Tiffany Cortez, from a photo on http://www.myspace.com/misstiffycortez, copied onto the AZPunk.com site.
Normally, it's bad form to speak ill of the dead, but not necessarily on that self-appointed online arbiter of all things badass, AZPunk.com, where some posters to the site have laid into fallen PHX police officer George Cortez, Jr. for comments he made while on a 2006 episode of Dr. Phil with wife Tiffany. Titled, "Gorgeous Isn't Enough," the show aired November 2 and spotlighted marital woes the couple was having, wherein Tiffany complained George'd made fun of her body following her second pregnancy, and that he had cheated on her multiple times, even after Tiffany'd gotten $20K in plastic surgery to improve her bod.
Ultimately, George pleads guilty before the court of Dr. Phil.
Here are some excerpts from Phil's Web site:
"George and I had the perfect marriage, up until about last year,” says Tiffany. “Ever since he became a police officer, everything went downhill, and he got in shape. George wasn’t happy with the way I was. He would tell me I was fat. He would say, ‘I hope you’re not eating. You don’t need to eat anymore.’ "
"I gained a lot of weight during our first pregnancy. I lost it when I started working for the sheriff’s office,” says George. “After our first child, Tiffany had issues with losing some of the baby weight. Tiffany’s breasts dropped and were saggier than they were before.”
“George would always make comments about my breasts because they sagged after breastfeeding the kids,” Tiffany explains. “If I was getting ready to get in the shower, he would make gagging sounds, looking at my stomach, and pointing, and he would laugh and make fun of my stretch marks. Like it was making him sick.” Tiffany says George also called her horrible names, including calling her a whore. “When George was heavy, he never said these things to me. Everything changed when he started getting into shape. And that’s when he wanted me to be Miss Perfect.”
Ah, but there's even more crusty, off-white linen, all aired out on national TV: George confesses to sleeping with three different women; Tiffany's pissed 'cause she paid $20K for a buttload of plastic surgery to make her MILFy again; and here's George chasing 'hos, and they're not even hot!
"I cheated on Tiffany with three different women,” George informs Phil.
"He cheated the night I was in the hospital. He left me in the hospital,” Tiff gripes to Oprah's favorite faux Freud. “How do I get over that? How do I get those thoughts out of my head?”
Basically, Phil tells 'em they have to -- you guessed it -- get real. If George wants to stay hitched, no more extramarital trim for him. Plus he's just gonna have to sleep in the dog house for a while, after what he's done. As for Tiff, if she wants to remain with Georgie, she can't hold his infidelity over his head forever.
Don't ask me why people feel the need to hash this personal drama out in front of a studio audience. Maybe being on TV helps them validate their lives and the pedestrian concerns therein: my man's no good; my woman's got flabby breasts; we need to stay together for the sake of the rugrats; etc.
Word to the wise: Best not to do Dr. Phil and shows like it. That way when when you pass gently into that good night, there won't be bullshit like this around to contradict the folks at your funeral who'll be busy trying to make it sound like you once walked on water.
For instance, Azcentral.com leads their story like this:
"Officer George V. Cortez was portrayed as a fun-loving, courageous, devoted family man as close to 2,000 mourners gathered at his funeral service Friday morning in Glendale."
Then there's a statement like this one, "Tiffany said her husband was committed to being a father even during her first pregnancy. He never missed a doctor's appointment and liked to take her shopping for maternity clothes."
Or this one,
“George provided me the example of how to be a father,” Angelo said. “The greatest lesson in life on how to be a man wasn't in the gridiron or on the streets. It's at home. I think he would want us to go home and kiss our babies every night and be the best father we can be.”
Hey, not that you can't be a great dad and cheat on your wife. Hell, it may even make you a better husband. All work and no play...
But one thing bird-doggin' babes and makin' fun of your spouse's bod does not do is endear you to the gals of AZPunk.com; 'specially "Foxxy," who begins the thread about Cortez with a link to the Dr. Phil show and this initial post:
WOW....Karma sure got that cop that was killed last Friday!!!
So the day the helicopters crashed a cop was shot to death by a couple trying to cash a bunk $500 check at a check cashing store....
Today one of my coworkers gives me this link to the Dr. Phil Show!
http://www.drphil.com/slideshows/slideshow/3493
This cop was a PIG!!! You will not believe the horrible shit he said to his wife and the $20,000 worth of surgery he made her go through!!!!
Fucking people
This sets off a discussion that's unique in the annals of AZPunk.com for not bringing up the North Side Kings, Bad Brains, or who's punk rock and who isn't. Some folks challenge the sincerely-ticked Foxxy. Others take her side. Still others goof on the whole thing.
Foxxy responds to critics by stating:
I didnt say he deserved to die....I just said Karma....
If you are a shitty person, shitty things will happen to you. Thats all I am saying.
Anyone who treats the person that they supposedly love like that does deserve to be called a pig though...man or woman...living or dead. Its never exceptable to mentally or physically abuse someone.
Sounds like Foxxy may be somewhat sensitive on this subject for personal reasons. Though, chicks in general could care less about you taking a bullet to the face, if you've cheated on them or called them fat. Um, then you pretty much deserve what you get in their eyes, guys.
PinkConnKat summed up those who disagreed with Foxxy:
You know what, I went to High school with the both of them.. they were both assholes to me and he would constantly make fun of me... but you know what NO ONE deserves to die just for making fun of someone or wanting there significant other to look different or whatever. the fact of the matter is that he was a father to two little kids, and now they have to grow up with out him... I agree with Migrant. it is not right to speak ill of the dead
A few comments down, PinkConnKat posts a link to Tiffany Cortez's MySpace page, which surprisingly is not set to private. Exchanges like this one follow on AZPunk:
saladhead: I am gonna start talking to her on myspace.
ValleyFever: get up in that shit! Them kids need a dad.
And so it goes. Someone posts a pic from Tiffany's MySpace showing a Janet Jackson-like wardrobe malfunction. To be fair, there's stuff on there about her kids, and her husband's untimely demise. As well as a photo of her smooching some brunette.
MySpace is another one of those things I wonder about. It's like people need the attention, and in courting that attention, they put all of this TMI-type stuff out there. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Just making the observation.
People have overdone it a bit on Cortez's murder, just as they've overdone it on the 'copter crash. Phil mentioned on the show that Cortez had told his wife that "I’m fuckin' human." Apparently, Cortez had no problem acknowledging he had feet of clay. So why the need for his friends and co-workers to punch up his story? Maybe if there'd been less of a media feeding frenzy, there would have been less of the maudlin stuff.
As for the AZPunk.com thread, it is pretty entertaining. Though I can't really get with the proposition that Cortez deserved to get shot in the face.
Whole thing reminds me of that line from Marlene Dietrich at the end of Touch of Evil, after Orson Welles' character has been shot down. Asked what she has to say about him post-mortem, she almost shrugs:
He was some kind of a man...
What does it matter what you say about people?
