Kelly Cutrone has a new book and her own show, too

"The City's," breakout star is the tough but hilarious mentor, Kelly Cutrone. Now the fashion PR maven has branched out with a self-help book, "If You Have to Cry, Go Outside" (out Tuesday), and her own show, "Kell on Earth" (Bravo, tomorrow at 10 p.m.), which follows the dramas in Cutrone's personal and professional lives. Cutrone, who moved to New York 23 years ago, lives and works in SoHo and has an 8-year-old daughter, Ava.
Tell me about moving to New York City.
It was a mind-blowing experience for me. I think I had $600 and a red Toyota Corolla. And I took an apartment, sight unseen, a sixth-floor walkup on Avenue C between 10th and 11th, in 1987. My rent was $600 a month, and that was a lot of money then.
So why did you move to L.A. for a while if you're such a hardened New Yorker?
New York picked me up, grabbed me and molded me, put me through the university of life. By the time I got to L.A., I needed a serious detox and cleanse. It was so fast, so wild, working in the music business. I was representing Deee-lite and Eartha Kitt and I was dating a rock star, out all night. I was burnt out by the time I moved to L.A. But nobody said what they meant there, and I thought, ‘What's going on here?' I would come back to New York for work and realize I was still a New Yorker.
What's most New Yorky about you?
I wear all black with no makeup, usually have a Blackberry in my hand, and I'm usually complaining about something. What I just love about New York is the human contact. I think we're the greatest, kindest, best people in the whole wide world.
Now you're bicoastal, for both your PR business and for filming. What else, aside from the energy, do you miss about New York when you're away?
Deli coffee for 75 cents and cheap flowers. And I love being in a city where you can say to somebody, "I don't like you, I don't want to talk to you," and you're not expected to go through this whole rigmarole of gestures that society has said are appropriate to make people feel good. You can just go on with your day.
Which is your favorite neighborhood in New York?
SoHo. I'm the mayor of Grand St. I'm the old Italian lady who knows everything that's going on.
credit - Mark Ellwood @ nydailynews.com