Welcome to Marissa's world

"The marketing of Marissa Leigh, age 16, is a job that employs 12 people. The Scottsdale princess has a manager and a publicist, of course. She has a voice coach and a makeup artist and a hairstylist willing to jet off whenev, wherev.

Then there's the Web master. The photographer, who also shoots Lindsay Lohan. The guy who listens to Marissa humming on a tape recorder, and then puts the music on paper. And sure, she has an acting coach. Actually, two....


But to date, Marissa's biggest role was Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz for Scottsdale community theater. Oh, and two weeks ago, her pink explosion of a birthday party was featured on MTV's My Super Sweet 16, which was fab exposure, her parents say. (She didn't get one car, she got two. She wanted a pink dress. She wore three, and had her poodles dyed to match.)

She has yet to get her big break, but that certainly isn't for want of trying. Making Marissa famous is practically her mom's full-time job, and why not?

In this day of manufactured reality-TV celebrity, when the country is gripped by American Idolatry and Il Divo-tion, what's the matter with trying to nudge along fame?

Marissa's parents can't buy her a movie deal or a TV pilot starring opposite Jesse McCartney, but they can make sure she's got the right outfit if anyone ever calls."


http://www.azcentral.com/ent/tv/articles/0426marissa0426.html