The Greenhouse Effect

A Special Sit-Down Interview With Amy Greenhouse

I knew before she entered the door that my interview with Amy Greenhouse would be anything but ordinary. The international pop sensation, just finishing her co-headlining "Sticky&Sweet" world tour with Kelly Spears and promoting her latest Billboard #1 album "World War Me" , is infamous for throwing tantrums during interviews. While promoting her hit 2007 album "Slow Motion Addict", she actually assaulted a reporter from Rolling Stone with a cat because the food they had delivered from a local Indian restaurant was too delicious.



As she entered the room dressed in jeans, chucks, and a smart yellow cardigan, I couldn't help but think that maybe the tabloids had it wrong. Surely this couldn't be the demon described in those other articles. I couldn't understand how the woman sitting across from me with her shy smile and caring eyes could be the same person who hit that Rolling Stone guy in the face with a cat, threw up on Beyonce, interrupted Obama's inauguration by running on stage and screaming "SQUIRT ALERT", and allegedly stole the $175,000 gown she wore while winning 16 Grammy's.



I began the interview by asking Greenhouse what she thought of her "bad girl" image.



"Oh, I don't know why people think that about me. I'm the girl next door, really! I know I've made mistakes in the past, but who hasn't? It's like, yeah, I threw a cat ONCE at ONE GUY and suddenly I have PETA yelling at me and my mom crying on the phone and the paparazzi using grappling hooks to break into my hotel room. What about my feelings? The cat asked to be thrown so I threw it. I wasn't angry. Why would I be?"



I went on to ask if there was any truth behind the rumors that she used a body double for the entire second half of the "Sticky&Sweet" tour. The Sun reported in late December that Greenhouse and Spears were fighting nonstop throughout their North American shows, and stated that Greenhouse walked out after a disastrous show in Dallas. The paper went on to say that due to a contractual obligation, Greenhouse was forced to continue the tour but used a lip-synching body double.



"I've heard the body double stories, and yeah they're true. Kelly and I hate each other, okay? I know the world already knows that so it shouldn't come as a shock. I think we just have different audiences. I try to appeal to the more intellectual crowd, and she just shakes her ass for money. It's vulgar. I couldn't take her disgusting lifestyle anymore so I called my friend Annie Lennox who threw on a wig and finished the tour for me. I don't feel guilty. You have to understand that with Kelly Spears it's not an act...she's like that all the time."

Soon our conversation shifted as Greenhouse discussed her latest album, "World War Me".

"I was never much of an activist, but when I heard about the awful war in Iraq I decided to declare war on war. Millions of people are dying every second in places like Asia. I tried to think of the victims while I wrote and recorded 'World War Me'. On it, I do a cover of my friend Annie's 'Walking on Broken Glass' because I figure that must be what life is like every day for the children in war torn places like Asia. In another song on the album, "Righteous Rebelle" I imagined what it must be like to be a woman and an artist in Iraq, having to keep secret all my hopes and desires"

At this point Greenhouse began to cry. I didn't have any tissue so I offered her a paper towel to dry her eyes. She became belligerent, accusing me of trying to ruin her perfect skin with the "rough edges" of a paper towel. She proceeded to throw a cat at me. She chased me for three blocks threatening to send me killer bees in the mail. Interview Over.