Eartha Kitt was a legend for several reasons. Outside of her enormous talent, Kitt also had a larger-than-life personality and did not play around when it came to her money, her work, or her man. Kitt’s legacy is an enduring one packed to the brim with iconic roles and even more iconic stories. Let’s take a look at the film stars’ history of checking people.
Eartha Kitt has always been outspoken and opinionated. So much so that for a good chunk of her career, she could not get any acting roles in America due to her publicly criticizing the Vietnam War at a 1968 White House luncheon. She did so in the presence of the first lady, Lady Bird Johnson, which resulted in Kitt having to go to Europe for years to find work. She revealed years later that she had no intention of attending the luncheon in the first place. “Those luncheons, what are they gonna mean?” she remembered thinking. “Blah-blah-blah-blah-blah, and that’s it.”
While there, she lamented about how children were scared to go to school out of fear of being recruited for war after graduating. “No wonder the kids rebel and take pot, and Mrs. Johnson, in case you don’t understand the lingo, that’s marijuana,” she told the first lady. At the time, she was already world-famous for her role as Catwoman in the Batman television series, as well as her rendition of “Santa Baby.” Kitt reveals that she was asked by a music executive to change the words to her signature song in the ’50s.
During the discussion, Kitt was brief and ready to be on her way when the exec asked her about the lyric, where she asked Santa to come down her chimney. When told the line was “suggestive,” Kitt quipped, “Yes. The chimney being widely-known to be the vaginal canal of any home.” Kitt fired back that the song was a perfect Christmas anthem thanks to its shopping list-style lyrics. “It’s a Capitalist dream,” she retorted. It is unclear how much of the transcribed exchange is real, but it is hilarious and ripe with her unique charm and unfazed energy.
Kitt’s sharp tongue remained that way long after she was welcomed back into Hollywood. The actress would gain a second and third wind in the ’80s, ’90s, and ’00s. This included sultry roles like Lady Eloise in Boomerang, the Villian Yzma in The Emperor’s New Groove, and several interviews that have gone viral since her passing.
Jackée Harry recalls a time she crossed paths with Eartha Kitt and got a handful of her signature sass. According to the Sister, Sister star, she and Eartha were sleeping with the same man. “Eartha Kitt slapped the f*** outta me!” she admitted on Twitter in 2019. According to Harry, she was unknowingly sleeping with Kitt’s man at the time. “She thought I was sleeping with her boyfriend,” she expanded before revealing, “I didn’t know he was taken.”
The moment had fans on social media in a frenzy. While Harry never revealed who the man was, fans are still eager to find out.
