Stories by Aviva Dove-Viebahn
Aviva Dove-Viebahn is an associate professor of film and media studies at Arizona State University. She has a Ph.D. in visual and cultural studies from the University of Rochester and is a contributing editor for Ms. magazine. She is the author of There She Goes Again: Gender, Knowledge, and Power in Contemporary Film and Television Franchises and is currently working on an edited collection about representations of precarity in contemporary youth television.
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Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Boston Globe
Kim Woodburn, British TV's no-nonsense ‘Queen of Clean,' dies at 83
Advertisement She was 60 years old at the time, and she nailed the audition, which involved scrutinizing a young woman's grimy flat in West London. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'Well, this is a flaming comic opera, isn't it,' Ms. Woodburn declared in the woman's terrifyingly filthy kitchen, as she recalled in her 2006 memoir, 'Unbeaten: The Story of My Brutal Childhood.' 'You look so clean yourself, and yet you live like this. Talk about fur coat, no knickers!' Her salty slang was one of the great pleasures of the show, which a Lifetime network executive once described as 'Queer Eye' meets 'Absolutely Fabulous' meets 'The Weakest Link.' The network imported the series to the United States for a few seasons. Ms. Woodburn, usually clad in a crisp white uniform and rubber gloves trimmed with pink feathers -- one reviewer described her as a cross between Mother Teresa and the British madam Miss Whiplash -- would shame and bully hapless homemakers week after week: 'Don't be a mucky puppy underfoot!' 'Scrub, dear, don't tickle!' 'What in the name of normal is all this?' Advertisement MacKenzie, wearing a white lab coat, played scientist, taking samples from sticky counters, from which she always seemed to discover evidence of E. coli, bubonic plague or toxic mold spores. Maggots were a recurring theme. Oprah Winfrey devoted an episode of her show to the pair, and they wrote a housekeeping manual -- a bestseller in Britain. Their show ran from 2003 to 2009 (the American version ran from 2004 to 2006) and spawned 'Too Posh to Wash,' a spinoff about personal hygiene. One of its six episodes featured a woman who never laundered her bra. The co-stars were an irresistible team, though Ms. Woodburn -- 'camp as Christmas,' as The Telegraph described her -- was the standout. After the series ended, she appeared on 'I'm a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here' (in which celebrities are 'trapped' in a 'jungle'; Ms. Woodburn came in second) and 'Celebrity Come Dine With Me' (celebrities cook each other meals; Ms. Woodburn got squiffy, or pretended to be). Most notoriously, she was in the cast of 'Celebrity Big Brother,' in which demi-celebrities are confined together in a house and viewers vote on who gets the heave-ho. Ms. Woodburn would regularly spar with her housemates. 'Go away, you adulterer,' she blasted one, Jamie O'Hara, a British footballer, whom she described as a 'chicken-livered bugger.' When she berated Coleen Nolan, another housemate, calling her 'a two-faced maggot,' security bustled Ms. Woodburn off the show. Advertisement Was it pantomime? Nobody cared. Her behavior and reputation as the rudest woman on television was the stuff ratings are made from, and viewers tuned in by the millions to watch her many dust-ups, which canny television presenters invited her to perform on many more shows. MacKenzie stayed in television, too, but had a less explosive career. 'R.I.P. Kim,' Anita Singh of The Telegraph wrote this week. 'You were spectacularly rude. And, more often than not, you were right.' Patricia Mary McKenzie was born March 25, 1942, in Eastney, a district of Portsmouth on the South Coast, to Richard and Mary Patricia (Shaw) McKenzie. Her father served in the Royal Marines. Her upbringing was horrific. Her parents separated when she was young, and Pat, as she was known, was physically abused by her alcoholic mother and occasionally by her mother's boyfriend. She had stints in foster homes, group homes and a convent. Blind in one eye, Pat suffered in school, which she left at 15 to go to work, turning over her earnings to her mother. At 16, she left home and worked where she could -- in pubs, hotels and department stores, where she sold cosmetics. In her early 20s, she changed her name to Kim, after actress Kim Novak, and to separate herself from her mother, who also went by Pat. In her memoir, Ms. Woodburn wrote of delivering a stillborn baby when she was 23 and burying him in a park in Liverpool, where she was living at the time, digging his grave with a wooden spoon. When the book came out, she was questioned by the police for concealing the baby's birth, but she was never charged with a crime. Advertisement Her first marriage, to an abusive, adulterous police officer, ended in divorce in 1975. She married Pete Woodburn, another police officer, in 1979. Kim Woodburn worked as a beautician and then as a social worker caring for girls in juvenile detention centers. After she married Woodburn, the two became live-in housekeepers for wealthy families in the United States, Norway and the United Kingdom. Pete Woodburn survives her. It was while Kim Woodburn and her husband were working for a Saudi Arabian sheikh at his house in Kent -- a dream job, she said, with the family in residence only six weeks a year -- when she went on the audition that would lead to her TV fame. The 'Queen of Clean,' as the British tabloids called her, was often called on to provide household tips. One of her top five involved dinner parties. Her advice: 'Don't have one.' This article originally appeared in
News24
4 days ago
- News24
‘Unimaginable grief': Radio host Msizi James and wife Angela share stillbirth heartbreak
angelajamesmadinane/Instagram Be among those who shape the future with knowledge. Uncover exclusive stories that captivate your mind and heart with our FREE 14-day subscription trial. Dive into a world of inspiration, learning, and empowerment. You can only trial once.
