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’re gonna wanna 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
