Duncan and Blake's Final Days

Just last week Jeremy Blake's body was identified after being found off the coast of New Jersey. In July he and his girlfriend committed suicide one week apart from each other, and since then stories of their lives, fears and final days have surfaced.

After the LA Times extensive piece, the NY Post recently published a lengthy article on the couple, who at the time were living in a converted rectory at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery. Apparently the day Blake found his long-time girlfriend dead in the apartment (from a mixture of Tylenol PM and bourbon) he had invited the church's Rev. Frank Morales over for a drink. Theresa Duncan was in the bedroom, and Morales found Blake "crying, visibly shattered, kicking the walls, putting his head in his hands. But that night he got a grip fairly quickly." As we all know by now, a week later Blake took his fatal walk into the ocean.

So why would a young couple cut their lives short while gaining success in their careers? That's the question the press, the blogs, Hollywood and the art community have been asking. Many view Duncan as the darker side of the two. She had been convinced one of her scripts didn't make it into production because the Church of Scientology was out to stop her. In fact, the Post reports Blake had written "a 27-page chronology "in preparation for a lawsuit against the church that was never filed, he alleges that the couple was 'methodically defamed, harassed, followed and threatened' by Scientologists. The document lists Tom Cruise, filmmaker-artist-author Miranda July, writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, former Viacom Chief Executive Tom Freston, alternative rocker Beck and Art Forum Editor Tim Griffin, among others, as players in the dispute." Miranda July?!

Most agree, however, that the accusations, lawsuit and blame being placed on others - all came from a place of paranoia. The Observer stated this week, "whatever truths and half-truths continue to emerge, it’s clear that Mr. Blake walked away from a career suffused with promise." Art gallery owner, Katie Brennan, said "[Jeremy was] paranoid. Everybody saw it. I have dozens of e-mails that I’ve saved and didn’t even read, because they would be so long and confusing and convoluted. He never accused me of anything directly, but you would kind of always hear that you were being accused of things secondhand. I think most people realized it was coming from a real place of paranoia. He didn’t intend to harm anybody. If you took that away, he was a very smart, talented person."

At Blake's request, Glenn O'Brien left the final words on Duncan's blog, The Wit of the Staircase, which ended up being a eulogy for the couple: "All I do know, the hard way, is that the artists and writers who come up with extraordinary answers are often deeply and terribly haunted by the questions that prompt them, and you can never second guess what it is to be haunted by ideas, by angels or demons or history or visions, by reality or imagination. Maybe I’ll think up a better response later. We live by our wits. Right now the only thing I can think of is to thank Theresa and Jeremy for their work, their friendship and goodwill and to hope that somehow, somewhere the answers come to them and the pattern is complete..."

Photo by Patrick McMullan.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in News on August 9, 2007 3:25 PM

Comments [rss]

guest

oops, #58 intended for #57 ( not #55 )

guest

#55, You need to get your perceptions in order. I am a woman, not some ex-boyfriend. I put Kate Coe on the top of the list of people who are being diligent in assasinating the reputations of Duncan and Blake. She seems to be the Pied Piper of many ever since her trash piece came out the day after Jeremy Blake was confirmed dead. It would not surprise me if Kate Coe is one of the several reasons why left Los Anngeles.

Spiteful with a vengence, Coe posts all over the internet about the paranoia SHE claims they suffered from, with only an unsubstanciated claim of a connection to Theresa Duncan. Why? To push her article of hate and envy. I would not be surprised if it was supported by one of the enemies Theresa posted about on her blog! It only takes a few biscuits to get a pitbull to attack, and Kate Coe exemplifies having been fed some bisquits. If Kate Coe was their 'friend" than who needs enemies?......

The "dj" comments you made #55 are truely in poor taste and I hope you visit his blog and read about his relationship to Theresa and Blake. Perhaps it might inspire you to post something here that shows you have some compassion for the guy.. Heres the link

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=123531319&blogID=291725241

http://luxxury.fuzz.com/

guest

#55, There are two people posting on T's behalf all over the boards. One is a dj who was their friend. I can tell when he's written. All is scripted in a stream of consciousness style, with overuse of ellipses. Very often it sounds like late-night drunken writing. He's obviously in a lot of pain.

You on the other hand, fall into the ex-boyfriend category. You write long well-written replies, usually throwing out Kate Coe's name. You say everybody who speaks ill of T is jealous.

Perhaps you should realize that your dear Theresa had a dark side, and pretty and bright as she was "psycho bitch" certainly is a good description describing some of her behavior.

BTW, I'm not jealous of her. I'm happy, successful, alive, and yes... damn fine looking. I'm also honest. A quality nobody would attribute to Theresa Duncan.

Get over her.

guest

#55, you are spouting just more of the same propaganda as the supposid friends did.... the friends that lack impulse control of those personal demons that just have to speak badly of others they are envious of.

Although you may think this sounds "paranoid", and I am sure you will, I can't shake the idea that you post much like a certain Kate Coe.

guest

In the late '90's, I worked for a now-defunct web shop, and Theresa Duncan worked for one of our clients. She absolutely tortured one of our senior producers-- a man who was known for his hard work and sense of responsibility for his projects-- with long, rambling, expletive-laden voicemails. Many of them were left in the wee hours of the morning, and in many of them, she sounded as if she were under the influence of something. It might have been funny [though rather pathetically so] if it hadn't been so damaging to our producer and to the project. It was generally agreed that she was unstable and should be "managed" as carefully as possible. It was a thoroughly unacceptable working relationship.

