Diana Ross - The Interviews

WHEN YOU DREAM Diana Ross Soundtrack Reviews

_{A limited edition Japanese release of a children's book that
Diana Ross wrote and illustrated. A cd accompanied it.}

Secrets of a Sparrow Diana Ross (Villard Books)

Black Americans of Achievement: Diana Ross John Wyeth, Jr. (Chelsea House Publishers)

Call Her Miss Ross J. Randy Taraborrelli (Birch Lane Press)

Diana Ross Patricia Mulrooney Eldred (Creative Education)

Diana Ross Leoncre K. Itzkowitz (Random House)

Diana Ross: An Illustrated Biography (Sidgwick & Jackson)

Diana Ross: Supreme Lady Connie Berman (Popular Library)

Favorite African-American Movie Stars - Paper Dolls Tom Tierney (1997, Dover Publications, Inc.)

I'm Gonna Make You Love Me: The Story of Diana Ross James Haskins (Dial Press)

Lady Sings The Blues Billie Holiday w/William Duffy (Lancer Books Inc)

_{(originally published in 1965 by Doubleday &
Company, Inc. - Biography of Billy Holiday w/photos from movie)}

Reach Out: The Diana Ross Story Leonard Pitts Jr. (1983, Sharon Starbook)

_{Intro by Cher}

Soulful Divas David Naughton (1999, Billboard Books)

_{(Insightful treatment of legendary divas with chapters
devoted to subjects)}

May 11, 1999 - (cover/photos/article)

Cover: Supreme Diva - Diana Ross on Fame, Family & Chastity Bono's Pet Hamster

Inside: Stop! In the Name of Love, (pg 33-40, Judy Wieder; photos: various photographers)

Diana Ross is back in Britain following her caution for alleged assault

Motown legend Diana Ross has flown back to Britain, and given her first live interview in the country since her arrest at Heathrow Airport last month.

Three weeks ago, Ross left under a cloud after she was released by police with a caution over an alleged assault on a security officer at the airport.

The 55-year-old singer hardly touched on the subject of last month's incident, except to tell listeners that she had always been treated well in the UK, where she had lots of fans.

Instead, the mother of five discussed tips on juggling the demands of children and work with Ball, who is to quit her show early next year to start a family.

She then added: "It's about having really a lot of simple abundance, and looking at the beauty in your life."

Ross is believed to have flown into Farnborough Airport on a private jet from Geneva.

She is here for a series of promotional events, including an interview with BBC Radio Two's Steve Wright and a Top Of The Pops recording.

Her major commitment is to film an ITV special called An Audience With Diana Ross, for transmission later this year.

Among those who will be in the studio for the LWT show are the All Saints, Catatonia's Cerys Matthews and soap stars from EastEnders and Coronation Street.

LIFE MAGAZINE

Back to the Top

May 1999 (cover\photo\article)

Inside: Like Mother, Like Daughter (pg 48)

Diana Ross: David Brown continues Miss Ross's Story From Her Split With The Supremes To Her Current 30th Anniversary Celebrations (pg 58 - 65)

"Supreme Lady..Diana Ross Raises her famous voice to talk about AIDS with A&U's Nick Steele"...

"When I was a child, I remember sneaking off by myself. I would stand in front of the mirror in a trance, watching my lips move and my body sway as I sang along with an Etta James record like, 'Dance With Me Henry', performing for a wildly cheering, imaginary audience. At those times, I felt alive and in my element", recalls the woman who grew to embody the sweet promise she whispered to her own reflection all those many years ago. "When you want something bad enough, somehow it happens".

Diana Ross is resplendent as she answers the door wearing a sleek black dress and a reluctant smile, washing away all the black and white memories that clutter my mind. In fact, as we sit and chat, I find it impossible to marry together all I know and have read about her with the woman who sits demurely before me. We all have our preconceptions about those who have eclipsed stardom to dwell in a sacred and mythic place in our collective consciousness, and by all accounts, the woman before me should be an impossibly difficult diva with a "sprayed on smile" and the ability to keep me at a distance with one well-placed look. Hey, I've seen it in print. It must be true.

The truth is the image couldn't be further from the Diana Ross that I find myself face-to-face with today. She is refreshingly candid, relaxed, and natural.

Recently Ross has been raising her famous voice to talk about an issue close to her heart. "Many of my fans, people who have followed me for years, have died of AIDS. And, I've lost a lot of friends to this deadly disease. That has affected me deeply", she reveals. "I can remember being around when we first heard of someone being sick. I had heard from one of my close friends that this beautiful young man had died and it was frightening. That was before they even had a name for this thing, before any of us knew what it was. Then slowly but surely there grew an understanding of where this was coming from, and of course that caused a big scare. We have lost so many creative and talented people to AIDS".

The losses have inspired her to make a commitment to do what she can to raise awareness. "I want to be supportive in heightening AIDS awareness. There is still a great deal of ignorance about this devastating disease", she explains.

Ross' commitment to the cause is not mere celebrity lip service - Over the last few years she has avoided high-profile starry back slapping fund-raisers to concentrate on low-key grass-roots projects, involving herself in schemes like the New York inner city recreational space drive for children suffering from HIV.

"As parents, we must not be afraid to talk openly to our children about sexuality. It seems to me that the younger generation is filled with confusion. They have very little understanding about the illness and as a result, they view sexuality and their human needs with fear. It's our responsibility to teach our young people how to take care of themselves sexually. They must know that if they don't, they could die".

She shows the early passion and optimism of someone who is just joining the fight. And that, of course, is just what is needed at a time when so many have lost the drive which is so essential to making progress against this disease. "We also have to continue moving ahead with the research to find a cure. Because I believe there is a cure somewhere. We can find it, but we have to stay on it. I really believe that. Don't you believe that?" she questions. "There has got to be a cure. And maybe that's just my faith talking, but I know there has to be a cure for both AIDS and cancer out there. We just need to make a stand like when President Kennedy said a man will be on the moon by this certain year. We have to declare that this is what we want to happen by this time. Because if we make that goal we have a better chance of realizing it. And until that happens, while this virus is here, we have to keep trying to raise awareness".

We arrive at the end of our allotted time and when one of her publicists sweeps in to usher me away, she protests on my behalf, "But he's barely gotten to any of his questions. Can't he just have some more time? It's my fault. I've been talking too much", she says in an endearingly sincere and completely un-diva-like fashion. "How can we fix this?" she continues. "Is there some last question you'd like to ask?"

Expecting a polite brush off, I ask for a second interview. "Well, we'll have to see. I'm not sure we..." the publicist begin to say as she leads me out. "You know what, I can do that", Diana Ross says catching up with us. "I can really do that. You give me a call and we'll set it up. That's really no problem".

A day or so later I am welcomed home by a friendly message on my answering machine, "Hello...this is Diana Ross. You can call me when you like and we'll set up that interview. Thank you...Oh, and this is Diana Ross calling".

"I'm in a great mood today", she announces when we sit down for the second installment of our interview. It is the day after the airing of her television movie, "Double Platinum", costarring teen pop star Brandy. Good reviews of the movie and the success of her latest album, "Everyday Is A New Day", have, at least temporarily, distracted her from her impending divorce from her husband of thirteen years, Arne Naess.

"I choose my songs from where I am at that time in my life. If there is a struggle going on you can hear it in the music", she says quietly. "I can't help that".

The struggle that her current album seems to hint at is the personally devastating deterioration of her marriage. The song, "Until We Meet Again", feels like a direct appeal to Naess and there is a startlingly revealing moment in "Not Over You Yet", where the propulsive R&B rhythm track momentarily stops and she murmurs a very uncharacteristic, "I hate you for what you've done to me".

But Diana Ross is no stranger to difficult endings. She has already lived through one of the most public and overblown breakups in history. Second only to the Beatles in global sales, The Supremes were so much more than just "The Sound of Young America" (as Motown championed itself throughout the sixties). Their aspirational glamour - from the Detroit projects to Vegas in a few whirlwind years - embodied in the supernaturally kohl-eyed, stick-thin Ross, was a dream of post-war black womanhood. When they broke apart at the end of that decade to the bittersweet strains of "Someday We'll Be Together", it seemed for many that that dream was lost forever.

"That was such a dynamic time for us and, of course, it was my foundation", Ross recalls. "We just didn't fit anymore. It was like any other relationship or marriage. You put your time and energy into building something, and then, one day, you realize you have to walk away with nothing".

"I feel like what I went through with the Supremes was a reflection of what was happening in the world. We went through this incredible period of time in the sixties and came out into a kind of rebirth in the seventies", she continues. "It was like going through the storm and coming out the other side and looking at the world in a new way. The sixties were very turbulent, but the seventies were a beautiful, wonderful time for me".

There would be years of accusations and recriminations to follow - the death of fellow Supreme Florence Ballard, then near destitute, in 1976, has been well-documented, not least in Mary Wilson's viciously Diana-baiting autobiography 'Dreamgirl' - but Ross would prove that the sum isn't always greater than it's parts. Always a woman of great independence and steely determination, she set off to secure, for herself, the kind of success that she had largely been responsible for helping the Supremes achieve. "It was like walking into a dark room and not knowing what it's going to be like until you turn on the light. It was very difficult because I had given up everything I had worked so hard to achieve", Ross states. "I worked very hard to earn the name Diana Ross and the Supremes. So I had to really trust that it was time to move forward and make a change. Everything could have gone just the opposite of how it went. It certainly wasn't all positive right away, but I just had to have faith and hold on".

