Stephanie Land is the author of Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive, out in January 2019 Topics Divorce Domestic violence Relationships features Reuse this content At the time, she had two kids she was taking care of by herself, as well as a shelter dog. Prior to the publication of her memoir in 2019, Land had $50,000 in student loans to pay off and she was renting a home from her ex-mother-in-law. The show almost makes you root for the abuser in some episodes. 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She and her daughters health were in constant decline, but Land had no health insurance. Class will be about the "hard truths of college education," combining her personal experience with reporting to expose the "outrageous cost, predatory practices, and discriminatory policies faced by Americans," perAssociated Press (opens in new tab). First published on October 29, 2021 / 5:23 PM. Kates coat was a Catherine Walker rewear; Diana wore her Moschino suit numerous times. The author says that memes began to circulate in 2008 comparing people on food stamps to wild animals. As we continue to navigate this post-normal (an in-between period where old orthodoxies are dying, new ones have yet to be born, and very few things seem to make sense) world, I hope we see more representation of the working poor and their lived experiences on our screens not for entertainment, but to teach us solidarity. [12] The series starred Margaret Qualley, Andie MacDowell and Nick Robinson. By Monday, when detectives knocked on my door for further questioning, they measured the circumference of my neck with a string. "I think, at one point, I had about seven all at once," the real Stephanie Land told NPR. "Throughout this whole process of giving my story to the hands of strangers, I had to force myself to trust theyll do it justice. [1][2][3] She is best known for writing Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay and a Mother's Will to Survive (2019), which was adapted to television miniseries Maid (2021) for Netflix. I've been getting a lot of comments about "I realize my current relationship is toxic and I need to leave, or "I was able to process past relationships and be more forgiving of myself" and I had a lot of people either tweet or comment that they immediately donated to a domestic violence shelter or started volunteering. [23][24] According to Netflix, the show will likely reach 67 million households in its first four weeks, surpassing the record set by The Queens Gambit, which was watched by 62 million subscribers. She said that he had kind of gradually built up to being violent. "I looked for secrets in the nightstands, for the story below the American dream. Claiming her daughter as a dependent on her taxes helped her get a government grant to pay for school. What I saw makes me never want to be rich. Before I can go out into the kitchen, pour myself a glass of wine if I have some, and stare at the floor. So, I think that we really just need to take dignity out of the equation as far as work is concerned and assign it all to us equally as human beings. We read it in my bed at night, then she says, Can I please have your arm? So I stretch it out for her to use as a pillow. A post shared by Stephanie Land (@stepville) A photo posted by on She's now living in Missoula, Montana, and working on a new book. A Maid fact-check reveals that the real Stephanie Land was 28 when she was pregnant with her daughter Mia (today, Mia goes by her middle name, Story). The limited series stars Margaret Qualley (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood) as a single mother who, after fleeing from her abusive ex, is forced to take a low-paying job with a cleaning service that caters to the wealthy. In a 2021 interview with The Washington Post, Land said:[32]. Our main purpose of writing is so we don't feel alone and that others don't feel alone. She said that at $550 a month, it was the only place she could afford at the time. We hold major institutions accountable and expose wrongdoing. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. During their time there, her daughter Mia was very sick with constant sinus infections, ear infections, and pink eye. "[6] Emily Cooke of The New York Times summed up her review by focusing on the clarity of Land's suffering in the work: "Land survived the hardship of her years as a maid, her body exhausted and her brain filled with bleak arithmetic, to offer her testimony. The program then added $10 for produce, except potatoes, because people tend to fry them or add lots of butter. If she went over $10 in fresh produce, the check would be void. When we moved to Montana, Jamie stopped calling Mia for months. Her mother, though not exactly "Mother of the Year" material, was the first in their family to go to college and earn a masters degree. [2] Land and her eldest daughter occasionally lived in homeless shelters, transitional housing and a camper in a driveway, before securing an apartment in low-income housing. Is that something others have confided in you about? [30] She owns a home in Montana and has three dogs. You need to listen to people in your own communities and you especially need to listen to people of color. Yes, Land was loaned a car by someone she had been on a date with, but not a place to live. Instead of learning to walk in a halfway house, as Story did, Maddy grows up in a subsidized apartment. Land has remarried and lives with her husband, Tim Faust, and their blended family in Missoula, Montana. And its because they took a true interest in learning, and used their own experiences, to truly understand how it feels to be food, work, and housing insecure. Someone told me they