LarryD
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Mark Cuban’s Secret Bride
The Mavs owner makes a public announcement— then threatens the media when they dare to report it.
photo by David Woo/The Dallas Morning News
If you don’t already know the good news, it’s not because Mark Cuban didn’t try to tell you himself. In the Feb. 23 opening monologue of The Mark Cuban Show, the billionaire said, “There’s another part of my personal life that I’m ready to share.... I got engaged.” Odd, then, that as of press time, most of the city was unaware of the pending nuptials. Bear in mind that he is not known to shy away from the spotlight. Cuban has run onto the court to join his players in a tussle. He has discussed with Penthouse embarrassments suffered while both giving and receiving oral sex. And, of course, he has his own television show.
The obvious joke: no one watches The Mark Cuban Show. Certainly its time slot doesn’t draw huge numbers (Saturdays at 10 pm on a UPN affiliate). But enough people saw the announcement. As one person inside the Cuban camp said when contacted for comment, “You are obviously not the first to ask about this story. Everyone and his brother has been on him for it.” Still, two months after the fact, a search of global news archives turned up nary a mention of the engagement.
So how could such a public announcement remain so private? There are a billion reasons.
Who’s that girl?
Tiffany Stewart’s name first appeared in print in 1999. In a profile of Cuban, the Dallas Morning News called Tiffany his “steady girlfriend” and revealed that she lived in his 24,000-square-foot Preston Hollow house. Cuban said he had “good radar” for detecting gold diggers and that he’d been dating Tiffany since 1997.
An Esquire profile in April 2000 went a bit further. Not only did the article make it known that Tiffany was 14 years his junior, was born in Dallas, and worked at the time as an advertising executive, but it mentioned that Cuban and Tiffany had “initiated” every room of the mansion (aided by “little blue pills”).
The next month, the New York Times described Tiffany as a “large-eyed strawberry blonde.” It also noted that she drove a Honda.
In October, Forbes broke the news that Tiffany was born on June 28, 1972. For her 28th birthday, Cuban, “Dallas’ most eligible bachelor,” gave her a $90,000 Mercedes 560 SL. Furthermore, the couple met at the gym.
In November 2000, Sports Illustrated reported that Tiffany found life in the unfurnished Cuban mansion “a little frustrating.”
When Cuban was fined $100,000 in 2001 for sitting on the baseline at an away game, the News wrote that Tiffany protested the fine at the next Mavericks home game. She sat directly in front of Cuban’s front-row baseline seats. A sign next to her read, “I’ve got the $100,000 seats today.”
And then, on April 18 of this year, came the first indication, in print, that Tiffany and Cuban were betrothed. The News wrote: “Owner Mark Cuban missed the last game of the season because his fiancé, Tiffany Stewart, had an appendicitis [sic].” But where was the “Texas Living” profile of the newly engaged couple? Where was the Page Six item?
When D Magazine e-mailed Cuban wondering why the story hadn’t been done, Cuban replied that he had asked every other media outlet not to report on his engagement. Citing “personal and security reasons,” he pressured D to drop the story. It was explained to him that all this magazine wished to do was flesh out the details of the above timeline, information that had already been reported. He was also reminded of his celebrity status and the February episode of The Mark Cuban Show.
The real trouble started when D contacted several former co-workers of Tiffany’s and, loyal friends that they were, word got back to Cuban. He called D’s offices at 7:45 on a Monday night.
“All right,” he said, about halfway through a heated 15-minute conversation. “Do what you need to do. But just be forewarned that if you’re going to f--- with me, I’ll f--- right back.”
“Hey! Whoa, whoa!”
“I’m serious! This is something I’m not taking lightly. And you can justify it any way you damn well please. And you can come up with all the rationalization you want...but if something f---s up, just think how you’re going to feel.”
“Hey, Mark—”
“Especially when I come and slice your f---ing nuts off.”
Cuban went on to promise that he would contact every advertiser in the magazine and have them pull their ads if they wished to do business with him ever again. Surprisingly, the call ended amicably.
So this leaves us in a fix. What to do when a volatile billionaire threatens one’s person and livelihood? Do you run the story (such as it is)? Or do you behave like the rest of the local media and simply cower at the master’s feet? If we’re still here next month, we’ll let you know.
—Tim Rogers
http://www.dmagazine.com/june02/pulsepreview2.shtml
you can listen to the audio too -- it's AWESOME!
