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Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kylie Jenner & Timothee Chalamet's Relationship Is PR Perfection, Experts Claim
and 's relationship is the talk of the town, primarily because the couple managed to grab the right audience at the right time. From their award show appearances to their recent red carpet debut, the pair has offered fans a lot. But, they have also maintained the suspense by not labeling their connection yet. A few PR experts exclusively gave their insights on the subject, claiming that their relationship is 'PR perfection.' Since Kylie Jenner and Timothee Chalamet began dating in 2023, the couple has guarded their relationship quite a bit. In 2025, the two made several official appearances together, including their red carpet debut at the 70th David Di Donatello Awards in May. Two PR experts spoke to Business Insider and examined the relationship and the PR moves behind it. Evan Nierman, CEO of PR firm Red Banyan, shared insight into why netizens may find it hard to believe Jenner and Chalamet's relationship. The expert explained that the two stars' different brand identities and personas might contribute to the skepticism of their pairing. Nierman continued, 'The kind of brooding, superserious, superauthentic actor clashes with the Kardashian model,' leading to people finding it difficult to accept them as a couple. Mike Fahey, the founder and CEO of the PR agency Fahey Communications, expressed how PR can play a significant role in what people hear about Hollywood. The unveiling of Jenner and Chalamet's relationship in the media was slow and steady. Although the couple made appearances together at the Golden Globes or Coachella this year, nothing major happened until their red carpet debut. However, Nierman considered this a great PR move where 'slow strategic leaks that are then followed by a red carpet debut' would get people talking. Fahey further stated how these strategic PR moves in Jenner and Chalamet's relationship 'created this media firestorm while doing very little.' Previously, the couple's red carpet debut in Rome created a viral moment among fans and netizens. It appears as though they still have a few major moves to go, including a social media debut or the actor's appearance in the Hulu reality show 'The Kardashians.' Nierman opined that the couple's relationship has 'been played to perfection.' The expert concluded, 'It keeps us guessing. It keeps us talking, and that's entirely the point.' The post Kylie Jenner & Timothee Chalamet's Relationship Is PR Perfection, Experts Claim appeared first on Reality Tea.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The real reason it's so hard for people to believe Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet are in love
Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet recently made their red carpet debut as a couple. They have reportedly been dating for about two years, but some fans still think it's an odd pairing. PR experts told BI creating an air of mystery or even confusion works to the couple's advantage. Despite nearly two years of sightings, smooches, and soft launches, Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet's relationship still feels like a glitch in the Hollywood matrix. Even when the couple made their long-awaited red carpet debut last week after several PDA-filled public outings, some still struggled to accept the news. "I still can't believe kylie & timothee is a real thing," one person wrote on X. Jenner and Chalamet's relationship has been defined by skepticism since rumors of their pairing first surfaced in 2023. Social media users wondered what these two stars — one who rose to fame on a gaudy reality show, the other in the world of Oscar-worthy cinema — could possibly have in common. "I firmly believe they sit together in complete silence," one person wrote on X. Such reactions to Jenner and Chalamet are not confined to social media's most hyperactive posters; I've heard them firsthand. A friend of mine recently said she couldn't shake the feeling that Jenner and Chalamet "don't exist in the same celebrity timeline." Conventional wisdom suggests a relationship this puzzling could be bad business for both parties. But it turns out that confusing the pop-culture-following public may actually be a smart strategy. Two public relations experts told Business Insider the stream of confused responses to this celebrity coupling represents a job well done by Jenner and Chalamet's respective PR teams. It's a sign that both of their carefully cultivated individual brands are strong. So if you feel the friction from those brands clashing, you're not alone — that's precisely what makes the couple so fun to doubt. Evan Nierman, the CEO of the crisis PR firm Red Banyan, described Jenner's brand as ultravisible, social media-heavy, and incessantly self-promotional. Meanwhile, Chalamet has made a point of pitching himself as an artist with discernment and taste. "The problem that people are having is those two different personas seem at odds with one