Amber Tamblyn (1983 -), Poet, Director, Actor and author of a blistering Op Ed Article in Yesterday’s New York Times (Spet, 16th).
I have been a fan of Amber Tamblyn since I read her 2012 poetry collection Bang Ditto. Her razor sharp eye combined with a wizardry for image and metaphor. But I took her even more seriously after reading Dark Sparkler her brutal poetic expose of the imagined inner lives of female actors who died far too early often by suicide, overdose or other mysterious circumstances. A shocking look behind the Hollywood glamour machine especially when it comes to women. Tamblyn, now thirty four with a young child has been acting for film or television since she was 9 and had her first poem published when she 12 in the San Francisco Chronicle.
I trust this woman, her voice. Her openness and vulnerability. But don’t mistake that for weakness. As many are beginning to figure out openess and vulnerability are a rock-solid sign of strength and courage. Just check out Brenee Brown’s work to see the proof of this.
And now many are going to see just how strong Tamblyn is, she is fearless, as she is about to become really well known not because of her poetry or her roles in the entertainment business but because of her on-line battle with actor James Woods which culminated in her op ed article published yesterday in the New York Times. Not just an article, a war-cry against sexual harassment of women and worse, the brutal gauntlet a woman goes through if she is brave (foolish?) enough to expose it.
Tamblyn found herself in the middle of a twitter spat between Woods and actor Armie Hammer over his recent movie which portrays a relationship between an adult and underage boy. Woods was bad mouthing this scenaro when Hammer accused him of hypocrisy because of his relationship with a 19 year old woman when he was 60 (the woman was 20 and Woods was 66 it turns out). That’s when Tamblyn jumped in with her allegation of Woods trying to pick up her and a friend when she was 16 and unknown. Woods then twittered that her story was a lie. To read Tamblyn’s response please click here . Since the article was published twitter has other alleged accounts of Woods’ encounters with other under aged women.
To read my blog post on Tamblyn’s riveting 2015 poetry collection Dark Sparkler please click here
To read Tamblyn’s 2014 commencement address please click here
To read my 2012 blog post on Tamblyn’s poetry collection Bang Ditto please click here.