Is this scorned woman taking revenge too far?
- Carrie Seim, BettyConfidential.com
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Particularly if that woman has access to billboards in Times Square.
According to Gawker, a slew of giant billboards have popped up in New York, San Francisco and Atlanta featuring a mysterious couple, Charles E. Phillips and YaVaughnie Wilkins. The signs spotlight an oversize image of the couple cuddling, along with the words "You are my soul mate forever! - cep" and a link to a bizarre website littered with love notes and romantic pics of the canoodlers. (The site, charlesphillipsandyavaughniewilkins.com, has now been shut down.)
There's only one little problem.
Charles is the co-president of software giant Oracle and on the board of President Obama's economic recovery team. YaVaughnie is - not his wife.
While details are still murky, evidence is piling up to suggest that Charles and YaVaughnie have been having an eight-year affair. According to Gawker's tipsters, Charles is married to Karen Phillips, who appeared with him on December 3 when he was honored with a global innovation award at New York's Waldorf Astoria. (A reader notes that Charles dedicated his entire acceptance speech to his wife.)
YaVaughnie, meanwhile, apparently created the website and billboards in an act of revenge after being jilted. This is Gawker's best guess after chatting with the website's designer, Bela Kovacs. Bela says he was hired solely by YaVaughnie and was under the impression the site would be a romantic "gift" for Charles.
Gallant pre-Valentine's gesture? Outlook not so good. Fatal Attraction style flameout? Signs point to yes.
The photos on YaVa's website will freak out any guy brazen enough to cheat on his wife. She's posted several notes from Charles pledging his undying love and begging for her forgiveness and patience. She's scanned letters he penned instructing her where to pick up plane tickets for round-the-world flights, along with ticket stubs for the Obama inauguration and photos of the two of them gallivanting in exotic locales. Even creepier? Several photos of YaVa with Charles' son.
It's obvious that Charles' son knew his daddy had a lady on the side. But surely Oracle execs and the Obama administration were in the dark about this dalliance. And what about the wife? Did Karen simply turn a blind eye to the affair?
You really have to give credit to YaVa. Those billboards are a pretty awesome way of saying "f-you" to a sugar daddy who's done you wrong.
(Charles earned $2.95 million in salary for fiscal year 2009, in addition to the $4 million value of his options exercised for the last fiscal year, according to Yahoo Finance. No exact income numbers for YaVaughnie, but she lists herself as a journalist, so I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess she wasn't picking up the tab for the pair's Australian vacation.)
This strange story, along with John Edwards' acknowledgement yesterday that he's the father of his mistress Rielle Hunter's baby, as well as Tiger's trove of extra-marital texts has me wondering.
Read How to Find Your Sugar Daddy
How dumb can these cheating husbands get?
You send late-night texts to these women, take them on vacations, mail them letters, promise them a wedding reception performance by the Dave Matthews Band - and then expect them to keep quiet? Someone always finds out - and your risk is directly proportional to your level of fame and/or income. Mistresses don't just go away when you're bored with them - especially if you've got a lot to lose.
(See also: Marilyn Monroe singing her sultry "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" to John F. Kennedy before all of Madison Square Garden. And Ashley Dupre, escort to infamous Client 9, Gov. Eliot Spitzer, writing a sex column for The New York Post.)
In fact, it's the exact moment you stop paying attention to your mistress that she takes out a $50,000 billboard in Times Square outing you.
I hope we've all learned a valuable lesson from this modern cautionary tale: If you're going to have an affair, pre-screen your lovers for access to outdoor media.
Tell us: What's the worst thing you've done to get revenge on a guy?
Carrie Seim, Betty's L.A. Correspondent, is a writer and comedian keeping it real in L.A., New York and @ carrieseim.com.
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