It didn't take long for Diana Ross to rise to the top of her game and secure a place for herself among the greatest musical talents in history. As a solo performer, she shed her sophisticated former image to become a vibrant force of nature onstage. Her energy and showmanship were electrifying and transformed her into a world-class diva.

"Yes, I am a diva...The Diva!", she says laughing even before the words have finished coming. "I'm kidding, you know...come on you can't take me seriously. I mean, I never considered it a negative word. It's certainly a positive word", she continues. "But it's been used so much recently that it has lost it's value. It's supposed to refer to someone who's on the top, someone who has earned the title of the best. But what has happened now is that any female performer who's had any success at all is being labeled a diva".

She has, of course, earned that right and is quick to point out that she and her fellow first ladies of song have nothing left to prove to the world. "I am really excited that Cher has a hit song right now. It's great to have a hit record, but Cher, Tina, Aretha and I have a solid foundation we created for ourselves. So even if we don't have a hit right now, it doesn't matter. People know who we are whether we do or not", she declares. "Our careers are not determined one record at a time. Whether I have a hit record or not, I'm not forgotten".

It is a powerful and defiant statement and one she feels compelled to make. Her body of work is a monumental achievement and her early recordings have had a profound effect on the way we sing, the way we dance and the very way we define popular music.

"I've been part of people's lives for a long time, for some people their entire lives. And even though I don't feel that old, I've been singing for almost forty years", she says as if the thought is only just forming in her mind. "Is that right?" She counts out the decades in a whispered tone. "Yeah, in the year 2000, it will be forty years that I've been performing. And you know honestly, I don't feel like an old person. I feel vital and young and full of energy. And I don't really know how people see me. I think I still look good", she laughs. "I mean, I'm still working on it!".

Her image has, at times, earned her the unflattering nickname, The Plastic Princess of Pop. "I don't care what people tell me, I love makeup and hair and dressing up", she beams. "My hair has always been a big issue, it's still a big issue for me. I will have big hair one day and straight hair the next. In fact, I also love wigs. I have always loved them and I always will. So if I feel like being a blonde today, I'll be blonde. That's why drag queens can easily make themselves look like me", she continues playfully. "Really, it is not hard to look like me, you just put some fake eye-lashes on and fix that hair".

As to whether she thinks imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, she claims it goes without saying. "Of course it's a compliment and it gives me a chance to see myself in another way. Did you see that wonderful movie called 'Trevor', it's all about this little boy who wants to be Diana Ross", she explains. "It's such a wonderful film and it really touched me".

Ross considers the material on her new album to be some of the best she has had a chance to explore in a very long time and points to the music as an insight to where she is at this moment in her life. "What you learn as you get older is that if you can stay honest and stay real, that's what works best".

But for Diana Ross the work doesn't end there. She is a devoted and hands-on mother and she credits her children as being the true grounding force in her life. "My kids mean everything to me", she offers. "There's just so little time in life and I know where my value needs to be and that's with my kids. I don't try to instruct them on how to wear their hair or who to fall in love with. I am just there to support them in whatever they want to do with their lives".

In fact, Ross claims she'd raise the rainbow flag in support of one of her children. "If one of my kids was gay, I wouldn't have a problem with it", she declares. "The only thing I care about is whether or not they are happy. So, I would be alright about it. I don't know how my parents would have felt about it because they were from a completely different generation. But, I don't judge people by their sexual orientation or the color of their skin. I never look at someone as gay or straight, so it wouldn't even occur to me to separate people out like that".

She is also grateful for the years of faithful devotion from her huge gay following, but explains that even at it's camp best, her music was never directed at any one group. Instead it was a deep reflection of what was happening inside of her at the time. "I know that the song, 'I'm Coming Out', was a huge anthem for gay men, but it was also an anthem for women. It was for everybody and it came from what I was feeling at the time", she recalls. "I can remember being asked what I wanted to sing about and I said, 'I don't know. I'm up and down and all over the place...I'm just coming out!' I'm glad it speaks to gays. It's such a blessing for me to know that gay people really like me".

Her sincerity is tangible and her understanding of her immense influence is a powerful tool. "A lot of people see me as a role model. You want to be perfect for everyone and not let anybody down", she admits, growing a little pensive. "It's a heavy responsibility. Wisdom is something that you learn over time. You certainly don't know at the beginning that you have to set a standard".

But the standard she has set is undeniable. Over the course of her long and remarkable career, she has even exceeded that childhood dream whispered to her own reflection. "Success can be lonely --- isolating, disappointing", Ross says candidly. "You don't get used to it. You deal with it and use it and make it helpful".

When you are in such close proximity to someone fame has magnified to such epic proportions, you look closely and carefully as you possibly can. You bask in their sheer flesh and blood presence, watch for a familiar gesture, wait for a revealing moment and ultimately you assess them with a certainty you never possessed before. We all do it and we revel in that defining moment when we can say, "Oh, I've met her and I can tell you she's..."

But it's not possible to understand the complexities of a person like Diana Ross over the course of two short visits and then reduce her essence into a concise paragraph. As I sit across from the fifty-five year old icon, I am satisfied with all she has given and promises to give. Her earlier statement about not needing to prove herself to the world with hit records resonates in my mind and I wonder why she has anything left to prove to anyone.

Sitting across from her, I am aware that our time is almost over. I study her one last time. There is the smile that has been burned on our collective memory, the wild hair she loves so much and the slender arms that have long promised an embrace.

"For me, the saddest thing over these past years has been losing really, really close friends to AIDS," she reveals. "They're just not here anymore! I'll mention a name, and someone will say, 'Didn't you know he passed away?' All of a sudden you don't see them and you wonder why".

She grows quiet for a moment and pulls herself out of the sad thoughts that have begun to collect around her. "You know I do something you wouldn't believe", she says grinning. "I put up these huge notes all over my bedroom to remind me of what's important. If anyone saw it they'd think I was crazy, but it really helps me. Over the weekend, I put up this sign on the wall that said, "If you had three wishes come true what would they be?"

She hesitates as though reconsidering her admission. "Do you want to hear about this?" she asks. "okay, the first one is that I wish my kids have long, healthy, happy lives. The second is that I want to be there to see their lives. The third...I'm not going to tell you the third one...I can't", she says with a wicked laugh. "No, I'm not going to tell you!" she insists while still laughing. "I'm really not gonna tell you".

ATTITUDE MAGAZINE, The (excerpts)

HER GAY AUDIENCE

"I find it hard to draw distinctions between the people who buy records and come to my concerts. Certainly the gay audience has always been loyal, supportive. And I appreciate that. Being a woman, being black, I've known what it is like to grow up being different. What's
important is to focus on self-worth and to believe in yourself"

AIDS

"It was in 1981 when I first heard about someone getting AIDS. It was a friend of mine, a beautiful young man who was a model in NewYork. That was years ago. Many of my fans have died of AIDS. This has affected me deeply, and I want to be supportive in heightening
AIDS Awareness. Education is most important. Parents must not be afraid to talk to their children about sexuality"

MICHAEL JACKSON

"We don't get to speak as often as we used to. Careers have a way of separating people. Whether we are together or apart, our friendship will always be very important to me, whatever he chooses to do with his life. I've always wanted to see Michael settle down with a family
of his own, and now it seems that he has done that"

MARY WILSON

"Dealing with Mary's book was a journey in which light triumphed over darkness. I was depressed for awhile, but I don't hold on to bad feelings. She and I started out as good friends. That's what I remember. My love for her didn't end one day when she wrote a
book. I have forgiven her. I wish her only good things in life, but I no longer consider her the friend she was"

The interviewer wrote the following: Her friend and fellow Supreme Mary Wilson bared her soul in her memoirs 'My Life As A Supreme', using Diana as the sacrificial lamb in the process. All Diana would say was "Mary did what she had to do". This, in turn, led the way for an American author to trash the Ross legend. Once more, a silent Diana turned the other cheek. Close friends disclosed that the hurt she felt nearly destroyed her. Much money was made from her name in America but neither publications could be given away here, thus confirming that Britain is Diana Ross territory.

FLORENCE BALLARD

"My earliest memories of her are of a beautiful, wonderful girl. When she began to fall apart, it was tragic. There were times that she'd miss recording sessions and shows, and we didn't know where she was. She was constantly letting us down. Florence had serious emotional problems, but we didn't know that then. We saw her as an angry woman who drank too much and wouldn't take responsibility for herself. She blamed everyone else for the things that were not working out in her life"

FLO'S DEATH

"It was tragic. But people do die. I could have died. She resented me being the star of the group. What I've learnt from all of this is we all have choices"

BEING A ROLE MODEL

"I've always wanted to lead a good life and be an example for minorities and the under-privileged, so that then they know when they think they can't, they can"

CAREER

"I have always said that if I had come home from a show to an empty house instead of to my babies, my life would have been empty. If I would have sacrificed anything, I hope it would have been my career"

SUCCESS

"One day I'm going to look up all the things I used to say that I wanted, because I think I've probably got them all"

CRITICISM

"I've realized that it is just a part of being a celebrity. It's not personalized. If there's some attack being made on me about being a strong woman, it's about the image of women - not about Diana Ross - just women who take responsibility for their lives and don't allow themselves to be pushed around"

HER HOME

"It's not styled or decorated. If there's something I love - a rug, a lamp . . . I'll buy it. It may not match. I had an apartment once that I decorated. Never again. I was never comfortable in that apartment"

THE HOMELESS

"We were driving past and she was just sitting there with a card saying 'I'm Homeless and I'm hungry'. I couldn't hold my breath, I was just weeping. My kids hadn't eaten breakfast and I'd just bought them these little bags of bacon and eggs in case they wanted to snack. So I gave her the food and Ross and Evan didn't understand why this lady had no place to live. People don't want money, they want food"

HER EMOTIONS

"I cry very easily. I cover the whole rainbow of emotions. Sometimes I think I am every woman. Oh, that song belongs to Chaka Khan, or was it Whitney Houston?"

