Smackdown Family Style
Here on this page are paragraphs concerning Stephanie McMahon from the Reader's Digest Article. If you wish to read the whole thing *it's a very good read for big fans* then try to find the September '01 Reader's Digest issue, and turn to page 140.
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Smackdown Family Style
Critics say they are a menace to society. Fans say they are brilliant. The McMahons say they're just regular folk.
By Lynn Rosellini
Vince McMahon is a likeable guy, except when he's stalking around a World Wrestling Federation ring, vowing to have his wife, Linda, institutionalized. Linda McMahon is a kind soul, except when she's slapping her daughter's face for siding with her father. The kids, Shane and Stephanie, are loving, though in the ring they act like jackals as they plot to take control of the WWF.
Would the real McMahons please stand up! To the 20 million or so fans of the WWF's nine hours of weekly TV programming or pay-per-view specials, or one of the 200-plus live events the federation stages each year, WWF chairman Vince McMahon and his brood are evil schemers. WWF critics say the family's enterprise pitches violence and sexism to corruptible kids. The family's business partners don't seem to care either way: They like the cash register ka-ching created by the WWF's expanding slate of ventures.
The McMahons say they're like any family you'd find sitting at any dinner table in America. On this night, though, at the Savvis Center in St. Louis, there's no pass-the-peas banter. The crowd is yelling for WWF stars like "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock as the McMahons finish taping their scripted back-stabbing shtick. "That was excellent work, guys!" says Vince, hugging Stephanie, who'd just "fought" the actress playing his girlfriend (Trish?).
"We're constantly hugged and kissed. He tells us how proud he is of us," says Stephanie, 24. Like everyone in the family, she holds a WWF job, as a television writing director.
...He (Vince) fine-tunes his programs, not just for the viewers but also for advertisers. After Coca-Cola, MCI and other sponsors pulled out of "SmackDown!" in late 1999 and early 2000, after pressure from Bozell's group, McMahon toned down the obscenity and violence. "When our advertisers don't like something," says Stephanie McMahon, "we listen."
...Even the McMahons seem to have moments of confusion. In one episode of "Raw," Stephanie slapped her mom in the face. Backstage she wept, saying, "Mom, I'm so sorry." Later the daughter said, "I think you have to be incredibly close to your mother or daughter to be able to slap them on national television."
Hearing such talk, one can't help but believe that with their larger-than-life jobs and alter egos, the McMahons are not like every family in America. But they are a family, and it's their unique relationship, mixing love and business, that keeps WWF king of the wrestling ring.
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