emily Crawford

Senior Visuals Editors Lauren Margit Jones, Cate Sturgess Senior Designer Khoa Tran
Visuals Editor Allison Schaller Digital Designer Quinton McMillan
Associate Visuals Editor Madison Reid

Fashion & Beauty
Fashion Director Nicole Chapoteau
Beauty Director Laura Regensdorf Accessories Director Daisy Shaw-Ellis
Senior Menswear Editor Miles Pope Market Editor Kia D. Goosby Assistant Fashion Editors Samantha Gasmer, Jessica Neises

Content Integrity
Legal Affairs Editor Robert Walsh Research Director David Gendelman
Copy Director Michael Casey Associate Legal Affairs Editor Simon Brennan
Production Managers Beth Meyers, Susan M. Rasco, Roberto Rodríguez
Research Managers Brendan Barr, Kelvin C. Bias, Audrey Fromson, Michael Sacks
Senior Line Editor Katie Commisso Copy Managers Rachel Freeman, Michael Quiñones Line Editors Lily Leach, Leah Tannehill

Video & Audience Development
Director, Audience Development Alyssa Karas Vice President, Digital Video Programming & Development Kelly Bales

Senior Director of Video Programming & Development Ella Ruffel Senior Manager, Analytics Neelum Khan
Senior Social Media Manager Sarah Morse Associate Director, Creative Development, Social & News Margaret Lin

Social Media Manager Tyler Breitfeller Associate Social Media Manager Mark Alan Burger

Communications
Vice President, Communications Carly Holden Associate Director of Communications Rachel Janc

Manager of Communications Jackson Chiappinelli Communications Associate Izzy Goldberg

Contributors
Production Director Kerrie Keegan Contributing Art Director Theresa Griggs
Visuals Producer Natalie Gialluca Associate Editor S.P. Nix Digital Visuals Editor Jessica Xie Architecture Consultant Basil Walter
Summit Contributing Producer Graham Veysey Special Projects Art Director Angela Panichi

Contributing Photographers
Annie Leibovitz

Jonathan Becker, Larry Fink, Collier Schorr, Mark Seliger

Contributing Editors
Kurt Andersen, Lili Anolik, Jorge Arévalo, Peter Biskind, Buzz Bissinger, Derek Blasberg, Christopher Bollen, Douglas Brinkley,
Michael Callahan, Adam Ciralsky, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Leah Faye Cooper, Sloane Crosley, Katherine Eban, Lisa Eisner, Bruce Feirstein, Ariel Foxman,
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May Jeong, Sebastian Junger, Sam Kashner, Jemima Khan, Hilary Knight, Wayne Lawson, Kiese Makeba Laymon, Franklin Leonard, Monica Lewinsky,
Bethany McLean, Nina Munk, Katie Nicholl, Maureen O’Connor, Jen Palmieri, Evgenia Peretz, Maximillian Potter, Robert Risko, Lisa Robinson,
Mark Rozzo, Maureen Ryan, Nancy Jo Sales, Elissa Schappell, Jeff Sharlet, Michael Shnayerson, Chris Smith, Richard Stengel,

Diane von Furstenberg, Elizabeth Saltzman Walker, Benjamin Wallace, Jesmyn Ward, Ned Zeman

18 VA N I T Y FA I R FEBRUARY 2022





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VA NI TY FA I R FEBRUARY 2022 21

Little
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Vanity Fair’s weekly Little Gold Men podcast
tracks the ups and downs of awards season,

featuring interviews with the contenders, real-time
analysis, and actionable intelligence on the
race to celebrate the best of Hollywood.

It’s the closest you can get to being inside the envelope.

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Editor’s Letter

I visited Los Angeles Radhika Jones at Steven Spielberg. And I caught up with Priyanka Chopra
a few months ago LACMA’s Art+Film Jonas, at a party she and her husband Nick Jonas hosted for
for the first time since Gala, presented Diwali. There were warm and welcoming lights all the way
February 2020. It by Gucci, in Los up the driveway, and everybody danced, and it felt like we all
was wonderful to see Angeles. Below: V.F.’s had reason to celebrate. As Rebecca Ford writes in her cover
our Hollywood Awards Insider issue, story, Priyanka enters 2022 with her cup overflowing: projects
writers and editors featuring Caitríona ranging from her recent turn in The Matrix Resurrections to
Balfe of Belfast new productions with Amazon Studios to her first Hindi film
in person and to feel the excitement and other Oscar in a number of years, which she’ll shoot in India alongside
around all the excellent movies coming contenders. two Bollywood actors. Listening to her, you get the sense
out this fall and winter. I’ve been going she’s a woman at the top of her game who is also, in her own
JONES PHOTOGRAPHED BY ROGER KISBY; DRESS BY GUCCI. BALFE PHOTOGRAPHED BY NICK RILEY BENTHAM; WRAP GLOVES BY MARC JACOBS. to screenings in New York and have words, “at a precipice of reinvention.” Q
been so happy to reconnect with that
state of emerging from a dark theater RADHIKA JONES, Editor in Chief
into the afternoon sunlight, still
shaking off the imagined world you’ve
inhabited for the last couple of hours.
The disconnect between a city street
and a cinematic universe only makes
the film’s impression stronger. As
a person who remembers the advent
of the VCR, it still seems like a miracle
that I can watch so many movies
anytime at home—but, with the requisite
precautions in place, I’ve been extra-
glad to get back to the theater. Our
Awards Insider team is covering this
season as only Vanity Fair can, with
daily updates on critic-bestowed honors,
the state of the Oscar race, and expert
insights into all the filmmaking
components that come together to make
a contender. Our first of two special
issues this season features Belfast’s
Caitríona Balfe, star of the cult favorite
Outlander, whose performance in
Kenneth Branagh’s film about the
Troubles has brought her new acclaim
and further kindled her ambitions in
acting and directing.

IT WAS A FUN and busy week in L.A.
At the LACMA Art+Film Gala I had the
pleasure of seeing artists Amy Sherald
and Kehinde Wiley honored, alongside

VA N I T Y FA I R FEBRUARY 2022 23

Contributors

Clockwise from top
left: Yuko Shimizu,
William Wegman,
Fatima Shbair,
Jamilah Lemieux,
Janine di Giovanni,
and Rebecca Ford.

