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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2006 > April > 16 > Entry
Tyra Banks gives a leg up to Spanx inventor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta’s own Spanx footless pantyhose inventor Sara Blakely got a pricey TV endorsement for free this week when she guested on “The Tyra Banks Show.” First, Blakely got the leadoff, 10-minute slot with the supermodel/chat show host to discuss the Spanx hosiery empire, which generated $85 million in retail sales in 2005. She started the company with just $5,000. The show focused on inventive entrepreneurs who started their businesses with nothing.
The bubbly Blakely explained the creation of and the patent process behind Spanx and got to toss out the slimming, line-eliminating undergarment’s trademark slogan: “We’ve got your butt covered.”
But even Blakely looked surprised when her company (which exists almost exclusively on word-of-mouth) got the endorsement deal of the year when Banks cooed: “I’m a very big fan of Spanx.” The retired supermodel then proceeded to flash the audience via a sneak peek of the pair of Spanx she was wearing.
“I wear them on 80 percent of the shows,” she told Blakely. “So when L.L. Cool J is on and I’m going, ‘You’re so cool,’ what I’m really doing is [adjusting] my Spanx!”
B is for Beverley Leslie
Omnipresent one-man Midtown celebrity sighting Leslie Jordan got a primo mention in the April 14 Entertainment Weekly. The actor, in town performing his one-man show “Like a Dog on Linoleum” at the 14th Street Playhouse, holds down the letter “B” in the magazine’s feature, “Gay’s Anatomy: ‘Will & Grace’ A to Z.” Touting his recurring Beverley Leslie character on the long-running NBC sitcom, EW writer Dave Karger scribbles of Jordan’s creation: “The diminutive, prissy pal of Karen’s whose howl-worthy denial of his own homosexuality made him a fan favorite. ‘He literally makes every single person laugh,’ says Sean Hayes. Adds Eric McCormack: ‘Even when he’s around, you miss him. Because he’s just that short.’ “
C is for Cruise
This will make the online activists at FreeKatie.com feel so much better. In an interview scheduled to be broadcast Friday night on ABC’s “Primetime,” Tom Cruise told Diane Sawyer that speculation regarding Scientology births has been blown out of proportion. The furniture-hopping dad-to-be confirmed to Sawyer that his fiancée, Katie Holmes, who is in the final stages of her pregnancy with the couple’s first child, will adhere to Scientology’s practice of quiet birth. Cruise explains that “quiet birth,” which aims to minimize talk and other noise inside the delivery room, is “basically just respecting the mother.”
“She does what she’s gotta do,” he explains, addressing speculation that such a practice would muffle Holmes completely and deny her pain medication.
“If she needs medicine, she needs medicine.”
Whew.
Alas, Scientology apparently doesn’t allow you to ball-gag your freakish sperm donor or tranq-dart him during delivery… .
J. Jackson: Listener beware
That new Janet Jackson music making the rounds on the Internet is apparently not as new as you might think.
The 39-year-old part-time Atlantan, who is working on a new album, says someone has leaked songs she recorded at least two years ago when working with hit-making producer Rich Harrison. At least one song has already made the rounds, titled, “Put It on Me.”
“A couple of years ago, I recorded some tracks with Rich Harrison. But none of that music will appear on my new album,” Jackson said in a statement released to The Associated Press on Friday. “I have a tight rein on all of the music that has been recorded.”
Jackson’s new album, tentatively titled “20 Years Old,” is expected to be released later this year.
Celebrity birthdays
Today: Country singer Roy Clark is 73. Actress Emma Thompson is 47. Actress Emma Watson (“Harry Potter” movies) is 16.
Sunday: Singer Bobby Vinton is 71. Actor-comedian Martin Lawrence is 41. Actor Jon Cryer is 41. Actor Peter Billingsley (“A Christmas Story”) is 35. Actor Lukas Haas is 30.
Contributing: News services. If you have a tip, 404-526-2749. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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