While I fully support the notion that $cientology is cultish, employs threats and scare tactics, strong-arms those who would speak out against their bizarre Xenu-driven practices, my own experience would leave me to believe that there were organic problems at hand which had nothing to do with L. Ron's evil empire. And I would wager that Mr. Blake is less a victim of Xenu than the collateral damage from the implosion of an unquiet mind.

Wickedson

I'd hit it.

guest

Jeremy Blake's mother and Theresa Duncan's mother-in-law, Anne Schwartz Delibert,is a licensed professional mental health counselor specializing in marriage and family counseling in the Bethesda, MD DC area.

In the first and only report from the Washington Post about the Blake and Duncan matters, 'The Puzzling, Tragic End of A Golden Couple' we read the first and only media comment made by the family:

"Obviously there was much more going on than any of us realized, but he never said anything that suggested there was a problem," said Anne Schwartz Delibert, Blake's mother, who lives in Takoma Park. "He was devoted to her. He was a loyal caretaker."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/31/AR2007073102098.html

How could Blake's own mother not see the symptoms of paranoia suggested by so many anonymous twits, supposid colleagues friends and by writers in articles like this one. All beginning the day Jeremy Blake was officially identified as deceased? And at the top of the list we find the vengful Kate Coe, scrambling to where ever she can post a derogatory comment whilst no one can post a comment on her blog piece notr the LA Times piece she co-oped with the very misinformed writer, Chris Lee

As another commenter on the Washington Post article stated "Could it be that these "friends" claiming the couple were mental unbalanced were not really friends at all and that this is just a seized opportunity for the expression of resentment in a profession known for the potential for displaced envy?"

It's worse than that. I think it's is an outright smear campaign.I am not alone in thinking this. The onslought of rabid comments is so intense that I suspect many are still shaking their heads trying to digest it all and formulate some semblence of truth out of it all.

Interestingly, The Church of Scientology is renowned for treating their enemies to just that kind of smear canpaign. But of course, they were paranoid... right?

Read the case of Robert W. Welkos, who was harassed shortly before the Los Angeles Times published a comprehensive series on the Church of Scientology which he'd co-written with Times staff writer, Joel Sappell.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/scientology/scien384.html

Or try comprehending the horrors writer Paul Brachi had to endure after his expose of Scientology was published in the UK DailyMail

'Tom Cruise's Church of hate tried to destroy me'

by PAUL BRACCHI -

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=455886&in_page_id=1879

Paulette Cooper's story is true and verified, yet she was smeared as a terrorist and labeled as mentally unstable until she convinced a judge and jury by willingly being questioned while under 'truth serum'. Several years later of the church found documents that proved the church had set her up.

http://www.xenu-directory.net/critics/cooper1.html

Paulette Cooper spoke up recently in an article for the New York Press Club telling even more details than was contained in her a book written over 30 years ago. Slate Magazine did a review of it:

Writer: I Was Stalked by Scientologists

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2007/06/writer-i-was-stalked-by-scientologists.php#more

You can & should read the complete article from The New York Press Club's Byline here:

Looking over my shoulder,The Inside Account of the Story That Almost Killed Me

The Scandal of the Scandal of Scientology

Saturday, June 23, 2007 By Paulette Cooper

http://www.lermanet.com/paulette-cooper/index.htm

When Time Magazine writer RICHARD BEHAR wrote ' Scientology, Thriving Cult of Greed and Power 1991 - (c) Time Magazine, he and others were sued and harassed. Hear his experience as a victim of Scientology's 'Fair Game' Tactics as he discusses it for the first time upon receiving the 1992 LEO J. RYAN award for Cult Awareness http://www.lermanet.com/scientologyscandals/behar.htm

There are many more ordinary and extraordinary people who were made to suffer personal and familial harassment that looking over their shoulder became a way of life for a time. Each one would not hesitate to suggest that it's quite possible Blake and Duncan were being stalked and harassed by the Church of Scientology. Besides, how can a mother educated in mental illness NOT know her child is 'paranoid'?

guest

Please! somebody tell me that Miranda July's not a scientologist

=:-O

bklynd

I don't think I'd kill myself by swimming off and intentionally drowning. It seems to be an artist thing, no? (Ray Johnson, Spalding Gray)

guest

Hey, water is a feminine space, isn't it?

guest

Chopin and Shelly were lovers? I thought Shelly had an affair with Lord Byron. And wasn't Chopin a piano tuner?

guest

A lot of these comments are fucking sexist. I'm sick of all the characterizations of Duncan as "crazy", "domineering", a "psychobitch". How the fuck do you know that she was domineering?! Just because she had a vagina? I know nothing about these two, I don't know why they killed themselves, all I know is that it is disgusting that people are making assumptions about people they don't know, and assuming that she had to be the really crazy one because she was the woman. It's like we've gone back to the Victorian era and "hysteria" is a diagnosis again. If you just look at the way they committed suicide, walking into the ocean was about 10 times crazier than taking pills and drinking.

And #18, Adrienne Shelly was murdered, how does that make her crazy?

guest

or Sylvia Plath. or that writer chick with the nose.

guest

Kate Chopin would be proud.

Ethan

By the way it's The Church of Satantology, for those of you that don't know. They like to hang low and call it Scientology.

guest

This what happens when one reads one too many trash novels.

Ethan

Theresa Duncan was a beautiful woman. She killed herself with Tylenol and Bourbon? That seems strange. There is more to the story. And....If it bores you, then don't read it.

guest

I find it romantic that a man will swim into the atlantic ocean cause his crazy domineering drug addled psychobitch girlfriend offed herself. I'm going to write a haiku "When the artist jumps in The sound of Death"