In the recent wake of Girls star Jemima Kirke (possibly the only interesting character on the show) making a three-minute PSA, of sorts, on the importance of women sharing their abortion stories. Her introduction of herself as though most of the people who would bother to watch the video aren’t already aware of who she is smacks of the sort of false modesty celebrities with “causes” seem to possess.
Discussing how she felt the need to hide her abortion from her mother (which seems somehow surprising since Lorraine Kirke is the sort of free-spirited woman who owns a renowned boutique called Geminola and married the drummer for Bad Company), Jemima explains how she went to Providence, Rhode Island to get the procedure done, and “had to pay for it out of pocket” and “empty [her] checking account,” which, let’s be honest, doesn’t exactly invoke sympathy considering most people her age when she got the abortion don’t even have checking accounts.
https://youtu.be/m1DhscWRT9w
Kirke, of course isn’t the first celebrity to announce her abortion to the public (everyone from Chelsea Handler to Joan Collins has been frank about it), but she is the most recent prime example of using her “experience” to help others. In general, the sincerity Kirke is trying to convey doesn’t quite come across. Her attempt at being approachable and concerned is an overt veneer. This is just another celebrity “cause” designed to shed light on the celebrity herself, not the topic she’s bringing up in what appears to be earnest.