another," Nierman said. "The kind of brooding, superserious, superauthentic actor clashes with the Kardashian model, and I think that's probably why people are having such a hard time understanding the pairing of the two of them." In reality, the public's reaction to Jenner and Chalamet as a couple has nothing to do with their personalities or compatibility behind closed doors. It has everything to do with brand positioning and integration strategies, likely orchestrated — or, at the very least, closely monitored — by large teams of publicists, image consultants, and managers (in Jenner's case, a "momager"). "PR can play a much bigger role in the things that you see coming out of Hollywood than most people at home would guess," Mike Fahey, the founder and CEO of the PR agency Fahey Communications, told BI. "A lot of those things that seem like happy accidents are actually by design." But there's an important distinction between our traditional understanding of a "PR relationship," one that's been orchestrated by celebrities' respective teams to generate mutually beneficial publicity, and a real relationship that has been carefully managed by PR to maximize its impact. Yes, celebrities have a lot to gain by cross-pollinating their fan bases. But the "Kymothée" curiosity feels different from, say, Tom Hiddleston getting papped wearing a T-shirt declaring his love for Taylor Swift. Jenner and Chalamet are simply too odd a match for people to believe they have a calculated arrangement, or that they're being prodded to perform affection for the cameras. To what end? To cross-promote "Dune" on "The Kardashians"? To sell a Bob Dylan-inspired makeup line by Kylie Cosmetics? So something must be keeping them together. Could it be… love? Well, yes, maybe. Why not? The media rollout of Jenner and Chalamet's relationship was drawn out over several months, nudged along by blurry photos of Jenner's car in Chalamet's driveway and anonymous tips sent to the gossip aggregator Deuxmoi before the two were eventually spotted kissing at a Beyoncé concert in September 2023. Even when Jenner and Chalamet attended several awards shows together, including two consecutive Golden Globes, they avoided the spectacle of a red carpet appearance as a couple until just last week. A power couple's red carpet debut is a big deal in Hollywood — for comparison, Swift has never walked one with any boyfriend — but Jenner and Chalamet still kept it relatively low-key. Instead of posing for photos together at a star-studded event like the Met Gala or the Oscars, they staged their official debut at a sparsely attended ceremony in Rome: the David di Donatello Awards, where Chalamet received an honorary award for cinematic excellence. Their relationship's incremental, tempered launch created plenty of space for suspicion and conspiracy theories to flourish. But counterintuitively, both Nierman and Fahey said that isn't necessarily a bad thing. "It's leading to more confusion, but it's also doing exactly what it's intended to do, which is sparking ever more interest," Nierman said. "A series of slow strategic leaks that are then followed by a red carpet debut is a PR move that's designed to generate buzz and to get people talking." If Jenner and Chalamet had opted for a hard launch — a formal announcement, perhaps, or a sit-down interview for a magazine cover — it could have encouraged fans to come to grips with their romance more quickly, or to understand their connection more deeply. That would take away the mystique, which is the very thing that's keeping us interested. "If I were a Kardashian and I was sitting on this relationship, I would do the exact same thing. I would be like, 'I want to get as much mileage out of this as possible. It means that I don't have to do other things. Let's milk this for all it's worth,'" Fahey said. "They've created this media firestorm while doing very little." More than two years after Jenner and Chalamet were linked, they still have valuable cards to play — their first selfie shared on Instagram, for example, or Chalamet's debut appearance on "The Kardashians." "When that happens, it's going to be a big cash cow payday for them, and that's why they're so deliberate in what they do," Fahey said of the Oscar nominee's seemingly inevitable appearance on Jenner's Hulu reality show. "There are no accidents in the Kardashian family." Each new milestone will likely spawn a new round of headlines, TikToks, and heated debates in my group chats. I anticipate receiving many more texts like, "I can't believe they're still together," and, "I still don't get it." Here, "still" is the operative word. The ongoing disbelief that Jenner and Chalamet are a match is not a symptom of a PR rollout gone wrong. In fact, it's probably the opposite. "It's been played to perfection," Nierman said. "It keeps us guessing. It keeps us talking, and that's entirely the point." Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Insider
Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet are one of the most confusing couples in Hollywood. PR experts say that's by design.
