Lindsay Shookus profiled in Elle: ‘Being considered a public figure makes me laugh’

Lindsay-Shookus
Elle Magazine has an interview with Lindsay Shookus, whom we know as Ben Affleck’s first official girlfriend post split, and who is a Golden Globe-winning producer and writer for SNL. Elle makes it clear that they approached Lindsay, that she was reluctant to talk to them, and that it took some convincing to get her to do an interview. At least that’s what they claim. Given Ben Affleck’s obsessiveness over his public image, I don’t know what to believe. You can bet she ran this by him if they’re still together in any capacity.

The article doesn’t cover her relationship with Ben. She just gives that comment in the title that she finds it bizarre that she’s a public figure, with the focus is on her career. They quote Kristen Wiig, who credits Lindsay with helping her career by taking notice of her SNL audition tape, and Dwayne The Rock Johnson, who vouched for how Lindsay made him feel comfortable during his guest hosting gig. (Dwayne wrote a glowing email about her, he’s the best.) Singer Sam Smith also credits her with helping catapult his career. It’s just a rah-rah piece about how great she is behind the scenes and how she’s so much more than Affleck’s girlfriend. In fact there’s even a segment about an empowerment party she held for her loyal group of female friends. That’s such a publicist move.

On her notoriety as Ben’s girlfriend
LS “It’s strange to me. My entire career has been behind the camera, and that’s definitely where I’m most comfortable. I’m a producer, I’m a mom, a friend. Being considered a public figure honestly makes me laugh.”

On her early career as an assistant at SNL
LS: “I realized you could have an actual career in entertainment. And I just had no reason to think I couldn’t do it. I was the first one in; I was the last one out. I was always like, ‘I’ll go! Send me to the shoot. I’ll stay till midnight, it’s okay.’ That’s the glorious thing about being 22—you have the energy. I lived on 50th Street. I worked on 50th Street. I walked the same four blocks every day… I think I came at the right moment at SNL. There was a space for me, and I was good at it.”

Kristen Wiig is a friend who credits her with helping start her career
KW: “She saw my tape—I don’t know if it was lost in the shuffle or what—and she took it to the right people and was like, ‘I really think we should audition this person.’ Auditioning for SNL is a very nerve-racking experience, and Lindsay and I clicked. She kind of talked me down a little bit—I was very nervous. She was with me through the whole process; I’ll never forget that. Lindsay is fun to get a drink with and is also one of the better dancers I know.”

While pregnant she worked up until her due date and was back in six weeks
LS: “I was surprised at how healing going back to work was for me, in the way of, like, this is who I am. I’m not just a mom. It reminded me of what I’m good at and what made me feel good.”

Sam Smith on how Lindsay booked him for SNL before his first album was out
SS: “Honestly, it changed my life. And I’m not just saying that. I remember the day after, I just felt a shift. I don’t enjoy singing on TV a lot of the time; I find it quite scary. But for me, SNL is a safe space. Lindsay is that safe space. I’ll never forget her taking a chance on me in that moment.”

She’s into meditation and has done a lot of self work
LS: “I’ve put a lot of time in the past two years into just making myself better internally,” she says. We’re discussing kindness and empathy and the challenge of raising kids in such a mean world. “Self-love means something. I thought it was all a joke for a long time. It’s really important. Giving yourself a break is really important.

“I’ve gone through a lot of change recently and I’ve gone through some really hard times, but I believe in who I am more, and I wouldn’t give that up for anything.”

[From Elle]

This reads like a PR piece set up by Ben’s people. Is this a parting gift from Ben or a way of propping Lindsay up to improve his own image? It’s never about the other person, it’s always about Ben. He just bought that mansion with room for Lindsay and her daughter, so they’re probably still together. Of course it’s possible that Elle wrote this fluff piece about Lindsay’s career on their own, after approaching her for a profile. She’s an impressive person in her own right and I’m sure there are plenty of celebrities who appreciate what she’s done for them. What are the odds that Elle did that though and what would be their motivation?

Ben Affleck's girlfriend Lindsay Shookus leaves NBC Studios after working at Saturday Night Live

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Header photo credit: Allie Holloway styled by Anatolli Smith. Received by e-mail from Hearst publicity. Other photos credit: Backgrid and Pacific Coast News

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45 Responses to “Lindsay Shookus profiled in Elle: ‘Being considered a public figure makes me laugh’”

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  1. Anguishedcorn says:

    You being a public figure me laugh, too, Lindsay.

    • Lahdidahbaby says:

      Just came on thread to say those EXACT words, Anguishedcorn. Now I’m distracted by love of your screen name and wondering if it refers to the yellow vegetable or to something in the bunion family.

