Don’t let her backside fool you: Coco Austin may be the beauty behind the popular E! reality show “Ice Loves Coco†but she’s also apparently the business brains (no disrespect, Ice!).
The buxom blonde — married to the gangsta-rapper-turned-actor for more than 10 years, co-managing him much of that time — may not have come to the table with a ton of formal financial knowledge but what she did have was a lifetime of lessons courtesy of her dad, a savvy stockbroker and real estate developer.
A second-generation American with parents who came to America from Yugoslavia, the model, dancer and actress gives her dad credit for helping create the blueprint for her show-business success.
“I’ve always been business savvy,†says Coco. “People don’t know that about me but I’ve always been a little girl trying to figure out which way I can make money and how I can turn that money around into bigger money. That hustle comes from my dad. My dad was always really, really intellectual when it came to making money when I was growing up, and turning it into something bigger,†says the reality-show star.
“I really admired that about him and wanted to do the same. I knew being just a model wouldn’t make you the big bucks in the long run so I’ve always sought to do other stuff — I released a book last year, we’ve got the television show, I’ve got a clothing line, Licious, and other business ventures on deck. I mean, come on, you always need to expand in several other ways, right? I’ve been a model for 15 years and that’s kind of crazy to say because usually a model’s life is from 20 to 25. I’m 33 and still doing it, you know? But, still, there’s more to me.â€
If Las Vegas is on your list of places to go in the next month or so you may get to see how much more.
Between now and March the bountiful beauty performs weekly as “Bo Peep†in the stripshow spectacular “Peepshow,†at the Planet Hollywood Casino, picking up where Playboy star Holly Madison left off.
“That
is probably my biggest business deal to date because of the complexity of it,†Coco muses. “All of a sudden I get a call, ‘Hey Coco, you want to be a headliner in Vegas?’ I’m like what? Who gets that phone call? My first reaction was to say no because I knew I’d have to go and live in Vegas and my life is in New York with Ice and the dogs and my houses and all that stuff; but when they said that we can negotiate on the contract I said I could do it for three months. But it took a whole month to negotiate my contract and this was every day on the phone with my agent and lawyers and the people that hired me, Vegas Entertainment,†she says.“So it was not an easy transfer. It was back and forth: how many days do you want off, how many days a week am I going to be working, how many shows a night am I going to have. All these little things like transportation and where I’m living had to be put in a contract.â€
Though the adult revue was strictly a “Coco move†the star says that she and Ice sometimes collaborate on deals together — or just support each other’s ventures from afar, understanding that they have different audiences.
“Ice Loves Coco —  I wanted to do it but I had to convince my husband to do it,†she says. “I did it because people only knew me
as a model and I wanted them to see me as more than that. I wanted them to see me as a family girl, a businesswoman, as a mother to my dogs. It’s like there were so many aspects that I wanted you to see me as more than a picture.–Pretty much Ice has his own type of fans and I have mine,†she continues. “Because he comes from a different category, gangster rap, I don’t have those fans. So we know that about each other. You know, he’s more in a hardcore world; I’m kind of more into light-hearted, you know, exotic world. It’s like, you know, mine is fitness, erotic modeling, that’s my side. They have maybe a couple fans that go back and forth amongst each other, between Ice and I, but they kind of stay in their lane. However, we are big supporters of each other from the sideline.â€
For sure, the actress — who’s waiting to find out if “Ice Loves Coco†will be renewed for a fourth season — has come along way since her first $1,000-a-day modeling job.
“When I first started modeling — this was before the Internet was really popular — and I was being paid to be on other people’s websites,†says Coco, who’s next venture is an indoor dog park in NYC. “I think the fee back then to do a whole photo shoot for a day was $1000. $1000 for a day. I thought I was like rich from that! I was an 18 year old girl, like, ‘Wow, I can make money from dressing up and looking cute for $1000 a day? I can do this.’ So I think the first thing I did was put it in the bank and start a new account.â€
“I’m not a big spender,†she continues. “I like to save my money and see how much money I can actually make. And people don’t know between Ice and I, he’s the spender and I’m the saver, which is funny because even when we go shopping he likes to be a little extravagant and buy expensive things. I’m looking at the tags and I’m thinking I could probably get this cheaper somewhere else. It’s very funny. People would never guess — people probably think it’s the opposite but it’s completely me that’s a saver and I just don’t want my money to go toward nothing. Of course I’m a glitzy, blinged-out girl and my clothes and my shoes are very big to me, but pretty much the only thing I spend money on is shoes. A girl’s gotta have that at least, hello!â€