Who Knew Cuddy Was So Cool?

As frequently happens when I jump into the Wikipedia rabbit hole, I ended up somewhere awesome but unexpected. Most recently, I tripped into the bio page for actress Lisa Edelstein (aka hooker-who-slept-with-Sam on West Wing, more recently aka Dr. Cuddy on House). Who knew it would be full of such wonders? Turns out, prior to vamping in tight skirts and dangling her tatas in front of Hugh Laurie, Ms. Edelstein led quite the life.

Exhibit A: At 16, she was a cheerleader for a pro football team owned by Donald Trump. When the girls were ordered to stand in bars in their uniforms to promote the team, she organized a strike. “I was a feminist,” she said on Craig Kilborn, “A feminist in hot pants.”

Exhibit B: As a club in the NYC club scene,”Lisa E” she was dubbed the “Queen of the Night” in a chronicle of the era, Disco Bloodbath. She has said “I was one of those people who was literally famous for doing nothing.” A latter day Paris Hilton!

Exhibit C: Translating her club kid fame into activism, in 1988 Lisa E produced a musical called Positive Me about the growing AIDS crisis. So maybe not so much of a Paris Hilton…

I like her on House, I really do. When House thinks he’s caught her in a lie about her age, she explains that as a 29-year-old applying for a top job, she lied on the application and made herself 31 because who takes a woman in her twenties seriously? The work-life balance thing is handled well (she has a 2-year-old adopted daughter on the show). Although her clothing always seems ridiculously inappropriate for a woman concerned with being taken seriously professionally, Cuddy is already the Dean of Medicine, so I guess when you’re at the top, you get to wear whatever you damn well please.