Elaine Lui

Elaine Lui
Lui in 2009
Born	(1973-09-26) September 26, 1973 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Alma mater	University of Western Ontario
Occupation(s)	Television personality, reporter
Spouse	Jacek Szenowicz ​ (m. 2001)​

Elaine "Lainey" Lui (Chinese: 雷若芬, born September 26, 1973) is a Canadian television personality and reporter. She pens a website, Lainey Gossip, is an anchor on CTV's etalk, and is also a co-host on CTV's daily talk series The Social.

Early life and education

Lui was born and raised in Toronto. Her parents, Judy and Bernard, immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong in 1970. They worked odd jobs, including washing dishes and cleaning hotel rooms. Eventually, her father found stable work as an accountant. When Lui was 6, her parents divorced and her mother returned to Hong Kong. Lui spent many summers in Hong Kong to visit her mother. Her parents reunited when she was 16.

Lui attended middle school and high school at the Toronto French School and graduated from Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute. In 1996, she graduated with a B.A. in French and history from the University of Western Ontario.

Career

Lainey interviewing François Ozon director of The New Girlfriend.

After graduating from Western, she worked for Rogers Communications and trained employees to install Internet connections.

Lui worked in not-for-profit fundraising. She had been living in Vancouver and working for the University of British Columbia when she returned to Toronto to care for her mother, who needed a kidney transplant. She then took a job with Covenant House, which offers shelter and services for the homeless. LaineyGossip.com grew out of an email that Lui sent to two friends to keep them up to date on celebrity gossip. The subscriber list quickly grew and she started her blog. She left Covenant House in 2006 to commit herself full-time to her blog.

etalk, CTV's Canadian entertainment newsmagazine, hired Lui in 2006. Since joining etalk, Lui has covered the Oscars, the Super Bowl, the JUNO Awards, Sundance Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and the MuchMusic Video Awards (MMVAs).

The Social premiered on September 2, 2013 with Lui as co-host alongside Melissa Grelo, Cynthia Loyst and Traci Melchor. The show airs daily at 1 p.m. on CTV.

Lui participated in the 2015 edition of Canada Reads, where she advocated for Raziel Reid's novel When Everything Feels Like the Movies.

Hosting the Smut Soiree

Lui hosts the Smut Soiree, an annual event at which she talks about the latest gossip in pop culture and Hollywood. The event was first held in 2005.

Personal life

Lui married Jacek Szenowicz when she was 28 years old. They now reside in Toronto with their dogs Barney and Elvis. Jacek helps to run LaineyGossip.com. Lui has stated that she and her husband do not wish to have children.

She is friends with Meghan Markle.

Controversy

In 2006 Lui made a number of racists and homophobic posts on the internet. These past comments resurfaced after the police killing of George Floyd. After Lui's name began trending on Twitter for her past blog posts, Lui posted an apology for her past racist and homophobic blog posts. She also claimed to "have been conditioned in white supremacy", and that she has "grown". She rationalised the offensive comments, by saying it helped her gain fame and success.

Writings

• Lui, Elaine (April 1, 2014). Listen to the Squawking Chicken: When Mother Knows Best, What's A Daughter to Do? A Memoir (Sort Of). Toronto: Random House Canada. ISBN 978-0345813473.

External links

• LaineyGossip