'08
There’s no doubt that 2008 was Tina Fey’s big year. She had a hit movie (Baby Mama), her show “30 Rock” finally started getting recognized as more than an underground cult favorite, and her impression of Sarah Palin garnered her old stomping ground, Saturday Night Live, its highest ratings in years. Tina is Vanity Fair’s cover girl for the January issue, and the self-proclaimed nerd is turning up the glamour in a leggy, pinup-inspired photo shoot. She also finally reveals how she got that trademark scar on her cheek. People have been asking her about it for years and she’s always refused to talk about it. In this interview, Tina’s husband, Jeff Richmond, spills the beans.
Liz Lemon favors her right side. That’s because a faint scar runs across Tina Fey’s left cheek, the result of a violent cutting attack by a stranger when Fey was five. Her husband says, “It was in, like, the front yard of her house, and somebody who just came up, and she just thought somebody marked her with a pen.”
You can hardly see the scar in person. But I agree with Richmond that it makes Fey more lovely, like a hint of Marlene Dietrich noir glamour in a Preston Sturges heroine.
“That scar was fascinating to me,” Richmond recalls. “This is somebody who, no matter what it was, has gone through something. And I think it really informs the way she thinks about her life. When you have that kind of thing happen to you, that makes you scared of certain things, that makes you frightened of different things, your comedy comes out in a different kind of way, and it also makes you feel for people.”
I wonder how the scar affected Fey in high school. “She wasn’t Rocky Dennis developing a sense of humor because of her looks, like in Mask,” says Damian Holbrook, laughing. Liz Lemon’s blustery Republican boss, Jack Donaghy, played with comic genius by Alec Baldwin, tells Lemon, “I don’t know what happened in your life that caused you to develop a sense of humor as a coping mechanism. Maybe it was some sort of brace or corrective boot you wore during childhood, but in any case I’m glad you’re on my team.”
The article also chronicles Tina’s early days as a writer on SNL, when she was a mousy, quiet person who “wore ski hats and ate junk food,” until finally she lost 30 pounds and got out from behind the writer’s desk to start performing on the show.
Her true vice is cupcakes. I’ve brought her a box, one frosted with the face of Sarah Palin. She chooses that one, which is bigger, joking that it’s O.K. if she gains weight before her Annie Leibovitz photo shoot in a few days, because “Annie’s going to photograph my soul, right?” When it comes to her looks, she’s both forgiving and self-deprecating. “The most I’ve changed pictures out of vanity was to edit around any shot where you can see my butt,” she says. “I like to look goofy, but I also don’t want to get canceled because of my big old butt.” Frowning and rubbing the lines between her eyes, she adds that she might also tell the 30 Rock postproduction team, “ ‘Can you digitally take this out?’ Because I don’t have Botox or anything.”
Fey’s friend Kay Cannon, a 30 Rock writer, says that Tina has remained self-deprecating even as she has glammed up. “She’ll always see herself as that other, the thing she came from.”
I’ve been rooting for Tina since her days on SNL. She’s smart, funny and deserves all the success she has right now. In a world of Paris Hiltons and Kim Kardashians - people who are famous for essentially nothing- Tina Fey is someone you just can’t help but love. I am keeping my fingers crossed that Tina doesn’t eventually turn into a Mariah Carey type. I don’t think it’s possible, but you never know.
Written by MSat
Posted in Photos
38 Responses to “Tina Fey gets glammed up for Vanity Fair, reveals origin of trademark scar”
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she is such a good role model. i love her because shes just herself and doesnt try to be anything else.
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I love her. She is pure comic genius and finally people are taking notice.
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Still overrated. The Sarah Palin gag got old quick, and no one watches 30 Rock. All her former (SNL) castmates are much more funnier (and talented).
And…Dowd, Liebowitz, and Fey…could you get anymore pretentious? geez
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Love her! She really is a great role model. I hope she continues to be successful! And wow! she is smoking!
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She is completely overrated.
She was lucky to look very much like Sarah Palin, but she is a pretty lousy actress.
She knows how to “sell” herself and play the game right, but her show is not funny, her movie was a total waste of my time (and money) and there are plenty of real talented comedians who easily outdo her.
She was given so many chances and never quite deliver.
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Ditto’s to Antony and IMO. She’s over rated and Maureen Dowd? That’s the kiss of death.
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Someone simply walked up to a five-year-old and cut her face? A bit far-fetched; there is obviously much more to the story than that.
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Actually, RubySue, I know someone who went through something very similiar when they were younger.
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mollination — Please share details rather than just posting a blind anecdote…..what were the circumstances, etc.?
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She’s awesome and super fit now. Even at 30 pounds heavier, I’m sure she wasn’t that big. Love seeing the funny nerd become an unlikely sex symbol — Tina Fey FTW!
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IMO, Antony and Mr. T, it’s totally possible that you just have a different sense of humor. I love 30 Rock and actually laugh out loud throughout every episode. Baby Mama was funny and, while it wasn’t slapstick, it was a cute rom-com and definitely made me laugh. Some people don’t like the dry humor, some don’t like the raunchy stuff, etc. etc. - it’s all a matter of preference. Just take my word for it that she’s total genius and not overrated in the slightest
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She’s cute as a button, and I had no idea she has such great gams! She’s the new Betty Grable!
Even though I love Fey, I think getting Maureen Dowd to do the article is ridiculous. VF has some really good writers - why choose the NYT’s Dowd?
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Someone is going to be spending a night or two on the couch.
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I’d love to wake up to her every day.
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I love 30 Rock, that show kills me. I feel SNL went downhill after she left. And no, she’s not a great actress but that’s not her thing. She’s essentially playing herself. We’re not going to see her compete for the same scripts as Reese Witherspoon or Julia Roberts. She’s hilarious and very good at what she does.
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People realy just feel the need to be jerks sometimes…looking at you, RubySue.
I think she’s wonderfully talented. 30 Rock has an extremely dry sensibility to it. It isn’t bawdy comedy so anyone who doesn’t get nuance isn’t going to think it is funny. Those who don’t like 30 Rock probably don’t like The Office either.
But it’s all about personal preference. I hate slapstick, bawdy comedies but I think Jim Carrey is very talented at what he does best. Just because you don’t like a particular type of comedy that doesn’t mean that the people who do it aren’t talented.
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Shucks, I think she’s great.
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With Tina Fey bringing to the nations attention what a vacuous Barbie
Palin was, owns a chunk of Barak Obamas victory cupcake. -
someone just walked up to a 5 year old and cut them….reallllly. Sounds like a made up story to make how she got the scar more sensational and attention getting.
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Come on ya’ll she is an excellent comedy writer and a funny, intelligent role model. I give her all thumbs up. Love her.
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Tina is the best thing that is.
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I so love her…she is AWESOME!
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Overrated? Huh? Then who is rated correctly if you think someone as funny, original and smart as Tina Fey is overrated…whatever.
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@NotBlonde: Please help me understand in what part of my post I was being a jerk. I said nothing negative about Tina Fey, only that there was obviously much more to the story. Did you confuse my post with that of someone else? I am genuinely confused…
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For those of you doubting the veracity of the scar origin: Considering that the article plainly states how she doesn’t talk about it (in fact, her HUSBAND discusses it), that maybe the particulars of the event are what keeps her quiet? Or that her husband simply edited himself, realizing that his wife might not like him discussing it?
Or possibly, just possibly, she did make it up just to get people to stop talking about it?
This is Tina Fey here. Find her overrated or not (I don’t), she doesn’t court her fame or “play the game”. She actually worked hard to get where she is, and yes, with a little luck, got her own show. Even then, she rarely takes credit for 30 Rock’s success, instead shifting the attention to the other cast and crew.
Knowing this, it is pretty hilarious to read someone claim she is somehow trying to garner attention with a bogus scar story.
By the way, NOBODY is lucky to resemble Sarah Palin. And considering how Fey was earning Emmys and accolades before the moose hunter arrived, somehow pinning her success on that impression is highly unfair and ignorant. It didn’t put the spotlight on her; it just made it bigger.
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I adore 30 Rock. It’s one of the funniest shows on TV. Fey’s genius is getting insanely talented actors, giving them brilliant scripts, and then getting out of their way. But some don’t go for that sort of thing…
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I was so sad last Thursday when I realized it was American Thanksgiving. No Office or 30 Rock
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Poor sad bitter Repubes…
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I love her. I watch 30 Rock all the time (so you can’t say NO ONE watches it) She is very smart and quirky and deserves everything she has because she has worked hard for it, is genuine, and actually talented.
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30 Rock is good, people. G…O…O…D…!
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“Someone simply walked up to a five-year-old and cut her face? A bit far-fetched; there is obviously much more to the story than that.”
You’re being a jerk, RubySue, by implying that she’s (well, her husband) is making up such a horrific story. Just absorb the information and leave it at that. Perhaps going into morbid detail is painful for her. Jeez.
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I absolutely did not say, nor did I in any way intend to imply that the story was made up. I have always liked Tina Fey, and the thought that the story could be made up was definitely not in my head when I wrote that post. I am sincerely sorry that you, or if anyone else, took it that way.
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RubySue, I didn’t take your comment that way. I took it as an observation, not a slam.
Notblonde; I seriously doubt that her husband would have even brought the subject up let alone elaborate if it was a taboo subject or too upsetting to his wife Tina.
Love Tina, always will what ever show she is on
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I believe it. We don’t really need all the details to the story in order to make it true. I read she didn’t want to exploit it, so she chose not to talk about it.
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I adore her. I want to be her. Actually my hair and glasses are just like hers, and I get a nerdy thrill out of that.
I love 30 Rock so much too, can’t wait to see what happens next. -
Yes, still monumentally overrated.
The media was busy electing BO and so hyped her SP routine. And SNL hasn’t been ground-breakingly funny in 25 years.
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I’ll always love her.
That last picture is cracking me up. Is it her Beyonce tribute?
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