Narnia's Question Bag: Why, Patrick?

 

 

 Narnia has questions; boy, do we have questions.  In fact, that's all we have.  Are questions.

 

•  Will Kelly Clarkson show her usual allegiance to Simon Cowell when Zayn Malik guest stars on Tuesday, May 7?  Will his stunt kid be shoehorned into the interview?  

Don't forget - Simon attended and spoke at her Walk of Fame ceremony back in 2022.  She also had Simon on as a guest on her show in 2021 and she dutifully asked all the "right" questions about his "biking accident" and fatherhood.  In fact, Clarkson has reliably followed in Ellen DeGeneres' footsteps as she asks all of the "appropriate and relevant" questions given to her by publicists representing closeted clients.

It would be refreshing if she doesn't, but Narnia isn't holding our collective breath.  

• What on earth direction is Patrick Mahomes' image going in?  Appearing at Kansas City's WWE Raw is not what Narnia is laser pointing at - after all, WWE and UFC events seem to be desirable venues by talent agencies/publicists to place their closeted clients at.  All one has to do is look at how many of Narnia's topics of interest are/have been seen at these rough-and-tumbles:  Jake Gyllenhaal, Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, even Austin has placed himself at one.  Not only does WME/Endeavor talent agency own WWE/UFC, but their ringside events offer a 2-for-1 for the clients.  The grunting theatrics are uber manly, plus they also involve plenty of homoeroticism via sweaty and scantily clad, athletically fit (if you like them musclebound, that is) men.  They all win! 🔥 

Yes indeed, Narnia has caught on to the side "benefits" of this exclusive club.  😉

But we digress!  

Unfortunately, the evening of April 29 produced numerous images of the latest to join the club.  Patrick attended a WWE event with .... Logan Paul.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Judging by all of the gushing and awarded cool points displayed on Twitter, it seems as though many have forgotten that Logan Paul has a history of hardly being citizen-of-the-year material.  

Followers of Jake and Austin, of course, will recall that it was Logan Paul who took up with Chlo(e) Bennett, very soon after her "break up" with Austin in a slew of OTT beach and boat photos.  

It was also Logan Paul who helped out Sony by ridiculing Zayn Malik's ethnicity and culture, in addition to playing up the phony "domestic issues" with the Hadids, during one of his podcasts.  

It was also Logan Paul who in 2018, filmed footage of a man who had apparently committed suicide to use for "humor" purposes on his You Tube channel.  

It was also Logan Paul who used his podcast to once again help out Sony with a disastrous interview with Liam Payne, resulting in controversy and more blows to Liam's public image.  Imagine at the time, Liam was in the throes of stories about his alleged struggles with depression and alcohol, and during the interview, there were glasses of liquor on the table.  Who would do that? The podcast appearance was extremely damaging to Liam, which was nothing but a set-up to upset fans.   No thanks to enabler Logan Paul. 👎

This was what's known as a set-up.

And so now Patrick?   Looks like Patrick is protected by the NFL, unlike Liam and Zayn neither of whom received cover/support from anyone.  That's what happens with fighters of the system - they get no protection by the Big Guys of any entertainment industry. In fact, they get punished for their unwillingness to cooperate. 

Narnia sends thanks to a twitter account which gave a heads up about what exactly this connection of Patrick and Logan Paul was about.

 

 

Oh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Logan Paul.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 So, Patrick and his people officially struck this deal in mid-December last year.  And already, there have been a few controversies involving the Prime drink.  The company is facing a couple of lawsuits, one due to excessive amounts of caffeine and the other regarding PFA's (forever chemicals) in the grape flavor. 

Prime drinks are part of the product portfolio belonging to Prime Hydration, LLC, which was co-founded by L. Paul and British entertainer KSI.  Their frequent overall target audience is one that the NFL and many advertisers love - tweens, teens, and young males, age 18-24.

Paul has already come a long way from those tacky photos with Chlo Bennet.  He's much richer and comes with a larger audience.   What is not a good sign is how he has used his podcast to earn brownie points with TPTB like Sony/Syco and Simon Cowell, which was used to help perpetuate lies from the Hollywood closet and especially contribute to Sony/Cowell's take down of members of One Direction.  

