''Rich Girls'' is an

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

that aired for one season in the fall of 2003 and winter of 2004. The program followed the lives of the daughters of two very successful businessmen: Ally Hilfiger (daughter of

Tommy Hilfiger Thomas Jacob Hilfiger ( /hɪlˈfɪgər/; born March 24, 1951) is an American fashion designer and the founder of Tommy Hilfiger Corporation. After starting his career by co-founding a chain of jeans/fashion stores called People's Place in upst ...

) and her then-best friend Jaime Gleicher (daughter of Leo Gleicher) as they completed their final semester of

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, graduated and spent the ensuing summer together. They are shown shopping and gossiping in a series of luxurious locales such as:

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, the Hamptons, Hilfiger's family estates in

Nantucket Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...

and tropical British West Indies, as well as

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. However, their home base and the setting for much of the action was

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Ally and Jaime were the show's eponymous "rich girls" because Hilfiger's father is

, the multi-millionaire owner of the same named fashion label and Gleicher's late father, Leo, was the founder of ''Innovation Luggage'', a company with a net worth of $10 million. Notable cameos that occurred during the program included ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to ...

'' judge

Randy Jackson Randall Darius Jackson (born June 23, 1956) is an American record executive and television presenter, perhaps best known as a judge on ''American Idol'' from 2002 to 2013. Jackson began his career in the 1980s as a session musician playing ba ...

who ran into the girls at a Los Angeles eatery, former

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...

who attended a special screening of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

film ''Proud'' (a project Hilfiger produced) held aboard the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, and Ally's famous dad, who invited his daughter to his workplace to critique his junior's line. A total of ten episodes were produced during the season, and included one that featured the

Northeast blackout of 2003 The Northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the Northeastern and Midwestern United States, and most parts of the Canadian province of Ontario on Thursday, August 14, 2003, beginning just after 4:10 p.m. ...

, which had a direct impact on the series, as the production was taping in New York at the time of the event. As the show filmed, Hilfiger and Gleicher began to argue with each other, and living on camera apparently had a negative effect on both girls. After the season ended, Ally continued using marijuana for her illness many months before being placed in rehab by her parents where she was eventually properly diagnosed with Lyme disease. Gleicher was seen attending

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

as a freshman in the series' final episode, however during the airing of the series she began treatment at

Silver Hill Hospital Silver Hill Hospital is a non-profit psychiatric hospital in New Canaan, Connecticut established in 1931. The hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission and provides behavioral health care treatment. This includes psychiatric and addiction ...

for depression and an

eating disorder An eating disorder is a mental disorder defined by abnormal eating behaviors that negatively affect a person's physical or mental health. Only one eating disorder can be diagnosed at a given time. Types of eating disorders include binge eating d ...

. The two friends' off-screen animosity (they each served as co-producers of the series) caused them to split and they went their separate ways. The program's theme song was "This Town", an edited cover version of a track from The Go-Go's 1981 debut album '' Beauty and the Beat'' and performed by the all-female Canadian pop/rock group Lillix.

References

{{MTVNetwork Shows MTV reality television series 2000s American reality television series 2003 American television series debuts 2003 American television series endings Women in New York City