PREACH IT! Sandra Bullock calls checkmate in a tough public relations game

Sandra Bullock: We salute you. Your People magazine cover this week has to be one of the most ninja public relations moves we’ve seen out of an A-list celebrity since Angelina Jolie hooked up with the United Nations.

Not that we’re saying you announced your baby, Louis, as some sort of calculated image rehab; we don’t mean that at all. Sister, you don’t need image rehab. No, we here at Preach It! congratulate you on keeping such a tight lid on your private affairs until just the right moment, and then springing forth like an amazon on horseback. Too, too magnificent.

Your new triumph represents the pinnacle of how the wronged-woman game should be played in this town. You have set a new bar. At first we thought that maybe Tiger Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, was neck and neck with you in that department, but no. Sandra, you just knocked that formidable Swede right out of the running. Let’s examine why.

For weeks, Elin has epitomized the estranged classy broad. As Tiger’s myriad skanks paraded before the gossip blogs, Elin also let herself be photographed -- but only doing things like getting on a plane. To, you know, fly away from Tiger.

Elin also bailed on Tiger’s much publicized “press conference” at Sawgrass in February, and skipped his return to golf when he appeared during the Masters, distancing herself both physically and psychologically from a poisonous situation. Now we hear that Elin is definitely, definitely, definitely divorcing Tiger -- but we're not getting the news from her. No. That would be beneath her. Instead, word is coming from high-class minions such as Donald Trump.

Sandra, meanwhile, holed up completely following the Michelle “Bombshell” McGee revelation; photographs of Bullock outside of her home were virtually nonexistent for weeks. She stepped out briefly to visit friends, but the only really solid shot of her before now was during a hike earlier this month -- without her wedding ring. Like Elin, Sandra used fancy friends to do the talking for her, namely, her good buddy George Lopez. Also like Elin, Sandra has said zip about her problems with her husband -- until Wednesday. When asked about Jesse James’ seeming preoccupation with Nazis, she said, "The photo shocked me and made me sad. This is not the man I married. This was stupid, this was ignorant. Racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, homophobia, anything Nazi and a boatload of other things have no place in my life."

Thank you both, ladies, for showing how to play through pain with style.

-- Leslie Gornstein

Top photo: The latest People magazine features Sandra Bullock and her newly adopted son, Louis Bardo Bullock. Credit: Jeff Christensen / Associated Press

Bottom photo: Elin Nordegren sits with her son Charlie during a semifinal match at the Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament in Key Biscayne, Fla., on April 2. Credit: Lynne Sladky / Associated Press

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Comments

[Lisa]

Neither baby in those photos look very happy being used as PR stunts!

[JoseR]

Lisa:

Sandra, did not use Louis, as a PR stunt. You, and others have made negative comments about Sandra only because none of you can see the forest from the trees. Furthermore, because the glass is half. Sandra, is doing a fine thing, and that is being a mother. Sandra, and Louis, have been together 3 1/2 months and the love shows from both.

[Mac]

Sandra has played this with class. But Elin? Meh. I'm pretty sure she's keeping her mouth shut bc of a confidentiality agreement. And the only reason she hasn't yet filed for divorce? One word: money. Please don't compare discreet Sandra, who'll be dumping her loser and living on her OWN money, to Elin who is certainly going to claw every penny possible out of the dolt she's divorcing.

[Luisa]

Both Sandra and Elin are way more classier and honest than Jennifer Aniston....whining about Angelina, not having a man, etc. ad nauseum...

[lylian]

Both women handled their separation from their husbands with class.
.
And I highly doubt either of these women will be talking about being reborn 5 years after their separation.
.

[Shag]

Both ladies have showed class in the way they've dealt with the respective situations. I'll add on caveat to Sandra's situation though. I think she suffering some karma in that, she joined James in the badmouthing his pornstar ex-wife, in regards to her inability to parent. I thought that was tacky.