USA Today
5 days ago
- USA Today
Kate Spade cofounder remembers designer's struggle with fame, final phone call
Kate Spade cofounder remembers designer's struggle with fame, final phone call The name 'Kate Spade' refers to both the iconic fashion brand and its founder, but there was much more to the story than one woman. Elyce Arons is also at the heart of Kate Spade's history, and she's telling her side in a new memoir remembering her late friend. 'We Might Just Make It After All: My Best Friendship with Kate Spade' is out now from Simon & Schuster. Arons and Spade met as freshmen at the University of Kansas, later transferring to Arizona State University together, where Spade would meet her husband, Andy Spade (brother of comedian David Spade). The trio cofounded the iconic affordable luxury handbag company together. Arons and Spade were inseparable for much of their adult lives until Spade died in 2018. In her memoir, Arons includes a letter in which Spade calls her 'the first person in my life to really show me how it feels to be truly loved.' Kate Spade was 'miserable' being a public figure Arons' memoir chronicles the humble early days of Kate Spade, starting with Spade's 'aha! moment' after she couldn't find the right handbag for a fashion shoot at her magazine editor job. She and Andy laid the foundations for a new company, then convinced Arons to move back to New York City and join them. Their fledgling company developed out of Spade's New York apartment, and they partnered with local textiles manufacturers who thought they 'were kind of crazy,' Arons writes. When their operation grew too large for Spade's apartment, they moved to an office and sourced dozens of discarded desks they found on the sidewalk. None of the early partners were eager to be the brand's public face, but because Spade – known in her personal life as Katy – had the name on the label, the task went to her. 'Katy never wanted to be the public face of anything. On the contrary, she was apprehensive of fame. But by creating the brand's aesthetic, she was the designer,' Arons writes. "Despite her shyness, Katy had charisma, authenticity, the look, and the X factor that made her the front person and face of the brand. Her name was on the label. We were happy with it for the most part. The only caveat was our worry for her sake about how reluctant she was to carry our torch.' Though Arons writes that Spade 'persevered and did become an expert at being the company face and voice,' she still struggled with public recognition. She was naturally 'slightly introverted' and was uncomfortable with celebrity. She also often had to travel as the face of the company, going on tour to represent new accessory lines and products. Arons describes this as a 'miserable' experience for Spade. When they launched their first perfume, Spade toured alone, eventually confronting Arons in a phone call that she felt 'abandoned' by her team. 'I know it's not your fault that you're not here, but I feel abandoned by you. You guys got me into this. You should be doing this tour with me,' Spade said, according to Arons. Elyce Arons' last conversation with Kate Spade: 'Inconceivable' Years after selling their company, Arons and Spade started shoe and purse company Frances Valentine together. Their sales were strong and it looked to Arons like 'lightning just might strike twice.' Spade died a year later. 'I talked often with Katy about her struggle with depression, which I knew she had been dealing with those last few years. She was actively seeking help with specialists, and we understood the goal was to mitigate the times Katy was carrying that deep sadness which she couldn't seem to shake and had weighed heavily on her in recent years,' Arons writes. 'Most of the time she was herself, and we spent our days together as usual working or socializing. We had discussed the suicides of celebrities in the past and she had said definitively to me, 'I would never, ever do that.'' Still, Arons says she didn't know how deep Spade's depression was. She writes that Spade's death 'left us with many questions.' She had spoken with Spade just the day before about Spade's summer travel plans when Spade said she had to answer a call from her dad and would call Arons back later. That it would be their last conversation was "inconceivable" to Arons. 'Losing my best friend for life – the woman who shared my sense of humor, who'd been my constant companion at school, at work, at dinners, on the phone, in my house, on vacations – was like losing your face in a mirror,' Arons writes. 'It was disconcerting, disturbing and very lonely.' Kate Spade and husband Andy lived apart but 'loved each other' At the time of her death, Spade and her husband had been living apart but just 'needed a break' and 'never even discussed divorce,' Andy told People in a statement after her death. In 'We Might Just Make it After All,' Arons writes that the pair 'loved each other to the ends of the earth.' She also lambasts those who wrote 'surface-y, ready-made explanations' for Spade's death, like marriage or company problems. 'A highly sensitive person, she felt things more deeply than most,' Arons writes. 'But I know for sure she was not so upset about how many pairs of shoes we sold that she would take her own life. We all have dark moments and periods. In one of those moments, she lost hope.' Celeb memoirs to binge this summer: Aging, marriage, Beyoncé and more This article discusses suicide and suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY's Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you're reading at cmulroy@
