Sex and privacy.

Three links pop up on the radar. All of them have something to do with sex yet, because they're all revelations about three entirely different sorts of people, it's hard to imagine a trio of such different types of stories. And yet again, they all have something to do with sex and privacy, with how much we really want to know about the private lives of public figures.

We can begin with the least delicate, least problematic of the three. At the ripe old age of 69, Richard Chamberlain has come out. Please. Chamberlain's sexual orientation has probably been one of the least well-kept secrets in show business - for decades. But, fine. Myself, I'm pretty much of a hardliner when it comes to outing: Don't do it. It's up to each individual to decide how much s/he wants to reveal about what goes on behind closed doors (though if it goes on elsewhere, it can hardly be up to that individual any longer). That said, though, the message Chamberlain has been inadvertently sending out over all these years - stay in the closet or kill your career - hasn't been of any help to anyone, himself included.

The next one is slightly more problematic because, on the one hand, the hero of the tale, Vincent Gallo, deserves not one iota of slack. Anyone who casts himself on the receiving end of a notoriously long and explicit bout of on-screen fellatio and then submits the film to the world's top festival really doesn't have much claim left to privacy when it comes to his sex life. But the story Roger Avary tells on his blog doesn't involve Gallo alone. Seems the arrogant auteur has, how shall we say, "marked" a photo of Christina Ricci. Now... does broadcasting this tidbit constitute a violation of Ricci's privacy in some way? Not sure what to think about that one, but something's not right here.

And then there's the developing story of Larry Wachowski, a story neither of the brothers can be in the least happy about seeing develop at all. But two weeks ago, Thea Bloom, the woman he's in the process of divorcing after nine years of marriage, put a stop to any Matrix profits going to him. Movie profits - where they come from and where they go - are fair game.

But then word began to get out and about regarding the troubles in the relationship that have led to the divorce in the first place. Wrapping up its story on Larry Wachowski's affair with a dominatrix, the Daily Mirror writes, "The Wachowskis have always shunned the limelight, insisting on a no-publicity clause in contracts. But as lawyers prepare for Larry's showdown with Thea, he's now learning that there is no such thing as a Hollywood life out of the spotlight."

No doubt. But then the story takes another twist. On Friday, David Poland wrote that the filmmaker "is now in the process of changing his sex." This revelation is couched in quite a bit of self-flagellation ("Do I just want to be first?") and sincere moralizing ("None of this is ours to judge") and I'd point out that it's all a bit too sincere if I weren't piling on myself even as I type.

Which I can't feel too guilty about, either. It'd be one thing if Larry Wachowski were keeping both the affair and his evolving transformation private but, though he isn't taking questions yet, he's certainly not bothering to hide either in very public appearances. Which brings up back around to the story we started out with. How he handles the changes he's going through is, of course, up to Larry Wachowski and Larry Wachowski alone. But he's in a position to help others traveling down similar roads. The bottom line is, I hope he'll be taking questions when he's ready.



Posted by dwhudson at June 1, 2003 6:02 AM