Anna Wintour's Boyfriend Defends Her

Oh Snap

Anna Wintour’s Boyfriend Defends Her And Powerful Women Everywhere

1:45 pm, December 18th | by Meredith Lepore

Anna Wintour is not a woman who needs rescuing, but she is often criticized for her reputation as a controlling and tough boss. Her boyfriend, millionaire businessman Shelby Bryan, points out that if Anna’s name were “Arnold Wintour” instead, no one would say a word about how she manages her staff. He talked about this unfair treatment in a recent interview with the Daily Telegraph, in which he was inevitably asked about the rumors that Wintour is being considered for an ambassador job by President Obama.

From The Daily Mail:

“It’s a little bit of male chauvinism,’ he told the UK paper. It’s not just Anna – I see powerful women who really get slammed for being too forthright or running their business in a very determine way.

If [former GE CEO] Jack Welch were being named as a potential ambassador, people wouldn’t be saying, ‘Oh, but hang on, Jack’s a little strict in the way he runs his companies.”

And it is true. A lot of the reason Anna gets picked on so much is because she is a woman in the driver’s seat. She is tough and a perfectionist and that makes her a “diva,” while if she were a man that would make her a titan. We revere people like Jack Welch and Rupert Murdoch for their strength but with Anna we make a movie based on her life showing just how difficult she is.

Bryan said, ”I see negative articles resting largely on that fictional film, The Devil Wears Prada. They drew conclusions from that…Everybody who knows Anna thinks that’s a joke.”

Anna herself toldForbes last year, “I don’t think of myself as a powerful person. It’s not so much about powerful women. In some cases, there are stereotypes about women. I often don’t hear men talked about in the same way. It’s more a sexist stereotype than a powerful stereotype. I assure you all the people that work with me on a day-to-day basis don’t think that. That’s just something that’s been fabricated by the media. And as you well know once something is out there, particularly in today’s world, it just gets exaggerated. I keep my head down and do the job to the best of my ability.”

TAGS: Anna Wintour | fashion