What comes to mind when you think about Elizabeth Holmes? What about Stormy Daniels? Lorena Bobbitt? Lauren Sánchez Bezos? Kim Kardashian? How do these women make you feel?
Amy Chozick, my guest on Second Thought this week, specializes in women who spike the blood pressure of the body politic. Amy is an author and a former political reporter who’s covered some of the most controversial figures of our age, including Harvey Weinstein and erstwhile WeWork CEO Adam Neumann. But perhaps no one has been more divisive, or earned more of Amy’s spilled ink, than Hillary Clinton, who Chozick covered during her 2008 and 2016 campaigns; her first book, about those years, is called Chasing Hillary.
Since then, Amy has taken a step back from political writing and moved to LA. But her interest in complicated, infuriating women persists. Her recent profile of Mrs. Bezos with the headline “Someone Has to Be Happy. Why Not Lauren Sánchez Bezos?” went viral. “She triggers people,” Amy told me. “I think her perspective is, ‘Why should I pretend to be miserable?’ ”
We’re in an elite-hating moment, and that includes elite women. “There’s so much vitriol toward billionaires that’s driven by inequality. I think a lot of these women I cover, the perception of them has so little to do with who they actually are. They become a prism for all of our feelings about powerful, sexualized women and wealth.”
And now she has a new book out, her first novel, With Friends Like You, about those very themes: powerful women, wealth, and motherhood. It’s a thriller about two women who used to be friends, and about the wildly different paths their lives take before crashing back into each other. I don’t want to give away the plot, or too much from our conversation, but something I’ve been thinking about, ever since we spoke about it, is how jarring motherhood can be for women who were told to focus on their careers before having a family.
“Our generation of women was raised on, ‘You can do whatever a guy does,’ ” Amy said. “I don’t think men were raised to be like, ‘You can do whatever a woman does. You can load the dishwasher and cook every night and do the grocery shopping, and actually you can stay home with the kids.’ They weren’t raised like that.” It’s a fair point—one we get into in this week’s Second Thought.
The Socialite vs. Influencer Cold War
Speaking of women going on the record, Julie Macklowe, a New York City socialite and entrepreneur, is more than happy to. The wife of real-estate heir Billy Macklowe, she’ll dish about her least favorite restaurants, her fake Birkins, and, above all, her fellow millionaires, whom she calls “cheaters” for avoiding New York taxes.
I caught up with Macklowe recently. We talked local government, jewels, prescription drugs, and why she came out in favor of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s controversial pied-à-terre tax—a move which earned her plenty of “dirty looks” at Hamptons parties.
Macklowe, who voted for Trump three times, pointed out, “I’m not pro-taxes. I think New York could be better run, I think our government’s terrible. There’s 1,000 things we could do—to better balance our budget; clean up our subways . . .”
Read my Two Drinks with Julie Macklowe here:
Here’s What Else I’m Thinking About
The monied Massachusetts enclave of Nantucket has a new cause banning influencers from its stores. “A lot of people are tired of feeling like extras in someone else’s video,” said John Sylvia, an antiques store owner with a “No Influencers” sign stuck on his door. The influencers, with their legions of followers, aren’t going down without a fight.
Justin Lester, a 37-year-old pastor at a California church, has built an AI twin, fully equipped to spread the good word to his congregants even when he’s unreachable. As he sees it, “It’s a digital version of my mind” that’s always available to serve; but some fear it could be a bit more complicated than that. Read Freya India’s piece about what happens when faith becomes just another app on our screens.
Ebay and three former executives have agreed to pay $55.7 million to resolve claims that the company had stalked and terrorized journalists who critiqued it. When I say stalked, I don’t just mean eBay pestered them; according to the plaintiffs, the company sent them live insects, a bloody pig mask, and a funeral wreath. Beware the e-commerce mafia!
Last week, a married partner at a Manhattan law firm went viral after he was caught making out with a junior colleague on a Central Park bench. As my colleague River Page wrote this week, the real scandal is far bigger: What happens when our society turns into a nonstop surveillance state where anyone with an iPhone can turn your life into a reality show? As River put it, we’re knee deep in “secular sharia.” My tip: Don’t ever raise up your phone to film anything but your children or a sunset.
Suzy Weiss, Bary Weiss, Nellie Bowles? Nothing but positive vibes. Making a good product, in an adverse society that wants them to fail? Nothing but positives. And gratitude from me.
Regarding your examples? Not such good vibes.
1) Elizabeth Holmes was legally a fraud. Folks wanted it to be a David (her) v. Goliath (Big Pharma), and were profoundly disappointed when ... it was all fraud.
2) Sanchez was a successful woman, but we read about her because of Jeff's success, not hers.
3) Hilary Clinton, without Bill? Would never have become a Senator. Yes, it's questionable if Bill would have been president with someone else...
Perhaps the Kardashians as an example? But the generated emotions (plus and minus) around them IS the product.
Oh Suzy. You're a nice girl, but this writing gig...it's not your strength. I do hope you find your thing.