Authors Interviewing Characters: Halley Sutton
Authors interviewing characters: Halley Sutton interviews Salma Lowe from her novel THE HURRICANE BLONDE
Salma Lowe knows what it’s like to be in the spotlight. A former child actor, she became a fixture of the tabloids during the late nineties for her wild child exploits. Then there’s her family. Her father, Dave Lowe, was considered one of Hollywood’s great actors—the thinking woman’s heartthrob, an Academy Award winner. Her mother, Vivienne Powell Lowe, is an acclaimed actress in her own right, and the daughter of a famous director.
Then there’s Salma’s older sister, Tawney Lowe. Tawney was an up-and-coming star—think Brooke Shields meets Drew Barrymore—in the 1990s…before she was murdered at the age of 23. The murder was never solved.
A few turns in rehab later, Salma’s retired from acting—only to run her own true crime tour bus in Hollywood. At least on her tour, most of the deaths happened years before….most, but maybe not all…
Halley Sutton is interviewing Salma.
HS: So, Salma, this is hardly your first interview.
SL (raises eyebrows): Is that really the question?
HS: No, sorry. What I meant to say was, this is hardly your first interview—because you grew up in a famous family. I even remember seeing your entire family on the cover of People magazine, Vogue. What was it like to grow up that famous?
SL: I mean, it was my childhood. It was normal. Whatever your childhood was like, that was probably normal for you, right?
[Long, awkward pause.]
SL: Sorry. I just…don’t like interviews.
[In the late 1990s, and especially the early 2000s, Salma Lowe was a near-permanent tabloid fixture. Nicknamed Sloppy Salma, the tabloids were frequently mean, misogynistic, and gleeful to exploit what we might now recognize as trauma and burgeoning addiction issues. It’s not a shock she doesn’t love speaking to the press.]
SL (After a moment): Sorry. Let me try that again. My childhood was…both charmed and terrifying. Anytime we went out to dinner, we had the best table at the best restaurants in Los Angeles, but at the same time, we couldn’t even have a conversation as a family without someone asking for an interview, everyone watching us, trying to get a peek at the Lowes. I was constantly aware of being watched, all the time. My mother was so used to it, she was so poised. She was good at being a star. My father thought it was funny. But I hated it.
HS: What about your older sister, Tawney? What was her relationship to fame like?
SL: You know, there’s something dishonest about fame.
HS: How do you mean?
SL: Like…people think they know you, know exactly who you are. And then you have to keep being that person your whole life, if you want to stay famous. You can grow, or change, but only a little bit. But you still have to retain that core that other people believe is you. Not is you, mind—what other people believe you are. What and who they want you to be.
Anyway, Tawney was the most honest person I ever knew. She couldn’t stand artifice. She always wanted to live in the truth, even if it was ugly. I suppose…if she’d lived, that would’ve been a problem for her, that tension between fame and the truth.
[In 1997, Tawney Lowe was found strangled to death beside her swimming pool. Salma and her mother discovered the body. The case was never solved.]
HS: Speaking of your sister, I’m sorry for your loss. Were you two close?
SL (blinks back tears): She was my favorite person in the whole world.
HS (clears throat): Let me switch topics for a moment. As a child, you were a working actor, booking roles on sitcoms like Morty’s House, and some B-movie projects, before retiring from acting in your twenties. Do you ever miss acting?
SL: Yeah, I miss acting sometimes. Pretending to be someone else, falling into a new make-believe world. I wasn’t really very good at it, despite my family history. Never as good as Tawney, or my parents. Maybe more than acting, I loved being on a soundstage, seeing everyone at work. I spent more hours on set as a kid than I did in my own home. A movie set felt like home. So yeah, I miss it—movie-making, not just acting.
I don’t miss directors telling me to lose weight, or studios giving notes on your appearance everyday, or being held personally responsible for a film tanking. That I don’t miss.
HS: After acting, you moved onto running a true crime bus tour in Hollywood. How did you get involved in that?
SL: After rehab—my second stint in rehab, that is—I needed a job. My sponsor ran a true crime bus tour and offered me the gig. Growing up in my family, I knew a lot about Hollywood history—I almost couldn’t avoid it. I especially heard a lot of stories about actresses who died young—Marilyn Monroe, Sharon Tate, Dominique Dunne—and I wanted to pay them tribute. Alongside my sister.
HS: Finally, I’d be remiss if I don’t ask: Do you have any theories about who murdered your sister?
SL: None I can share without getting sued. But if I was the one leading her investigation? I sure would spend more time questioning a certain ex-fiancé of hers.
HS: Do you mean Academy Award winning director, Cal Turner?
SL: No comment.
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The Hurricane Blonde by Halley Sutton is published by Allison & Busby on 8th August 2023.
Available as a trade paperback at £14.99, as an eBook and as an audiobook.
BUY HERE
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Halley Sutton is the author of The Lady Upstairs and The Hurricane Blonde. She lives in Los Angeles where she immerses herself in Hollywood trivia. She holds a degree in creative writing from the University of California Santa Cruz, and a master’s in writing from Otis College of Art and Design. Her writing has appeared in Ms., Daily Beast, CrimeReads, and Los Angeles Review of Books.
Category: Interviews, On Writing
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