HER HUSBAND - Arne Naess

"I am so turned on by him. That sounds teenage, doesn't it? Well I don't really think of myself as grown up. I don't want him to hurt his leg or his fingernail. I think motherly things. I want to take care of him. Of course I want him sitting at home by a big fire with a pipe, dreaming. But Julio Iglesias said to me, 'you've got the man you dreamed of'"

HER HUSBAND'S WEALTH

"If you open his fridge you won't find champagne. There'll be a half-finished can of sardines and some cold potatoes. He doesn't spend much on himself. He's still got flares from the first time around"

HER HUSBAND'S HOBBY

"We were climbing up a waterfall in Tahiti and I said, 'Why can't you be like normal people?' and he said, 'Because I'm not normal and I don't want to be'. He gives me experiences that I would never have had"

MEN

"I've never been attracted to weak men. Men that I'm interested in have self-esteem, and are doing things with their lives. I never wanted the kind of man who travelled around with me -- a Mister Ross"

LOVE & MARRIAGE

"If I see somebody I love I've got no time to waste. I hate dating and hanging around. That's not who I am. What's all that about?"

MEN'S EMOTIONS

"I think it's harder to be a man, but then I'm relating this to black men. Black men in America have a very hard time. It goes back to slavery. It must be difficult for a man not to be able to cry. Men in general suppress their emotions: 'Be a big boy, don't cry'. I even hear myself saying those things sometimes"

(Full page color pic EDIAND cover and small b/w pic in text from CD booklet. The interview was conducted by telephone.)

A: Well I'm talking to Diana Ross. How do you think I'm doing - valium seems like a good idea at the moment! So you've got another album out?

DR: No. Ha Ha. I tried to find out, but it got a bit ridiculous. I did find out about a single by The Supremes called, 'I Want A Guy'...That was like, one of the first ones. Did you know it can fetch up to 1,200 pounds at auction now?

A: Really? You don't have a couple of copies stashed under your bed you can let me have?

DR: Ha Ha Ha. No I don't. Actually I have a wonderful friend in Paris who has kept everything and if I want copies of anything he always sends them to me. He's got everything from the beginning on, compilations and everything.

A: There are some real fanatics out there. I was looking at web pages about you last night, have you seen them?

DR: Yes, I've actually been trying to get control of that. It's hard now y'know, there's no real standards for the web and anyone can set up these pages...

DR: No. There's only one that is my page. Basically I took it out and decided to reconstruct it because there are too many other things out there. There's even an estate agent in Colorado that uses the name Diana Ross. Ha Ha Ha! It's just amazing!

A: No, seriously. it's a big deal. I mean do you ever think about that? Do you ever get up in the morning and go, 'Shit! I'm Diana Ross.'

DR: Ha ha ha. No. Ha ha ha. Well y'know I wake up and and say look, this is a good day and let's keep it good. You know what I want to do? Can I call you right back 'cause someone's trying to get me on the other line. I'm waiting for a call from my son.

DR: ...Hello? I am sorry. I'm expecting a call from my 12 year old, who's about to get on a plane.

DR: Ha ha ha. He's on his way home and I wanted to talk to him before he gets on the plane. But I'll wait for the call on another line.

DR: I think bringing up kids is complicated, especially if you have a career or business and so each day is like, just trying to stay organized and trying to get your priorities straight. It's complicated , but a lot of fun. I really like my life.

DR: I'm doing the best I can. You raise kids a day at a time and if they know that you love them and that you're really there for them, I think it really does make a difference. In the early years of there lives , especially. I've always wanted to have children, I got them, so now I really need to do what I have to do to make sure it's ok.

A: Well y'know being teased and stuff at school. But I think it's easy. I would want to have Diana Ross as my mom.

A: So would I! Now, you've done a couple of Diane Warren tracks on your new album, she's the best ballad writer...

A: I made my mate Joey a tape of Diane Warren songs. I said to him, this woman must've been through it to be able to write that stuff.

DR: I don't know how a person gets to the simplicity of a great lyric...it doesn't mean you have to have lived a difficult life to get there, I don't think. If you meet her she's very peaceful, very calm. I don't know anything about here personal life but I know she's been able to write incredibly beautiful songs.

DR: D'you think Joey would mind if you did one? I would be great to listen to. As
much as I like her things I don't have one collection of all of them.

A: I'll ask, but it's a bit dodgy. It's good though. It's got Toni Braxton, Patti Labelle...And even the new album by Brandy has a couple of her songs. You sing those kind of songs Diana, but have you really been there?

A: Hear me out babe! There's never a big 'Diana Ross in a love triangle scandal' headline is there? You don't seem to suffer much in the love department.

DR: We all have a journey, we have a lot of adventure, up and down, I think it's all normal, I reallly do. I think every person has their own journey and it's a learning experience if you can look at it like that.

DR: Yeah, Cher and I are still friends. Our lives are just in different places all the time. I moved to Europe for a while and then lived on the east coast of the US but we were always very close. I can't remember how we got so close. I saw Cher here in Malibu not this summer, last summer. I haven't seen here since, except on television

DR: I have to go. My son's just called on the other line and I want to spend some
time with him. I can call you back.

11 Oct 1999

Diana Ross Returns To The UK!

Miss Ross arrives back in the UK for the first time since her highly publicized trip in September, on October 12th, for one week only.

Flying in from Geneva, she will be appearing on all of the top radio and TV programmes that the UK has to offer. Look out for her on The National Lottery, TFI Friday, Top Of The Pops, the Radio One Breakfast Show, Radio Two, Capital, Kiss 100 and many, many more.

She will also be recording "An Audience With Diana Ross" this weekend, which is due for transmission on ITV on December 11th. This will be a star studded event, not to be missed!

The Daily Telegraph (England)

ISSUE 1609 Thursday 21 October 1999

Miss Ross, The Metal Detector and Her Menopause

She was arrested at Heathrow airport after a dramatic contretemps at the check-in and now faces a divorce that she she is dreading. Diana Ross talks to Jan Moir about the latest turbulence in her life DIANA ROSS is rehearsing a television show in a north London studio. Right now - this very minute - she needs a chair and some hot coffee. "Get me decaf," she says, to no one in particular. From a shadowy post down by the stage, a girl sprints for the canteen. "OK. Let's just do somethin'," says Ross to her band, then cues them in and begins to sing.

Diana Ross: 'I'm too young not to have love in my life'

"Baby love, my baby love, I miss you, miss kissing you. All of my whole life through, da da de dadada, dede dede...hey!" she cries, as the musicians wheeze to a halt. "I need the lyrics up here. I can't remember the words. Someone get my bag."

She can't remember Baby Love? "Come on," she says briskly. "I haven't sung it in a long time."

Although familiar with her newer material, she is, amazingly, stumped by many of the songs that have made her, according to the Guinness Book of Records, the most successful female recording star of all time. She tries another one.

"Love has never shown its face since the day you walked out that door...uh-oh. What comes next?"

Just then, her fresh coffee is passed on to the stage. "I just hope this is not real coffee. I just hope this is decaf," she says, by way of thanks.

In her leather jacket and studded Chrome Hearts biker jeans - the very pair that set off the security alarm at Heathrow - she looks vibrant and youthful for a woman of 55. Her most arresting feature - it must be visible from outer space - is that huge puffball of mad black hair, which molts lightly wherever she goes.

"Yep," she says, extracting a strand from her fingernail, "you can always tell where Diana Ross has been." Sticking a microphone into the small triangle of face still visible under her curls, she begins again. "I wanna call the stars...nope, nope, nope. Come on. Get the words up on the monitor."

She is a small and menacing woman, with the unsettling habit of smiling broadly when most displeased. But, for today at least, she does not appear to be the petulant hysteric of popular legend. Dear me, no. Diana Ross is something far deadlier than that. Like all people who wield real power, she never raises her voice, does not repeat herself and issues orders into the darkness of the auditorium, certain that unseen minions will jump - instantly.

She might not exhibit much fellow-feeling towards these worker bees but, to be fair, she is conducting a difficult technical rehearsal and is painstakingly trying to get it right. However, it is noticeable that while she does not feel the need to apologize for her own mistakes, she will not tolerate them from others.

During a particularly sticky moment on stage, her spokesman distracts me by mentioning that when Ross is touring with her band, she just loves to "mother" them. Since they all respectfully refer to her as Miss Ross, and exhibit the nervy, big-grinned demeanor of children who never know if they're going to get a biscuit or a bashing, I think we can all guess what kind of road mommy Diana might be.

As the rehearsal ends, she slumps in her chair and delivers a final message to her musicians, without bothering to turn around. "You guys better get this together before tomorrow, I'm tellin' ya. I'm not sittin' up here being upset again." Then she gathers up her bags and heads off to her dressing room.

Once inside, she kicks off her boots and pads around in stocking feet, looking tired but beautiful. "Tired? I am in the midst of my menopause, so no wonder I'm tired," she says. "I can't sleep at night, I keep getting warm flushes. When I walk into a room, I say: 'Open a window. Isn't everyone in here hot?' I tell ya, it's a riot. Heh heh."

