"Bombshell Star's Father is Homophobic" That was the title of Michael Riedel's column a few days after Jack showed up on Karen's doorstep and it had Karen in a state of panic. She knew Riedel was a gossip-mongering asshole but she had couldn't fathom as to how the information about her brother had reached him. She hadn't mentioned it to any of the ensemble, in fact the only people who knew were Derek, Jack, Karen, her parents and Chloe – the nanny – and she couldn't trust that any of them would ever do such a thing. Her mother had called her to say that the very limited Iowan press seemed to have all converged on the doorstep of her childhood home and wanted to know how to deal with it. Karen told her mother that a firm 'no comment' would suffice.
"Bombshell Star Had a Teen Pregnancy" was the next headline. Apparently, while the press had been checking up on Karen's seemingly idyllic childhood they had uncovered that one, particular juicy bit of information. There was no mention of the real circumstances around the pregnancy – that she'd been raped by a family friend – only a quote from one of the bitchy girls from her high school who said "Karen always was a slut in high school. It's not surprising," Karen continued to soldier through it despite paparazzi jibes using the words 'slut' and 'whore' clearly expecting the reaction they got.
"Bombshell Star Attempted Suicide at Age 16" that headline was the final straw for Karen, that was when she decided that enough was enough and Bombshell's publicist was called in that was when the scrutiny was really placed upon her.
The first meeting was finally upon her and Karen took forever to settle on an outfit, only to end up wearing the first outfit she'd taken out of her wardrobe – a black and white A-line dress which ended just above her knee paired with plain black ballet flats and a short-sleeved black cardigan "This I like, this I can work with," Agnes, the publicist said as she invited Karen to sit down. "Now you're going to have to tell me the story from the beginning,"
"Which beginning?" Karen asked with a light chuckle.
"Let's start with your childhood, what was growing up in Davenport like?"
"Idyllic, I had two loving parents, grew up on a farm so I got to go horseriding a lot. My brother, Jack, was born when I was eight and two years later along came my baby sister, Caroline. I basically had the same set of friends – Amy, Marlena and Lisa – from kindergarten through to… now really," Karen stated "Dad taught me a lot of things – handshake, good right hook, even a bit of football, although I really sucked at that one – Mom taught me about clothes and make-up and all of that girly sort of stuff,"
"Idyllic childhood, okay now were you bullied in high school?"
"Yeah, it was this one girl and her bitch clique that did it, spread rumours, filled my locker with shaving cream, that sort of thing,"
"Now, the teen pregnancy. What's the full story with that?"
"I was 17 – just turned – and a couple of my dad's college buddies were at the house, three of them – James, my godfather Harvey, and Stuart," Karen began, saying the final name with such venom it was unbelievable "There was a football game on – Iowa State Hawkeyes versus NYU Violets – I'd gone down to the basement to get some beers from the fridge and Stuart must have followed me down there. He started to… to touch me and no matter how hard I fought, things escalated," Karen said, having to stop to wipe her eyes "About an hour later, people started to leave and then people noticed I was missing, that was when Harvey found me – he got my mom after I explained and then, like the cop he is, made sure that that bastard went to prison. That's the story of how it happened,"
"And is that why you tried to commit suicide? Sorry I know that this is difficult but it just makes a plan of action easier to make,"
Karen nodded before saying "I found out that I was pregnant by him and I couldn't take it, so I slit my wrists, deeper than I should have. At the time I just wanted it to end. The baby survived, my parents and I decided that until she was born I shouldn't be living in Davenport, so for a while I stayed with Harvey and his wife Donna in Des Moines and I was home-schooled until she was born and they adopted her. As far as that little girl is concerned her name is April Grace Paulson, her parents are Harvey and Donna Paulson and I am her Auntie Karen," Karen said her eyes looking off into the distance. April had grown up completely oblivious as to how she came into being but Karen had been there for her first day of school, her first couple of steps had happened when Karen had been there. She tried to make it out to Des Moines as often as possible.
"Let me guess, that's how you'd like it to stay,"
"Until there is such a time that Harvey and Donna decide it's appropriate to tell her the truth, yes," Karen confirmed.
"Okay we can spin this. I'm going to set up a one off interview with the New York Times arts section, I'll stipulate that the pregnancy is strictly off limits and how open are you to doing charity work?" Agnes asked, in a business-like fashion.
"I used to volunteer at a soup kitchen at least once a week before Bombshell rehearsals got heavy,"
"So a charity concert in aid of rape and suicide victims sounds alright?" Karen nodded in response
"Good," and just like that that plan was in place
