Babe Paley's Granddaughter Denounce's 'Feud: Capote vs. The Swans'
Belle Burden criticizes what she says is a highly inaccurate portrayal of her grandmother in Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.
In a recent opinion essay for The New York Times Babe Paley's granddaughter, Belle Burden, criticizes the portrayal of her grandmother in Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.
The essay opens with a recount of a scene where Paley discovers her ex-husband's affair with Happy Rockefeller. She's then shown seeking consolation from Truman Capote in her Fifth Avenue apartment, where Capote hands her a Valium and recommends purchasing a Matisse to mend her broken heart. Burden bluntly states that none of this happened, and the scene is loosely based on Capote’s short story “La Côte Basque, 1965" and on Laurence Leamer’s 2021 nonfiction book, Capote’s Women. Burden goes on to say that Capote's story "wounded" her grandmother by "taking the things she told him, changing them, and betraying her confidence and her privacy, which she guarded fiercely."
"Now her life has been stolen and twisted again, posthumously, by the creators of 'Feud,'" writes Burden.
Burden states that the FX series portrayed her grandmother as a "one-dimensional" character who's defined by men. She also notes that unlike the character played by Naomi Watts, Paley wasn’t one to excessively drink, consume drugs, smoke, or "be placated by a piece of art or jewelry."
"I had planned to take the show lightly, to remind myself it was made to be fun, a campy romp," Burden writes. "Yet, as I watched each episode, as the inaccuracies and misrepresentations stacked up, I felt furious in defense of her."
According to Town & Country's interview with the show's writer, Jon Robin Baitz, the show never claims itself to be a historically accurate depiction of Truman Capote and his swans. Nevertheless, Burden wishes she and her family were consulted, as she says her grandmother's true portrait would have given the story "more shape, more tension, more depth."
"What I wish more than anything is that my grandmother had lived long enough and been bold enough to tell her own story, claiming it before anyone had the chance to steal it from her," Burden writes in the conclusion to the essay.
