She’s a self-proclaimed celebrity “smuthound” who’s quickly earning the title of Canada’s gossip queen. He’d rather play golf than follow Lindsay Lohan’s late-night escapades. Meet Vancouver-based Elaine (Lainey) Lui, 33, an eTalk correspondent and the woman behind
LaineyGossip.com, a blog that averages 1.2 million visits a month, and her husband, Jacek Szenowicz, 32, who manages the business end of her website.
ON THEIR ATTITUDE TOWARD CELEBRITY:
Lainey says…
“Obviously I love it—I have a celebrity blog! I think that the tone of my site really reflects my attitude toward celebrity, and that is that the people I talk about, the people who are in your face all the time, are there because they want to be. They live
in an altered reality.”
Jacek says…
“I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to celebrity. By association, I probably know more than your average guy, but I don’t go chasing it down. It’s her passion, but I’d rather be golfing. To each his own.”
ON HOW THEY PLAY/WORK TOGETHER:
Lainey says…
“It sounds silly to say this, but our dog, Marcus, keeps us playful. And Jacek is very good at relaxing me. If it was just me, I’d be working all the time.”
Jacek says…
“I try to set boundaries for her, especially the text messaging. She’s constantly text messaging with her sources and contacts. It drives me bonkers sometimes.”
ON HOW OPPOSITES ATTRACT:
Lainey says…
“I’m really focused and uptight and neurotic, and Jacek is more chill. There are good and bad things about both, but for the purposes of our relationship, it totally balances things out. When I’m getting too wired up, he can bring me down, and on the other side, my energy is good for him. If he moved at his pace all the time, I don’t think he’d get anywhere.”
Jacek says…
“I think opposites sort of balance each other. She’s the one who’ll freak out and think the world’s falling apart, and I’m the one who’s going, ‘Hey, wait a second, take a breath.’”
ON THE SECRET TO A SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE:
Lainey says…
“I don’t know. I’m an expert in gossip, but I don’t think I’m an expert in marriage just because I am married.”
Jacek says…
“Easy. Having it out and talking about it right away. We can both be very stubborn and argumentative when we feel we’re right, but we’ve never gone to bed with issues unresolved. I think that’s the key.”
ON CELEBRITY CRUSHES:
Lainey says…
“It’s totally healthy and normal. I have lots of them.
I think Jacek thinks it’s just me being flighty.”
Jacek says…
“Everyone should have celebrity crushes. Why not? When we were in Cannes last year, Paris [Hilton] was in town, and Lainey was going to use me as bait to get close to her. At one point I think she suggested that if Paris made a move on me, I should go for it, but it was really just a self-serving thing because she wanted to get the scoop.”