Ashley Jones: Belle of the (Southern) Ball
Soap Opera Weekly: What is this 20 Sexiest Southern Belles all about?
Ashley Jones: It’s Faith Hill, Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon, Ashley Judd, LeAnn Rimes, Mia Hamm and Eva Longoria [and more]. CMT and E! have a cool special coming up Memorial Day weekend. It’s an honor and a privilege, but I was ridiculously surprised and shocked. It’s neat that they’re showing different people from the South and what their accomplishments are. They’re also showing a different side of what people usually call intriguing or sexy. It’s not the run-of-the-mill people. It’s strong, intelligent mothers, people who juggle different careers and keep their marriages intact.
Weekly: Do you consider yourself a Southern belle?
Jones: Oh, yeah. I’m a full-bred, born and raised girl from Tennessee and Arkansas. There are only three of us, but my momma has nine brothers and sisters. We have a huge family, and every Christmas and Thanksgiving it’s all homemade cooking. Every time I’m home my mom makes the homemade rolls, sweet cream bread and all the typical Southern food. I can’t cook all that. I was reading about Ashley Judd while I was there and I was like, “Does she really make fried chicken, homemade rolls and real gravy and biscuits?’ It’s amazing, and she says she eats it all the time, too! I don’t know how she does it. I couldn’t eat like that all the time.
Weekly: Does your family find it strange to see you on TV without your accent?
Jones: They don’t think it’s me! My mom doesn’t think she has an accent, but she and my aunts do. I’ll get off the plane and my accent comes back.
Weekly: I understand you were upset by a photo of you used on a recent foreign magazine cover.
Jones: Don’t [use] a picture of me with roots and then call me a Southern belle! Southern belles don’t have roots. They get their hair done! My grandmother would be horrified. “You can’t be showing your bra straps with those roots!”
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