Pretty Wild: "Bling Ring" Suspect Freaks Out On Vanity Fair Reporter

We’d love to know how VF‘s Nancy Jo Sales reacted when she heard the hysterical voicemail messages Alexis Neiers left—after reading Sales’ revealing piece about the Bling Ring—which was depicted on last night’s episode of Neiers’ reality show.

Initially, Alexis was excited about her Vanity Fair interview—and photo shoot—so that she could tell her side of the story (of how she was arrested and charged with first-degree felony robbery of Orlando Bloom’s home). Nancy Jo, on the other hand, was not excited the possibility of being featured on Neiers’ reality show, saying in her article, “[U]nfortunately, I may be in it, having been around while they were filming.” Alexis opened up to Nancy Jo, cried in front of her, and received a reassuring hug from the writer, making her feel like the two had “connected.”

When the issue arrived at the Neiers’ home, the entire family was giddy and cheering, and Alexis shrieked, “Oh my God, I’m in Vanity Fair!” And then they read the article. Clearly, they were not familiar with the magazine, and how comprehensive and exhaustively reported its stories are. They became angry over “the fucking lies” that Sales allegedly wrote, including, as Alexis pointed out, the fact that she “was wearing six-inch Louboutins to court with my tweed outfit! I wasn’t wearing Louboutins, I was wearing little brown kitten heels, fucking bitch!”

Alexis called up Nancy Jo, making multiple attempts to leave the perfect voicemail message to express her disappointment, which Alexis’ mother kept screwing up by screaming into the phone from the sidelines. (As Alexis was correcting Nancy Jo about the shoes she was wearing—”You saying that I wore six-inch Louboutins to court with my tweed skirt, when I wore four-inch, little brown Bebe shoes…” her mother Andrea shouted, “$29!”) After a few takes, Alexis settled on leaving the following message:

I’m calling to you know how disappointed I am in your story and the light that you shed on me, when I am going through such a hard time in my life. I opened up to you so that way the world could potentially know what a great, amazing, talented, strong, healthy, girl that I am—not even a girl, a young woman. I am petrified, petrified with this story. I’m so disappointed, and I’m letting you know that I will clear this up. Have a nice life.

Although Nancy Jo followed up on her coverage of the Bling Ring for Vanity Fair, she did not include any info about that voicemail. She did say:

E! struck gold in reality TV terms. The morning after the first night they were filming, their star, Alexis, was arrested in a case that became an international news story overnight. It was instantly all over the blog-o-sphere; it even had a nickname-the Bling Ring. This was a narrative that you couldn’t make up. And yet they do tell them what to say, working off a script. I wasn’t previously aware of just how staged everything is.

The Suspects Wore Louboutins [Vanity Fair]
Q&A: Nancy Jo Sales Dishes on the Bling Ring [Vanity Fair]