Eric Radford and Vanessa James to compete in pairs together for Canada

[Rukia]

You can't have it both ways. Either he has every right to dump her, or he has to have a good reason for doing so. Which is it?

A good reason for doing so is, "I thought Vanessa and I would make a good pair" or "I felt like our skating goals didn't align" or "I just wanted to try something new after all these years." Any of those are reasonable. "You might have more babies so I'm going to split" is misogyny.

Look, Meagan Duhamel is neither my favorite skater nor favorite person. And I do agree that she's stoking flames at this point and should probably go write in her personal diary or something. But that doesn't change the wrongness of what Radford said either. Both can be wrong.

 

[Rhumba d’Amour]

Regarding Duhamel and coaching at her rink:

Meagan chose to step away from the position herself. Long story short, she decided not to be in that environment anymore. There were issues that made her feel uncomfortable, and she decided to leave. She was not kicked out by Bruno or forced to go

Might this have happened fairly recently? If so, that might explain why she initially seemed accepting of the news (in Eric’s version) but then began to have concerns about what the loss of possible show income down the road might mean to her financially.
As for the timing—my completely speculative guess is that Eric might have found his evolving situation to be difficult to discuss with Meagan over text, phone, etc., and that he figured he’d wait until they were face to face preparing for those SOI Japan shows to have the conversation. Then their invite to do those shows was revoked, and he lost the opportunity to raise the topic more organically.
I wish all of them well, Eric, Meagan, and Vanessa, and hope they can all put this unpleasantness behind them.

 

[okokok777]

According to Bev Smith, Meagan would have said it if she'd been asked about her future plans:

On Twitter, Meagan said that she was misquoted:

Thanks For the article Bev. But just to be clear, I didn’t say I would have told Eric I wanted more kids if he asked. If he asked I would have told him the truth. That we hadn’t thought about that yet. This was never my intentions and my own husband and I had never discussed it.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

Man, I really hope Vanessa James doesn't want babies some day! Imagine if Poor Eric is screwed out of touring income TWICE by selfish women who just want to HAVE BABIES and then CAN'T POSSIBLY WORK because apparently childcare is a literally insurmountable obstacle.

 

[kirkbiggestfan]

Meagan can still do shows with another partner. I am sure that producers would keep inviting her once shows start again. There are some unemployed pair partners that would love to go to bigger shows with a previous world champion. The cirque du Soleil or cruiseships skaters are all unemployed. She can call a younger, sexier, stronger partner and go with plan B. Citizenship doesn't matter. You can help me with names. Who was in the latest cast of cirque? Skaters like Max Coia?

 

[skategal]

Meagan can still do shows with another partner. I am sure that producers would keep inviting her once shows start again. There are some unemployed pair partners that would love to go to bigger shows with a previous world champion. The cirque du Soleil or cruiseships skaters are all unemployed. She can call a younger, sexier, stronger partner and go with plan B. Citizenship doesn't matter. You can help me with names. Who was in the latest cast of cirque? Skaters like Max Coia?

She has indicated that she would like to perform in tours and shows as a solo act as well.

 

[Sylvia]

Might this have happened fairly recently?

A Divine Sport published an interview with Meagan back in February that mentioned "After coaching there [Skate Oakville] for several months, Duhamel switched her focus to teaching online classes during the p*ndemic.": https://adivinesport.com/2021/02/13/meagan-duhamel-life-after-the-olympics/
Excerpt from the section titled "Moving to Ontario, coaching, and online teaching":

Q: Do you think you’ll return to on-ice coaching in the future?

D: Maybe. It’s not a door I’m closing. I feel like I have unique skills as a coach. I’m not so much of a technical expert. Bruno can break down any element and fix it for anybody in the world–he’s so good at that. I can manage things well. I understand how to train, and the psychological aspect of competing. I feel like these are my strengths. And being able to keep the skaters encouraged and confident to continue working. I’m going to look for opportunities that will blend with what I feel are my strengths.

