I respond to a comment left about the “controversy” and a reader's comments about Donna Hill's book. I have never criticized her book or the quality of the work (I questioned why it was being promoted by someone like David Bret) but I feel personally that the quality is tarnished for me because of her aggressive involvement with Tracy Terhune and his “Campaign to Ruin Evelyn”. This has been confirmed in many ways and documented and I feel it is a reasonable reaction all things considered. In regards to seeing this as a “controversy” I say the following.
Controversy is defined as “debate, dissension, dispute, disagreement and a discussion marked by the expression of opposing views”. Donna Hill administrates a large Facebook group on Valentino, We Never Forget which forbids any discussion of or mention of us or our books. There has been no possibility of our discussing a thing or being “controversial” because that is not allowed by Donna Hill and Tracy Terhune. Where we are concerned there is no expressing of any opposing views because we are not allowed the tiniest moment to do so. Recently someone cited Affairs Valentino on their group and the entire thread vanished.
This is not controversy but bullying, with the definition of bullying being “tormenting, tyrannizing and brow beating... seeking to harm, intimidate”... this is a much more accurate description of what goes on than controversy.
How many mornings we wake (and woke over the past decade!) to my utter despair and tears to find the fresh lies, the furious hell laid out for us on the killing blogs of Terhune and Bret, the vicious and complete lies about our lives and work... the menacing countdowns to our deaths... and with the silent support of Donna Hill and yes it hurts when occasionally material which was told to Donna Hill has contributed to their morning attacks.
I agree with the comment left that this behavior in no way benefits the legacy of the "endearing" Rudolph. How can they feign even the meekest sincere interest in Valentino when they oppress, suppress new documentation we share and torment us by trashing our books with lies even before they have a moment of life? This is not controversy but a whole lot of bullying.
We were canceled by Hill and Terhune and Bret long before that phrase had much relevance. And it does not feel so good to know they will be doing so with our next books too.... books we have worked diligently on for a long time.... books we are very proud to share.
