Kelly Cutrone: Scariest, Most Awesome PR Lady Ever
So, uh, Kelly Cutrone is basically one of the coolest, scariest (and one of the New Yorkiest) persons ever, judging from this week's brief but fascinating Observer piece. The head of hip PR firm People's Revolution, Cutrone has gained some notoriety of late for her acidic, bitchy, demanding taskmaster presence on MTV's reality soap The Hills. While overseeing that show's Whitney Port (and, to a lesser degree, its star Lauren Conrad), Cutrone cut a dashing, intimidating figure. She was at turns warm and helpful, and at others brash and terrifying. This enigmatic, enjoyably jarring persona is only deepened by the Observer piece, but there's just too much interesting info provided to summarize succinctly. So, I've bulleted some of the more intriguing tidbits about Ms. Cutrone after the jump.
- Cutrone lives in a "spacious loft" in SoHo with her daughter, Ava, and a male model named Demian. Though, she's not necessarily involved with him. (In fact, she's trying to set Demian up with Whitney). She's dating a music producer in LA and was once married to "Warhol affiliate" Ronnie Cutrone. Ava's father? "An Italian she met in Paris and left three months into her pregnancy, shortly after leaving her second husband, an actor."
- She's also a pal of Factory member and filmmaker Paul Morrissey, whom she's trying to persuade to film an episode of The Hills.
- She was a Syracuse born-and-raised 21-year-old who moved to Avenue C in the East Village and became a party girl. A delightful anecdote from the article: "'She was an accident waiting to happen,' recalled Mr. Cutrone. The couple first met at a club called Carmelita, in a former whorehouse. 'She was wild, ambitious, volatile, sexual. Sex and the City looks like a ridiculous joke compared to what Kelly was! Plfffffft!' Early in their courtship, Mr. Cutrone found a gram of coke in a jacket Ms. Cutrone had borrowed. He himself was clean at the time, he said. 'I'm like, what the hell! Kelly tracked me down at my building and woke up two gay guys, looking for the coke or me, and then eventually she did find us, but there it was—sex and drugs in one pretty picture.' ('I was out that night,' admitted Ms. Cutrone.) They soon moved in together, and got married. She was 22.
- She once represented Eartha Kitt.
- At one point she quit her job in PR and became a tarot card reader on Venice Beach.
- "'I would never rep Versace, I can't stand her, I think she makes disgusting clothes. Calvin [Klein] is like, snore! Who wears Calvin Klein? I'm not dissing him. I think he's built an amazing, respectable business, but I would never want to work for Calvin Klein, ever.' Her own stable of clients is heavy on up-and-comers and not the most high-end in the business, but she said it was consciously curated based on whom she thought deserved 'a voice.'"
- "Ms. Cutrone suddenly blared "Rapper's Delight" from her laptop and lit a cigarette at her desk."
- "'You're so pretty,' said Ms. Cutrone softly to a 19-year old intern who walked in with a phone message. 'What's your major?'"
- So why don't I go marry her already, right? I mean, she's probably a total monster in real life, but whatever. I'm excited for her increased presence on the next season of The Hills (I'm excited about The Hills! Amazing!) And, of course, any appearances she'll make on Whitney Port's upcoming spin-off series.