Photo: Instagram
She is a long time contributor to Elle.
By Amy Lamare — Written on Jun 22, 2019
E. Jean Carroll is an advice columnist and author. She has been writing the "Ask E. Jean" column for Elle since 1993 and she will appear on the cover of the June 27th issue of New York Magazine with an excerpt from her new book What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal. In the excerpt, 75-year-old Carroll alleges that Donald Trump attacked her in the dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman in the mid 1990s. Back then she was a well-known writer who had been nominated an Emmy for her work on Saturday Night Live in 1975. Who is E. Jean Carroll and what else does she have to say about that fateful day in late 1995 or early 1996?
1. The cover story
E. Jean Carroll is dead serious about her allegations against Trump (and at this point, with all the women who've come out with similar stories, there is no reason not to believe her). On the cover of the June 27 issue of New York Magazine, the accompanying text reads: "This is what I was wearing 23 years ago when Donald Trump attacked me in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room."
2. Her backstory
E. Jean Carroll was born in Detroit, Michigan and raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She graduated from Indiana University, where she was a cheerleader and won the Miss Cheerleader USA title in 1964.
3. He pinned her against a wall
Carroll alleges that Trump pinned her against a wall and forced his fingers and penis around her private area. In the except, she says that when she encontered Trump that day, he recognized her as "that advice lady." She called him "that real estate tycoon." She wrote about helping him buy a gift of lingerie for a woman. At the time, Trump was married to Marla Maples. She claims that Trump then insisted that Carroll try on the lingerie and that's when he pushed her up against a wall and began "forcing his fingers around my private area, thrusts his penis halfway — or completely, I'm not certain — inside me." In the book, she also accuses a number of other men of sexual assualt over the years including former CBS chief Les Moonves.
4. The White House denies her allegations
In the New York Magazine article, they note that Carroll is the 16th woman to accuse Trump and the 14th to accuse Les Moonves of sexual misconduct. The White House issued a formal statement to New York Magazine, saying, "this is a completely false and unrealistic story surfacing 25 years after allegedly taking place and was created simply to make the President look bad.” In her book, Carroll writes that she told two friends, both journalists, about the incident in the dressing rooom. One told her to go to the police. The other told her to keep it to herself, saying: "He has 200 lawyers. He'll bury you."
5. The most dangerous woman
This latest book is a follow up to her 2004 book Mr. Right, Right Now. E. Jean promotes the book on her Twitter bio with the pinned tweet at the top of her page from February 2016 saying: "The most dangerous woman is a woman who has nothing to lose. The most dangerous man is the man who has EVERYTHING to lose."
Amy Lamare is a Los Angeles based freelance writer covering entertainment, pop culture, beauty, fashion, fitness, technology, and the intersection of technology, business, and philanthropy. She is deeply devoted to her chocolate Labrador and an avid long distance runner. You can find her on Instagram and Facebook.