Vanity Fair cuts ties with reporter, childhood friend of Lindsay Clancy seen winking, smiling in court

A reporter who was working on a piece about the Lindsay Clancy trial for Vanity Fair has had her credentials revoked after she was photographed smiling wickedly, winking and posing in the courtroom and then doubled down on her glee in selfie videos. Brittany Romano was captured by CourtTV camera standing in the first row of the courtroom, wearing a green dress, beaming from ear to ear. 

"We were interested in the prospect of a personal essay written by Brittany Romano about her experience growing up with Lindsay Clancy," said Vanity Fair in a statement. "Yesterday, after clear conflicts with our editorial standards and processes, we informed Romano that we were not moving forward with her essay and informed the court that she is no longer credentialed by Vanity Fair." She had been in the courtroom on Monday but by Tuesday she was gone.

Romano was a childhood friend of Clancy's and was in the courtroom to cover the case from her unique vantage point for Vanity Fair magazine. Clancy is on trial for the first-degree murder of her three children, Cora, Dawson, and Callan, all under 5 years old. Clancy claims that while she did commit the killings, she is not guilty by reason of insanity or mental defect and had said that she heard voices telling her to kill her children and herself.

When she was asked about her odd reactions in court, Romano explained that she "grew up" with Clancy and that her dad, who had seen her on TV in the courtroom, said she looked sad on TV. She also posted photos of herself and Clancy from their childhood.

Romano posted to Instagram following the backlash and deleted those posts as well. "Hello, my name is Brittany Romano, and everyone seems to have an issue with me," she said in a selfie video posted to Instagram. She spoke about being in the courtroom, having "spinach in her teeth," the "Luigi Mangione crisis," and called out people who are "sitting in their living rooms giving X, Y, and Z."

"If you were in that courtroom," she went on, "every single day, I would love to know what your thoughts are." She urged people to consider what they were saying because she's "dating a lawyer." She said she didn't "work for Vanity Fair" and that people online were "trying to claim [her] childhood."

Human Events Daily's Jack Posobiec addressed the controversy surrounding Romano, who also writes for Teen Vogue, saying "I keep seeing the behavior of the crazy feminists who are in the courtroom now, smiling, laughing, and giggling. Not just one. There's three of them in there for the cameras, while all of this is going on."

"So this one in particular, she's a writer for Teen Vogue, a reporter, mind you. She's someone, the woman in green. Her name is Brittany Romano, and she's posted all this publicly. So she's a she's a member of the press. She's written for Business Insider. She's written for USA Today, and she's completely insane." He noted that she's also been covering the Luigi Mangione trial and been "in communication with him."

Clancy has had supporters both at the courthouse and online, with women claiming that her actions are in some way understandable. They share their own experiences with postpartum depression, arguing that Clancy's killing her children exposes how much help women need after having children. Over $1 million has been raised to help her parents.

Clancy had a nanny, her husband worked from the family's Duxbury, Mass. home, and her in-laws and parents were supportive and available. She also was a member of a country club and had numerous doctors and therapists with whom she was keeping up regular appointments. She had been prescribed many medications, some of which, doctors testified, she is still taking.