2299 MMAAYY 22002222 The Observer Magazine Show them who’s boss Selling Sunset’s Christine Quinn on why she quit the hit show – and how to be a ‘boss bitch’ Actor Jim Howick’s horrible humour Why animals really do make us happier The UK’s 10 most isolated hideaways The Observer Magazine 29.05.22 1 O T P OFF U 29 MAY 2022 The Observer Magazine 28 14 In thiiss issue Up front 5 Eva Wiseman How social media defi nes the world we live in. Plus, the archive 7 This much I know Huma Abedin, American political staffer and aide Features 8 Striding into the sunset Real estate agent and reality TV star Christine Quinn reveals how to become a “boss bitch” 14 Field of dreams Environmental activist Simon Fairlie takes on the dairy industry 18 Lucky Jim The infectious comedy of Jim Howick has changed the way we think of history, ghosts and sex education Food & drink 22 Nigel Slater Mango salads and purées to capture the mood of the moment 26 Jay Rayner A total treat at Toklas. Plus, chilled red wines and chocolate caramels Fashion 28 The edit Carry off the summer with a colourful tote bag 22 Beauty 29 Rethink pink Give the prettiest of shades a challenging edge A AD Interiors R NG BY LLY EST 3h2o mTuerwna ureps t thoe b croignhtrtaenst a Cnoyl orouor mclash RIGI LS; UP Gardens LE ATALIE MICTS; MAK 3in3t oL athstei nagu taupmpnea. 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She works what makes them tick. course of her travels, she has Show observer.co.uk ACE; SUKAT GO in the wofarsldhsio onf amnuds cice,l eabrtr,i ty. various Hpaes issi ofanssc ainnadt etdra bdyit tiohnes homed shixo rrseessc uaen dd oag nsu, mfobuer r of whtboho’essm s PWVricaintlsotetreidaa adBt uR soicnhees,s VER: DRESS BY VERSPPAROUND; STYLIST atiSsnoh hpt ocieemro reaatslaswcot ynoea.au y aThlrs cs ctoiesornn ivwenseseeer te csookttf ifi,ao snrnh d e tlbsliohfueenabt g–ttjee -c carta itnemn tdx bhe ayei mseo fnwupov luceeirone ooudknfl ,di mtnSnh iaem’itslnl hotwthaanaval iFlsenkat sah,i r a oilsisef , fwhsweheorrearirt l lk siacnipatngeteg ssnn .ot odW,uv sUeth hn lehsetnoe,r iwst nthhic mteelour’es ed ndino, gt Selling Sunset’s Christine Quinn on why she quit the hit show – and how to be a ‘boss bitch’AhWdTisoochoht remloyra Uri taab eJKnkildme’eis m h h u 1Hiuas0do lm ehmswaa orwopieucspaakrtlyi ’lessyr PVSPCaotLic rv2Atkeo6u,rr sR8 iiatmoLe, cXlalh gee, CORA Christine Quinn (p8). you can read on p14. feed them all (p36). The Observer Magazine 29.05.22 1 Danielle Levitt The Observer Magazine 29.05.22 3 Up front Eva Wiseman Before and after social media is like living in two different worlds  @evawiseman M y jaw is aching slightly, from clenching years. And this “healthy” look she’s promoting is just as through the bits of the W agatha Christie diffi cult to achieve as that unfashionable thinness – the trial that involved educating the judge Brazilian butt lift , which involves transferring fat from in matters of Instagram. Whole days in the thighs or belly to the buttocks, is the fastest growing an oak-panelled room turned on nuance cosmetic surgery procedure in the world. The pursuit of previously reserved for teenagers at bus stops. What thinness, while chaotic, destabilising and occasionally it means when someone unfollows you, for your ego, fatal, was never the problem. The problem was the idea for your social standing, for who you are as a human. that an ideal body must be pursued at all. Who follows whom and why, the shade when someone We’ve spent a lot of time inside over the past couple of messages you and you know they’re only pretending to years, a lot of time alone – a lot of time alone, inside our be a mate and on and on, millions of pounds turning bodies. It’s only recently that we have returned to a world ‘Princess’ – as Burn argued, to dust as the internet is explained piece by piece, like where we’re no longer disembodied faces on a screen, From the a term of aff ection with grandchildren giving a lesson in how to use the new telly and perhaps it’s because of this shocking leap back into ‘overtones of sentimentality, remote at Christmas. the pool, where we once again feel scrutinised, unfi ltered archive swagger and proprietorial It’s funny, but it’s also shocking, the fact that the next and raw, that negative body image is so high. But, interest’ – and before she generation lives in a new and different world, with its however much they might recognise the implications of A look back was even in school he had own language, laws and rules of beauty. And that, for all an Instagram