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Friday, Apr 12, 2013 7:03 PM UTC

Gabrielle Reece: I choose to serve my husband

The volleyball star knows what's "truly" feminine. It's a strange definition

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Topics: Gabby Reece, Laird Hamilton, Feminism, Gabrielle Reece, Books, today show,

Gabrielle Reece: I choose to serve my husbandGabrielle Reece (Credit: AP/Matt Sayles)

Up is down. Black is white. And, according to Gabby Reece, submissive is strong.

In an interview Friday on the “Today” show, Reece, who is married to surfing superstar Laird Hamilton, discussed her new book “My Foot Is Too Big for the Glass Slipper” and went at least a few shades of grey by declaring her submissiveness.

Reece, who was OF COURSE introduced as a “mother, model and former pro beach volleyball star” in that order, explains in the book, “to truly be feminine means being soft, receptive and – look out, here it comes – submissive.”

On “Today,” where she was OF COURSE lauded for creating her own version of “paradise,” she told Natalie Morales that “I think the idea of living with a partner is ‘How can I make their life better?’ So if I’m the woman and he’s the man, then yes, that’s the dynamic. I’m willing, and I choose to serve my family and my husband because it creates a dynamic where he is then, in fact, acting more like a man and masculine and treating me the way I want to be treated … I think because women have the ability to set the tone, that the ultimate strength and showing real power, I believe, is creating that environment. I don’t think it’s a sign of weakness. I think it’s a sign of strength.”

Reece is surely on to something when she admits that, “There is no having it all,” and “No one is going to make you happy, and you can’t live through your children.”

But when she goes on to declare that, “Women have to understand what’s going to make them happy,” the former athletic powerhouse has a strange notion of what being “truly” feminine means.

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Mary Elizabeth Williams is a staff writer for Salon and the author of "Gimme Shelter: My Three Years Searching for the American Dream." Follow her on Twitter: @embeedub. More Mary Elizabeth Williams.

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