On the Cover: How the NDA Became Our Defining Legal Document

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$By Reeves Wiédem 10t “_Q‘\sta\(’ \‘}g‘eem%“\ e s e TR ity =l e ot g . Py £ - Pl o Ak oo Ao e 5 S g AN et b e R$

Photo-illustration by Joe Darrow. Source artwork by Victor Gadino. Lettering by McCandliss and Campbell.

In this week's issue, Reeves Wiedeman examines the rise of the nondisclosure agreement, the defining legal document of our time, which has gone from protecting corporate secrets to regulating our most intimate relationships. There was, of course, the NDA Donald Trump gave to Stormy Daniels. In Silicon Valley, employees at OpenAI complained that the digital juggernaut of the moment was sending out NDAs. O. J. Simpson reportedly gave one to every member of his family before they could visit him on his deathbed. Billie Eilish released a song called "NDA" about contemporary celebrity. The Me Too movement produced various efforts to rein in NDAs, but progress was fitful. And then there's the dating NDA, often deployed by the wealthy and famous. "In Hollywood, people really are corporations," Wiedeman writes. "A friend in Los Angeles told me she had recently gone to a party, in a canyon she couldn’t disclose, with Hollywood eminences whose names she redacted, where NDAs were handed out at the door, and for good reason — some weird stuff had gone down that she now couldn’t tell me about."

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What to Read Now

The Inside Game After a disastrous debate, Democrats wonder what’s next.

The Renegade June Squibb spent five decades onstage before earning an Oscar nod in her 80s. Now she has her first starring role at 94.

The Cervo’s Team’s New Restaurant Is Open Eel Bar arrives on the Lower East Side on Thursday.

Neighborhood News Keeping Citi Bikes charged is a 24/7 job.

Against ‘Women’s Writing’ Rachel Cusk’s gender fundamentalism fully surfaces in her latest novel, Parade.

From Our Critics

Photo: Jason Nocito

The Album Review: Camila Cabello’s C,XOXO is an aggressive pivot — and her best album to date. By Kathryn VanArendonk
The Theater Review: The drag-ball Cats is actually good. By Sara Holdren

Reader Favorites

The inalization of mask-wearing is r well underway, ( O = Al data-center demand ) is burning through fossil fuels faster than . Taylor Swift'sjet ... Debates are a . remarkable forum for . apresentation of ideas While major music labels come. together to sue Al generators for infringement. Sbout governance, The end of the Longform podcast. o DESPICABLE Hardy love triangle. Hakka Cuisine, serving one of the best birds in town, has closed. Why does The Bear insist on the binge- release model? o Plug your drains before afong weekend-—its water-bug season. M.IA. launches clothing line to block EMF. But tinfoil hats are freel %6 & Jonathan Majors's comeback vehicle is directed by Denis Villneuye’sbrothr. Decongestant Kathy Hochul doLevitic suggests funding MTA o projects by spending much more money on policing. ig Reuse” LIC compcslmg site to be a Parks Department parking lot. ° The MTV News The Bikeriders squanders theleather-clad Austin Butler-Jodie Comer-Tom Quiest-ce que cest? David Byme poses / with Ted Cruz. 2 . e Conspiracy theorist HIGHBROW . One brutal heat wave down, an unknown number togo. Ten Commandmems in schools? Let's archive has been wiped from the internet i/‘ N Cameron Brink’s torn ACL. . Russell Crowe can't shake the exorcism movies. - Jersey's Peapack and Gladstone will spend nearly 00 to execute their gaggles of geese. » g Self-portraiture and female self.gratification, the summer group show at Thomas Erben Gallery Yasmin Zaher's cool-girl novel, The Coin, about an American lfe going off the rails. B | coe the sunt Emily Nussbaum’s book on the history of reality i Steaa Alexander Gray. The latest mysterious monolith utside Vegas has been removed by “authorities.” There's a $22 million federal fund for free ACs for income- strapped New Yorkers . . And Team USA vill ® berepresenting the USA well by installing its own AC in the Olympic Village. Big Umbrella Day across Lincoln Center. Xanadu, Bushwick’s new bar-slash-roller rink. . A classic moment of fame for the cop who arrested Justin Timberlake. “These people built Americal” Trump says to aguyina“Who Shit LOWBROW My Pants?” T-shirt. The Freaky Friday sequel Whoa, is absolutely acynical gyi Crise cashgrab, butwere grzduatod only human. from high . school. 1t . AFar Cry comes down from Boston to do Janacek in the Naumburg Bandshell ° . New York Magazine Gilden and Vivian Maier close out Fotografiska's home on Park Avenue South. The staff summer show at David Zwirner. A24's How Directors Dress stars auteurs looking their very coolest. INVITIIYNG The posthumous SOPHIE album is coming. o Heirlooms are hitting the farmers’ markets! ° Charli + Lorde forever.

Photo: New York Magazine

Approval Matrix: Everyone's a Pundit

More From This Issue

On Vulture

In Long Island Compromise, Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s antic style proves hard to sustain.

On Intelligencer

An investigation into the life and death of Mitch Barnett, the whistleblower who drew attention to widespread safety violations at Boeing, who died in March.

On the Cut

How an autism diagnosis at 43 saved Mary H.K. Choi's marriage.

On Curbed

The Look Book goes back to high school for Brooklyn Prep’s prom.

