On last night's premiere of The City, America was introduced to former-Socialite Rank punching bag Olivia Palermo. Whitney's mentor Kelly Cutrone was shocked that she even has a fake job.
Olivia, a 22-year-old who moved out of her parents Upper East Side apartment this summer into her own $4,150 a month bachelorette pad, was infamous on Socialite Rank for allegedly writing an email to other socialites (which inevitably made the rounds on blogs), apologizing for being a sycophantic social climber and asking for "acceptance," which in itself is kind of sycophantic and climber-y. She was once a student at New School, has a fan site, and up until this past July, insisted she would not be appearing on The City because she wanted to be "a serious actress." That is, until, she, like many others in their early-20s, had a change of heart about career plans and decided she wanted to be "a brand." (She's Whitney's "work" friend on the "reality" show and not really a publicist. She just plays one on TV. She actually has a PR firm, Rogers & Cowan, in her employ.) In the clip above, Olivia tells Whitney about her first pair of Manolos that she wore to her deb ball. Then Whitney sits down with her mentor and former People's Revolution boss Kelly Cutrone, who, when she learned about Whitney working with Olivia, said, "Shut. Up. She got a job? That's very unlike her. Why is she working?"