In 2002, Vanessa Carlton rocked the world with the release of her instantly catchy debut single, “A Thousand Miles”, a breakthrough hit that remains the singer-songwriter’s signature song to this day.
In a new VICE mini-documentary “The Story of …”, Carlton reveals the little-known story behind the beloved song, which, in the end, was written about a fellow Juilliard for whom Carlton had the crush while attending school in the mid-90s.
Watch the doc below:
In the doc, Carlton chooses to retain the subject’s name because he is now a “famous actor”. So who could it be?
An in-depth Reddit thread investigated the timeline surrounding “A Thousand Miles,” which Carlton said was written around 1995. Browsing through a list of participants in that year’s Juilliard, an eagle-eyed web sleuth has noticed that a few notable actors had graduated. or attended at about the same time Carlton was able to attend school: Wes Bentley, Christian Camargo, David Conrad and Alan Tudyk. Another user suggested that the song could have been written about Glenn Howerton from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.
However, another Reddit user supported Wes Bentley’s theory, referring to an alleged post in a Vanessa Carlton Facebook fan group that stated that the song was written about Bentley “on a show.” Bentley, who reportedly dropped out of Juilliard after about a year, is only two years older than Carlton, meaning they both attended school at the same time.
While a possible connection between Carlton and Bentley seems possible, there’s no way to know for sure unless Carlton decides to make his secret crush known. Either way, the person Carlton sings about in his iconic music video is lucky.