Skate Oakville held an IG Live event in September 2020 (I assume it was Meagan who ran the skateoaskvillepairs Instagram account that is inactive now): https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/skate-oakville-pairs-showcase.107582/

I wish all of them well, Eric, Meagan, and Vanessa, and hope they can all put this unpleasantness behind them.

Me too.

 

[mjb52]

Isn't she a strong singles skater or is that being over-stated? Could she skate on her own?

 

[MsZem]

Isn't she a strong singles skater or is that being over-stated? Could she skate on her own?

She competed internationallly as a singles skater. And obviously she has or at least had her jumps.

Meagan can still do shows with another partner. I am sure that producers would keep inviting her once shows start again. There are some unemployed pair partners that would love to go to bigger shows with a previous world champion.

I mean, Vanessa's old partner Yannick Bonheur skates professionally with someone he never competed with

 

[Vagabond]

Isn't she a strong singles skater or is that being over-stated? Could she skate on her own?

Meagan Duhamel - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

She is -- or was -- a pretty good singles skater. She should be an entertaining solo performer at shows.

 

[her grace]

I think Duhamel and Radford both come off looking poorly in the split. And I think both should stop feeding the fire and focus on their goals for the future.

 

[becca]

People have the right to end things personally and professionally for any reason. But people can do break ups in a way that are hurtful. They are uncomfortable though. Better to address it with them than to blast them on social media.

However just because someone breaks up with in a way that is hurtful doesn’t make it okay to badmouth them.

It doesn’t exactly make you look good when you do that.

 

[VGThuy]

People have the right to end things personally and professionally for any reason. But people can do break ups in a way that are hurtful. They are uncomfortable though. Better to address it with them than to blast them on social media.

However just because someone breaks up with in a way that is hurtful doesn’t make it okay to badmouth them.

It doesn’t exactly make you look good when you do that.

I think that's the summary right here.

 

[GreatLakesGal]

Meagan can still do shows with another partner. I am sure that producers would keep inviting her once shows start again. There are some unemployed pair partners that would love to go to bigger shows with a previous world champion. The cirque du Soleil or cruiseships skaters are all unemployed. She can call a younger, sexier, stronger partner and go with plan B. Citizenship doesn't matter. You can help me with names. Who was in the latest cast of cirque? Skaters like Max Coia?

Meagan should get together with her good buddy (and adult skater) Dave Lease and start training for shows with him. I'm confident they could get money for training and costumes from Dave's devoted Patreon fans. Of course Dave likely lacks the upper body strength to lift Meagan but I'm sure she could easily lift and twirl him around. And as part of their routine they could stop skating and spend a few minutes during shows talking trash about other skaters and coaches--The Skating Lesson on Ice!

 

[kwanfan1818]

She was asked about a comeback to competitive skating. Given how many other things he had going on when they were still doing shows -- school, choreography, music, BOTB -- she could have had another child in the middle of a show career, especially as she had already done shows while pregnant with her daughter, by working around the schedule, but not in a competitive career. There was never any guarantee that his non-show obligations would never conflict with a potential show contract, either, and she'd be the one to be disappointed and to decide whether to continue as a partnership.

The chronology wasn't 1. Radford decided to return to competitive skating 2. He asked Duhamel, who said no, because she wanted more children 3. He said competition > shows and left the partnership.

Instead, he had already wanted to skate in shows with James instead of Duhamel, starting when he and James were both doing BOTB. Returning to competition, starting to train with her sister-in-law and characterizing them skating together "for fun", and then telling Duhamel it was over after James received a release from France came after wanting to change show partners.

If anyone is claiming he didn't have a right to switch partners, I must have missed it, certainly as long as he fulfilled existing contracts with Duhamel (or bought her out of them), ex: if they'd been allowed to skate in Japan in February. A grayer area would have been if they had solid oral agreements to do specific shows, and she turned down other work and/or made financial investments in their partnership, which hasn't been raised on her side, only being blindsided because they'd agreed to do CSOI if it materized this Fall.

By keeping the formation of a new professional-turned-competitive partnership secret until there was a guarantee with James, he was the one who ate his cake and wanted to have it, too.