Yuko SHIMIZU William WEGMAN Fatima SHBAIR D I G I OVA N N I : R A N N J A N J OAW N . F O R D : H A R RY B U E R K L E . L E M E I U X : M A R C U S M AC K .
SHBAIR: ZAINAB SHBAIR. SHIMIZU: MAKOTO ISHIDA. WEGMAN: COURTESY OF WILLIAM WEGMAN.
“WHAT LIES BENEATH,” P. 86 “JUST FOR KICKS,” P. 30 “GENERATION GAZA,” P. 72

“I didn’t even know I wanted to illustrate Wegman is world-renowned for A 24-year-old self-taught photojournal-
an 18th-century sea battle until this replacing the typical fashion subject ist, Shbair documents conflict and
project,” says Shimizu, whose art with his own Weimaraners. “I have tragedy in her native Palestine. For V.F.,
accompanies Julian Sancton’s story of two dogs, Flo and Topper. Flo made it she captured the spirit of Gaza’s
an extraordinary shipwreck off the coast very clear that she was going to be inspiring and tenacious youth. “Despite
of Colombia. Shimizu found inspiration the one in this photo. In Flo’s mind, she all the negativity in this city,” she says,
in unexpected places: “Maybe it’s a nailed it,” he says of this month’s “I discovered examples of creative,
sign I should pay a visit, but not to look Gallery page, shot in his inimitable style. ambitious people fighting in their own
for the treasure, that’s for sure.” world for a better future.”

Rebecca FORD Janine DI GIOVANNI Jamilah LEMIEUX

“EVERYTHING’S COMING UP PRIYANKA,” P. 42 “GENERATION GAZA,” P. 72 “DAVE CHAPPELLE’S BIG LIE,” P. 38

“I admire the path Priyanka has taken The award-winning war correspondent “The stakes are incredibly high,” says the
from Bollywood star to Hollywood and author of the recently published writer and cultural critic about her
actress—especially because this industry book The Vanishing has reported on piece grappling with Dave Chappelle’s
does not have a history of holding the Gaza for more than 30 years. “I dream controversial stand-up special. “I hope
door open,” says V.F.’s senior Hollywood of a day when Gazans can live a life of Black men understand how much I love
correspondent. During their interviews, dignity,” she says, reflecting on her them despite having to make some
Ford bonded with Chopra Jonas over new story about the region’s vibrant uncomfortable observations about the
their Asian mothers’ knack for reorga- youth culture. ways they’ve been able to treat Black
nizing their kitchens behind their backs. women and LGBTQ folks,” she says.

24 VA N I T Y FA I R FEBRUARY 2022



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*UNESCO

VA N I T I E S

VANITAS VANITATUM

PAGE 29

A few years ago,

GIVEON

was walking dogs
and slinging

shrimp. Now he’s
been nominated for

six Grammys

GRO O MING, ESTH E R FOSTER; SE T DE SIG N, COL IN PH EL AN. PRODUCED O N LOCATIO N BY PREISS C REATIV E. FO R DETAIL S, G O TO VF.COM/CRE DITS. PAGE 32

SEPHORA’S PHOTOGRAPHS BY NICK RILEY BENTHAM FEBRUARY 2022 27
SEXUAL

AWAKENING

PAGE 33

DOLLY PARTON,
IT GIRL

PAGE 35

PARIS IS BACK
IN BLOOM

Pajamas by Valentino;
sunglasses by Jacques
Marie Mage; necklace
(pearl) by Mikimoto.
Throughout: grooming

products by Boy
de Chanel. Styled
by Andrew Vottero.
Photographed at
the residence of Esma

Annemon Dil.

VA NI TY FA I R

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Vanities /Opening Act

Shirt by Hermès; New and Novel
necklace (pearl)
Fresh fiction worthy of topping
by Mikimoto. the to-read list. By Keziah Weir

TO PARADISE
In two alternative histories (1893,
1993) and one terrifying projection

(2093), Hanya Yanagihara
presents a strange, brilliant triad
with recurring motifs: plague,
marriage, and a Greenwich Village

town house. (Doubleday)

BOOK COVERS: COURTESY OF THE PUBLISHERS. FOR DETAILS, GO TO VF.COM/CREDITS. First LOVE HE RECORDED HIS first professional single PURE COLOUR
on the eve of a big moment: The producer Mira, a critic in training, subsumes
From SoundCloud throngs asked how old he was, “and I was like, the soul of her dead father and is
to Grammy voters, everyone’s ‘I’m 23,’ and then I looked at the clock and it dazzled by a compelling older artist
swooning for GIVEON was 12:01 a.m. I was like, ‘I’m actually 24.’ ” in Sheila Heti’s fable: a bestiary-lite
Having never drunk before, he took a love letter to the art of life. (FSG)
The Grammy-nominated newcomer is rein- celebratory shot of water and soon signed
vigorating R&B, referencing Frank Sinatra as a record deal. FUCCBOI
an inspiration and collaborating with super- ONE YEAR LATER, he released his first EP Sean Thor Conroe presents a lit
stars like Justin Bieber and Drake—though (and had his first sip of rosé), was nominat- grad in Philadelphia as he makes
he’s “still waiting on that call from Adele.” ed for a Grammy, and collaborated deliveries, debates the isms (race,
This year, his debut album arrives. with Bieber on “Peaches,” 2021’s song sex, class, capital), juggles baes,
GROWING UP, the Long Beach native was of the summer. and writes it all down in fresh prose,
the middle child of seven. His mother ruled THE FASHION WORLD has come calling as well, colloquial and poetic. (Little, Brown)
the roost. “She wanted me to be a giving and Giveon welcomes it; he’s just returning
person”—which is why he’s named Giveon, from a trip to Paris with Chanel. “Music is OLGA DIES DREAMING
pronounced give-ee-on. just 50 percent,” he says. “Fashion is a huge In Xochitl Gonzalez’s gripping debut,
SHE ALSO RECOGNIZED his gifts early and way to tell the story.” the shadow of their absent mother,
encouraged him to sing at birthday parties. AFTER A BIT more experimenting, Pinot
“All the other kids are jumping in the bounce Grigio is now his drink of choice. When he’s a Puerto Rican independence
house, eating candy; I’m in the bathroom not touring North America or rehearsing for activist, looms over the political and
doing vocal exercises.” his AMA performance, he’s rereading Mark
BEFORE BREAKING BIG, “I was a server at Manson’s The Subtle Art of Not Giving personal choices of two adult
Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. On slow a F*ck and trying to find time for “a family siblings living in Brooklyn. (Flatiron)
days, I would have to put on the shrimp suit, reunion on an island.”
stand in front of the restaurant…kids HIS UPCOMING ALBUM “is the story of the
pulling my tail.” He also walked dogs—“My last 18 months of my life. I don’t know how to
favorite was a husky named Snoop”—before be within this new existence and still try to live
a producer found him on SoundCloud. the same life.”

