A HOLLYWOOD AFFAIR

Part 1

She is THE upcoming star in Hollywood. Producers want to work with her, actors want to date her, and paparazzi chase her. With her curvy figure, her long brown hair, those intense green eyes and full lips you can sure call her a true beauty. She´s young, she´s successful and talented and she´s all a man is longing for and all a woman wants to be.

But, as so often in life, there is a darker site too. In her case, it´s a love that ended in tears and fights, a relationship full of ups and downs, leaving her with a broken heart and suspicion against men and love. “I will never let anyone hurt myself again” was what she swore herself after this huge disappointment.

Here´s the story, told in her own words.

NEW YORK. “Damn, get out of her way! She needs to get inside here!” the tall security guard yells at the paparazzi that are following me and my agent Angela, all the way from the black limousine to the back entrance of the studio. I´m already late; I think I was supposed to be here half an hour ago. “I am so sorry for being late!” I apologize to Martha, the stylist at the Jay Leno show. “Don´t worry honey, we´ve got enough time. By the way, Jay was already here looking for you. He left some flowers.” she tells me and turns her head to a huge bouquet of white lilies. “Oh, they´re beautiful… that´s so lovely of him…” I respond. “Ok honey, let´s get this started. Not that I´ll have much work to do to make you look great…”

The lights in the studio are bright; it´s quite warm, the audience is listening to Jay Leno, who is announcing his next guest. “Well, she´s been starring in 4 films within the last one and a half year, and tonight she´s here to promote her new movie she´s done with Anthony Hopkins. Welcome Stella Morrison!”

I walk into the studio, wearing a black, tight dress and high heels. I feel fantastic, it´s been quite some time since I felt that good.

“It´s great to have you here, of course we wanna talk about your upcoming movie, but first of all – tell us what happened to you and Colin Farrell? Is it true you broke up?” Leno asks and my face turns pale. This interview wasn´t supposed to go in that direction. Not at all. I look at my agent Angela, a 43 year old, calculating woman, just focused on business. I would like to leave immediately, but I know I can´t. “Just act like a pro, tell it, use that!” my agent whispers towards me, knowing that this would draw a lot of attention to the movie, as things like that are always good promotion. Of course, I am sure that this was all her idea. No matter how hurtful or humiliating things may be - this is Hollywood, baby, it´s all about money and fame. This is what she taught me. Show must go on, no one cares about a little girl being lovesick. Damn, I know that I have to be thankful to Angela – she´s the mother of my success and the reason I can do what I always wanted to do – to act. So I guess I better do what she thinks is the best for me and my career. I worked so hard, and I´m not gonna lose this all just because of some stupid guy treating me like shit. I learned to be strong; you have to be in that business.

“Well, first of all – it´s true. We broke up. We´re not a couple anymore.” I finally say, trying hard not to lose my composure.

“What happened? There are so many rumours going on…” Leno asks.

Yeah, hell, what happened? I can feel a sudden ache in my heart, and I´m close to tears, as I look back….


…… Six months ago she met Colin Farrell at a party after the Golden Globe Awards. He was standing at the bar, chatting with a couple of people. As Stella walked by, Colin couldn´t take his eyes off her. She asked for a glass of champagne and while waiting for the drink, Colin introduced himself. It was love at first sight. They left the party together, spending an unbelievable night full of passion.
Their first months together where like heaven on earth. They went to parties and events together, the sex was great and nothing seemed to be able to tear them apart. Well, they both had a full schedule, so there were days where they didn´t see each other at all, but they didn´t care. But like in every relationship, there were some problems too. There were rumours about Colin being unfaithful and although he always called these things bullshit, there was one obvious incident, where he couldn´t lie to her. He cheated on her, but he promised this was the only time and that it would never happen again. Well, nobody’s perfect, she said to herself. They worked it out, and everything seemed fine again.

Colin was wonderful, they spent time in Ireland, and Colin even talked about looking for a house there. Yes, this was definitely the real deal for her. She was so happy.

