Season 5 · Episode 3
Trans icon, model and singer · Club Kid · David LaChapelle's muse
Released 2 Jul 2025 · 1:06:45 as a podcast
Every name, club, book, song, night and look from the interview - 85 references and 195 mentions in this episode. James opens with an apology: in 1991 he walked straight past Amanda after her fall on the stairs at The Building - all in white, he thought the blood was a look. Then the glitter-rock crowd in New Jersey and her friend Keni Valenti, sewing men's shirts with French seams, the Cave Canem opening where the room stopped when she walked in, go-go dancing in the cage at Disco 2000, the Club Kids on The Joan Rivers Show, nightlife awards for Batgirl and Shirley Jones and a Beverly Hillbillies barn party with real chickens for Donna Douglas; and David LaChapelle - diamonds glued under her nose, the Flaunt shoot and a desert highway covered in Heatherette lipstick. Wow!
Platinum curls with a cream bow, crystal drop earrings, glossy red lips, a bright green fur stole and a black corset top encrusted with green crystals
A high-rise apartment at night: floor-to-ceiling windows onto the city lights, sheer curtains and a leather lounge chair
Real diamonds, rolled-back eyes
LaChapelle's famous shot: real diamonds glued under her nose, eyes rolled back - she held the pose for ages, then flicked the 'rhinestones' away while the jewellers scrambled
The photographer who made Amanda his muse. As she tells it, her dominatrix training made her great at taking direction - she once held a pose through a whole meal break. She says he once planned a film of her life
FashionDiamonds, body make-up and nothing else (see Mood)
Heard as “David / La Chapelle / La Chappelle / Le Chape”
Hired Amanda to go-go dance at Disco 2000 the day they met. Amanda remembers him as amazing and fun at first, and says things turned dark when grunge and heroin came in, until the club closed
Heard as “Eilig / Michael”
Amanda's friend from the Glitter Rock scene in New Jersey; she sewed men's shirts for his store and later lived at his Tribeca apartment. James first met her with Keni at the Cave Canem opening
Heard as “Cannie / Kenny / Kenny Vellante”
The guest: trans icon, model, singer and performer, original Club Kid and longtime muse of David LaChapelle; author of the memoir Doll Parts. Links to her Night Fever episode
FashionPlatinum curls, red lips and showgirl glamour (see Mood)
Heard as “Amanda / LaPorte / Lapore”
Hay bales, chickens and maybe a goat for Donna Douglas's award; Amanda still has pictures with the chickens
FashionBarnyard drag
Heard as “Chickens / barn / chickens”
Host; opens by apologising for walking past Amanda after her fall on the stairs at The Building in 1991 - he thought it was a look. He first interviewed her for Project X
Heard as “James”
Co-host; joins from his car a quarter of the way in and says her dominatrix stories play like a scripted anthology series
Heard as “Barbado / Randy”
Where Amanda grew up and lived before New York; she met Keni Valenti there through the glitter-rock crowd
Heard as “Jersey”
Amanda's memoir - James calls it a must-read; she says she has never read it but will record the audiobook
Heard as “Doll Parts / Her book / her book / my book”
Where Amanda escaped to from New Jersey
LaChapelle's famous shot: real diamonds glued under her nose, eyes rolled back - she held the pose for ages, then flicked the 'rhinestones' away while the jewellers scrambled
FashionReal diamonds, rolled-back eyes
Heard as “diamonds”
Ellie Mae of The Beverly Hillbillies. As James tells it, she was upset at the Club Kids' table but stayed through the dinner; Amanda remembers the barn party with hay bales and chickens
FashionEllie Mae's farm-girl look
Heard as “Donna Douglas / Ellie Mae”
Amanda was a brand ambassador; its lipstick starred in LaChapelle's desert film with her, shown first at a Heatherette show
Heard as “Heatheret / Heatherette / hetheret”
The club where Amanda says she fell on the stairs in 1991 - and where she refused to dance on Topless Night
Heard as “the building”
Amanda loved her from the pages of Details - 'like drag, but a woman', half real woman and half cartoon
Heard as “Diane Brill”
Amanda devoured it while still married; after the Cave Canem opening she was its 'It' girl, as James remembers
Heard as “details”
Amanda's first TV moment with the Club Kids was on her show
On The Joan Rivers Show with the Club Kids; James says Amanda stole the show from him. Amanda was amazed he got ready in no time - he wore a mask
FashionA full face mask (see Mood)
Heard as “Dean Bowery / Lee Bowery”
The Snapple commercials' Wendy Kaufman; James remembers her being cross to find the award was a club thing
Heard as “Snapple / snapple”
Amanda says she joked that Alaïa hadn't lent her a dress, so she wore nothing; she heard later that he often talked about her and that night
Heard as “Asynen / Ezekiel Lyle / Lazadina”
Amanda's 90s grunge-era answer: hair grown out with chunky pieces and red, black jewels, fur
FashionBlack jewels, fur, red hair
Heard as “Dark glamour / Glamorous, but darker”
Michael Alig's party where Amanda started go-go dancing - in the cage suspended above the dance floor
FashionHome-made go-go outfits (see Mood)
At the Cave Canem opening, as James remembers; Amanda knew of him from Details before she ever went out
Heard as “Mustow”
The Club Kids' TV appearance with Amanda, James, Michael, Ernie Glam and Leigh Bowery
Heard as “Joan Rivers thing / did Joan Rivers”
TV's Batgirl, given a Club Kid nightlife award, as James remembers
Heard as “Bat Girl / Yvonne Craig”
Dresses by her friend that looked like a Vargas pin-up, worn with nothing underneath
FashionSheer pin-up dresses
Heard as “Vargas”