      But I digress. I would just like to offer my assurances to Lindsay Shookus that she has no cause for worry…she is not, and never will be, a public figure, barring her committing some sort of capital crime.

    • GigiC says:

      Omg hahahaha literally what I showed up to say as well.

    • Miss M says:

      I showed up to same the same thing! Hahahaha

  2. Neelyo says:

    If this was a gift from Ben, he should have sprung for a better photographer.

    I just read the article and even the writer can’t justify it’s existence.

  3. Natalie S says:

    Camilla Parker-Bowles! That’s who she reminds me of! It’s in the eyes and something about her mouth and the set of her jaw.

    Beyond that, I don’t care about Lindsay Shookus.

    • Adrien says:

      She looks like Greta Van Susteren to me.

    • Darla says:

      I suspect she doesn’t photograph well but is pretty in person.

      • amyston says:

        I remember seeing her in action in a video at the 2017 Emmy’s, and she looked lovely.

        I suffer from being ok-looking in real life but hideous in photos/on film. So she has my sympathy there!

    • heh says:

      She looks like Ben’s sister. Same lower half of face. *shudder*

      • elle says:

        And the upper half is Matt Damon – look at pic 3 with the white blazer. Double shudder!!

    • Pandy says:

      Yes Camilla!!! And I don’t care about her either. Always the side piece.

  4. Tate says:

    I didn’t even read the article and I am still…. 🙄🙄🙄

  5. Jen says:

    Yeah, this feels pretty forced. She’s amazing at her job! Celebrities like her! She’s also a great dancer! Um, ok? Thanks for the update, Ben.

  6. SlightlyAnonny says:

    You know what sucks about this? She should have gotten this fluff piece based on her career. I’m not an SNL follower, but I would have been interested in reading about the career of a relatively young female producer. But everyone and their mother knows she didn’t get this article because of her career.

    • Apalapa says:

      I also thought this.

    • Natalie S. says:

      I agree. I scanned through the article and they mention her accomplishments but it was more about building her up as a person rather than talking about her work process which I would have been so interested to read about. Clearly she’s good at managing people and problem solving and I would have loved to read about the details of that.

    • lucy2 says:

      I agree – it was interesting to read about her start there and what she does at the show, but they definitely wouldn’t be interviewing her for that alone.
      If this is Ben attempting to rehab his image, I’m not interested.

    • INeedANap says:

      Reading through her accomplishments leaves me with the same impression I had about Amal Alamuddin — why are you slumming it with this guy?

      In this case, Mizz Shookus, with all her behind the cameras accomplishments — why Ben? Why not quietly date some other producer who gets her, or a finance guy?

    • tealily says:

      Yeah, I really like hearing about people who are good at their jobs and what makes them good at them. I would have liked to hear more about her.

  7. Apalapa says:

    It is the Amal Clooney version 0.5 roll out.

    We get it, you are cool Shookus!

    But George Clooney, unlike Ben, doesn’t have substance abuse disorder nor a gambling issue, nor 3 kids to raise.

    Choosing to be with Ben Affleck does not read as self-love to me.

  8. CooCooCatchoo says:

    She loves black leggings, doesn’t she?

  9. Carolnr says:

    Elle is interested in Lindsay because of Ben Affleck! Why wasnt anyone interested in interviewing her about her career when she discovered Wiig & booked Sam Smith BEFORE she went PUBLIC with Affleck?
    For someone who (” being considered a public figure honestly makes her laugh”) claims she is more comfortable behind a camera, she just put herself on center stage!
    Jen was a recent guest on a Mother’s Day show for Ellen. Now Lindsay is talking about breast feeding( “turning pumping into a Olympic sport”) ? What does that have to do about an article that is supposed to focus on her career!?
    Is she that dumb or just naive not to realize that her conflicted relationship with Ben Affleck would be mentioned even if she declined to talk about it!!! Who advised her to be interviewed in this magazine? Surely Ben Affleck is not that stupid?!….

  10. Nicole says:

    Who asked for this?!

  11. Tiffany says:

    Timing is everything with Batfleck.

    I think they are expecting a kid together.

  12. Other Renee says:

    “…this is who I am. I’m not just a mom. It reminded me of what I’m good at and what made me feel good.”

    So being a mom didn’t make her feel good? Why did she bother having a kid then?

    She publicly had an affair with a married man. She’s canceled.

