On Saturday night while I was at the Governor’s Ball in Hollywood, I received an email from Aretha Franklin. She wrote that her dress had fallen apart just as she was about to enter a reception for President and Mrs. Obama at the Stte Department for the Kennedy Center awards. She wrote: “I did not panic!” Which is Aretha’s style.
She wrote to me when I asked what happened: “I don’t know! Dresser must not have zipped it all the way up or hooked it at top! Zipper slid down!!!” She added: “I did not panic!”
Anyway, now our pal Tracey Jordan, who works with the Queen of Soul, has sent a funny account of what went on:
Washington, DC – This past Saturday night while entering the front door of the White House to attend the 35th Annual Kennedy Center Honors, Ms. Aretha Franklin suffered what could have been a most embarrassing wardrobe mishap. The upper half of the Queen of Soul’s gorgeous pink gown with its encrusted white beaded bodice wasn’t hooked properly and partially slid down to her waist and exposed her foundation-wearing girls in all their Victoria ‘s Secret glory!
Without missing a beat, the Queen and her escort kept calm and carried on! The duo quickly side-stepped it into a tented area, presumably for just such emergencies, adjusted the unhinged hooks and proceeded to party the night away!
On hand for the festivities were of course, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the 2012 honorees Buddy Guy, Dustin Hoffman, David Letterman, Natalia Makarova, and Led Zeppelin (Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones) and every other A-list celebrity you can think of!
