The Cat Meows
Biographer Kitty Kelley has her own life examined by Flyer's editor, Lauren Paige Kennedy
Are you a native Washingtonian?
Yes, but from the other Washington—the one that's a genuine state.
What kind of kid were you?
Precocious. I was about 8 years old when I first saw that word. I had sneaked a peak at the "parental comments" on my little sister's report card. My mother had written that my sister was doing very well, "considering her precocious older sister." I yelled into the library, "Mama, what does p-r-e-c-o-c-i-o-u-s mean?" Realizing what I was reading, my mother said, "Pretty. It means very, very pretty."
Name something about yourself that would really surprise people.
I'm not an 800-pound gorilla.
Where do you get your drive to succeed?
Starbucks.
Whom do you most admire and why?
I most admire those who stand up and tell the truth to power, like the 9/11 widows..."We simply wanted to know why our husbands were killed," said one. "Why they went to work one day and didn't come back."
If you couldn't be a biographer, what would you do for a living?
I suspect I'm unemployable.
What does Kitty Kelley do for fun?
Everything. Life is too short to do otherwise.
Red wine or martini?
A Coke at Camp David.
You've scratched a famous figure or two. Where do you get your nails done?
The Kitty Kat Salon.
Is Washington its stereotype—power brokers, pearls—or something different altogether?
Washington is a little bit of everything, which makes it a truly diverse city: pinstripes and pedal pushers, low heels and high ideals. It's not a red state or blue state, but a place of many colors. I love it!