Does she suffer from violent mood swings?

She gives me a witchy look before replying. "No," she says, "I have always been in total control of my emotions." Then she instantly contradicts herself. "Yeah, I cry a lot. I cry at the drop of a hat, these days. I'm taking a lot of calcium for my bones, I'm taking a lot of homoeopathic whatever because my mother had breast cancer so I don't want to take hormone replacements.

"Anyways, I see this as a natural thing and I don't want to stop it. But you know what? This is not the end of my sex life. Heeey! Diana Ross is still a hot momma."

She gestures towards a portable stereo, a vital piece of equipment she uses each day to play the spiritual tapes that calm her hormonally confused soul.

"I spend a lot of time with my higher self. I am working on my spirit and my soul a lot; it comforts me," she says, nodding. "It keeps me on purpose, reminds me of the beauty in life. You know what? It's not about prosperity, it's about self."

In close confines, she has an alluring speaking voice and is making a big effort to be friendly and approachable. Today, the pop diva has eyes ringed Cleopatra-style with black liner and toned, bare arms. The only jarring note is a missing purple fingernail that has fallen off her right index finger.

"Yeah, I don't have long nails, I have stick-ons," she says, examining the damage. "People think I wear gowns and glitter all the time, but I am a real person. I really am. I do all the real stuff. I don't have a decorated house, I have a comfortable home. I do the dishes, I take the kids to school each morning in the van.

"But people don't wanna know that about me. They don't want to see me come down off my pedestal. They just want the provocative stuff."

You've got to hand it to her, this is an ingenious defense from a woman who was recently arrested at Heathrow airport on suspicion of assaulting a female security guard. She threw a hissy fit after being subjected to a body search by the guard. Ross was taken off her Concorde flight and held at a police station for five hours. Released with a caution, she has gone on to proclaim that she was not being silly, that being frisked is an intrusion of privacy and a breach of women's rights. At first, she does not want to talk about the incident - "I wanna move on, there are so many important issues in the world" - but it has had such a loopy impact on her that she simply cannot stop herself.

"What happened at the airport brought the fear of death to me. After Heathrow, I am scared of dying, I really am. It opened up a lot of fears for me," she says, with some intensity.

Why do you feel like that? I ask, incredulous.

"I dunno. You gonna be my shrink here or what? It opened up a whole channel of fear for me; it was devastating. I felt intimidated, so alone. Those people were totally without emotion and I had to stay there a long time without knowing what was going on. I had a lot of trauma later.

"When I got back to Connecticut, I had to get a minister to pray for me over the phone. That was really healthy because I was wondering if I had done something wrong. Don't you think it is a terrible thing to do to women?"

Diana Ross: her arrest at Heathrow 'traumatized' her No, I say. Women have to suffer many indignities in life, but being frisked at an airport is not one of them. "She touched my crotch!" says Ross, her voice rising as she leaps off the sofa. "She went like this" - she thrusts a hand between her legs - "and touched my crotch. Then she went around my breasts like this - I mean, what do they do with women with really big breasts? Her hands must have been quite open because I felt them on me. Then she went back and did it a second time."

According to Ross, she was never given the opportunity to go back through the metal detector to remove her belt or jewellery, and when she tried to complain after the search, they "just blew me off".

It was being ignored, perhaps, that really lit her fuse paper. "I am normal, so I guess I freaked out. I got really unhappy. I thought about not saying anything, then I thought, why should I? I felt, come on, there is a human being here."

If I were Diana Ross's shrink, I might deduce that she was having a seething bout of menopausal rage. Or perhaps her extravagant reaction was rooted in the shock of losing control and privilege, of having her bubble of celebrity pricked and being treated, for once, like an ordinary member of the public. Of course, she does not see it like that.

"I felt that I did not deserve to be treated that way. I am a good person," she says. "I am good to people."

Such was her grief, she even voiced doubts about ever returning to Britain again. However, the prospect of a new album, largely a selection of plaintive songs of lost love, and a single to promote appear to have concentrated her mind.

"This album is very special to me," she purrs, happy to be back on-message again. "It reflects a lot of what is going on in my life right now.

"These past two years, I have to say, have been very difficult for me and you can hear that in the songs I have chosen."

But it is tricky to pinpoint a period in Diana Ross's life that has not been turbulent. Born in the Detroit public housing projects, she powered herself out of the ghetto with a yearning for fame which she found through the Supremes and Tamla Motown records.

The all-girl group discovered a unique pop-soul formula and enjoyed staggering success from 1964 until Ross left to go solo - amid much acrimony - five years later. While the hits kept coming, she was also nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of Billie Holiday in the film Lady Sings the Blues.

Somewhere along the way, she found time to have five children: a daughter by former Motown boss Berry Gordy, two further daughters by her first husband, estate agent Robert Silverstein, and two sons by her current husband, Norwegian shipping tycoon Arne Naess. To her apparent dismay, Naess recently announced - on Norwegian television - that their 13-year marriage is over.

She appears to believe that divorce proceedings are inevitable, a state of affairs that she is reluctant to accept. "I don't wanna get divorced, I don't wanna do this any more, I want us to stay together," she croons, giving the puffball a shake. "I tried everything to get him to stay, but distance is not a good thing in a marriage and he always wants to spend time in Europe. I still love him very much."

She believes that Naess has found it difficult to be married to a woman in show business, and she has always been quietly horrified on his behalf when he has been referred to as "Mr. Ross."

"No matter how much self-assurance he has, after a while, that's got to be annoying," she concedes.

But they have always seemed a rather odd couple - the straitlaced businessman Naess, with his passion for gung-ho hobbies such as mountaineering and trekking, and his limelight-loving, flamboyant peacock of a wife.

"Yeah, he was so buttoned up, so conservative, so European," she sighs. "He
never wanted to talk about our problems and I always wanted to get them out
there. I wanted us to go for counseling, but he wouldn't hear of it."

She talks wistfully of the romantic evenings they spent together at their
Connecticut home - "we would have soup and beer by the fire, that was our
favorite" - but, despite this melancholy reverie, she cannot resist a
little bit of a bitch.

"I think he's going through a little bit of a menopause himself," she says, sweetly. "He's looking for something better, or a bigger mountain to climb, I dunno."

Will she ever, I ask - feeling as though I'm trapped in a Diana Ross lyric - be ready to love again?

"I'm too young not to have love in my life. I don't want to give up on love because things don't work out the way I thought they would. But I'm not ready to start the process of looking. I cannot picture myself dating."

Still, it must be pointed out that there have been rumors since the beginning of the decade that Ross's marriage was in trouble and music business cynics have been quick to point out that this timely disclosure of their separation chimes all too perfectly with the release of her new album.

"People say that?" says Ross, with that scary, gummy grin spreading across her face. "Well, I say there are a lot of ugly people out there. I am a normal person. I broil chicken, I collect cookbooks. I ride my bicycle. I pray for myself. I like girly things. What can I tell ya? Here, come and look at these boots," she commands.

She shows me a knee-high satin boot with a rhinestone cuff that she spotted in a shop window while cruising down Sloane Street in London in her limousine. As befits a true diva, she did not order her driver to stop, but dispatched someone later to buy her a pair. "And do you know what?" she says, sadly, "they're too small."

Miss Ross is, ultimately, a fabulous creature - an old-fashioned star of the very first firmament. We can forgive her for being too big for her boots once in a while.

Diana Ross's single Not Over You Yet is released on October 25. The album Every Day is a New Day is released on November 8 by EMI records.

DR: Because I'm just like you . . . I have standards and a way of doing things that works. And when a woman is in a position of knowing what she wants and certain ways to get things done . . . the information coming back sometimes is - that's a bitch.

When she was talking about the last performance before she went solo, she first said that, "this was a decision she had to stay with." From there she said that from Mary's point of view it had to have been difficult. Then she states, "Cindy, at that time, who was part of the group, but not really part of the group, she never became an official Supreme even though she was." Oprah stated that she herself had never really accepted Cindy as part of the group, and Diana states, "...we were all waiting for Blondie -- Florence to come back."

DOING GOOD BY PARTYING WELL
She Will Survive: Diana Ross, Still Supreme

By Libby Copeland
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 25, 1999; Page C01

It's easy to get lost in the swirl around Diana. There's the symbol, the history, the hair rising up from her scalp in a proud, sooty fountain. Diana Ross long ago moved from mere success to the status of a classic--a statue of divadom ossified by time and memory.

Last month, as if to remind us of the trappings of fame and ego, there was an ugly incident at Heathrow Airport in which Ross retaliated against a security guard after a routine frisking. The event left her repeatedly defending her temper when she would much rather talk about her new album.

But on Saturday night, as this year's honoree of Black Entertainment Television's Walk of Fame award, Ross was back to doing what she loves--performing. She descended from her pedestal and ventured into a sea of people, boogieing with tuxedoed men, hugging screeching women, even parking her sequined fanny on an occasional lap. She gave her
audience three decades' worth of music, five speedy costume changes in 50 minutes and the blend of aloofness and charm she is known for.

"I really sort of feel like I want you to know me," she told her audience from the stage at BET headquarters in Northeast Washington. "I don't know if you really know me."

Who knows Diana Ross? Ever since the Supremes became Diana Ross and the Supremes in 1967, she has been known as the one who pushed harder, who worked longer, who wanted it more. By all accounts, there was little room for warmth and fuzziness in the
poise-and-discipline teachings of Berry Gordy's Motown machine. The question of her true nature has arisen again since she flashed into the news again last month after the Heathrow incident.

