The Black Paris Hilton? Genevieve Jones, Mysterious Girl
“Who is Genevieve Jones?”
That’s the first question many upper crust New Yorkers began asking when the chestnut-colored waiflike woman began showing up at high-brow parties around Manhattan in recent years, looking super-thin and ultra-fabulous in designer gear.
By 2006, the approximately 5′ 6″ tall, 100 pound Genevieve had parlayed her knack for knowledge of all things chic into a multi-photo Style.com spread. The March issue of Vogue even crowned Genevieve its “Girl of the Moment.”
But it wasn’t until writer Teri Agins recently probed a little deeper into the fashionista’s life for a piece called “How ‘it girl’ scaled the world of fashion” for the Wall Street Journal did the Net explode with more questions and accusations.
Especially since Agins dug up public records putting Genevieve’s real age at 31, though Ms. Jones told an untold number of folks that she was only 27.
The backlash was enough to send Genevieve running home to Baton Rouge, La., as Women’s Wear Daily reported Ms. Jones did the day after the Wall Street piece ran.
But whether she was born in the year of the rooster or the monkey wasn’t the only question wagging on the tongues of those even outside the fashion world about Genevieve.
Turns out that unlike the famous-for-being-famous billionaire heiress Paris Hilton, Genevieve Jones is the daughter of working-class parents. Her father is reportedly a chemical engineer at Exxon Mobil Corp. and her mom, a homemaker – not necessarily occupations churning out enough moola to fund Genevieve’s “housekeeper and an account with a car service.”
Is She Black?
Another common question asked about Genevieve Jones concerns her ethnicity. While the Wall Street Journal listed her dad as “British-born” and her mother as being “born in Trinidad,” questions about Genevieve’s racial make up set message boards aflame on Social Rank’s blog after they profiled the socialite.
Funnier and more confusing was Gawker.com’s “There Something Different About Genevieve Jones” entry, which added the word “black” to several places in Agins’ original piece, causing the most hilarious comments to ensue beneath it.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave… …when first we practice to deceive. I do give Genevieve credit for doggedly pursuing her Palmes d’Or champagne dreams and caviar wishes, and pray that the ugly limelight being shone upon the striking woman now will force her to re-examine her life’s direction.
I know her lithe frame has certainly convicted my 150-something pound, 5′ 11″ body to “get thee to a” treadmill.
“I hope it hasn’t happened yet,” Genevieve answered prophetically on Social Rank when asked about her life’s most important moment. Maybe she’s living it now, holed up in her childhood bedroom, wondering if her friends with dividends will welcome her back with loving arms.
Or maybe Genevieve will use this fork in the road to turn in another direction, now that she’s gotten a taste of the fame and fortune she’s always sought, though in no way could predict would come in this kind of gift package.
But, alas, it has. So, dearest Genevieve, if you happen to be “Google News-ing” yourself and come upon this piece, please know that the truth indeed does set us free. Go boldly in that direction.
Use this opportunity with floodlights glaring on more than your latest haute couture – but also directly at your not-so-pretty parts – to “tell the truth and shame the devil” in…let’s see…an exclusive expose or poignant memoir ghostwritten by another sistah with a past? Hit me up.
Paula Neal Mooney is editor-in-chief of Real Moms magazine.