Which translates to  🠊🠞 he is "available" for business deals.

As far as Patrick is concerned, on the football field, he has brought Kansas City nothing but success and electric play.  Not enough could ever be said for the fun and elation involved with the Chiefs' play since he's taken the helm of the offense.

Unfortunately, there's been an off-field side-show that has only been growing, filled with constant melodrama involving the beard, er wife Brittany Matthews, brother Jackson, father Patrick Sr., and mother Randi.  Name the sideshow and it's happened over the years.  By 2022-23, the circus began to occur ON the field as well, ranging from an "argument" with then-OC Eric Bieniemy captured on camera, to the very staged "blow-up" with a game official in the Buffalo Bills game at Arrowhead this past December.  

And while his endorsements have been smartly chosen and often beneficial for him (sunglasses, airfare, shampoo, etc.), this new one with the likes of Logan Paul is nothing but wince-worthy.  Whose "bright" idea was that marketing opportunity, anyway?

Disappointing is too kind of a word.  Unfortunately, winning Super Bowls means not just the players, but the organization's brands and/or images seem to be up for grabs and in the grips of image clauses.

• Gee Gee, I mean GiGi Hadid just keeps trying, doesn't she?   She tried her darnedest with Leo DiCaprio and now this whatever-it-is with Bradley Cooper, has tried to leech onto the tails of another pretend couple, Travis Kelce and Shifty, i.e. Taylor Swift.  Those "Carmel holiday" photos allegedly involving the foursome are so laughable, they're not even worthy of poking fun at here on Narnia.  #AmateurHour

• How come news leaks involving Jason Kelce get pump-braked on?  Where did all the details come from, in the first place?  First, the retirement news was pump-braked, then a detail-involved deal with ESPN was pump braked.  Both news items later were confirmed to be true.   Nothing major, it's just kind of curious now that this is two times it's happened.

 

More questions, more observations to come, but we've been fooling around long enough and need to post.  That's all we've got for tonight.  Hope the week goes well for everyone!

 

pic sources:  tenor

our playlist:  Why - Annie Lennox

                     Tell Me Why - The Beatles

                     Burn Rubber (Why You Wanna Hurt Me) - The Gap Band

                     He Doesn't Know Why - Fleet Foxes

 

Sunday Musings: Liam and Mayo - What a Stretch, Jake and Austin Have a Tenner

LOL!  "My Flintstone vitamin".  Hope everyone is taking their vitamins and getting in some cardiovascular work to help keep our immune systems in good fighting shape!  That gif is a crack up.

Well, this is a very special time because why?  Because it's a period which Narnia firmly believes the arrival of one of Jake and Austin's kids took place ten years ago in August of 2010.  The clues cover a lengthy span, (about 9 months worth!) and are extensive.  We won't repeat the story, but you can read about it in Day 17: Leadville Lovin' in our Masterpost: 30 Days of Toothy Tile, Grey Goose, and the Baby Tiles.  

Looking back at Oh My Godot blogspot in the time frame of August 8-9-10, it's very interesting to see that several distractions were going on.  Jake was being seen at the farmers market in Los Angeles and was also in an X17 video at II Ristorante di Giorgio Baldi Italian restaurant, being asked about Proposition 8, from which his comment prompted perplexed reactions from OMG'ers.  Meanwhile, new/old pictures of Austin and his beard Sophia Bush were circulating about; where Austin was allegedly looking like he was feeling the "effects" of what were likely nuptial beverages.

And there was also much blog discussion on how "rough" Jake looked, accompanied by a couple of days of heavy trolling.  So now in retrospect, it was all no doubt a lot of look-over-here, not-over-there nonsense going on, trying to make Jake look "miserable", living his own life in LA "away" from Austin and Austin "drinking and cavorting around" at weddings when he wasn't working on the set of One Tree Hill.  There was also the prospect of Austin and Sophia appearing at those incredibly hinky "Breakthrough Awards", an appearance which ended up not happening at all.  Not to mention Austin's parents allegedly paying a visit to Wilmington, NC and being seen on set.  The elves were at work everywhere.

