Do you need a break from the endless sea of Jennifer Lawrence Oscar reaction gifs that are currently wallpapering the entire Internet? Yes, we get it. She fell down and flipped the bird and made goofy faces and even Jack Nicholson is totally in love with her. Now let’s all talk about someone else before the inevitable “she’s overrated/overexposed/ugh, I’m so over her” backlash begins and we all make her cry. DON’T MAKE JLAW CRY, INTERNET.
Instead, let’s talk about America’s other sweetheart, Tina Fey. Tina did not attend the Oscars…though she got a shout-out in Seth MacFarlane’s opening monologue when he admitted that Amy and Tina should have hosted, because they should host EVERYTHING. I’m guessing Tina could have easily scored an invite if she wanted one, but from the sound of her post-30 Rock life as told to Time, she probably wasn’t interested in the slightest.
Fey, 42, is working on a new character, Woman with Time on Her Hands. After seven years of 16-hour workdays, she and husband Jeff Richmond, who was an executive producer on the aforementioned TV show, 30 Rock, have bought a dog, started to spend more time with their kids Alice, 7, and Penelope, 19 months, and given some thought to what TV shows they might like to watch. They’ve never seen any Breaking Bad, for example. Fey admits to sometimes going to bed at 9 p.m. She further admits that what with the puppy and the toddler, she now has to put up with a different sort of ordure than she dealt with on the show.
Oh God, Tina. A dog? Why do that to yourself? You have a 19-month-old child. They’re feral enough. Just buy a Roomba and put some fake ears on it.
But anyway, let’s scoot our eyeballs back up to that cover photo. Dayum, right? Does the end of Liz Lemon mark the end of everybody pretending that Tina Fey is not conventionally attractive, or something less than a total knockout? Can we finally let the “Tina Fey is an accessible schlubby everywoman so that’s why it’s okay to find her so funny because hot women can’t be funny” subtext die?
She lacks some basic life skills, like dressing: “For seven years I would literally pull something off the floor because it was 6 o’clock in the morning, go to work, put on my wardrobe until the end of the day, put on what were basically pajamas and then go home.” Even the Upper West Side Mom ensemble she’s wearing today came from 30 Rock‘s wardrobe. “I don’t actually know what I like to wear in real life,” she admits. “It’s going to be a period of terribly awkward experimentation. Like middle school all over again. Perhaps I’m a person who wears a blouse with an ascot? Dark green nails? I think it’s going to be a series of caftans.”
Okay, so the self-deprecating humor is a hard habit to break, and is obviously part of Tina’s appeal. We all know the (somewhat overstated) “ugly duckling” story about how she lost weight before stepping in front of the camera on SNL. Besides, there’s nothing wrong with caftans, provided you pair them with the right turban. No evening turbans before six o’clock, and such, etc.
Tina’s always open about how much Photoshopping her photos go through, but come on. This lady is drop-dead gorgeous. Even her most touched-up photos still LOOK LIKE HER, unlike some celebrities who end up missing limbs and trading faces with residents of the Uncanny Valley. Why is everyone (perhaps Tina included) afraid that we’ll all stop liking her if we talk about how gorgeous she is instead of making her out to be the living embodiment of a Cathy cartoon?
The Time piece describes Liz Lemon (the character) as “a hapless middle manager…Frumpy, frazzled and free of romantic finesse.” True, and that’s why a lot of us did love Liz Lemon. And one could technically buy the show’s insistence that Liz was physically unattractive as part of the showbiz satire. But can we drop the pretense now that Tina is officially for-real NOT LIZ LEMON anymore?
I hope so, because as much as I loved Liz, I just straight-up admire the hell out of Tina. The author of the Time piece clearly does as well, and I don’t mean to single that article out for a trend that’s been going on for AGES now. It’s a nice write-up and Tina is funny and when her accomplishments are listed out it’s pretty jaw-dropping: Fearless improv master (terrifying), head writer at former boys’ club SNL (daunting), best-selling author (nearly burst some brand-new C-section stitches reading it), influential movie and TV screenwriter (Mean Girls!), show creator, successful actress, smart, hilarious and a working, down-to-earth mother of two.
All that and she’s beautiful, too. Own it, Tina! OWN ALL OF IT.
Read More: Tina Fey Talks Life After 30 Rock
About Amy Corbett Storch
