Question: What was the gonzo journalist’s drug of choice?
Question: How did he become such a genius?
Question: Did the election of President George W. Bush drive him to suicide?
Answer: Depended on what he had to get done.
Answer: Practice.
Answer: While it is true he was very depressed about what happened in 2000 and even more depressed in 2004, no, the election of President Bush did not kill Hunter S. Thompson.
Thompson fans filled the Denver Press Club Thursday looking for answers about the late author. And his widow, Anita, sipping cosmopolitans, answered their queries. It’s what she loves — talking about Hunter.
She was at the Press Club promoting her new book, “The Gonzo Way.” “I’m not a writer. I’m a humble servant and I’m happy to be here for Hunter,” she said.
After just a few nights of working with Hunter Thompson she fell in love with the “teenage girl trapped in the body of an elderly dope feign,” which was both a blessing and a curse, she said.
A curse when it meant forcing him to sit down and write, but a blessing when it brought out his passion for life.
Aside from dealing with Hunter Thompson’s addiction and writer’s block, Anita Thompson had to deal with unacceptance of their cross-generational relationship (he was 67 and she was 32), and those who after the author’s death painted her to be an “Anna Nicole Smith.”
But through her relationship with Hunter Thompson she learned not to care what anyone thought about her, she said.
She also learned that the most important thing in life is fun.
“A sense of curiosity and child-like fun,” she said.
After her husband’s death, it was humor that brought Anita Thompson out of depression and enabled her to write, “The Gonzo Way,” she said.
One of the reasons she wrote the book was as a response to fans who felt lost after Hunter Thompson’s death, she said.
But the Woody Creek Tavern in Aspen where Hunter Thompson frequented will never be the same for some fans.
“I’m disappointed that now . . . there’s no chance of seeing him come in anymore,” said 60-year-old Karen Gruber of Boulder.
Hunter Thompson had a radically different approach to writing that Gruber said she admires.
To some, that approach meant doing lots of drugs then sitting down to write. But drugs and liquor had nothing to do with Hunter Thompson’s genius, his widow said.
“He made a conscious effort to learn the craft before he put his name to a page,” she said.
At short glance at Hunter Thompson’s writing appears angry, Anita Thompson said.
“If you look closely and realize it’s written out of love,” she said. “Especially love for this country.”
Staff writer Simona Gallegos can be reached at 303-954-1555 or at sgallegos@denverpost.com
