I first "met" Sandra Lee when she called my office. I run a small, specialized public relations office in New York, where I deal primarily with celebrities--usually celebrities with problems.
My secretary buzzed me and said that Sandra Lee was on the phone. While we had never met, I knew of her "Semi-Homemade" show on the food network and also knew that she was the long-time girlfriend of Andrew Cuomo, candidate for Governor of New York. I assumed that connection was why she was calling and it turned out that I was right.
"Mr. Barber," she said when I clicked on the line. "We haven't met, but I know your reputation and I hope you can help me. I have a strong relationship with most of my viewers, but there is a small but vocal group on the internet that is really trashing me. I don't know why and personally I wouldn't worry about it, but with the Governor's race getting so nasty, I'm afraid that this might somehow hurt Andrew and I wouldn't want that to happen. So I'm calling you."
I told her that I would like to meet her personally as soon as possible, so we could discuss the situation and my possible involvement. She suggested that we meet later that evening at her apartment. I checked my schedule and agreed.
The next thing I did was go on the internet and check out anything negative being said about Sandra Lee. It didn't take long to find, but it took much longer to scan the comments. While some seemed to be serious criticisms about her recipes and her food presentations, most appeared to be from persons (always anonymous) who just disliked her personally for some reason. These comments ranged from snide to deeply offensive. I wondered why these people didn't just stop watching her show if they hated it so much. But my research did give me a lot to talk about when I met Sandra.
That evening I arrived at her apartment building and was buzzed in by the doorman. I was expected, so he showed me to the elevator and I rode up to the tenth floor.
Sandra opened the door and invited me in. I noted that she looked even more attractive in person than she did on television and in photos. She was tall--only a few inches below my six foot height--and her long, blonde hair set off the color of her blue eyes. She was dressed casually, in fairly tight fitting jeans and a multi-colored peasant blouse. And even though the bloose hung loose, I got the impression that her breasts were large, and it appeared when she and they moved that she probably wasn't wearing a bra.
Even though this was a professional visit, her appearance began to set off some tingling in my groin.
"Ron," she said, after we had both seated ourselves on a long, dark green couch. "May I call you that?"
"Of course," I said. "Do you prefer Sandra or Sandra Lee or....." I hesitated. "I don't know your last name."
"That's all right. It may change soon. Why don't you call me Sandy?"
With that she moved right into the business at hand.
"As I said on the phone, some of the things being said about me on the internet are fairly vicious, but I normally wouldn't care about that, but with Andrew running for Governor now, I'd hope that you could help me calm things down so they wouldn't have any chance to impact his race." She looked at me. "I assume you did your homework on this."
"I've checked everything I could find," I said, "and I think there are three main areas of concern. Let me list them and then you can tell me if I'm right in my assumptions." She nodded so I continued. "First and most significant, there is the drinking issue. People are claiming that you're a heavy drinker and that you drink a lot on your show. Then there are those who criticize your recipes and your table presentations. And finally, some of the harshest comments are from people who just don't like your appearance or you in general." I stopped and then said "Anything I've left out?"