Meanwhile, Mr. Austy was tweeting this on August 9.  We have to show the blurb within the context of the blog comments because well, his AUS10 twitter account is no longer available for reference (i.e. torpedoed).  Get a load of this tweet, though:

And then look at someone's comment right afterwards.  LOL!! Oh, that person had no idea at the time how close they were to the whole situation that was really going on, did they?

• Was someone craving ice cream but couldn't go out themselves to go get it, i.e. Jake?

• Or was Austin just in that mood leading up to the arrival of a baby 🠆 in a state of anticipation? Wanting the baby to arrive?  Notice the phrase "pacing the room".  Being an English major and creative writer, Austin would know how to metaphorically speak within 140 characters.

It would be about a week and a half later that what became known as simply "Leadville" happened, where Jake and Austin looked to be spending some celebratory "we" time, under the hokey guise of Jake and ex-bro-in-law Peter Sarsgaard doing research for a movie, one which never came to fruition (what a surprise!).

 

A mere week later would come the mysterious pictures of Jake looking like a rumpled mountain man, tucked away at a "friend's cabin",

 

Happy Birthday, Baby Tile, Baby Hugo.  Ten years old.   Jake and Austin have a tenner!  Another Tile in double digits.

👉👉👉👉👉👉👉👉👉👉

And so since this is a birthday time period, it's expected that we began to suddenly see Jake and Austin this past week, when they've both been holed up out of sight since who knows when.   Here's Jake promoting his godmother's new book and making an exaggerated face.

And then Austin needed to be placed in Los Angeles.  Here he is helping with food distribution at South Park Elementary in Los Angeles, an event taking place August 7:

There he is!

Kudos to Austin for helping to hand out the mesh bags of fruit! Kind of interesting that the announcement about the food handout for Congressional District 9 on Curren D. Price's website stated "CD Families will receive a box loaded with FREE protein, fruits and vegetables and other necessities, including masks".  And kind of interesting Austin wasn't wearing one of those team Tshirts...

Nonetheless!  Click Here for the link to Austin's Instagram post and you can see him in all his ever-lean glory. 😉

Great to see Mr. Austin, even though....we didn't see you anywhere in these pics...  always gotta keep one eye at all times on these guys, lol, I'm just sayin'!

 

👉👉👉👉👉👉👉👉👉👉

 

And we saw another Do-Gooder this past week.  Liam Payne was seen on websites, allegedly having an evening out with Mayo "Maya" Henry.  It was time for more awkward hand manips, I mean, hand-holding for the two.

The cleaner-shaven look by Liam was noticeable and seems to be time-stamped by what?  By Liam's recent, very nice video where he talked about his LP Show.  We loved seeing Liam and knowing that even he enjoyed his show.  😊

Is he a sweetie or what?  But notice that he had really trimmed back the beard growth and this is what helped to time-stamp the pictures of him allegedly with Mayo just a "day later".  Now, what was this about though?

Those are some awfully long, stretchy legs on Liam, aren't they?  

This is important:  Both Liam and Mayo are listed as 5'9", she as officially noted from the Elite Model Management site. They're both wearing about the same height of shoe heel drop, so why is Liam noticeably taller than Mayo?  

Not to mention this bit of a mash up with the hands:

Full length, courtesy of the Daily Fail's ad for her outfit:

Narnia doesn't hyper focus as much on these kinds of "off kilter" photos as we used to because as many know, this kind of manipulation does occur.  And we certainly know that photo shopping has been done with Jake, Austin, Jared and Jensen. It's happened with Louis as well, right?  But sometimes, it does bear (ha! sorry for the pun) hyper-focusing upon because we need to ask why do you have to photo shop if two people are really supposed to be together in a certain place at a certain time?  It's because they weren't.  End of story.

This is not Liam's doing at all.  This is his image being misrepresented - huge difference.  And that's a mess of a photo shop.  As M&M said - "really sloppy".

Narnia fully supports Liam who deserves so much better representation than this.