Attempting to board the Concorde to return home after a spin in Europe to promote her latest album, "Every Day Is a New Day," Ross was frisked by hand after setting off a metal detector. Frustrated by the invasiveness of the procedure and by the fact that her
complaints went ignored, she says, she retaliated by touching the security guard's chest in a see-how-you-like-it demonstration. Ross was detained by police for five hours, and she claims that every inch of her belongings was searched.

At a news conference Friday arranged in honor of the BET award, Ross spoke of the incident as a human rights violation.

"I have always taught my children . . . that if somebody touches you inappropriately, you let somebody know," Ross said. "My daughter even said that, 'Mom, you're really lucky
you're Diana Ross, because people heard about this.' "

Hmmm. Maybe not. For better or worse, the airport incident was a stark example of what can go wrong in the universe of diva. Ross's armor--her glamour and her presence--were
stripped in the most raw way. She was treated as if she were . . .ordinary.

"They knew who she was," said Joan Fonseca, an investment banker and one of many Ross admirers at the performance who expressed outrage about the airport officials who
crossed Ross's path. "This is a mother, she's working. . . . This is mainstream Hollywood."

But far more important than that small glimpse of scandal is what Ross symbolized to a generation of contemporaries, said those attending Saturday's event, which benefited
the United Negro College Fund to the tune of $300,000. Ross is "glamour, sophistication, fashion," said Debra L. Lee, president and chief operating officer of BET. Lee recalls listening to Supremes 45s as a teenager in North Carolina and feeling that Ross stood
as "an incentive that there was a different kind of life."

Ross was not the first black singer to captivate hearts and earn the diva label. But the Supremes' love-laden pop crossed racial boundaries and embodied the sweeter side of an era laden with bitter racial strife.

Back in the '60s, the sound of Diana Ross and the Supremes "was the other side of what was happening in the country," said Othello Mahone, interim director for the District's
Department of Housing and Community Development. "It was innocence."

Not only did Ross make it, but she looked good getting there. And at 55, she still looks good. Doe-eyed and froth-haired, with a smile so bright it could leave traces like a Fourth of July sparkler, Ross is more voluptuous these days than was her skinny teen self.

And despite her recent split from Norwegian millionaire Arne Naess, Ross's life has been surprisingly unscathed by scandal. No drugs, no jail terms. The worst she's been accused
of is excessive shopping and a domineering personality that some say has led her to step on others in an ambitious climb to the top.

In contrast to, say, the gritty and troubled life of Billie Holiday, Ross "was the first black singer that we experienced [who] was really a diva and never got off track," said Carolyn
Jordan, executive director of the National Credit Union administration.

Saturday evening Ross took the audience down the decades-long track. She first offered a medley of her Supremes hits, as if to get the requisite oldies over with so she could sing
what she enjoyed: songs from her solo career mixed with covers, including an energetic "I Will Survive." She also plugged her new sound with a video single off her latest album; against an urban backdrop, it showed Ross in leather and a '90s-style Afro, wailing
about (what else?) love. The video tableau seemed inconsistent with the sequined lady of glamour onstage.

"It's new! It's hot! It's young!" Ross cooed to the audience after the video ended.

But if Ross is driven to stay current, many at Saturday's performance said her reach is far greater and more permanent than the here and now.

"She's always said she was going to be a superstar, and she has achieved superstar fame," said Mary Wright, a research analyst for the Library of Congress who grew up in Ross's
hometown of Detroit. "Diana is Diana. She's in a class by herself."

The following are various news articles and interviews that depicts the London Heathrow Airport Incident as it unfolded on September 22, 1999.

The Associated Press

Diana Ross Arrested
AP-NY-09-22-99 0754EDT

LONDON (AP) - American singer Diana Ross was arrested today at Heathrow Airport after allegedly assaulting a security officer, news agencies said.

Ms. Ross, 55, was detained after a female security officer who had attempted to search the singer complained of being assaulted.

Ms. Ross was at Heathrow to board a flight to the United States, according to Air News, a news agency based at the terminal, and Press Association, the British news agency.

British Airways confirmed that Ms. Ross had been due to travel on the 10:50 a.m. Concorde flight to New York.

Scotland Yard confirmed that a woman was arrested, but would not say if it was the singer. It said the woman who was arrested was in custody.

``The incident took place while the woman was waiting together with other
passengers for routine security checks prior to boarding a flight,'' Scotland
Yard said. ``The woman is in custody at Heathrow police station.

Diana Ross Arrested at Heathrow
The Associated Press AP-NY-09-22-99 1947EDT

LONDON (AP) - Singer Diana Ross was arrested Wednesday after a confrontation with a security guard who searched her at Heathrow airport.

The pop diva was detained at a police station for more than four hours before being given a warning and released.

``It was scary, I was scared, I'm worried about my children and I want to go home,'' she told BBC-TV just before she caught the Concorde evening flight to New York, some eight hours after she had been scheduled to leave.

The 55-year-old star was not charged. Police said no further action would be taken.

The problems started shortly before Ms. Ross was to board the 10:50 a.m. Concorde flight to New York. She passed through the metal detector and something she apparently was wearing activated it.

The ensuing body search by a female guard was humiliating, she said through her spokesman.

Responding to reporters' questions in New York on Wednesday night, Ms. Ross said the guard ``was rubbing up and down my leg. I felt very uncomfortable.... The woman did not apologize.''

Earlier in the day, she issued the following statement: ``I have been through all the airports of the world and never been subjected to such an intrusive search. ... I am a huggy person, I don't mind being touched, but not in this way - it was far too personal.''

Phil Symes, of publicists Cowan and Symes, said: ``The whole issue for Ms. Ross is the indignity of women when they are subjected to this kind of personal body search.''

She had tried to complain to airport security staff immediately after the search, but had been given a leaflet about complaints procedure, he said.

``She felt that was not good enough. She felt she had not had a chance to make her point,'' Symes said.

``She then went back and approached the girl again and said, 'How would you feel in this situation?' and actually touched the girl. She said it was a natural instinct to want to fight back.''

The guard made a complaint to the police, accusing Ms. Ross of assault.

The star had already boarded her flight, but was led off in tears. She was detained until 3:30 p.m., then released after being cautioned by police.

Looking subdued, she was escorted through waiting ranks of journalists and photographers and into a chauffeured limousine, flanked by five police officers.

Asked about her treatment in custody, she said: ``The police here are wonderful.''

She returned to Heathrow in time for the 7 p.m. Concorde flight to New York.

Ms. Ross ran through the terminal accompanied by police and British Airways staff. She made no comment, the metal detector did not sound and, unimpeded, she ran the 150 yards to the waiting supersonic jet.

When she finally arrived in New York around 6 p.m. EDT, the weary-looking star was greeted by more than two dozen swarming members of the media. She walked directly to her limousine through the crowd, short-circuiting a longer route thanks to special provisions made by airport security.

Diana Ross Frisked at Heathrow
.c The Associated Press

By MELANIE CARROLL

NEW YORK (AP) - A weary-looking Diana Ross said she was ``treated like a criminal'' by airport officials in London after they detained her for more than four hours following an altercation with a security guard.

The entertainer arrived at Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday night, hours after leaving Heathrow Airport. She will not face charges for the incident, which happened after she was frisked by a female security guard.

``I travel a lot. The security checks usually use metal detectors,'' said Ms. Ross, 55. ``This woman went all around my body and up and down my legs. I felt very uncomfortable. I wanted to complain, but no one listened to me.''

The problems started shortly before Ms. Ross was to board the morning flight to New York. She passed through the metal detector and something she was wearing apparently activated it. She was then given a body search by the guard.

Ms. Ross tried to protest to security staff at Heathrow Airport immediately after the search, but was given a leaflet about complaints procedures, said Phil Symes, her publicist.

Outraged, ``she then went back and approached the girl again and said, `How would you feel in this situation?' and actually touched the girl,'' Symes said.

The guard complained to police, accusing Ms. Ross of assault.

``I reacted because I was upset,'' Ms. Ross said.

She boarded the Concorde, but was led off in tears. She was detained for hours, then released after being cautioned by police. She was escorted through waiting reporters and photographers into a limousine, flanked by five London police officers.

She told reporters she felt like a prisoner. ``I sat in the police station like a criminal for five hours. I was frightened. I was scared.''

She returned to Heathrow in time for a 7 p.m. flight to New York - eight hours after she was scheduled to leave.

``I have been through all the airports of the world and never been subjected to such an intrusive search,'' Ross said earlier in the day. ``I am a huggy person, I don't mind being touched, but not in this way - it was far too personal.

by Joal Ryan

The legendary singer was taken into custody today at London's Heathrow airport after allegedly copping a retaliatory feel of a female security officer, reports out of Britain say.

Ross, 55, was said to be currently in custody at a Heathrow station, a police spokeswoman told Reuters.

The incident occurred at about 10:30 a.m. (U.K. time) as Ross prepared to board a Concorde flight from London to New York. The supreme Supreme allegedly flipped when she was submitted to what an official termed "routine security checks."

According to Reuters, Ross accused a security officer of touching a breast during an inspection--and, in retaliation, touched the female security officer's breast right back.

"How do you like it?," Ross asked the official, an eyewitness told the press agency.

Ross was then seen by reporters stomping off into the airport's VIP lounge and declaring, "I'm absolutely furious. Do you know when they search you, they actually touch your breast? It's disgraceful."

