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Here's Where AbFab's Patsy Stone Intersects With the Trumps
Here's Where AbFab's Patsy Stone Intersects With the Trumps
What does a fictional fashion-world drunk have to do with the man vying for president of the United States? Lots, apparently.
Like it or not, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump may be the most famous person on the planet. Meanwhile, the character of Patsy Stone -- a vapid, drug-abusing stylist featured on BBC's Absolutely Fabulous and portrayed by actress Joanna Lumley -- is also in the public zeitgeist, thanks to the Absolutely Fabulous movie opening Friday. What's highly amusing is how much these two figures have in common.
First off, AbFab creator and costar Jennifer Saunders has said Trump's first wife -- Ivana -- was the inspiration for Patsy; both share similar tastes in clothes, hairstyles, and the high life. Born in the Czech Republic, Ivana Trump is the mother of Donald Jr., Eric, and Ivanka. Glamorous Ivana became a famous figure in the 1980s, working alongside her husband as part of the Trump empire. But it was in 1990 -- when Donald's affair with his future second wife, Marla Maples, became public knowledge -- that Ivana became tabloid fodder and a worldwide celebrity. Patsy would became a short-lived goddess of the London rags in the second season of AbFab, but she was playing the mistress, not the devoted wife.
Patsy even expressed admiration for Ivana in AbFab's second episode. Check out Patsy's take on Ivana in the episode below at 14:45.
But there's more! During an interview to promote the AbFab movie, Lumley admitted that she actually met Donald Trump -- dressed as Patsy.
"Patsy once admired Ivana Trump on one of the episodes, and he somehow got to hear about this," Lumley told Vanity Fair. "So when he came over to London, my friend Lady Elizabeth Anson planned a party for him at Grosvenor House -- and he said he would like the person who plays Patsy to come along so he could have a look.
"So Liz talked me into putting my hair up and coming along. He was with Marla Maples then, and first she came and was the sweetest little character: 'Oh, I think you're so gorgeous, you look so beautiful.' And then the Donald came along, with that Brillo Pad hair stretched across his head, and gave me a very odd look, as if he was sizing up a horse or something. And after examining me, he muttered, 'Yes, she's quite good-looking, she's a bit like Ivana.' And I was just walked out again."
What a world! For more Patsy and her constant companion, Edina, take our AbFab quiz here.
