Lauren Holly: On the Brink

Q: You did a few commercials when you were starting out. What were the products?

A: One was Wesson oil.

Q: I thought I detected a little Wessonality in you.

A: And I did one for Cabbage Patch dolls.

Q: Did you have to give birth to one?

A: No. but it was running at the same time as my Wesson oil, where I was supposed to be 12 or 13--and in the Cabbage Patch dolls spot, I was a young mother. Go figure.

Q: You also did a little modeling, didn't you?

A: Very little. When I was 18, I did Crochet Fantasy. In fact, I was on the cover of Crochet Fantasy and the cover of Knitting World at the same time.

Q: Sounds like you touched off a veritable bidding war in the handicraft industry.

A: Basically, yes. Ford, Elite, all the big agencies were freaking out. In fact, from what I heard. Linda Evangelista and Cindy Crawford got nervous. It was big.

Q: What did you think the first time you saw yourself on the big screen?

A: That I looked like an alien. I still think that. I've just got this weird forehead. On Down Periscope, everyone was going to dailies every day. I went a couple of days and then David Ward, the director, said. "Why aren't you going anymore?" and I said. "Because I look like E.T."

Q: One of the newspaper ads for Dumb and Dumber featured you with a bubble coming out of your mouth saying, "I like dumb guys." Have you ever dated somebody really dumb?

A: When I was in college, I met this model, the handsomest thing I'd ever seen. At Sarah Lawrence, it was a very "in" thing to sit in the dining room and discuss politics or what you're reading. Everyone was in a discussion about war and then he started talking about what happened in World War III. I was mortified.

Q: Did you kiss him?

A: I don't think so. I'm pretty forgiving, but...

Q: While we're on kissing, congratulations to you and Jim on winning Best Kiss at the MTV Movie Awards for Dumb and Dumber.

A: Thanks. It was kind of cool, being a couple and winning best kiss.

Q: Were you a couple when the kiss in question was filmed?

A: We were becoming a couple. That wasn't our first kiss.

Q: Did you know in advance that you won?

A: Yeah.

Q: Did you have to act surprised?

A: No, but I was surprised when Jim said that I was the sweetest girl in town and that, at the risk of sounding medieval, he'd slay any dragon to win my favor.

Q: What did you say?

A: Well, I don't know if you remember the kiss but he kind of swallows my head, so I said. "That really is the way Jim Carrey kisses and you should see the way he makes love."

Q: Speaking of which, two of my friends wanted me to ask you how big it is.

A: [Laughing] Let's just say, you don't see me going anywhere.

Q: Does it bother you that there are all these women lusting after him? I mean, even Liz Smith has been commenting on his buff bod.

A: Yeah, I've got to start carrying weapons. [Laughing] No, it doesn't bother me at all. I'm not a jealous person and I'm kind of fatalistic about it--if somebody wants to stray, they're going to stray.

Q: Are you ever troubled when the media speculates about your relationship?

A: Jim's fine but I get very upset that they're always writing about us as "on-again. off-again, on-again, off-again"--like we're this flaky Hollywood couple that just breaks up and gets back together all the time. There was a brief moment at the beginning of the relationship, where we were both like, "Wait a second. Is it real? We met on a movie." So we took a step back, but since then we've just been solid. I care about him a great deal and I know that he cares about me. We've been together for close to a year-and-a-half now.

Q: A couple of years ago, you divorced actor Danny Quinn, Anthony Quinn's son. How long were you married?

A: Two years. I had been with him for a long time, though. Then we got married and then we broke up.

Q: Will you get married again?

A: It will take a lot because it's a scary thing, I mean, I want to be sure. Marriage is a real thing--I take it very seriously. God help me if I turn into, like, Liz Taylor or some-thing. So maybe I'll never get married again. It would have been a lot easier just to break up than go through the divorce.

Q: Was the divorce a particularly rough one?

A: Yeah. Definitely painful.

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