I've seen several threads on here posing the question "where are Diamond & Pearl," most of which are old enough you can't post to them anymore, but none have much in the way of answers. Well, here's the answers:



First off, the two dancers were not related in any way. Prince had originally wanted D&P to be twins, but he couldn't find any dancing twins he was happy with. Dancers Lori Elle (Diamond, real name Lori Werner) and Robia LaMorte (Pearl) got the job because they shared a strong resemblance to each other.

DIAMOND (Lori Werner, aka Lori Elle)



Today, Lori Werner spends most of her time as a choreographer for traveling off-Broadway shows, and when she's not doing that, she's a guest teacher at her mother's dance studio, the Dolores Werner Performing Arts Studio in Tucker, Ga., just outside of Atlanta. She's been a tough one to find info on; most of what I know about her comes from her bio on the web site for her mother's studio, but that site is no longer functional, and there's not a lot else that's out there about her. She doesn't even rate a Wikipedia entry (though D&P do have one).

PEARL (Robia LaMorte)



Robia LaMorte retired from dance altogether following the Prince gig, and went into acting. Her first job was as an "I'm a Blonde" dancer in the Gena Davis/Jeff Goldblum/Damon Wayans/Jim Carey film Earth Girls Are Easy. Unfortunately, the scene got cut, though I'm pretty certain that's her that gets crowned as the beauty contest winner before she's unmasked as a brunette. Though the scene got cut, it earned her membership in the Screen Actors Guild.

Robia then went on to guest spots on TV shows like Beverly Hills 90210 (her first actual acting gig, with lines and everything) and the original CSI, as well as in motion pictures like Spawn and indie projects like Chicks Man. Her biggest post-Prince success came on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where she had a recurring role for the first three seasons as computer science teacher/resident technopagan/gypsy (not to mention love interest to Buffy's watcher Giles) Jenny Calendar. Thanks to her success on Buffy, she spent a couple of years showing up at fan conventions to sign autographs, and she's also done a bunch of commercials.

Robia became a born-again Christian during the time she was on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and today she's retired from acting and has a full-time ministry. She doesn't do conventions anymore, but frequently does speaking engagements at churches and revivals and the like, mostly on the West Coast since she resides just outside of Los Angeles.



If you want to know what Robia is up to or where she might be speaking next, she has a web site, www.robialamorte.com. She's also got her own Wikipedia page.
[Edited 5/3/09 18:03pm]
[Edited 5/3/09 18:49pm]

Glad they are doing well

Do all chicks who leave Prince's clutches become born again? What up wit dat?

squirrelgrease said:

As I was reading that, that's the same thing that popped into my mind.
[Edited 5/4/09 15:12pm]

squirrelgrease said:

I know, right? I'm waiting for Mayte to open a church.

I liked Diamond best; glad to know she's still in the "biz"

chicas be tryna wash their sins away. feeling guilty for giving themselves over to prince only to be mistreated and played. when too much shit goes wrong in one's life its not uncommon to turn to God. Shiit Prince did it! But he aint thru bathing.

Luv u Baby but U Foul!

IN their skins

DesireeNevermind said:

Funny that people who are sentenced to lengthy prison terms also take this route.

squirrelgrease said:

That's the truth Ruth!!!