March 9, 2010
three: part one
Last week, when I said that three good things had happened? Here is part one of the first good thing: this morning I interviewed Laura Bennett for BlogHer.
You remember Bennett from Season 3 of “Project Runway,” but these days, she’s writing for a living rather than crafting runway-ready gowns. Bennett has been penning an occasional column for The Daily Beast, which covers everything from raising six kids in Manhattan to straightening her hair with formaldehyde, and she has a book coming out in April, titled “Didn’t I Feed You Yesterday? A Mother’s Guide to Sanity in Stilettos.”
And yes, I asked her about the stilettos. Because Rita ordered me to.
Celebrity interviews can be such a crapshoot; it’s impossible to know what you’re getting into, really, because it’s not like you know the celebrity personally. I interviewed Kate Gosselin in December of 2008, and of course asked her about all the flak she got for the way she treated Jon; her answers were terse and unhelpful, and it was a struggle to pull together 1,000 words by my deadline. What I didn’t know — what none of us knew — when I interviewed her was that her marriage was on the precipice and her husband had gone over the edge. But what that one interview taught me is that you have to be prepared for the worst and ready to make the best of it.
All that, though, gets me to this: Laura Bennett was lovely — warm and friendly and hilariously funny. It was a great interview, a best-case scenario; nothing was off limits and her answers were relevant and useful and interesting. At one point she was digging through her handbag looking for her lipstick to tell me what brand it was. You’ve got to love that kind of dedication.
The absolute best part, though, was when Bennett confessed to cutting her own hair. “Right now I have a pixie haircut,” she told me. “It’s another one of those things — some people are totally freaked out about their hair; I’ve always been really casual about my hair. Like, oh it’ll grow back, what the hell.”
I can totally relate to that.
You can read the entire interview at BlogHer, and you can preorder the book at Amazon.
Posted by Susan @ 9:50 pm • good people
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March 9th, 2010 at 10:16 pm, blackbird Says:
Well done!
She’s a hero of mine.
March 9th, 2010 at 10:33 pm, elz Says:
So jealous. I loved Laura on PR; so classy. I love her outlook on clothes and presentation.
March 10th, 2010 at 8:59 am, Rita Says:
Oh THANK GAWD you asked about the lipstick too! She has such great lipstick!
March 10th, 2010 at 9:27 am, Janine Says:
She’s so fascinating! When I worked in NYC I saw her buying a subway pass one morning, perfectly put together with sky-high heels and a classic trench. It was the highlight of my week.
March 10th, 2010 at 9:29 am, Shannon Says:
Fantastic! I love her. Congratulations!
March 10th, 2010 at 9:23 pm, Rachel @ Pencil Shavings Says:
I greatly enjoyed that article you wrote. Laura was, by far, my most favorite PR participant ever. She is so chic.
I still can’t get past the fact that she cuts her own hair.