But than came that one day in March, just a few days before her birthday, where she walked by a newspaper stand during a shopping trip. Her look fell upon the latest edition of the National Enquirer, and what she saw just ripped her heart into pieces: “COLIN CAUGHT RED-HANDED” – this headline was written over a picture of Colin kissing a blond girl in a car. That was it for her. Her life fell apart in that moment.

Of course, at first he was denying everything. That´s an old picture, he told her. That´s a good friend of mine, that kiss wasn´t what it appeared to be. But in the end Stella found out, that Colin wasn´t faithful at all. He was seeing that girl for quite some time, and finally they got caught on camera. He told her, he couldn´t cope with the fact that Stella started to get more successful that he was. Seems like he needed some dumb girl to admire him. He begged her to stay, he swore to be faithful. He told her he loved her, and he would love her forever, he begged for a second chance. But she was hurt too much. So she left with a broken heart.

That´s it, she told herself. I´ve been cheated on and been disappointed way too much now. Never again! She told herself to focus on her career now. Maybe being alone is the price you have to pay for your success…….

“You know what Jay? I think, he just wasn´t able to deal with a strong and successful woman…” I tell Jay, giving him a sad smile, ignoring Angela giving me two thumbs up. “It was a really hard time for me… you know, I trusted him and I really thought he could be the one…” I am fighting my tears back right now. Don´t be silly, I tell myself. Get over it. Be professional. Do, what Angela taught you to do. At least, try to turn that all into something positive. “Uhm, yes, the whole thing really hurt me. But I think I am ready to get over it. It made me stronger. And being on promotion tour for the movie helps a lot!” Great transition. I have to change the topic right now. I´m not gonna risk breaking out in tears on national television. “Yes, the movie! Tell us more about it!” Jay asks me, thank god.

Once the show is over, I head to my hotel. I don´t know in how many different hotel rooms I´ve been over the last month, and again I get the feeling of being lost. No one´s waiting for me, but that´s okay. I got everything I want. I grab myself a beer and take a look at my watch. I should give my friends a call… I haven´t heard from them for a long time. Just as I´m about to dial Audreys´s number, my phone rings. It´s Angela. I sigh and roll my eyes, okay, I am not ready for a few new suggestions to make money out of my broken heart. So I switch off the phone and turn on the TV.

LOS ANGELES. “Well honey, I understand that you are hurt, but there are many opportunities for you! We all know that you are the victim in that whole thing. We could get interviews, we could put you on Oprah or any other fucking show, where you could tell anything about your bad experience. Who knows, we could even get you a book contract, you could write about how to cope with being cheated on or give advice about being a happy and successful single woman! You could be in every newspaper!” Angela is in her element. This is so typical. She´s always like that. I really love her, she´s been like a mother to me, but there is only one thing in her mind, and that’s business. “Why won´t you take advantage of that?” she asks me.

“Damn Angela, there are some things that are just meant to be private! Okay! I suffered enough and I don´t wanna talk about it anymore. It was hard enough to have the whole world watching my ex boyfriend messing around with that bitch!” I tell her. “You know, I´d do many things to get a good publicity, that´s what I learned from you. But not this time.”

 “Okay, if that´s your decision… I´ll accept that.” Hell no, she doesn´t. “And let me tell you one thing – I think it´s better you stay alone at all. Remember the two projects you couldn´t do when you were with Colin?” she tells me.

“God, I wanted to spent time with him, it was…”

“Honey.” she interrupts me, “Just spent time on your career now. Okay? You´ll have time for a man later. Believe me, I know that business, and I just want the best for you. Come here, let me give you a hug. So you want to get hurt again? You wanna lose everything you’ve achieved?” She takes me in her arms. “You know what? Just think about it. This could push your career. Okay? But let´s talk about something different now. The MTV Movie Awards will be held in August and they want you to present a category. I don´t know, it was something like “Best Movie” or whatever. I think you should go there, as that show will take place in Spain, and that´s around the time the movie will start in European cinemas.”

“Hm, that´s fine with me” I murmur. “Sounds like fun, at least the Movie Awards last year were really great. Yeah, I think I could do that.”

“Great! Okay, what’s the next point on my schedule… Ah, here we go. Vogue magazine asked for…”