For those of you who haven't quite been
keeping up with the Riverdale stars IRL, they have been tactfully ignoring rumors
about being an item for some time now. In fact, in a recent interview
with Seventeen, Reinhart said:
Every time someone asks me about it, I make
a decision then and there about whether I’m comfortable. It’s not like I’m in
some kind of contract, but I’m not in the place where I want to talk about it,
and that’s totally fine. It’s called a private life for a reason—it’s mine, and
it’s special and sacred. My relationships are between me and whomever I’m with, not
between me and the world.
So the fact that they finally took the
plunge and made a public appearance together is a pretty huge deal. We
spoke to Patti Wood, body language expertand author of SNAP: Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language, and Charisma,
about what she took away from photos of the pair on their first public
debut.
They may be having trouble sexually.
"There's some
sweetness to this," Wood notes. "She's got this wonderful look and
he's a little bit more stoic but he is looking at her and there's a nice
overlay of their bodies. But there's a couple of things that are really tiny to
me, but they're interesting."
"First, is that her legs are crossed
and they're crossed tightly," she continues. "It may be the dress.
But what's interesting is that, in this intimate moment with him, she's still
very concerned about the dress and/or she needs to cross her legs which usually
indicates a problem with sexuality in the relationship, a lack of fidelity in
the relationship, or some kind of concern about sex." Wood highlights the fact
that it really "could just be the dress but it's interesting that she's
crossing her legs so tightly even when she's so close up to him."
The next thing Wood asks
us to notice to is Lilli's right hand. "It's very awkward. It's doing a
partial reach towards him open as if she wants to touch him but we don't see
the touch," she explains. "There may be a photo with a touch in it
but we don't see the touch and we don't see him matching with a symbolic touch
to her. We see him straight up and down. He's not leaning into her, he's not
putting his face towards her and he has a more closed face. It's not totally
relaxed." Can you say awkward?
He matches her awkwardness with confidence.
"I love the hand on his chest,"
Wood notes about this photo. "It typically is endearing, it's a closeness
and, to me, when I see this with the rest of her body language, it usually
indicates that that's a position she takes when they're in bed together. She's
doing this to get closer or more intimate or a feeling that reflects the
intimacy." That being said, she notes that Reinhart's legs are still
crossed "really, really tightly."
"What I like here is that her smile is
off-kilter and a little bit awkward but he's looking really confident,"
she continues. "I like that his hand is around her, I wish I could see the
fingers but he's a little bit happier in this position but, still, it's a
little bit straight up and down. I would like some leaning in. But I do like
that the face is much more relaxed."
OK, so it's really important to stress the
fact that this was their first appearance
together in public as a couple. Is it really that hard to believe their body
language might not have been on point?
Patti Wood, MA - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com.
