John Edwards and Victoria Osteen - Tarnished Images?

by Libby Pelham | More from this Blogger

09 Aug 2008 03:35 PM

This week, two high profile people appeared in new articles for not so stellar behavior. Former senator and vice presidential hopeful John Edwards finally admitted to having an extramarital affair. The National Enquirer broke this story quite a while ago, but I wanted to think it was just tabloid fluff. But, they got it right this time. Edwards admitted to having an affair with film maker Rielle Hunter in 2006, but denied being the father of her child, despite not having taken a paternity test yet. His former aide, Andrew Young, has said he is the father of the child.

He said he is completely responsible, but I imagine this will ruin his political career. If you remember, Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, is suffering from incurable cancer. However, she released a statement saying that she has known about the affair since 2006 and oddly enough, the return of her cancer made the process of recovering from the knowledge of the affair a bit easier. Wow, she is one strong, strong woman.

Another person who has seen bad press this week is Victoria Osteen, the wife of popular evangelist Joel Osteen. She is being sued by a flight attendant who accusses her of assault. Sharon Brown is claiming that Victoria grabbed and pushed her then verbally assaulted her after a drink was spilled before a flight to Colorado took off. Victoria said she did not push Sharon and cleaned up her own spill.

Victoria has admitted to saying "It's not my job" when she was handed napkins after the spill, but said "I didn't say it in an ugly tone of voice." Hum. Joel, who was on the flight with his wife, and Victoria said after the altercation, they both voluntarily left the flight.

To make matters more interesting, Brown's lawyer, Reginald McKarnie, asked Joel why he said if it wasn't for him, Victoria would be in prison during one of his sermons. Joel replied it was supposed to be a comical statement about their personality differences.

It would appear that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has already found Victoria guilty - they fined her $3,000 for interfering with a crew member. Brown is asking not only for an apology, but also punitive damages that amount to 10% of Victoria's net worth. She says because of the event, she suffers from depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and is attending counseling. Seriously - for pushing and yelling?

So what do you think? When I first read about the Edwards affair, I wanted to vilify him. Even in illness, Elizabeth seemed to put his political career above her needs. But then I started thinking that life is more complicated than that. I am sure the cancer diagnosis and return was hard on both of them. Yes, I know, "in sickness and in health," but can we really judge until we have walked in that person's shoes? And should we judge at all?

That being said, the Osteen incident seems, well, I don't know. I cannot image throwing a fit if someone spilled a drink on me. What do you think? Do these stories change your views of either?

Learn more about Libby Pelham

Libby Pelham is a work-at-home mom located in Jacksonville, NC. She has a beautiful little boy, Will, born in July of 2004.

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mcmama (51978) 09 Aug 2008 05:31 PM

I'd love to know what the other people on the flight saw and heard.

Anyone can have a bad day, and she might have lost her temper. But suffering depression because of a shoving incident that was OVER in a little while, and then suing someone for 10% of their net worth (how biblical, tithe unto me) seems a bit extreme.

My dad started his career as a flight attendant in the 1950s. He flew the NY/Miami flights, lots of entertainers, lots of egos. Some well behaved, some not. He had some stories about some real jerks. Guess what. It was OVER the minute he left the plane.

Libby Pelham (12866) 09 Aug 2008 06:31 PM

I agree Janet - I think Victoria was wrong from all I've heard, but it it not like she pulled out a knife and stabbed the flight attendant. She shoved her and verbally abused her. I am sure the military with PTSD can't exactly relate!

Heidi (5259) 09 Aug 2008 06:43 PM

I was a flight attendant for 5 years (1998-2003) and can attest to what Janet said about egos and it all being left on the plane. Basically, when incidents happened (whether or not the person was famous) they were over when the person left the plane and there was a story to share later.

I'm a petite female who was 22 when I started flying. I had grown men, well over 6ft and 250lbs in my face and I had to stand my ground. It never occured to me to sue a passenger who threatened me.

Valorie Delp (49340) 10 Aug 2008 01:31 AM

Yeah. . .the woman needs a thicker skin. This flight attendant just saw an opportunity to get rich.

Courtney Mroch (9169) 10 Aug 2008 09:13 PM

I was shocked to hear Joel Osteen's wife acted in such a way. And I never even considered that the flight attendant might be trying to cash in on her fame. Good point ladies!

And as for Edwards...sad. Very disappointed to hear about all that.

I guess in both cases it just goes to show no one's perfect, everyone has failings, and hopefully they learned from their bad behaviors and will strive to be better going forward.