 

[millyskate]

She competed internationallly as a singles skater. And obviously she has or at least had her jumps.


I mean, Vanessa's old partner Yannick Bonheur skates professionally with someone he never competed with

As did Annette Dyrt And they both did/do really well out of it too.

 

[becca]

But how many of us tell our current jobs we are looking for another?

 

[skategal]

But how many of us tell our current jobs we are looking for another?

If we’ve already been working at the new job for two months, we probably should have told the old job before then.

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

I am having a hard time equating normal job hunting with elite level skating partnerships. There is a very different trust and personal level involved.

ETA: There is also a skill level requirement. Most normal jobs can be filled by thousands of people. A skating partnership is very limited in replacements.

 

[VGThuy]

Yeah. It’s unethical to form and actively work at a different, competing partnership behind the back of the one you’re currently in while making that partnership believe things were moving along as normal and will be in the coming future. That’s the wrong that Radford did. He should have been upfront with Meagan and say he wanted to end the partnership when he realized he had something going with Vanessa and they were trying it out. He did what he did out of self-preservation (a part of me gets that) but it’s also not honorable or good behavior.

 

[MsZem]

Didn't people know that Katsalapov would be splitting with Ilinykh before she did? And Daria Popova heard that Massot would be skating with Savchenko via Romy Szolkowy? And those were active partnerships!

Also IIRC Mukhortova skated in the gala at 2010 Worlds knowing that Trankov was headed elsewhere.

 

[feraina]

Here's another take on why one should not go to social media to vent before having a direct (and probably difficult) conversation with the person one's having issues with. I had a gem of a piece of advice from a relationship therapist once, who said don't ever go to your friends to expect help on resolving your relationship problems. What it takes to resolve relationship issues is to see the other person's point of view, not only yours, and be able to empathize with the other person's point of view, especially when it's starkly different from your own point of view. But good friends do exactly the opposite: their job is to empathize and validate your own point of view, to make you feel righteous in the way you feel, thus leaving even less room to be able to relate to the point of view of the person you're having issues with and are trying to repair a relationship with. Meagan likes to share her point of view, with friends, with acquaintances, with strangers on the internet. I started following her before she was even a pairs skater, when she was a junior ladies skater, because she had an online blog that shared all her up and downs and made her feel like a very relatable human being. I love(d) her for that.
But sometimes that tendency can backfire. She had an initial conversation with Eric and was fine with the new pairing and even wished him good luck (and agreed that she had no interest in coming back to competition anyway). Then she must have talked to other people about it and got more and more stuck only in her own point of view (which is a lot of disappointment, and a feeling of betrayal, which I totally understand). Going to social media to vent to fans, who, like good friends, are 100% going to back her up in those feelings, instead of counseling her to take the perspective of Eric, is only going to make her even more stuck in those feelings. I'm afraid that's exactly what happened here. What she needs to do is to have a few long and direct and difficult conversations with Eric by herself -- and not talking indirectly through social media or the press -- that's the only way for them to really reach any closure and move forward, and not have this thing continue to fester.

 

[missing]

Requoting from Sylvia's post:

A Divine Sport published an interview with Meagan back in February that mentioned "After coaching there [Skate Oakville] for several months, Duhamel switched her focus to teaching online classes during the p*ndemic.": https://adivinesport.com/2021/02/13/meagan-duhamel-life-after-the-olympics/
Excerpt from the section titled "Moving to Ontario, coaching, and online teaching":

Q: Do you think you’ll return to on-ice coaching in the future?

D: Maybe. It’s not a door I’m closing. I feel like I have unique skills as a coach. I’m not so much of a technical expert. Bruno can break down any element and fix it for anybody in the world–he’s so good at that. I can manage things well. I understand how to train, and the psychological aspect of competing. I feel like these are my strengths. And being able to keep the skaters encouraged and confident to continue working. I’m going to look for opportunities that will blend with what I feel are my strengths.

This sounds exactly like those couples on HGTV where the husband does all the contracting work and the wife does the interior design.

 

[morqet]

But how many of us tell our current jobs we are looking for another?