didn't like that Sean was a likable character and they had feelings or some kind of sympathy for him. Social media contributed to rising stigmas about poverty and government assistance. This meant making characters who weren't heavily featured in the book, including her social worker and her boss, more integral to the story than they were in real life. 02:07 - Source: CNN. My four-year-old daughter had started to mimic his posturing, his finger-pointing, and even told me to go away because my face looked bad. And it was really incredible how close to my experience that was. He hasnt lived with us in almost six months. He called it an "unflinching look at America's class divide.". Hed just adopted Coraline and we were playing catch on a sunny evening, feeling like the misery of winter and my husbands court case was well behind us. Land didnt even find out about getting a notice of relocation through a lawyer; she learned that through her advocate at Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Obsessed with travel? "He kind of forcefully asked us to leave," Land told NPR. I think there was a lot of voyeurism there. Thats how you know theyre going to live happily ever after.. She ended up working "anywhere from 20 to 25 hours a week." There was no way for me to walk into a government office and tell them I needed enough money to compensate for the meager wages I needed in order to pay for a home. This is in response to the judgment she felt from people all around her while the economy was in collapse and millions of others were struggling through similar hardships. And I felt it. She writes, "His initial tenderness in coaxing me to change the pregnancy abruptly changed when I told him I would not be doing that. Since the events of the book and show ended, Land has become a college graduate and best-selling author who owns a home in Missoula, Montana. But I dole out lessons in empathy as much as I can, [which is] not only my biggest challenge but my goal in being a parent. This happens in the Netflix version more than once, between Alexs relationship with Nate, her budding friendship with Regina, and the hot-shot family lawyer who takes on Alex pro-bono. And it really affected me for a really long time. Throughout Maid, Land juggles her responsibilities as a mother with her cleaning job and studying for college. One Harvard study concluded that unhealthy diets may cost less because food policies have focused on the production of inexpensive, high volume commodities. She describes her mom as being overweight and speaking with a fake British accent. We drove around, I showed them the trailer that I lived in but I also shared hundreds of photos with them. (In one episode, a fellow resident at the battered women's shelter gives Alex and her daughter hundreds of left-over My Little Pony dolls. Actress Margaret Qualley turned 26 during the filming of the Netflix Maid series. Who Is Hasnat Khan, Princess Dianas Boyfriend on Season 5 of The Crown? The Netflix Maid series was shot in Victoria, British Columbia. [26] The book will combine Land's personal experiences with investigative reporting about higher education and the cost of it in the United States. I am not an angry person, I try to avoid it as much as possible, but the more I spoke in public speaking events, not only the book tour audiences but the public speaking audiences, they were mainly White people who maybe had house cleaners of their own. We were alone for several months after that, the girls and me. Among all her clients, none of them became her friend as Regina does for Alex. They recreated a lot of those and one of those things was the ponies. Even though this kind of information could be crucial for viewers in similar circumstances, we don't really get to see Alex fight for different benefits regarding her education onscreen. She also had another daughter, who is seven, in addition to Storyknown as Mia in the book and Maddy in the shownow 14. She started to volunteer as a receptionist at Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services and also became a client. All the show tunes! I stood in my kitchen, leaning against the counter, holding a half-asleep Coraline, with Mia standing next to me, and stared at the brochures theyd left on my table, explaining signs to watch for after experiencing strangulation. In reality, there are A LOT more requirements to meet when you are poor. Before her memoir "Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive" was even an idea, Stephanie Land was a single mother who had escaped an abusive relationship, was living in a homeless shelter and cleaned houses for money. The next morning, I couldnt get out of bed, but a voice rose up and said no with such agency. Visit our corporate site. She was eventually able to quit the agency entirely. Yes. [4] Even though Alex states, "I am on seven different forms of government assistance" in the show, they never go into too much detail about these programs. Wed been arguing for weeks. The majority of Americans without health insurance or access to healthcare are poor. She received messages full of encouragement and love; some even sent her money. The thing is, most of the people on safety net programs are working already and they're working two to three jobs just to feed their families. They have a blended family consisting four children. Peoples prejudice against those who are low income makes their already difficult lives more difficult, which we do not really see in the Netflix drama. All I have to do is imagine him walking around the house and my body begins to show the symptoms of a panic attack. [11] Barack Obama placed the book on his "Summer Reading List" of 2019[17] and actress Reese Witherspoon