The Vampire Antoinette: Mistress, other woman, or secondary supply? 

There aren’t a lot of people who like Antoinette Brown, the slinky, sultry, jazz singer who seems to steal Lestat’s heart. She appears early in the third episode of Interview with the Vampire, questioning Louis and Lestat’s relationship, before she dances between the sheets with a man, who is, practically married. We’ve seen these kinds of situations play out before on television. Cassie sleeps with her best friend’s boyfriend in Euphoria. Dan has an affair with a woman while his wife and child are away. And Lestat, well, he likes to get it on with Antoinette out of sheer boredom. Whatever the case, things don’t ever seem to end well, for the other women, that is. They almost always end up hurt, shunned, or in the worst situation, dead. Being a mistress is almost always a cautionary tale. Yet, so many men, and women, end up in terrible, one sided, relationships, Why? Well, because many of these sad and unfortunate people are victims of narcissistic abuse. And in short, groomed to be their primary and secondary supply. I’ll explain how and why in this video, so please stay tuned.  

I remember reading about how Marylin Monroe grew up in foster care. She was always very attractive, but things changed for her when she went through puberty. She became beautiful, blonde, and voluptuous. All her clothing, no matter how square, hugged her curves, and hips. And seemingly overnight, she went from being practically invisible, to being desired by all.  When see this same story playing out with Cassie from HBO’s Euphoria. She basically neglected by her father, a drug user. Yet, she seems to find new life when she starts to blossom. She is noticed more, and for the first time, Cassie, actually feels loved from a man. Cassie, much like Marylin Monroe was also the other woman. Marylin Monroe was linked to the president of the United States at one point in time. And Cassie, well, she got herself mixed up with a psychopath, who couldn’t really love anyone, not even himself.  

Many women throughout history have become the mistresses of powerful men for mere survival. t was Chiyo, from Memoirs of Geisha who needed the Chairman to shield her from the harsh realities of the second world war. Cleopatra needed to seduce Caeser, to save her family, her queendom, and herself. Diane, from the Serpent Queen, groomed young Henri when he was just a boy to love only her. Sadly, most people who become a narcissist’s supply, are groomed in some way. Many, are like Marylyn, growing up in environments that lack family support and unconditional love. Many of these children grow up in an environment where not only food is scarce but love and affection is too. Parents or guardians have too many mouths to feed, and children to hug and kiss.  As a result of this, the children start to compete for their parent’s or loved ones affection. In most cases, they are rewarded with basic resources like food and water, or praise or approval, if they do things to please their guardian. Sadly, these behaviors condition the child to believe that other people’s needs are more important than their own. As a result, they began to forgo their needs to please others, and thus find themselves in one-sided, and even abusive relationships. They go through life, believing that they have to give up so much of themselves to be loved. Or, that they need to win people over, with gifts, affections, sex, and even money.  

They enter into these relationships thinking that one day, there is going to be this great pay off.  They believe that if they do everything right, that one day, the person that they are vying for will finally give them the love that they desire. Only that day never comes. Why? Well because these people are magnets for the narcissist. Afterall, the narcissist doesn’t need to spend so much time breaking them down. They are already broken. Many of them repeat much of the same relationship patterns from their childhood. They start to compete for their man, fight for their woman, or make a fool of themselves all in the name of love.  Naturally, they understand that the odds are heavily stacked against them. Afterall, most men don’t leave their wives for the other women. Yet, the pattern of trying to win over someone’s affections becomes and endless competition. And each time that their lover comes to them, and not their wife, is a win in their eyes. Afterall, there are winners in this game. Cleopatra did win over Caeser. Chiyo from Memiors of a Geisha won over the Chairman, and Diane managed to be Henri’s lover into her older years. But these women were different. They weren’t broken. They didn’t sacrifice their own needs to please others. In fact, they did the opposite. They always put themselves first and used their sexuality to cow and manipulate powerful men to, ugh increase their stations in life.  

As for Antoinette, well, I really don’t know her back story. However, I can only guess that she believed that she was going to be one of the winners. She believed that she was going to be able to wrap Lestat around her finger in much the same way Cleopatra ensnarled Caeser and later Marc Anthony into her love nest. Only Lestat’s heart belonged to Louis. Lestat spent the first three episodes wooing Louis into his arms. Antoinette on the other hand, he had her in bed in a matter of minutes. Antoinette was the woman he ran to when he was rejected by Louis. And he only turned her into a vampire to spy on Louis and Claudia’ telepathic conversations. And many can agree that Lestat kept Antoinette around just to make Louis jealous. One could argue that Louis was Lestat’s primary supply, while Antoinette, well, she was his second. I would argue that Antoinette was way in over her head from the very beginning. She didn’t have the power to win over Lestat. It was a competition that she was destined to lose. After all, she was too hurt, too broken, to be his soul-mate. And like most cautionary tales about the other woman on television, she ended up losing not only her man, but also her life.