Novelist and the grandest dame of them all, Joan Didion recently turned 80 and her revered status based on her impeccable career gives her the right to be poetically blunt about those things that cause her irritation.
Such as being hassled by The New York Times about her latest triumph courtesy of a new ad campaign for Celine.
The reporter, who had the task of getting Didion to excitedly divulge about her new gig, didn’t make it back unscathed.
Of course for us regular folk – the idea that in the twilight of our years we can still garner high-profile print ads using our likeness is something that would be worth stopping the press for – in Didion’s case, it is merely a formality.
The acclaimed essayist and one of the reasons why the film Up, Close and Personal materialized, gave a brief and sharp answer when asked about the genesis of the project, “They got in touch with me”. “They” we assume refers to the woman in charge – Phoebe Philo and her posse.
It should have stopped there but of course there had to be an inquiry as to whether or not the excitement catapulting social media over her ads affect her disposition in any way.
This is when things got delightfully blunt, “I don’t have any clue, this ain’t my first rodeo, so stop fluttering around me like idiots, it’s embarrassing”.
Yikes! It is true that Didion has done this sort of thing before albeit sporadically but the point is that we can’t get enough of her brash delivery and dismissal at the notion that she is novice.
She has racked up enough life experience and achievements to remain unfazed and her refusal to hide her nonchalance makes her the coolest Upper Eastsider we know!