Despite nearly two years of sightings, smooches, and soft launches, Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet's relationship still feels like a glitch in the Hollywood matrix. Even when the couple made their long-awaited red carpet debut last week after several PDA-filled public outings, some still struggled to accept the news. "i still can't believe kylie & timothee is a real thing," one user wrote on X. Jenner and Chalamet's relationship has been defined by skepticism since rumors of their pairing first surfaced in 2023. Social media users wondered what these two stars — one who rose to fame on a gaudy reality show, the other in the world of Oscar-worthy cinema — could possibly have in common. "I firmly believe they sit together in complete silence," one person wrote on X. Such reactions to Jenner and Chalamet are not confined to social media's most hyperactive posters; I've heard them firsthand. A friend of mine recently said she couldn't shake the feeling that Jenner and Chalamet "don't exist in the same celebrity timeline." Conventional wisdom suggests a relationship this puzzling could be bad business for both parties. But it turns out that confusing the pop culture-following public can actually be a smart strategy. Two public relations experts who spoke to Business Insider said that the ongoing stream of confused responses to this celebrity coupling actually represents a job well done by Jenner and Chalamet's respective PR teams. It's a sign that both of their carefully cultivated individual brands are strong. So if you feel the friction from those brands clashing, you're not alone — that's precisely what makes the couple so fun to doubt. A tale of two very different celebrities i wonder what they talk about — matt (@mattxiv) April 17, 2023 Evan Nierman, the CEO of the crisis PR firm Red Banyan, described Jenner's brand as ultra-visible, social media-heavy, and incessantly self-promotional. Meanwhile, Chalamet has made a point of pitching himself as an artist with discernment and taste. "The problem that people are having is those two different personas seem at odds with one another," Nierman explained. "The kind of brooding, super-serious, super-authentic actor clashes with the Kardashian model, and I think that's probably why people are having such a hard time understanding the pairing of the two of them." In reality, the public's reaction to Jenner and Chalamet as a couple has nothing to do with their personalities or compatibility behind closed doors. It has everything to do with brand positioning and integration strategies, likely orchestrated — or, at the very least, closely monitored — by large teams of publicists, image consultants, and managers (in Jenner's case, a "momager"). "PR can play a much bigger role in the things that you see coming out of Hollywood than most people at home would guess," Mike Fahey, the founder and CEO of the PR agency Fahey Communications, told Business Insider. "A lot of those things that seem like happy accidents are actually by design." However, there's an important distinction between our traditional understanding of a "PR relationship," one that's been orchestrated by celebrities' respective teams to generate mutually beneficial publicity, and a real relationship that has been carefully managed by PR to maximize its impact. Yes, celebrities have a lot to gain by cross-pollinating their fan bases. But the "Kymothée" curiosity feels different from, say, Tom Hiddleston getting papped wearing a T-shirt declaring his love for Taylor Swift. Jenner and Chalamet are simply too odd a match for people to believe they have a calculated arrangement, or that they're being prodded to perform affection for the cameras. To what end? To cross-promote " Dune" on "The Kardashians"? To sell a Bob Dylan-inspired makeup line by Kylie Cosmetics? So something must be keeping them together. Could it be… love? Well, yes, maybe. Why not? The slow rollout of Kymothée was PR perfection The initial media rollout of Jenner and Chalamet's relationship was drawn out over several months, nudged along by blurry photos of Jenner's car in Chalamet's driveway and anonymous tips sent to gossip aggregator Deuxmoi before the two were eventually spotted kissing at a Beyoncé concert in September 2023. Even when Jenner and Chalamet attended several awards shows together, including two consecutive Golden Globes, they avoided the spectacle of a red carpet appearance as a couple until just last week. A power couple's red carpet debut is a big deal in Hollywood — for comparison, Swift has never walked one with any boyfriend — but Jenner and Chalamet still kept it relatively low-key. Instead of posing for photos together at a star-studded event like the Met Gala or the Oscars, they staged their official debut at a sparsely attended ceremony in Rome: the David di Donatello Awards, where Chalamet received an honorary award for cinematic excellence. Their relationship's incremental, tempered launch created plenty of space for suspicion and conspiracy theories to flourish. But counterintuitively, both Nierman and Fahey said that isn't necessarily a bad thing. "It's leading to more confusion, but it's also doing exactly what it's intended to do, which is sparking ever-more interest," Nierman said. "A series of