#043 : WHY I THREATENED TO BEAT A BITCH'S ASS / CARO-SHAMBLES PART THREE

Original publication date: Apr 25, 2022

Ms. Caroline Calloway has been after a friendship with me since 2015…and I have the receipts.

Yup. The first time she asked me to hang, she was my agent’s new client, inviting me to a Met event.

And I accepted:

I had no idea who she was—she was at Cambridge—but I was happy that Byrd had signed a glam, 'socialite silly'-sounding young female who wanted to invite me to friggin' art museum galas. (Fun fact: I also thought she was English.)

In the end, I backed out.

I was in the middle of writing Murder.

Caroline went anyway.

That was in my spray tan and push up bras and eyelash extension era, CC writes me now. 

Damnnn, mommy. Bring that back!

*****

A few years later, the dinner invites to her home started.

Click here for a refresher.

By then, my attitude towards this person had changed. Caroline had become infamous. Accordingly, I'd grown less welcoming, and more...wary?

That wasn't my fault.

As discussed, I avoided 'peak Caroline' because she was thriving from within a matrix of negative association. She was in iconic form when she was being polarizing.

Accordingly, people talked about her like she was 'crazy' as Kanye West. Or as despicable as Donald Trump.

She came for people like Stella Bugbee, former and founding editor in chief of the best 'women's' website in the world:

(Do note how invaluable The Cut's coverage of my work projects continues to be for my career.)

CC messed with my agent, and gleefully trolled serious authors like Roxanne Gay.

I've always admired Caro's 'stunt queen' steez. And I could enjoy her shenanigans from afar. 

But going to her apartment would have signified a 'New York Media Co-sign' of all of them.

I have never been inclined to make that gesture.