Dallas Lifestyle Guru Looks Back on Her Rock ‘n’ Roll Past — and Touring With David Hasselhoff

Flashback to high school: I spy a new student. She has no problem fitting in, with her beauty and disarming smile. She’s not a mean girl, rather she is kind, genuine, and actually wants to empower the girls around her. I have always been attracted to individuals with innate style — and she has that in spades. This is how I felt the first few times I noticed Moll Anderson from afar.

Moll is one of my better-known Bomb girls — or at least she is known outside of Dallas, given she moved here just five years ago. She is a New York Times bestselling author, television and radio host, interior designer, and overall life-stylist. I decided our first Bomb interview should take place at the Dallas Museum of Art, thinking we could chat and reflect on art as a way to get to know one another. Alas, we didn’t make it past the lobby. Our conversation lasted for hours. It’s easy to get lost in her enchanting green eyes as she regaled me with highlights from the backstory that brings us to Moll 2018.

Moll was destined for her glamorous and philanthropic life. Her mother, Mary Ellen Kay (formerly Keaggy) was a Hollywood studio contract player, appearing in quite a few films. Growing up in Phoenix, Moll was fascinated with design at a young age and would move around her family’s furniture, forcing her babysitters to help. For her cardboard Barbie dream house, she even made comforters for the beds and slipcovers for the furniture.

On to my favorite vignette from Moll’s life: her rock ‘n’ roll years. She heard about an open casting call for a band seeking good-looking people who could carry a tune and dance a little. She landed the gig and joined the Giorgio Moroder Project alongside Paula Keane (formerly Mulcahy) and Joe Milner. The band was “really popular in Europe,” she says.

At one point they were on tour with David Hasselhoff (of Baywatch fame and then as a singing sensation with a cult following in Germany). They were revered in Italy due to their breakout hit, “To Be Number One,” which was the anthem of the World Cup’s Italian soccer team.

Today, Moll Anderson is an ambassador for UNICEF. When asked why she is so committed, she replied: “I have to get my boots muddy. I’ve been there. I’ve seen firsthand where the money goes. I’ve seen change happen.”

Back to Moll’s pop-star days. I’m hopeful that in her life of design she comes up with a witty line of needlepoint pillows — and one of them is emblazoned with “Long Live Hair Bands.”

Approximate date of this photo.

Somewhere around 1989.

The occasion.

A photo-shoot to kick-off the Giorgio Moroder Project world tour. We were told we were going to be overnight sensations, but I just cared about finally getting a steady paycheck that could support me and my son.

What you were wearing.

They wanted my hair as big as possible. The jackets were all found at an LA vintage store, which translates as cheap. All of those embellishments were sewn on by Paula and me. This was the era when Janet Jackson was really hot and it was all about jackets with big shoulder pads and braids. It was also reminiscent of the band, Heart. I charged a pair of boots that I couldn’t afford at Fred Segal to tie it all together.

What price fashion.

I started over again at 40. My son was heading to college and I was relocating to Nashville. I wanted a fresh start somewhere unique and creative. I was poor again, so I got a cheap rental house, which I immediately decorated, and found a job at a furniture store, making $10 an hour, as I wanted to learn interior design from the ground-up.

I decided I needed a big purchase so I would always look put-together. I took my little paycheck and bought a Prada saddlebag that was the bomb. It has a guitar-like strap beaded with turquoise and sterling. It went with everything and could amp up any outfit. I still have it and wear it occasionally.

Why this is a Bomb.com picture of you.

It represents that somehow I knew I could do anything. At first, this job was only a paycheck. In retrospect, I realize we got really famous. I don’t think I appreciated that moment then. I was young and had a child. Our lives were moving so fast that I didn’t understand how larger-than-life it was that Armani was dressing us and that we were having dinner with Sophia Loren, David Hasselhoff, and the president of Fiat.

The World Cup that we performed at had a bigger audience than the Olympics. When we stepped out on to the stage in the middle of the field, the roar of the people was overwhelming.