Page 80 of The Favorites
“What do you mean?”
“You know, because everyone’s so obsessed with you.” Bella fluttered her lashes. “Shaw and Rocha, the star-crossed childhood sweethearts of U.S. Figure Skating.”
I stared at her, confused. Her eyes widened.
“I thought you knew. You really haven’t seen it?”
“Seenwhat,Bella?”
She bit her lip. “Let’s go inside. Heath should know too.”
Ellis Dean:Everyone lost their minds over that damn picture.
The picture in question: a close-up of Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha as he carried her off the ice at the 2006 U.S. National Championships.
Inez Acton:They looked like fucked-up Gothic wedding cake toppers. Him in a tux, her in that gauzy white dress with blood all over it.
Jane Currer:It was rather grotesque.
Francesca Gaskell:I mean, at the time, the situation was really scary. But that picture?(She sighs.) It wassoromantic!
Inez Acton:It was romantic, but also raw. All that blood, and the intense look on his face, like he’s carrying a fellow soldier off the battlefield.
Garrett Lin:The last thing I wanted was to be reminded of that day, but when I saw the picture…well, I couldn’t look away. It made me think: of course. Of course it was always going to be the two of them together, in the end.
Ellis Dean:Their disappearing act following Nationals made everyone even more frantic for information. So I figured, why not give the people what they want?
Kirk Lockwood:In early March 2006, after announcing his retirement from competitive ice dance, Ellis Dean launched a figure skating gossip blog called Kiss & Cry.
Ellis Dean:It was a shitty-ass WordPress site at first. But it was a big hit—and not only with hardcore skating fans. Anytime I posted about Kat and Heath, the link would get shared around, and traffic would go nuts.
Screenshots of early Kiss & Cry stories about Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha: “Wild Children—All About Kat and Heath’s Hardscrabble Early Years,”“ ‘They Couldn’t Keep Their Hands Off Each Other’: Shaw and Rocha’s Training Mates Tell All,” “Every Cold Hard Fact We Know About Skating’s Hottest Couple.”
Jane Currer:That site is not at all representative of our sport. The focus should be on our athletes’ performances on the ice,notsalacious details of their personal lives.
Ellis Dean:The Powers That Be got their granny panties in a bunch about it.
Francesca Gaskell:Sure, I read it. Everyone did—whether they admitted it or not.
Ellis Dean:I was pulling back the curtain and showing people what the skating world was really like—not the pretty image they try to project.
Garrett Lin:Ellis and I weren’t in touch then.
Ellis Dean:I dumped his closeted ass.
Garrett Lin:He could have outed me on his site, and he didn’t. I’m grateful for that.
Inez Acton:Calling Kiss & Cry “just” a gossip blog is so reductive. Gossip is a powerful tool the marginalized can wield against the establishment. Sometimes the only tool we have.
Ellis Dean:It’s not like I was just spilling the tea on which skaters were fucking and/or fighting at any given time. I reported on serious issues—harmful coaching practices, biased judging, disordered eating, sexual misconduct.
Screenshots of some of the Kiss & Cry stories Ellis mentions: “10 Signs Your Coach Doesn’t Deserve You,” “Shocking News: Figure Skating Still Terrified of Real Women’s Bodies,” “Olympic Pairs Skater Breaks Silence About Abusive Partner—and the High-Level Officials Who Enabled Him for Years.”
Ellis Dean:But yeah, in those early days, the Shaw and Rocha Saga made the best clickbait. That picture turned them into the Brad and Angelina of skating, and there was no going back.
A clip from a television interview with Katarina’s brother, Lee Shaw. He’s in his late twenties, but he looks at least a decade older. The wall behind him is gray, nondescript.
“Yeah, I saw the picture,” he says. “It was the first time I’d laid eyes on my little sister in years. Ever since she ran away from home.”
