Erin Kaplan Dishes on All the Dirt from 'The City'

Erin Kaplan — PR director at Elle on The City— isn’t the bitch you think she is… she just expects a lot and doesn’t take any crap. But with smart-mouthed Olivia Palermo working under her at Elle, she admits she's got to be one tough cookie. “The bottom line is I want what’s best for this magazine and if Olivia comes back and she does an amazing job, I’m going to tell her that,” Erin tells OK! “But, what you see is not that.”

When Erin learned Olivia was coming to Elle, she knew her time on camera would be with Olivia and talking about her.

“I really don’t spend the majority of my day talking about her and thinking about her, that’s not my work life,” explains Erin. “What you see on the show is such a tiny bit of both of our jobs.”

Erin took the job of working with Olivia to introduce her to people that could help her at the magazine.

“When she came in I was skeptical of how well her and I would work together and how well she would work as a team player and I voiced my concern to Joe Zee, obviously, but if she does well for the magazine then I’m game,” she tells OK!.

With her signature eye rolls, it might seem like Erin is a bit unimpressed with Olivia and wants her to fail, but that's not the case. Erin says Olivia doesn’t have anything to prove because they’re a team at the same magazine. Since she spends more time with Olivia than Joe Zee, creative director at Elle, she has become Joe’s eyes and ears.

“I think she should do well for the benefit of the magazine,”  explains Erin.

As for Olivia’s performance, Erin says Olivia is new and there are certain areas where she excels and others she doesn’t. “I think it’s just finding out what she is good at and running with that,” said Erin. “My advice for her would be to learn as much as you can.”

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Erin has been frustrated watching the show, because any time Olivia did well, she would tell both her and Joe, but it’s never shown. “If I’m portrayed as hard or a bitch on camera, that’s one thing, but to portray me as somebody that doesn’t care about what’s best for the magazine is totally different, and that’s been the most frustrating thing,” says Erin.

Erin’s thoughts on how she looks on camera, “I definitely think I smile more. I’m generally a happy person, and I don’t smirk as often as I do on the show!”

By Kristen Tomaiolo