An Interview with Charlotte Dunne
Daisy Jones and the Six
Author's Note: While I have made a concerted effort to remove myself from the narrative, I have included here a verbatim transcript of my conversions regarding Charlotte with Daisy Jones, Charlotte Dunne, and Billy Dunne, because I was, in fact, an active member of these recollections.
CHARLOTTE: So, where do you want me to start?
AUTHOR: Start with who you are, your connection to the band.
CHARLOTTE: My name is Charlotte Willow Dunne, although my mother calls me Charlie, and my connection to the band? Well, I'm the reason that Daisy Jones got sober in November of 1978. And I'm the reason that Camilla left Billy Dunne in July of 1979.
BILLY: Charlotte? I first learned about her after the show in Chicago.
DAISY: Charlie? Well, how honest do you want me to be?
AUTHOR: As honest as you want to be.
BILLY: I had just finished talking to Daisy. She- she had just told me how she was pregnant. And that it was mine. So I sat down at the bar and I ordered a tequila neat. And it arrived. And I sat there and I picked it up and swirled it around and I sniffed it. And then two women came up to me, and asked me to sign autographs for them. Said they'd never seen anything like Daisy and me. I signed two cocktail napkins and pretty soon after, they left.
DAISY: It was the middle of the night, after a show at the Chicago Stadium in July of '79, when I got back to the hotel. I don't remember what I'd been doing. I just remember that I was avoiding Billy. He knew at that point the only thing I had been hoping to keep from him. I think I probably walked around the city or something. I was still out of it when I got back to the lobby. And I turned right, to head for bar. I remember thinking I didn't even want to be conscious. But I must not have realized where I was going or what I was doing because I ended up walking straight into the elevator. I thought, All right, guess I'll watch tv and go to bed. But when I got to my room, I couldn't get my key in the door. I kept trying but I couldn't get it to fit. I think I was making a lot of noise. And then I heard a child's voice.
BILLY: I grabbed the glass - the tequila, I mean - I grabbed it again and I stared at it. And I thought about what it would taste like. Clean smoke. I was lost in it when the guy next to me went, "Hey, you're Billy Dunne, aren't you?" And I put it down.
DAISY: I was stuck out there, in the hallway. Unable to get into my room. And I slumped down on the ground and I started crying. I looked down the hall and I realized it was... well... out into the hallway comes Camila and she's holding you...
AUTHOR: I remember this. You were in a white dress, I could see your baby bump.
DAISY: You were about five or so, I think. So... you've got a good memory. Camila came into the hallway and she was holding you, and she said, "Do you need help?" I didn't understand why was being so nice. I said yes and she took my key and she let me into my room. And she walked in with me. She put Julia down on the bed. She told me to sit down and she brought me a glass of water. I said, "You can go. I'll be okay." And she said, "No, you won't." I remember feeling really relieved. That she could see through me. That she wasn't going to leave. She sat down next to me. And she didn't mince words. She knew exactly what was happening. Exactly what she wanted to say. I was... unnerved. I felt so out of control and Camila was so in control. She said, "Daisy, he loves you. You know that he loves you. I know that he loves you. But he's not going to leave me." Camila said, "But what I need you to know is that I'm going to leave him. I told him that when I he started loving you that would be where we ended. But then I wasn't going to give up on him, not until the baby." And I just remember thinking, there is no way that she knew the baby was Billy's. I had been married to Nikky long enough that she could have, should have thought it was his. But she knew better.
BILLY: I took a taste of it. Not even a sip, but a taste. It took everything I had not to gulp it down, not to throw it into the back of my throat. It tasted like comfort and freedom. That's how it gets you - what it feels like is the opposite of what it is. But my whole body went slack, from the relief of it being on the tip of my tongue.
DAISY: Camila got up and poured me another glass of water and she got me a tissue. Which is when I realized I was sobbing. Those damn hormones. She said, "Daisy, I don't know you very well, but I know you have a great heart and you're a good person. I know my daughter wants to grow up and be you one day, and I know that I want the twins and Julia to know their brother or sister." And I told her then. She was the first person I told other than Simone. I told her I was having a girl.