    • Meggles says:

      Agree with the last line but can we not shame women who don’t instantly become 100% fulfilled by motherhood the second the placenta hits the pan? Many woman, most women, struggle at least a little bit to adjust to motherhood, and most women struggle with trying to feel themselves and continue to define themselves as an individual rather than just as “Mom” after childbirth. It’s beyond the pale to act like anyone who’s not Suzy Q Homemaker should not ever have children. Plenty of mothers LIKE working and having outside interests and it does not make them bad mothers, if anything it makes them good mothers! You have to take care of yourself before you can take care of anyone else.

      • AMA1977 says:

        +1. Staying home is hard, working is hard, there is judgment on all sides, and being a mom is just hard. I had a hard time when my first was born (in hindsight, I had PPD and I’m lucky it wasn’t much worse) and his newborn and first few months were just fraught.

        I like working. I still feel guilty that I can’t be more involved at school and that someone else (in my case, grandma) picks them up from school, and a million other things. I would tell anyone who asks how much I love my kids and how proud and excited and grateful I am to be their mom, and I talk about them all the time, but that’s not all there is to me, and I like that reminder, too.

  13. Carolnr says:

    In wiig’s words, “Lindsay is fun to get a drink with.”
    Ben obviously thinks so, too!
    To make that comment when Lindsay’s public boyfriend, Ben publicly stated on FB that he was struggling with alcohol is just brilliant!!!

  14. JoJo says:

    Eh, I mean, this woman is never going to win. If she is never seen or papped or heard from, people say it’s because Ben is now hiding her because he’s realized it’s bad PR. If she speaks, it’s because she’s a famew****. To be fair, she’s had her share of career-related profiles, as part of her being nominated for The Hollywood Reporter top producer lists, etc. And I find the choice of outlet interesting too – more of a woman’s fashion mag vs. the entertainment media (I guess they figured Jen has a lockdown on those.)

    I don’t know what I think about it. I mean, Jen enabled the man for over a decade, having child after child in a situation that was blatantly bad, so if Lindsay chooses to do so now, oh well. Maybe they’ll be happy or maybe (probably) they’ll crash and burn. So be it. I’m sure it must be difficult to live under the “glare of Garner” who has recently become a media darling, essentially based on her divorce. But I get it – it’s the typical female thing. We’re all about female empowerment, except when we’re not, which is quite a bit – and in these cases, it’s more like, ‘Hey girl, know your place, stay in the background where you belong.’

    • lamaga_hyun says:

      ^All of what you said, JoJo. She’s an adult who is making her choices.When it comes to publicity, she doesn’t have as many as, say, Katy Perry or Kim Kardashian. She really can’t win in this situation and let’s be honest, most of us have gotten involved with someone who is bad news but we just didn’t quit as soon as we should have. This woman has done nothing to earn my scorn or dismay.

  15. Electric Tuba says:

    Batdads girlfriend lol no thanks

  16. Ali says:

    Whaaat? Someone is trying to convince us of something with this article…not sure what the point of it all is, but feels very defensive and forced.

  17. Jordan says:

    She’s only a public figure due to openly having an affair with a married man. It isn’t due to her career. They are both the worst types of people pretending to be better.

  18. Carolnr says:

    I still do not think that Ben Affleck or his team approved of this article. Ben would know that he would come up a topic in this interview! Surely Lindsay would have known as well! Ben seems to have being doing well, even out with his children for one weekend on sole- parenting duty and the general public has been rooting for his sobriety. I do not think he would stir it up all over again!
    I still find it odd that they were no photos of even Ben & the cast at the luau he threw. Would that not be good PR for the film? There were pics of Lindsay’s mom& dad in Hawaii. One was of lindsay & her dad & one with lindsay’s mom & lindsay’s daughter. ( Lindsay’s mom posted the pic on her own instagram acct.) Yes, i was having trouble sleeping one night & got online, lol!

  19. Busyann says:

    So, I’m always pushing for Jen and Ben to get back together, but even I think that shipped has sailed. BUT, I do think Lindsay isn’t above using the media to manipulate Ben and this may be one way for her to do so. Like maybe the relationship was waning and she finally agreed to the interview for Ben to remember her. I also think she’s a big issue with him maintaining his sobriety. He seems healthier when he isn’t around her.

  20. Sayrah says:

    She really looks like a female version of Ben Affleck.

  21. Cara says:

    I know it’s completely unfair, but I don’t like her. I don’t get a good vibe from her. I just find myself always making a face when I look at her. 🤷‍♀️

  22. Soc says:

    To all those who don’t read tabloids, they can now learn from this Elle article the dubious timeline of this “new relationship”. I think the non-denial is also pretty glaring. From what I’ve read from other sites, she started the affair with Ben when the child was a few months old. While most of us struggle juggling work with a new baby, she was quick and eager to go back to work. You can’t really judge her on that. But to have an affair a few months after giving birth, I don’t really know what to even say about that.