Marla Maples’ Assistant Asked Hairstylist to Work Inauguration “For Exposure”

The stylist said no.

Photo credit: Nell Haynes, CC BY 2.0.

Today in “well, that happened, and are we really surprised:”

Hair stylist to Marla Maples: no free services in exchange for Inauguration Day “exposure”

Stylist Tricia Kelly was approached by “a longtime client with ties to the Trumps” about the possibility of styling Marla Maples and Tiffany Trump for the inauguration. After some initial negotiations, during which Kelly agreed to lower her rate to $200 total—which, when you read the article, you’ll learn is way lower than her usual rate—she got this response:

That’s when Maples’s assistant came up with another proposal: Would Kelly and the makeup artist be willing to provide their services for free? In exchange, they would get “exposure,” and Maples would mention them on her social-media feeds, the assistant told her.

Kelly declined. “I was stunned,” she said. “I told them . . . I work for a fee, not for free.”

Then, as The Washington Post reports, Kelly got a message that included the words “You are messing with the president of the United States,” which is enough to make one’s hair stand on end (and I am resorting to quips because this is legitimately scary).

So that happened. Are any of us surprised?


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