[Slate] Slate.com has an advice column called “Dear Prudence”. Today’s dilemma will likely be something in which BlindGossip readers will be interested:
Dear Prudence,
During high school I dated a boy who is now a successful recording artist. Things were going well between us until his career picked up toward the end of our senior year. He transformed from a level-headed, compassionate guy into someone shallow and self-absorbed. When he broke off our relationship, his words were, “I can’t see you fitting into this kind of lifestyle and the crowd I’m now going to be rolling with.” I was pregnant at the time (I never told him) but ended up miscarrying. The breakup and miscarriage were so emotionally devastating that I couldn’t continue my schooling and had to put off college. Years later, I’ve been contacted by his representatives, as I’m in possession of a number of nude and compromising photographs of him, and they want to ensure these pictures never see the light of day. The photographs are on an old computer in my mother’s basement that I’d almost forgotten about. All the old hurt, pain, and resentment have come rushing back. The fact that he couldn’t even call me himself and left it to “his people” makes me so angry that I’m strongly considering selling these photos to a tabloid—I could use the money. Under normal circumstances it would be a terrible thing to do, but maybe I deserve this vindication. Would I be justified?—A Woman Scorned
Dear Scorned,
I hope you’re forever grateful to your mother that she didn’t give your old computer to the Salvation Army, but that doesn’t mean getting revenge will necessarily be your salvation. It’s n*de photo week at this column, and I give you credit for a uniquely juicy variation. Your situation is both a legal and moral dilemma, so for advice on the former I turned to attorney Carolyn E. Wright, whose practice is devoted to photographers. She laid out a number of issues you need to clarify. One is who owns the photos. If you snapped the shutter, you’re in luck, because then you have the copyright. But that doesn’t allow you to reveal these revealing images to whomever you like. If the photos were taken with the expectation that they were only for personal use, then you have to deal with the matter of his privacy rights. It’s possible your ex is such a big name that a tabloid would be willing to buy the photos and indemnify you. But “his people” might also be willing to make a deal to purchase the copyright from you. Wright says, however, that you have to be careful not to extort them: “Pay me a lot of money, or these are the cover of next week’s National Enquirer.” Hire an attorney conversant in privacy law to handle this on your behalf. You were treated terribly by a jerk, but millions of young women have been dumped by arrogant high-school boyfriends. Yes, the miscarriage added to your pain, but it also has meant that you didn’t become a teenage mother whose child had an emotional moron for a father. You need to start looking at your life differently. In high school you dated someone who got famous and broke up with you. By now that should be a couple of anecdotes, not a life crusher. I hope that the delay in your education was only temporary. As for the moral issue of the photos, try to negotiate a fair payment from Mr. “You’re So Vain” for your property. You’ll feel better about yourself for not turning your high-school romp into sleaze. But if I see news that a recording artist is embarrassed over the release of youthful “compromising pictures,” I’ll hope you’re laughing all the way to the bank.—Prudie
Adam Levine. He began to hit it big as a senior when his first band appeared on 90210, and then Maroon 5 got very popular. I think the Voice is reforming his image and thus old skeletons could hurt him.
I like this guess. Fits perfectly, except that he didn’t really achieve a lot of success with that band. However, that doesn’t mean the experience didn’t go to his head and make him think he was hot stuff.
He’s the first person that came to mind. He may be trying to reform his image with “The Voice,” but he still seems pretty arrogant and self-centered to me.
I could be down with Adam Levine, but he didn’t hit it big really – the album for Kara’s Flowers was a commercial flop. The guest spot on 90210 was all he had for about 3 years, when Maroon 5 exploded. That said, Levine has a relative on staff at Slate… which would make for epic amusement.
Who out there right now hit it big at the end of high school, AND would suddenly be thinking of potential scandals to cover up. It took him years to think of these photos and have his people call the ex.
