July 28, 2008, - 3:52 pm
Topless “Showgirls” Star ls MTV’s New Self-Esteem Teacher for Girls; Far From Miss Barbara’s Dance Center
Is it just me . . . or is there something just a little bit wrong about having a semi-porn star teaching adolescent girls self esteem?
Remember Elizabeth Berkley? The woman who is most famous for playing a stripper in soft-core porn is MTV’s new self-esteem coach for your teen girls. No joke.
In case you’re not familiar, Berkley is the “Saved By the Bell” star who didn’t want to end up as unfamous and loser-esque as her co-star “Screech” a/k/a Dustin Diamond (porn hasn’t worked for him, either). So, she took her top and most of her bottom off for the cameras in the flop semi-porn flick, “Showgirls,” about a ruthless stripper who sleeps with everyone in town to get ahead. Yup, a great textbook in self esteem. The movie was as disgusting as it was stupid.
Full disclosure: As Detroit area kids, Berkley and I both went to dance classes at Miss Barbara’s Dance Center, where we took jazz and tap dancing. But after that, our similarities ended. Her entire family moved to Los Angeles so this spoiled princess could live out her dream as an actress. And here’s something sicker than her horrid flick: her brother, who attended college in Michigan and is now a doctor, took his frat brothers to see his sister take it all off on the big screen.
I wonder how the conversation went: Hey, check out my sister’s breasts. Check out her a–. Class act, that Berkley family.
For the last several years, since her topless stripper flick bombed and she couldn’t get more than minor parts in movies, she successfully dug for gold, marrying Ralph Lauren’s nephew. And she’s been coaching young girls on self-esteem, offering them advice and how not to give in to peer pressure at her website, “Ask Elizabeth.” Berkley’s also been conducting self-esteem workshops for girls.
This is an interesting line of work, coming from a woman who took her clothes off to make it (and still bombed) and reportedly got plastic surgery (beyond the obvious nose job). How’d you like her advising your daughter? If you answered positively, you haven’t seen “Showgirls.”
Now, Berkley, who just joined the cast of cable’s lesbian show, “The L-Word,” is working with MTV to develop a new reality show based on her self-esteem workshops. The pilot shoots this fall. One wonders if she teaches the girls how to pole dance and utter such witty “Showgirls” lines as,
Hi, I’m Heather. Would you like to have a “private dance” with me?
And
I like having nice t-ts.
But don’t worry, Elizabeth Berkley has her priorities and morals straight just in the way they need to be relayed to better your daughter’s “self esteem”: She’s a member and promoter of PETA a/k/a PUTAh (People for the Unethical Treatment of Animals and humans).
And I say, why stop at a woman who only played a semi-porn star in a bad movie? While they’re at it, maybe MTV should hire a real-life porn star or a prostitute to teach girls self-esteem?
Ask Amy Bailey, the scumbagette MTV Vice Presidentette who decided to produce the show. I’ll bet “The View’s” Elisabeth Hasselbeck thinks it’s a marvelous idea.
Remember Scott Peterson, now serving life in prison for murdering his wife? Maybe he should get a self-esteem for boys show on MTV.
I hear the Menendez bros are looking for an opportunity to influence America’s future leaders, too.
***
I had lunch a few years ago with our former dance teacher, Barbara Fink, who publicly praised Berkley in People magazine. But privately, she was embarrassed that her most famous student was famous for moves she didn’t teach young girls–taking off all of her clothes and writhing on a pole. “That’s very slutty,” she told me. Wish she woulda had the guts to tell that to People.
I find the idea of a “self-esteem teacher” even more offensive than choosing a sleazy actress for the job.
kids today don’t need more self-esteem, but more discipline.
Schlusselfan on July 28, 2008 at 5:45 pm