👉👉👉👉👉👉👉👉👉

This was an interesting incident with Niall, whose twitter account had some nice exchanges with fans, but it looks like this one bothered him:

I'm not even quite sure what the fan was trying to say, but it was interesting that his account chose to call the tweet out and prompted other tweeters to "pile on".   This, along with other tweet exchanges was followed by an article scolding fans and published by who?  Capital FM.  👀👀

While Niall's twitter made a valid point, the tweet that started it all was pablum compared to a lot of tweets sent to celebrities.  It's just rather interesting.  And the quote of "just say anything they want" is a frequent mantra of past trolls and interns on Oh My Godot and also Spn Gossip. In any case, it's clearly a warning.  Remember "bodyguard" Clif Kosterman's long-ass rant against fans/commenters of Jared and Jensen, and their public "wives"?

The question is, was it a warning intended to extend to fan reactions to other One Direction band members' activities?  Was it in anticipation of future activities concerning Niall?  It remains to be seen. 

👉👉👉👉👉👉👉👉👉

 

Narnia has a lightning bolt to celebrate, I mean - er - make mention of a certain someone's splitsville.  😏  One of our honorary faves, Mr. Travis Kelce seems to have made the pages of TMZ again, and tell me it ain't so - People.com???  People Magazine?  Kansas City Chief tight end?

First, it was the set up via TMZ and Instagram:

 

Suddenly, the general public are all-aghast and concerned with the alleged love life of a Kansas City Chiefs player, filling his twitter timeline with hand wringing and lip chewing.  And then a few days later, the "confirmation".

The only question that remains is if this lightning bolt will "stick", or if there will be the ever-possible reunion, perhaps post-season or whatever opportune time may present itself.  Public relation teams who use People and TMZ such as Travis' team seems to be doing with noticeable frequency, regarding more of the personal lives than their performance on the fields, should give us cause to pause.

On the other hand, we ain't complainin'!!  Maybe Travis can breathe for a bit from the tabloid fodder and concentrate on his play.  Here's hoping we will still get some wonderful shots of Travis arriving for his games.  Who will ever forget this awesome outfit?  Travis gives the color chartreuse a whole different POP, doesn't he?  Narnia wishes Travis a healthy and prosperous season, however it goes.

👉👉👉👉👉👉👉👉👉

And guess what is happening today?  

There they are - straight outta wherever they've both been quarantining together with the fam.  Will we likely be fed stories on how they're "quarantining separately" during their stay in Vancouver while filming the final two episodes of Supernatural?  The verbal machinations and separate narratives taking place on Spn Goss predictably opened up a large thread discussion.  Zoom interviews seem to provide an opportunity for over-analyzations of alleged apartment rooms and their furnishings and architectural make-up, which are used to "prove" where each gentleman is spending their quarantine time and totally buy into the validity of what videos are telling the public.

And from what I read, the Canadians are very strict about the quarantine. Also, I don't see either of J2 risking halting the entire production of the show (which would mean a lot of money loss for the studio), just because they couldn't wait those 2-weeks they have to be apart, most likely by their own choice, because they decided to not quarantine together. It wouldn't be pretty, especially if they don't want to damage their reputation in the industry. - comment

Please bring your own spoon for that kind of feeding.

Nonetheless, it's all to be expected and hopefully, some kind fans (and not plants) will share some of what they were able to share with Jared and Jensen.   It will indeed be terrific to see them interacting together.

👉👉👉👉👉👉👉👉👉

In the department of Who-Saw-This-Coming, lol, I can't help but share the news of this are-they-or-aren't-they May-September "pairing".

Now, come on.  Of course, now there are the prepared tabloid denials after these photos "leaked".  "They are friends and have been forever"!  "No truth to the rumors!"  And even if there is "No truth!", the pictures have been released, the rumors and speculation published, and there you go.  For a publicist, that is a big enough floatie to provide a summer of cover, right?  Aaaah yeah...😉

👉👉👉👉👉👉👉👉👉

Let's wrap this up with one more new pic of Jakers that appeared this past week (Distraction! Distraction!).  Here's Fetus Jake in an old childhood pic plucked from the Gyllyhaal Kodak Files, a rare moment which Narnia extends a (frankly) begrudging thanks to Mama Naomi.  LOL!

AWWWW, there he is!  Look at Jakers, the little scamp.  Shoelaces untied, tears in the knees of his jeans, performing as usual.  His parents no doubt had their hands full with this guy, didn't they?

 

Happy Sunday, everyone!  Make it a good one today.  Get much needed rest before the week ahead.