Brad Arnold of 3 Doors Down? They hit it big leaving high school… that’s when Kryptonite started getting radio play, prior to their first album (it was a demo). They declined for a while but released an album last year and another’s coming out like, now…
Hmm this relative thing on “The Slate”…. that’s interesting, where did you hear about it?
uh, John Mayer-sounds douchy like him.
Would John Mayer CARE if nekkid pictures of him were released? Furthermore, would we, the public, care? (Whichever guy this might be, I would think as long as he wasn’t posing with an animal, another guy, or a dead girl, why the big deal?)
Sometimes I wonder if John Mayer has people going from gossip site to gossip site to mention his name. I’ve never heard his name outside of gossip sites, and it’s mostly from blind items. Is he really that famous outside of gossip?
I will bet on college drop out Kanye West!
I think we can blame him for most everything, including our recent infestation of stink bugs, but I don’t think this one is him. Sounds like this person turned pro during h.s. and never made it to college.
I did a check and Kanye hit it big long after high school. Same for Jay-Z. None of the Nsync crowd fit, Lil Wayne started at 14 and never finished school, The Killers/Incubus/The Fray all signed and got big a while after high school, although Incubus did play gigs in high school for two years. Green Day didn’t get big til early 20s.
YAY!!! Thanks BG for posting this!!!
I was thinking it COULD maybe be Jared Followill of Kings of Leon – They formed in 1999 and he was only 16 in 2003 when they released their first record and they are pretty big now….
All the guys are pretty young – the oldest being 29 now.
17 maybe – but still High School aged (he was born in 1986)
Really? I read Dear Prudence religiously and I thought this particular LW (Letter Writer) was making it up.
If it’s Levine, and Levine does fit with the description of events and circumstances since he’s about my age and I know what I was doing with online photos back then, I would think he’d have asked about these photos back in 2004 when Maroon 5 hit it big. Their 90210 appearance didn’t make a blip, so I don’t think this is Adam Levine.
Why were you thinking the letter writer made it up? I used to date someone who has made it to the middle, if not the big time (his band was a one-hit wonder but he has gone on with a decent producing career).
Could it be Usher? It sound like something he would do; look what happened to his wife when she was brought back from the dead.
I think its Usher too.
Usher is who I thought of.
I could see this being Adam Levine. Getting a recording contract and a spot on a hit show like 90210 is pretty darn big for a HS band. His band didn’t go very far, but they certainly had a lot going for them early on. Certainly enough to give a kid an ego.
He may not have cared about naked photos during Maroon 5′s heyday. But now he’s on network TV in a hit family-friendly show. Rock stars get cut some slack, but it’s not good PR to have a fresh scandal; even if the photos are old.
The only reason why this wouldn’t be him is that he graduated high school in 1997 or so. I think he lived in a well to do area, but I didn’t think laptops and digital cameras were quite so common (specifically dig cameras, laptops more so. I got my first laptop at the end of 1998 and it cost like 2 grand. I didn’t get a digital camera til about 2001)
…and, when did harddrives become large enough to accomodate pictures? Sometime after the millennium? This might rule out Adam altogether.
Her comment “would I be justified” Maybe Justin Timberlake?
But doubtful, maybe Chris Brown, I don’t think he needs any more negative press, or someone who’s recently been married, Blake Shelton?
Justin went huge at age 14 and never attended high school. Was homeschooled after grade 6.
Chris Brown, however, would work well, timing wise… he left high school at 16/17…
It very well could be Justin Timberlake,or another boy band (Jonas maybe?). Justin has a been getting a lot of movie roles,and most of them are pg 13 (Shrek 3,Yogi Bear ) so nude pictures could hurt him from getting more movie pg-13 roles, or from signing with Disney.
Well, Chris Brown had his nudes ‘leaked’ a few weeks ago so…
This may sound weird but as I read this, I thought of Paul McCartney. First clue… Dear Prudence is a Beatles song. Second, Paul dated a girl named Dot Rhone before the Beatles hit it big and was pregnant but had a miscarriage but Paul knew about it and from I’ve read online, they are still on good terms so it can’t be him.
