As a result of my intense publicity, I was contacted by even more people from the media who wanted to know my story. One of the calls I received was from Megan Alexander, a producer at Inside Edition. She wanted to know if she could film me and my family packing up and leaving New York City. I told her I would be happy to oblige, as long as it could help me find a job. At the time, much to my wife’s bewilderment, I was not familiar with this popular television program.
Cindy was beside herself. She knew the popular celebrity news program well and had mixed feelings about being filmed. She was a very private person and did not want us to be exploited, misrepresented or turned into a sob story. She was going through one of the worst crises in her life, but to the outside world, she wanted to keep her chin up. She loved her life in Manhattan and did not know if or when she would ever be able to return. Still, for anyone beside our immediate family and best friends, she was just taking the kids to Omaha for the summer.
Somehow, I convinced her that all the publicity was good and might help me find a job, so she reluctantly agreed to let Inside Edition film us leaving our apartment. It turned out to be quite a surreal endeavor. As we were going through a very real and personal family crisis, we were being filmed for national television, and the camera crew kept asking us to repeat scenes in which we were packing boxes with our personal belongings and carrying them out the door.
Megan and her crew were as empathetic as could be and apologized with each request for another take. They advised us to carry empty boxes out the door, so we would not have much extra work—but under the circumstances, even the empty boxes felt as heavy as our hearts.
Our little children hid behind the camera man watching and wondering what was going on.
When the program was aired and my contact information was exposed to viewers across the country, my cell phone rang non-stop for hours, and flurries of calls and emails kept arriving for days.
On Sunday, June 30th, Cindy kissed me goodbye and left to the airport with our two darling children and tears in her eyes. However, with all the sudden publicity, I was certain that things were going to work out for the best. It took a lot longer than I had hoped, but after an inspirational Wizard of Oz-like journey, I would eventually find the job of my dreams.
Comments