Patti LuPone’s New Yorker profile has been one of the stories of the week. I don’t even think the New Yorker did Patti dirty – they accurately quoted her and captured her essence, which is basically “a ball of chaos and nonsensical sh-t talking.” There were so many controversial moments within the profile – Patti referring to Glenn Close as a “bitch,” Patti telling her side of the story regarding the Hell’s Kitchen musical, Patti dismissing Kecia Lewis as not a Broadway veteran and calling her a “bitch” as well. But the moment which really got people yelling “cancel Patti LuPone” was what she said about Audra McDonald, who is practically sainted in the Broadway community. Seriously, no one has beef with Audra – she is beloved by audiences, the acting community, directors and everyone else. There’s a reason why she has six Tony Awards, you know? Well, Patti declared that Audra is “not a friend,” and when asked about Audra’s performance in Gypsy, LuPone sat in silence for several beats and then said “What a beautiful day.”
Well, you know the New York-based media has been itching to dig into it. Gayle King was the one who got the first on-camera interview with Audra after LuPone’s interview came out earlier this week. Audra was incredibly classy about the whole thing:
Oh Audra…the legend you are. pic.twitter.com/7213dADnZJ
— Kenny (@kennysroys) May 29, 2025
Audra kept it simple: “If there’s a rift between us, I don’t know what it is. That’s something you’d have to ask Patti about. You know, I haven’t seen her in about 11 years just because we’ve been busy just with life. So I don’t know what rift she’s talking about, but you’d have to ask her.” Eleven years??? That’s crazy. Damn, Patti LuPone can hold a grudge (for nonexistent reasons). That actually made me wonder about Patti’s Zodiac sign, because I thought she might be a Virgo. Virgos are champion grudge-holders and we will nurse a beef for decades. But Patti is a Taurus (which explains her bull-in-a-china-shop energy). Audra is a Cancer, in case you’re wondering.
Anyway, the Tony Awards are two Sundays from now, June 8. Audra is nominated for Gypsy, and her nom this year has made her the most nominated and decorated artist in history. Patti wasn’t nominated this year.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
-
- Audra McDonald attends Paramount+’s “The Good Fight” Series Finale Event on November 2, 2022 at Museum of Art and Design Theater in New York, New York, USA.,Image: 735014981, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Audra McDonald, Credit line: Robin Platzer/Twin Images/Avalon
-
- 40th Film Independent Spirit Awards at Beach on February 22, 2025 in Santa Monica, CA,Image: 967885013, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Patti Lupone, Credit line: Nicky Nelson/Wenn/Avalon
-
- The New York Special Screening of Another Simple Favor held at Jazz at Lincoln Center,Image: 993099188, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Patti Lupone, Credit line: Udo Salters/Wenn/Avalon
Personally speaking….NO ONE HOLDS A GRUDGE LIKE A 🤬🤬🤬 TAURUS! 🤣😅😱
10 of my family members were born in May, only one of whom is a Taurus. The Taurus has not spoken to the other May born family members in years, doesn’t talk to her two siblings, and her relationships with other family members is chaotic. She refused to speak to her own daughter for 3 years and then just sent her a birthday present like nothing had ever been off. The woman can hold a grudge like nobody else.
Can confirm. Mother and hubby are both Taurus. Big grudge holders!
Could it all be common or garden jealousy? Not even a beef? Or maybe even a touch of racism thrown in? ie. A Black woman shouldn’t be quite so successful on Broadway??? sheeshh!
Ahem. Taurus here who has a very long memory and can hold a grudge. I’ll forgive, but never ever forget. My brain seems to hold onto the slights. I have memories going back to 4 years old. I remember my uncle yelling at me because I spilled some food on the floor. I still don’t relax around the guy. And that’s just one of earliest.
as a fellow Taurus, her holding a grudge for eleven years let me know EXACTLY what sign she was, and I cackled when I was right. my husband was lovingly told me I am good at holding a grudge and I have a memory like an elephant. 😂 it’s true!
that being said, holding a grudge doesn’t mean being a bitch for bitch’s sake. I think Patti gets rightfully lauded for speaking her mind but that doesn’t mean you have to be a jerk all the time.
