Showbiz Commentary: Heidi Oringer

Oct. 11 -- What a coincidence — the Nobel Peace Prize is going to be awarded on Friday, and Dr. Laura Schlessinger chose this very same week to apologize for her relentless bashing of gays and lesbians.

And to boot, she actually selected Yom Kippur — the Jewish Day of Atonement — to say she’s sorry for her cruel words. She paid for an ad in Daily Variety that said, in abbreviated form, she never meant to “hurt” anyone.

Although I would like to believe Dr. Laura is genuinely sincere on this issue, the skeptic in me can’t help but suspect two things about this public declaration: 1) She’s desperate to increase the flailing ratings of her television show and 2) She’s desperate to increase the flailing ratings of her television show.

And while I’m on the subject of doctors, I think Tina Sinatra would need one if her father were still alive, because he might have taken a swing at her head after reading her new book, My Father’s Daughter.

What Would Frank Think?

In her defense, I will say Tina doesn’t reveal anything newly damaging about Ol’ Blue Eyes … at least nothing that would anger him too much were he still around. But I do think he’d be none too happy about his daughter’s endless bashing of his widow, Barbara Sinatra. Since Frank Sinatra came off as a very private family man throughout his career, eulogizing him with a tell-all book about his household dealings doesn’t seem like it would be his idea of a nice remembrance.

Please note, I assume Frank’s position on this issue with the utmost respect because, as Tina also points out in the book (again, no big revelation), her father had a lot of “connected” friends. Truth be told, I enjoy life far too much to risk spending the rest of it in cement boots. So, what I’m saying is, I THINK he’d be upset. (How’s that for backpedaling?)

This makes me wonder, though, why so many children of deceased celebrities (if they’re lucky enough to be dead first) choose to reveal such intimate details of their family lives. I know we love scandal, but wouldn’t it be nice to have the opportunity to remember someone as they appeared to be when they were alive? Somehow finding out that Joan Crawford hated wire hangers and made her daughter eat rotten meat doesn’t add or subtract from the quality of her many film performances. Nor does discovering that Frank Sinatra was once arrested for a sexual encounter make his voice sound more or less melodious (although it does add a whole new twist to “My Way”).