slow strategic leaks that are then followed by a red carpet debut is a PR move that's designed to generate buzz and to get people talking." If Jenner and Chalamet had opted for a hard launch — a formal announcement, perhaps, or a sit-down interview for a magazine cover — it could have encouraged fans to come to grips with their romance more quickly, or to understand their connection more deeply. That would take away the mystique, which is the very thing that's keeping us interested. "If I were a Kardashian and I was sitting on this relationship, I would do the exact same thing. I would be like, 'I want to get as much mileage out of this as possible. It means that I don't have to do other things. Let's milk this for all it's worth,'" Fahey said. "They've created this media firestorm while doing very little." More than two years after Jenner and Chalamet were linked, they still have valuable cards to play — their first selfie shared on Instagram, for example, or Chalamet's debut appearance on "The Kardashians." "When that happens, it's going to be a big cash cow payday for them, and that's why they're so deliberate in what they do," Fahey said of the Oscar nominee's seemingly inevitable appearance on Jenner's Hulu reality show. "There are no accidents in the Kardashian family." Each new milestone will likely spawn a new round of headlines, TikToks, and heated debates in my group chats. I anticipate receiving many more texts like, "I can't believe they're still together," and "I still don't get it." Here, "still" is the operative word. The ongoing disbelief that Jenner and Chalamet are a match is not a symptom of a PR rollout gone wrong. In fact, it's probably the opposite. "It's been played to perfection," Nierman said. "It keeps us guessing, it keeps us talking, and that's entirely the point."
Fox News
05-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Dolly Parton's 'to hell with you' approach fueled decades of success
If you have a problem with Dolly Parton's style, that's your business, not hers. As she told Women's Wear Daily, "I want to look cheap. That's my look. I want to look a little bit, you know, trashy. I don't mean it in a bad way. I just like that kind of almost artificial look. I like the overdone. I like the bleached hair. "It doesn't matter what anybody else says. If your mama doesn't like the way you dress, especially if you're a 30-year-old girl, a woman, if somebody doesn't like the way you look … well, say, 'To hell with you. This is me. I'm the one who has to wear this. You're not wearing it.'" Kara Schmiemann of Red Banyan told Fox News Digital, "Today's generation appreciates raw authenticity, and Dolly's style has always been nothing short of unique and truly quintessential of her own brand. She is unafraid to stand in her own confidence and present herself exactly as she wants, and her joy in her external presentation is infectious. And as they say, 'If it ain't broke …'" Parton just partnered with Khloé Kardashian's Good American brand to release "Joleans," a limited-edition lineup of denim inspired by her hit "Jolene." "It was just a no-brainer to collaborate with Khloé Kardashian and Emma from Good American, and then with a great name like Joleans jeans," she told People magazine. "I mean, it was just a win-win situation all around. Also, to have that girl power to say, 'OK girls, let's just do something special,' and I think we did." The jeans all have a touch of Parton's signature style, with gingham and rhinestones, one she's maintained for decades. She once declared, "It costs a lot of money to look this cheap." "The branding deals and service and product offerings Dolly works on are always strategic; always aligning well with who she is and what she stands for," Schmiemann said. "Whether it is a family vacation at Dollywood, free books for children through her Imagination Library or the multitudes of family and home-centered partnerships, she keeps relatability and accessibility at the heart of what she does. Cooking, beauty, family, pets and clothing don't go out of style, and her wholesome brand and targeted deals certainly play into her lasting and positive reputation." Parton also recently teamed up with Sabrina Carpenter on a refreshed version of Carpenter's hit "Please, Please, Please," turning the song into a duet with the pop star released on Valentine's Day this year. "She is just the cutest little thing ever," Parton told E! News of Carpenter. "She looks like she could be my little sister or my little daughter. And now, when we got together, she's a big fan. And she had kind of reached out to us early on, and then when she asked if I'd do the video, I said, 'Well, if you're sure you want me, I will absolutely do it.' And, so, when we got together, we just realized we felt like we were family, and we looked like we were from the same family. And we both have similar tastes in a lot of things. The day we spent doing that video, we had the best time. "I want to look cheap. That's my look. I want to look a little bit, you know, trashy." "My little nieces and nephews and all my little friends that age, they all think I'm the biggest thing going now because I worked with her. You know how that goes. I was just Gigi and Aunt Dolly til then, and now I'm big stuff." "Dolly