Believe Nothing of What You Hear and Read and Only Half of What you See

Nonfiction... except now I know where Mr. Cherry got his information

UPDATE: I contacted Mr. Cherry who claimed Oxygen provided the biography. Awesome! I still hold Mr. Cherry responsible, since we always have a choice. I was an idiot by CHOOSING to do the interview… and Mr. Cherry was extremely rude and deceptive by choosing to print the inaccurate biography that would obviously negatively portray me.
-------------------------------

After all of the media misrepresentations surrounding Pretty Wicked, I reluctantly agreed to an interview with John* Cherry of the XYZ Telegram (I refuse to disclose their real name and send them more readers). He contacted me via Facebook and after a few weeks of consideration I decided to do it. Having conducted the prerequisite google search and Facebook investigation on Mr. Cherry, like I do before formally meeting or speaking with any man, I misjudged him as “trustworthy.” Apparently online dating procedures do not apply to newspaper interview procedures. I’ve done a lot of online dating and the google/Facebook investigation has yet to fail me. Unfortunately, although the Internet portrayed Mr. Cherry as a small town, God fearing, family-oriented man of integrity, the old adage, “Don’t believe anything you read or hear and only half of what you see,” proved true.

Mr. Cherry and I talked for approximately 30 minutes. During this time I stated: “Doing the show has been bittersweet.” I explained that it has been disappointing and frustrating because the network bolsters ratings through misrepresentation and by facilitating a forum of negativity. In addition to discussing my experience, we talked about my background and aspirations. Mr. Cherry commenced his article with this positive information:

Graduate from college. Check. Become a successful self-employed businesswoman. Check.

Star on a national reality TV program. Check.

After this seemingly postive start, Mr. Cherry later proved worse than Oxygen by completely misusing quotations and fabricating an entire paragraph out of thin air:

Haraszkiewicz’s biography on the show’s Web site promotes her as a “Midwesterner … (who) feels that you are only accepted if you have a lot of money. She feels she is superior to everyone else in her town and thinks that she should never have to lift a finger because she is so pretty.”

Where exactly he get this information? Oxygen does not feature my biography, nor does it provide ANY of this information. Oxygen has posted a lot of terrible things connected with my likeness but nothing like this; in addition, Oxygen NEVER misuses quotations. They just write rude little comments under my photos!

Mr. Cherry from the XYZ Telegram turned out to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. From my hometown? Check. Beautiful, happy family? Check. Complete liar and hack reporter? Check. Check. Check. I also find it interesting that he initially states I’m a college graduate and successful self-employed businesswoman (which is great)…. Then later states I don’t want to lift a finger, which is completely contradictory. In addition: "'This has been a wonderful opportunity to be part of a reality show,' Haraszkiewicz said Thursday in a telephone conversation from Birmingham" is completely inaccurate. The only accurate thing he wrote is that the interview occurred on a Thursday. In fact, I said the experience has been "bittersweet." Mr. Cherry and his story have only added to the fact that the only useful thing I have taken from the experience is not to place any trust in the integrity of the media. I knew the tabloids were fictionalized, but the newspaper? I thought that they sometimes misquoted individuals and twisted words; I never thought they completely fabricated information! So when it comes to any situation, person or piece of gossip,
"believe nothing of what you hear and read and only half of what you see."