PRESS RELEASE:
Contact: Edward Lozzi & Associates 310-922-1200
ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
TELEVISION/ HOLLYWOOD EDITORS
PIETRA DAWN THORNTON ANNOUNCES
HER NEW REALITY TV SHOW, CELEBRITY EX
Former Wife of Billy Bob Is Back on the Scene
Producing and Writing Unique Reality TV Show
Malibu (LMS) - Pietra Dawn Thornton, the young and beautiful ex-spouse of Oscar-winning writer/actor Billy Bob Thornton and the mother of his two sons, is on the rise again. Many of you in the media remember the headlines in 1997/98 and Billy Bob’s Oscar for Slingblade and the butterfly-from-cocoon appearance of the unknown exotic beauty at his side that night: Pietra. For six years, up to that point, their marriage was struggling. The entertainment world was then shocked when within a few days after the worldwide Oscar Broadcast, Pietra filed for divorce. The tabloids and main line media had a field day. The divorce and the messy proceedings with charges and countercharges were frontpage stories including the cover of USA Today and the AP. Interviews with Pietra and news of their divorce on national TV included Inside Edition, Entertainment Tonight, Hard Copy, E-Entertainment Television, Newsweek and Time Magazine and many of the 6 o’clock news hours coast to coast.
During her divorce proceedings that year Pietra organized and supported charities advocating help for victims of domestic violence. Not one to be weak on any campaign she took on, Pietra posed nude for Playboy Magazine in January of 1998. It raised a lot of eyebrows but she told USA Today that, “the layout was a sacrifice of myself ... I wanted to reach people to bring awareness of domestic violence.” She certainly did.
After settling things with Billy Bob Thornton, who remains a good friend, Pietra disappeared from the public eye to raise her two boys who remain with her and who are homeschooled in their beautiful seaside Malibu estate. She had to get back to her writing and creativity which she had given up to marry Billy Bob.
The fruits of Pietra’s labor are announced here in this press release. Pietra created a concept and treatment for television last summer and registered it with the Writer’s Guild. Only days ago, nationally syndicated columnist Liz Smith, prematurely broke the story in her usual brief and no-nonsense manner: “Pietra Dawn Thornton ... Billy Bob Thornton’s ex-wife, is pitching a reality pilot called ‘Celebrity Ex.’ This will show what happens when you are suddenly no longer on the arm of a well-known man (or woman). And as Billy Bob and Pietra parted amicably, word is he’ll put in an appearance if the show gets the green light. Other ‘exes’ of men such as Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, George Hamilton, Richard Dreyfuss, and Martin Landau have volunteered to tell all to Pietra, on air. Even Paula Abdul, who was for several years Mrs. Emilio Estevez.”
Recently Pietra befriended Donya Fiorentino, Gary Oldman’s ex-wife and mother of his two young boys. Pietra decided to bring in this beauty with whom she has much in common to the show CELEBRITY EX. The show is a reality-based, episodical comedy with more than a twist of reality.
“Being a single mother, I have always considerd the future and how much I want to be a hopeful example of how my life and my son’s lives after divorce from a celebrity realm will be...and that living in the shadow of such a past is sometimes just as exploitive and cruel as it is being celebrity ourselves,” says Pietra at one of her writer’s think tank staff meetings.
She is like a lioness when it comes to protecting her young sons from the celebrity spotlight of their father. The original motivation of the show was derived from the irony of her own life and how it has been to live in the shadow of celebrity with her two boys.
Pietra Thornton attributes her writing style and sense of humor to mentors such as Gilda Radner, Cloris Leachman, Madeline Kahn, Albert Brooks, and SCTV.
An actress and former model, Pietra Thornton’s new image has made her virtually a living resurrection in the minds of most who thought she’d gone away forever. She’s been there all along creating and writing, behind the scenes, but taking it all in for ideas for her show. Like the Oscar Night red carpet, Pietra is about to come out again, but this time with her own creative concept to entertain and educate us.
FACTOIDS:
Title: “Celebrity Ex”
Format: 1/2 hr. - 1 hr. Network TV Reality Based Comedy Episodic
Executive Producer, Original Concept and Creation, and Written by: Pietra Dawn Thornton
Theme: “I envision this show to be fun and fast-paced, incorporating a colorful cast: Celebrity Ex co-hosts, plus our very own “Code Blue Makeover Squad.” This is reality with a twist ... Our hosts will lead us through a comedic wild toad ride each and every episode featuring the ex-spouses of super famous actors, musicians, politicians, and pro-athletes. Sort of reality and irony melting into a feast of laughter.” -- Pietra Thornton
Peteyland ProductionsMalibu, California
Status: Negotiations Pending TBA
Media Contact: Edward Lozzi
Edward Lozzi & Associates Public Relations
310-922-1200
epl@lozzipr.com
www.lozzipr.com
Photos: Yu Tsai
Pietra Thornton model photos taken 5/2005. Pietra, Billy Bob Thonton,
and their boys photo taken on set of Bad News Bears 2005
Contact: Edward Lozzi & Associates Public Relations for Pietra Thornton and "Celebrity EX" 310-922-1200
###