The woman behind the photo capturing former Cosby Show actor Geoffrey Owens working at a New Jersey Trader Joe's says she regrets taking the now viral photo.
Karma Lawrence, 50, took a photo of Owens while he was bagging groceries. She claims she doesn't know why she took the photo and shared the image with celebrity websites. But after the recent virality of the image, Lawrence wishes she didn't.
“I don’t know why I snuck a picture,” Lawrence told NJ.com. “I figured everybody does it. I don’t know what possessed me. I just did it. I didn’t even think about it. I just kind of did it on impulse and it was a bad impulse.”
Out of all the reasons the New Jersey resident gave, she said fear was the most substantial as she was hesitant to directly approach him. CBS News reports Lawrence has had an affinity for paparazzi shots and thought the photo was the lesser of two evils.
Once the photo hit the web, she said her personal life took a hit.
“I actually wanted to go up to him and say something, but I thought, ‘you might embarrass him,’” she continued. “But then I did something that actually embarrassed him more. I didn’t go with my first instinct, and I should’ve…So much hate. So much nastiness. Oh, it’s been terrible. They write Karma’s a b***h. It’s bad.”
She did a quick Google search and cried for a half-hour when she discovered what occurred. All of the added attention has forced Owens to quit his Trader Joe's job.
“I would tell him, ‘I am extremely, extremely apologetic about what has happened,’” she said. “And if I could take it back, I would.”
Owens made the media rounds earlier this week, speaking to the understated value of blue collar work. While appearing on Good Morning America, he said that he took the job because his acting and teaching gigs did not bring home enough to support his family.
In response to the news story about Geoffrey Owens, people have been tweeting supportive messages saying he's a great Shakespeare actor and teacher. Details about his classes here: https://t.co/0IUgE90OAb
pic.twitter.com/jofepEcMCp— Shakespeare Magazine (@UKShakespeare) September 1, 2018
“I hope what doesn’t pass is this re-thinking about what it means to work…” he said. “A reevaluation of the idea that some jobs are better than others, because that’s actually not true… Every job is worthwhile and valuable and if we have kind of a re-thinking about that because of what’s happened to me, that would be great.”
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