fi lter, isn’t it vaguely torturous seeing how given her a present of the mapping of said world, for all the Duolingo lessons long it takes the people in charge to learn what it actually at the Observer a Harley-Davidson golf cart in its grammar, dialect and phrasing, those who have not does? That they might truly understand the “lived Magazine’s past inscribed with her name. grown up there are destined to forever remain tourists, experience” of a person online seems unlikely. Elvis and Priscilla shared squinting at the view. While the adults try – and God bless them for that, custody of their daughter In another oak-panelled room down the road in their large fi ngers stabbing away at an unsheathed from 1972. ‘He’d send his jet, Westminster, in an inquiry into body image, the Health screen – it seems t o me that more focus should be on Th e cover story of the the Lisa Marie, to take her and Social Care Commons Select Committee was teaching children how to navigate the two worlds they’re Observer Magazine of from LA to Utah, so she could boggling at the power of social media. Eighty per cent born into . This means consuming media critically and 30 May 1993 was Gordon play in the snow,’ wrote Burn. of their poll of social media users had told them the way encouraging conversation about unrealistic ideas of Burn’s long feature on Elvis’s ‘Lisa Marie was so used they look was damaging their mental health, and 71% beauty in order to reduce the internalisation of them, legacy – psychological to seeing people jump at her said their body image had led to them enjoying life less. and learning how to read an image, and avoiding and fi nancial – as Lisa father’s command, that she Giving evidence to the committee, their “lived experience forensic analysis and judgment of bodies which dash Marie Presley inherited her took years to overcome this witness” Kim Booker, a woman who lives with body in and out of fashion before a season’s through. Then, father’s $100m estate at 25 habit,’ recalled Priscilla. dysmorphic disorder, said she used to take magazines to perhaps, we can be spared the agony of another tired (‘Princess Graceland: She was ‘born to be hairdressers, showing them the style she wanted. “Now, politician having to learn about the ethics of Facetune or Th e Presley Heiress’). tabloid fodder – part of the you go through Instagram and you take that picture in to how long I nstagram stories last. Life is short and both For a while it looked as great celebrity soap-go- [a estheticians] and say, ‘I want my face to look like this.’” worlds are melting – let these old ladies live. ■ if Colonel Tom Parker’s round’, Burn melancholically So familiar had she become with her Instagram face, infamous 50% commission noted Graceland’s “When the video fl ipped off to my natural face, I got a bit I’m reading Don’t Forget To on Elvis’s earnings was ‘climate-controlled tableau of a shock. I hated what I saw, because you get used to One more Scream by Marianne Levy, going to mean there would of Lisa Marie’s nursery the fi ltered version of yourself.” a book about ‘the emotional be nothing left to leave things: a Busy Barbie In response, MP Dr Luke Evans discussed his Body thing… turmoil that having a child his sole heir. But that was colouring book, a tiny dress, Image bill , introduced in parliament in January, which can unleash’, which asks until Lisa Marie’s mother, a canopied crib…’ would require advertisers and infl uencers to put a logo ‘why motherhood is at Priscilla, decided to open But as Lisa Marie herself on images that have been digitally altered. “Would once so venerated and Graceland, their home, to insisted in a rare interview that have stopped you from getting to where you are?” so undervalued.’ the public.’ Th e house made given around about the he asked Booker. “It’s tricky,” she replied. “Although $20m a year at the time same time: ‘I had the best my logical mind can see that the image is altered, Last week it was – more than Elvis himself times of my life growing up subconsciously my brain is seeing an image and trying announced that plus- made in any one year. at Graceland.’ Chris Hall to replicate it.” She was talking about the two worlds, Th ere’s a new genre sized model Yumi Nu Pretty much all the then and now, and how complex and treacherous the of romcom, where boy was a cover model for details Burn includes journey is from one to the other. meets boy. Heartstopper Sports Illustrated’s are hair-raising: the guns, That dissonance struck me again when I read Victoria on Netfl ix is gorgeously swimsuit issue, which led the drugs, the drink, the Beckham’s recent claim, “It’s an old-fashioned attitude, innocent, the story of conservative psychologist paranoia. ‘Eventually, Elvis’s wanting to be really thin.” She was talking about her new an adolescent love aff air Jordan Peterson to tweet, consumption of drugs line of bodycon dresses which go up to a size 18. “I think between two schoolboys, ‘Sorry. Not beautiful. And seemed as normal to me as women today want to look healthy and curvy. They want and out in September no amount of authoritarian watching him eat a pound to have some boobs and a bum.” I have a lot of time is Bros, a long overdue tolerance is going to of bacon with his Spanish for Beckham, a camp, smart and reliably jolly celebrity, major studio comedy with change that.’ Soon after, omelette,’ Priscilla wrote in but one nonetheless speaking from a place of extreme Billy Eichner about queer he left Twitter, citing the her memoir. thinness, who has eaten (according to her husband) characters, played by ‘endless fl ood of vicious Lisa Marie was Elvis’s only steamed vegetables and grilled fi sh every day for 25 queer actors. insult’. See ya! The Observer Magazine 29.05.22 5 Up front Interview TRACY RAMSDEN Photograph CHRIS BUCK Travelling is an adventure. As a child, I loved being on planes, trying ice-cream all over the world. My mother tells this story where one summer we were away for months and when we fi nally got home to Jeddah, I was so excited I jumped on my parents’ bed, fl ew backwards and cut my head on their wooden headboard. I guess I liked coming home, too. Washington gave me imposter syndrome. Growing up in the Middle East, it was a culture shock. I knew I could do my job and work hard, but I never thought I was the smartest, the prettiest, the “-est” at anything. Hillary Clinton doesn’t give up. I said this to her the other day over lunch – she has such a positive attitude about the world , it’s contagious. Even on the worst days, when you feel you can’t get out of bed, she gets out of bed. Friendship is my therapy. I lived in a world where I felt whatever I said would end up in the newspapers, so I was very careful about what I shared, even with close friends. I’ve let go of those hang-ups now. I struggle with anxiety, but th erapy helped me deal with the shock and trauma of what happened in my personal life [Abedin’s ex-husband Anthony Weiner went to prison in 2017 for sexting a teenage girl]. This Marriage made me feel powerful and free. Those early days were my happiest. I had a hard but fulfi lling much job that felt like I was contributing to history. I had a partner for the fi rst time, somebody I loved and looked forward to going home to . Everything felt possible. That’s why it was so hard to I know lose it all overnight. Dating apps are intimidating. I’m trying to stay open, but dating is terrifying, which also makes it exciting. I believe in love – I had it, I know what it Huma Abedin, US political advisor, 45 felt like, I’d love to have that feeling again. My mother gave me good genes. She’s 80 with hardly any wrinkles. People tell me, “Oh you look young for your age”, but some physical things have crept up that I’m just beginning to grapple with. Maybe it’s because I’m putting myself out in the dating world again. There’s a reason God created sex. It’s that sense of fulfi lment and connection, of giving to yourself and to your partner. I didn’t explore it enough. I was raised in a world where sex was a taboo subject. I kept myself closed. The fi rst man I was intimate with was Anthony. I should have had more fun. The number of nights that ended with work, when I’d collapse into bed, then go back to the offi ce to send more emails… A good life is a balanced life. I wish I’d allowed myself to experiment. ■ The Jaipur Literary Festival Soneva Fushi will run again in spring 2023 6 29.05.22 The Observer Magazine ‘I’m not here because of luck. I’m here because of hustle’ Christine Quinn is the real estate agent turned Hollywood reality star who stole the show as the villainess on Selling Sunset. She tells Eva Wiseman why she fi nally quit and why we all need to embrace our inner ‘boss bitch’ Photograph DANIELLE LEVITT C hristine Quinn doesn’t just make Bitch. I read the book on one of those rare hot afternoons an entrance, she grows the entrance when men take their tops off outside Tesco and girls lie from seed, harvests it, slow cooks it sprawled on grass verges with very sweet