For a certain subset of MTV-loving millennials, Kelly Cutrone needs no introduction.
I was very polarizing on television.
That caused a lot of young girls and gay kids to go into PR because they watched that show.
I felt like I really gave them permission.
[In my early 20s] I was kind of an it girl in New York.
I was one of the hot, young, successful girls at the time, Cutrone says.
But on the inside, my life was falling apart and my marriage fell apart.
So I split and I moved to LA.
As Cutrone puts it, at 28, she was very, very, very wild.
I do think that I overshot it.
I’m a little extreme, she says of her legacy.
Take me back to 1993, when you were 28.
I was just doing a ton of drugs by this point.
I was drinking, doing coke.
I was a hot mess.
Then, right around the time that you’re asking me about, I had this major spiritual experience.
It was a whole thing physically and emotionally.
I went through a horrible detox and that was the last time I ever did any drugs.
And I’ve never missed a day without doing spiritual practice since then.
I also started reading tarot cards on Venice Beach.
How were you feeling about your life and career?
I was living the LA Dream.
I started getting [tarot] business, like regulars coming back.
This guy named Sean Dinsmore from [the ska band]The Toasters.
He goes, What the f*ck is up with you, man?
You’re so different."
Do you think you could come by?
I want to play something for you."
So I go to the studio and he plays this beat.
I was like, “Okay.
Am I getting paid for this?”
Then I did it and it became a song called Conversations with a Groovy Girl.
Sean called me later and goes, Atlantic Records heard the record.
They want to signyou.
I said, “I don’t know how to sing.
What are you talking about?”
He goes, Youre going to get a record deal.
Were you so excited?
Or were you like, what did I just get myself into?
Upstairs from me [in my apartment building] was a girl named Chantal who was aplayer.
So I went home and she’s like, “How’s your day?”
I said, “I think I’m getting a record deal.”
She goes, “What?
you oughta meet Richard Perry.
Richard Perry produced You’re So Vain for Carly Simon and Chantal was dating his best friend.
I’m so poor that I don’t even have a winter coat.
That’s all I had.
I go, Richard, I don’t even have a coat.”
He took me toFred Segaland bought a full-length, cashmere, really beautiful $6,000 coat.
He goes, “You’re going to look great.”
Then we went [to New York] and I got signed to Atlantic Records.
Once you got the record deal, did you splurge on anything with your own money?
I went to the bank, which was really funny because I didn’t have a bank account.
I tried to cash a check for $250,000.
That’s how much I got signed for, some big ass cash.
Richard got 50% of it, but Richards great.
He ended up dating Jane Fonda at the end of his life and Jane threw theKell on Earthpremiere.
I actually made out with Jane Fonda.
Jane Fonda’s hot.
I’m here to tell you.
After the deal, did you keep pursuing music?
While my record was going on, I was also doing PR.
The beginning of People’s Revolution started right around that time, too.
It was really a very vibrant and tumultuous time in my life.
Do you have any regrets from being 28?
Would I want my daughter to behave like that?
Absof*ckinglutely not.
My mom went to Al-Anon and read a book about tough love.
Nobody wants to hear that and I had to take responsibility for that part.
But do I regret that?
Shaking my mom down a couple times?
Yes, I do regret shaking my mom down.
But that’s what it took.
Has there been a moment in your life or career where you felt like youve made it?
No, but I feel like I mowed a nice lawn.
I was the first poor girl in PR.
Everybody in my world was super rich.
I was really embarrassed about where I was from when I came to New York.
I just faked it until I made it."
It’s super cool.
Thats certainly part of your legacy.
A lot of f*cking kids.
Harris [Reed], I definitely raised.
I also put him in fashion classes and stuff while he was growing up.
One day I started talking to Tracy and I was like, I need an assistant.
Why don’t you just come and work with me?"
She became my assistant at Peoples in New York.
I mean theres a ton of them, I still mentor even now.
What would your 28-year-old self think of your life now?
I spent so much time being that girl.
But when I was growing up, it came a time where you had to make a decision.
Do you want to be this guy’s wife or do you want to own People’s Revolution?
So I [became] a solo wolf.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
This article was originally published onApril 4, 2023
source: www.bustle.com
