Steve Powell tells ABC News he had a fling with his daughter-in-law, Susan, not long after she had married his son, Josh.
Ashamed? Far from it.
He appeared to enjoy telling a national television audience that he and his daughter-in-law, Susan, “interacted in a lot of sexual ways because Susan enjoys doing that."
Of course, Steve said it was all Susan’s fault. She came on to him. She flirted with him.
But wait just a minute …
- Surely as the older (twice her age?), wiser “adult” in the house, Steve Powell naturally resisted her advances and counseled her to be faithful to his new husband, right?
- And surely as Josh’s father, he would act responsibly to preserve his son’s apparently troubled marriage, right?
- At least warn him that his bride is a tart, right?
None of the above.
So, let me get this straight … Steve fooled around with his daughter-in-law. They cheated on Josh. Together.
“She was a very sexual being.”
Wow.
Steve Powell essentially says Susan was obsessed with him.
But ...
Friends of Susan say just the opposite: Steve was obsessed.
They say Susan confided in them that she “despised” Steve. Some of these friends knew Susan when she lived in Washington. Others knew her after she and Josh moved to Utah (to get away from Steve, they claim.)
Their bottom line: Susan hated Steve. She didn’t want to have anything to do with him. She called him “a devil,” said Michele Oreno.
So who is right?
Friends say Steve Powell’s own music seems to back up their version more than his. He wrote and performed songs about unrequited love. In other words, Steve’s songs portray him as the smitten lover who is somehow rejected or denied.
I took these lyrics from www.SteveChantrey.com. (They are copied directly from the web site. I added only the italics for emphasis.)
“Steve Chantrey” is apparently Steve Powell's stage name.
"Waiting for You"
Words and Music by Steve Chantrey
Now I am smitten,
Doubt I'll recover,
Only one cure and that's to
Have you as my lover.
Steve said there was kissing. To hear him tell it, Susan gave as good as she got. Kiirsi Hellewell, a friend of Susan, said his attempt at a “romantic kiss” was rebuffed with gusto. Here’s another song:
"I Said, I Love You"
Words and Music by Steve Chantrey
I said, "I love you." Is that a sin?
I just might wanna say it once again:
I love you, like it or don't.
I said, "I love you." You should have kissed me.
I felt like giving up when you just dissed me.
I love you, so I guess I won't.
This last example takes a little more explaining:
Friends of Susan said after Josh and Susan were married, they lived in Steve Powell’s house. The newlyweds’ bedroom was set up in the middle of the living room. Rachel Marini said Susan told her “Steve would peek” at her while she was dressing.
Steve told ABC News that Susan would come to him just after showering and lean over close to him so he could smell her hair.
Oreno said Susan once told her that Steve hugged her and tried “to put his hand up her shirt.”
Jennifer Graves, both a friend of Susan and Steve’s own daughter, said Susan “insisted that they move out of Steve’s house” because of his unwanted, sexual advances.
You could interpret the following song to contain all of those elements:
"I'm Missing You"
Words and Music by Steve Chantrey
I can love you in a secret way.
I can love you each and every day.
There is nothing I can't see.
There is nothing you can't be.
Make some room for me within you
For the moment I begin to
Smell the perfume in your hair
And caress you everywhere.
I'm missing you.
There's a picture in my heart of you.
There's a place for every part of you.
I'm surviving without you.
Such a life will never do.
I'm missing you.
Are the songs about Susan? Who knows? I think they are certainly troubling, but not conclusive.
And yet, no matter who you believe -- Steve Powell or the friends of Susan -- I come back to these questions:
Shouldn’t Steve be just a tad embarrassed by his confessed dalliance? Dare I say, repentant?
And why isn’t Josh angry with “dear old dad” airing the family’s filthy laundry on network television?!
And what's any of this dirt got to do with finding the missing mother of two?!?
What is going on here?!?!
