Leah Hennessey Reflects On Stepfather David Johansen Being ‘Vulnerable’ In “Personality Crisis’...

Leah Hennessey Reflects On Stepfather David Johansen Being ‘Vulnerable’ In “Personality Crisis’ Film (Exclusive)

There is a je ne sais quoi to Leah Hennessey . Even though it’s early when she speaks briefly with HollywoodLife about her involvement in Personality Crisis: One Night Only, Leah – an actor, singer, filmmaker, and model — radiates that indisputable, effortless cool that so many of us struggle to achieve a small fraction of. It’s very similar to the near insouciant zen of David Johansen , the lead singer of the proto-punk band The New York Dolls and crooner behind the Buster Poindexter persona. Both of David’s “identities” are spotlighted in the film co-directed by Martin Scorsese and...

There is a je ne sais quoi to Leah Hennessey . Even though it’s early when she speaks briefly with HollywoodLife about her involvement in Personality Crisis: One Night Only, Leah – an actor, singer, filmmaker, and model — radiates that indisputable, effortless cool that so many of us struggle to achieve a small fraction of. It’s very similar to the near insouciant zen of David Johansen , the lead singer of the proto-punk band The New York Dolls and crooner behind the Buster Poindexter persona. Both of David’s “identities” are spotlighted in the film co-directed by Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi. It serves as one part biopic, one-part performance, and one-part tribute to David’s remarkable career.
Yet, as Leah tells HL, it was one moment in Personality Crisis when David was at his lowest that resonated the most with her. “I think that David, he doesn’t go in for insecurity,” she explains. “He’s very emotionally intelligent and very thoughtful, but he never reveals any self-doubt. When he talks about his life, he doesn’t talk about it in terms of mistakes he’s made or things he wishes he did differently. He has this kind of candid-ish kind of passivity about like being blown about in the wind of life, and that’s part of his grace and part of his magic.” “And he’s not a striver,” she explains. “He’s not the kind of guy who says, ‘I wanted to be the best’ or ‘I wanted to be famous.’ It is so anathema to him. And I’m always asking him, ‘Were you disappointed by this?’ Or ‘Did you wish this had been bigger’ or ‘Did you want more of this?’ And he’s so kind of accepting to the point of like sometimes I think kind of nihilism. When a certain kind of Buddhist acceptance verges on nihilism.”
Yet, in Personality Crisis, David’s zen faded when he expressed feeling “like a Bug” when he opened for Pat Benatar on a tour in the early 1980s. When speaking with The New Yorker , Leah said that this moment was very “moving,” because David’s endless detached confidence paused. “When David talked about that moment of feeling like a bug or feeling insecure and admitting to a kind of defeat, I thought it was very vulnerable and surprising,” she tells HL. “And I don’t think he thinks it’s vulnerable or surprising. I think he thinks, obviously, I felt that way and I’m human and who wouldn’t feel that way? But I found it surprising.”
Leah’s mother, Mara Hennessey, raised her daughter on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. She was a single mother in New York City — no easy feat. Mara and David were friends before their romance bloomed, and the couple wed in 2013. By that time, Leah had already begun referring to Mara and David as her parents. At the heart of Personality Crisis is a performance that David gave in January 2020 at Café Carlyle in honor of his 70th birthday. It was also a way for him to pay homage to his career as both a celebrated cabaret singer (Poindexter) and the cross-dressing wildman fronting the influential proto-punk band (New York Dolls.) Footage of David’s life and career is interspersed throughout the concert, along with moments of Leah interviewing David about the highs and lows of his life.
“It was obviously an honor and a privilege to be trusted with this work,” she tells HL, “and also, it was really a relief to have a reason to ask David these specific questions. And I think everyone kind of feels like they at some point will get the full story and the full access to their family and their parents. And most of us don’t really have that opportunity in such a straightforward way.” Leah said that there was “so much I didn’t ask” because of time constraints and because most of David’s life is out in the public. Does she feel more able to ask him these questions now, since there are no more cameras? “Maybe,” she says. “I think...