First, I want to say that I am a big fan of Wendy Pepper. I really admire her. As time goes by I like her more and more. Sorry, I know most people don't agree, but I'm just stating this up front. Okay.
This appears in today's New York Post: I think it's sad when anyone's marriage breaks up. Notice how Wendy blames Project Runway. Ummmmm - I don't think so.....
Mostly I just want to know Wendy's weight loss secrets. She looks fabulous!
January 17, 2006 -- WENDY Pepper's experience on last year's edition of "Project Runway" changed her so profoundly that it led to her divorce.
Reached at her Middleburg, Va., studio last week, Pepper confirmed that her marriage of five years to woodworker Robert Downing, her second husband, ended "pretty soon after" last season's "Project Runway" did.
She said the show — on which she emerged as a fierce competitor (and one of three finalists) who drew the wrath of the other contestants — forced her to reassess her life.
"When you go through an experience like that, it's a baptism by fire," said Pepper, 41, who has shed 40 pounds since "Project Runway" ended and also appeared on Bravo's "Celebrity Poker Showdown" (where she won $75,000 for the American Heart Association) and last August's "Battle of the Network Reality Stars."
"It was a transformative experience," she said of "Project Runway," the fashion-design competition show spearheaded by Heidi Klum.
"You almost become a different person just by the sheer fact that you had to defend your right to stay at the table," she said.
Her newfound assertiveness "was a sufficient change in me [and] it was difficult for my husband to sort of come along for that step," she said.
Pepper is seen on an upcoming Bravo special confiding the dissolution of her marriage to Jay McCarroll, flamboyant winner of last year's show.
Their conversation, conducted last September at the Players Club in Gramercy Park at a fashion show staged by fellow "Runway" contestant Austin Scarlett, is included in the upcoming special, "Project Jay," premiering Feb. 22 on Bravo.
Pepper told The Post she's still designing clothes for private clients from her studio/showroom in Middleburg.
7 comments:
Um. . . yeah - this is her second divorce, so what reality show was she on that broke up the first?
Let's give the gal SOME credit for maybe having made a substantive lifechange. Whenever one partner goes off and experiences something life-altering that is not shared by the other partner, there's a danger of a spiritual disconnect. UNLESS they both work incredibly hard at mending the breach (which may at first be invisible, or fly under the radar).
Apparantly they did not both want to work at this healing, and there's no way of telling whether that was Wendy's fault.
Let's hope that she finds someone on this new wavelength to share her life with We all deserve happiness, although some prefer to travel their path to happiness alone. And that is ok too.
Don
I have a feeling that her husband saw a side of her on PR that he found distasteful.
Who cares about Wendy getting divorced? I totally zeroed on the fact that Jay's own show will be starting soon!
Now that I think about it - Omarosa also got divorced after her reality show appearance.
It must be the Cruella Deville complex that drives the men away.
I didn't dislike Wendy as much as alot of people last year. At the very end I liked her less though. I think it's pretty sad when a program such as this is blamed for a marriage breakup. First of all, I don't think it's true. It might have been the final straw. In fact, I'd be embarrassed to say such a thing. If it really was the cause, that doesn't say alot for the marriage anyway.
1. I am a Wendy Pepper fan! 2. I'm sorry to hear about her marriage breaking up. 3. I do believe that when big changes happen to 1 person in a marriage (or relationship) it can precipitate enough problems that the relationship breaks up. Probably more complicated than "blame it on PR," but I think in general, the dynamic is common. 4. I, too, want to know how WP dropped all that weight!! Keep up the great work, friend! - marsha
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