doesn't need the support and access to younger celebrity fan bases like Sabrina Carpenter or Khloé Kardashian to stay relevant; she has her own mega following and business ventures that keep her top of mind," Schmiemann said. "It's clear that Dolly Parton chooses to work with younger women because she enjoys the work and collaboration and has made a name for herself as someone who celebrates, empowers and amplifies other voices." "Her longevity is in part due to her continual active engagement and collaborations with new generations," Tim Derdenger, associate professor of marketing and strategy at Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business, told Fox News Digital. "Her work with Sabrina Carpenter is the most current example, but past examples include many other Grammy Award-winning artists across multiple genres, including Elton John, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Nicks, Pitbull and Sia (she hasn't won one yet but is a nine-time nominee). These collaborations ultimately keep her relevant across a wide array of music fans. "These branding deals have turned her from a music icon into a full-on cultural phenomenon, extending her reach beyond music." Parton doesn't sign on to brands and projects blindly though. "When I first had the big idea to start Dollywood, my accountants and lawyers all thought I was making a big mistake," she told Forbes during Dollywood's 40th anniversary. "But I felt a calling to do this. So I got rid of all of them and brought in people who had faith in me. I told them, 'You need to listen to what my dreams are. I don't need to dream your dreams; you need to help me carry out mine.' "I was found out to be right, and they were found out to be gone." One time she didn't listen to her own gut came when she did her short-lived show, "Dolly," a variety show that earned her top dollar but wasn't successful. "I wanted to do a variety show, not the old kind, but my version of it, my personality, things that would touch the all-American people," Parton told the outlet. "But everyone kept trying to bring back the old format through me. They all pushed and shoved until I got so frustrated I just said, 'Oh hell, let's try it your way.'" The show was canceled in its first season, and while she still took home the full paycheck from her two-year contract, Patron said, "Looking back. I still would rather have had the show be a hit than have that money." "It's been a long time, but now I know to go by what I feel," she added. Following her own instincts dates back to the wisdom her own mother gave her when she first started performing as a child. "The first piece of advice I would give to a young artist is the same as my mother gave to me: To thine own self be true," she told Harper's Bazaar in a recent interview. "Know who you are, know what your talent is and be willing to work for it." And Parton plans on continuing to work. "I would never retire. I'll just hopefully drop dead in the middle of a song onstage someday," she told the "Greatest Hits Radio" show in 2023. "That's how I hope to go." The "Coat of Many Colors" singer also said she wants to add more TV hosting gigs in the future and expand her lifestyle brand. "But I do want to have my own line of makeup, my own line of wigs — that sort of thing — and clothes. So, those things all come under that 'branding,' which we're doing so much of now," she told the outlet. "So, once you get to a certain place in your career, you get a lot of offers. And some of them are just a little hard to turn down." Even with all her success, Parton still feels the need to put in effort. "I can't honestly say if there was a particular point in my career where I thought I'd arrived," she recently told 92.5 XTU. "In my early days, when I first got my first encore when I was a little girl, that's when I thought that I was gonna definitely be in show business, but I still don't think I've arrived. "I'm still a working girl, and I still never think of myself as a star. I've got plenty of work to do." "It's been a long time, but now I know to go by what I feel." "Age is just a number, and energy and dedication comes from within," Schmiemann said. "Dolly has built an empire over the course of many decades through grit, hard work, human connection and continuous dedication every day. 'A body in motion stays in motion,' and so too does Dolly Parton." Parton's work ethic has held up despite the loss of her husband of almost 60 years, Carl Dean, on March 3. "Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can't do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy," she said in a statement at the time. On March 14, Parton surprised fans by appearing at Dollywood's Celebrity Theater in honor of Dollywood's 40th anniversary. "Of course, I will always love him, and I'll miss him, but I wanted you to know that I will always love you," Parton told guests, according to 7News. Parton also revealed she is still adjusting to life without Dean, telling Knox News, "I'm doing better than I thought I would. I've been with him 60 years. So, I'm going to have to relearn some of the things that we've done. But I'll keep him always close." She added his loss is "a hole in my heart," but "we'll fill that up with good stuff, and he'll still always be with me."
