Cracking the Celebrity Profile Code

Perceptive readers of GQ may have noticed a theme among the magazine's recent celebrity profiles. Over the past year, three female writers—Jessica Pressler, Edith Zimmerman and Claire Hoffman—were assigned to interview three young male subjects—Channing Tatum, Chris Evans, and Drake, respectively—and each reported back on a blurry, possibly sexually-charged night spent with the star. Gawker managing editor Emma Carmichael picked up on the common thread, and carried it through to decades of celebrity profiles in which male writers had made "did they or didn't they?" a central thrust of their pieces.