Kelly Clarkson Says a Brooklyn Store Clerk Treated Her Like ‘Pretty Woman,’ and Oprah, Princess Diana and Mary J. Blige Got the Same Treatment

Instagram Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter Amazon TikTok TikTok Thought Catalog Diamond Mark Camera Collective World FlagLink Loading Arrow Pointing Down Skip to content Kelly Clarkson says a male salesperson at Art of Play, a Brooklyn toy and game store, treated her as though she couldn’t afford the items she’d come to buy. In an Oct. 10 post on X, the 44-year-old singer called the shop “really rad” but said she was “looked at as if I couldn’t afford it and was told he could find something comparable for me.”

“Wow, dude. You’re an idiot and just lost a huge sale,” Clarkson wrote. She named Art of Play and suggested a visit “if you enjoy being treated like Julia Roberts’ character in Pretty Woman.”

The comparison comes from the 1990 film, in which Roberts’ character, Vivian, encounters a boutique employee who refuses to show her pricier merchandise. Vivian gets the last word when she returns in nicer clothes, carrying shopping bags from other stores: “Big mistake. Big. Huge.”

Clarkson joins a long list of celebrities who’ve described store employees judging what they could afford or whether they belonged there.

Oprah Winfrey says she repeatedly asked to see a $38,000 Tom Ford crocodile handbag at Trois Pommes in Zurich in 2013. An associate kept steering her toward other options, telling her the bag was too expensive and beyond her means.

Before Princess Diana’s engagement, she was reportedly redirected from a London designer studio toward something “more suitable” at Harrods. Mary J. Blige has recounted an early-career encounter in which a boutique effectively refused to process her card, with staff saying they didn’t want the business of 2 young Black women.

Cher’s memoir describes a visit to a shop near Rodeo Drive early in her career. Wearing a crop top and bell-bottoms, she was looking for a psychedelic pantsuit when an associate told her, “It’s very expensive, miss,” and walked away. Cher wrote that she bought the pantsuit in every shade “to see the look on that bitch’s face”; she’s called the episode a real-life Pretty Woman moment.

Gabourey Sidibe says recognition changed the service she received at a Chicago Chanel store in 2017. She was dressed up and carrying a Chanel bag when a salesperson directed her to a discount frames store across the street, she wrote in a Lenny Letter essay. The treatment improved after other employees recognized her.

“I knew what she was doing. She had decided after a single look at me that I wasn’t there to spend any money,” Sidibe wrote. Chanel later apologized.

Cardi B says salespeople in high-end shops treat her “shitty” when she’s dressed “regular,” then change their attitude once they recognize her. She compared the experience to a scene in the Selena biopic, based on a real encounter in which a salesperson assumed Selena Quintanilla couldn’t afford an $800 dress.

Miley Cyrus has also invoked Pretty Woman while explaining why she hates shopping on Rodeo Drive. Of the salespeople, she said, “they are actually like that,” describing “the worst look you’ve ever seen.”

Bethenny Frankel said she was denied entry to Chanel in Chicago in 2024 while casually dressed and without an appointment. She interpreted the encounter as a judgment about whether she looked wealthy and said she was treated as an “interloper.”

Jelly Roll described a different kind of scrutiny at Louis Vuitton in Sydney in 2025. He said employees treated him and his group like they were “finna come in and rob that place,” adding that he hadn’t faced scrutiny that intense since he was actually a criminal.

In Istanbul in 2025, Chanel security turned Jennifer Lopez away, saying the store was “full.” She spent significantly at other luxury shops and declined to return after Chanel realized its mistake.

Clarkson moved to New York City in fall 2023 and generally keeps her private life off social media. She’s currently a judge on season 30 of The Voice alongside Adam Levine, Queen Latifah and Riley Green. She ended her Art of Play post with “For sure, check it out.”

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