LaChapelle's film of Amanda running down a desert highway in heels, covered in Heatherette lipstick; she hated it at first, then loved how punk it was
FashionLipstick-smeared body, yellow hair, pink and turquoise shoes
Heard as “Heatherette lipstick / hetheret where you with the lipstick”
James remembers her as a sweet woman and a close friend of Amanda's; Amanda remembers her speaking many languages and having great taste
Heard as “Jocelyn / Wildenstein”
Amanda says police raided the small bar where she was performing; some undercover officers asked for photos with her afterwards
Amanda says he was once lined up to play her husband in a LaChapelle film of her life that was never made
Heard as “Marky Mark / Wahlberg”
Co-host; opens the show while Randy is on his way
Heard as “Fenton”
One of Amanda's dance-floor classics, as James lists
Amanda's 1991 rule for stairs - until her fall at The Building; now she holds on to every handrail
FashionStiletto heels
Heard as “spiky heels”
How she looked the night of her fall, as she tells it - so people thought the blood was part of the look
FashionWhite dress, platinum hair, white skin
Heard as “wearing white”
Where Amanda met the friend who offered her a place to stay in New York
The glitter-rock cover bands Amanda's New Jersey crowd loved played Bowie
FashionGlam rock
The music of the New Jersey cover-band crowd where Amanda met Keni Valenti
Heard as “Glitter Rock”
Amanda's first place in New York, near Central Park
Where the Cave Canem bathhouse restaurant was
James's first sighting of Amanda: Debbie Harry, the Details crowd and Michael Musto there, and the room stopped when she walked in
Heard as “Cave Conum, the opening”
The drag cabaret that later took over the Cave Canem space, as Amanda points out
Heard as “Lucky Chang”
At the Cave Canem opening party, as James recalls
Asked Amanda at the Cave Canem opening what she wanted to do - 'be a movie star', she told him
Heard as “Sabin”
One of the movie stars Amanda grew up adoring
FashionHollywood blonde glamour
Heard as “Merrill Monroe”
Another of Amanda's movie-star idols - she watched The Girl Can't Help It
FashionBlonde bombshell glamour
Heard as “Jane Mansfeld”
Another blonde screen idol Amanda names
FashionBlonde bombshell glamour
Heard as “Diana Deer”
The Jayne Mansfield film Amanda watched over and over
Heard as “Girl Can't Help It”
Where Amanda met Michael Alig on her birthday
The little outfits Amanda made for the Disco 2000 cage; she sewed with French seams
FashionHome-made go-go outfits
Heard as “go-go outfits”
The look that first impressed Amanda on a Club Kid trip
FashionFuchsia beading
Heard as “fuchsia”
On The Joan Rivers Show with James, Michael, Amanda and Leigh Bowery
An old bathhouse on First Avenue turned into a restaurant; at its opening, as James tells it, the room stopped when Amanda walked in and she was Details' 'It' girl. It later became Lucky Cheng's
Heard as “Cave Canum”
How Leigh got ready in no time for The Joan Rivers Show, as Amanda saw it
FashionA full face mask
Heard as “mask”
Club Kid parties where a 50s or 60s TV star was given an award - Batgirl, Shirley Jones, Donna Douglas and the Snapple Lady among them, as James remembers
Heard as “nightlife awards”
Mrs. Partridge, another nightlife-award guest James remembers
Came with Shirley Jones to a nightlife award, as James recalls
Heard as “Sean Cassidy”
Donna Douglas's show - the theme of a nightlife-award barn party
Heard as “Beverly Hill”
Amanda worked at her store
Nightlife performer and friend Amanda travelled with
The shoot where, Amanda says, LaChapelle decided she looked better without clothes
Heard as “flaunt”
A night Amanda says she refused to dance
Heard as “Topless Night”
Amanda's friend who made her see-through dresses in the style of a Vargas pin-up; name as heard
FashionSee-through Vargas-style dresses (see Mood)
Heard as “Jimmy Halbin”
How LaChapelle liked her at parties - cartoony rather than shocking, as she puts it
FashionBody make-up and jewels
Heard as “body makeup”
As Amanda tells it, Naomi spotted her at a party in nothing but a see-through dress and said 'oh my God, you're naked'
Heard as “Naomi”
Amanda wore a chain dress with nothing under it to a Betsey Johnson event, she says, and people couldn't deal with it
FashionChain-mail dress (see Mood)
Heard as “Betsy Johnson”
Worn with nothing underneath, as Amanda tells it
FashionChain mail
Heard as “chain dress”
Amanda always loved punk, which won her over to LaChapelle's dirty-hair desert shoot
Heard as “punk”
Where Amanda was one night with Jocelyn Wildenstein
Amanda says the police raided the bar where she was performing; the party carried on outside
Heard as “raided”
Amanda says the Studio 54 crowd were before the Club Kids
Heard as “studio fifty-four”
Named by James among the people who lifted Amanda up; Heatherette made her a brand ambassador
A high-rise apartment at night: floor-to-ceiling windows onto the city lights, sheer curtains and a leather lounge chair
FashionPlatinum curls with a cream bow, crystal drop earrings, glossy red lips, a bright green fur stole and a black corset top encrusted with green crystals
His home library of packed bookshelves, a framed portrait and a vintage microphone
FashionBlue-and-white striped fluffy knit cardigan over a grey-blue top and grey tortoiseshell glasses; shaved head
His room with 70s sunflower wallpaper, dark striped curtains, shelves with a Warhol Brillo box, caps and a tote bag
FashionNavy hooded top and rimless glasses with pink temples; bald
A pale room with linen curtains and a framed portrait drawing of a boy in a yellow top
FashionNavy baseball cap, thick black round glasses and a brown-and-sand plaid shirt over a black T-shirt
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