—BRITT HENNEMUTH

VA NI TY FA I R FEBRUARY 2022 29

Vanities /The Gallery

Just for

KICKS

In the mid-1960s skateboarding took
the world by storm—from Venice
Beach to the Lower East Side, riding
was and continues to be a symbol
of escapism. This new Hermès Bolide
bag pays homage: Its leather and
aluminum base is printed with a
street-art-inspired design from one
of the brand’s silk collections, and
a Fingerskate board dangles from the
handle. Surf that asphalt. —Miles Pope

Photograph by Hermès Bolide S P E RO N E W E S T WAT E R , N YC . O P P O S I T E : F O R D E TA I L S , G O TO V F. C O M / C R E D I T S .
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Vanities /Arts & Letters

A Beautiful MIND SHOW AND TELL

In a new book, the inspiration and impetus behind NIKI DE A vaunted bookseller takes
SAINT PHALLE’s artwork is on display By Keziah Weir
the art world by storm
“THE ACCOUNTING OF a life is not the simple accounting of facts,” writes Nicole Rudick
in the introduction to her new book, What Is Now Known Was Once Only Imagined: An Last October the gallerist Harper
(Auto)biography of Niki de Saint Phalle, out from Siglio. Rudick weaves selections from Levine opened an opulent new space
the Niki Charitable Art Foundation—the Franco-American artist’s published and in Los Angeles—the latest move in
previously unseen letters, memoirs, art, and sketches—into a posthumous narrative; a rapid rise up the art world ladder.
a ghostly collaboration, “free of commentary and interpretation,” with the artist For years Levine was content as the
herself. It’s left to the reader to connect Saint Phalle’s Nana figures, colorful, curvaceous, proprietor of Harper’s Books, a
and taking up space, with her lifelong interrogation of what it means to be a woman: small East Hampton purveyor of rare
“I got the message that men had power, and I wanted it,” she wrote in a 1991 letter volumes. (Bill Clinton was a notable
to a curator, but later describes her guilt at “abandon[ing] my children for my work, client, as is the artist Richard Prince.)
the way men often do.” Likewise, Saint Phalle notes that Ralph Ellison’s Invisible But in 2013, despite having no formal
Man made her “hyper aware” of America’s systemic racism; 30 years later she would art training, he started staging
write and illustrate a book called AIDS: You Can’t Catch It Holding Hands. exhibitions at the store: The Irish artist
Genieve Figgis, an early find, labored
What Is Now Known contains disturbing biographical details, including Saint Phalle’s in obscurity until Prince noticed her
painful account of her father raping her when she was 11. Her anger—and the exorcism on Twitter and gushed to his bookseller.
of it—manifested in so-called “shooting paintings,” sculptural canvases of found Levine sold her work for less than
objects, paint-filled balloons, and spray paint cans covered in white: She’d shoot them $10,000—now, a Figgis painting
and colors would drip like blood. These works culminated in her 1972 film Daddy, a might go for $180,000 at auction.
Sylvia Plath–esque exploration of patricide. “It’s not your moment any longer, Daddy,”
she says. “We intend to enjoy our freedom and our power, as you enjoyed yours.” Q In 2016 Levine opened a small
by-appointment gallery on the Upper
Clockwise from top left: East Side, and at the end of 2020 a
Californian Diary (Queen location on the same West 22nd
Califia), 1994; Double Tête, Street block as Hauser & Wirth and
1999; What Is Now Known Matthew Marks. This March the gallery
Was Once Only Imagined; expands to a second, larger space
I Would Like to Unlock the down that street with an inaugural
Closed Doors and Windows show of new paintings by Marcus
of My Mind, 1974, by Brutus, a self-taught star in the making,
Niki de Saint Phalle. All found (again) through social media
artwork courtesy Niki and an artist referral—Levine saw a
Charitable Art Foundation. painting on Jennifer Guidi’s Instagram
and DM’d immediately. Since
then Brutus has shown twice in the
Hamptons, but of the Chelsea solo
exhibition, Levine says, “Marcus
has seen his career blossom over the
past few years, and now he’s ready
for prime time.” So, it appears,
is Levine. —Nate Freeman

An NOI Officer & Korean War 31
Vet 2021, by Marcus Brutus, on
view at Harper’s Chelsea 512.

