Sandra Bullock reached the pinnacle of her profession on March 7, when she won an Academy Award. Her husband, Jesse James, was by her side. He even teared up when she went on stage to accept the Oscar.
Little more than a week later, amid allegations of James' infidelity, Bullock cancelled a planned appearance at the London premiere of the movie that won her the prize, citing "unforeseen personal reasons".
But the brand-new Oscar winner isn't likely to experience any professional consequences from this public exposure of her personal pain.
"If anything, it would engender a massive amount of sympathy toward her, and she's already exceedingly well liked," said veteran publicist Michael Levine. Even the cancellation of her London appearance to promote The Blind Side shouldn't hurt its overseas returns, he said.
‘Sympathetic figure'
"Ironically, it can actually bolster her fame," said Karen Sternheimer, a sociologist at the University of Southern California who studies pop culture and celebrity. "She has tried to keep herself out of her career as much as possible. This development, it adds to her image as a sympathetic figure that especially women can relate to."
Tabloid reports of James' infidelity surfaced on Wednesday. James apologised to his wife on Thursday in a statement issued through his publicist.
"It's because of my poor judgment that I deserve everything bad that is coming my way," he said. "This has caused my wife and kids pain and embarrassment beyond comprehension and I am extremely saddened to have brought this on them."
He added that "the vast majority of the allegations reported are untrue and unfounded", but offered no other details, saying, "Beyond that, I will not dignify these private matters with any further public comment."
Representatives for Bullock did not respond to calls and e-mails seeking comment.
Sternheimer said that the infidelity rumours don't challenge popular perceptions of Bullock or James, who has cultivated a bad-boy persona since his days on Monster Garage.
Add to that the romance of Bullock thanking her husband at various awards shows and calling him "sexy", while he, the tattooed bad boy in a tux, stood loyally by her side.
"Stories like this suggest that these kind of fantasies might not really be possible, that's why it's become such a headline," Sternheimer said. "[Bullock] spoke openly about how wonderful he is and how he changed her. It's the fantasy, the Jerry Maguire you-complete-me fantasy, and to have it come crashing down so soon is the drama side of it."
Longtime Hollywood publicist Howard Bragman, however, said the intrigue created by Bullock's circumstances point to the tabloidisation of mainstream journalism.
"I don't think it's really fair to her," he said. "We could have given her at least a month to enjoy her Oscar."
Bullock turns to Reeves
Hollywood actress Sandra Bullock has turned to actor friend Keanu Reeves for advice after her husband Jesse James reportedly had an affair with model Michelle Mcgee."Keanu has been close to Sandra and good friends with Jesse. He's been helping both of them," thesun.co.uk quoted a source as saying.
— IANS