 

pic sources:  gifer, gfycat, X17, IHeartJake , People, TMZ, Daily

                     Fail, Fanpop, Oh My Godot, tenor

 our playlist:  You Could Have Been With Me - Sheena Easton

                      Happy Birthday - DJ Bobo

                      Tall Tall Trees - Alan Jackson

 

                     

               

Call Us Shallow, But Somehow It Still Comes Back to Jake and Austin

The whole "Bradley Cooper/Lady Gaga Exploding Bonfire of Chemistry at the Oscars" performance caught Narnia Dispatch's attention, but maybe not for the same reason it did for many other viewers.  

And the red flags were caused in part by the immediate, OTT endorsing reactions from the media:

this is literally the only straight relationship i want to see happen pic.twitter.com/uBtDIQItjI

— David Mack (@davidmackau) February 25, 2019

Love that "straight" insertion, Mr. Mack.    This gal is from Entertainment Weekly:

I would have paid $500 american dollars for a cut to Bradley Cooper's wife

— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) February 25, 2019

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper at the Oscar afterparty! pic.twitter.com/FmapmRt9Hg

— Lady Gaga Media ⭐️ (@GagaMediaDotNet) February 25, 2019

 

Just wow at this one.

Lady Gaga almost risked it all for Bradley Cooper at The #Oscars pic.twitter.com/sW23JLLZXJ

— 🌹 (@fabulousfeed) February 25, 2019

 
When you see Dan "Fig" Wootton and the Sun involved...

Is this really the last act for Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper? The way they looked into each other’s eyes at end of Shallow certainly doesn’t suggest so #oscars pic.twitter.com/rUIIWSVYLE

— Dan Wootton (@danwootton) February 25, 2019

 

"I was like, are they doin' it?" Tiffany Haddish saying what we were ALL thinking re: that Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga #Oscars performance. 😂 pic.twitter.com/gZbtbATIZh

— Entertainment Tonight (@etnow) February 25, 2019

Um, the way Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper are looking at each other right now just sent us FLYING OUT OF OUR BODIES!!! #Oscars pic.twitter.com/xGjBem7baW

— Entertainment Tonight (@etnow) February 25, 2019

 

Yep, looks like the media was doing their part to help sell.  And who can blame unaware viewers after that "move" by Lady Gaga.  Let's see that again, Gaga.  This takes the cake.

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper did THAT! #Oscars pic.twitter.com/3jedbdFXks

— E! News (@enews) February 25, 2019

And then you know what they did?  They did this to everyone:

Lady Gaga responds to Bradley Cooper #Oscars chemistry: "People saw love and guess what? That's what we wanted you to see." https://t.co/6VkE1HDzHQ pic.twitter.com/bA6Bd99SvG

— ABC News (@ABC) February 28, 2019

The eye roll at you, the viewers.  Didn't you know this is on you?

Lady Gaga Addresses Bradley Cooper Romance Rumors With Jimmy Kimmel @ladygaga pic.twitter.com/O9blVn0zZx

— Jennifer Lobez (@torrielovewwe) March 1, 2019

 

Translation:  What's the matter with you folks?

“I’m an artist, and guess we did a good job. Fooled ya!” https://t.co/YSDTo0Cr4r

— Vulture (@vulture) February 28, 2019

 
Nothing to see here!  We fooled you!  So stop shipping us because we can't be bothered with either of us going through another fauxmance.  Besides, Bradley's already got a contract going on at the moment.  ;-)

Interestingly enough, this little announcement was released after the much ballyhooed performance.  

Ohhhhhh.  Newfound footage to bring folks back to the theaters. Now that is some great fortune, how wonderful for the financial backers and actors.  The timing!

Well played, Bradley.  Well played.

Now, the only issue for a few of us is, our memories go back a bit further than six months.  LOL!  And we here at Narnia were spotting something amiss with the "are they or aren't they" floaties that were bobbing like nobody's business in the internet and social media waters.