Ross later boarded her flight, only to be escorted from the plane by police and shuttled away in a van, Reuters said.

Best known for her string of classic Motown hits with the 1960s girl group, the Supremes, Ross was most recently on national TV, um, touching the exposed breast of rapper Lil' Kim at this month's MTV Video Music Awards.

The Mirror had an exclusive interview with Diana, besides getting into all the details which all other media has covered already, it said here in The Mirror that Diana held a round of meetings in the capitol to discuss plans for her latest album, Everyday is a New Day. She also met London Weekend television chiefs to put the finishing touches to the setting-up of an "Audience With" TV special. She had been up until 3am yesterday after a 13-hour non-stop session preparing a video shoot for her new single, Not Over You Yet...

And it looks as if the video for Not Over You yet has happened as she spent 13 non-stop hours on it, then again the video needs to be ready for the songs release in just over a week...

Near the end, Diana say's "I am obviously nervous about coming back to Britain, but I have to be here next month for promotional work. I can't rule out not traveling with security in the future, it's important for me to have some kind of normal lifestyle which is why I travel alone, I
have my career. But I have my life and I try to keep it as normal as possible. I'm a frequent traveler. VIP people help me when they can, but if they're busy they don't. People are nice to me because I'm nice to people. That's who I am, I was shocked, angry and upset and very embarrassed by this whole thing. It was a violation of my privacy. What puzzles me most is that you would expect a woman to be more sensitive about it. I'm really not a crusader, but this is a real issue and it's time action was taken if any good is going to come out of it. This isn't about status, this is an issue relating to all woman. It's something which has to be looked at seriously. I wouldn't be talking like this if I didn't think it was important."

Earlier in the interview Diana said...

.."I felt so alone, so isolated, I was in despair. I always travel on my own. I don't have security or an entourage so i felt desolated...... I talked to my lawyer John Frankenhiemer in Nashville who just told me to tell the facts and the truth - which I did - and to tape everything. if I'd
known I was going to be there so long I would have hired a local lawyer"

Ross also made a frantic telephone call to her estranged husband Arne Naess, who remains a friend, and her eldest daughter Rhonda.

"My husband said I should make a joke about it, but i didn't think it's very funny. But he was sad and sympathetic about it all. My daughter was as angry as me"....

Larry King Live

Aired September 23, 1999 - 9:00 p.m. ET To order Transcripts

Singer Diana Ross Speaks out About Her Treatment at Heathrow Airport and Detainment at a Police Station

LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, she says she was treated like a criminal after an incident at a London airport. Diana Ross joins us from New York for the full hour, next on LARRY KING LIVE.

Diana Ross, of course, one of the great pop singers, her last album, which was made in London, by the way, has gone double platinum. She's been involved in an incident that has gained worldwide attention. Before we talk to Diana and get the whole story from her point of view, here is what she said and looked like last night when she arrived at Kennedy. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIANA ROSS: ... Security checks, they used metal detectors. This woman went all around my body and up and down my legs with her hands and I felt very uncomfortable about it. And I wanted to complain and nobody listened to me, and I actually reacted because I was very upset, and I tried to complained and nobody paid attention.

QUESTION: Are you going to sue, Ms. Ross?

ROSS: No.

QUESTION: How did you finally resolve it?

ROSS: Well, I -- the hard part was they took me to the police station and that was devastating to me, because they don't listen. They have a real responsibility to do paperwork, and I was treated like a criminal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: We thank Diana Ross for being with us tonight. She's at our studios in New York.

All right. Take us back. You were returning home. Was it a business trip to London? Were you recording? What were the circumstances that had you there?

ROSS: I -- Larry, I was in London in a good mood, because I was just finishing a video for the new album, the new CD that's being released in Europe. It was a very good evening, a good day. We were on our way to the airport. It was very busy, a lot of traffic.

KING: This was the morning Concorde flight to Kennedy? I think it goes at about what, 10:15 or so?

ROSS: The early morning Concorde, yes, yes.

KING: So what happened?

ROSS: We were -- you want to hear the whole story.

KING: You bet.

ROSS: It was very crowded coming through the line through the security line. I basically had on a body suit, a belt with a big buckle and a top with a lot of buttons on it, but out of metal. As I came through the security line -- usually every place I've traveled -- now you know I've traveled a lot -- that if you make the sound beep off or something like that, they give you a chance to go back in and take off your watch or your rings or whatever, and you go back-and- forth. But I guess, maybe because it was a crowded day or whatever, it was like, this woman walked up to me and just spread my arms out and spread my legs out and started going over my body, and I was really just shocked, and I said...

KING: Now, hold it right there. Usually they use a little beeper machine. Everyone has had this happen to them.

ROSS: Every place I've ever traveled.

KING: They'll go around and if it beeps off, it was a belt buckle or whatever. Why was she touching you?

ROSS: Well, I think that is the method in the London Heathrow Airport. I said to her, I said, hey, why do you have do it like this? And she said, "I'm doing my job," and she went back to -- she did it again. She went all around my breasts, underneath my breasts, down my back, and she spread my legs open and went up and down my legs, and I was just humiliated. And I thought, I can either let this go or I can make a complaint. So I walked away with the girl from the British Airways that was very helpful to me, and we walked over to make a complaint. Nobody paid any attention to me over there. I think it was a busy day. I kept -- you know, I'm trying not to blame anyone.

I asked them for some assistance and they say, we have to talk to our supervisor, and I stood there until I thought I was going to miss the plane. They gave me a pamphlet and said, "write a letter," and I went like, what is this going to do. I said, this is humiliating. I feel violated. This woman has gone under my breasts, all around -- I mean, I was really taken. That's all I can say. And so as I walked away, I was really angry, and regrettably, Larry, I think I reacted to her. She was standing there very smug. I walked over to her and said, this is how it feels when someone rubs you up and down, and maybe I shouldn't have and I apologize because...

KING: And you grabbed -- and what did do you?

ROSS: I'm sorry?

KING: What did you do when you said this is how it feels?

ROSS: I did the same thing to her that she had done to me.

KING: Is that when they stopped you? What happened then?

ROSS: No, it's not -- I went on to the lounge and the photographers were all there and I told them how humiliated I was. I sat in the lounge. There were many other women that agreed with me, that they had been in tears coming through the -- when someone can feel your private areas like that, you know, and I just said, you know, someone should make a stand. I did not think that, that someone was going to be me. I actually got on the plane, I had taken off my shoes. I was sitting down, and all of a sudden I was taken off the plane by police officers. And they said, "You've made a complaint. You have to come with us." Now the biggest scary part of all of this happened much later at the police station. I was very frightened.

KING: What happened?

ROSS: Should I continue?

KING: You bet. You have got the whole hour. Now, wait a minute. They come on -- the police. How were all the -- how did everybody know? We're seeing this now. Do you know how the photographers all knew about this? How they knew to cover this incident? Do you know, Diana, why it was even -- why photographers were there?

ROSS: You know, I -- there's always photographers in the Heathrow Airport, behind the security guards. I travel alone. I don't have body guards. I'm really so happy my children were not with me. Once you go through this secure area, you're not allowed to have security. And the paparazzi or photographers are always there, and by the way, they've always been good to me in the past. They were good to me now, because I said to them, somebody needs to take a stand about this physical kind of searching that happens there. It's -- you shouldn't be allowed to be touching people in this way. They don't have gloves on. They have nothing. They feel you underneath your...

KING: Before we ask about the police station, despite the fact that you were being escorted by a representative from British Airways, that didn't help at all? They still -- they're not employed -- the people who do the guard and the checking are not employed by the airways. they're employed by the airport or the authorities. That didn't mean anything?

ROSS: No. And you know, at the airport I don't get any special treatment. I stood in line like everybody else to go through the security line. They were very kind to me, because I am a frequent flyer. They helped me through the difficult places, but they don't really do anything for me unnecessarily. I do not think I get any special privileges as a celebrity at the Heathrow Airport. If there's no dignity, Terry is there, or they always are able to assist me. They have been very kind to me over these years. The girl walked through. She commiserated and understood my feelings totally.

KING: All right.

ROSS: In fact, at the end, I said to her, you're the only one who saw what happened. So I need you to be able to say to someone what you saw. Because my biggest scare was when the police officers took me off the plane. I said, no, I want to go home. And they said, "No, you have to come with us." And that's when I got scared, and at the police station -- first of all, they drove me -- it was scary.

KING: Hold it right there. We'll have you explain what happened there. Diana Ross has been removed from the Concorde and taken to the police station. We'll find out what happened right after this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Ms. Ross, how are you feeling?

ROSS: I'm OK.

QUESTION: Ms. Ross, how do you feel about your treatment, Ms. Ross?

ROSS: The treatment here is wonderful here. Everybody has been really nice. Let's not, guys -- please, I don't like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with Diana Ross, over the incident that has gotten worldwide attention. She's seen -- being seen worldwide tonight on LARRY KING LIVE.

Before you tell us what happened at the police station, I just want to quote to you some witnesses who gave a different account at "The Daily Telegraph" today, which you may have missed because flew back.

One witness said the guard ran her hand slightly over your neck, back, legs and under your arms, and suddenly you went mad, shouting and screaming that the girl had touched your breast. "The New York Daily News" quotes witnesses as saying that you screamed: "Nobody touches my breasts. Who do you think you are?" Any of that true?

ROSS: You know, I'm not even sure, because I was upset. Yes, I didn't feel like I should be -- let me step back to -- you know, the way I raise my children is if someone touches you in any way that it's uncomfortable, you make sure you let someone know. I brought up my kids this way. If you're touched in any way that feels like it's incorrect, you let someone know about this. And this is where I was coming from at that moment.

