‘The City’ interview: Erin Lucas gives her ‘verbal diarrhea’ free rein

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Last year, Erin Lucas did not exist. No, I don’t mean that Erin Lucas did not exist because she was not yet famous for her role as feisty confidante to Whitney Port on ‘The City’ but that, quite literally, there was no person named Erin Lucas.

Until the debut of the MTV reality series last December, Erin went by the surname Williams, which she inherited from her father, AC/DC bassist Cliff Williams. It wasn’t until producers approached the perky brunett about appearing on ‘The City’ that Erin and her mother decided (‘one night over a couple bottles of wine,’ according to Erin) that the starlet-to-be should adopt an alias in the professional arena.

What Erin didn’t count on was the intrepid curiosity of websites like Gawker.

‘It’s so creepy,’ she admitted during our recent phone interview. ‘I don’t know why they want to know all this business about my family.’ Eventually, an eagle-eyed viewer from Best Week Ever confirmed that Erin was in fact Cliff Williams’ daughter by spying a photograph of a young Erin, alongside the famous bassist, on an episode of the show.

With all the apparent curiosity on the topic, I had to ask: Why had Erin chosen not to acknowledge her rock star pedigree on the series? ‘I never wanted to have an interview like this,’ she replied. Touche.

‘That was definitely a conscious effort on my part, and the producers agreed,’ she elaborated. Erin did not want to be known as Cliff Williams’ daughter but instead to become famous in her own right.

And she has, though she’s too modest to admit it. ‘I don’t think I have [become famous] really,’ mused Erin. ‘I’ll get a nod every now and then, here and there, but I don’t know. I’ve had a couple of drunk run-ins for sure.’ And nods and drunk run-ins are fine by Erin, but there is one brand of fan behavior that really rubs her the wrong way. ‘It’s just awkward when people stare at you and don’t say anything,’ she said.

Still, it will take much more than an awkward stare to truly upset this New Yorker. ‘Life is just too short to take anything too seriously,’ Erin declared. ‘This [show] included.’ Thus, Erin refuses to let herself get embarrassed by some of her more colorful on-air pronouncements, or as she affectionately referred to them, ‘my verbal diarrhea.’

Erin gave her ‘verbal diarrhea’ free rein during our interview, cursing freely and answering questions with refreshing frankness, even when she’d rather not. ‘This is so embarrassing to admit,’ Erin confessed when asked how she stays so tan throughout the New York winter, ‘but a little spray tan never hurt anyone.’

Throughout our call, Erin brought up Whitney Port’s name as often as possible, in a clear effort not to upstage her lithe blond bestie. But I still had to ask: Since Whitney landed her own series after playing confidante to Lauren Conrad on ‘The Hills,’ did Erin have any hopes of scoring her own spinoff one day? ‘ I can’t think that far ahead,’ Erin replied, uncharacteristically evasive. ‘I’m just excited for Whitney doing this.’

Although it was never explained on the show, Erin met Whitney three years ago through their then boyfriends, when the four shared an RV at the Coachella music festival. The girls ‘hit it off famously,’ Erin said, and kept in touch long after parting ways with their respective beaus. Just thinking of the exes brought a tinge of mischief into Erin’s voice. ‘I’d love to see their faces,’ she said with a laugh.

-- Stephanie Lysaght