Her December 1938 debutante ball was so heavily publicized worldwide, she eventually appeared on the cover of Life magazine for that reason alone.
She was known and dubbed a "Poor Little Rich Girl" by the media, along with other famous debutantes and socialites Barbara Hutton, Gloria Vanderbilt, and Doris Duke.
Frazier’s friends have told stories about her eating huge lunches at restaurants and then going into the ladies' room to make herself purge so she could remain thin even if she failed the diets her mother wanted her on.
By the time she was a teenager, the press and public had begun taking a keen interest in wealthy members of high society who had not lost their fortunes due to the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
Frazier gained attention as a teenager after columnist Walter Winchell began writing about her; he reportedly coined the portmanteau "celebutante" in her honor.
"[8] Cholly Knickerbocker's prediction boosted Frazier's profile and her upcoming debutante ball became one of the most anticipated social events of 1938.
Frazier was routinely photographed and popularized the famous "white-face" look: powdered white skin contrasted with red-painted lips, combined with perfectly coiffed dark hair.
[11] In 1938, the year of her debut, Frazier was dubbed "the #1 Glamour Girl" and was considered to be “the best advertisement for just about everything.”[12] The title character in the long-running comic strip Brenda Starr, Reporter was named after her.
A perfume, “Sarong” was created in her honor, department stores borrowed her likeness for fashion illustrations, and Frazier would go on to pose for Woodbury soap and Studebaker car ads (even though she could not drive), among others.
Frazier would later recall being booed at a Broadway nightclub one evening after she was introduced to the audience alongside such celebrities as Ben Blue and Sonja Henie.
Frazier contended that the entire sum was sequestered in a trust fund, distributable only to her children upon her death (or to Yale University if she remained childless).
She added, "One reason I went to the Stork Club so often was that Sherman Billingsley, to attract debutantes, served us lunch for just a dollar apiece.
"[18] Frazier married football star Shipwreck Kelly at her mother's apartment at the Ritz-Carlton in New York City on June 30, 1941.
[20] After several tempestuous relationships, including ones with cartoonist Peter Arno and Howard Hughes, Frazier and her daughter moved to a small town near Cape Cod.
"[22] Frazier also detailed the many nervous breakdowns she suffered due to the negative attention she received and was also critical of her family for having been "being pushed into social functions."
[4][23] The article sparked renewed interest in Frazier, and she appeared on several talk shows where she discussed her experiences as a "celebutante".
In her later years, she retreated from public life, dividing her time between her homes in East Harwich, Massachusetts and Beacon Hill in Boston.
The photo featured a gaunt Frazier heavily made up in her signature white face powder and red lipstick, propped up in bed with a cigarette in hand, looking wearily toward the camera.
During the final 10 years of her life, Frazier suffered from ill health due to her long battles with anorexia and bulimia, and she was routinely hospitalized.