Can you really kill by revealing a secret? Litterateur V.S. Naipaul believes so. In the just-published, authorized biography The World is What It Is he admits that letting the world know that he had paid prostitutes during the early years of his marriage was likely what pushed the state of wife's cancer from remission into terminal.
On television, in shows such as "Perry Mason" and "Ironside," Raymond Burr ferreted out the secrets of others. Off screen, he had secrets of his own to hide, include a love of fine wine and orchids he shared with his partner of 35 years -- the less successful thespian Robert Benevides. That career-damning relationship was hidden by the creation of deceased wife and children, according to the new biography, Hiding in Plain Sight.
How many secrets can fit in one person? Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg secretly managed to save thousands of Jews from Nazi camps and his mysterious death is rife with end of WWII secrets including his possible connection to a secret US intelligence agency that -- at least according to the CIA -- has had most of its 13-year history of secrets lost to time.
Secrets can fester within even the perfect vacation. Such was the experience of Mary Jo Eustace, mom of two (one newly adopted) and wife of actor Dean McDermott. Apparently, in three weeks of work on location with a woman he had previously and easily mocked, McDermott fell in love and planned his escape from the marriage. As is smart for anyone about to bring down the reveal, his bag was already packed.
And now off for a bit to discover secrets on my own time away.
A couple days late -- but isn't that often when secrets seep out -- arrives a list of some people (the biggest, this century, so far) who tried or encouraged others to keep their earnings secret from the IRS.
Tricia Walsh-Smith threatens to reveal the secrets that will truly embarrass the husband divorcing her, Philip Smith, president of the Schubert Organization. But other than a call to his assistant to ask him what he wants her to do about the porn, viagra and condoms she surprisingly found among his stuff when the two of them have no sex, there really isn't that much that brings insane shame on her husband. Clearly, he is treating her shabbily, but as she tours the apartment he is evicting her from she does come across as a bit hairbrained, not just her self-described "biggest 'effing' idiot in the world." Is there more there? Real, juicy secrets? Stay tuned.
For those who crave the knowledge only select others have or share it must be impossible to conceive of knowing too many secrets. But secrets can be a burden and setting them free a personal liberation. Or so is the story of author Ian Fleming, subject of an exhibit at Britain's Imperial War Musuem. Working during WWII as assistant to the director of Naval Intelligence Division he became the man who knew too much. Ready for real action and too important to be risked ... and so came the books about a man always ready for action who is risked and often risks everything. Bond ... James Bond.
Thriller writer Charles McCarry is precise in his prose. But everyone is clunky at some point in their oral communication, so while he would surelynot use "dying" and "torture" so closely in prose, it still rings true when the ex-CIA operative said in a recent interview that he doesn't believe in torture: "People are dying to tell you their secrets. It’s just a matter of getting the conversation going."
Imagine if your public identify was a secret one. Such is the life of avocating card counter Rick Blaine, who supplements his Fortune 500 worker bee lifestyle by remaking his looks (spray tans, sunglasses, hair adjustments) to go and count cards at blackjack. Unlike the current "21," the movie made from the Ben Mezrich story of MIT student card counters,"Bringing Down the House," Blaine's story is significantly more downlow and with more up and downs with years of six-figure success and nearly equal failure. He'll offer his card counting secrets in courses or his book, "Blackjack Blueprint," but you'll have to work much harder to discover his life. Which would you rather know?
If you do not know the secret, anything may seem mundane, not worthy of attention, perhaps classifiable out of ignorance as "infrequent and unsophisticated." But get the dish on something you may not even have considered before, say the "Secret Love Lives of Octopi", and suddenly you can be tantalized by slutty females and accountant-brained males who are quick to fight and slow to f**k.