Fox News
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Alec Baldwin's ‘shameless' reality show, attempt to rebrand bombs: experts
Alec Baldwin's TLC reality show, "The Baldwins," with his wife, Hilaria, and their seven children, has been met with scathing reviews in the press, and now the legal team for Halyna Hutchins' family. Gloria Allred, who is representing Hutchins' parents, Olga Solovey and Anatolii Androsovych, and her sister, Svetlana Zemko, filed a notice of deposition for Baldwin in the family's wrongful death lawsuit against the actor after the death of Hutchins on the set of "Rust" in 2021. "The Baldwin reality show at once celebrates Mr. Baldwin's joy of being with his children while ignoring the fact that Alec Baldwin took a child away from her parents. That is the painful and actual reality with which Halyna's parents and sister live each and every day," Allred said in a statement to Fox News Digital. The statement continued, saying Baldwin "never called or tried to contact her parents or sister to say that he was sorry, and to this day he has never taken responsibility for Halyna's death." "As though it is not enough that Alec Baldwin killed their daughter, and that he was not held accountable in the criminal case because the case was dismissed with prejudice by the court before the jury could decide if he was guilty or not, now Alec Baldwin has compounded the pain of Halyna's parents and sister by taking advantage of his increased fame and notoriety by monetizing it in a TLC reality show, where he takes on the role of victim after he shot and killed Halyna Hutchins on the set of 'Rust.'" Allred criticized Hilaria's claim that Baldwin had "PTSD" from the incident. Hilaria states in the first episode, "He was diagnosed with PTSD, and he says, in his darkest moments, 'If an accident had to have happened this day, why am I still here, why couldn't it have been me?'" "Why is he claiming that he has PTSD? Is his reality show just a veiled attempt to create sympathy for himself with a future jury pool in our civil case? Is this just a shameless attempt to portray him as the real victim in this case?" Allred's statement reads. "No longer under the threat of criminal prosecution, it is long overdue for Alec Baldwin to admit and face the real-life consequences that he caused Halyna's parents and sister." Allred adds, "It is time for him to face reality under oath." The deposition is scheduled for May 9, 2025, at Allred's New York office. Lawyers for Baldwin did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. Of Baldwin's decision to appear on a reality TV show after the "Rust" shooting, a public relations expert said that "it's not uncommon for celebrities to set a plan in place after a public distancing to carve a path back into the limelight." "Some celebrities crave the attention and others 'need' the money, and occasionally it's about the joy of the art," Kara Schmiemann, senior director at Red Banyan, told Fox News Digital. "However, not all cancelations are made equally." "In Alec Baldwin's case, we're not talking about a poorly worded remark, we're talking about life and death, and coming back from something like this is not easy to navigate." She continued, "Let's be clear. There probably was no length of time that the public nor Ms. Hutchins' family would accept and forgive without significant backlash, and rightfully so. The only risk-free way to navigate a tragedy like this is to stay out of the public eye. But for whatever their reasons, misguided as they may be, the Baldwins wanted to showcase their experience, which opens them up for criticism, and they are certainly feeling that public disdain by way of poor reviews across the board." "It is time for him to face reality under oath." "The Baldwins" premiered Feb. 23 on TLC and acknowledged the presence of the trial in their lives. In the first episode, the family relocates to the Hamptons for the summer as Baldwin prepares for the criminal trial in New Mexico. The couple worries about the effect it will have on their children, noting that the youngest few only know a time when their father has been under duress from the shooting and legal fallout. "We're going through some very stressful things, and we're trying to parent through it," Hilaria says. "Everything was so different before this happened, and our lives are very, very different. Our children have been forced to recognize that, they've been forced to deal with that with us in their own way," Baldwin says. Earlier in the episode, Hilaria also says