The new US ambassador to New Zealand has recorded an intimate video message for the country, in which he opens up about his politics, family and troubled childhood.
Scott Brown, a former Republican senator from Massachusetts, has been a controversial figure over the years, and was one of the earliest politicians to back Donald Trump’s bid for the White House.
Brown was voted America’s sexiest man of the year by Cosmopolitan magazine in 1982, and posed nude in the magazine’s centrefold when he was a law student aged 22, for which he was paid US$1000.
Keen to distance himself from his polarizing past – which included defending the now outlawed practice of waterboarding – Brown’s message to New Zealanders (and Samoans, to whom he is also an ambassador) is treacly wholesome, and even introduces the country to his dog, Gracie.
“I am somebody who knows what it is like to be the underdog,” says Brown. “Mum was on welfare, I remember getting those blocks of cheese ... I understand the value of a dollar. I don’t care if it’s an American dollar or a New Zealand dollar.”
Brown introduces viewers to his wife of 30 years, Gail Huff, a news broadcaster, and two daughters. Ayla, a country singer (and former American Idol contestant), and Arianna, a student at vet school.
The six-minute video, which is set to jaunty music, includes a tour of the Browns’ home in Rye, New Hampshire, a look at Brown’s substantial vinyl collection, five electric guitars, and the tandem bike he rides with Gail.
Ayla says: “When my mum and dad come to the countries, they are very excited to host you guys for a very special American barbecue.
“So that means that my dad is going to be cooking for you, I think that’s pretty cool.”
Moving outdoors, Brown fills viewers in on his backstory. His parents married young and divorced a year after he was born, going on to each have an additional three marriages.
“I lived in 17 houses by the time I was 18 ... I had to wrestle with a lot of things ... drunken stepfathers, a lot of physical abuse in the family, I had to come and rescue mum and my sister a lot. And I think that is what made me who I am today,” he says.
Gail says she is looking forward to moving to the “friendliest country in the world” and seeing the nation’s natural beauty, including “the mountains and the ocean and the incredible cliffs”.
On social media the video was largely greeted with warmth by New Zealanders. Although some people commented that Brown had shared “too much information” for an incoming diplomat, the majority posted friendly greetings.
