Emily Maynard - Season 8 Bachelorette

[cantstopwatchin]

Ahh, the mommy wars. Gotta love them, eh? I think the choice is an extremely personal one, no matter what the decision is, and I don't think there's any right or wrong answer. In the end, the most important part is that our kids are happy and are being raised to be "good" kids.

If Emily has a means, regardless of where it comes from, of staying home and not working and that's what she wants to do, then good for her. Where her money comes from has nothing to do with me and doesn't impact me in any way. In fact, I could care less! She gets to stay home and drive her daughter to practices and bake cookies for the team and that brings her happiness. Good for her.

As far as who she's dated - when you're part of a certain social circle, you tend to date people of that same social standing. It just is what it is and is mainly due to who you're exposed to. If I wasn't married and my friends tried to fix me up, I know they wouldn't be setting me up with a trash recycler or something like that. And if I met someone at the grocery store, they'd probably also be around the same social status b/c of where we live. Again, that's just the way things are. So I think it makes sense that Emily has dated who she has in the past.

I like Emily. I liked her during Brad's season also. And I'm cheering her on as she searches for someone to fill a void she's had in her life these last 7 years.

Sidenote - re: the cookies and orange slices. I'm sure the orange slices were for halftime and the cookies and juice boxes were for the end of the game. For soccer, the kids get things to eat/drink at both times, esp. when it's so darn hot down here.

[french dip]

So, who knows ... I just don't think a teenage pregnancy entitles one to a lifetime of luxury at someone else's expense.

IMO, at least it's at the expense (supposedly) of the father (after all, he did take his pants off, too) and his family rather than the taxpayers.

[bachelorwatcher]

Right. I don't pretend to know the whole truth. None of us does, so my opinion is as valid as anyone else's. During Brad's season with Emily, there were many reports that Emily was just hanging around with Ricky as a young friend and neighbor until she turned 18, and even then was not his main girlfriend. He was going with someone else. When she slept with Ricky, they were not engaged, and it was also reported that the engagement ring came later, after his death, to make it all seem more legit and to save her reputation. So, who knows ... I just don't think a teenage pregnancy entitles one to a lifetime of luxury at someone else's expense. If the reports are true that her own family is also wealthy, I guess that's what she's used to, and I don't see her picking any of these guys unless she suspects they have a lot of money.

I've also read magazine articles about all of the things that you mentioned, while I was in line at a checkstand at the store... that Emily and Ricky were neighbors while growing up; that she wasn't his main girlfriend; that the engagement ring came later to save her reputation. Also, some have posted about a life insurance policy that Ricky might have had. But, Emily found out she was pregnant after Ricky died. And, there are so many people out there who don't have the luxury of making the choices that Emily made, because they don't have the money.

[Rattus]

I know she's only 26 but if she's so incredibly beautiful like all the men say you'd think she would have found someone already.

Well looks are subjective (she is symmetrical, but I find her kind of boring looking), and she is pretty dim (I also find her kind of boring to listen to). Plus, my husband just hates her voice. When he came into the living room while I was watching, he asked "what the hell is that" and then went into a diatribe about how women who talk in ittle bitty baby voices have the choice to not speak that way, whether they're doing it consciously or not (I swear I hear this same speech from him nearly every season of the B/Bette - he heard it from some speech pathologist). And if he hates that voice, I have to imagine that there are a fair number of men who feel exactly the same way. And I would be willing to bet that the men who prefer women to "ladies", aren't going to want a wife who is that dependent.

[tbamom]

Well looks are subjective (she is symmetrical, but I find her kind of boring looking), and she is pretty dim (I also find her kind of boring to listen to). Plus, my husband just hates her voice. When he came into the living room while I was watching, he asked "what the hell is that" and then went into a diatribe about how women who talk in ittle bitty baby voices have the choice to not speak that way, whether they're doing it consciously or not (I swear I hear this same speech from him nearly every season of the B/Bette - he heard it from some speech pathologist). And if he hates that voice, I have to imagine that there are a fair number of men who feel exactly the same way. And I would be willing to bet that the men who prefer women to "ladies", aren't going to want a wife who is that dependent.

He must have really hated Trista's voice, then. I definitely find Emily more watchable than Ashley (I didn't even tune in once to her season).

