Smart and Gracious

We were glad to see that our favorite ANTM contestant (OK, our only one) was able to un-wrangle herself (albeit not unscathed) at least legally, from the dramatic unfortunately sad troubles that plagued her earlier this month, during a trip from her native New Mexico (Albuquerque) to Oregon (Portland).

Elyse Sewell, who we believe may be the smartest beautiful woman in the world, has kept a live journal for a couple of years now. The Season One ANTM was a major standout not only in that nascent season, but the series’ entire run.

She came in what could be considered third in the year that My Fair Brady/Surreal Life star Adrienne Curry won.

Well, Sewell showed them, leaving the series without a tear (though they asked her to shed some) and continued on, to an amazing international modeling career, all the while indulging her quirky sense of the absurd through articulate, funny observations through her live journal, and her own keen photographic eye. Despite the fact that Sewell is rail thin (there was some hoopla on ANTM in which she was accused of being anorexic), she has an innate interest in the unique foods she encounters on her various modeling assignment.

The candor in which she details (although not often enough for the legions of fans who regularly leave her messages/comments for her entries) her adventures will hopefully, one day, be turned into a book.

At any rate, it was that very candor that called national attention to the domestic disturbance call at a Sacramento Hotel. Sewell blogged about the horrific incident, prompting it to get picked up in various small newspapers, blogs and her now-ex boyfriend Marty Crandall (of The Shins) hometown paper The Oregonian.

We came into the fray late. We check Sewell’s journal a couple of times a month, maybe, because we are always amused by the images she posts and impressed with her writing. We’re frequently thinking, how can she be so smart and so beautiful? Then, we think, envious much?

But we certainly weren’t when we read about what happened to Sewell that fateful night. The couple had been dating for seven years and Sewell had once candidly admitted that she forgave Crandall for an indiscretion (translate: he cheated on her). What may have surprised fans – and certainly impressed us BeansTalkers – is that Crandall always gave the appearance of a super nice buddy, the proverbial funny and smart, but in a pudgy package.

They were an adorable pair, simply because they were such contrasts physically, and Sewell adored him for him. And that made us like her even more.

She showed her utter graciousness with one of her most recent posts regarding the incident (we won’t get into it here, you can find it in a news search online if you must), posting the following on 8 January:

Gettin' ready for court. I fancy my court appearance to be pretty fly despite puffy eyes and the giant jail boil on my chin that yesterday, in my anxiety, I picked into scabrous oblivion. Better pack some candy in case I end up in jail tonight and regret not grabbing my last chance for an M&M:
Soon I will find out whether I will be prosecuted or the District Attorney will drop the felony charges. Ugh, how distasteful that I even have to think about those boring legal words. Out with "own recognizance." In with "puissance." Out with "remand." In with "undine."

Do not prosecute!

Pray for mojo.

Update: The D.A. has rejected the case against me. I am free. I wish the same outcome for Marty and have no intention of pursuing any further legal action. I would not wish entanglement in the widening gyre of the American legal system upon my worst enemy.

It was incredibly naive of me not to realize that my blog entry about this incident would become tabloid fodder. That was not my intention. I consider the small circle of people who frequent this LJ to be a support group; the much larger world of tabloid readers is certainly not. I will never speak of this again, nor malign Marty in this space. And tomorrow this'll be fishwrap.

Expect few updates to this journal in the next couple of weeks as I will be untangling the web of seven years of cohabitation with my ex-boyfriend, packing up my shit, and thickening up a plot to travel and work in more temperate climes.
~~~~~
The most recent entry tells readers that she’s heading back to Asia and work. Good for her.

We gave the slightest pause to a thread on one of her journal entries in which a reader asked if Sewell meant (based on another entry) that had this incident not become public, she and Crandall would have continued on as a couple, and Sewell responded, yes, that’s what I meant.

Perhaps it took something this significant to brought into the forefront, in the public eye, to motivate her to finally move on from the toxic. But as they say, the only ones who really know a relationship are those who are in it. Let us hope that she finds happiness and joy, continues to post on her journal and travel the world. And, of course, find joy.

We had the pleasure of talking to Luc (her agent) and subsequently interviewing her for our day job, although annoyingly, as is the case with these things, the mag never ran the story. She was very cute about the French keyboard being different from the one she was accustomed to, emailing from some Parisien café. What endeared her to fans on ANTM, as the sarcastic and articulate pre-med student, with the model-ready body and angelic and expressive face, really does come across, even if it was via technology, from Paris to Hollywood.

That’s what’s so darn appealing about Sewell: she has a self-deprecating charm, an always available sense of humor, she's scarily brilliant, and manages to bring personality into her stunning modeling photographs.

Elysesewell.livejournal.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~