There is a middle ground between “completely, Rock-Hudson-style closeted” and “big celebrity couple.” The Mmes. Sontag-Liebowitz lived openly as a committed couple for many years. Just because you didn’t see it in Entertainment Weekly doesn’t mean it was a huge secret they were keeping.
Well, my cat has higher confirmation standards than the AP. And she’s not a particularly bright cat, either.
Maybe Sontag knows the publisher and owner and board of directors.
Since you know these NYT reporters, then why not ask them why they didn’t publish what they didn’t publish? They must have a good reason, right, even if it’s “I was strong-armed by my editor”?
Like a lot of you, I’ve a NYT Style Guide, which, of course, says nothing about the policy on mention of SS LTR’s in obituaries. Of the 3 obits I read online, all mentioned Liebowitz. However, all 3 also quoted Gore Vidal’s “talent/intelligence” quote from 1967, so it may be a case of “pass the Word file.”
So is there an official policy at the NYT regarding the “is survived by” fill in the blank?
—The author of Notes on Camp had never watched Hollywood musicals of the 1930s, '40s and '50s?!
And that would reflect back on your comment that she was an overrated hack. Anyone who purports to define “camp” without having seen even one Busby Berzerkely musical is no more than an arrant fraud.
Hey, I said I know them, I didn’t say I like them!
I searched the google news for confirmation of this relationship. On this site I came across the following comment,
Mind you, I can’t confirm that. And I don’t even know when. But if its true, I see no reason for the Times to mention that Sontag was jilted by Liebowitz in an obituary.
Probably spells better, too. God, they’re annoying.
Aha, the plot thickens. If AL was dumped, then the AP is the wrong one here.
David Ehrenstein spells Annie Liebovitz’s name wrong in the linked article, so I dunno how much stock I’d put into it. Besides, even if they did break up recently, they were a public couple for 20-some years!
I’m surprised at the Times; they put gay couples in the Weddings Announcements!
“Babysitter”??? Did they have children? I thought they were both a bit mature for that. Even for adoption (not that they couldn’t; just that they wouldn’t want to at their ages). Not that AL was all that old. But too old to bear children, yes? (Well, usually - maybe not nowadays.)
And how old was this babysitter??? I mean, I think spritely young thing, and Sontag would have been old enough to be his/her great-grandmother.
We’re discussing it right now, so obviously it IS public information!
All the more reason to ask! Put them on the spot and when they mumble something ridiculous, ask what happene to journalistic integrity and reporting the truth!
You don’t know these people. I wouldn’t get past, “Hi, I’d li—” before they’d snap, “Oh, we don’t have time for this, leave us alone” and slam down the phone.
Not the friendliest crew in the world.
Surely you know the difference between fact and rumor, don’t you?
What is “public information” for regular folks having a talk and what a newspaper considers “public information” are two different things.
cough cough Ahem…Leibovitz.
FTR, speaking as a photographer, I don’t think she’s an overrated hack at all. Not exactly my style of photography, but as someone who creates iconic images of celebrities, she is almost peerless. Sure, she’s no Cecil Beaton, but that’s not her schtick.
Well I got to that site copying “Liebowitz” from your OP :wally
Turns out that of the four spellings I found on google, Liebowitz,Liebovitz,Leibowitz, and Leibovitz, the latter gets by far the highest number of hits.
:wally should have been 
Damn! It’s a fair cop, guv.
I still say her photography’s bollocks, though.