FEBRUARY 2022

Vanities /Beauty

Sexual HEALING Early vibrators were co–creative director, the landscape was V I N TAG E M A S S AG E D E V I CE : U N D E R W O O D A R C H I V E S / G E T T Y I M AG E S . J O N E S : C R A I G B L A N K E N H O R N / WA R N E R B RO S . / E V E R E T T C O L L E C T I O N . V I B R ATO R , J O H N S O N , A N D G O I C O C H E A : C O U R T E S Y O F M AU D E .
marketed (sometimes swiftly changing. Online shopping had
With Sephora’s expansion into vibrators and with coded allusions) destigmatized the browsing experience;
new sex sundries this month, whole-body as beauty remedies, Maude’s Vibe ushered in an aesthetic
health comes into focus By Laura Regensdorf echoed in this 1920s more in tune with Brancusi forms. It was
as if the push for sex positivity, with its
IN 1998, AN animal previously associated with screwball photo of an actor. candy-colored innuendo, was sliding
animation (Roger Rabbit, Bugs Bunny) had a public coming of into neutral, toward normalcy—and all
age. Partway through season one of Sex and the City, Miranda Sex and the City the way to Sephora, where the category
leads her friends to the Pleasure Chest, a sex shop in the gave outré erotica debuts on its U.S. website this month.
West Village, to show them the Rabbit: a vibrator cartoonish prime-time exposure,
in design but apparently deft. “It’s pink! For girls!” purrs with an emphasis Landing at the beauty mecca was part
Charlotte upon first sight, before falling so in its thrall that on pleasure for all. of Maude founder Éva Goicochea’s
she needs an intervention. The morning after the episode vision “from day one,” she says of her
aired, a line snaked outside San Francisco’s Good Vibrations, Maude launched in intent to redefine the sex-toy space.
the boutique opened in 1977 by sex educator Joani Blank. 2018, positioning sex (As she told me in 2018, something like
The Rabbits—as Aesop could have guessed—went fast. essentials as wellness. “70 percent of women don’t orgasm
during sex, so it’s an essential item.”)
Vibrators, of course, were nothing new. (Good Vibrations Dakota Johnson Maude’s range of bath soaks and oils
displays a cache of antique examples: Dr. Macaura’s Pulsocon joined founder Éva reinforce this notion of well-being. Dur-
from the Gilded Age; the 1920s Polar Cub.) You just had to go Goicochea (below, ing the pandemic, awash in self-care talk,
on an odyssey to find them. “I remember the Hustler store on right) in 2020, amid the wait list for the Vibe topped 25,000;
Sunset. All the photographs of women on boxes of products a surge in self-care its second vibrator, Drop—shaped
were so insane,” says Dakota Johnson, describing how it all felt interest. Above: the like a Beautyblender and billed as an
“geared toward a certain made-up female.” By the fall of 2020, three-speed Vibe, “all-body massager” for its erogenous-
when the actor joined the sexual-wellness start-up Maude as $45. (sephora.com). zone versatility—arrived last March.

How have we managed to be this
prudish, this long? It was 1980 when Dr.
Ruth Westheimer brought her German
accent and chipmunk laugh to a new late-
night radio show, Sexually Speaking. “In
those years, people did not talk openly
about orgasm. They did not talk openly
about sex education,” recalls Dr. Ruth,
93. Now Orgasm is the name of Nars’s
best-selling blush; Sex Education, starring
Gillian Anderson as an Esther Perel–
style therapist, is a Netflix hit. There are
still taboos, including older people’s
desire—a subject that Dr. Ruth took care
to represent in her revised edition of
The Art of Arousal (Abbeville Press), an
art-historical romp. “I want to teach
again that sex does not have to be in
porno shops,” she says. “And it does not
have to be at a quarter after midnight!”

The topic of sex remains charged, but
public access—in retail, on TV—has a
real-life effect. A few seasons after Sex
and the City’s Rabbit episode, Samantha
goes to replace her microphone-shaped
AcuVibe. “Sharper Image doesn’t sell
vibrators. It’s a neck massager,” the
humorless salesclerk says. But a modern-
day Samantha might pick up a new
model, along with the latest cult face
cream, and head back out on the town. Q

32 VA N I T Y F A I R PHOTOGRAPH BY LOT T E VA N R A A LT E

3.

NINE TO FIVE

1. Valentino shirt,

1. $990. (valentino.com)
2. Carolina Herrera
5. skirt, $590. (carolina

herrera.com) 3. Maison

Michel hat, $640.

4. (michel-paris.com/en/)
4. Louis Vuitton Men’s

hoodie, $4,000.

(louisvuitton.com)

5. Hemmerle earrings,

6. price upon request.
(49-89-2422600) 6. The

Laundress Denim Care

set, $36. (mrporter.com)

2. 7. Alexander McQueen

bra, $790. (alexander

mcqueen.com) 8. Ilia

Fullest Volumizing mascara,

$28. (iliabeauty.com)

9. Gabriela Hearst pants,

$1,190. (gabrielahearst

.com) 10. Kapital jeans,

$867. (kapital.jp) 11. Fendi

bag, $3,890. (fendi.com)

12. Brent Neale ring,

$10,850. (twistonline.com)

13. Larroudé flats,

$265. (larroude.com)

Blue Jean BABY

PAR TO N : J O H N S E AK WO O D / G E T T Y I MAG E S . I L IA : J O S E P H I N E S C H I E L E . AL L O T H E R S : CO U R T E S Y O F T H E BR AN DS . To celebrate Dolly Parton’s debut 9.
novel—Run, Rose, Run, cowritten
by James Patterson and out from 10.
Little, Brown next month along with
a 12-song album—drape yourself
in denim and diamonds

8.

11.
12.

Dolly Parton in her Canadian tuxedo, 1987. 13.

FEBRUARY 2022 33

A new podcast hosted by

KARINA LONGWORTH,
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and VANESSA HOPE

WHEN A HOLLYWOOD MOGUL SHOT
THE AGENT HAVING AN AFFAIR WITH

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reception in Los Angeles. and actress Maria Bello.

