What I Wore…..

Ok, I’ll admit it. While standing in store checkout lines, I thumb through tabloid magazines for the latest Hollywood romance or scandal. On occasion, I’ve also been known to watch a celebrity gossip show or two. Yet, based on the popularity of such tabloid tattling, I know that I am not alone in my enquiring mind fascination.

Recently, though, I experienced an up-close-and-personal encounter with a celebrity that made me realize no matter one’s lot in life, we are all just people with the same needs and wants, dealing with the same life challenges and issues.

My encounter occurred during a trip to New York City with my daughter. While in the Big Apple, we attended an off-Broadway play titled, Love, Loss and What I Wore. The production is a one-hour reading of essays detailing significant life moments and memorable dresses, shoes, coats and even undergarments connected to those moments. The essays are read by a changing cast of celebrity actresses who, on this particular evening, included the multi-talented, Rosie O’Donnell.

While browsing through the theater Playbill I noticed an acknowledgement of Ms. O’Donnell as a production contributor. I immediately wondered if I would somehow recognize which essay she had written? The answer to my question became apparent as the play unfolded. There was no doubt which reading was her own, as the topic of Rosie’s personal essay was one that she has shared publicly for many years…. the absence of her mother.

Rosie was a young child when her mother died of cancer. In her “Love, Loss” essay, she talked about the fact that she never got the chance to shop with her mom for a special outfit or a prom dress, like all the other girls. Rosie also shared a particularly poignant clothing memory about the woman who eventually became her step mother and the bathrobe she wore that was just like her mom’s. It was a moving story that gave the audience a deep glimpse into the heart and soul of this famous woman. Yet in the moments that followed, the rest of Rosie O’Donnell’s story was truly revealed.

As the next actress began reading Rosie turned toward her fellow performer, on stage directly in front of my daughter and me. Since our seats were close to the front of the small theater, I could clearly see that Rosie’s eyes were awash with unfallen tears. And while she appeared attentive to the stage production, Rosie’s mind was clearly a million miles away, lost in her motherless childhood memories.

I was mesmerized by the moment, but also felt somewhat like an invasive voyeur. Before me was one of the tabloid’s most popular targets…a superstar actress of the most famous kind. And I was witnessing a very personal interlude that had nothing to do with her fame and fortune achievements. Rather it was the same heartbreak and personal struggle that I have endured since my own mother’s death—the life reality that all of us encounter whether we are Rosie O’Donnell or everywoman.

Ultimately, it was but a few moments before Rosie recovered and returned her attention to the ongoing readings. As she did, she glanced through the audience. There she noticed my child sitting next to me, our hands entwined. Rosie’s essay had moved my daughter to silent tears and a need to reach out and touch her own mother. I held on tightly in response. And as if in complete understanding, Rosie smiled gently and gave us a quick wink, just like any girlfriend would do.

And in that moment I learned more about Rosie O’Donnell than any enquiring tabloid or gossip show could ever reveal….
….and I was wearing my “skinny” grey slacks, my black leather jacket and my favorite suede boots.