drinks. Chapter and then brings it to the table on fi re. headings range from “It Costs a Lot To Look This Cheap” For example: the opening of season to “Mind Your Vagina” with the epilogue “Steal the Show”. four of Selling Sunset , the real estate “I’ve combined a lot of manifestation tips,” she says, “and reality show on which she was cast as we have quizzes, so you fi nd out which archetype you are.” the villainess. She arrived at a mul- (I got mostly Bs “a creative boss bitch”). “And I intentionally timillion dollar LA mansion wearing designed it so that you walk into a bookstore and say, ‘ OK, a sheer black mesh gown beneath a blazer with sharp that’s a book I want to read. I feel that way. I want to live extended shoulders, heels the height of the Hollywood my unapologetic life,’ even if you have no idea who I am.” sign and, instead of a handbag, hanging from a chain, Quinn, now 33, grew up in Texas, with Catholic parents a miniature diamanté chair. A chair! She had white-blonde who were so strict she wasn’t allowed to watch TV, which hair down to her thighs. She looked like an evil Lana meant her cultural points of reference were fi lms, like Turner. She was nine months pregnant. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, that she’d watch at her grand- Regular viewers had switched on to bathe in the cold ma’s house. She was diagnosed with ADD at 12, and sent to glamour of the showiest reality show yet. Part offi ce drama “special” classes, before enrolling in an alternative school . (nobody is here to make friends), part property porn (the “My classmates were certifi ed geniuses,” she stresses in value of a house fl ashes on screen before we enter, along her book. “These kids were running drug rings at 15.” On with the commission our heroines will earn), this was the her 17th birthday she was arrested when a teacher found rolling story of the Oppenheim Group , an agency run by weed in her bag, but rather than coming to pick her up, her a pair of bald, buffed identical twins and staffed by a team parents let her sleep in the cells for three nights to teach her of shit-talking Amazonian agents, of which Quinn had the a lesson. She left home soon after. In a recent Vogue inter- sharpest nails, heels and lines. Over fi ve seasons, while view she was surprised to hear herself admit that, despite her character transformed from a cheeky Mae West type lying on her résumé for years, she only has an 8th grade to sociopathic Cruella d e Vil, dashing from one low-stakes education. She broke down crying, on her yacht with full cat fi ght to the next wearing a single Gucci glove, viewers’ staff and three-storey water slide. obsession with her grew. And then, she was gone. “Money, to me, means freedom,” she says. “I grew up in Her entrance today is, well, modest. She’s Zooming from a very restrictive environment. I didn’t even know what sex bed in a Parisian hotel and rather than coiffed icy glam- was until I was 16, I thought you got pregnant from kissing. our, she’s giving Goop-ish Gwyneth, with expensive skin So I needed freedom in order to survive. And that came from and a loose black T-shirt. “I do like glamour, which to me me making my own money and being able to be in con- means a continuous expression of freedom – RuPaul says trol of my life.” She spent some time in a relationship with we’re all born naked and the rest is drag. I love to dress up a sugar daddy, but left when she realised he was tracking and bring the fashion and bring the humour and the wit, her movements, and without her own credit card her power but,” she says, a little chasteningly, “that’s not all of me.” was ebbing. One piece of advice she imparts to readers is: Which is one of the reasons that after season fi ve she quit “Spend his money, but make your own.” Another lesson she and , having launched a new real estate company with her gives is about manifesting: “If you think it and believe it, it tech-entrepreneur husband, is today promoting her fi rst will come to you.” The fi rst thing she manifested, through book. “It was a chance to really write my narrative, have my “journaling, vision boarding and visualisation” was a Louis own story be told without editors deciding they wanted to Vuitton handbag – later it was Hugh Hefner’s big glass ‹ clip me down to just an eye roll.” The title: How To Be a Boss house. She discusses her thoughts on life, her American ‘If someone’s calling you a bitch, you know you’re doing something right’: Christine Quinn The Observer Magazine 29.05.22 9