All women in this space face in an ordinate amount of sh-- in social media. What has that space been like and how have you navigated it?
Deadspin did me a favor very early on in my career. They wrote an article titled “
Charissa Thompson Continues Down Suicidal Path to Frumpyville.” I had dyed my hair black and had glasses and was working Big Ten games and NFC North assignments. I did a ton of Lions games in 2008. So I was exhausted, threw on my glasses, dyed my hair and did not tell my bosses. I was so sick of being the quote unquote blonde and being thought of as a bubble-headed beach blonde like Don Henley talked about. Early on I was so impressionable, thinking I’m just another blonde girl. So they write this headline and I am bawling, crying. They had a screen grab and it looked like I gained 60 pounds. The next week -- and this is youth succumbing to social media and Deadspin carried a lot of weight because everyone in the business saw it and I was completely insecure -- I dyed my hair back to blonde and it fell out. I was a hot mess.
The point of all of this was that I learned early on not to care. I can’t go around trying to appease everyone and if I do, then you just become vanilla. If no one has an opinion of you, you are really not doing your job. So I don’t do things to garner a response or be outlandish. I’m not Michelle. If I had to put my finger on it, I just know who I am now. I don’t care if my hair sucks or my dress is too tight because I should not have had that entire bottle of wine. I own my sh-- for lack of a better word where I used to be insecure about it.
The stuff on Twitter I really care about is if it involves it my family or previous boyfriends. It bothers me and is appalling that people are so ignorant and mean. You would be appalled at the sh-- Jay and I dealt with as an interracial couple. I was called a mudshark and other horrible things. And the stuff they said to Jay about his motorcycle accident. I feel bad for him he still has to deal with idiots like that. He is still my best friend and we didn't break up in a contentious nature. But regarding social media, that’s the part that makes me sick to my stomach, that some people live in that ignorant existence.