said she "loved this story about one woman surviving impossible circumstances. The seven-part series was adapted from Stephanie Land's 2019 bestselling memoir, Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, . Both the show and the memoir depict the harsh realities that many Americans living in poverty face. CBS News spoke with Land about how she wrote "Maid," the feelings of watching your life's story become a television show, and what people don't understand about welfare. Stephanie Land and her husband Tim Faust tied the knot in the year 2019 at an intimate wedding. She lives with her husband, Tim Faust, and their children in Missoula, Montana. It reminded me that there had been a newspaper article featuring my husbands mugshot, and that image showed up several times in my Facebook feed as people shared it online. "I felt like if I could possibly do that, then it would show Mia that she could do the same," Land told NPR. Something for everyone interested in hair, makeup, style, and body positivity. "[14] Katy Read of The Star Tribune suggests, "The next time you hear someone say they think poor people are lazy, hand them a copy of Maid. Salary in 2022. ", My greatest honor: I wrote a book that touched people living in poverty, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and the Return of Empathy When America Needs It Most, "I Left Poverty After Writing 'Maid.' Almost three years boyfriend and girlfriend. People think that the janitor in the airport has less dignity than the pilot does and really the janitor is supporting that pilot and making that pilot's job possible. Today, Land is remarried with a blended family of four. Our protagonist onscreen in Maid seems to be a lone wolf, with virtually no friends and barely any family. Someone like the girl theyd known in high school whod been quiet but nice. "Thank you for the friendship, for putting up with my anxious texts, and the hours and hours of hard work you put into making this happen in the best way possible.". Stephanie Land and her husband Tim Faust tied the knot in 2019 in a private wedding. Except for some extra cash here and there and some live lobsters, she doesnt receive any other perks from serving the rich. I also think I've learned how important it is to be able to advocate for others. Now Her Book About It Is a Best-Seller", "How Netflix's 'Maid' Differs from Stephanie Land's Book", "The Crushing Logistics of Raising a Family Paycheck to Paycheck", "Barack Obama Shares His 2019 Summer Reading List", "From Middle Class to Homeless: A Mother's Unapologetic Memoir", "Margaret Qualley Stars Opposite Her Real-Life Mother Andie MacDowell in Trailer for Netflix's Maid", "This Drama About A Single Mom Is A Top Show On Netflix", "How 'Maid' Set a Record That Didn't Have Anything to Do with Netflix Numbers", "Author of best-selling 'Maid' takes on college in 'Class', "Party of six. Land told NPR that she did volunteer at a center, but she didn't meet with too many clients. Land and her daughter stayed in one of the cabins for 90 days, the maximum that was allowed. [4] Land has also written several articles about maid service work, abuse and poverty in the United States. -NPRIn her Vox article, Land says that she'd check how many pills a client took in two weeks in order to find out if their prescriptions had turned into addictions. Discover unique things to do, places to eat, and sights to see in the best destinations around the world with Bring Me! Reporting on what you care about. Eventually, Land made too much money (let that sink in) to qualify for Medicaid, leaving only her daughter insured by the program. pic.twitter.com/UIwwR0Mf5L / Twitter" By far. For viewers watching the miniseries during the wage shortage, the shows timely subject matter may force the question: Is Maid based on a true story? I ran from that article, and even emailed the editor of the newspaper, begging her to remove it from their online archives. Land grew up between Washington and Anchorage, Alaska,[5] in a middle class household. They came to our apartment and photographed the bruises around my neck. Was it important to show how difficult emotional abuse can be to categorize? Maid arrived on Netflix on Friday, October 1st, 2021. This never happened for our author, who only ever lived in a homeless shelter and transitional housing. In exchange for their listening ears, we fed them apples and sandwiches. She then moved to Missoula and started to attend the University of Montana.When Land first started at the University of Montana, she figured she'd go for a sociology degree so she could graduate and have job stability. The Three Car Crashes That Changed My Life, "I lived on $6 a day with a 6-year-old and a baby on the way. (My child and I) watched the first two episodes in my bed on my laptop, kind of cuddled up together. This is revealed in theMaidbook, when Land loses the ability to buy organic milk for her daughter with WIC, the program opting to replace organic options with inexpensive alternatives, like skim milk. (Stephanie's ex-partner is referred to as Jamie in her memoir. Her ex-husband, Matt Boland, was arrested on a strangulation felony, one of the first in Montana. But if you're not making it, then [people] think you're just not working hard enough. She eventually realized it was the mold, especially after their illnesses cleared up when they moved. ", Yes. The wife and husband slept in separate rooms and there was a magnet on the fridge that read, "We're staying together for the cat." Heres what you should know before watching Maid on Netflix: The basics of Lands memoir remain unchanged in the new Netflix series. It costs a lot to be poor (in dollars and time). John, Molly, and Erin have