Tori Spelling: Spelling it Out

Is there truth to the rumor that she actually shoots down tons of guys who ask for her phone number? Including every parent's worst nightmare, Charlie Sheen? "I'm sorry to disappoint people since it's kind of a nice story--'Charlie Sheen asked for my number and I didn't give it to him,'--but it wasn't like that. There are a million girls who would probably like to go out with him. He lives in my building, we've talked a couple of times and he's always like, 'Hey, we live in the same building and there's not a lot of young people who live here. Nice to meet you.' It wasn't like he left his phone number and I didn't call him back." She cracks up. "Yeah, that's me--every guy wants my number. I guess that's not a bad perception for people to have."

But what about all those other, nonfamous guys she's shooed away? "That's really flattering," she says, blushing. "That actually gives me hope. But it's so not true--not true. I mean, if you and I met six months ago I would have been like, 'I haven't had a date in forever.'"

Lately, though, Spelling has been dating someone. The rumor is, it's Trevor Edmond, the 27-year-old actor who stars on her dad's TV series Pacific Palisades, but she won't cop to it. "I genuinely believe that he likes me for me," says Spelling, "and he's the first person I've gone out with in a long time that doesn't want anything out of me."

How much does she fear opportunists and bloodsuckers disguised as suitors? She looks ashen and dead serious as she tells me, "You totally hit it on the head. That's my one biggest fear in life--will I ever find someone who likes me for me? And how will I ever know? It's difficult because I can't meet someone who doesn't know who I am. I'll be out with my friends and one of them will go, 'Oh, that guy is looking at you,' and I'll look over and I'm like, 'Oh, he's cute.' Then he comes over and says, 'So, you're on 90210,' with that kind of starstruck thing. They can't talk to you on a personal level."

As long as we're talking about Spelling's love life, I decide to pose to her a question her character is asked in The House of Yes: "Where's the wildest place you've ever made love?" She laughs heartily, and answers, "An airplane. Which means I've reached the mile high club. I'm terrified of flying--I can't go on private planes. I have to go on the biggest plane and even then I have two glasses of wine. On this particular flight I had two glasses of wine so I got less self-conscious, I guess. The weird thing was that nobody even turned their head when we went into the bathroom. Maybe they were all drunk or something."

If Spelling had to choose between food or sex, which would it be? "I'd give up sex," she says, unhesitatingly. "See, lasagna and goat cheese are my favorite foods. I'd have those, [and] just masturbate."

On that note, I ask Spelling how she feels these days about her much-discussed looks?

She stares off a moment, as if mired in some private mind-space. "When I was younger," she says, "I was insecure about everything. Having that relationship with [Savalas] made me even more insecure. But getting out of it made me real secure. This is a hard business to be secure in, though. You're constantly in the makeup trailer with three other beautiful women and you're like, 'Do I look OK?' Insecurity about your looks will rule your life and that sucks, so you have to come to terms with it. I have moments where I see someone really beautiful and I go, "Kill." But as I get older, I get more secure. I tend to like my looks better and better as I grow into them. I look at pictures of myself at 16 and go, 'Maybe I did have some things to be insecure about.' At 17, 18 things changed. I got better looking."

So what does Spelling hope for careerwise with her seasoned sense of security? She's already proven she can play the wide-eyed naive girl, the virgin and the nervy hooker. "My raw talent, what I really think I'll shine at, is physical comedy," she says. "Every single director I've worked with asks, 'Why aren't you doing comedy?'" Whatever form of comedy she does, you will not ignore her--if she has anything to say about it. And she will be laughing right along with you. "The first agent I had when I was 15 told my mother, 'She's not hungry enough. She's not like 20 million other girls who want the same part so badly they'll do anything to get it.' Now, I'm hungry for it. Now, I know what I'm capable of doing. And I want it."

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Stephen Rebello interviewed Kevin Reynolds for the August issue of Movieline.

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