Michelle Williams Meets Michelle Williams

For many years, the name “Michelle Williams” has raised an implicit question: Which Michelle Williams do you mean? Black Michelle Williams or white Michelle Williams? Destiny’s Child Michelle Williams or Dawson’s Creek Michelle Williams? You can usually figure it out based on context clues. Destiny’s Child Michelle Williams is probably not starring in a Kelly Reichardt film, and Dawson’s Creek Michelle Williams is probably not making a gospel record. But there’s still plenty of crossover. Both Michelle Williamses are about the same age. (Michelle Williams is 44, and Michelle Williams is 45.) They’re both from the Midwest. They both came to teenage-culture prominence in the same Y2K moment, and I bet they’ve both been guests on TRL at some point. Michelle Williams played the new girl in town on Dawson’s Creek in 1998, and Michelle Williams was the new girl in Destiny’s Child in 2000. One Michelle Williams narrated the Britney Spears audiobook, and the other one actually was a pop-star peer of Britney Spears. And now, the two Michelle Williamses have met.