Gillian of the Spirits
Q: Does your idea of happiness include family?
A: Yes. But let me back up. My deepest idea of happiness has nothing to do with another person. It's got everything to do with peace in my own mind. But I would like to have a family again, a partner and another child or two. It's contingent upon a certain environment of healthiness.
Q: Have you forgiven your parents all their mistakes?
A: I've forgiven their mistakes, but stuff still comes out. Sometimes it's been necessary for me to get to the root of something I'm processing, and often it's in childhood. There are still periods of time when I experience a good deal of anger, but it's not at them. There's a book I was reading called The Fantasy Bond, about how we create bonds in our family of origin based on what we needed in order to survive at that time, and how we continue to re-create those fantasy bonds.
Q: That's basic Freud. Only he'd say you can't stop doing it.
A: I believe you can stop doing it. I have. Takes a lot of work.
Q: OK, enough seriousness. How about some frivolous questions? If you had to take three foods with you to a deserted island for the rest of your life what would they be?
A: And I wasn't going to see anybody else on the island? [Laughs]
Q: Right.
A: Let's see. I don't eat bread, but I love bread--I'd take that Jewish egg bread, challah. I don't eat meat either, but I'd need some protein--I'd say beef stew. And I'd have to have something naughty. Harry's Bar in London has the best chocolate ice cream in the world--it's like mousse--I'd choose that for the third thing.
Q: If you could give up I.Q. points in favor of a physical change of any kind, how many points would you give up and what would the change be?
A: [Laughs] I'd want a higher metabolism and I'd give up five I.Q. points for it.
Q: What Shakespearean role would you most like to play?
A: Kate in The Taming of the Shrew, or Lady Macbeth.
Q: What historical person would you like to have an affair with?
A: Dick Cavett. [Giggles]
Q: Well, he's alive, so I'm not sure he's so historical, but sure.
A: OK, [still giggling] that man in the book Seven Years in Tibet-- Heinrich Harrer.
Q: You don't mean Brad Pitt?
A: No, no, no. Heinrich Harrer.
Q: What profession do you admire most?
A: Anybody who leads a country. It's an unfathomable job to me.
Q: If you could be a fly on the wall anywhere, what wall would it be?
A: My ex-husband's. [Laughs]
Q: What rock song do you wish you'd written?
A: "You Can't Always Get What You Want."
Q: What animal do you think is your spirit animal?
A: The whale. The blue whale.
Q: What saying have you known all your life that holds true for you?
A: "You're only given as much as you can handle at any given time." Whether it's true or not, it gives you the strength.
Q: What musical instrument best expresses you?
A: The cello.
Q: What's your greatest virtue?
A: Generosity.
Q: Are you generous to a fault?
A: Yes.
Q: Are you good with money?
A: Yes and no. I'm good at being miserly and I'm good at being extravagant. It's all about finding the balance. I have someone who watches over my money who I trust implicitly.
Q: Do you know where all your money is?
A: Yes, but only because I've asked for lists and I've had recent conversations and gone over patterns of spending. I don't make a lot of investments, besides property.
Q: Is art your major extravagance?
A: Yes. Of course, there's this house, but that's about building a home for my daughter.
And sometimes I get silly with clothes.
Q: Are you beset by charities that want your money and time?
A: Yes. When it requires my presence, it's easy--I just don't have the time to give. When it requires money, I've chosen where my focus should be. I've worked with various charities, some involving children, family violence, multiple sclerosis. But there's one particular charity I work with the most--Neurofibromatosis, Inc.
Q: Why that one?
A: My brother has the disease. I make appearances for that organization and I addressed Congress about the disease.
Q: What was addressing Congress like?
A: It was challenging using my mind in that way and figuring out what needed to be said. Neurofibromatosis is actually more prevalent than MS, but there are stigmas attached to it because it's similar to the Elephant Man disease, in that it can have those kinds of tumors, only they may not happen till the age of 30.
Q: Is the research progressing?
A: Yes, and the research on NF has helped a lot in other areas, like cancer. What's amazing is that a lot of fans donate to this cause for my birthday or Christmas or my daughter's birthday. It's incredibly generous of them.
Q: Well, since the holidays are coming up, how can somebody who wants to make a donation go about doing that?
A: There's a Web site where you can do it. The address is www.nfinc.org.
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Virginia Campbell is the executive editor of Movieline.
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