Aphrodite Rising

Chapter #17 - Sylvia - Love Rears Its Ugly Head

I am not going to tell you that working on "Aphrodite Rising" was an absolute pleasure because, frankly, it was a living Hell. I woke up at the crack of dawn, even sometimes before, to get into costume and make-up, six days a week. I know that, watching the film now, it doesn't look like much, but a great amount of effort went in to looking that fabulous. I am thoroughly convinced that the only reason we had Sunday off was because the director was convinced if we didn't he'd incur the wrath of God. It was a different time, then. Even though no one was particularly religious, we went along with it because it at least gave us a regular day off.

Our days were long, sometimes not getting finished with shooting a scene until midnight or later, giving us four or five hours before we needed to get up and do it all over again. I was perpetually exhausted and I believe a good amount of that time in the make-up chair was spent to hide the growing bags under my eyes. I ate and slept in my off time, unable to do much else.

While James and I had a wonderful chemistry on set, it turned into a cordial annoyance with each other once the cameras stopped rolling. When we first met, he had been sweet and debonair, everything I would want to find in a man. His sense of humor often came off as wry, something that I found endearing in the beginning, but began to wear on my thinning nerves as time crept along. I'm sad to say that, by the time we were done filming, we were no longer on speaking terms.

Of course, this was a weak spot that was exploited by Norm Stetler. Competitive and controlling man that he was, when he felt I was getting close to James, he would visit on set and act like we were an item. The more I declined, the guiltier I looked. Mr. Stetler would play up his affections by wrapping his arms around me at times when I couldn't squirm away and would give me pecks on the cheek, call me "darling," and regale me with sexual innuendo whenever James was in earshot. Whatever he did, he made certain that his actions resulted in hostile jealousy from James.

If I refused to play along, Norm would threaten me and, often, would follow through on those threats. This was the man who had ultimate control of my paycheck, my livelihood and, ultimately, my life. I had very little recourse.

The tension this created, though not evident in the movie, was evident in public. I tried to be gracious when we had to make appearances, but James was often spiteful. As he saw it, I had led him to believe that we could be romantically attached when Norm had so obviously claimed me. He never saw the desperation in my eyes, the silent pleas for help.

Since James and I were required to maintain a certain degree of decorum, we did, but the longer we were together, the less I wanted to be near him. Our fans regarded us as the It Couple, but we were anything but. What was seen as playful banter during an appearance was often a spiteful jab by James. In his petty jealousy, he never bothered to try to understand my tenuous relationship with Norm Stetler. Instead, he would lean close and whisper, "What does he do for you that I couldn't?" I felt like the rope in a tug of war.

I went home and cried each time James and I had to make an appearance together, because I knew I could do nothing to keep myself sane. Eventually, I began to arrive separately from him, avoiding him until the last possible moment. I couldn't tell him the truths that were hidden so well, that I was in love with him and that Norm was abusing me.

The whole situation was exacerbated by Norm Stetler, who was a constant presence, no matter the event, always grinning like a shark at my elbow, navigating my every move. If I said something in an interview that deviated from the script he had given me, I would receive a sharp pinch to my backside. In once instance, this was witnessed by a member of the press who misconstrued it as a loving gesture and commented on it. In reality, I was bruised, both physically and emotionally. That was my first clue that it wasn't only James that saw Norm as anything other than my manager.