Everyone's wrestling with the Joss Whedon revelations
It's been a rough weekend for Joss Whedon fans.
On Sunday, TheWrap published a doozy of an essay by Kai Cole, Whedon's ex-wife. In it, she detailed her former husband's many alleged infidelities and calls him a hypocrite for "being out in the world preaching feminist ideals."
"I believed, everyone believed, that he was one of the good guys, committed to fighting for women’s rights, committed to our marriage, and to the women he worked with," Cole wrote.
"But I now see how he used his relationship with me as a shield, both during and after our marriage, so no one would question his relationships with other women or scrutinize his writing as anything other than feminist."
Cole alluded to multiple affairs on Whedon's part over the course of their 15-year marriage, starting on the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. According to Cole, Whedon didn't admit the truth until the end of their relationship, and the revelations upended her life.
"I went from being a strong, confident woman, to a confused, frightened mess," she wrote. "I was eventually diagnosed with Complex PTSD and for the last five years, I have worked hard to make sense of everything that happened and find my balance again."
"I want to let women know that he is not who he pretends to be," she added.
To be sure, nothing Cole has accused Whedon of is criminal – just really dickish. Still, it's a blow to the geek-feminist persona that Whedon has built his career around. And fans of his work are reeling from the disconnect.
Whedon fan site Whedonesque even shut down in the wake of the allegations. Although they did not cite any specific reason for the decision, they indirectly referenced Cole's letter in their closing announcement, encouraging fans to "mark our passing" by donating to organizations that deal with Complex PTSD.
The Whedonesque Twitter account, however, will remain active.
Other reactions to Cole's revelations from around the web:
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A note on The Wrap's piece notes that Whedon declined to comment, "out of concern for his children and out of respect for his ex-wife."