@audemarspiguet

Vanities /Travel

Paris, JE T’AIME luxury.” (It also has the distinction of
being the city’s only hotel of its caliber
As the market for luxury travel resurges, JAMES REGINATO with a French owner.)
visits a hotel nonpareil in the city that has launched a
thousand fantasies Much of the execution of Arnault’s
vision fell to architect Peter Marino,
FOR SOME OF the world’s most fashion- Bernard Arnault opened this fall— who has virtually redefined high-end
able folk, the music stopped exactly two though its gestation began more than retail with the stores he has designed,
years ago, in Paris. On the first day of the 15 years before, when LVMH acquired including the airy Louis Vuitton space
season’s ready-to-wear shows, 14 cases a majority stake in the department in Los Angeles and the geometric
of coronavirus were reported in France; a store La Samaritaine, housed in a Chanel building in Seoul. Marino spent
week later, the collections lurched to sprawling two-block complex in the 1st nearly a decade marshaling the talents
a halt, and so did the world as we knew arrondissement, one of the city’s old- of some 600 French artisans and artists
it. Now—whether because of a certain est neighborhoods. As plans slowly and for Cheval Blanc Paris. Every aspect,
bingeable Netflix series or simple arduously moved forward to restore from the furniture to the fabric, was
nostalgia for the city that has long served the central building, a study in Art Nou- custom-made for the property’s public
as the platonic ideal of a fantasy vaca- veau, back to its glory as a temple of spaces, four restaurants, and 72 rooms
tion—we’re all yearning to get back to commerce, Arnault conceived of a sep- and suites. (Rates start at about $1,500
Gay Paree. As we hedge our way through arate purpose for the Art Deco sister a night.) Sumptuous goatskin parch-
variants and scientific breakthroughs, space that fronts the Seine, capitalizing ment upholstered the intricate wenge
what better grail for travelers in search on its spectacular uninterrupted wood cabinetry in the large dress-
of lost time than the City of Light? views: That vision was for Paris’s only ing room of my suite. Who would have
five-star riverfront hotel, a showcase imagined coming to Paris and not want-
No hotel exemplifies the city’s for the art de vivre of France that would, ing to leave your closet?
reawakening quite like Cheval Blanc as Arnault said, “symbolize French
Paris, which LVMH chief executive The property is Cheval Blanc’s
first urban location, following 2006’s
inaugural ski lodge in Courchevel
and subsequent resorts in St. Barts,
St.-Tropez, and the Maldives, a collec-
tion that speaks to the future of LVMH,
whose growing hospitality division sig-
nals that luxury is still, and increasingly,
experiential. In 2019, the company
paid $3.2 billion for Belmond and its 46
fabled hotels, cruises, trains, and restau-
rants; three of its Italian hotels stayed
open throughout the winter last year
due to demand, effectively doing away
with the idea of a European off-season.
Meanwhile, the 115-room Cheval Blanc
Beverly Hills is set to open in 2025.

The Paris hotel features museum-
quality works of art: commissioned
pieces from Vik Muniz, Frank Gehry,
and Ingrid Donat; an enormous abstract
canvas by Georges Mathieu in the
lobby; a red monochrome James Siena
in a sitting room; lithographs by Sonia
Delaunay in the hallways. “It’s as good
a time as any to display the incredible
talents of French artisans,” Marino says.

LVMH’s luxury arsenal runs the
gamut of interests, and a selection of the
conglomerate’s 75 brands turns up at

Cheval Blanc Paris guests enjoy views
of the Eiffel Tower and Notre-Dame.

VA NI TY FA I R ILLUSTRATIONS BY C A S S A N D R E M O N T O R I O L FEBRUARY 2022 35

Vanities /Travel

The ground floor houses Limbar,
a tearoom presided over by
Maxime Frédéric, former pastry
chef at George V Paris.

PARADISE the new hotel. Guillaume Henry, artis- handiwork of France’s other king
PERFECTED tic director of Patou, designed the staff of luxury, Kering founder François
uniforms in matte wool, cotton piqué, Pinault, who, with Japanese architect
An effortless escape from and poplin. Cheval Blanc’s Langos- Tadao Ando, spent five years trans-
the everyday and a portal teria restaurant pours bottles of Dom forming the monumental old stock
to all that’s exceptional Pérignon and Château d’Yquem, both exchange building into a showcase
Moët Hennessy labels, while vitrines for contemporary masterpieces from
and unforgettable. in the lobby showcase Tiffany jewels. the Pinault Collection. On its top
Paradise has never felt Inside the gloriously restored Samar- floor, at Halle aux Grains, father-and-
itaine emporium, which opened to son chefs Michel and Sébastien Bras
so perfect. much fanfare last summer, the compa- serve earthy and poetic cuisine. Across
ny has counted some 35,000 pouring town, in the 8th arrondissement’s
COVEATLANTIS.COM/VF into the panoply of LVMH stores each luxe Golden Triangle, the magnificent
877.485.0859 day. (Cheval Blanc’s VIP guests can Hôtel de la Marine, built by Louis XV
access La Samaritaine through a pri- on the Place de la Concorde and long
vate entrance and skip the lines.) the headquarters of France’s naval
ministry, has emerged from a pains-
The ultimate brand synergy awaits taking refurbishment. For the first
in the Dior Spa, housed on the lower time in more than 200 years, its sump-
level, along with the longest indoor tuous staterooms are open to the
pool in Europe. Treatments include viewing public; under the same roof,
a “Couture Dream,” during which six in a series of modernist gallery rooms,
hands simultaneously work their the Al Thani Collection, inaugurated
magic on one lucky client’s hair, face, in November, showcases treasures
hands, and feet, giving new meaning from the ancient world collected by
to Evita’s entreaty (via Andrew Lloyd Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani,
Webber): “So Christian Dior me from a member of Qatar’s royal family. As
my head to my toes.” Audrey Hepburn famously declared,
“Paris is always a good idea.” Q
Two years out from hosting the
2024 Summer Olympics, the city’s
awakening seems to be on hyperdrive.
Only a few blocks from Cheval Blanc
lies another of Paris’s biggest new
draws, the Bourse de Commerce—the

Alongside the longest indoor pool
in Europe is the Dior Spa, replete in
luxe treatment options.

FEBRUARY 2022

PARADISE IS CALLING.
PACK LIGHT.

COVEATLANTIS.COM/VF | 877.485.0859

Vanities /Letter From L.A.

