E. Jean Carroll

E. Jean Carroll (born December 12, 1943) is an American journalist and advice columnist. Her “Ask E. Jean” column has appeared in Elle magazine since 1993, and was ranked one of the five best magazine columns (along with Anthony Lane of The New Yorker and Lewis Lapham of Harper's Magazine ) by the Chicago Tribune in 2003. Born Elizabeth Jean Carroll in Detroit, Michigan, and nicknamed "Betty Jean" from an early age, Carroll's opinions on sex, her impatient, boisterous counsel that women should “never never” wrap their lives around men, and her compassion for letter-writers experiencing life’s hard knocks, make her column unique in women’s magazines. Amy Gross, former editor-in-chief of Elle and currently the editor-in-chief O, The Oprah Magazine, recalls the “Ask E. Jean” debut. “It was as though we had put her on a bucking bronco and her answers were the cheers and whoops and hollers of a fearless woman having a good ol time.” NBC’s cable channel, America's Talking, produced the Ask E. Jean television show based on the column from 1994-1996 (when the channel became MSNBC). Entertainment Weekly called Carroll “[T]he most entertaining cable talk show host you will never see.” Jeff Jarvis in his review in TV Guide said watching E. Jean and her “robotic hyperactivity drove [him] batty.” He went on: “However then I listened to her, and couldn’t help liking her. E. Jean gives good advice.” Carroll was nominated for an Emmy for her writing for Saturday Night Live, (1985) and a Cable Ace Award for the Ask E. Jean show (1995). The AskEJean.com website, based on the Elle column, is an on-going experiment in the gripping ways people give and get advice. Users can type in questions and receive instant video answers on topics such as career, beauty, sex, men, diet, "sticky situations," and friends. Or, users can join the Advice Vixens (a section where “YOU become the advice columnist”). "Top Campus Sex Columnists" features the best college advice columnists from across America.