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Kitty Kelley (born April 4, 1942) is an American investigative journalist and author of several best-selling unauthorized biographies of celebrities and politicians. Described as a "poison pen" biographer, her profiles frequently contain unflattering personal anecdotes and details, and their accuracy is often questioned. Though many of her books have topped the best sellers list, Kelley's credibility and sources have been called into question multiple times and she has been accused of sloppy reporting and poor fact checking.

Time magazine reported that most journalists believe Kelley "too frequently fails to bring perspective or analysis to the fruits of her reporting and at times lards her work with dollops of questionable inferences and innuendos." In addition, Kelley has been described by Joe Klein as a "professional sensationalist" and her books have been described as "Kitty litter."

Her subjects have included Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Reagan, the British Royal Family, the Bush family, and in 2010 Oprah Winfrey. Although Kelley has been criticized and her books hotly debated, she has never been successfully sued for libel and has never been forced to retract a written statement.

Kitty Kelley has been called "the consummate gossip monger, a vehicle for all the rumor and innuendo surrounding her illustrious subjects" but maintains that her writing is about "moving an icon out of the moonlight and into the sunlight". Her work has been called "encylopedically vicious" but has also been cited as an antidote to celebrity mythmaking. "Her methods may often be unsound, her facts may sometimes be a bit fictional, but in the end she usually reveals something true about her subjects—which is more than you can say about a lot of celebrity biographers."

Personal life

Born in Spokane, Washington, Kitty Kelley received a B.A. in English from the University of Washington. She worked at the New York World's Fair in 1964 and went on to become a receptionist/press secretary for Senator Eugene McCarthy.

Once in Washington D.C., Kelley became a freelance journalist writing for publications such as The Washington Star. Her first book was The Glamour Spas (Pocket Books, 1975), based on an article she had written about the "fat farm" industry. The book included gossip about the celebrities who attended these spas.

Books

Jacqueline Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra biographies

Kelley's first celebrity biography was Jackie Oh! (1978), a life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, which was written on the request of Lyle Stuart, an independent publishing maverick who promoted Kelley's 'Washington insider' angle and launched the book into the New York Times Best Seller List. In the book, Kelley describes John F. Kennedy's womanizing and includes personal "revelations" about Jackie Kennedy's psychological treatment.

This book was followed by Elizabeth Taylor: The Last Star (1981), which was also a New York Times Best Seller in paperback and hardcover.

In Kelley's next book, His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra (1986) she discussed Sinatra's tumultuous marriages, alleged affairs and his links to the Mob. Sinatra initiated a $2 million lawsuit to prevent it from being published. He accused Kelley of character defamation and misrepresenting herself as his authorized biographer. He later withdrew his lawsuit. The book was number one on the New York Times Best Seller List, and hit best-seller lists in England, Canada, Australia and France.

People magazine story

In 1990, Kelley wrote a piece for People magazine based on interviews she had conducted with Judith Campbell Exner, a former girlfriend of Frank Sinatra's who claimed to have had an affair with John F. Kennedy. Exner told Kelley that she had arranged ten meetings between Kennedy and a Mafia gangster Sam Giancana, and they discussed having the "mob" kill Fidel Castro. The story made national headlines, but it soon fell apart: it emerged that Exner had been paid $50,000 to talk with Kelley, was terminally ill, and did not mention these "revelations" in her own autobiography, which had been published years earlier. A former FBI agent also came forward and said that Giancana had been under a federal wiretap, so these multiple meetings with President Kennedy would have been impossible to cover up.

Nancy Reagan biography

In 1991 Kelley published Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography. She was paid $3.5 million to write the book. The book claimed that the first lady had engaged in multiple affairs with Frank Sinatra, that she frequently relied on astrology, that she had lied about her age, and that she had a very poor relationship with her children, even alleging that she hit her daughter, Patti. The reliability and sources were questioned. As Slate magazine writer Michael Crowley said, "During the Reagan years Nancy cultivated an image as a doting wife and skillful hostess, a reputation Kelley mercilessly diced with the zest of a Benihana chef."

The book endured far more scrutiny than any of Kelley's others. While the book's "thin sourcing and heavy innuendo" were criticized, Newsweek concluded, "Despite her wretched excesses, Kelley has the core of the story right. Even her staunchest defenders concede that Nancy Reagan is more Marie Antoinette than Mother Teresa." Media coverage included cover stories in Time magazine ("Is She Really That Bad?", referring to Nancy Reagan), Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly ("The Kitty and Nancy Show") and People magazine ("Inside Kitty's Dish"). Kelley was also spoofed on Saturday Night Live. Kelley appeared on many news shows and interviews promoting the book, some of which were very critical.

Former President Ronald Reagan issued a brief statement, in which he said: "While I am accustomed to reports that stray from the truth, the flagrant and absurd falsehoods cited in a recently published book clearly exceed the bounds of decency. They are patently untrue–everything from the allegation of marijuana use to marital infidelity to my failure to be present at the birth of my daughter Patti. Many of my friends have urged me to issue a point-by-point denial of the book's many outrages. To do so would, I feel, provide legitimacy to a book that has no basis in fact and serves no decent purpose."