You can shake a person's hand and you can shake a person's hand. You can frisk a person and you can really get in there. And I think that I felt very uncomfortable with the way that I was being touched at this airport and I needed to tell someone about it and say that this was not the right way to do things.

KING: All right. Why were you...

ROSS: And that's what I did.

KING: Why were you removed -- by the way, Heathrow Airport made a statement today which you may might want to comment on before you tell us about the police station. It says -- quote -- "The vast majority of the 60 million passengers who pass through Heathrow understand the airport's security procedures. We're required by law to hand search any passenger who activates that metal detector alarms. Occasionally, high-profile celebrities take offense at this procedure."

ROSS: I think that many women will take offense at this procedure, to be touched in this way. I don't think it's just a celebrity.

KING: They don't do it at American airports, right? I think they use just that little -- little -- little machine that the guy holds and goes around. They don't touch you physically, do they, I don't think?

ROSS: You know, Larry -- Larry, I believe in airport security. I believe that there should be security at the airport. Absolutely. I think people should be checked. But I think there is a method and a way of anything that you do, there should be a way of doing that.

KING: OK. What happened -- and the word I'm thinking of is a wand. It's a wand.

ROSS: Yes.

KING: What happened at the -- what happened at the police station? What happened in the car? What did they say you were being take there for?

ROSS: Well, I didn't know why they were taking me, and I got really frightened, and I kept trying to keep myself really calm and I kept saying, "It's OK, I'm going to be all right."

And I was alone, and there were three other police officers. Didn't -- they were not unkind. They were nice people. I guess people have to do their job. I started to get really frightened, because it took a long time and I didn't know where they were taking me. They said they were taking me to the other side of the airport, but it seemed to take a long time. I walked into the airport -- into the police station. The first thing that scared me is the door slammed behind me. And I have never been in a police station before and I -- you know, I recommend that no one ever has to go through that, because it's very frightening.

I was scared. And I told the guy I was scared, and I said, what -- "What's going to happen now? What are you going to do?" They took my bags. They went through all my bags. They told me I could call my lawyer and call my family, and that was it. I didn't have my telephone book with me. I didn't have anyone's number. I don't know lawyers in London. They were very matter of fact, doing their job, again. You know, they didn't do anything wrong to me, but it was a very scary environment and scary situation.

KING: Did they tell you why you were there? Had the woman filed a charge against you?

ROSS: No, they never -- I was not arrested. I was being detained, was the word.

KING: For what reason?

ROSS: And they never said how -- that I was being detained because the woman at the airport said I had -- she should have been the one there, because she was the one who physically, you know, did, you know, something to me.

KING: Yes.

ROSS: I reacted to her. I was angry, Larry. I'm not excusing my behavior. I was very angry. And you know, I guess we all react in different ways for different things. I've never been physically...

KING: All right. When they...

ROSS: ... touched this way.

KING: How long did they hold you? How long did they hold you?

ROSS: I guess I was there before 10 o'clock, and they never told me what was going to happen. I want you to know the fear is one of the woman police officers put a rubber glove on her hand, and I said, "My god, what are you getting ready to do?" I mean, I was so afraid. And she said they went through all of my papers. They, you know, went through all my things. It was the day of total humiliation. I have never been in that place before in my entire life. And...

KING: Why were they -- did they consider you some sort of security risk? I mean, why -- why...

ROSS: I don't know.

KING: I can understand them being -- maybe the lady brought a charge against you, and they were reacting to that you pushed her. But why go through your stuff? Did you ask them why they were doing it?

ROSS: I didn't hear what you said, Larry.

KING: Did you ask them, "Why are you going through my purse?"

ROSS: Yes. I asked them why. They said they have to take everything out so that they can put it in a bag and put away, so when they would give it back to me, that I received what they'd taken from me. But you know, like, they went through, you know, my jewelry. They counted my money. They went through everything in my personal bag. Even -- not only the violation that you go through at the airport with this kind of search, but just someone going through your private and personal things.

I know these things may have to be done, but it's just -- it was just...

KING: How long did they hold you?

ROSS: It was devastating.

KING: How long did they hold you in the police station?

ROSS: The thing that was also scary is they said to me, if they had to, they might have to put me in a cell. And I started to cry, because I said, you know -- I just didn't know. They didn't give -- it was very intimidating. Very, very -- loss of dignity. And I just didn't know what was going to happen next. There was a nice police woman who came and sat -- put me in a room with a police officer and closed the door. And I had not been able to see or talk to anybody until the travel agent that had booked the flight for me was able to come in. And she's the one who told me that there was all the press and photographers outside. But I had no idea what was going on in the rest of the world. I felt totally isolated and alone.

KING: Let me get a break, and we'll find out how long you were held and what they said when they released you, and then we'll be including calls from people. Our guest is Diana Ross. By the way, Phil Donahue was scheduled to be with us tonight. He'll be with us in a couple of weeks from now, in October in New York. Phil Donahue will be with us. He was the scheduled guest tonight. He'll be with us in October in New York. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with Diana Ross. All right. How long were you held in that airport jail?

ROSS: Five hours, between 10:00 and 3:00: 3 o'clock they let me go. And I really wanted to get home. I...

KING: Did they tell you why? What were they doing for five hours?

ROSS: I have no idea. I sat there. It was a lot of paperwork. I had to sign off on a lot of things. They -- you know, I had to sign that they read me my rights.

KING: But you still don't know what you're charged with?

ROSS: They fingerprinted me. They fingerprinted me and took my picture, like a criminal.

KING: But they never told you what you were charged with?

ROSS: I wasn't charged with anything. I was not charged with anything.

KING: When they sent you out, did they -- what did they say when they released you?

ROSS: They released me -- I had -- with something they called a warning, or I'm not even sure the word. It's something like that. In other words, you had to -- you had to sign that, you know, you won't...

KING: Do this again.

ROSS: That you won't get angry again, I guess, or you just allow yourself to be, you know, revved up, I guess.

KING: Now, did they take you back -- did they take you back to the airport and put you -- was it another Concorde or did you go on a regular flight?

ROSS: No. I went -- I wanted to go on the Concorde, because I wanted to get home as fast as possible. You have no idea how wonderful it is to be an American. And I just wanted so much to be home with my kids. I kept saying, I just want to go home, you know, and...

KING: So was there a Concorde flight late in the afternoon, too?

ROSS: It was a 7 o'clock Concorde, and I arrived back home a quarter to 6:00, I think.

KING: Did you have to go through security again at the airport?

ROSS: When I got to the airport, the people in New York were always very nice to me, again.

KING: No, I mean at Heathrow, again. Did they make -- after they took you from the jail, did you have to go through security?

ROSS: When I went through security this time, I undressed, Larry. I took off the jacket that had the buttons on it. I took off my coat. I took off my shoes. I had no metal on me, and I went through the security, and I started to run to get to the lounge, because there was piles of press people there, and I was almost missing the plane and I just wanted to get through the airport.

KING: In your gut, do you think that anyone who acted the way you acted would have been treated that way, or do you think it was partially due to the fact -- this would just be a guess -- that you are who you are?

ROSS: No, do you know I kept thinking that maybe it was a full day. It was crowded. Maybe the woman was just rushing through what she had to do. I don't know what her intentions were. I know that she knew it was me, because, I said, "Why do you have do this?" So she said, "It's my job," and went about doing it again. In other words, this is the way it is, miss, you know. And I got a lot of other people around me feeling the same way. Because I was stunned. I stopped there in a very stunned way, trying to figure out, do I allow this to happen to me or do I make, you know, a stand?

KING: Must have felt pretty good to land at Kennedy?

ROSS: I'm sorry, when I got home?

KING: It must have felt pretty good to just land at Kennedy?

ROSS: I was very happy to get home. I was also worried about my kids, Larry, because I had heard that things had started to be said around, and I knew that my sons, my children, would be very worried about me, and I..,

KING: We'll take a -- all right, let me get a break, and we'll get some reaction that's been printed about this and your reaction to that, and we'll take phone calls. Diana Ross is with us for the full hour. Tomorrow night, the entire cast of "Touched By an Angel." Harrison Ford on Saturday. And next Tuesday, former Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey. Right back with Diana Ross. Your calls will be coming. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with Diana Ross. So I guess you were not surprised to see a lot of press and a lot of reaction at Kennedy when you came in?

ROSS: Yes. I was not -- I mean, I was happy to see them, actually.

KING: Why?

ROSS: Well, it gave me a chance maybe to say to them what I was...

KING: Give them your side of things.

ROSS: Yes.

KING: All right, let's get your reaction to some of the things. Randy or Tarabeli -- or Taraboreli (ph), writing in "The New York Post" said, that what you did was not typical of the new Diana Ross. Years ago, you might have acted that way, but he had thought that you'd changed quite a bit, and that your life was well under control and that you didn't get angry and spurt off. What's your reaction to that?

ROSS: This person doesn't know me at all, this Randy. I mean, he's making a lot of money on using my name.

KING: How about -- Andrea Payser -- Peyser (ph)? I don't know her. She said she wanted to eradicate "diva deviancy." She said "spoiled rotten behavior is highly contagious. The common thread is that the diva invariably believes she is a victim." Do you know -- or want to comment on -- is ti Peyser -- or went to comment on her column?

ROSS: I didn't hear that so clearly what you said, Larry.

