Renee Olstead on New Movie and Season 5
Saturday, July 16th, 2011
Renee Olstead is branching out! Aside from her role as Madison Cooperstein on The Secret Life of the American Teenager, as well as her music career, she’ll be starring in Lifetime’s The Bling Ring this summer with Jennifer Grey, Yin Chang, and Austin Butler. It tells the true story of a gang of teens who stole millions in cash and jewelry from the likes of Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan.
In this exclusive Wetpaint Entertainment e-mail interview, Renee tells us about the flick, reveals how she’s doing after her recent car crash in L.A., and teases what to expect from Season 5!
Wetpaint Entertainment: We heard about your car accident! Is everything OK?
Renee Olstead: Yes! Everything is A-OK from the accident, my boyfriend (Tommy King) came to my rescue and picked me up and took me to the hospital to get my shoulder checked out … I did have a shoulder injury but nothing life-threatening, I was back at work later that day. I read somewhere that “my life flashed before my eyes” when the accident happened, which seemed a bit dramatic, but their account definitely made me giggle
Tell us about your new movie, The Bling Ring! We’re so excited for it to premier on Lifetime. What can Secret Lifefans expect?
Bling Ring is going to be awesome! From what I’ve heard, it should be airing next month. I had so much fun working with Yin, Austin, Alix [Elizabeth Gitter] and Tracey [Fairaway] on that. We were quite a little team.
Is the role very different from Madison?
Not too different, Madison is turning into a little bad girl herself these days.

It seems like Madison is about to lose Jack, they’re fighting more than ever! What’s next for her in the relationship department?
There’s definitely some new stuff in the works for Madison … big time!
Last time we talked to you, you mentioned you were with a new label and were working on new music projects. Can you tell us more about that?
I had to take a second to concentrate on my acting, as I just finished shooting Bling Ring while also working on Secret Life at the same time … Now I’ve got viral bronchitis (ew) so I’m not gonna be on vocal rest for the next week or so … I’m definitely finding other ways to communicate until I’m well though! I’ve started a Buzznet blog (www.ReneeO.buzznet.com) & i’ve been really getting into blog mode!
What was filming the tragic Season 3 finale like for you? Were you surprised when you saw in the script that Adrian’s baby would die?
I cant say too much about Season 5 but if the Adrian baby shocker was any indication, there’s definitely some big surprises in the works!!