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Read the cover story, features, and more from New York Magazine’s latest issue. Intelligencer By Reeves Wiédem 10t “_Q‘\sta\(’ \‘}g‘eem%“\ e s e TR ity =l e ot g . Py £ - Pl o Ak oo Ao e 5 S g AN et b e R Photo-illustration by Joe Darrow. Source artwork by Victor Gadino. Lettering by McCandliss and Campbell. In this week's issue, Reeves Wiedeman examines the rise of the nondisclosure agreement, the defining legal document of our time, which has gone from protecting corporate secrets to regulating our most intimate relationships. There was, of course, the NDA Donald Trump gave to Stormy Daniels. In Silicon Valley, employees at OpenAI complained that the digital juggernaut of the moment was sending out NDAs. O. J. Simpson reportedly gave one to every member of his family before they could visit him on his deathbed. Billie Eilish released a song called "NDA" about contemporary celebrity. The Me Too movement produced various efforts to rein in NDAs, but progress was fitful. And then there's the dating NDA, often deployed by the wealthy and famous. "In Hollywood, people really are corporations," Wiedeman writes. "A friend in Los Angeles told me she had recently gone to a party, in a canyon she couldn’t disclose, with Hollywood eminences whose names she redacted, where NDAs were handed out at the door, and for good reason — some weird stuff had gone down that she now couldn’t tell me about." READ THE COVER STORY » OOR 7 IS HERE Get $20 off unlimited New York. What to Read Now o INTELLIGENCER The Inside Game After a disastrous debate, Democrats wonder what’s next. The Renegade June Squibb spent five decades onstage before earning an Oscar nod in her 80s. Now she has her first starring role at 94. ~=s=a== | w (1) GRUB STREET The Cervo’s Team’s New Restaurant Is Open Eel Bar arrives on the Lower East Side on Thursday. am |ll e | Sk . I . [ 14 b Neighborhood News Keeping Citi Bikes charged is a 24/7 job. Against ‘Women’s Writing’ Rachel Cusk’s gender fundamentalism fully surfaces in her latest novel, Parade. From Our Critics Photo: Jason Nocito * The Album Review: Camila Cabello’s C,XOXO is an aggressive pivot — and her best album to date. By Kathryn VanArendonk * The Theater Review: The drag-ball Cats is actually good. By Sara Holdren Reader Favorites The inalization of mask-wearing is r well underway, ( O = Al data-center demand ) is burning through fossil fuels faster than . Taylor Swift'sjet ... Debates are a . remarkable forum for . apresentation of ideas While major music labels come. together to sue Al generators for infringement. Sbout governance, The end of the Longform podcast. o DESPICABLE Hardy love triangle. Hakka Cuisine, serving one of the best birds in town, has closed. Why does The Bear insist on the binge- release model? o Plug your drains before afong weekend-—its water-bug season. M.IA. launches clothing line to block EMF. But tinfoil hats are freel %6 & Jonathan Majors's comeback vehicle is directed by Denis Villneuye’sbrothr. Decongestant Kathy Hochul doLevitic suggests funding MTA o projects by spending much more money on policing. ig Reuse” LIC compcslmg site to be a Parks Department parking lot. ° The MTV News The Bikeriders squanders theleather-clad Austin Butler-Jodie Comer-Tom Quiest-ce que cest? David Byme poses / with Ted Cruz. 2 . e Conspiracy theorist HIGHBROW . One brutal heat wave down, an unknown number togo. Ten Commandmems in schools? Let's archive has been wiped from the internet i/‘ N Cameron Brink’s torn ACL. . Russell Crowe can't shake the exorcism movies. - Jersey's Peapack and Gladstone will spend nearly 00 to execute their gaggles of geese. » g Self-portraiture and female self.gratification, the summer group show at Thomas Erben Gallery Yasmin Zaher's cool-girl novel, The Coin, about an American lfe going off the rails. B | coe the sunt Emily Nussbaum’s book on the history of reality i Steaa Alexander Gray. The latest mysterious monolith utside Vegas has been removed by “authorities.” There's a $22 million federal fund for free ACs for income- strapped New Yorkers . . And Team USA vill ® berepresenting the USA well by installing its own AC in the Olympic Village. Big Umbrella Day across Lincoln Center. Xanadu, Bushwick’s new bar-slash-roller rink. . A classic moment of fame for the cop who arrested Justin Timberlake. “These people built Americal” Trump says to aguyina“Who Shit LOWBROW My Pants?” T-shirt. The Freaky Friday sequel Whoa, is absolutely acynical gyi Crise cashgrab, butwere grzduatod only human. from high . school. 1t . AFar Cry comes down from Boston to do Janacek in the Naumburg Bandshell ° . New York Magazine Gilden and Vivian Maier close out Fotografiska's home on Park Avenue South. The staff summer show at David Zwirner. A24's How Directors Dress stars auteurs looking their very coolest. INVITIIYNG The posthumous SOPHIE album is coming. o Heirlooms are hitting the farmers’ markets! ° Charli + Lorde forever. Photo: New York Magazine * Approval Matrix: Everyone's a Pundit More From This Issue On Vulture * In Long Island Compromise, Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s antic style proves hard to sustain. On Intelligencer * An investigation into the life and death of Mitch Barnett, the whistleblower who drew attention to widespread safety violations at Boeing, who died in March. On the Cut * How an autism diagnosis at 43 saved Mary H.K. Choi's marriage. On Curbed * The Look Book goes back to high school for Brooklyn Prep’s prom. Intelligencer Logo Facebook TwitterInstagram | privacy notice This email was sent to [email protected]. Opt out of marketing emails here. 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