For nine years, Stacy London and Clinton Kelly starred on the fashion reality series, What Not To Wear.
Sometimes, working closely with someone can lead to lifelong friendships. In others, though, it can lead to lifelong feuds. And, last November, Stacy London dramatically blocked Clinton Kelly on Twitter.
But now Stacy London has made a long, vague post about forgiveness. Has she changed her tune about her former costar?
Stacy London and Clinton Kelly spent a decade joined at the hip, because that was their job.
They worked together, traveled together, and made appearances together both on and off of their show.
In his 2017 memoir, I Hate Everyone, Except You, Clinton Kelly wrote of Stacy and of their relationship:
“I either adored her or despised her and never anything in between.“
That sounds like a lot of sibling relationships. And even like a few marriages.
He also explained why he had always felt that way:
“We spent nearly 60 hours a week in captivity, rarely more than an arm’s length away from each other.”
That’ll do it.
“Trust me when I tell you that that is just too much time to spend with any other human being you didn’t choose of your own free will.“
That sounds like a fair description.
When Stacy London dramatically blocked Clinton on Twitter, he shared it and suggested that he knew why, writing:
“The tea is old. And I never spell tea unless I’m shook, which I’m not.”
That’s a great line. He also used both tea and shook correctly as slang, which is really refreshing when we’re talking about a somewhat older white guy, though not surprising coming from Clinton Kelly.
Now, in a lengthy post to Instagram, Stacy London wrote:
“Last night, I was thinking about forgiveness. It’s very easy to say but sometimes not easy to do truthfully.”
That’s true. Not everyone believes in forgiveness. Others believe that it’s theologically important, or good for their personal well-being. But it’s not easy, regardless.
“If you’re like me when I’m hurt I can hold a grudge. I know the old adage: being angry or vengeful or hateful to someone because they’ve wronged you is like taking poison expecting the other person to die.”
Many have said that, including the late, great Carrie Fisher.
“Anger is much easier to cope with for me than sadness and pain. Being angry feels pro-active and empowering, like I’m in control of the situation.”
She’s absolutely right.
“But last night (and WHY last night, I’m not sure) it occurred to me that taking action like blocking people in order to feel some sense of control over other’s actions is a waste of my time.”
She continues:
“I can’t stop people from the way they behave. I can’t stop them from being angry with me, hurtful to me, or indifferent to me.”
And she talks about how that, specifically, applies to social media.
“I can block ex-friends and ex-lovers, people I feel wronged by, but to what end? For the most part, these people aren’t even looking at my accounts in the first place and even if they were, why would being able to see this highlight reel of my life matter in the slightest?”
The connections to Clinton Kelly and how she famously blocked him are obvious.
“Don’t get me wrong: truly hateful, sexist, misogynistic, xenophobic, homophobic, racist comments are simply not permitted on my accounts.”
That is a very good boundary to set, and good advice for anyone to follow.
“@luvvie taught me that social media is NOT a democracy, it’s a dictatorship only in the sense that if you write on MY page l have every right to delete or block you. Go write nasty shit on your own page.”
But she makes it clear that (though she’s still not naming him) she’s not accusing Clinton Kelly of anything of the sort.
“Those are not the people I’m talking about. I’m talking about those I’ve had trouble forgiving for one reason or another.”
Still vague.
“The problem is the more I hold on to my anger, the more I hurt, not them. And while feeling pain and sadness sucks, it’s necessary, NOT damaging.”
You gotta look out for your own health, folks.
“Forgiveness is something you give yourself to move on, to find peace, to let go. So I unblocked a bunch of people today. If this resonates, maybe you can too.”
It’s not clear if Clinton Kelly has actually been unblocked. (Unlike who’s following whom, list of who has blocked whom are not readily visible).
But … it sure sounds like she may have taken him off of her social media no-fly list. That’s progress.