Introducing President DRESCHER in 2007. She has served as a U.S.
State Department public diplomacy
The newly elected head of SAG-AFTRA, Fran Drescher is envoy for health, traveling the world
already setting her sights high By Joy Press to advocate for women’s health and
cancer prevention.
S
So when actor Gabrielle Carteris
SOME ACTORS SO indelibly meld with a was looking last year to step down
single character that even decades later from the presidency of the Screen
it’s hard to separate them. The name Actors Guild-American Federation of
Fran Drescher instantly triggers visions Television and Radio Artists, Dre-
of Fran Fine in The Nanny: a fantasia scher seemed an obvious choice
of candy-colored minidresses, a moun- to run. In September 2021—after a
tain of hair, and an adenoidal laugh bruising race against Matthew
that hits somewhere between car alarm Modine, who positioned himself as
and death rattle. In an era when net- more of a firebrand—she was elected
work TV’s family comedies skewed to head the entertainment and media
generically Waspy, the then 36-year-old union. “All of the Zen masters say
actor created a role for herself as a don’t try and swim upstream, just let
charmingly brash, working-class Jewish life come to you,” Drescher says,
girl from Queens who taught her ritzy gesticulating gracefully. “When this
employer (and the show’s millions came to me as an opportunity to run,
of viewers) Yiddish words like farkakte I really thought, This seems to be
and meshugener, not to mention an amalgam of many of my strengths
the pleasures of canasta and kreplach. and accomplishments coming to a
point in this one defining moment.”
It’s difficult to square The Nanny’s
1990s fashion excess with the woman It’s also a pivotal time for
who greets me over Zoom wearing a SAG-AFTRA, which represents approx-
simple spaghetti strap top and subdued imately 160,000 performers and
hair, her face stripped clean of makeup media professionals. The streaming
and voice soothingly assured. It’s wars have ushered in a new level
Drescher unplugged, and sitting in her of upheaval, and fellow entertainment
family’s South Florida home, she industry unions like the International
sounds like the macher that she is. In Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees
the more than two decades since and the Writers Guild of America
The Nanny ended, Drescher created recently took dramatic action to ensure
the nonprofit Cancer Schmancer its rank and file wouldn’t lose ground
after a bout with uterine cancer and in this swiftly shifting Hollywood.
helped convince Congress to pass Last year IATSE members voted to
the Gynecologic Cancer Education authorize union leadership to call
and Awareness Act, which became law a nationwide strike if the Alliance of
Motion Picture and Television Produc-
ers didn’t offer them better terms (they
later reached a deal). WGA members
boycotted top talent agencies until they
signed an agreement making writers’
interests a priority.

“[Streaming] has been a Wild West,
and now we’ve got to put the saddle
and the reins on and set up ground
rules,” Drescher says.

SAG-AFTRA will renegotiate its
contract with the Alliance of Motion
Picture and Television Producers next
year, with Drescher leading the charge.
She acknowledges the recent lawsuit
(now settled) that Scarlett Johansson

VA NI TY FA I R ILLUSTRATION BY J O R G E A R É VA LO FEBRUARY 2022

ONE OF THE NEW YORK FILM CRITICS ONLINE CHICAGO FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION BOSTON ONLINE FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION NEW YORK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE
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KODI SMIT-MCPHEE

“THE BEST PICTURE
OF THE YEAR.

Jane Campion’s magnificent Montana western is a
cinematic powder keg, the most flawless amalgam

of acting, writing, direction, design and music

to hit screens this year. The cast, led by

Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst,
Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee,
is superlative.”

PETER TRAVERS, ABC NEWS

A FILM BY ACADEMY AWARD® WINNER JANE CAMPION

FILM.NETFLIXAWARDS.COM

Vanities /Letter From L.A.

filed against Disney in which the on set. Drescher wants perpetrators to That’s true of her cancer odyssey but
superstar alleged she was shortchanged know there will be consequences, also of her career. She and her then
by the company’s decision to release regardless of their Hollywood status. husband, Peter Marc Jacobson,
Black Widow on its streaming platform “Nobody, as we see now, is that dreamed up a character for her in The
at the same time it went to theaters important,” she says. “Kings fall.” Nanny that was like no other heroine
during the pandemic. “If that’s [what on prime time—a sexy, thick-accented
happens to] Johansson, imagine the WHEN SHE WAS a little girl in Queens, Jewish woman played by a real Jewish
160,000 people that I represent!” Drescher dreamed of being a politi- actor. When executives pushed to
Drescher says. “The jig is up, and by cian—as well as a writer, a hairdresser, make Fran Fine Italian, she refused.
2023, I hope that me and the people and an actor. “I kind of ended up being “Corporate America often gets
that I look to within the union will come them all in different ways,” she says worried,” she says now, 30 years later.
up with some very creative ideas for with a velvety chuckle. “I don’t think “But if you put something out
how to restructure in a new way that’s I can do one thing and be happy. I’d that’s authentic and relatable and
equitable for everybody.” probably get bored with the routine of not mean-spirited, everybody can
it.” Her father was a systems analyst, identify with it.”
Carteris says she encouraged and she thinks she inherited from him
Drescher to pursue the job because of Drescher spent years in the minor-
her interest in technology and sustain- “Sometimes role trenches (from Saturday Night
ability, among other things. “[Fran] PEOPLE in our Fever to ALF) before she cornered the
lives in the real moment and under- industry tend president of CBS Entertainment on a
stands that we are in a changing to TALK A LOT plane in 1991 and convinced him that
environment in our industry,” she says. about what they she had main-character energy. She
(Drescher is forming a green council can do,” says has since created other series—and
of high-profile performers within Gabrielle Carteris, recently shot a part on Tina Fey and
SAG-AFTRA, hoping to advocate for Robert Carlock’s NBC series Mr. Mayor
eco-friendly policies and band “but Fran after completing the animated movie
together with other unions to reduce Hotel Transylvania: Transformania—
Hollywood’s carbon footprint.) REALLY DOES but The Nanny remains a constant
“Sometimes people in our industry presence in her life. She is working on
tend to talk a lot about what they can THINGS.” a musical adaptation of the series
do,” Carteris says, “but Fran really with Jacobson and Rachel Bloom; the
does things.” a desire to “figure out better ways, refine 2020 death of the show’s musical
what exists, not accept what is. And collaborator Adam Schlesinger “was a
Drescher’s face crumples when quite frankly, that sort of saved my life big, big loss for us,” but they’re con-
I mention the Rust set, on which with uterine cancer because I went to tinuing to move forward with it.
cinematographer Halyna Hutchins eight doctors over two years who were
was fatally shot when Alec Baldwin all essentially telling me there was The Nanny maintains a high profile
handled a prop gun. “Everybody is nothing wrong with me, and so I just in the present: GIF-able, meme-ready,
traumatized from that experience, kept trying to find answers.” and bingeable on HBO Max. The
including Alec,” she murmurs. Dre- collision of dated sitcom staginess
scher would like SAG-AFTRA to The way Drescher frames her life and Drescher’s timeless screwball
join with its sister unions to forge a story, it all seems to come down to that effervescence make for the ultimate
strict national safety code for the word so often associated with her nostalgia bath. Drescher says a
industry, and to name it after Hutchins. Nanny character: chutzpah. “If I didn’t potential Nanny TV revival will have
have that instinct to challenge author- to wait so as not to overshadow the
When our conversation shifts to ity and keep looking for something that musical. But in the meantime, she is
the industry’s recent attempts to grapple makes more sense to me,” she says, pondering the idea of casting some-
with sexual harassment and assault, “I’d probably not be alive today.” one like Cardi B in an updated nanny
Drescher asks, “You know that I was a role rather than bringing back the
victim of a violent crime, right?” She original cast. “It’s a new world, and
tells me about being raped in her 20s by I’m open to it all,” she tells me with a
a man who broke into her home. “So flash of her giant, gleaming smile.
this is an area where I have firsthand That goes for her SAG-AFTRA gig too.
experience.” SAG-AFTRA put a num- “Being in this business for four and
ber of new measures in place last year, a half decades gives me the creden-
including a confidential digital plat- tials to be able to take everything apart
form for reporting incidents and a new and see how it could be done better
set of standards for training and for the times that we’re living in.” Q
working with intimacy coordinators