The Mavs owner makes a public announcement— then threatens the media when they dare to report it.
photo by David Woo/The Dallas Morning News
If you don’t already know the good news, it’s not because Mark Cuban didn’t try to tell you himself. In the Feb. 23 opening monologue of The Mark Cuban Show, the billionaire said, “There’s another part of my personal life that I’m ready to share.... I got engaged.” Odd, then, that as of press time, most of the city was unaware of the pending nuptials. Bear in mind that he is not known to shy away from the spotlight. Cuban has run onto the court to join his players in a tussle. He has discussed with Penthouse embarrassments suffered while both giving and receiving oral sex. And, of course, he has his own television show.
The obvious joke: no one watches The Mark Cuban Show. Certainly its time slot doesn’t draw huge numbers (Saturdays at 10 pm on a UPN affiliate). But enough people saw the announcement. As one person inside the Cuban camp said when contacted for comment, “You are obviously not the first to ask about this story. Everyone and his brother has been on him for it.” Still, two months after the fact, a search of global news archives turned up nary a mention of the engagement.
So how could such a public announcement remain so private? There are a billion reasons.
Who’s that girl?
Tiffany Stewart’s name first appeared in print in 1999. In a profile of Cuban, the Dallas Morning News called Tiffany his “steady girlfriend” and revealed that she lived in his 24,000-square-foot Preston Hollow house. Cuban said he had “good radar” for detecting gold diggers and that he’d been dating Tiffany since 1997.
An Esquire profile in April 2000 went a bit further. Not only did the article make it known that Tiffany was 14 years his junior, was born in Dallas, and worked at the time as an advertising executive, but it mentioned that Cuban and Tiffany had “initiated” every room of the mansion (aided by “little blue pills”).
The next month, the New York Times described Tiffany as a “large-eyed strawberry blonde.” It also noted that she drove a Honda.
In October, Forbes broke the news that Tiffany was born on June 28, 1972. For her 28th birthday, Cuban, “Dallas’ most eligible bachelor,” gave her a $90,000 Mercedes 560 SL. Furthermore, the couple met at the gym.
In November 2000, Sports Illustrated reported that Tiffany found life in the unfurnished Cuban mansion “a little frustrating.”
When Cuban was fined $100,000 in 2001 for sitting on the baseline at an away game, the News wrote that Tiffany protested the fine at the next Mavericks home game. She sat directly in front of Cuban’s front-row baseline seats. A sign next to her read, “I’ve got the $100,000 seats today.”
And then, on April 18 of this year, came the first indication, in print, that Tiffany and Cuban were betrothed. The News wrote: “Owner Mark Cuban missed the last game of the season because his fiancé, Tiffany Stewart, had an appendicitis [sic].” But where was the “Texas Living” profile of the newly engaged couple? Where was the Page Six item?
When D Magazine e-mailed Cuban wondering why the story hadn’t been done, Cuban replied that he had asked every other media outlet not to report on his engagement. Citing “personal and security reasons,” he pressured D to drop the story. It was explained to him that all this magazine wished to do was flesh out the details of the above timeline, information that had already been reported. He was also reminded of his celebrity status and the February episode of The Mark Cuban Show.
The real trouble started when D contacted several former co-workers of Tiffany’s and, loyal friends that they were, word got back to Cuban. He called D’s offices at 7:45 on a Monday night.
“All right,” he said, about halfway through a heated 15-minute conversation. “Do what you need to do. But just be forewarned that if you’re going to f--- with me, I’ll f--- right back.”
“Hey! Whoa, whoa!”
“I’m serious! This is something I’m not taking lightly. And you can justify it any way you damn well please. And you can come up with all the rationalization you want...but if something f---s up, just think how you’re going to feel.”
“Hey, Mark—”
“Especially when I come and slice your f---ing nuts off.”
Cuban went on to promise that he would contact every advertiser in the magazine and have them pull their ads if they wished to do business with him ever again. Surprisingly, the call ended amicably.
So this leaves us in a fix. What to do when a volatile billionaire threatens one’s person and livelihood? Do you run the story (such as it is)? Or do you behave like the rest of the local media and simply cower at the master’s feet? If we’re still here next month, we’ll let you know.
—Tim Rogers
http://www.dmagazine.com/june02/pulsepreview2.shtml
you can listen to the audio too -- it's AWESOME!
