The former Super-Sweet-Sixteener dishes what really happened on her 16th birthday and how she rose above the harsh backlash.
by Julia Morpurgo
by Julia Morpurgo
Mitchell's on-screen party entrance, courtesy of MTV.com
On August 15, 2005, Sophie Mitchell and her mother sat back in the plush seating of P. Diddy’s luxurious New York Dream Hotel, watching the video of Mitchell’s 16th birthday party. This wasn’t a typical home video, and it certainly wasn’t a typical sweet 16. No, this was a nationally televised, $180,000 birthday extravaganza—complete with can-can dancers, a fleet of stretch limousines, a $1,500 cake, and MTV’s hawking camera crew. As the second season of “My Super Sweet 16” premiered, Mitchell watched as cameras documented her reaction to the 30-minute cut of the five-week filming process.
“My mom and I just laughed because we knew what was real and what wasn’t,” Mitchell said. “It was hilarious because it was so ridiculous. I knew it didn’t make me look good, but I didn’t care—at the time.”
Before the credits rolled, Mitchell was out the door and in a live national radio interview. “Right after I watched it, I didn’t get to concentrate on the responses from my friends and family,” Mitchell said. “Instead, I was concentrating on the responses from America. And, um, they weren’t good.”
