Bitsy

I haven't read the book and I don't think you need to have read the book to know this. He goes on "business trips" all the time. It's a perfect scenario for him to spend his evenings picking up one-nighters in bars. Nice touch in this episode that the business trip he had planned was to Hawaii of all places. Who knows if there would be any business at all on that trip. It is a bit tidy that Perry wound up being Jane's rapist, but it's not uncommon for domestic abusers to also be cheaters. Perry and Celeste kept talking about how "insecure" he is - sexual conquests are one way of getting ego gratification.

My DVR says next week's episode is from 9-10. I don't know how reliable that is, but usually the preview will give a warning if the finale will be a double episode. I have no idea how they will fit everything in to one hour.

I LOL'd at chummy-chummy Renata calling Jane "girl".

I think Ed picked up on Perry's controllingness. I'm sure Perry and Celeste portray it to their friends as concern and protectiveness (just as they still pretend to in private). I think there was also a hint in what Ed said of the Wrights being too classy for such a hairbrained scheme. Ed was having a discussion with his wife about something he thought wasn't a great idea, but there was no hint that he would try to stop her from going or that he thought it was his decision in any way. But he was surprised that Perry would *allow* Celeste to go. There's a difference there.

I was scared when Perry canceled his tennis game and came home by surprise. I thought he'd come home to catch Celeste in the act of going someplace he found objectionable - i.e., going anywhere. I think Celeste thought that too. But it was particularly scary knowing that Celeste had been going to see their therapist on her own and that would particularly enrage him if he found out. No scarf on Celeste at the therapist's office this week, even though there was noticeable redness all around her neck. She wanted the therapist to see that and coax the truth out of her. It's kind of sickening how throughout the show you see bigass bruises on Celeste - some old, some new - and they aren't even bruises that she got from the incidents we saw.

I think Mariah is totally right to put distance between herself and her mother. It needed to happen, and not because of the catfishing. Meri has been using Mariah for years as a best friend substitute and pouring her limitless angst into her. Remember when Robyn announced her first pregnancy and Mariah ran out of the room sobbing because of how her mother would feel? Or that episode when the houses were almost finished and Meri said roughly 500 times that all Mariah wanted was to have Meri's house finished by Christmas? Bullshit. Yes, Mariah was the one crying about it, but it was clearly Meri who gave her the idea that her happiness rested on the stupid wet bar being ready in time for a Christmas cookie buffet. When Meri made Mariah an accomplice in her plan to have an affair and desert the family, I think that was just the last straw. I thought Mariah absolutely did the right thing during that porch conversation by remaining detached and not letting Meri force her into one of her emotionally manipulative conversations that would have been all about Meri's feelings. Like Robyn said, Meri should be working through her feelings with other adults, not with Mariah and Mariah seemed to know that. I think it shows maturity that she is able to stand up for herself to her mother while remaining calm. She's the mature one in that relationship.

I actually felt for Kody a little bit during that therapy session. Meri was unhappy, Meri cheated on him online, Meri threatened to leave him, Meri treated him like crap because the catfish poisoned her mind against him, and then when it was all over and Meri had cried 2 seasons full of tears about her victimization, she still told Kody to stay away from her. So now Meri and the therapist are informing Kody that it's time for him to do the work to fix his marriage and he's supposed to enthusiastically agree. Kody didn't have much say in what happened, and now he's being told what to do. And if he expresses any reluctance, then he's the jerk. I think that would be hard for anyone, but particularly someone like Kody who needs to always feel like he's in charge and he's directing the course of his family. I think the therapist ought to work with Kody on his feelings. I think he's been trying to be the good guy by being sympathetic towards Meri and forgiving her, but there must be unexpressed anger there.

That was "sporadic lace".

I think Tony Ortega's list is a little backward. The list is based on the idea that the celebrities whose involvement is most casual are most likely to get out. I think it's the opposite. I think the most zealous members are the ones who are most likely to become disillusioned and angry and in need of getting the lives back that they gave up. If you are a casual member and nobody's hassling you and you've got a full life outside of Scientology, why go through all the trouble of leaving? Why would Juliette Lewis give up her relationship with her sister just because she's not so into Scientology anymore?

