Since The Post’s Stephanie Smith shared her 300 Sandwiches blog in Wednesday’s paper — her project to coax a proposal out of her boyfriend with carefully crafted heroes and bánh mis — she has been the subject of ridicule and criticism.
The lady-blog Jezebel called Smith’s project “embarrassing” and “sad,” while the Independent declared her man the “worst boyfriend on the Internet.”
But Smith is hardly the first person to do such a thing for her mate, and her boyfriend, Eric, isn’t the first to put unusual requests to a partner for a commitment.
In 1936, British King Edward VIII stepped down from the throne so that he could marry Wallis Simpson, an American who’d already been divorced twice.
Plenty New Yorkers have made sacrifices in the name of love as well: Art student Samantha Friend, 19, quit wearing Crocs for a boyfriend (see below).
Here’s what others have done for love:
ENGAGEMENT CHICKEN
They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach — and Beth Ostrosky Stern didn’t take any chances. Mrs. Howard Stern heard about the famous Glamour magazine recipe for simple roasted chicken that boasts 80 engagements to date.
“[Howard proposed] because of the way it was going with us. And I can cook a mean chicken,” jokes Ostrosky.
When Lindsey Unterberger, 30, deputy online editor at Glamour, was itching for her boyfriend of five years to propose, she didn’t try getting into his head — she got into his stomach.
“The chicken was delicious,” she says. “Two months later, we got engaged.”
NO MEAT!
Katy Perry tried to give up eating meat in 2009, to make then-boyfriend and longtime vegetarian Russell Brand happy. The two married in 2010. Perry reportedly started eating meat again, with an insider saying the pop star “adores” the carnivorous life. Divorce was on the menu in 2012.
LOSING THEIR RELIGION
Katie Holmes was raised a strict Catholic, but it’s widely believed that she converted to Scientology before marrying Tom Cruise in 2006.
“It’s really exciting,” Holmes, said at the time. “I just started auditing . . . and I’m taking some courses, and I really like it . . . “I’m learning to celebrate my own spirit, my own being.”
Six years later, Holmes made it clear that she wasn’t content to abide by L. Ron Hubbard, and filed for divorce. Meanwhile, Jemima Goldsmith, daughter of billionaire Brit James Goldsmith, converted to Islam before marrying cricket star Imran Khan in 1995. The two divorced in 2004, and Jemima is now snuggling with Russell Brand.
GIVING IT ALL UP
British King Edward VIII had been on the throne for less than one year when he abdicated in 1936 for the sake of his lover, twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. The then-42-year-old’s desire to marry a woman who had two living ex-husbands threatened to cause a crisis in the UK.
SLIM DOWN
Brit journalist Samantha Brick, 42, tells The Post that her French carpenter husband, Pascal Rubinat, 52, insisted she slim down to a size 4 before he proposed in 2007. “It was hard!” says the tall blonde. It took her two months to drop about 20 pounds. “Only then did he ask my dad for my hand in marriage,” she explains. In the years since their 2008 wedding, Brick’s figure has gone back to a size 8, which is healthier for her 5-foot-11 frame. “Even Pascal admitted that a size 4 wasn’t a good look for me,” she says.
COLTS OF PERSONALITY
In a climactic scene in Barry Levinson’s “Diner,” Steve Guttenberg’s character, Eddie, makes his fiancée take a rigorous, 140-question test on the Baltimore Colts. She fails to pass by two points, but Eddie marries her anyway.
THE THINGS NEW YORKERS DO FOR LOVE
We asked people on the street about the lengths they’d go to for love”
“He hates laundry, so I’d be willing to do laundry every week for a year.” — Heivy Roa, 35, Washington Heights
“I’d ask for 300 minutes of silence, at my discretion.” — Dan Gluckman, 28, Long Island
“I’d be the naked cowgirl for him and play him a song in Times Square.” — Krystle Morales, 28, Lower East Side
“I’d make tempura and sushi for him every night when he got home from work, for however long. Sushi is an aphrodisiac.” — Maha Mestari, 26, Staten Island
“My [former boyfriend] told me I had to stop wearing Crocs if things were to progress. I gave them up that day. (I owned five pairs and never went without them.)” — Samantha Friend, 19, Gramercy Park
Additional reporting by Doree Lewak, Jane Ridley and Reed Tucker