But it's not like leaving one employer and going to another, where all you owe is your contractual notice period. It's like setting up a business with someone, and then secretly making arrangements to enter into another business without telling the person who originally invested with you.

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

Didn't people know that Katsalapov would be splitting with Ilinykh before she did? And Daria Popova heard that Massot would be skating with Savchenko via Romy Szolkowy? And those were active partnerships!

Also IIRC Mukhortova skated in the gala at 2010 Worlds knowing that Trankov was headed elsewhere.

So are you saying that it's ok to end a partnership in an unprofessional way just because others have done it? It's unprofessional no matter who does it.

 

[MsZem]

So are you saying that it's ok to end a partnership in an unprofessional way just because others have done it? It's unprofessional no matter who does it.

I'm saying it happens, and this is far from the worst example.

Sometimes the coaches are in on it, too.

 

[allezfred]

I guess we won't ever know, but I have a feeling Duhamel wouldn't have taken it well whatever way Radford told her he was ending their partnership.

 

[maatTheViking]

Many women go back to work after having a baby, but babies can’t stay home by themselves so it’s either nanny, daycare or mother/mother-in-law caring for the baby.

what about the father, or the grandfather or father-in-law? or are males incapable of taking care of a toddler? And what is the issue with a daycare?

WTF???

and I think that if Duhamel choose to go touring, they would have found a solution. Lot's of women travel for their job (or pleasure) with or without their children.

(regardless, this seems to all boil down to bad communication between the two of them, not having the same assumptions and expectations. Both parties thinks they are in the right, and the stories are conflicting. meh, it's a personal issue between the two of them, and I think I've move to official have 'no opinion' on the issue between Radford and Duhamel)

 

[marbri]

Here's another take on why one should not go to social media to vent before having a direct (and probably difficult) conversation with the person one's having issues with. I had a gem of a piece of advice from a relationship therapist once, who said don't ever go to your friends to expect help on resolving your relationship problems. What it takes to resolve relationship issues is to see the other person's point of view, not only yours, and be able to empathize with the other person's point of view, especially when it's starkly different from your own point of view. But good friends do exactly the opposite: their job is to empathize and validate your own point of view, to make you feel righteous in the way you feel, thus leaving even less room to be able to relate to the point of view of the person you're having issues with and are trying to repair a relationship with. Meagan likes to share her point of view, with friends, with acquaintances, with strangers on the internet. I started following her before she was even a pairs skater, when she was a junior ladies skater, because she had an online blog that shared all her up and downs and made her feel like a very relatable human being. I love(d) her for that.
But sometimes that tendency can backfire. She had an initial conversation with Eric and was fine with the new pairing and even wished him good luck (and agreed that she had no interest in coming back to competition anyway). Then she must have talked to other people about it and got more and more stuck only in her own point of view (which is a lot of disappointment, and a feeling of betrayal, which I totally understand). Going to social media to vent to fans, who, like good friends, are 100% going to back her up in those feelings, instead of counseling her to take the perspective of Eric, is only going to make her even more stuck in those feelings. I'm afraid that's exactly what happened here. What she needs to do is to have a few long and direct and difficult conversations with Eric by herself -- and not talking indirectly through social media or the press -- that's the only way for them to really reach any closure and move forward, and not have this thing continue to fester.

Best thing I have read since this whole drama started.
Meagan needs to read this so if people really care about her and have direct contact with here they should show this to her.
She talks about her legacy in the Bev Smith article. The current path she is on will do more damage to her legacy than Eric skating with Vanessa ever will.

 

[Evgeniafan]

Great post, Louis.

Another thing that bothers me about this situation is the arm-chair critics sitting behind their usernames criticizing Vanessa James for not saying anything about Cipres. First of all, I suspect like others have already said she was advised by legal counsel to stay silent on the matter. Secondly, what Cipres did in his own personal time James had nothing to do with. Also, she has every right to remain friends with him and support him as a friend despite his own discretions. That is up to her to decide. (And the same goes for Radford supporting Coughlin - his choice).

It is their choice. And it's my choice to not like them because of it.