“I only have four more years of entertainment in my
life,” she told a local newspaper just before the audition,
“and if I have the opportunity to do it, I might as well take
that.”^1
Dressed in a silvery sequined top, donning pearls around
her neck and fishnet stockings, Stephanie stepped onto the
platform of America’s most popular talent show, smiling
nervously before the judges.
“Wow,” a couple of them said, remarking on her outfit.
“I almost wore the same thing,” Randy joked.
Simon rolled his eyes, obviously annoyed.
“Okay,” Kara said, “let’s hear it.”
In her black and white oxfords, Stephanie spread her feet
apart as if to ready herself, and she opened with Peggy
Lee’s “Fever.”
“Never know how much I love you / Never know how
much I care . . .”
At this point, Stephanie was snapping her fingers and
provocatively staring down the judges, who were audibly
groaning. Her rhythm was off, the notes were wrong, and
everyone on the set knew it, including Stephanie.
They told her to stop. She frowned.
“Thank you, Stephanie,” Simon said.
“What did you think?” Kara asked.
“Terrible. Honestly, you can’t sing, sweetheart.”
In the YouTube video that tells her painful story over
and over again, Stephanie admitted to being a little