Not the role this Candice Bergen signed up for

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This article was published 16/08/2018 (2078 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA —If you search Candice Bergen’s name on Twitter, you’ll find praise, questions and promotions for the Hollywood actor. The only problem is that most of these tweets are tagged for a Manitoba MP.

Bergen, the Conservative MP for Portage-Lisgar, was born just years before the actor’s Hollywood debut, to a humble family with Mennonite roots.

“We didn’t go to movies. We didn’t have a TV until I was probably nine or 10. I didn’t understand all this kerfuffle about Candice Bergen because that was my name,” she said, recalling the occasional quip that was made while she was in her 20s.

In 2000, Bergen married and took the name Hoeppner. That’s the name she had when she was elected MP for Portage-Lisgar. She separated from her husband and reverted to her maiden name in late 2012.

“There were a few Murphy Brown jokes and I’m like, ‘Ha ha, that’s original; never heard that one before,’” she said, dryly, in reference to the actor’s sitcom, which aired from 1988 to 1998.

On Twitter, the MP would occasionally be tagged in posts from publicists or gossip magazines.

In January, the CBS network announced it was reviving Murphy Brown after a 20-year hiatus. “That’s when it really kicked into high gear,” the MP said.

The actor doesn’t have her own Twitter account, while the MP has 26,200 followers, making her the most popular person with that name on the social network.

The mix-up has happened so many times that at one point, tagging the other three main actors from the film Book Club would automatically prompt a suggestion to include the MP’s Twitter account.

Bergen, who watched that film on a plane recently, called it “kind of funny.”

She’s reluctant to complain, and only discussed the topic during an interview about tariffs and parliamentary protocol. “It’s on Twitter. There are worse problems to have.”

Still, she admits it’s a constant occurrence when she goes on Twitter to vent about the Liberal government or see what her constituents are up to. “Twitter was pushing it, and that was annoying.”

The Free Press emailed the actor’s publicist earlier this week, but received no reply.

The mix-up has had its advantages. Riverdale actor Luke Perry accidentally tagged the MP in a tweet two years ago. She replied that he’d tagged the wrong one. “Close enough,” he replied, and then followed her — giving her a direct line to message his smartphone.

“I’d like to think we’re friends,” she laughed. “And now, he can brag that he has direct access to Candice Bergen — of course the member of Parliament for Portage-Lisgar, the best riding in the entire country.”

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca