Bill Belichick's girlfriend Jordan Hudson is, unfortunately my new favorite person.
Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily.One of my failings as a person is that I will always, always fall for a character like Jordon Hudson, the 24-year-old woman who rocketed to tabloid infamy last week after her attempt to control the narrative about her relationship with football coach Bill Belichick backfired in rather spectacular fashion. While others may look at the broad strokes of this woman’s story and ask “Why is this news?,” I have spent the last few days trying to talk myself out of full-on stanning her. I don’t actually condone any of her behavior, but I can’t help it: I’m fascinated by our next great American antihero. I want to read an Emma Cline novel written from her perspective. God help me, and all of us, if she decides her next move is starting an MLM, or a cult.Hudson landing on my radar at all is a feat, because I really only follow football as it pertains to Taylor Swift. The name Bill Belichick has historically meant almost nothing to me. If information about a professional sports coach’s love life is crossing my desk, it usually means something has gone very wrong. That is indeed what happened here, and this moment of Hudson-mania can be traced to an interview with CBS Sunday Morning last weekend. Host Tony Dokoupil was interviewing Belichick, the former longtime coach of the New England Patriots and the current coach of the University of North Carolina’s football team, and asked him how he and Hudson met, at which point Hudson forever altered the trajectory of her life and ours with one little phrase: “We’re not talking about this.” It was Hudson’s attempt to shut down the conversation, and she probably never expected it to air, but air it did, and now we’re all talking about this.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhat’s bizarre about how much this incident has blown up is that it wasn’t even news that Belichick, who is 73, had a much younger Beli-chick in his life. The two have attended public events together. They’re Instagram official. Hudson herself has openly referred to their preposterous origin story: A few years ago, he sat next to her on a plane and autographed the book she was reading … which was a logic textbook … because she was a college student at the time. That flight ended up being a real sliding doors moment for Hudson, because not only did she meet her future boyfriend, but I also suspect she chatted with him at the expense of her studying, thereby depriving herself of the precious logical skills that might have saved her from embarrassing both of them on TV. Instead, she Streisand effect-ed this gaffe into a bigger deal than it ever would have been if Belichick had merely repeated the plane anecdote that was already in the ether. In this moment, Hudson, armed with sunglasses in her hair, a red lip, and a stern look on her face that made it hard to believe she’s the same woman who once posed as mermaid to Belichick’s fisherman on Instagram, created an instantly iconic tableau of misbegotten severity. She was Tonya Harding in her “No comment!” sweatshirt, that one photo of George Santos besieged by cameras, only no one was quite sure why she felt the need to be so intense so soon. Luckily, CBS revealed her full outfit of an oversize Navy sweatshirt and almost flesh-colored leggings in other shots from the interview—we’ll need those for the Halloween costumes.AdvertisementBelichick and Hudson’s displeasure seems to be rooted in a belief that the purpose of the CBS interview was to discuss Belichick’s book about his coaching career and not his personal life. But it strains credulity that he, as a former NFL coach with ample media experience, wouldn’t understand that a team of journalists would probably ask about other things too. Someone like Belichick should have handlers, an entourage even. The fallout from the interview has continued and even snowballed all week. More reports have come out about Hudson’s reportedly disruptive behavior on set. Hudson and Belichick have defended themselves via statements and social media, calling CBS’s segment “selectively edited.” These join prior reports about Hudson’s involvement in Belichick’s work: It’s been reported that he has requested that she be copied on all of his emails and that she has lots of opinions about UNC’s media strategy. While it’s understandable that she’s not very good at publicity—she’s only 24!—it does seem unfortunate that she and Belichick aren’t able to recognize that and let some actual professionals advise them.If interview chaperoning isn’t her strong suit, Hudson has plenty else on her plate anyway: Perhaps she could step back and focus on her real estate holdings, or “Trouble Cub Enterprises,” the mysterious company she calls herself the CEO and founder of. When it comes to Hudson, I sense that we’ve really only scratched the surface, and with any luck, she’ll continue to occupy the spotlight for many years to come. What she lacks in PR savvy, she is already making up for in star quality.
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