The moment I started reading the zodiac sign part I closed my eyes and sighed. Of course she’s a Taurus. My sister and I are both Taurus but I feel like I’m the only one who got the “I’ll hold a grudge until the day that I die” trait.
Patti is too extreme though, you can hold grudges but not without reason like that. It’s too tiring.
Audra was classy. It was funny. I haven’t seen her in 11 years was taking me out. Audra was always going to be grace and class about it. There’s a white privilege in the fact that Patty felt comfortable calling other women in showbiz bitches. I was fine with her response to Trump though.
Shades of Mimi’s “I don’t know her”…AND I 💚 IT! 🤣😅
Yes! I was thinking that too.
Technically, Audra confirmed Patti,’s statement that she is “not a friend” if they haven’t even talked in 11 years! Maybe this is what Patti is pissed about because she considered Audra a friend at some point and feels like Audra neglected her?!
But IDK, Patti sounds like a piece of work who creates rifts out of thin air by just running her mouth.
Audra is a class act.
Yeah there’s probably hurt feelings and professional jealousy, but the privilege and audacity to call out these other women in a New Yorker profile. Mygawd. I actually skipped the profile because I don’t follow Broadway and I only know Patti from a silly tv show I watched in the 80s – but now I’m following this with this new letter signed by 500 artists. That’s Patti’s legacy now.
True class.
I guess the way I see it is Audra and Patti are two completely different women with different artistic profiles and personalities. We have no idea what Audra is like in private, nor Patti. We have no idea what went down between them, if anything even did.
Patti has chosen to be extremely rude and outspoken outside of her art, that’s her thing. She also has one of the purest ringing musical theater sopranos, such lovely clarity and an ability to interpret the complexity that peak Broadway theater demands, like Sondheim. I love listening to her when she’s on the stage. When she’s not….
Audra has far more range (from the truly operatic through musical theater and jazz IIRC) and has chosen to be extremely gracious and a lovely person to work with by all accounts. I love listening to her many, many gifts as a singer and she’s fun to watch on things like the famous James Corden singalong with Lin Manuel Miranda and others…
It’s almost like…women just don’t fit into cookie cutter expectations, do they? Should they always be well behaved? It’s almost like they’re just people who make different choices, especially in their public lives which they are both privileged to have? And we can comment on all of it, because they’ve chosen public lives, and here we are. I don’t think one is a devil and the other is an angel. Let’s not put that on women, shall we?
Team Women, in all their flaws and fabulousness
Yes, thank you. I won’t take sides on this – they’re both incredible performers.
I’m always team women but I refuse to acknowledge flaws in some women wanting to tear others down for their own benefit or because that is who they are as people. To me there is a flaw in only seeing them as women and ignoring how one of them chose to degrade several women and men, one of whom she hadn’t seen or spoken to in 11 years. To me it’s dismissive to ignore the language she chose to use towards others. That’s like the “why can’t we like both Kate and Meghan?” argument when one of them is a racists who allowed a lie to be used to abuse another one for their own benefit. I’m team women for other women who have the same energy about all women. Kate doesn’t fit that criteria, and from Patti’s own words and actions, I’m not even sure if she fits that criteria.
Talent does not and never will make up for a person being terrible. Men got away with this excuse for way too long (“Genius must be indulged”). And it doesn’t help the person get to the root of their problems—it makes them worse…and arguably screws up their talent too.
Yep, like all the celebs we discuss here, we don’t know them personally. However, the 500 Broadway artists who just signed a letter condemning Patti’s behavior probably do have some insight.
1. Audra in this interview is the definition of unbothered.
2. I think it’s possible that La Lupone is jealous that Audra has the massive talent that Patti has AND is also well liked by everyone while Patti, judging by her reactions to everything, seemingly is not.
It’s a choice by Patti. A strange choice, nonetheless a choice.
I have a feeling that Patti doesn’t give a flying you-know-what about being liked. By anyone. But again, we have no idea what she is like in her personal life. She may be the sweetest person at the bakery you’d ever want to meet.
