Local Suicide Girl vies for Paris Hilton's friendship

Oct 02, 2008 (Manassas Journal Messenger - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- NWS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Zui does not want to be awake. It's barely noon in Los Angeles and she'd rather be sleeping. It's a big day. Zui, real name Lauren Watts, of Woodbridge, is hanging out with fellow cast members of "Paris Hilton's My New BFF." She's got to do her makeup and hair. Later she'll head out for the premiere of the show at a Los Angeles club, which took place Sept. 30.

The show, as the name implies, is a reality show competition to become heiress Paris Hilton's new best friend. It airs 10 p.m. Tuesdays on MTV. The first episode was this week.

She had to compete with 17 other contestants for a place in Hilton's inner circle. The competition included events such as playing polo while riding on guys' backs.

"You hit a ball with a stick, so stupid," Zui said. (The name "Zui," pronounced "Zoo," is a shortened version of one of her best friend's names, Zubeida).

She can't talk about much of the show, or the outcome. But, she feels "pretty good" about how everything turned out.

"I think good choices were made," Zui said.

She never met Hilton before the show (she said she'd rather hang out with Guns N' Roses).

"[Hilton is] really funny and she's really actually very smart," Zui said.

Zui is a Suicide Girl, which means she models for SuicideGirls.com, a Web site specializing in pictures of tattooed and pierced nude women. She's not entirely sure how many tattoos she has, 17, maybe, but the sleeve might count as one.

"My parents are kind of hippies," Zui said. Her mother, Kedren Watts, took her to get her first tattoo in D.C. at 18.

Zui would have graduated from Woodbridge Senior High School in 2001 (she thinks) but was expelled her junior year for fighting.

"I was fighting because I was dating a girl at the time and I was getting picked on," Zui said. She added that she complained a few times, but when the school did not do anything, she blew up, pulling hair, trying to throw punches. She estimates she lost the fight.

"I'm not much of a toughie," Zui said. "I never went to school anyways; it was not a big deal."

She traveled around the country, dating the lead singer from a band called The Used.

After some travel on her own, seven months later, she was back in Woodbridge, working at H&M, a clothing store in Potomac Mills mall. For the most part she's stayed in town, minus three months in New York City to shoot a small part in the Troma film "Poultrygeist."

She's also appeared in Playgirl Magazine as an "accessory" to a male model and in an Early November music video.

In 2004 Zui started working as a Suicide Girl.

She got her start after taking the suggestion of a friend. At the time she was taking nude photos of herself, but her friend knew being a Suicide Girl could be a financial opportunity for her.

Zui won't say how much she makes, but said it's not enough as a full time job.

"I really try not to judge any of my girls," said her mother, Kedren Watts, 52. "She's always wanted to be a model. She's quite striking."

In fact, one of the Suicide Girls books, featuring Zui, used to be on Watt's coffee table.

Zui said she met a casting director who encouraged her to send in an audition tape.

"I'm like a wild animal, I'm just insane," Zui said. "I have a bad reputation for trashing hotel rooms... I've always wanted my own reality show."

She didn't think she'd fit in with the kind of girls who might be on the show--prissy, backstabbing. She's more of a rock 'n' roll girl, but thought it would be a fun way to meet new people.

She did a series of interviews, answering questions like why, exactly, she wanted to be Hilton's new BFF.

"I think I'm amazing," Zui said, in response to that query. "I'm really funny. I always make [Paris] laugh... I just want to meet people, hang out and live, have a shopping buddy."

Zui isn't sure what's next.

She'd love a spin-off show, but she's happy to let things keep on going,

posing for Suicide Girls, working with her modeling agency in New York.

"I hope she wins," Watts said. "This is her dream. If she can get there, great for me. I want all of my girls to do exactly what they want to do in life."

Staff writer Josh Eiserike can be reached at 703-878-8072.

How'd Zui do?

The Potomac News/MJM checks in with "Paris Hilton's My New BFF" every week to track Zui's progress.

Episode I: Welcome to the Dollhouse

Zui didn't get much screen time. There were 16 girls and two guys competing, first with a meet-n-greet, where they were judged on first impressions. Then, a blindfolded interview while Paris and her boyfriend, Good Charlotte's Benji Madden, listened in. Four girls were escorted to the airport after, the remaining 14 went back to a Los Angeles mansion, called "The Dollhouse." The next morning they were taken to an airplane hangar for "industrial strength makeovers," in preparation for a red carpet walk for In Touch Magazine. After the party, one girl was sent home for refusing to take makeover advice. Zui had a couple lines, complaining how the girl placed at the top of Paris's "friend chain" had sold out one of the other girls.

On the Web

" Parisbff.com

" Myspace.com/zui

" SuicideGirls.com

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