‘Glenn Close Subtly Criticizes J.D. Vance, ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Co-Star’

Don’t come for the cat ladies.

Eight-time Oscar-nominee, near EGOT inductee, and Hillbilly Elegy star Glenn Close has taken a subtle but sharp shot at vice presidential candidate and Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance on social media.

In an Instagram post Sunday, Close posted a smiling picture with her striking gray Abyssinian cat, captioning it, “Eve would have left a bleeding mouse head in the bed of anyone who criticized any kind of lady with a CAT!”

The comment leaves little room for interpretation beyond being a direct response to Vance’s widely condemned 2021 remarks on Tucker Carlson Tonight that “we’re effectively run in this country, via the Democrats, via the corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies, who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made.”

Those remarks were made in the lead-up to Vance’s successful 2022 bid for an Ohio U.S. Senate seat. If they were controversial then, they’ve become nuclear since resurfacing in the wake of former President Donald Trump tapping Vance as his VP pick.

A multitude of stars have condemned Vance’s comments, from Jennifer Aniston (“I truly can’t believe this is coming from a potential VP of The United States”) to Whoopi Goldberg (“How dare you. Women? You heard how he thinks of you”).

Close’s comment, though veiled, hits a little harder than the average Hollywood star’s.

Close starred in Netflix’s 2020 adaptation of Vance’s memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, playing his grandmother, Bonnie “Mamaw” Vance. She received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for the role, which included a complete physical transformation and Appalachian accent.

Of the film’s core cast and crew, only director Ron Howard has spoken directly about Vance since his political ascent, expressing “surprise” in a 2022 Variety interview that Vance had embraced Trump. “He struck me as a very moderate center-right kind of guy,” Howard said, adding that he recalled Vance saying he “didn’t care for Trump” when the film was in production between 2017 and 2018.

In her Instagram post, Close didn’t outright criticize Vance, and left her connection to the politician unsaid. But her position on his views is unmistakably clear.

Hillbilly Elegy surged in viewership more than 1,100% on Netflix after Trump selected Vance as his running mate. Harper Collins, the publisher of Vance’s memoir, told the AP the company was “printing hundreds of thousands of copies to fill the demand” caused by the announcement.

Close is known for being remarkably candid on Instagram for a star of her stature. Time will tell if this is as far as the Fatal Attraction star goes in her criticism of Vance, or if it’s just a warning shot.

Source: Entertainment Weekly