Vanity Fair Fires Journalist Over Controversial Behavior in Court

Vanity Fair has let go of a journalist, Brittany Romano, after a video of her surfaced online showing her smiling and winking during the trial of Lindsay Clancy.

On Monday, Romano received significant attention as millions watched a live feed in which she appeared cheerful at a pool camera. In their statement to Fox News, Vanity Fair explained that Romano had been assigned to cover the trial, mentioning a personal link to Clancy, who is facing three charges of first-degree murder for the deaths of her children: Cora (5), Dawson (3), and Callan (8 months).

“We were interested in the possibility of a personal essay by Brittany Romano detailing her experiences growing up with Lindsay Clancy. However, after noticing clear conflicts with our editorial standards and processes, we informed Romano that we would not proceed with her essay and notified the court that she no longer holds credentials from Vanity Fair,” the outlet said.

Romano responded by stating that she never had a contract with Vanity Fair and worked as a freelancer. In an Instagram post on Tuesday, she explained that her smile was a reaction to anxiety, not a sign of indifference. “A smile is not a crime. Telling a woman to slit her wrists is,” she asserted.

“For two years, I’ve been committed to covering the Lindsay Clancy case accurately, as it involves a mother accused of harming her children during postpartum psychosis. The dialogue around this case has often flipped between denouncing her as a monster and questioning what led to such actions. The issue of women’s mental health is central to this conversation,” Romano added. “I smile when I’m anxious. I smile when I feel uncomfortable. It’s not indifference; it’s just my nervous system managing stress in the only way it knows how.”

Romano insisted she wouldn’t apologize for her actions, claiming she has “nothing to apologize for.”

“The messages I’ve received include threats telling me to hurt myself, threats to kill me in my sleep, and even resources on ways to end my life, all coming from those who say they are defending Lindsay’s mental health,” she stated. “If you truly believed in the importance of a woman’s mental health, you wouldn’t be giving harmful advice, treating suicide as punishment, or claiming to support one woman’s humanity while disregarding another’s.”