Poison Pen

Partly as a result of Kelley's notoriety due to the Nancy Reagan book, she herself became the subject of a critical book, Poison Pen: The Unauthorized Biography of Kitty Kelley (1991), written by journalist George Carpozi, Jr. Carpozi said that the book was "full of sex, sin, and scandal", reminiscent of Kelley's own work.

British Royal family and the Bush family

In September 1997, Kelley turned her attention to the British Royal Family in The Royals (Warner Books, New York, ISBN 0-446-51712-7). In the book, Kelley stated that the Windsors obscured their German ancestry and described scandals surrounding the members of the royal family.

The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty, was published on September 14, 2004, less than two months before the 2004 U.S. Presidential election. Kelley announced plans for the book shortly after George W. Bush's election in 2001 and worked on it for four years. In "The Family", Kelley claimed that George W. Bush snorted cocaine with his brothers at Camp David during his father's presidency. Kelley cites Sharon Bush, the divorced ex-wife of George W. Bush's brother Neil Bush, as her source for these statements, but Sharon Bush denied making the allegations.

Oprah Winfrey

On December 13, 2006, Crown announced that it would publish Kelley's unauthorized biography of Oprah Winfrey. The 544-page book, Oprah: A Biography, was released by Random House on April 13, 2010. The book has been alleged to contain numerous factual errors. The New York Times criticized Kelley for claiming in the book that she had 2,732 files on Winfrey, only to report the figure as 2,932 elsewhere in the book. Kelley also claimed that Perdue farms CEO Frank Perdue called Winfrey a gorilla on TV in Baltimore, however Winfrey’s former co-host Richard Sher who was there when Winfrey interviewed Perdue, claims that this anecdote is completely untrue and confronted Kelley over the inaccuracy. The book also claimed that Bill O’Reilly phoned Winfrey to complain that she was too left-wing, however when Kelley appeared on O’Reilly’s show, O'Reilly told her that no such phone call ever occurred and asked Kelley if she was bothered by the inaccuracy in the book. Kelley also claims that Winfrey’s 80 year old relative told Kelley the secret identity of Winfrey’s biological father (which Kelley declined to disclose) however Winfrey’s relative denies knowing this information and claims Kelley fabricated much of their conversation and claims that she only granted Kelley the interview because she was under the false impression that Kelley was working with Henry Louis Gates. Kelley was also criticized for getting her facts wrong on basic historical details about the city of Baltimore at the time Winfrey worked there. She claimed that Winfrey was one of only two black women on Baltimore television at the time when in fact there were at least four. Kelley also mistakenly described the producer of a show competing against Winfrey’s as the community affairs director of Winfrey’s station. Kelley also claimed that Winfrey got the city of Chicago to build a parkinglot for her plane, a claim the mayor of Chicago denied

Political views

Kelley is listed on the UK Republic campaign's website as a supporter of a republic to replace the British monarchy, although Kelley is not a British citizen.

References

1. Philp, Catherine (December 15, 2006). "Oprah's life is next in celebrity 'poison pen' biography club". The Times of London. Retrieved 2008-05-08.
2. Usborne, David (December 15, 2006). "Fact or fiction? The incredible world of Kitty Kelley". Retrieved 2008-05-08.
3. ^ "Who is Kitty Kelley?". The Jawa Report. September 4, 2004. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
4. Meyers, Kate (April 26, 1991). "Nancy:Go Figure". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
5. "Kitty Kelley defends sources and timing of new Bush book". MSNBC. September 14, 2004. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
6. http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/books/2156724,CST-FTR-oprah14.article
7. Books - Time
8. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,995182-1,00.html
9. Fact or fiction? The incredible world of Kitty Kelley - Americas, World - Independent.co.uk
10. ^ Crowley, Michael (September 15, 2004). "Kitty Kelley: Colonoscopist to the Stars". Slate. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
11. ^ "Oprah gets 'vicious' biographer". BBC News. December 14, 2006. Retrieved March 26, 2010.
12. Bruni, Frank (September 16, 2004). "For the Queen of Exposé, Four Walls That Won't Talk". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
13. ^ "Kitty Kelley First Lady Of Scandal". Entertainment Weekly. April 26, 1991. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
14. Goldberg, Bernard. 100 People Who Are Screwing up America (paperback ed.). New York: Harper Collins. p. 99. ISBN 0060761296. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
15. "Poison Pen: The Unauthorized Biography of Kitty Kelley". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
16. Birnbaum, Jesse (April 22, 1991). "Books". Time. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
17. http://www.feedcry.com/archive/aid/655827
18. http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/zontv/2010/04/kitty_kelley_oprah_winfrey_ric.html
19. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etAAPeWeE4E
20. http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20100420/NEWS/4200356/Relative++Winfrey+book+untrue
21. http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20100420/OPINION/4200305/1049/OPINION
22. http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/books/2156724,CST-FTR-oprah14.article

External links

• "Kitty Kelley: Colonoscopist to the stars", Slate.com
• "The Cat that Roared" by Sally Denton
• New York Times Book Review, "No stone unthrown"
• New York Times Book Review, "The Family: 'Here Comes the Son'"
• Village Voice, "Kitty Galore"

• 1942 births
• Living people
• American people of Irish descent
• American Roman Catholics
• American biographers
• American journalists
• American investigative journalists
• University of Washington alumni
• People from Spokane, Washington