The "Codifying Manipulation Awards"

Why is Nicole Kidman really going to show up on Wednesday at the CMAs? To support her husband? To be seen by a national television audience after the writers’ strike canceled her late night appearance this week? To calm those rumors about her marriage and her appearance? It's all of the above. I am also going to go out on a limb and predict that because of their front row seating arrangement we will see these same pictures of these two for the next two years. And why not? This is the Kidman style; a hybrid of the style created by her former husband. Get a good series of pictures shot in a way that she controls, and the tabloids have shots to use for whatever stories they or Kidman's PR people are going to come up with. If it works don't fix it, right? Wrong. It's not working and, Nicole, this is where we the skeptics can claim victory.

Remember Black Wednesday, November 16, 2005. One day, actually only ten hours, after Keith Urban received his award for Entertainer of The Year, People.com treated us to pictures of Kidman and Urban in Boston with a ring on her finger. The person known as Keith Urban died on that day. He became known as Kidman’s boyfriend/ fiancé. He became a pawn in the Nicole Kidman vs. her former husband battle. Keith, still to this day, doesn't matter. It is always about Nicole and will be even after they eventually divorce. There she was with her self-purchased ring on, playing “are they” or “aren't they”. She used the publicists’ dream machine People magazine to get her story across. The first magazine pictures of these two were in People and its sister publication in Australia, Who. It got Nicole what she wanted: her fairy tale wedding. We all believe they are happy and she is aging naturally, don't we? Nicole, the interesting thing about this is that after two years we still don't believe either about you.

The methods that Kidman used to push this idea of her happiness, photos, sightings and strategically published articles don't work anymore. Those of us who have a college education in Publicity 101 have seen that those methods don't work because there is something much more powerful; that is the internet. Blogs, message boards, and columnists all have a power that Kidman and Camp Kidman can't manipulate. There are actually “real” people at these events that Kidman and Keith attend, and they will often go on the ‘net and tell their story, and often that's not what Kidman wants you to know. For instance, at the ARIA’s there was this united front of a happy, happy couple that the whole red carpet saw. What wasn't seen was that when Kidman arrived and saw the cameras, she took her coat off to display her see-through dress. Miss “afraid of the sun” didn't wear sunglasses nor a hat and she knew exactly what she was doing by wearing that dress. She knew that in LA and New York her one true love was "presenting" his new wife at his movie premiere. I know that one of the goals of Wednesday night is to get in the tabs the same week as her former husband’s first wedding anniversary. What people didn't see (except on Youtube) from the ARIA’s was how bored Kidman was during the telecast. She wasn't there other than to wear that dress. Even her blown kisses to Keith were sent after she saw where the camera was. That is the power of the Internet. People magazine was exposed in a CNN special about publicity and it was the great Ted Casablanca who pointed out that People is where PR teams send ready-made articles that push their clients’ agendas.

Kidman can say she hasn't had any work done to her body, but the power of pictures proves otherwise. She can say that she spent her first wedding anniversary with her husband, yet there were no pictures or witnesses. She can say there was a fireworks display for her birthday and a party for his, but since there is no one coming forward with pictures or talking about it, there isn't proof; and that is what is undoing this whole facade. Kidman uses the media, but yet the internet shows the subtle manipulation she uses. Look at the power of the internet with Kidman and her smoking. She claims she doesn't smoke, yet there are pictures that were published on Laineygossip.com that prove she has in the past. This creates a sense of doubt about what she is saying. As a skeptic this gives me a sense of hope. If she plays games with the media about her looks and her habits you don't have to be a genius to see she is doing that about her marriage.

That is why the People magazine interview with Keith doesn't really bother me. I seriously doubt that Keith Urban believes any of the drivel he professed in his paean to Kidman. He, above anyone else, has seen how the game works from Kidman's end to the other side which is proving this fairy tale isn't how it is being depicted. Keith wins Male Vocalist due to his stellar performance this year? Kidman and Keith make out on the front row - who cares? The truth is out there and it always rises above the slime.