That's not right...Tom and Nicole had no prenup. Therefore under California law, if the marriage had lasted less than 10 years, Nicole would have been entitled to alimony for a period of time equal to half the length of the marriage (5 years). If the marriage was over 10 years, she would have been entitled to lifetime alimony. In the end, she settled for a lump sump payment rather than alimony. Child custody can't be determined by a prenup. A prenup also can't relieve one party from their responsibility to pay child support. That's because a child's rights can't be signed away in a prenup (the right to have access to a parent, the right to be supported according to the parents' means, etc). Those things are always decided by the court. That's why there are some billionaires paying $200,000-$400,000 per month in child support. Katie getting full custody of Suri and getting her out of Scientology was most definitely *not* in her prenup with Tom. Even if it had been possible to negotiate that in a prenup, Tom never would have agreed to it. She ambushed him with the divorce and made it clear that she would do whatever she needed to to get Suri. I think it was pretty obvious that Katie's silence about his freaky life and their freaky marriage was her big bargaining chip, and she sweetened the deal by not going after his money.

Nicole only had her youngest daughter by surrogate; she carried Sunday herself. Early in her marriage to Cruise she had an ectopic pregnancy, and she had a miscarriage right after he left her. I don't think he's shooting blanks either. Speaking of Tom and Nicole, I remember very distinctly reading an article in one of the gossip magazines about 6 months before Tom left Nicole. I think it was US Weekly. The article said that Nicole had been steadily pulling Tom away from Scientology for years and was on the verge of getting him to leave officially. And then boom - Tom leaves Nicole and completely goes off the deep end with Scientology. I have no doubt that the Church/Miscavige had everything to do with that divorce.

I'd forgotten that both Kelly and John both supposedly coped with Jett's death by doing a lot of auditing, but I do think his participation is mostly on his own terms (unlike non-famous members).

My thought exactly. His sexuality, her sexuality, and the nature of their marriage are likely much more complicated than "he's gay and it's all a sham". I can't imagine either of them would want to be faced with a bunch of intimate questions. I don't think Travolta has really been involved in Scientology for a long time. Perhaps it just escaped my notice, but I don't recall seeing him at events or socializing with other Scientologists (other than Kirstie Alley) in a long, long time. My guess is he's got an arrangement with the Church that as long as he officially remains a Scientologist and says good things about the Church when he's asked, then they will leave him alone and not make him participate.

Just catching up here. Beck's mother, Bibbe Hansen, was a Scientologist and he was raised in it, but loosely. He didn't practice it as an adult, until he got together with Marissa Ribisi, who is a hard-core Scientologist. Suddenly, Beck was into it and into it zealously. He started giving his mother a really hard time because she wasn't doing her courses and "moving up the chain". Bibbe told Beck that she never tried to force Scientology on him when he was a kid, and he shouldn't force it on her. She is now declared and Beck has disconnected from her. This is all according to Bibbe, who of course is very sad that she lost her son. Beck, to my knowledge, still will not admit that he's a Scientologist. He lied about it for years. I think in recent years his denials have been less explicit and more cagey. When asked about Scientology, he'll just say something about how people shouldn't discriminate against such a great religion that helps so many people.

In one of the Q&A's the wives were asked whether they felt threatened/jealous because Robyn is skinny and Janelle answered that no, Kody's preference has always been for "curvier" women and so they feel fine and Robyn is the one who is against type for him.

I think DWTS probably owns the rights to the choreography on the show and can give it to their other shows if they want. There may not be enough pros in Bulgaria who can come up with good choreography. I'm not surprised the original choreographers are unhappy about it (especially if they weren't told). The Bulgarian version of Maks and Meryl fell down trying to do one of the lifts in the swing dance. They also copied how Meryl dragged Maks by the foot over to the judge's table. That wasn't part of the routine it was a spontaneous moment, so that's an extra little slap in the face.

