Celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe has spoken out for the first time about rumours that she feeds her star clients diet pills so they will shrink to fit model sizes and that she herself is suffering from an eating disorder. "It's like being punished by your parents for something that you didn't do," she told The New York Times last week. According to Zoe, the worst of the rumours is the perception that she deliberately tries to upstage her celebrity clients by trolling the red carpet and jumping into shots along with Nicole Ritchie and Mischa Barton. "I never set out to be in the public eye," she said.
Zoe seems a funny creature. From her interview with the Times, she's either (a) completing lying and really does hanker to be an A-Lister or (b) is a savvy businesswoman using celebrity pulling power to her financial benefit. Either way it has to be said that never has a stylist received so much attention than she. By choosing the right people to dress such as Barton and Ritchie (who recently left her for a rival stylist) she is fast becoming a celebrity herself. Her latest projects include becoming the face of the new Samsung Blackjack phone, writing a style guide and styling for two well-known luxury brands. There is also a television pilot in the pipeline with Hollywood producer Charlie Corwin.
But not everyone adores Zoe. "It's shocking to see a stylist get as much publicity as her clients. To step away from her primary role as caretaker and actively seek out the flashbulbs is the kiss of death," said Wayne Scot Lukas who has dressed Janet Jackson and Meryl Streep.
Most interesting is her reaction to her recent professional split from Nicole Ritchie which she chooses not to discuss but simply brushes off by saying, "I haven't lost anyone." As well as her comments regarding those drug rumours - "I've never touched a drug in my life. Until recently, I didn't even know what crystal meth was. And I haven't known the name of a diet drug since Dexatrim in the '80s. The only person I've told to lose weight is my mum." Gee, what a nice daughter!
