The Princess of Las Vegas

Crissy rises to fame in Las Vegas for impersonating a celebrity, and, as a result, she often forgets where her personality begins and Diana’s ends, leading her to be confused by who she is outside of her job as an impersonator. She goes to great lengths to look like Diana, even having cosmetic surgery to make her nose look more like Diana’s and altering her speech patterns to make them more British. She admits to making her life from “the gossamer of memory and nostalgia” (129), indicating that she lives perpetually in the past instead of in the present or future. This fixation on the past traps Crissy in a cycle of self-alienation and disconnection from her desires. This is underscored by Crissy’s somewhat immature tendencies: she sleeps exceedingly late, orders decadent foods from room service, and spends her days drunk by the pool. Being Princess Diana—embodying her celebrity—allows Crissy to disconnect from reality, something that Betsy finds horrifying and troubling:

[W]ith her emphasis on that verb, is, Ayobami had touched upon what was for Betsy the most disturbing part of her sister’s re-creation. When a person so completely subsumes herself behind the mask of another, what must it be like to stare into the mirror? What must it be like to gaze upon your reflection and see someone else—someone who just isn’t you (137).

Notably, multiple people look alike in the novel. Crissy looks like Princess Diana; Crissy and Betsy look like each other; and Betsy is forced to impersonate Crissy impersonating Diana. These overlapping identities reflect the fracturing of self that occurs when one’s worth is tied to external expectations. This layering of identities leads to extreme confusion for both Betsy and Crissy and forces the two women to reckon with their life choices. For Betsy, it forces her to see that she is actually the person living in a fantasy world, and Frankie is not the chivalrous and generous protector she originally assumed he was. For Crissy, it forces her to see how her career isolated her from other people and allows her the space to create long-term and meaningful relationships.

Crissy notes that “[t]he press was ravenous when it came to Diana, from the moment she entered the life of Prince Charles until the night that she died…in the end, they were partly responsible for her death” (171). Much like Diana, celebrity ends up being more of a curse than a gift for Crissy. Futurium uses Crissy’s fame—and famous appearance—to set her up for crimes. They force Betsy to dress as Diana in Red Rocks and at the meet and greet at Fort Knocks, knowing that she will be mistaken for Crissy. This manipulation of identity highlights the predatory nature of fame and its dehumanizing effects. This impersonation is harmful to Crissy because it incriminates her for crimes she did not commit and it messes with her psyche in extremely harmful ways. It is only when she and her sister begin working together toward a common goal—saving Marisa—that they are both able to escape the curse of impersonating Diana. Ultimately, by the end of the novel, both Betsy and Crissy are free of the curse and confusion of celebrity due to their renewed relationship, a friendship that keeps them both rooted in the present and not in the past or spotlight.