awkward breakups
Is Revenge Worth $250,000 and Public Embarrassment?
When you break up with someone, there are certain accepted steps. Acceptance, Grief, Anger, Self-Improvement, Forgiveness, etc., etc., etc. Usually, we like to mix it up a little bit with standard variations like Gin, Focusing on His/Her Faults, Sleeping Around, and Eating Our Feelings. But even we have never gone as far as YaVaughnie Wilkins, who spent an estimated $250,000 on billboards across the country touting her eight-year relationship with Oracle president Charles Phillips. The relationship, of course, was over — but Wilkins couldn't apparently handle the fact that after eight years, Phillips dumped her to go back to his wife, whom he'd never officially divorced. There are a whopping three separate billboards here in New York, in addition to one in Atlanta and one in San Francisco, where Phillips — who is also a member of Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board — is currently living.
The billboards (if you want to check one out, head to 52nd and Broadway) bear the slogan "You are my soulmate forever — cep" and direct viewers to a website that Wilkins developed as an homage to the couple's relationship. The site, www.charlesphillipsandyavaughniewilkins.com, was apparently a treasure trove of pictures and a testament to the couple's relationship. It's down now, but Gawker managed to save many of the best parts.
We'd qualify setting up a revenge website as at least on the fringe of the standard variations of the breakup process. But the quarter-million-dollar billboards? This sets a whole new bar. Imagine how much more fun she'd have had if she'd spent the 250k on Sleeping Around and Eating Her Feelings??