From what I can see, “Dear Prudence” is the name of Slate.com’s advice page, so applying that to Paul or any other Beatle is kind of a stretch. Plus computers really stunk back in the early Beatle days. I doubt she was keeping her photos on one.
Your right. Dear Prudence is an advice column from Washington Post. She has live chats on Monday’s and a regular column on Thursday’s. I love love love advice columns. I’m such a nerd, I know! Miss Manners is never as saucy as Prudence though!
So anyway, I agree that there are probably no hints at all in this post. It kind of makes me sad because we may never find out who it is!!!
Hahaha, I’m sorry but I got a kick out of your reply. Computers didn’t even exist back then, except for those used at big companies, and the computers of that time took up an entire room.
Also he wasn’t in America, so no high school and no senior year.
LMAO! Pretty sure that the US doesn’t have a monopoly on high school and senior years. too funny
Sure, but in the UK they wouldn’t be called that. There are some “high schools”, but nowhere has “senior years”.
I’m pretty sure digital cameras weren’t around when Paul McCartney was in high school. Or computers, for that matter..
I like the Adam Levine guess. He fits like a glove.
Mr. “You’re So Vain”.
Mr. Adam Levine.
What about Donnie Wahlberg? He was 16 when NKOTB put out their first album.
I don’t think this had to have occured when computers were around, I have pictures of my grandparents from the 60′s on my computer. Even in the early days of computers photos could be scanned onto the computer.
If she forgot about the photos, she probably did not put enough thought into scanning then into her mother’s old computer. It’s more likely she took them on a digital camera and she just never deleted her digital camera’s photo album from her mom’s computer.
I haven’t posted in a long time but I am going throw out the kids from Panic! at the Disco. I love them but they were still in highschool or just out of it when Fever hit.
If it were a blind written that way I like the connection, but if this is a real letter I doubt the Prudence person knows who ‘A Woman Scored’ is referring to in her letter.
I’m with Camembert though I’m not sure this is a true letter. I mean put yourself in the alleged position of the woman, would you write to some website asking what to do? Unless she is hoping some tabloids might see that and start offering her money.
If it is true I would imagine it’s someone that graduated after 2000 at the earliest due to technology and all.
soulja boy?
I like Adam Levine a lot, but even I couldn’t help it but think of him as one of the potential guesses…. though some things don’t fit this BI.
He’s pretty comfortable with himself and I am pretty sure he admitted he likes to be nude? I mean, this man showed most of his body in these testicular cancer checking charity thing… and he said that if celebs don’t want their sex tapes to be seen, then they shouldn’t make one… though of course nude photos aren’t nearly as scandalous as a sex tape.
Also, when Adam graduated high school, I believe digital cameras and sexting were not so popular? And it’s not like he became very famous right after recording his album. Even “Songs about Jane” became a hit 2 years after the album was released.
From what I know, Jane (who Adam dated during high school, so it fits the description…) has a pretty decent job at Vogue? or some other fashion magazine, so for some reason it leads me to think she doesn’t need lots of money. Maybe my logic doesn’t make sense in this case but oh well….
However, as it was pointed out, “The Voice” is a family-friendly show. The show is about to have its second season. And it seems like things with his girlfriend are going strong, so compromising photos could be, for one reason or another, a deal-breaker in their relationship.
I just read the Wiki page for Fall Out Boy, and I think these guys could be candidates. The onset of their success fits into the timeline (circa 2000) really well, and their LP entitled, “Fall Out Boy’s Evening Out with Your Girlfriend” raised my eyebrows.
So, could this be daddy Pete Wentz, who might be mortified at the prospect of PTA seeing him in various forms of dress and undress?
I’m surprised that the columnist didn’t comment on the fact that if the now-recording artist was underage at the time of the photos, she could face the possibility of trying to sell kiddy porn as well.