BILLY: The man next to me, he was watching me. He had a full beer in his glass and he was sipping it, like you sip something you're indifferent to. I glanced at him and then... I did it. I drank it. Maybe half of a finger or so. And then I held on to the glass. Like someone was going to try to steal it from me. I told myself to put down the glass. Just put it down.
DAISY: Camila looked at me for a moment. And I wanted to know what was going through her head. And then she gave me a soft smile, softer than I would have mustered in a situation like that and congratulated me. She said, "Julia, Susana and Maria will love having a new sister." And I could tell that she meant it. "But Daisy, you have to leave the band."
BILLY: I couldn't put it down. My hand held on to the glass. And I thought, I wish this man would take it out of my hands and throw it across the room."
DAISY: I was quiet for a while, trying to process what Camila had said. And then she said, "I think it's time for you to take time off for yourself, and the baby. You can't keep this life up and have her end up healthy. I want the best for both of you." And I finally said, "Why do you care about what happens to me? To my child?" And she said, "I think almost everybody on this planet cares about you. But I care about Billy, and I don't want his child or future being affected by any of this."
BILLY: The man looked at my hand and it seemed like he was looking at my wedding ring and he said, "Are you married?" I nodded, chuckling sadly. "For now," I had answered. He laughed and said his girlfriend would be crushed. "You got kids?" That caught my attention, caught me off guard, but I nodded again. "Three girls, and a baby on the way." And it had felt so abnormal to hear. One on the way. He said, "Got any pictures?" And I thought of the photos, in my wallet, of Julia and Susana and Maria, and of the baby on the way. And I put the glass down.
DAISY: Sometime in the early morning, Camila picked you up out of my bed, and she grabbed my hand. I grabbed her hand back. She said, "Good night, Daisy." And I said, "Good night, Camila. Thank you." It was as I opened the door that Billy was walking down the hallway, his eyes catching Camila and I.
BILLY: I saw them, Camila and Daisy, with you hanging from Camila's hip.
DAISY: Camila just looked at him and said, "We're getting a divorce, Billy. I told you this would happen when you fell in love with her, and that baby needs you around."
BILLY: I just nodded. I didn't want to fight her if that was what she wanted. I had already put her through enough. And so I just looked at Daisy.
DAISY: He just looked at me, and all the love I had thought I had seen behind his eyes to that day, was no longer behind his eyes, but front and center. And he was looking at me.
CHARLOTTE: At least, that's how Mom and Dad told it to me. Camila and Dad got divorced that month, and two weeks later Mom and Dad announced that not only were they an item, but that Mom was pregnant with Dad's baby.
WARREN: Finding out that Billy and Daisy had been together was a surprise to no one.
GRAHAM: I was happy for him, finally being able to be happy with the one big love of his life.
KAREN: I was just happy for Daisy. We had talked about her wanting to be a mother, get clean, and she was able to do both.
CHARLOTTE: I know, and have always known I was never planned. But I do know I was born to two amazing parents, who have remained clean since. They got married when I was three, and, well you know this part, but you, the twins and I were their flower girls. So yeah, that's my story.
Unknown to Charlotte, Billy Dunne and Daisy Dunne had come out to the patio where we were filming her interview and were leaning together against the wall behind her, smiles on both of their faces.
AUTHOR: Thanks Lottie.
CHARLOTTE: Anything for my favorite big sister, but don't tell the twins I said that.
Charlotte Dunne grew up in northern California with her mother, Daisy Dunne nee Jones and her father, Billy Dunne. Camilla Dunne moved with her daughters Julia, Susana, and Maria to North Carolina shortly after the divorce. Charlotte Dunne is currently a second year nursing student at the University of California, Berkley, while Billy and Daisy enjoy their retirement from their lives as rockstars.