[AlwaysVeg]

Well looks are subjective (she is symmetrical, but I find her kind of boring looking), and she is pretty dim (I also find her kind of boring to listen to). Plus, my husband just hates her voice. When he came into the living room while I was watching, he asked "what the hell is that" and then went into a diatribe about how women who talk in ittle bitty baby voices have the choice to not speak that way, whether they're doing it consciously or not (I swear I hear this same speech from him nearly every season of the B/Bette - he heard it from some speech pathologist). And if he hates that voice, I have to imagine that there are a fair number of men who feel exactly the same way. And I would be willing to bet that the men who prefer women to "ladies", aren't going to want a wife who is that dependent.

I can't stand the baby voice, either, and it has to be a choice because we saw the coming attractions of when she tells someone to "FO," and she sure chose a different voice for that! However, I've talked to men who like that kind of voice because it suggests the woman is sweet and submissive (and often ditzy), and that's what they want. A lot of men aren't attracted to women who project any level of assertiveness because they perceive her as potentially too challenging. I really think this was a factor in the breakup with Brad. After the show when they were able to talk freely and deal with real life things, he found out that Emily wasn't just going to go along with what he wanted and that she had a much more feisty side that she no longer kept under wraps.

I also said somewhere here last week that these guys need to consider the kind of life she's used to having handed to her and her child, and decide honestly if they can live with someone who's going to keep expecting that.

[maryhse]

According to reports at the time, Emily and Ricky met in Florida where their families were building vacation homes. If you use the "they knew each other 4 years" before she moved in with him when she was 17 or 18, then she was 13 to 14 when they met, Ricky was 19 to 20. Who knows how it developed into her moving in with him but she must have been 17 or 18. I guess they were just waiting for her to be "legal". Anyway, first obits in the Charlotte paper when Ricky died didn't even mention her. There was one obit 4 days after he died in a Richmond Va paper that referred to her as his girlfriend. The fiance thing wasn't mentioned until Rick Sr. talked about her after finding out she was pregnant and he said they were engaged, so who knows if it was to keep Rick jr. rep clean or what, it appears to be an after the fact engagement. Doesn't really matter to anyone but the Hendricks. From what I gather Emily's father owns a coal mine in West Virginia and they appear to be wealthy, just not on the same scale as the Hendricks empire. And legit or not little Ricki is a part of that empire so the Hendricks are going to protect her reputation and make sure she is kept in the proper lifestyle. Emily just happens to benefit from it as well. And I do believe she likes it, a big house she didn't have to pay for, maids, childcare, bills paid...what's not to like. She could have gone to college, furthered her education, done anything she wanted..she just chose not to. She tried to make a go of the entertainment business when she moved to Nashville but that was a bust and she moved back to Charlotte. She also did a Nascar show where she was at the racetrack interviewing people for a while. That didn't work out either. Then she went on Brad's season. Now her own. It looks to me like she has absolutely no ambition. Unless you count trying to be on TV the easiest way possible ambition. She may be listed as a "event planner" but consider that it's at the hospital where the Hendrick's gave millions in Ricky Jr.'s name. Think they paid for that "job" too.

I don't think she is looking for love, I think she's looking for the spotlight. Whatever, she is boring as a sack of potatoes. And she is so not a Southern Belle. You don't get to call yourself one because you move to North Carolina when you're 18 to shackup with your rich boyfriend.

Seriously, according to her press I am suppose to admire her because when she was a teenager her rich boyfriend died in a plane crash and she didn't use birth control, but that's okay because her family is well off and his is mega rich so my taxes won't have to pay for anything...really?

Let's face it, this whole show should never be taken seriously. It's for entertainment purposes only.

[AlwaysVeg]

Thank you, maryhse. You summed it up perfectly. Emily is a sham and a user, in my opinion, but so are a lot of other people on this show over the years. She just doesn't deserve sainthood and riches for having gotten pregnant as a teenager, and I think the whole tragic story ... while tragic because a young man died in a plane crash ... is just being played and manipulated to the max beyond the truth for her personal benefit.

[Eastcoastmom]

Wow, Emily just said that there is one guy there who is auditioning to be the next Bachelor. I have a good idea who she is referring to. I can't wait to see how he exits the show.

I think it's Ryan. I watched Kimmel's interview with her, too, and that comment did not go without notice.

[cantstopwatchin]

Let's face it, this whole show should never be taken seriously. It's for entertainment purposes only.

Exactly.

Shouldn't be any skin off our backs where she comes from, who's paying her mortgage, or what she chooses to do with any money she's given. We're not footing the bill!

And that's all I'm going to say anymore about it. This topic went around and around ad nauseum during Brad's season and there's only so many times I can hear the same things put different ways.