Joss Whedon — supposed champion of women, local man who brought us “Buffy” — is maybe a bad dude. Well, at least according to this #scathingessay written by his ex-wife, Kai Cole.
In a blog post for The Wrap, Cole details infidelities and shenanigans abound during their 16-year-marriage, and calls him a “hypocrite preaching feminist ideals.” Damn, Cole, tell us everything!
Apparently, Whedon claimed he was a feminist, but essentially used that as an excuse to creep on women. “There were times in our relationship that I was uncomfortable with the attention Joss paid other women,” Cole writes.
“He always had a lot of female friends, but he told me it was because his mother raised him as a feminist, so he just liked women better. He said he admired and respected females, he didn’t lust after them. I believed him and trusted him.”
But apparently, all of that being supportive of women was more about hiding affairs and stuff. You know, as one does. “[He] hid multiple affairs and a number of inappropriate emotional ones that he had with his actresses, co-workers, fans, and friends,” she wrote. “He never conceded the hypocrisy of being out in the world preaching feminist ideals, while at the same time, taking away my right to make choices for my life and my body based on the truth,” Cole continued. “He deceived me for 15 years, so he could have everything he wanted.
“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… 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.”
Before you count this out at hearsay, know this — the popular fan site Whedonesque shut down the same day that Cole’s story was published. And while they offered no explanation, they asked fans to donate to an organization that deals with the treatment of Complex post-traumatic stress disorder, which Cole said she was diagnosed with in the essay.
Here’s the question though — will it actually make a difference in his career? I mean, I guess we’ll see. But I’m not exactly hopeful. More likely, more dudes will catch on and use the facade of feminism to their advantage.
Which I’m not exactly looking forward to, personally.
