Stephanie had the charisma of a potted plant, I have to admit.
-GT
With respect, at the time Jerry Springer decided to produce his first episode about AB, Denise Roma was a grad student living in Madison, WI. She had become a friend to many of us in DPF. I had met her in-person at a DPF party in San Francisco a few weeks after I had been a guest on Montel Williams Show. When Springer's produce phoned me I explained I did not have time to fly from Los Angeles to Chicago and suggested probably Denise could have a bus or train from Madison. She agreed to be on the show under the condition she be called "Stephanie" and be provided with a wig. On Montel I had a wig and was called "Jessica" except when my husband Don goofed and called me Angela.
Denise remained in contact with me for several years after she earned her masters. I felt she had a wonderful personality and was a super example of all that is good about ABDL.
Let us face the fact that in 1991-1993 all the TV talk shows wanted to make fun of big babies. It started with Phil Donahue during the 1991 November sweeps, then there was Montel during the 1992 February sweeps. Dr. Deen did an episode for the September 1992 sweeps and Springer with Denise and Heidi was during the 1992 November sweeps.
The hosts all protested and the studio audiences were negative, yet Denise told me she got tons of positive fan mail. In 1992 I averaged 200 fan letters a month from non-DPFers. Obviously a lot of folks were watching those shows.
So, how about some compassion for Denise=Stephanie?
Also, the first several times I met Heidi he was still mostly living as a responsible man. After he started living as Heidi Lynn most of the time we seldom were in the same city, so toward the end of Heidi's life we were incontact on-line.
I understand that many do not care for the way Heidi lived. But please remember Heidi had been a performer on stage for years. He had the style and skill to project the best to all. Personally I will always smile when I remember during the first Springer AB episode how Heidi bonked that pompus fraud Butterworth with a baby bottle calling him a "Poop Head" which summed up that guy's understanding of infantilism. By the way, is there any evidence Butterworth actually had a PhD or was licensed as a psychologist?