Me and the Paparazzi

No, no photographer is stalking me with his camera. But I am thinking about them today because of today's WWW.Wednesday post. It's decorated with a shot of JBKO reading on the hood of her jeep. I love this photo, even though it was taken without her knowledge and was undoubtedly an invasion of her privacy.

On July 29, 1989, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis turned 60 years old. Photographers swarmed all over Martha's Vineyard to see how she would celebrate. A lunch with glamorous friends? A dinner at a bistro with family, including her son, the Sexiest Man Alive? Only one had her figured out.* 

Jackie and her companion, Maurice Templesman, took his boat out on Menemsha Pond very early in the morning. He stayed on the boat but she swam in to shore. Assuming the car behind hers was empty, left there by someone else enjoying the water this Saturday morning, she obviously thought she was alone. She removed her bathing cap, peeled down her bathing suit (fortunately her back was to the car, its unseen occupant and his camera!) and toweled off. Then she donned a striped pullover, wrapped her hair in a towel, and climbed onto the hood of her car to read while she waited for Maurice.

A morning swim, a good book, and a man she loved. I'm glad that's how she celebrated her 60th. 

I also wonder if I should know all this.

By 1989, she had been the most famous woman in America for nearly 30 years. Only Princess Diana had surpassed her as a cover girl. She was photographed every time she left her home -- whether the White House, her Fifth Avenue apartment, The Christina, or Red Gate Farm on Martha's Vineyard. Every. Time. As this picture illustrates.

She hated it. She took photographer Ron Galella to court and a judge mandated he had to stay 25 feet away from her. When he violated the court order, Galella lost his right to photograph Jackie or her children ever again. At the time, she was pilloried in the press for imperiously stomping all over The First Amendment. In retrospect, I wonder if, had Princess Diana taken a similar firm stance, she might not be alive today. (BTW, Ron Galella died last month. I wonder if Jackie now has to hide behind trees and pillars in Heaven.)

So I consume paparazzi product, even as I empathize with their targets. I'm conflicted about this.

*I'm not giving his name here. See? I'm ambivalent.