What Happened: Poor Nikki Blonsky. The 23-year-old actress has come under scrutiny over conflicting reports of the out-of-work actress working at an upscale shoe boutique in New York. For anyone who might not know Nikki Blonsky, her claim to fame came in 2007 when starred in Hairspray alongside acting vets John Travolta and Michelle Pfeiffer…not to mention Zac Efron. But since then her acting digs have dwindled down to type-casted Lifetime made-for-TV movies such as “Queen Sized” and a utterly tragic show Huge on ABC Family Channel.
According to US Weekly, the owner of the boutique, Steven Dann, claimed Nikki was a longtime friend and that she was scheduled to work two to three times a week before the media frenzy took over. But it doesn’t stop there. According to Page Six and talent manager Blake Woodruff of Prestige Management Group, Nikki would use business meetings and premieres as tricks to the press into printing she has a boyfriend. So not only is she an out-of-work actress, but she’s desperate too?
How She Responded a la Twitter (click images to see larger):
Nikki denied working at the boutique and claimed she had just “experimented:”
Steven Dann, the owner of the shoe boutique, took it to his Twitter account five days later and tweeted:
How Her Publicist Responded:
“Per her Twitter, she is openly and happily single…I have never actively pitched a story with her regarding any boyfriends.” -Nikki Blonsky’s reps (in response to Page Six, not Steven Dann)
If I Were Her Publicist: What the hell. This story is weird and lets be honest, a little pathetic. If Nikki had, in fact, been working at this shoe boutique, she should have just owned it. She could tell the press she was taking a break from acting and trying something new. Stars do that all the time. Granted, usually they lay low and aren’t found behind cash registers. But who cares? Nikki was never an over-the-top celebrity. Once upon a time she was a 17-year-old girl who submitted a video of herself in hopes of landing the role of Tracy Turbald in Hairspray. She was working at a Coldstone Creamery and was told she was one of the final four contenders for the role. News Line reps told her they would come into her place of work and film a segment. Much to her surprise, they came into her work and announced she got the part. Watch this video. She’s adorable and real.
For the sake of this post, let’s just say Nikki was working at that shoe boutique. She should have owned it. The story would have died right away because it wasn’t interesting. What makes it interesting, and now, unfortunately for her, is all over the internet, because of the conflicting reports. Thank God for Twitter, we can see it all unfold. This entire story has now escalated into an even bigger hot mess–claims that she uses lies and tricks to make the press believe she has a boyfriend. WHO DOESN’T DO THAT? At this point, I don’t know if Nikki should come clean or not, or just wait until the story goes to rest. Was she broke? Or was she experimenting? Maybe it’s a crazy publicity stunt to help Nikki get more customers into her friend’s store! I can’t say. But what I can say is that Twitter may or may not be a dream for publicists, or, a nightmare. There is nothing like a good tweet war.
Do you think Nikki is telling the truth?
If I Were Their Publicist 
I think she’s embarrassed about being caught working in a shoe store. A little taste of celebrity probably made her feel like she was on her way. Then she finds out it’s tough out there and has to go to work in a shoe store. Lots of actors work as waiters and later call it honest work while waiting for their big break. It would have made a better story if she’d owned it. As for a boyfriend somewhere. Well, lots of people have pretended that at one time or another. Looks like she better make up with Steven Dann before he makes it worse.
I have never heard of her. I don’t think she’s a big enough celebrity to care so much about people knowing she was working at a shoe store. People have done much more embarrassing things for money, even celebrities.