Just a couple of crazy lovebirds in hoodies
I’m so glad Noreen Malone wrote this piece in New York about how people won’t stop judging Priscilla Chan. Because it is just so damn annoying and predictable and true. Malone notes how very disappointed the media industrial complex seems to be that they’ve been provided such a blah narrative to work with: the trip to McDonald’s on the honeymoon, the un-flashy ruby engagement ring, the burritos at the wedding reception. It’s all so incredibly inconvenient for a culture hungry for a Kate Middleton to call its own. “In a world of celebrity weddings and bejeweled arm-candy wives,” Malone writes, Chan is “not demanding to be treated like a princess by her wealthy husband, and worse still, she’s ignoring demands that she act like one for their amusement.” This, coupled with the fact that Chan doesn’t have any interest in granting interviews so she can express what it is she does value, has made the press “even more inclined toward vindictiveness.”
It makes sense that Priscilla Chan doesn’t care about clothes or big old rings. She appears to be Mark Zuckerberg’s total soul mate in dorkiness, and that’s kind of awesome. And I don’t blame her at all for wanting to stay the hell out of the way and not give interviews or try to live up to anyone’s notion of who she should be. If she stands even a fighting chance of maintaining the respect of those she just worked her ass off with at medical school—or gaining the respect of those she’ll be working alongside wherever she goes next—she’s taking the smartest course imaginable.
I couldn’t agree more! I’ve had the same thoughts and was so pleased to see you express them so well here!
Well put!
What many need to understand further is the culture in Palo Alto is totally chill. People don’t dress up and wear flashy jewelry. Millionaires look like skaters, surfers, geeks, college students and the like. She fits right in.
I feel like Priscilla is a totally down-to-earth woman and that she’s living the way she wants, not the script people want her to follow. I love that, and wish more women would ignore cultural standards.
Agreed! She has no interest in being a trophy wife, and has a career of her own to pursue. There’s no reason for her to be in any way ‘obligated’ to give an interview.
I think it is a true mark of her individuality and strong sense of self that Priscilla Chan sets herself well apart from the TMI tendencies of avid Facebook fans. And I am equally impressed that she continues to pursue her own intellectual and career interests, rather than work as a cog in the machine her husband continues to build.
Who knows: she just might coax the word “feminist” into non-derogatory, 21-century parlance.
Well said!
In a world of Kardashians, Real Housewives and Snooki, I find Dr. Chan to be a breath of fresh air. What a woman like that sees in Zuckerberg is an enormous mystery to me, but to each her own. I hope they have a long and happy married life.
Maybe she sees in Zuckerberg something people who don’t know him can’t see. They have been together almost 10 years so there must be something about him that makes her happy.
Noreen talked about this last week on the Slate Double X Gabfest (great podcast, if you don’t already know it). Sorry about the ultra-long link:
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex_gabfest/2012/05/mark_zuckerberg_s_new_wife_pricilla_chan_the_geekdad_movement_and_women_in_combat_on_this_week_s_doublex_gabfest_.html
In this age of fame-hungry trophy wives, she is a role model for women who admire class and brains!
Perfectly stated and in need of being stated.
Hear, hear. I couldn’t agree more.
And a bravo to women like Dr. Chan for showing our sons and daughters that a well-lived life does not lie upon flashy consumption.
BRAVO. It sickened me the way the media acted about the whole thing. I would have hated opening up US Weekly and seeing “Priscilla Chan leaving Starbucks with no makeup! Shocker!” She’s a doctor, she’s a regular person, she just happened to marry someone famous. Mariana is right, she is a role model for women with class.