Five slightly snarky tips for celebrity journalists in training
By Matthew Halverson
Photograph courtesy of Warren Cowen Public Relations
We’ve always aspired to be red-carpet mic-wavers, so when The Insider celebrity correspondent and Cor Jesu graduate Victoria Recaño came to town in June, we hit her up for some résumé-building advice. Come on, the girl has grilled It Couple of the minute Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn—she’s our go-to glitterati guru.
Get the right degree. Journalism classes help, but if you want to get the goods, you have to get inside their heads. “Psychology is such a good background to have when you’re doing an interview,” Recaño says. “It helps you understand how to manipulate a question so that it comes out in a way that’s not offensive.”
Keep a bag packed. Celebutantes don’t keep regular business hours when making news. “I was catching a connecting flight in Las Vegas after a trip to New Mexico to interview Ali McGraw when I got a call that they wanted me to go to Anguilla,” Recaño says. “It was the last place where Brad and Jen had spent time together.”
Master the art of the follow-up. Show up with both interrogation barrels loaded: “The first question is usually ‘Who are you dating?’ but if you know they’re with someone already, the next question would be, ‘Are you having a baby?’ If not that, it’s ‘How are you doing after the breakup?’”
Tact wastes time. Why dance around an issue when you can be direct? “Say I’m interviewing a brother-sister combo that weighs 1,000 pounds,” Recaño says. “I’ll say, ‘The two of you together weigh a half-ton. What’s it like for you to walk down the street?’”
Don’t forget Oprah. Seriously. Her screaming followers will find out and hunt you down. “People love Oprah, so you can’t not ask about her if the celebrity you’re talking to has some kind of connection to her.”
