I watched the Netflix show Inventing Anna and I became enthralled, like so many other twenty-somethings. I find Anna’s story nothing short of inspiring. I feel deeply empathic for her ambition to make something out of nothing. 

After watching the show and reading about her in the news, I feel compelled to create. 

Anna’s story shifted my perspective on what is possible for me, as a twenty-four-year-old woman. Even though she technically failed to create her arts foundation, she created a movement. A tidal wave, scooping up young women all over the place and spitting us out on higher ground. 

And it was not just a shift in my mind, I actually began to experiment with what is possible for me to do in the world. I began contacting billionaires and famous musicians about my idea to creating a nightclub in an abandoned theater in Harvard Square. I began reaching out to people connected to Anna, like curator and infamous artist Alfredo Martinez, about writing an article on Anna’s upcoming solo art show. 

Even if none of my wacky ideas come to fruition, just the fact that I was motivated to leave my comfort zone and just fucking go for it is remarkable. 

Anna has empowered me. It’s as simple as that. 

Yet her story is polarizing, to say the least. Some think of her as a conniving, villainous con artist and nothing more. Some see her as a feminist leader. I lean more towards the feminist leader side. 

I know this is not news anymore, but let’s call that part of the blog brand. Old news. Self-loathing undertones. Shit no one cares about. Boom, marketing. 

Besides, news happens so fast that there is not much reflection going on. Not to say there will be much reflection here either but anyway lol. I guess I just can’t keep up with the news but we don’t have to share that part. 

So ANYWAY this is my unadulterated take on Anna Delvey (but who cares what I think!).

NYC April 2022. Finding Anna.

I thought it would be interesting to listen to a few of Anna’s recent podcast interviews and compare them. Specifically her Whitehot Magazine interview and the Call Her Daddy (CHD) interview.

Whitehot podcast host and magazine publisher Noah Becker did not watch Inventing Anna, but Alex Cooper on CHD did.

Perhaps that fact impacted how each of the interviewers interacted with Anna. 

Also, CHD has been leaning into “tell-all” types of interviews, where scandal is sensationalized. By contrast, Whitehot Magazine podcasts about the contemporary art world and showcases its artists. 

In my opinion, Call Her Daddy’s Cooper completely misses the mark. In the interview, Alex plays detective, trying to nail down the culprit, yet Anna already served her time. Alex puts Anna on trial for crimes for which she has already been found guilty. Like, that’s not the story here. 

Cooper puts Anna on blast, and almost dehumanizes her in a frenzy of accusation and fear. Alex makes it seem that she is battling against Anna, as if Anna is about to break out of prison and swindle Alex out of all her worth. 

I mean, it is just not professional. I got second-hand embarrassment listening to it. Alex feels threatened by Anna, and it shows.

I think the fact that Alex watched the Netflix special has everything to do with how she interviewed Anna. She wasn’t interviewing Anna Delvey. She was interviewing Anna, the con-artist from the Netflix show. 

It’s so interesting to me that Alex and Anna don’t get along, because Alex used to podcast about her shady social-climbing antics: from scoring an invite to the Hamptons to knowing how to spot and date a rich man, etc., etc. Her whole podcasting persona is steeped in money and sex. She stops just short of being a gold-digger, and she not-so-low-key brags about how rich and famous she has become. 

Maybe Alex is irritated by Anna because Alex respects people who are open and honest about their social-climbing tendencies, just like she is. Both Anna and Alex are social climbers, however Anna’s social-climbing style is different: she is elusive and daring, almost suave and spy-like. Very European, very exclusive. Alex is blunt and wry, but in an endearing, earnest way. Very American, very obnoxious. The two personalities inevitably clashed. 

Alex plays therapist with cheesy, boring lines like, “Who hurt you” and “How do you feel…” and, “Do you compartmentalize.” Alex wants to be the journalist character, like in the show. Cooper has severe expectations about who Anna truly is, so she got exactly what she expected. 

That is Anna’s talent. She is a chameleon, she reflects back what people see. I guess that’s why I have such an emotional reaction to her story. I see a bit of Anna in myself. That is why I became somewhat obsessed with this story. Anna is this misfit, charming and ambitious, and a little twisted. 

In her brazen social experiment, Anna showed the world that rich people care about money and that classism is alive and well. Anna was socially elite but had little money to back her status. This equals fraud in the public view. You cannot enter into the financial institutions of wealthy people unless you are of the same socioeconomic status. AKA classism. 

Anna also exposes entrepreneurialism at its finest… or at its worst… if she had succeeded, no one would have cared how she got there. Her antics are reminiscent of Banksy’s social pranks, but more criminal.

Whitehot Magazine took Anna more seriously, first as a person who had a rocky past but is still worthy of forgiveness and second chances, but also as a creative force.

They delved (pun) into Anna’s budding artistic career, and how she makes the most of her current situation in ICE detention. One quote stuck out to me from the interview, where Anna says, “It’s almost like, freedom is killing my creativity,” and I thought that was brilliant. Anna really is an artist. Only an artist could look at jail-time as the perfect opportunity to bang out a book. As an aspiring author, I felt an actual pang of jealousy for being in jail! It was an absurd comment to make, but it totally solidifies my view that Anna is in fact an artist.

I made the connection between Anna and Andy Warhol and others have made this connection too. But I’m no expert, I just watched the Netflix Warhol mini-series lol. 

But I think she is a living work of art, just like Andy. She inspires other people to make art around her. Think about it. So much media and art has stemmed from Anna Delvey. Anna is a muse.

idk. Hashtag Free Anna.