It was that point in the day when dinner was done and all three kids were tucked into their beds in rooms down the hall, presumably asleep, and they just looked at each other and said "Are you ready?" before collapsing into their white sofa on the third of three floors in their mostly white rental apartment overlooking the ocean. Jared Kushner picked up the remote and turned on the television. He and his wife were rewatching the first season of Game of Thrones. There was time to do things like this now that they were settled into their new life in Florida.
This was the exact moment they'd fantasized about when they decided to leave "the jackals" (as the couple refers to DC's native species). Peace. Quiet. HBO. They'd just gotten to the episode when King Robert pays a visit to Ned Stark, his good, honorable, loyal, surrogate brother and close counselor. It had been Stark who served as general in the key battles that made Robert king. Stark, too, by this point in the season, had settled into life with his wife and five children. He was content. He needed nothing. He had his family and his fiefdom. King Robert, less so. He wanted Stark back in the fold, as his protector in King's Landing. The king made pleas and promises. Stark thought about turning him down. Why would he give up a good thing? Stark relents; the pull and the power are too strong. Yes is the only answer.
By the end of the season-spoiler, the king is dead while ark has his head sliced off in front of a cheering crowd, including his children. The couple on the couch knew what was coming. "Don't fucking do it, Ned!" Kushner urged the screen. "Don't fucking do it!"
This story is from the February 2023 edition of Vanity Fair US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the February 2023 edition of Vanity Fair US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Turner Classic
In the last few years, English actor Callum Turner has worked with Clooney, Hanks, and Spielberg-so yes, you could say it's going well. VF catches up with Hollywood's latest heartthrob as he takes downtown NYC in style
Out of Sight
Inside Apple Park, CEO Tim Cook talks exclusively to vf about the genesis of a "Mind-blowing" new device that will shape his legacy and, perhaps, how we see the world
Queen Anne
Anne Hathaway has become a style icon to gen Z-and embraced who she is after years of self-recrimination and internet noise. With the racy romance the idea of you hitting theaters, the Oscar winner talks about living out loud
ONCE MORE WITH FEELING
For nearly 60 years, CABARET has transfixed-and shocked-audiences the world over. As Broadway welcomes a new revival starring Eddie Redmayne, MICHAEL RIEDEL discusses the musical's enduring power with Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey, Sam Mendes, and other keepers of the flame
THE CONFESSIONS OF INIGO PHILBRICK
The wunderkind dealer personified the art market's wealth-generating potential and its unregulated excesses-until he pleaded guilty in what was the largest art fraud in US history. Now out of prison and \"wearing the scarlet letter,\" Philbrick is searching for a second act
SOMETHING WICKED
Director Jon M. Chu originally thought unknowns would play Glinda and Elphaba in his adaptation of Wicked, but he had to settle for superstars: ARIANA GRANDE and CYNTHIA ERIVO. VF goes on set for an exclusive peek at the beloved musical's big-screen debut
THE DEANS' LIST
THE MUSIC INDUSTRY POWER COUPLE ALICIA KEYS AND KASSEEM \"SWIZZ BEATZ\" DEAN HAVE HELPED LEAD THE WAY FOR A GENERATION OF COLLECTORS OF BLACK ART. THE REST OF THE WORLD IS FINALLY CATCHING UP
THE KING'S Gambit
Margrethe II catapulted the Danish royal family to stratospheric heights of popularity. Her sometimes controversial son Frederik X faces a tougher road
DEATH & THE MASQUE
In Hollywood in 1977, punk rock was exploding and a small band of scene-makers were flourishing in a dingy basement club. Little did they know a pair of serial killers would soon claim one of their own
PLAY MATES
Her parents didn't exactly gel with the other families at school, so she spent the first 10 years of her life going to the Playboy Mansion with her nanny. Writer-director LORRAINE NICHOLSON looks back on a childhood spent swimming in the infamous grotto with her eyes open-long before she knew what sex, let alone a sex cave, even was