spent so much time getting to know me and Story, and truly care about usalmost how I imagine family members would.. I told him to get out. Stephanie Lands story happens in the middle of the 2008 financial crisis. My youngest daughter Coralines favorite book lately has been Shel Silversteins The Missing Piece. One afternoon, a few weeks before I finally told him to leave, we were all in the backyard together. ", into her bestselling memoir. As stated in the Netflix Maid series, the true story confirms that an unplanned pregnancy postponed Land's plans to go to college at the University of Montana and obtain a degree in creative writing. Lands memoir recounts her time living in Port Townsend, Washington a small town with a population of fewer than 10,000 people and working in the states Skagit Valley region. What she did learn from speaking with her own advocate there, was that many clients who the center helped get away from abusive partners would go back to the person who had been abusing them. What I saw makes me never want to be rich. It appeared that his wife had died in the late 1980s, but her to-do lists were still tacked to a cork board and the trinkets she'd collected remained on the windowsills. Then I Hired a Maid. Furthermore, Daniel has a daughter, Linou Ducruet, with Kelly. When the Former Maid Stephanie Land Hired a Maid Herself - The Atlantic Family I Used to Clean Houses. It seemed he was, even saying 25% of the reason in choosing to be with me was because of that. As my platform has grown and the reach of my audience has grown, I have continued to be very raw. Eventually, she got her writing published in larger Internet-based publications like The Huffington Post and Vox. It belonged to an elderly gentleman who was often in the hospital. Her child, a fictionalized version of Story, is called Maddy (Rylea Nevaeh Whittet). Then I Hired a Maid. Blended families FTW. She does not mention her as being undiagnosed bipolar. They asked me if Id lost control of bodily functions or consciousness. Even though her advisor at the local community college told her, What youre trying to do here is pretty much impossible, referring to the course load along with being a single mother who worked full time, she found that being a student helped her case. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. It was an unplanned pregnancy and she wasn't married to the baby's father. Where is Stephanie Land now? . I have a hard time seeing it that way. During the series, we don't see Alex at the grocery store often. On the flip side, Land learns that a lot of people in positions of power will purposely not follow rules to discriminate against the poor. Someone like them. [25], Her second book, Class, was announced in 2020 for release in 2022 by One Signal Publishers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Stephanie suffered from a very bad cough herself and "was constantly sick." which is a problem faced mostly by people of. Land now lives with her two daughters, two dogs and her husband Tim Faust in Missoula, Montana. Please enter valid email address to continue. Land turned to government assistance to help make ends meet. Why do you think your story resonated so strongly with readers at that time, and why do you think it continues to entice audiences? And that was the first time I cried watching the show. Especially to me. [1] [2] [3] She is best known for writing Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay and a Mother's Will to Survive (2019), which was adapted to television miniseries Maid (2021) for Netflix. Even though Land had people cheering her on, poverty is isolating. In my New York Times bestselling memoir MAID, I tell my story of juggling several housecleaning clients while working my way through college as a single mother. [22] On October 24, 2021, Forbes reported that Maid has remained in the most viewed "Top 5 Shows" since its release in numerous countries. In the series, Alex doesnt want to accept help from her father because a) they are semi-estranged, and b) she eventually remembers that he abused her mother but in reality, Lands father was struggling himself after the housing crash and couldnt afford to feed two more people. Wealthy clients of hers would go on racist rants about Mexican families using food stamps and being dressed to the nines, while not realizing that the maid they were saying this to was also on government assistance. June 8, 2017 at 7:00 a.m. EDT (Getty Images/iStockphoto) Gift Article. It has also changed how we act in real life. I think my biggest role as a parent is teaching empathy. I have never, not even once, missed him. Share. When I finally asked him to leave, it was in an almost primal push for survival. As recalled in the book, We were there to witness and share the gospel with them. When Land first met and married her now-estranged husband, she says he was supportive of her writing career. There were a lot of memes going around at the time about how people should be drug-tested for welfare, and a lot of my friends would post on Facebook and social media some type of hatred for people on food stamps. My answer has always returned to a strong desire of not wanting to disappoint. She also owns her own house, and shares frequent snapshots of her life on social media (including several of the family's adorable dog Keats). When reading Maid, it is safe to assume the character of Sean is based on Jamie, who is Lands ex-boyfriend and father of her daughter. This allows landlords to neglect the safety standards in order to keep Section 8 people away. The real-life Alex is now a New York Times best-selling author. ", Baseball legend Jackie Robinson's name misspelled as "Jakie" on road sign, Serena Williams honored at NAACP Image Awards, City, family reach $2 million settlement in Florida fatal police shooting, How these 3 hashtags from Black Twitter changed America. I know how grueling the job can be, and I swore I'd never ask. For example, to qualify for Section 8, a house or apartment must meet several safety standards; if not, it becomes unavailable to a family with a voucher to rent. It was also a huge relief to see how good it was and how authentic it was. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. "Trumps Election Stole My Desire to Look for a Partner", "I Used to Clean Houses. It is a picture of the soul-robbing grind through poverty that millions live with every day. They had only known each other for four months. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. What emotions get brought up when discussions of national safety nets like child tax credits or paid leave get placed on a national stage? Throughout this whole process of giving my story to the hands of strangers, Land wrote in a recent Instagram post, I had to force myself to trust theyll do it justice. She began working as a freelance writer and became a writing fellow at the Center for Community Change. Quinci LeGardye is a Contributing Culture Editor who covers TV, movies, Korean entertainment, books, and pop culture. I thought they did really well with showing that this person who is totally charming on the outside and everybody else thinks is this wonderful guy, everybody's heartthrob, can be really violent at home and just kicks you down in so many ways. Just three months after we got married, I had called the police for help. What have you learned since you wrote your book? Alex and her daughter parade around the house with the toys, in one of the first times the shelter feels like home). I didnt want to let all the people who were so happy for me down. They were mentioned very briefly in a sentence in the book, but when I got to hang out with the creators, they all came to Washington and did the "Trauma tour." The rest of Lands relatives and her relationships with them have been changed for TV as well. I wish I would have, wish I could have, admitted that it was against my own better judgment as well. Nate is not Sean, or Alex's dad Hank (Billy Burke), or Paula's ex-partner Basil (Toby Levins), or Sean's best friend Ethan . I also started to get really angry. She said that while she was worried about the situation she'd be bringing her own child into, she always wanted her daughter Mia. While they were arguing, he would punch the couch right next to her head. The reason why I wanted to write the book that I did was because I never saw myself in any form of media. It was an abusive relationship. Abuse doesnt always develop over long periods of time. Its really hard to absolutely know how hated you are for needing assistance. Some of her income and possessions actually came from community crowdfunding. And she worked as a nurse. The answer isnt quite cut and dry. In Maid, Alex spends quite a bit of time in a domestic violence shelter, where she and her daughter can have a temporary safe place to live, make some friends and allies, and obtain some free meals and clothing. There was no authentic representation of my life anywhere. He was renamed Sean in the Netflix series and played by Nick Robinson). While we see Alex in the show constantly putting on a brave face to her many clients and acquaintances, we don't see much of the reality, which is a lot of time completely alone. The adorable couple tied the knot in an intimate wedding ceremony attended by close ones, including his three grown children. For example, Land says that when she started, the agencies charged clients $20 per hour and she was paid $8.55 an hour, which was right around the minimum wage in Washington state at the time. This differs from the memoir, in which Stephanie Land describes her mother as living much farther away. And he finally did, for good. Maid draws heavily from one womans real-life story, but changes some key details. She is from American. It's also because we assign dignity to the type of jobs people do. During a severe winter storm, one neighbor even reached out on Facebook to offer her a sled for her daughter to play with. Memes became extremely popular during this time (its weird to think of the internet without memes, but there was a before time), and a lot of people used social media (specifically Facebook) to spread hateful, racist, and classist rhetoric and disinformation. ", "I Used to Clean Houses. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, When the judge finally granted this, not even four months after Id been strangled, he said it was against his own better judgment. [7], In her late twenties, she lived in Port Townsend, Washington, where she had her first child and became a single mother who worked maid service jobs to support her family. Dis friends have said she referred to the doctor as the love of her life.. She has also gotten married. She reaches up to dig her hand into my armpit, and I let her, because its something shes done practically since birth. For a couple of months, she woke up at night, crying and confused, wondering why her mom and stepdad werent there at the same time any more. He thought he'd never have to work again."This was the attitude of Stephanie Land, whose estranged husband has tried to prevent her from writing about him. "A lot of them wanted to do a movie and to keep it very tightly focused on the book and make it a true adaptation and that just didnt sound great to me," Land told The Seattle Times. I feel like asking them: why on earth would I want that? Shell be crowned alongside her husband King Charles at the Coronation.