VA NI TY FA I R FEBRUARY 2022

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“THE BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR.
Olivia Colman plays one of the richest characters that has ever graced our screens. Maggie Gyllenhaal
electrically adapts Elena Ferrante’s novel. The kind of film that will bury itself in your subconscious.”
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PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA.
Its themes of female relationships, sexuality, and motherhood are beautifully served in this uncompromising
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BEST PICTURE

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Vanities /Letter From L.A.

The Queen of THE COURT barely feel their impact. “I was living
in New York for a long time, and I was
Aunjanue Ellis’s turn in King Richard gives the movie depth. just flailing,” she says. “I didn’t have
She tell us why recognition matters By David Canfield anything.” A decade ago, she returned
to her Southern roots, moving to Mis-
A Williams show up and, uh, want to talk sissippi for family reasons and avoiding A L L : WA R N E R B RO S . P I C T U R E S .
to her. In the evening, a packed house of Hollywood outside of her job’s neces-
AUNJANUE ELLIS HAS been on the SAG-AFTRA members—Ellis’s peers— sities. Ironically, that’s when her career
Warner Bros. lot in Burbank before, but stay glued to their seats after a screening finally coalesced. Ellis received two
it’s never felt like this. Early on a brisk, of her new film, King Richard, keenly Emmys noms in the past three years, for
sunny Sunday in November, she listening to her during a spirited Q&A. When They See Us and Lovecraft Country.
prepares for a typical day of press, even
as she’s lost track of what “typical” This is all very new. “I have to pre- Now, for the first time in her life,
means anymore. She arrives to find her tend like I’m not a blaring idiot fan of she’s campaigning for an Oscar. Taboo
own personal trailer right next to Will these people,” Ellis tells me when I met for many actors—who wants to admit
Smith’s. Later, Venus and Serena her backstage afterward. Her booming to dedicating hours to promoting them-
laugh echoes through the greenroom. selves for a gold trophy?—Ellis has no
“And I never want to lose that. You qualms about discussing the subject.
know, I never want to lose sight of: This Of course, it helps that she believes in
is rarefied air.” the project. She plays Oracene Price,
mother of the Williams sisters, in King
Ellis, who studied acting at NYU, Richard. The movie follows their father,
racked up her first screen credit 26 years Richard Williams (Smith), as he exe-
ago, guest starring in the Dick Wolf cutes an exhaustive plan to raise two
procedural New York Undercover. She tennis legends. Ellis fought to make
says she’s been “toiling in oblivion” for sure she wasn’t just playing “the wife,”
much of the time since. She’s had what to assert Oracene’s agency as a woman
seemed like breakthroughs, including who coached, mentored, and ground-
key turns in Ray and The Help, only to ed her daughters. She wasn’t always
popular on set for doing so. “I’d be the
only chick in the room, fighting for the

MOTHER LOVE

Aunjanue Ellis fought
for Oracene’s

voice to be heard.

VA NI TY FA I R FEBRUARY 2022

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“++++

THIS IS PAOLO SORRENTINO’S ‘ROMA’, A PICTURE-PERFECT TAKE ON A TIME AND A PLACE.
A PLEASURE TO BEHOLD.”

“A LOVE LETTER TO
THE MOVIES.

Joyous. By turns hilarious,
heartbreaking and remarkable

for its buoyancy and grace.
It’s a film from the hand
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A Film by PAOLO SORRENTINO FILM.NETFLIXAWARDS.COM

VIEW “THE HAND OF GOD: THROUGH THE EYES OF SORRENTINO.”
DIRECTOR PAOLO SORRENTINO RETURNS TO NAPLES, HIS HOMETOWN, AND
REFLECTS ON HIS YOUTH IN AN EXCLUSIVE TOUR OF THE LOCATIONS IN THE FILM.

Vanities /Letter From L.A.

