Sunday Express

19th February 2017

by Adam Helliker

Trump’s Blondie ambition

[Photo caption: BIG RELIEF: Debbie Harry at last week’s Elle bash]

WHATEVER else you say about the leader of the free world, he likes to think big. And this was good news for Blondie singer Debbie Harry, who had a lucky escape from the future President Trump when he deemed her too diminutive for his designs.
The petite punk pin-up, still turning heads at 71, has been a sex symbol since she shot to fame in the late 1970s. During a visit to London last week she told how she had caught The Donald’s eye at the height of her fame.
The 6ft 2in Trump (at least according to his driving licence – he claims an extra inch for good measure) had made a beeline for the 5ft 3in Atomic singer.
However, the tycoon, whose repertoire of “locker-room banter” includes the boast about women that “When you’re a star, they let you do it,” merely managed a “hello”, before turning his attention elsewhere.
“I did meet him briefly and I was too short for him,” Debbie smiled.
“I was too short for him to look at and too short for any consideration. It was definitely a good thing.”
New Yorker Debbie, who modelled a crown last week before accepting Elle Magazine’s Style Icon Award at a salubrious Mayfair bash, pulled your Sunday Express scribe into a lift and pouted as she declared: “I used to be a sex symbol, now I am an icon.”
Fellow Blondie member, and Debbie’s ex-partner, Chris Stein also used the short lift journey to recall her brush with the controversial mogul.
He said of the close encounter: “It’s pretty grim – probably a very lucky escape.”
Trump was a regular on the club scene in the late 1970s, although Stein, now 67, had little time for him. “He was an ***hole,” he states.
Debbie had considerably more time for rock legend David Bowie, thanking him for the part he played in her career. “I feel very fortunate that we were encountered and watched by Bowie.
“He picked us out of the rubble and put us on the road.” She also confided that his death last year had spurred her to make new music.
“It makes you appreciate being able to work and it’s still a contest to keep going. It’s business as usual,” purred Debbie, whose next Blondie album, Pollinator, is out on May 5.
Debbie, wearing a fetching Vivienne Westwood suit that the dearly departed Prince would envy, was keen to share her tips (and quips) for longevity. “I take lots of vitamins… and I am about to go back on the acid,” she joked.