Katywatch. Day Two. December 4, 2007
Posted by franklittle in Culture, Film and Television, Media and Journalism, Society, Visual Culture, media.trackback
On Sunday night Katy French, described in today’s Irish Times as a ‘well-known model and socialite’ collapsed for unexplained reasons at the home of a friend in Ashbourne, Co Meath. She was taken to Our Lady’s Hospital in Navan, Co Meath where she is currently in intensive care and, at least as of this morning, has not regained consciousness.
Katy French recently celebrated her 24th birthday and her public statements, such as they have been, having indicated no great evilness nor leanings towards Trotskyism we all wish her well in the same way that one wishes complete strangers well when one hears of illness. She’s the only model I know who is pro-choice, but then as far as I know the rest of Irish modelling is a haven of Hoxha worshipping Maoists. Still, rare for someone dependent on good media press to take a controversial stand for any reason.
But here’s the thing. Katy French was on the front page of today’s Star and yesterday’s Independent. Her illness was covered on RTE and INN news bulletins, Morning Ireland and today is the second day it is front page in the Evening Herald where, I am informed, a nation holds its breath. It is in today’s Times and the Examiner.
The Independent’s coverage today carries no less than four bylines and one fears to think of the resources that the indomitable chroniclers of Irish celebrity news in the Sunday papers are going to throw at it.
Despite the abilities of all of these journalists none have been able to discover any explanation for her sudden, believed heart related, collapse. I am sure many people, hearing that a model who has confessed to taking cocaine collapsed at a house party have added two and two together. The answer might indeed be four, though newspapers have been careful to quote recent statements from her condemning cocaine use. We will have to see.
A week or so ago I posted about the rather sad media obsession with Chantelle and Ziggy, but for the most part that was relegated to entertainment magazines and a couple of the tabloids. Katy French’s illness is in today’s paper of record. Her illness is, to my astonishment, on breaking news in MyFox Atlanta in the US.
Yet she is someone that journalists in the Star pointed out today would have been relatively unknown even in celebrity obsessed Ireland until a year ago when her fianceé dumped her after she posed for a lingerie photo session on tables in his restaurant.
Now every print publication and broadcaster in the country supplies hourly updates on her condition in a manner not dissimilar to the illness of a head of state, or a religious figure, despite the fact that the young lady, no harm to her, has contributed to society merely by looking good in front of a camera. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. We all need to earn a buck and there is nothing new in the media’s obsession with celebrities, but I can’t help feel that for an Irish celebrity, and for Irish media, the envelope just got pushed quite a bit.
It is democracy it is what the people want. The paper of record if the Irish Times is even that should cover the news that matters to people not the news that the intellectual ellites in D4 think should matter to the people.
I had not heard of this individual two minutes ago and I would like to thank Franklittle from the bottom of my heart for enriching and widening my cultural experience this evening.
Simon, Katy French is a media construct. No more no less. Her current notoriety was boosted by the media in a very calculated fashion. They have essentially pre-determined ‘what the people want’. And that has nothing to do with intellectual elites of D4 – not really a tenable proposition if you’re critiquing us on this site – or anywhere else.
I would have thought that it was basic to the concept of individual responsibility that people present the news that they think is important rather than taking refuge in what somebody else says the public think important.
Most of us would…
“Despite the abilities of all of these journalists none have been able to discover any explanation for her sudden, believed heart related, collapse.”
I felt sure when reading that sentence that it was going to end with “for her sudden rise to fame.”
For some reason, Ms French is usually referred to as a “lingerie model”. I served with lingerie models. I know lingerie models. Lingerie models are friends of mine. Ms French is no lingerie model.
All the same, I do hope she has a speedy recovery.
I blame Maddy’s parents.
I’d never even heard of her until the puff-piece at the weekend in the Times or the Tribune, whichever it was.
Clearly I am ready to become a judge.
“I served with lingerie models. I know lingerie models. Lingerie models are friends of mine. Ms French is no lingerie model.”
It is presumably not widely known that the collected works of Lloyd Bentson are on the Cedar recommended reading list.
