And of course, a guy like Strangis is a right-wing bro (he considers himself a GOP operative now), and of course, he got back on his BS because when your own sister says she loves you, but you should probably just stay in jail and away from all women, there’s just really not much hope for you, is there?
Strangis served time for grand larceny and was released in 2017. Strangis and Melngailis’ divorce was finalized in 2018. By 2019, he had secretly married Jennifer Van Laar, a writer who later became managing editor of RedState — the conservative political blog that published those nude pics of former congresswoman Katie Hill — only the whole marriage part was dodgy as hell (as expected). While it seems Van Laar did at one point harbor feelings for the manipulative Strangis, the Las Vegas wedding also seems like it may have been done so that Strangis could take her name and change his identity.
When a Vanity Fair journalist first contacted Van Laar asking her about the marriage license, she denied it. Later, she suddenly remembered that yes, yes, she did indeed marry the guy. Memory’s so weird, you guys. Here’s her full statement:
“I met Anthony Strangis in 2019, and since 2020 he has performed bodyguard services for me. As an investigative journalist, I sometimes receive death threats or other threats to my or my family’s safety. I have known about Anthony’s criminal conviction since 2019. In August 2021, when we were both in Las Vegas with friends, on a lark, we decided to get married. Once back in California, in our separate homes, we talked for a few weeks about whether it could actually work, but eventually decided that we worked best as just friends.”
Well, it sure seems like Strangis rushed Van Laar into a quick wedding — tweets showed that Van Laar was, in fact, swooning over Strangis just days before they went to Vegas. Huh, that’s just like he rushed Melngailis into a quick wedding, too.
Must be a coincidence. Surely won’t happen again.
Zanandi is on Twitter and also on that other platform.
Top Image: Netflix