chick,” Ellis says. “It can be lonely, even awards season staple, a counter to people look at you in casting,” she says
when you’re around men as bighearted the many industry celebrations largely before leaning toward my recorder with
as these. But you’ve got to go through focused on white artists. Ellis feels a big smile. “And it makes a difference
that loneliness. You’ve just got to.” particularly proud of this part of the in terms of how much you get paid—said
day. “We’ve had to be our own auditors the actor straight into the microphone!
Her passion resulted in a rich of excellence,” she says. “Because we You cannot ignore it.”
characterization—and a powerhouse have been so brazenly left out of these
performance to match. Ellis does not awards…we have to give ourselves our So here she is, with a character she
generally enjoy reading coverage of her flowers. It’s important to say that we are fought to make great, in a film emerg-
work, but she senses the awards buzz the measure of our own beauty.” ing as one of the year’s strongest overall
trailing her around town anyway—at the contenders. We part ways for a few
gas station, in the newspaper, certain- This philosophy extends to how Ellis hours before Ellis shows up to the big-
ly at today’s screening full of fellow approaches this business. “There’s so gest movie premiere of her life at
actors. She has a machine behind her much that’s associated with this kind of another Hollywood landmark, the TCL
in one of the industry’s most iconic job that can destroy you because there’s Chinese Theatre. She owns the carpet,
studios. For an actor who spent more wearing a dress with a bold, Afrocentric
than 20 years just working to pay the “I’ve been in the geometric print and a sweeping train
bills, the shift is dramatic. WILDERNESS for following her every move, posing with
a long time, so I’m Smith and the Williams sisters. Tonight
Backstage, everyone has left but allowing myself she is not a fan. She is the show.
us and a few scattered publicists; day-
light saving ended this morning, so to appreciate At one point, King Richard’s direc-
it’s already pitch-black out. Ellis breathes THE MOMENT.” tor, Reinaldo Marcus Green, pulls Ellis
in the quiet. It’s been a long day of aside and says simply, “Thank you for
attention and adoration and talking. no measure, there’s no apparatus of pushing.” Ellis fights tears. She’s spent
She’s learning to make a point of tak- protection,” she says. “You’re constantly her whole career speaking up for
ing stock. “I’ve been in the wilderness being judged. I have to protect myself Black women—however fictional, how-
for a long time and I know the hard from that.” She’s been thinking about ever brief their screen time, however
part of this, so I’m allowing myself to this a lot as she jets from place to place, flawed—and here was an acknowledg-
collapse into the pretty stuff and appre- red carpet to red carpet: “When this is ment of that advocacy paying off.
ciate the moment,” she says. “It’s over, I’m getting right back on that road
next-level. I’m speechless. You should and I’m going back to my life.” Later, at the Sunset Tower Hotel’s
write that down.” back patio, Ellis arrives on the early
But she also knows that this moment, side for the after-party. “I was on the
A week later, it’s King Richard pre- this opportunity, matters. She’s lost red carpet with three of the most famous
miere day. The whirlwind begins for roles to actors with “those two words” people in the world,” she says in disbe-
Ellis at the Black Excellence Brunch beside their name: Oscar nominee. lief. She moves through the patio in
hosted by Tina Knowles-Lawson “It makes a difference in terms of how her dress. She had it made two days ago,
(“Beyoncé’s mom,” Ellis emphasizes), having waited until the last minute—
taking place at the NeueHouse cultural remember, she’s not used to all this. We
center in Hollywood. The semiregular find a sofa in a quiet corner. She exhales.
event has become its own kind of A chance for some quiet, a deep breath.

ALL IN THE FAMILY Daniele Lawson as Isha There’s both exhilaration and, may-
Price; Demi Singleton as Serena Williams; Ellis. be, a little fear on her face. Ellis looks
me in the eye and tells me she’s going
to be transparent—as if she hasn’t
already been uncommonly candid and
open. “I’m trying to accept something
good without feeling like something
bad is going to happen,” she says softly.
“Because I have struggled for so long,
this feels so rare and weird and strange
to me.” The surreality continues into
the night. Smith, the Williamses, and
all the rest arrive to party with Ellis.
She has no idea when she’s going home.
It all looks like a Hollywood fairy
tale, with the stars aligned for a well-
deserved happy ending. Q

VA N I TY FA IR FEBRUARY 2022

“ONE OF THE BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR.”

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It’s Adam McKay doing what he does best, knocking satire out of the park.
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Writer-director Adam McKay gives you over two hours of laughs
while convincing you that the world is coming to an end.

A ONE-OF-A-KIND EXPERIENCE.”

WINNER ONE OF THE BEST PICTURES OF THE YEAR

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FROM ACADEMY AWARD® WINNER ADAM MCKAY FILM.NETFLIXAWARDS.COM

Vanities /Comedy of Errors

Dave Chappelle’s BIG LIE believing and moving through the
world politically as though they have
The comedian’s greatest offense is a sin of omission—and it the toughest, as though their pain
whom he forgets says all we need to know By Jamilah Lemieux matters most, as though Black women
cannot possibly be feeling anything
I of us are both, or more, and when you similar to the dehumanization and dis-
try to separate us, sort us, you feed the respect they have felt.” There is little
I WAS IN a bad state for about a week Black Ass Lie. to no consideration of what those of us
after The Closer. Pissed, disappointed, who are harmed by misogyny, and
confused, watching how many Black Black Americans are not solidly maybe hurt even worse, might endure.
folks, including some I know and love unified around many things aside from
deeply, puffed their chests out alongside the desire to be free—and we don’t BLACK WOMEN HAVE not been particu-
comedian Dave Chappelle and echoed all agree on what freedom looks like. We larly outspoken about Chappelle’s
his conviction that “the alphabet people” don’t have a singular political agenda, treatment of us in his work. Before
were being given something—kindness? nor a governing document that lines up daring to wade into this mess of a media
civil rights?—that “the Blacks” were not our shared values. cycle, I had been too badly burned by
receiving with the same ease. reactions to my criticism of actual sex
However, I will argue—as I have for offenders like Bill Cosby and R. Kelly to
It’s one thing to, say, challenge the last 20 years and will until my last risk what would come of triggering
immigration policies that make it so that breath—that aside from craving libera- Chappelle’s sensitive audience. I suspect
White folks can safely and legally seek tion, Black folks are only single-minded part of that has to do with the ways
asylum here, while people from Black in believing strongly that Black men we’re socialized to make space for our
nations are deported and worse. But you are disenfranchised by the proverbial men to speak, particularly through art.
cannot pit “the Blacks” against “the system and that our people have an In the 1990s, civil rights activist (and
alphabet people,” nor can you separate obligation to care for them. Black con- elder) C. Delores Tucker was made the
“the Blacks” from “women”—or servatives, Black feminists, and nearly scourge of young Black people every-
“bitches,” as Chappelle calls us. Many everyone in between speak seriously where for daring to stand up to hip-hop,
of the plight of the Black man. But “the setting the tone for what Black women
Black man” is too often coded language who dared to critique “the culture”
for “the cishet Black man.” The degree could expect. While the advent of social
to which any other groups of Black peo- media has given us outspoken Black
ple are suffering—that is up for debate. Bitches more of a platform than we
could have ever hoped for in the past,
Black America’s version of the Big it’s also made it easier than ever to
Lie—the Black Ass Lie—is that Black harass and demean us.
men have it worse than any other group
of Black people. In her best-selling “We don’t even have to ask Black
Eloquent Rage, scholar and Crunk Fem- women to sacrifice for our survival,”
inist Collective cofounder Brittney the author Mychal Denzel Smith wrote
Cooper writes, “Black men grow up in Invisible Man Got the Whole World
Watching. “They do so without formal

GETTY IMAGES.

38 VA N I T Y FA I R ILLUSTRATION BY Q U I N T O N M C M I L L A N