In case you haven’t caught me twittering about it recently, I’ve recently become obsessed with HBO’s True Blood, starring the immensely talented and adorable Anna Paquin. I just can’t get enough of it — it’s very creative and compelling and, well, addictive.
I was surprised a few weeks ago to hear that Anna Paquin is in a real-life romance with co-star Stephen Moyer (who plays Bill, her sexy vampire love). But I was even more surprised today to learn that Stephen left his girlfriend of seven years — and their young daughter — to take up with Anna. Stephen’s previous girlfriend was a British journalist by the name of Lorien Haynes, who just gave an exclusive about the break-up to Star magazine.
BUT WAIT! IT GETS WEIRDER!
British rag The Daily News just did a full profile piece on Anna, where the interviewer met her for lunch in LA and everything, and they chatted about Anna’s uber-successful career and the new love of her life:
Sexual chemistry is arguably what has made True Blood such a success. Anna’s Sookie falls for Bill Compton, a vampire whose thoughts she cannot read, played by British actor Stephen Moyer (Ny-Lon, Lilies, Quills). While filming the first series, Anna and Stephen developed a real-life relationship, which they tried to keep quiet. When they eventually went public it was, says Anna, ‘the worst kept secret on the planet’.
These days they are often snapped by tabloids doing entirely low-key couple things such as shopping at Whole Foods and swinging on the monkey rings in Santa Monica. They appear very together, very much in love. Anna is also a firm fixture in the lives of Steve’s two children, Billy, nine, and Lilac, seven. …
As to whether she and Stephen are thinking of having a child of their own, she can’t say. ‘I don’t know how they’d resolve me and my short shorts on the show with a baby bump! So there are a few “not untils” on that one. At some point, when that convenient time, which never exists for actresses, comes – somewhere between now and menopause – I will. I have time.’
So here’s where it all explodes in my head: The woman who wrote the Daily News piece, the woman who sat down with Anna Paquin and asked her to dish about her love life, who talked about her role in Stephen’s children’s life and asked her whether she was going to have kids with him, is Lorien Hayes. She’s the woman Stephen left for Anna. Did Anna know this when she did the interview? The paper certainly didn’t run a disclaimer along with the article. This is like Bridget Moynahan sitting down with Gisele Bundchen and being like, “I’m going to write an article about what a great model you are and how fantastic it is that you’re frequently photographed with my child.”
Ummmmm, WHAT?
I need more info here! Specifically, I really want to know if Anna knew who she was talking to. She must have, right? Why have this woman do this interview? Why would the Daily News not disclose this little fact?
Strange, strange strangeness.
Not that this is really important…but the ex-lover of Bill(before Sookie) in the novels name is Lorena…which sounds kinda a lot like Lorien..
Wow, that last bit is quite weird. The whole age difference, leaving girlfriend/mother of your children thing I can get over. But then having to or even more weird, voluntarily doing a positive piece on you ex-lovers new girlfriend is just…wow.
this story is twisted. they are all friends and hang out together. stephen and lorien were apart almost two years before he even met anna. this is all wrong.
star magazine also ran an article that they were engaged that wasn’t true either. this is all some fabricated tall tales. there is nothing weird going on between any of them besides being the rare case where an ex, the child, and the new girlfriend all get along and have healthy relationships. it’s inspiring, not a scandal.
Beet, I love your blog, but it really gets to me when people say “so and so left his girlfriend/wife AND their child” – that sounds so cruel and biased. Yes, sometimes people break up, walk away from or worse cheat on their other half. That has nothing to do with children. How do you know he “left” his daughter? Has he abandoned her? Refused to have contact with her? Disowned her?
It is the most usual arrangement that when a couple breaks up 1. the mother is given custody and 2. the father moves away from teh family home for the convenience of the mother. Even in cases of joint custody, the father is the one who usually has to move away from the family home. If fathers did not, people would say “He kicked his family to the curb”. When they do, people go “He shacked up with… /abandoned his kids”
It is really cruel when people say “He left his kids”. You divorce your other half, not your children.
Never really thought about it, but you’re right! Thanks.
I think it’s really messed up how mothers almost always win custody. There are so many men out there that are much better at parenting I think than a lot of other women, but in court it’s like they don’t stand a chance. For whatever reason it’s always assumed that the mother will do a better job, even if it’s completely untrue in so many cases.
Anna knew exactly who she was talking to. She and Lorien are close and even attended the Hamptons Magazine party together earlier this year.
Stephen and Lorien ended their relationship 18 months before Stephen and Anna met. Stephen was very much single at the time and did NOT leave Lorien for Anna. You should not believe everything that is written in trashy magazines like Star magazine.
Word. Sheesh…I had the truth on the down-low and I’m not a behind-the-now blogger. Maybe I should be.
Stephen, Anna and Lorien are all adults that seem to be a pretty good example of maturity, respect and what it takes to build a happy, blended family for the sake of children.
Don’t print crap. Get your story straight. Do research. Use Star for kindling–don’t actually read it.
Not every relationship that ends ends ugly.
I think these people all sound cool and healthy and adult.
We should be taking notes, not calling them twisted…
I like how you think Zelda and agree!
it’s one thing to be civil, it’s another to be buddy-buddy with the girl that your significant other left you for. That’s just weird if you really liked the guy and the break-up came as a surprise and really tore you up. Can you imagine someone who’s like, “oh, youre the girl my husband left me for and is currently banging. How awesome! Wanna get some coffee and chit-chat?” That’s just really messed up and off. Lorain shouldn’t slash Anna’s tires or anything, but excusing herself from the story would have been completely appropriate.
have you read any of these comments at all? he didn’t leave her for anna.
yes, I know that, but at the time of Beet’s writing, she didn’t have those facts yet so her reaction and the post to such a weird scenario was totally legit. That was my point.
