May 29, 2019, “Tracy has always been the puppetmaster. No one else has ever pulled the strings. Even David would read his entire statement for his blog to him before posting it...Tracy is calling the shots, and he is also controlling what Simon and Eleanor Gribbin from Mad About the Boy put out there.”
The previous citation is from Cindy Martin in regards to the Valentino Facebook groups, Mad About the Boy and We Never Forget. I believe in her all too brief window of right thinking, she was candid and truthful because nothing she shared with us was breaking news and it was more an insider's confirmation of what we already knew. In this we can state Tracy Terhune controls both groups as censor whether openly or in a deceitful manner.
Today I address the use of the word “mad” by Tracy Terhune and Eleanor Gribbin on both groups, which they use to describe me and have done so for many years, i.e., “The Mad Woman of Turin”.
In English the word “mad” has two definitions... being anger or mental illness. Mad is not a technical word used to describe mental illness and refers to unrestrained reason and judgment and being unable to think in a clear or sensible way. I think most people today realize abusing someone by calling them “mad” is considered reprehensible behavior. Mocking people's torment and suffering, whoever they are, demonstrates a lack of empathy and it is not considered a humorous topic.
In my analysis here, I first of all question Terhune calling me “mad”... with the definition being “angry”... because his own trenchant anger towards us has been evident and consistent for well over a decade.
As we worked to build up and expand our work on Valentino and Rambova, publishing interesting books which were sourced and being excited to share those sources online and in podcasts, Tracy Terhune has been mad...and angrily all about tearing that down. He rules by his angry ruining and in my expert opinion this makes him a destructive force in Valentino's legacy. In response to his being so “mad” about our work and his angry ruining attempts I say the following:
As much as he has lied, defamed and mocked us and our work over the years while preening in his holy vestments of Valentino memorabilia, we have just worked harder.
As many times as Tracy Terhune has sold off valuable Valentino artifacts into oblivion to censor his fabricated narrative of his idol, we have been busy discovering even more.
And while his anger has made him conspire, campaign and intimidate to ruin us, we have been victorious.
This brings us to the second definition of the word “mad”. Terhune's being “mad” at us has also spawned his endlessly referring to me and permitting people on his two groups to refer to me as a “mad woman”.
With his running both Facebook groups as censor (note just last week he deleted an entire thread when someone posted an excerpt from Affairs Valentino) it is not surprising administrator on his Mad About the Boy group, Eleanor Gribbin is permitted by Terhune to also refer to me as “mad”.
It was not so long ago when she told someone inquiring about Affairs Valentino that my book was just, “the ravings of a mad woman”.
I have to question their insistence on calling me seriously mentally ill and/or angry. In light of their own very public behavior is this not just obvious projection on their behalf? One more case in point:
Last week Eleanor Gribbin related, and with immense pride, a dream she referred to as “a precious memory”. In her dream she revels in her “precious memory” how she had been impregnated by Rudolph Valentino multiple times having had several children by him with some mentions of her shredding lettuce, a bowl and a “little Rudolfo”.
So I muse.... my “mad ravings”?... according to her being my rather large, and now thankfully well-respected biography of Valentino based on evidence which is documented. I will not call her dream “mad” or even “ravings”.. we all have dreams... but I will call her bragging about her fond “precious memory” of being impregnated by Valentino multiple times on her public forum...something to consider as, “mad ravings”.
Perhaps the ever so “mad” and angry Terhune can find some peace of mind and extend a hand of tolerance and perhaps if Gribbin is going to rave on about her multiple pregnancies after having had sex with Valentino... they should both tend to the weeds in their own garden and above all cease using the subject of mental illness as humor. Maybe they can also check their calendars because it is 2021 and not 1421 when the mentally ill were publicly taunted and abused.
Because I proved Rudolph Valentino was heterosexual, do they consider this a “mad raving”? Because I proved Valentino's brother Alberto took obscene advantage of his heritage to ruin lives without a care, do Terhune and Gribbin consider this “mad ravings”? Because I proved Rudolph Valentino and Natacha Rambova loved each passionately would this be a “mad raving” to them? Do they consider my discovery that Valentino's entire probate case file was stolen, just more, “mad ravings”? I could go on and on but I think I have made my point.
I do know why they are so mad at me...because I believe I am fated to be a posthumous author. In the future I will be recognized as the true serious researcher of Valentino who brought my work forward with no prejudice of any kind. And they will be remembered for their being "mad", angry people whose “ravings” contributed nothing to Valentino's memory but delusional fantasies and dreams.
#matilija
