The X Factor

There are some days here at BWAN central when we really have to sit back and give pause before thinking about exactly how we want to start a post. We hem, we haw, we discuss amongst ourselves. Basically, we try to decide the best way to approach a specific topic, especially one we know will likely incite riots within the fandom.

But hey, sometimes you just gotta put it out there, so here goes: Nikki Reed.

We’ve come out VERY strongly in our tweets to state that we do not condone any fan tweeting to her and calling her a bitch, cunt or other unsavory name. It’s rude, period, especially if those words are directed at her by people who we know demand Kristen be treated with respect. Besides, we’d rather save those choice words for our favorite ninny friends.

But here we are at a crossroads again, which is how to approach this topic without sending everyone into a rabid foamfest.

We’ll admit from the get-go that as a group we’re split on the Nikki factor. Some of us would rather see her banned to Famewhore Island where she can self-tan among the Paris Hiltons and Kim Kardashians of the world. Others recognize that she’s a talented actress, is pretty, but has issues with keeping her mouth shut at inappropriate moments. One thing we all agree upon is that she is at times a dangerous manipulator who has used the media to stir the pot and add drama where drama needs to be let go.

We all wish she wouldn’t work so hard in trying to keep herself “relevant” in front of the cameras. There is a difference between coming in and doing your job professionally and succinctly, and coming in and pushing your very obvious agenda onto the world, at the detriment to the larger issues at hand. This second act is what Nikki excels at, and in our eyes, it comes off as a cheap and desperate attempt at validity.

Ninnies refuse to see Nikki’s desperate grasps for relevancy since they are so focused on hating Kristen, and champion her because she is often vilified by Rob and Kristen supporters. Many (but not all) Rob and Kristen supporters see Nikki as the tramp who got in the way, even though as far as we are concerned, she really wasn’t in the way to begin with (at least not emotionally). That’s not to say she didn’t create drama in years past, but we’ll leave those details in the past, since: a) they are not worth rehashing here; and b) no one -- and we mean NO ONE -- except for 4 or 5 people, knows specifically what happened.

We won’t even delve into the Rob-Nikki “did they-didn’t they” argument, but it is obvious to us that “something” of one nature or another did occur, and certain expectations went unfulfilled. Otherwise, what impetus would Nikki have  – THREE YEARS LATER – to squawk about how things had gone so terribly wrong among the cast? Endlessly. Ever hear of a woman scorned? We thought so.

Ninnies are convinced that every time Nikki is brought back into fandom drama, it has to do with PAST ACTIONS. Where they fail - AGAIN - is that the issue at hand has nothing to do with fans’ dragging up the past, but with NIKKI herself dragging up the past time and time and time again.

We’ve seen the ninnies’ take on this tale, and as usual, they end up contorting the issue to such an extent where they end up making Rob look like an ass - yet they still want to be fans of his? Classic ninny logic fail.

They also claim that poor widdle Nikki is the victim in this whole scenario. And you know what we say? Damn, right, Nikkie’s the victim - a victim of HER OWN DEVICES.

Whatever occurred in the past, Nikki REFUSES TO LET GO OF IT. She is the ultimate Stage 5 Clinger. Even after finding her own happiness with new projects and a new marriage, she continues to sell the “I was so poor and mistreated” story, moaning about how she and the other cast mates are no longer close, how things have shifted, positioning herself as the victim on some grand scheme by a movie studio that failed to make her the star she wants to be. 

Why else, if she weren’t so bitter, would she continue to bemoan the fact that the cast is no longer as close as it once was? And why else, if she felt that she hadn’t in some way been wronged, would she feel so strongly motivated to turn every appearance she has made promoting Breaking Dawn into the “Nikki Reed” story? These aren’t opinions, they are verifiable facts.

Most people in a professional capacity understand that focusing on the present, and not the purported sins of the past , is what gets you ahead. Keep your head down, work hard, and reap the rewards. Nikki works hard alright, but as a master manipulator, selling herself above all else.

Going to the MTV Movie Awards? Let’s throw in an engagement announcement on the red carpet instead of being there to support our fellow cast members and the film we were paid to promote. 

Attending the worldwide premiere for the major movie in which you were a featured cast member? Let’s use THAT very day to release a love song you co-wrote with your husband, one which several media outlets claimed was featured on the movie’s very soundtrack. Oops! Now, just how did that happen? We’re sure it’s just coincidence, right ninnies?

Feel the need to bring attention to yourself since you weren’t treated the same and given equal financial footing by the studio you abhor? Let’s spill our sob story to multiple media outlets, including writing what can easily be construed as a “the Rob that got away” piece of crap fiction in Seventeen Magazine.

And of course we can’t forget the passive aggressive jibes at other cast members, or not one, but two very obvious attempts to run interference during Rob’s own media time on the red carpet. Yes, Nikki, your agenda is very much showing.

Many fans believe that Nikki has been and continues to be a source for gossip blogs and columnists. With no proof to back up our assertions, we at BWAN aren’t going to speculate on that, but we do find it coincidental that the same person who is and has been known for calling the paps for convenient photo opps wouldn’t also use the media to her advantage by turning herself into some victim in a grand Summit plot (sound familiar?), and drag Robert and Kristen right along with her.

And we agree. Nikki is a victim, but not one of Summit’s design. She is a victim the duplicitous actions that have caused her to be more or less shunned by the rest of the cast, as was very clearly evidenced by her behavior - and that of other Breaking Dawn cast members - on the recent Ellen Show.

Behind the laughs, smiles and painfully-awkward grape throwing there remained a tenuous veil of tension directed toward and around Nikki. Nothing was more telling then at the end of the telecast when the other cast members were dancing and giggling amongst themselves, Nikki was standing off on her own, quite literally on the outside looking in.

So tell us how poor Nikki is the victim in all of this, because quite frankly, we can’t and don’t see it. And that’s not rehashing that past, that is pointing out what is clearly going on in the present.

We hope that Nikki reads this. We really do. We hope it gives her the impetus to examine her behavior over the past weeks, and as she and moves on with her new marriage, new life and new professional projects, she can let go of whatever bitterness she harbors and learn that in life you sometimes reap what you sow. Perhaps it’s time she sowed her seeds and went on her way.