In a May 8, 1796, letter to John Jay, George Washington wrote of his “serious anxiety” stemming from “misrepresentation,” which might “frequently flow and spread before they can be dissipated by the truth.” In different phrases, lies have been rampant, and he was sick of this shit. Some 200 years later, one other president can seemingly relate to the sensation, given persistent rumors that Jennifer Aniston is having a secret affair with former president Barack Obama, who, in one other wild, specious, and unsupported blind merchandise, is secretly separated from spouse Michelle Obama.
An individual with data of the state of affairs instructed Vanity Fair that these rumors are categorically unfaithful, and a supply near Aniston additionally characterised the affair rumors to VF as “beyond absurd.” There’s a conundrum for accountable journalists and exasperated topics when making an attempt to current the reality of a narrative like this one: If the individuals in query reply, they danger fueling the hearth and stoking yet one more leg of the information cycle. If they don’t reply and deny, then, effectively, they’re not denying a false report.
Before we get to the debunking, let’s hint the thread: This fanfic state of affairs first surfaced through an August cowl story of the print version of tabloid In Touch Weekly, claiming to reveal “The Truth About Jen and Barack!” (A spokesperson for In Touch didn’t reply to Vanity Fair by press time.) The cowl additional claimed: “Michelle betrayed as Aniston steals her husband’s attention,” and helpfully added bullet factors that learn: “They’re obsessed with each other” and “Power circles in Washington and Hollywood can’t stop gossiping!” (It’s price noting that James Heidenry, who was editorial director at In Touch when the story ran, was additionally the masthead editorial director of a particular journal—MAGAzine?—devoted to singing Donald Trump’s praises. In Touch and the Trump hagiography are each revealed by A360 Media, previously often known as AMI, which got here below hearth for the catch-and-kill operation on the National Enquirer to guard Donald Trump’s repute.)
In October, Aniston appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and flatly denied the declare that she and the previous president have been having or had an affair.
“That is absolutely untrue,” she mentioned. “There is no truth…. I’ve met him once,” Aniston mentioned of the previous president, including, “I know Michelle more than him.”
She did joke that, “Of all the calls you get from your publicist where you’re like, Oh no, what’s it gonna be, or emails saying some cheesy tabloid is going to make up a story, and then it’s that. I was not mad at it.”
That reply could be completely different now that the peanut gallery is at it once more, seeming to coincide with Michelle Obama’s absence at each President Jimmy Carter’s funeral and Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Thanks to accounts like Instagram gossip aggregator DeuxMoi, who consists of an in-bio CYA disclaimer that “this account does not claim all information published is based in fact,” the scuttlebutt has continued. On Tuesday, January 14, the account posted that “someone [DeuxMoi] trusts did text me that a week ago” regarding the former first couple being separated, “but I don’t really know for sure.” The following Thursday, @deuxmoi revealed a brand new podcast episode and touched on each sides of the story. Of the separation rumor, Deux mentioned: “I heard that they were separated from somebody I know, but I don’t know, I felt like it wasn’t viable. It was just the rumor mill churning.”
“I’ve been getting so many questions about it,” she mentioned, not acknowledging that, you recognize, posting these not-saying-just-saying sorts of tales could be why individuals preserve asking.
DeuxMoi didn’t reply to Vanity Fair’s request for remark.
Then we’ve bought the garden-variety “body language experts” and the my-sister’s-catsitter’s-cousin’s-teacher’s-son “leaked DMs” shared by who-the-hell “influencers.” Listen, they don’t let simply anybody use that siren emoji—it have to be true. Wait, what’s that? They do let anybody use it? Oh.
One factor nearly all of the divorce doomsayers level to is Michelle’s whereabouts throughout latest presidential occasions.
Sure, perhaps she skipped out on former president Jimmy Carter’s funeral and this month’s inauguration as a result of she was making an attempt to keep away from a person, however think about that the person in query wasn’t Barack Obama, however Donald Trump. At the 2024 Democratic National Convention, Michelle delivered a stirring speech cautioning Americans to not “be our own worst enemies” and decrying Trump’s “petty” and “unpresidential” methods. “Why would we normalize that type of backward leadership?” she requested. “Doing so only demeans and cheapens our politics.” Is it shocking that she declined the prospect to take a seat politely on that stage and fake to be OK with a second Trump presidency?