I’ve loved Anna Paquin ever since I was 7 years old and saw ‘Fly Away Home’. She is truly talented. I wish she’d go back to her natural brown hair though :/
I wish she’d buy her self some braces. Ick.
That gap is so distracting. I have the urge to like, shove a chiclet in there whenever i see it.
I agree that Anna is prettier as a brunette, but she isn’t bad as a blond either. If you have read the books the series is based on you know that Sookie HAS to be blond.
what cocablossoms wrote must have some truth to it.. why would Lorien agree to do the interview at all if the situation was a mess? sounds fishy.
Yeah, what they all said. Also, if we’re talkin’ True Blood here, bb, let us talk Eric. Call me when Alexander Skarsgard makes it to the blog. *g*
Yes indeedy. Eric is a treat for the eyes!
I’ve been waiting to hear a little more on the whole Anna Paquin/Steven Moyer story. It makes sense that Lorien and Anna knew each other, and were on friendly terms. We’re so desperate for scandal on these celebrity websites. And here it sounds like no dirt at all. Phooey!
All I can contribute to this is that there is no such newspaper as The Daily News here in the UK…
Anna, Lorien and Stephen are on friendly terms. There have even been photos printed in articles of the three of them out and about together in LA. Star Magazine is a piece of junk and I don’t see why this should get any press at all.
Anna is peculiar looking. She could be Molly Ringwald and Sandra Bernhard’s love child.
I have thought so often (usually mid bedroom-whine to Bill) that her mouth looks like Sandra B’s.
Am I the only person who thinks Tara’s boy is hot hot hot?
‘uber-successful career’….???? ummm NO. the gap bugs the hell out of me and I couldn’t even sit through 1 episode of True Blood – on top of that, he’s gross!
I think you may mean the Daily Mail, because as someone else pointed out, we don’t have a national paper called the Daily News here in the UK! There was also a mention of this on Gawker:
http://gawker.com/5319022/celebrity-interviewer-knows-more-about-true-blood-than-shes-letting-on
I was under the impression that He was single when he met Anna. I have issues with her because I find the age difference to be odd. But maybe she just looks young. I also have issues because she use to live in my neighborhood and was never polite and sometimes down right rude to people. But if they are happy I wish them the best and all that crap.
TrueBlood is not “creative”. I think the acting is forced and horrible. I hate that Tara is the typical “angry black girl”. The books are much more captivating. They changed a lot, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing per se, but the changes they made were unexplained, random and unnecessary.
I agree. I just started watching it this past weekend (yay on Demand television). Buffy did it all much much better. And it’s very inconsistent. The want to keep it a secret that their blood can heal however with all the “V” addicts, the secret would get out. They don’t want people to know about silver but he says that garlic and Holy Water don’t matter. The vampires all walk around in goth costume and Stephen Moyer’s accent comes in and out, “I am vampire” made me laugh out loud.
My favourite character is Lafayette and I’d take Sam over Bill (who of course plays piano and reads while posed on his couch, a la Angel). I do like Sookie’s hair this season and I like her gap because I have one too.
Tara’s accent doesn’t make any sense! No of the casts accents make sense!
Persistent Cat: i agree! Which is why I’m so annoyed they screwed up the Lafayette storyline in the show. Seriously, NONE of that crap happened! What the hell! It’s all so random and forced. *sigh*.
I don’t mind Anna/Sookie’s gap. I think it’s an interesting addition. I do mind that Sookie isn’t as curvy as she is in the book. Seriously…she’s a thick woman! And I love Sam to death :)
Anonymous: Don’t even get me started on the accents! They are so horrible. I’m not from the south but I have family down there and they think the cast’s accents are a joke.
I should say, I haven’t read the books. As for the accents, I have no clue, I’m Canadian but I know what it’s like to hear wrong accents (bad French and Newfie accents drive me nuts). I like all the side characters more than Sookie and Bill, mainly because it’s Buffy and Angel Redux.
Oh, and I forgot to mention Jason. I’d do him six ways to Sunday. He’s so hot and stupid.
Occasionally a person’s ex becomes good friends with their new partner. It’s rare but not unheard of. I am very close friends with my fiance’s ex-girlfriend. By the end of their relationship it had become very platonic and they had basically turned into friends instead of lovers. They were broken up about six months when he and I started dating, and they remained friends so I’d see her around. About a year after that she and I gradually began to get to know each other better and became good friends independently of her and my fiance’s continuing friendship. The situation works well for us, but outsiders can be extremely rude and give us a hard time, making obnoxious comments or assuming that she still secretly likes him, etc. Sometimes I wish people would mind their own business. So I feel for Anna, Stephen, and Lorien in this situation. The calm professionalism with which Lorien wrote the article about Anna leaves little doubt in my mind that she is totally over Moyer and has the kind of healthy admiration for Anna that a friend would have.
I’m addicted to the books and the tv series. The chemistry between Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer is amazing…and the sex scene at the beginning of season two was fucking HOT.
I think their is a lot that the public doesn’t know about. I mean why would someone give an interview to someone that stole their boyfriend? They wouldn’t simple as that, their has to be more to it. Anna and Stephen make a great couple, they sure as hell steam up my television every Sunday night! I am a fully addicted True Blood addict!
Bill and Eric can bite me anytime (sorry Sookie)
As for the blog post I am sure everything is just fine. The media loves to blow things out of proportion.