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It happened to be Halloween when Donatella Versace gave me an hour of her time for an interview last week. As it turned out, that coincidence proved totally appropriate. For during our conversation, Versace revealed a truly spooky story involving herself, Madonna, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and the Republican nominee for president of the United States.
It all took place 21 years ago at Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach estate owned by Donald Trump, when Versace booked the property to shoot Madonna for a campaign. Below is an excerpt from that interview. It begins just as the designer sees the pictures for the Steven Meisel–lensed campaign in the pages of her new book, Versace, and is reminded of the time she met Donald Trump much more frequently than she wanted to.
“We rented his place, Mar-a-Lago, or whatever it is, in Palm Beach,” says Versace. “So when you’ve rented something, you don’t want the owner to come in. Well, he came in. I mean, we couldn’t get rid of him . . . .”
She reverts to the guttural, emitting a deep, primitive horny-caveman “URGGGH!” as an impression of Trump seeking entry to the set. “No, no,” she says, playing herself. “We are taking a picture inside there.”
“URGGH,” Versace trumps: “Madonna, eh!”
“And he brought us Kentucky Fried Chicken!” she reverts to narration. “I mean, excuse me. Models, you know? It’s fashion!” She laughs. “He was nice, in a way. But he was pushy . . . and Madonna, she was fasting. So, ‘Do you want Kentucky Fried Chicken?’ ‘No, thank you.’ ” She shakes her head in disbelief. Still, no pussy grab at least—just Bargain-Bucket breast.
My interview was commissioned by The Times of London. Versace says things as she sees them—as you can probably tell—and in the rest of our interview delivered some fantastic yarns spiked with some coruscating no-holds-barred fashion assessments. All of that can wait. But it seemed crazy not to put Versace’s Trump tale out a little earlier as one final pre-election footnote charting the extreme deportment of the candidate for the world’s most powerful job, in advance of tonight’s scheduled Madonna gig in support of Hillary Clinton, and before the day of reckoning tomorrow.
For the rest of Versace’s reminiscences, see The Times of London this Saturday, November 12.