Jill Soloway Explores Her Own Identity in Her New Novel
*By Madison Alworth*
After four seasons (soon to be five) viewers are well-acquainted with the Pfefferman clan of "Transparent," but now, series creator Jill Soloway is inviting readers to meet her real-life family.
“I was writing this book about creating the TV show 'Transparent' and my parent coming out as trans and what it meant to find myself as a director at the same time that our family was finding ourselves," Soloway said Tuesday in an interview on Cheddar.
Soloway has written an autobiography of her own story, which closely mirrors that of her characters, who are forced to reevaluate their lives when the family's patriarch ー played by Jeffrey Tambor, who was [fired](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/jeffrey-tambor-officially-fired-transparent-wake-harassment-claims-1085236) after allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced ー reveals himself to be transgender.
Not even Soloway, an Emmy award-winning director, could anticipate how timing and the larger political forces at work would shape her series and, eventually, her book.
"One of the things I’ve been thinking about for decades is this idea of gender and consent, to wondering why it's harder for women to be trusted around issues of consent. And then of course last year the reckoning happened, and our whole country became obsessed with these same questions, and I was able to synthesize some of what was happening in our lives on the set into the book.”
As the country changed, so did Soloway ー and that transformation is captured in her memoir.
“For me personally, I started off the book identifying as straight and maybe more feminine and heterosexual, and as I went through the process writing the book and working on the show, I then identified as non-binary and queer."
Much like the characters in the Amazon-produced ($AMZN) "Transparent," Soloway's self-discovery was part of a larger movement in the country.
“It was really more about my own family. When my own parent came out as trans, I think I realized I came from a legacy, a queer legacy where it was okay for me to explore different avenues for myself.”
Soloway, along with her cast, had a public-facing moment of reckoning when sexual harassment claims were leveled against Tambor last February.
“It took us a minute, it was such a shocking experience because we thought of ourselves as a feminist show," Soloway said. "We always felt like people were really aware of their environment and that people were really comfortable, and I think it really showed that it can happen anywhere."
But Soloway knew she wasn't alone, and in a way that made the experience less painful and more productive.
"I feel like I would have taken it really personally and freaked out a lot more if it had only happened on our show, but because it was happening in the whole country and even the whole world, where powerful men were having to look at their behavior to see whether or not it was being received the same way that it was happening in their mind."
Soloway's memoir, "She Wants It: Desire, Power, and Toppling the Patriarchy" is available in stores and online.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/transparent-creator-jill-soloway-out-with-new-memoir).
Premio Lo Nuestro 2022 is kicking off awards season this month with its 34th show. The star-studded event will include performances from Pitbull, Luis Fonsi — and even Sting with his new Spanish-language single "Por Su Amor." Ignacio Meyer, the vice president of music and non-scripted entertainment, Univision, joined Cheddar News to talk about the music award show details. "We’ve actually still got plenty of surprises that were going to be announcing," Meyer said. "We're not done announcing the star power just yet." Singer Camilo leads with 10 nominations going into the event.
Black spending power reached a record $1.6 Trillion in a 2021 report from the University of Georgia Selig Center for Economic Growth. Ayesha Selden, certified financial planner, breaks down why real estate is the key to closing the racial wealth gap and how Black Americans are using social media to improve financial literacy. "If we look at home ownership as being a primary driver of wealth, when you look at the equity that Americans have in their homes, that equity can be used to buy additional assets like other rental properties. That equity can be used to educate our children," Selden said, noting that lower rates of home ownership meant Black Americans tend to incur more debt on average for their student loans.
On this episode of Cheddar Reveals, Dr. Kate Strasdin, fashion historian & senior lecturer in Cultural Studies at Falmouth University, discusses the lessons industry leaders draw from history to make fashion more sustainable today; Kendall Becker, fashion editor and trend forecaster, forecasts the hottest trends of 2022, and what will be left in 2021; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Going Circular.'
Dr. Kate Strasdin, fashion historian & senior lecturer in Cultural Studies at Falmouth University, joins Cheddar Reveals to discuss the lessons industry leaders draw from history to make fashion more sustainable today.
A new survey from Etoro suggests that talking crypto might actually help Americans on the dating scene find love...or at least land another date. The survey found that 74% of respondents would be more interested in going on a second date with a person that pays the bill in Bitcoin. Callie Cox, Etoro's U.S. investment analyst, joined Cheddar News to discuss.
Energy Vault, the company developing sustainable, grid-scale energy storage solutions, is now trading on the New York Stock Exchange following the completion of its business combination with Novus Capital Corporation II. Energy Vault develops sustainable, grid-scale energy storage solutions designed to advance the transition to a carbon free, resilient power grid. Robert Piconi, co-founder and CEO of Energy Vault, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to disucss.
A new mobile app has launched just in time for Valentine's Day. Our.Love bills itself as an A.I.-powered, gamified, relationship wellness app for couples. The app is set in what the company calls the Coupleverse, a virtual world where each couple can build a virtual relationship home as they also build their real-world relationship. Founder and CEO Tal Zlotnitsky joined Cheddar to discuss how the app works. "The concept behind Our.Love is to give people the opportunity to understand where they stand in their relationship through very simple metrics that we provide within the app that will help them in real-time, see where they stand, see where their partner is, and be able to get closer together," he said.