that Hutchins' death will always "be a part" of their family's story and acknowledges that "A son lost his mom in the most unthinkable tragedy. This is never something to forget." Reviews for the series were highly critical. Variety's review headline called it, "Alec and Hilaria Baldwin's Strange Response to the 'Rust' Tragedy." The Guardian slammed the series as a "dreadful reality show" that "is a new low for TV." Vulture said it was "Grimmer Than You Imagined." Ratings for the series have also reportedly been lackluster, though no official numbers have been released. "Baldwin's show started as a thinly veiled attempt to manipulate public opinion and morphed into a dumpster fire of gold-painted horse manure, cementing his image as Hollywood's most tone-deaf celebrity," Eric Schiffer, chair of Reputation Management Consultants, told Fox News Digital. "The show reeks of desperation and is a PR disaster masquerading as family entertainment at the cost of Alec's credibility." In the second episode, Hilaria tells a friend she was looking at text messages from the day after the "Rust" shooting and says Baldwin wrote to her that "he wanted to kill himself." "He has survivor's guilt," Hilaria explains in a confessional interview. "You're involved in this thing that nobody could even possibly imagine. So it goes back to that day. He wishes it were him. He would change places in a second." "We're not talking about a poorly worded remark, we're talking about life and death, and coming back from something like this is not easy to navigate." "This has affected his health and his mental health tremendously," she adds, saying it's affected his heart health and that he's been to the hospital several times. Hutchins died shortly after being wounded during a rehearsal for "Rust" in October 2021 at a film set on the outskirts of Santa Fe. Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer, was pointing a revolver at Hutchins when it discharged, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer, but not the trigger, and the revolver fired. The second episode concludes with the Baldwins' 12th wedding anniversary gift exchange, just two days before they leave for New Mexico. The case was ultimately dismissed in July 2024 after the judge ruled that the prosecution concealed evidence from Baldwin's legal team. "The state's willful withholding of this information was intentional and deliberate," Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said. "If this conduct does not rise to the level of bad faith, it certainly comes so near to bad faith as to show signs of scorching prejudice." A trailer for the full season shows the Baldwins looking ahead, with Hilaria asking in what appears to be a therapy session, "Where do you go from a tragedy?" Baldwin states, "I do not want to go back to the life I had; I don't. I don't care." The "30 Rock" star does have several projects in the works on his IMDb profile. In the second episode, Baldwin does go to film some motion-capture work for an undisclosed project. "Opportunities for jobs have been few and far between because of the situation," he says. "A lot of people cut my throat, lot of people cut my throat in my business." "The show reeks of desperation and is a PR disaster masquerading as family entertainment." He also notes he's experienced "a reversal of fortune" in his business and can no longer be "picky" about the projects he chooses. However, in Schiffer's opinion, he believes that "Baldwin should focus his efforts on acting since his reality show rebrand is tanking harder than crypto advice from a drunk uncle." He continued, "Baldwin went from 'The Hunt for Red October' to 'The Hunt for Relevance,' monetizing a toxic rebrand atop a manslaughter scandal. His current reality show image reduces the perceived value and importance of his current movie projects, yet Alec's saving grace remains his strong acting chops, which will serve him on screen." Schmiemann added that "Alec Baldwin would likely never have been able to come back to the screen without repercussions, but a reality TV show was not the right move. Sticking strictly to movies, where the character is the central focus, as opposed to the man, coupled with a subtle and careful press promotional strategy, would likely have been a softer rollout." "As far as his upcoming movies, time will tell how this reality show affects his reputation in the long run. It's very likely that his movies will see an impact. The public can be forgiving and will sometimes forget, but perhaps not in this case."