First of all, there's that matter of Bradley's "dating" history which includes:  

Jennifer Lopez - Fall 2011 (following her separation from Marc A.)
Zoe Saldana - end of 2011 (while filming together)
Olivia Wilde - 2011 (busy boy in 2011, wasn't he?)
Denise Richards - "rumors"
Cameron Diaz - "allegedly" 2007-2008
Renee Zellweger - (while filming 2009 thru supposedly 2011)
Jennifer Esposito (a four month marriage)

That's quite the list of beards, I mean "conquests"!  Plus, the blinds, the chatter and some of those telling videos and pictures; but, you have to dig back, just like one does with Jake and Austin.  Waaaaay back. Because while folks aren't looking, PR teams go back and scrub with the Magic Erasers.  There's no denying that Bradley has some very pleasant photos out there with the likes of,

Leo DiCaprio:

   















Ryan Reynolds:

when it was rumored they were going to star in an action flick together, Ry-Ry and Bradley were seen in Vancouver with professional beard Renee Zellweger along for the outing. Look what a pup-face Ryan was then:

Gerard Butler at the 2013 Wimbledon:

(The next year 2014 at Wimbledon was a bit more low-key)

Dax Shepard:

Ben Affleck:

 
He just lights up, doesn't he?  ;-)  And then the Victor Garber blind vice and Nikki Finke's not-so-subtle shoutout in her column:


"Bradley Cooper and Kate Hudson presenting. Someone give Kate a cookie: I know the mags said she was fat 3 years ago but, jeez, she’s now wasting away to nothing. As for Bradley Cooper, he and Ryan Seacrest really need to redo their closets."   - wink


Victor Garber:

 From 2015 at Sardi's:

Then there is one past public relationship of Bradley Cooper's that really stands out, and that was the four-month "marriage" between him and Jennifer Esposito way back in 2006.  This look-back, in fact, comes about because of that Oscars "chemistry bonfire" last Sunday.  Jennifer Esposito made headlines because of her Instagram comment on David Spade's enabling post:

Bradley Cooper's ex-wife Jennifer Esposito had something to say about his chemistry with Lady Gaga. https://t.co/SJ91QbbZNm pic.twitter.com/PZKB5UAHRc

— E! News (@enews) February 26, 2019

Let's take a little stroll down memory lane shall we? True to form,
Jennifer Esposito performed the all-too-common "denial" at first of a romance between her and Cooper in 2006, but soon an engagement was announced by October.  An alleged marriage ceremony took place in the south of France in December, and four months later, Pffft!  They were done-zo, citing irreconcilable differences. Let's apply the dreaded lightning bolt - the official symbol of a couple break up.

LOL!!! Oh my dog. ;D

While the couple enjoyed their time together, their marriage would soon take a turn just four months later when Esposito filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences.

A rep for the actress said in a statement at the time, “Jennifer Esposito has filed for divorce. She asks that you respect her privacy at this time.”

Cooper’s rep said in a separate statement, “The divorce was mutual and they’ve been separated for quite a while.” - People.com

 
LOL! "Separated for quite a while." They were only supposed to have been married four months!  So, a "low-key" wedding ceremony, over in the south of France, together for less than four months and that's all she wrote. Who are we to doubt the veracity of this love story? *snark*

Esposito has since long-moved on, but there's another fascinating gold nuggito to this story.  Esposito has a link to one of our OTP halves, and ultimately the OTP as a whole.  

Speaking of links, we're going to provide links for two pictures showing this.  Because these pictures now seem to only be found here at this "Ability Films Inc" and they have their huge watermark splattered right across the center of the pics. We don't want to infringe on their clearly warning copyright finger-shaking at the bottom of the page.  But it's a safe site and we don't mind referencing everyone:

Jennifer Esposito and Austin Nichols outside of Madeos Jul 19 2007

Jennifer Esposito and Austin Nichols outside of Madeos Pic 2

For one thing, the photos are rather mislabeled. They're not "eating" at Madeos.  Unless they have sidewalk seating!  lol

So this was July 2007 which would have been the summer right after the Bradley Cooper "marriage" that, in hindsight, now has us wondering if those nuptials even took place.  Thanks to our timeline loving M&M, let's look at some dates.  It was during this summer of 2007 that Austin was busy working on the HBO series, John From Cincinnati.

• The pilot for JFC was filmed in September 2006 around areas of Imperial Beach, California, a community which was quite excited about being used for the location shooting. If the series were to be picked up, it was slated to be aired in late 2007.  By November 2006, twelve (12) episodes had been ordered. 

