Too sexy for Gretzky?

 
Paulina Gretzky on her Twitter account

A 22-year-old blond model/singer/actress from Los Angeles shut down her Twitter account over the weekend. Sure, it could have been because of the racy(ish) photos — bikini shots, lingerie, nightclubs, some chest puffing. But does anyone really care?
When you’re the daughter of the world’s greatest hockey player, why yes.
David Graham’s piece in the Star on Tuesday about Paulina Gretzky — “Gretzky’s daughter closes Twitter account, did daddy disapprove?”— was the most-read piece on thestar.com and it triggered stories on various other sites, eager to capitalize on the eyeball-luring combination of Wayne Gretzky and the displeasure he may or may not have expressed toward his daughter.
Speculation is that her dad made her do it. Shortly before her account disappeared, Paulina tweeted: “Having a nice sit down dinner with my dad about social media..haha #SIKEEE.”
The Daughter
Or was the whole thing a masterful stroke of self-promotion for a young woman who is still famous only because she is the daughter of someone famous?
Paulina came to public attention at a 2003 NHL game, when she sang “I Will Remember You.”
She’s had a couple of bit movie roles, including 2009’s Fame remake and Guns, Girls and Gambling, with Gary Oldman and Christian Slater.
In 2007, Chatelaine wrote a piece about Paulina’s mother, former actress Janet Jones (who once posed for Playboy, but we weren’t going to mention that) that included this paragraph:
“There’s also Paulina, the more seasoned musician among the children. Last year she sang ‘Collecting Dust,’ a tune that appeared on the hit MTV program Laguna Beach. An aspiring singer-songwriter in the deep-sighing, eye-rolling phase of her teens, Paulina seems to rub her mother the wrong way.”
Paulina did manage to collect 24,000 Twitter followers.
The reaction
And so, on websites all over the planet Tuesday, hastily written intros accompanied photos of the semi-dressed Paulina as she posed alone and with semi-dressed friends. Reaction to the story ranged from, “How on earth is this news?” to “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” — a shot at her mom.
As a headline from Vancouver’s News1130 put it: “Gretzky unhappy with daughter’s great ones.”
But as commenter ddssdd noted on thestar.com: “Here is one beautiful girl, with looks, obvious good figure and parents with enough money to help her aspire to anything she wants and she is posting suggestive photos of herself for everyone to see. Why? Anyone can do that. Her Dad must be disappointed. What a waste of entitlement. Maybe she will figure it out and grow up.”
Commenter torontothegood added: “I feel sorry for her — she must have a very poor self-image to plaster herself all over the internet like that, particularly when she must know her father will see it. Sad and kind of sick, really. Sounds like another ignored rich kid looking for attention. Most of them just get high on something.”
The other side of the equation was represented, including by commenter mrfurious, who wrote: “Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I will now spend hours of company time googling for more pictures!”