Something more of intrest in this scene is that Ms French may or may not have been consuming some of the auld Colombiana Marooching Pooder with a slimer certain media type. An intresting study would be to see who long it takes for the captialist sell a paper no matter what market to acutally highlight this intresting factoid
Worth noting that the day after the budget Katy French still leads on the front pages of the Star, Mirror and Sun.
Times has a column from Anne-Marie Hourihane, oft mentioned in these parts for her part in the Coolacrease skulduggery, on same.
“It’s shocking to think that someone at the top of their game one day, who is having the time of their life, could be on their deathbed the next.”
Ray Shah quote – what game?
I hope the Harris-lite who was at the pooder with her is sweating
I saw Katy French on the Ryan Tubridy show a few weeks ago (and, no, I have no explanation for why I was watching that program).
Anyway, at the time she struck me as a pathetic character. Someone who was not personable enough for the media and not beautiful enough for modeling. I hadn’t realized she had done lingerie modeling in the past, but I guess she didn’t get all that rich from that line of work.
What struck me at the time was how sad it all seemed. I could see she’d never really amount to anything in the way she hoped/dreamt. She reminded me of other people who seem to be in the news simply because they go to great lengths to be in the news like Paris Hilton or Tara Palmer ….inson. (Can’t recall her full name.)
When I first heard she was ‘ill’ I just assumed it was a suicide attempt, but maybe not. It’s just that’s how she struck me that night.
Oh, and Budget Day is way past its sell-by date. A throw-back to our more statist past. It’s like an 80-year-old lingerie model.
Katy French was created by the SINDO and the tabs, and now they will destroy her. If she survives she may have a brief extra five minutes as a ‘just say no’ type, not that anyone of these animals in the meida ever says no to coke.
Who’s going to be honest enough to say that the more bourgeois dinner party coke fiends die from it, the better. Maybe then some of the gangs plaguing working class communities will lose some of their income, influence and power. Oops, I guess I just said it. And I wonder how many Sindo types get their stuff from people connected to those who shot Veronica Guerin?
Not of course to insinutate that Katy French is a bourgeois dinner party coke fiend, he reassured the lawyers, but a comment on a trend in society.
Dead right, agree with you on this. Lets see a few journalists choking on their own hypocrisy.
I just saw this. Katy French has passed away:
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/1206/breaking20.htm
May she rest in peace. My condolences to her family and friends.
Gardai are still investigating the events around her collapse.
That’s actually very sad on a human level. I’d echo what you said Starkadder.
I suspect it’s futile to expect that a broader societal trend will be diminished even if this has any similarity to other recent events.
Sad as it may be, will the Guards tear apart her house like they did down in Waterford? Will the sunday papers have pages on the wasted life of the younbg lad from Ballybeg?
More directly will a former fat freind of Katy’s been bought to book for his involvement in this – not on the night but the nights leading up to this tragic incident. Garabaldy, on a gut level I agree with your senitment but don’t forget there was a fairly innocent young woman involved here – say your anger for our former fat friend who once more shows the marks of his creator the grand cretin.
I’m more concerned about the totally innocent people’s lives who are ruined by the money spent by people who take drugs.
“Ireland’s Princess Di” is now what the Sun says.
I think Princess Di did a good enough job of being that thanks to the sickening cringe element in the south.
I just learnt about this girl that day she died.Is she the only celebrity ireland has ever had?. I’m not judging,but this woman killed herself and she wasn’t even a role model.Less should be said about her.No need for all this drama.
The real truth from all this is that when you are 24 you think you have nine lives when it comes to close calls.You kinda think that it’ll all be ok cause there’ll be time for a second chance. We’ve all been there in some shape of form and said to ourselves ” Jesus, where was I going doing that or hanging out with him/her/that crowd etc..” Most of us had time on our side to change.Didnt know her but I think she had massive potiential as a PERSON like most 24 yr olds. Id say a few more years would have sorted her out. There was no doubt she was sassy and bright and alot more interesting then her counterparts in the business with their bebo sites and eyebrows. Her family are left to get on with it. What a waste.There’s an alco in every family in this country. Me thinks there’ll soon be a nose candy member too. Just dont do the shit. People are losing the run of themselves. Bring back the old 80’s Ireland when it was 3 pints for a tenner and your doc martins were your taxi. At least we made the most of it when we had very little.
I still use the doc’s Sam.