• JFC aired on HBO from June 10, 2007 - August 12, 2007

• July 19, 2007 - Austin is photo'd on a dinner "date" with Jennifer Esposito at pap-friendly Madeo's Restaurant in Beverly Hills, CA.

• July 20, 2007 - Austin appears on Jimmy Kimmel to promote the show John From Cincinnati.

                                                                           source:  Austinnicholsfan

• But on August 16, John From Cincinnati was unexpectedly cancelled by HBO.

• Eight days later, on August 24, Austin was arrested for DUI in Jackson, Michigan

• Except for those two obviously planned photos to announce their new relationship, Austin and Esposito were never seen together again.

Now what was Jake doing during this time?  The famous Lakers Photos took place in February 2006 and for the remainder of that year, Jake was bouncing between New York City and Los Angeles, eating out, shopping, etc. One photo op with Natalie Portman was squeezed into the midst.  In 2007, there were more photos with friends, multiple bike rides with "BFF" Austin Nichols.  And the medical visits began.  

In April of 2007, Jake visited Austin in the famous John From Cincinnati set visit featured in our Masterpost "Don't Come a Rockin...Yet".  On April 8, Easter Sunday, Jake was seen holding a child age-appropriate chocolate bunny as he stepped out with the G-family.
  

More photos eating out, jogging, walking dogs, the Borders sighting, out with "family and friends".  In November 2006, Jake was photo'd with future beard, Reese Witherspoon on the set of Rendition in LA to lay the groundwork for their spring "are they or aren't they?" rumored fling. The picture had to be floated out early because Jake and Reese did not film one scene together:

Nov 15, 2006 11:06:54 PM | Celebrity Moms

Seed planting.  By July 2007, they were being "spotted" together,  dodging cameras and playing Greta Garbo.  Austin's television series, which was in trouble already, was cancelled.  And the rest is as they say is history.  Jake and Witherspoon went on to beard/merkin for one another until late 2009. Officially, "breaking up" on December 14, 2009.

Looking at Jake's on-his-own-out-and-abouts (or was he just biding his time for something to happen) throughout 2006 and part of 2007 while Austin was working on JFC and lining up a beard, makes us at Narnia think that the original plan was for Austin to be the franchise series operator with John From Cincinnati, and Jennifer Esposito was being lined up to be his official beard.  The fact that their "relationship" was done-zo after the show cancellation reflects that Esposito was most definitely an experienced beard after her short stint with Bradley Cooper in 2006.  One can see why Jake's people thought that she would be a perfect match for Austin's closet. Talk about speed dating. LOL!

Interestingly and fortunately as well, note that John From Cincinnati was filmed in Imperial Beach, CA, in the southern most part of California, but convenient to Santa Monica/Los Angeles/Venice, the frequent home turf of both Austin and Jake.  It would have been the perfect situation for a young family, geographically, and job-wise.


Baby Tile was born in October 2007.  The John From Cincinnati trailer visit and the chocolate bunny picture in early April would have occurred at the end of the first trimester, a time that all young couples love to celebrate and come out with the stork announcement of "We're expecting!" to friends and family.  


But life doesn't always work out according to the best laid plans, does it?  Jake and Austin's life together has had several roadblocks thrown in their path, including Reese Witherspoon bailing on her contract with Jake and picking up with Jim Toth only three months later, leaving Jake suddenly without a beard and then taking up with Taylor Swift  in October 2010 to compensate.  We all know how fast that fakery came and went. I believe their fauxmance lasted a total of 48 days. Looks like Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Esposito beat them. But, Austin and Jennifer's "one night stand" on the sidewalk wins the grand prize in the end. Got to love it!


collaboration:  PG and M&M
pic sources:  Getty Images, abilityfilminc, incaustinnicholsfan, Celebitchy, IHJ, mrclarkartesys, Parade, popsugar, hellomagazine,
                     zimbio, thedressdown, People.com, vulture, 
                     gossiponthis
our playlist:  Everything Changes - Kathy Tricolli
                     Remember Me - Diana Ross
                     If I Could Turn Back Time - Cher
                     You Could Be Happy - Snow Patrol