Dahlia, thanks. I was wondering why they kept delaying the press release, but I guess it makes sense if venue details need to be nailed down.

Dahlia, any idea on why it's a hot mess? Is the announcement going to be postponed or is there a chance it might not happen? The quality of Disson's production has always been bad. Maybe ABC is trying to intervene to make the show better - I hope so!

Unless they announce something new - and I'm not sure they will - the "ABC Special" Maks keeps hyping like it proves he and Meryl are bonded for life is probably just one of the Disson skating shows. Meryl and Charlie were signed up as headliners for those four shows months and months ago, before anybody was looking for her and Maks to appear together in anything. The idea of turning one of them into a ballroom/skating special happened after the fact. Meryl and Charlie are in absolutely no danger of losing those shows, nor were they ever expected to deliver monster ratings on them. If working in a professional manner with Maks and doing the expected promotion is the best Meryl does, everybody still comes out ahead. The Disson show is scheduled to be taped in December and aired next February. I do not think it will be at all good for Meryl's career or for the show for her to remain locked in a messy tabloid love triangle with JLo for the next eight months in order to try to generate interest in one TV special.

I don't know, her management may be really eager to extricate her from the love triangle publicity that he continues to fuel. He just went on TV again yesterday and when asked about JLo, changed the subject to Meryl and how close they are and what a good time they are having together (really? you haven't even seen each other) and then immediately went outside and basically confirmed the JLo rumors to a TMZ reporter. I really doubt Meryl wants to go out and do interviews about the current state of her love life and her relationship with Maks, but having her management convince the media off the record that she is not part of the story anymore and to leave her out of it? That makes sense to me. That's what managers are for.

The shippers are waiting for them to hook up now that Maks has been back from India and Meryl is back from her vacation, but it's not happening. Instead, Maks signed vodka bottles at a liquor store in New Jersey, promoted JC Penney's free beard trimming service, and hung out with JLo. Meryl did a meet-and-greet in Colorado and judged a local talent show in Michigan. India was a good excuse, but they could have gone to see each other before and after and they haven't. 2 days together in 5 weeks does not indicate a burgeoning relationship. Maks was willing to get on a plane to go to LA for one afternoon to attend a wedding, yet has not gotten on a plane to see Meryl once.

Meryl was in New York on a promotion tour for Puffs for about a day and a half. She went out to dinner with Maks one night and hung out with him and his friends the other night. He and his friends documented both encounters all over social media and of course it gave the shippers hope. That was about a month ago and they haven't seen each other since. The girls on tumblr are tracking both of them like NORAD and they've been in separate parts of the country/world, mostly doing inconsequential stuff.

Well, the rumor on tumblr (ahem) is that Access Hollywood looked into the Maks/Meryl thing and found out that a) They pretty much haven't seen each other at all since the show ended 5 weeks ago b) Meryl's rep told them off the record that "she is definitely no longer even considering dating him". As if she was at one time. So that's why Billy felt confident calling out Maks for faking a romance with Meryl. Meryl's social media interaction with Maks and his fam seems to have abruptly ended as of this weekend. No unfollowing, but the steady stream of "likes" on all of their IG's and tweets seems to have come to an end. (Or maybe just the tumblr girls who were keeping me updated on that stuff have given up? I don't know.) But it's possible that Meryl was duped in all of this too.

Yeah, is it not possible for Maks to get any kind of compliment without it being discounted or pooh-poohed? Nobody said Hilary was starting a tumblr devoted to Maks, she just said something nice about his win.

Meryl and Maks both have pre-existing commitments until the end of July, but that's it. Maks isn't going back to DWTS, Meryl's retired from competition. She said she's going to be finishing college via online classes, and skating shows are not that demanding. Hypothetically, if they wanted to pursue a relationship, they could work out their schedules. If they don't want to pursue a relationship, I think it's because one or both of them just doesn't like the other that way.