And while I personally wouldn’t choose to go “full Patti,” I and many women I know could do better with a piece of that take no prisoners, IDGAF attitude in their lives….Men for sure don’t apologize for taking up space in the way Patti does without a fingertip of her actual talent and achievements
There are certainly people who earn Patti’s ill concealed contempt, Trump being one. But Kecia Lewis and Audra McDonald? Choosing to go through life with a chip on one’s shoulder when you have been uniquely blessed with abundant talent and privilege, will eventually blow up in your face. It appears that time has come for Patti. And it’s sad because it will taint her amazing legacy.
@ Lady Esther – I just don’t buy that a woman who is out here calling fellow women bitches in interviews in a society that’s already set up to tear women down is someone who just might be the sweetest person at the bakery.
I don’t believe that Patti doesn’t care about being liked. Her actions, her words to me show otherwise. Nobody is this bent up over matters that in some instances happened decades ago and doesn’t care.
What is there to admire and emulate? Call other women bitches but sing David Mamet’s (of all people!) praises? As I’ve said below, this isn’t a case of being outspoken, this a case of being mean spirited.
If Audra ever retires from theater (and I hope she never does), a great future in politics awaits her. That answer was chef’s kiss and fire all at once. 🤌🔥
Uhm… I’m a Taurus , respectfully, I do not like chaos and drama. Patti is next level. Holding grudges and no one knows what she’s talking about.
I think Patti the Petty was sh-t talking just to grab some attention. She wanted a big feud to start with Audra to grab some of Audra’s light since Audra is nominated for a Tony. But Audra handled it excellently by doing a revised ‘I don’t know her’ a la Mimi.
It was the perfect response to take the wind right out of Patti’s sails. What I heard from Audra (translated by my Older Black Woman filter) amounted to: “Play with someone else, B-tch. I’m not your toy.”
The comments here are telling-many of you accept casual racism with ease, excusing it due to her talent and reputation. ‘She’s an older woman set in her ways’ and ‘we don’t expect men to behave’ are weak sauce justifications. Let’s focus on the fact she targeted Kecia Lewis—a talented woman with 10 years of Broadway experience-and denigrated her, dismissing Audra without reason, with unapologetic pride. I don’t know how some here can’t see that.
Exactly! And don’t forget that Kecia Lewis’ show was “too loud”. 😒
Not sure if it was a typo but Kecia Lewis has done theatre for 40 years, debuting on Broadway in the original Dreamgirls production in the 80s. She has ten Broadway credits so far and also won a Tony last year.
That’s what was so belittling about Patti’s comment in regards to Kecia not being a veteran and thus not knowing what she’s talking about. It was meant to denigrate and insult, basically telling her to shut up.
To frame this as ‘a woman who doesn’t behave’ and shouldn’t be criticised, as someone above tried to do, misses the point. People should be called out on their isht and that includes women.
Patti has done this, insult and belittle, for a long, long time. This has nothing to do with being outspoken, this is being mean-spirited, plain and simple (and in this case, racially biased on top of that).
Thank you THATGIRLTHERE and OTHER LARA because I totally agree with both of you on the dismissiveness in these comments of what she said and who she said it to. The excuses for Patti calling two black women a b**** is disrespectful and disregards the attacks that they were victims of for no reason of their own. Neither of them deserved to be attacked by Patti and Patti doesn’t deserve grace because “she’s always outspoken”, “of an older age”, “a certain zodiac sign”, “talented”, “a veteran”, “we need women to be more take more prisoners type” or whatever other reason people have given as an excuse for her to feel so entitled and self righteous to call two highly successful veterans of theater b******. It was classless and shameful. There is no grace or excuse for what she did. I’m a combination take no prisoners and kind and gracious person all at the same time and I would never speak so cruelly to or about someone else, especially of people who are my peers. Both Audra and Kecia gave gracious responses to this woman completely disrespecting them and their talents and I can’t help but admire them even more because that is how you respond to bullies regardless of how talented they are.
How old is Patti? She sounds like Sophia on the Golden Girls- lost the discretion button. Who are Patti’s friends?