Hollywood producer Jerry Weintraub’s non-traditional relationships

Movie producer Jerry Weintraub -- whose producing credits include The Karate Kid and Ocean's Eleven -- is becoming more and more open about his unconventional relationships. He has four children with his wife of 46 years, Jane Morgan, but he lives with his girlfriend of 20 years, Susie Ekins. Morgan and Ekins are good friends.

Weintraub's relationships are discussed in His Way, an HBO documentary chronicling Weintraub's career which was recently released on DVD. One hour and 13 minutes into the documentary, a title card announces,

Weintraub then explains how his arrangement came to be, beginning with the period when his relationship with Ekins was blossoming.

It was a casual relationship for a very long time because I was in love with Jane . . . I was torn up inside not because I was committing adultery, but I didn't want to hurt Jane and my children. Having said that, Jane said to me, long before I went to her, "if you have somebody else that you want to be with, I'm OK with that. I want you to be happy." So I went to Jane and I said to Jane, "I'm in love with somebody else." And she looked at me, and she said to me, "I know. And I know who it is."

A variety of big name actors -- George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, and Brad Pitt -- are interviewed as well, all acknowledging Weintraub's relationships. Weintraub's children also approve; his son, Michael, says, "As long as the three of you are happy with it, we'll figure out how we're gonna do holidays and move on."

The sequence ends with the following quote from Weintraub:

I believe it works because Jane is an incredible woman and Susie is an incredible woman. I got lucky twice.

Here's an interview Weintraub did with Jimmy Kimmel, which includes a clip from His Way.

More press for Jaiya and family

Following their recent appearance in Details magazine and on Anderson Cooper's talk show, sex guru Jaiya Ma and her two partners continue to receive some very prominent press. First, they were interviewed for Great Britain's Daily Mail, in an article that lets the family speak for themselves, telling the story of how they came together, along with personal photos.

Jaiya's family was also the focus of a recent article on ABC News, awkwardly titled, "Polyamory on Rise Among Divorce-Disgusted Americans." Again, the family's arrangement is detailed, including Jaiya's rules for safe sex and check-ins. The article also includes the voice of Robin Trask, Executive Director of polyamory advocacy group Loving More.

Polyamory and sexual subculture in the East Bay

Polyamory was the cover story topic for a recent edition of the alternative Oakland, California newspaper, the East Bay Express. The 3,800-word piece calls polyamory a "veritable subculture" that has grown over time, but questions whether the general public will ever be able to accept it.

The Bay Area in particular, with its long history of free love, its vast network of Burning Man enthusiasts, and its overall progressive ethos, is a natural hotbed for the alternative sex scene. It's a place where avid polyamorists can bring just about anyone into their fold.

Sort of. It turns out that, no matter how successful they've been at negotiating relationships, many polyamorists still have one foot in the closet. And in a world where monogamy is not only well-entrenched but vital to the workings of a property-based society, their scene may always remain marginal.

The article profiles one specific poly relationship and interviews several other people: Christopher Ryan (author of Sex at Dawn), Polly Whittaker (founder of Mission Control), Ned Mayhem, and even Dan Savage. The author does an interesting job of weaving together the threads shared by the poly community and the alternative "sexual underground."

Certainly, not all polyamorists attend sex parties or engage in kink -- many who subscribe to the "open relationship" philosophy still consider themselves fairly vanilla. But the fact that San Francisco has such a vast and well-networked sexual underground benefits them, too, since it makes for a more tolerant environment. It also shows that the alt-sex scene, and by extension, the polyamory scene, isn't just a countercultural fluke.

Read the rest on the East Bay Express.

Handling the holidays while poly

This time of year can be difficult for anyone in a non-traditional relationship, which is why this recent Polyamory Weekly podcast is so important and helpful. The description reads:

Sometimes it's tough to be poly over the holidays. Which relatives are you out to? Can you introduce your lover to your auntie May? How do you schedule family time? Listeners wrote in via Facebook and Twitter to ask the toughest holiday-related poly issues, and cohosts Joreth and Puck help Minx to sort them out . . .

The discussion topics include:

  • How to introduce non-spouses
  • How to prevent your poly-aware daughter from letting closeted poly relationships slip in front of the "in-laws"
  • Is being closeted OK to certain relatives?
  • How do you handle feeling secondary and isolated?
  • How do you manage economic disparities?
  • How do you deal with missing some and disappointing others?

Listen to the podcast for some great tips and advice!