KING: She said that, in a headline, it's time to eradicate diva deviancy. Do you hear me, OK?

ROSS: It's kind of fuzzy. I'm trying hear you.

KING: OK. She criticized your behavior and that of other big stars, saying that "spoiled rotten behavior is highly contagious." "The common threat is that the diva invariably believes that she is the victim. The only way to stamp out cruel or annoying divas is to steadfastly ignore them. The divas should be banned from the stage, screen or TV for 30 days until bad behavior ceases." Did you read that, or do you have any comment on that?

ROSS: I do. I think people that know me know that that's not who I am. And you know, I think people can say anything they want to say about you. But I think people that know me, I think my fans and people that are close to me know that that's not my behavior at all. I have a way of hoping that I always make eye contact and be close to -- that's not me at all.

KING: So when you saw -- did you see all of the tabloids today in New York having a field day with this?

ROSS: Larry, I'm sorry, say it again.

KING: Did you see all of the tabloids today having a field day with this? You know "The New York Post" with this, "You Can't Hurry Luv," British kind of headline, or "Diana Ross is Bust-ed in Britain," "A Touch of Trouble." Those kinds of things. Have you seen that today? "Tit for Tat in Britain," in "The Sun." "Diana Ross Grabs Boobs of Air Girl." "My Hell by Diana Ross," in The Daily Mirror. What do you make of all of that?

ROSS: I haven't seen any of this, Larry.

KING: You can't be surprised, though. You've had a life of tabloids, haven't you? You've had a life of people reporting anything about you, true or false.

ROSS: It's never really been so bad, It's never really been. I usually always try to protect my children, if anything. But I don't think people have been really negative toward me. I haven't had a lot of bad in my entire -- you know, it's been a long career, Larry. I've had a wonderful career for -- I don't want to tell you how many years. But mostly, people treat me fairly, I think.

KING: would you say this is the worst public thing that's ever happened to you?

ROSS: Yes I do.

KING: Do you plan to bring any charges against the woman or against Heathrow, or do you plan to file any lawsuits?

ROSS: I think I will talk to my lawyer, but I didn't -- even when I complained at the airport, I didn't know that I could possibly call the police. No one gave me those options. Maybe that's what I should have done. You know, I just -- you know, I didn't know what to do actually.

KING: Have you ever been physically searched before at Heathrow?

ROSS: Not -- no I have not.

KING: And someone said today that you were kidding around on an MTV Music Awards show, and that you touched rapper Lil' Kim's breasts. Is that true?

ROSS: Yes I did. And I apologize for that behavior as well, too. I did.

KING: Even though you were just kidding around.

ROSS: You know, you're caught up in the MTV Awards, and all of that and I just -- yes, I was like a mother, hopefully a mother there, trying to say, oh my God, why are you doing this? I even talked to her and asked her to -- she was she was beautiful and that she didn't need to dress in that manner.

KING: Are you going to be hesitant about going back to Great Britain?

ROSS: I'm sorry, can't hear you.

KING: Are you going to be hesitant about going back to Great Britain.

ROSS: I'm supposed to go back next month. And I do, I spend a lot of time there. My husband's work is there. My record company, EMI, is there, so I will probably spend a lot of time back in the UK.

KING: We'll be right back with Diana Ross. She's with us for the full hour. We'll take your phone calls.

This is LARRY KING LIVE. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Let's go to some calls for one of the great music stars, Diana Ross, who has a new album coming out and is also -- her new album "Everyday Is A New Day" will come October 11. And this year she signed a deal to produce a four hour mini-series for ABC, starred in a TV movie, "Double Platinum" with Brandy, and her recent album "One Woman: The Ultimate Collection," which was released in Britain, went triple platinum.

Austin, Texas for Diana Ross. Hello. I'm sorry. Toronto and then Austin. I'll get to you Austin. Toronto first, go ahead.

CALLER: Good evening, Larry. Ms. Ross, I am a female security guard in Toronto and I wanted to tell you when you were here you were nothing but pleasant, when you had Graham Cort (ph) with you. My question to you is, because of this incident -- and I'm sure in many other situations -- do you feel that you're going to and do you feel that you have to have a body guard on you 24/7 now? Are you that affected by it?

KING: Ma'am, will you hold on? I want to ask you a question. But, Diana, do you want to answer first?

ROSS: You know, I'm having trouble hearing.

KING: OK. I'll have to repeat it. I'm sorry about this sound system. What she said was she is -- she does that kind of work at the Toronto airport and that every time you've been there you've been very kind and they've never had a problem with you. But she wanted to know if now you'd consider using a bodyguard, to have someone with you 24 hours a day?

ROSS: You know, Larry, everybody knows that I don't have an entourage with me. I've been able to carve out a life that I can be with my children and I can have a life that, you know, that I don't really need to have a lot of people around me, security and bodyguard. I will hope that I can always remain the same way. I don't know that always they help. Sometimes bodyguards create problems, or -- you know, I don't like that -- I'm able able to talk with people. When I'm performing I walk into the audience. I don't have a problem about being with people.

KING: So you don't intend, when you go back to Great Britain, to have one -- a bodyguard along with you?

ROSS: No, I don't. I have -- if I'm in big stadiums I have security guards, but it's not...

KING: Ma'am, are you still there?

CALLER: Yes, I am.

KING: OK. In Toronto, if the beeper goes off, do they use a wand or do they physically touch?

CALLER: Well, I don't work in the airport. I worked in a venue on her dressing room in a concert. And my experiences with her were nothing but positive, and there is no reason for a female security guard to touch the principal. There is no reason whatsoever. I think she's entirely justified. Her reaction was normal. And really some people become star struck in the profession that I'm in, unfortunately, and I work with a lot of those people. But Diana deserves somebody who is by her side all the time and she could consider that seriously.

KING: OK. Thank you. She said -- did you hear her, Diana?

ROSS: Larry, the 40 years of my career I have a relationship with police officers, security people and it's always good and pleasant. It has never been like this before.

KING: Austin, Texas, for Diana Ross. Hello.

CALLER: Hi. People are arrested everyday and the procedure that she -- Ms. Ross described is probably typical of any arrest situation. Why would it be any different simply because it's Diana Ross? I'm sure that it's stressful, but it's an arrest and there are certain things that they have to do anyway.

ROSS: Yes. I didn't expect it to be different. I was just accounting of my fears. It was very frightening to me and I would imagine anyone in that situation that's never been in a police station before -- as I said to you, I know that they were all doing their job, but I'm telling you it was really scary. And I just -- I had never had that happen to me before and I know that there's people that have it happen to them, but it doesn't mean that it's not frightening.

KING: Diana, when they took you off the plane, what did they say to you? Did they give you a reason why -- I mean, it had to be embarrassing with the passengers sitting there and everything -- why they were taking you off?

ROSS: Yes. They said they wanted to -- I had to be detained to make a statement about what had just happened and I just said, no I don't want to. I want to go home. And they said, "No, you have to come with us." And that's when I realized that this is really serious and it was scary. You know, I'm not -- I don't -- if I were any -- I think -- I don't expect anything special. I'm just accounting that how frightening it was the way it is. It is a procedure. They give you your rights, but it's really a frightening place to be in.

KING: We'll take a break and be back with more of Diana Ross on this edition of LARRY KING LIVE after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with Diana Ross. We go to Roscoe, Illinois. Hello.

CALLER: Good evening, Larry. I just have a comment and a question. About five years ago, I went through Heathrow security without setting off the metal detector. I was still physically searched in front of my three children. It was extremely upsetting, especially to my little one who was only four. And I just want to ask Ms. Ross if she is going to pursue this any further. I certainly hope she does.

KING: Diana?

ROSS: I'm not sure.

KING: You might, you might not? You're going to talk to a lawyer though?

ROSS: I'm not sure, Larry, because I think when you try to do the right thing sometimes it backfires. And so I'm not sure, really.

KING: Meaning? You mean, if you make more of a case of it, you'll be in more trouble or what?

ROSS: You know, I have to work all over the world. You know, I don't know that I'm the one that needs to, you know, make the stand. I think if there are women out there that have been felt the way that I felt and they want to try to figure out how we can align, and you know, maybe make a difference somehow -- maybe they can change their procedures -- I would like that. But I don't know that, you know, my -- you know, I'm a family person. I'm concerned about my kids. My kids are very scared, you know, and I...

KING: How old are they now? How old are your kids?

ROSS: Well, I got older girls who are very independent and on their own. But my two boys, 11 and 12-year-olds.

KING: Caller, are you still on the phone?

CALLER: Yes, I am.

KING: All right. You didn't set off the beeper and they still physically searched you?

CALLER: They pulled me aside. I did not set off the beeper. I went through the metal detector, no problem. They pulled me aside. They don't even put you behind a curtain or anything. It is absolutely humiliating.

KING: Did you ask why?

CALLER: No, I didn't.

KING: Why not?

CALLER: I was absolutely in shock. You just never expect that, something like that to happen.

KING: Did they touch intimate parts?

CALLER: Yes, they did. Yes, they did.

KING: That does not -- in American airports, it's a wand, right?

CALLER: Exactly. I didn't even...

ROSS: They have a wand, yes.

CALLER: Right.

ROSS: This girl was going so fast to me, she actually -- her hands between my -- on my thighs, between my legs. It was absolutely out of order, and it really was wrong.

KING: Ma'am, have you -- caller, you never did anything with this other than call this show now? In other words, you never filed a protest, never wrote to Heathrow, never told the airline?

CALLER: I guess I was just in a state of absolute shock. We wanted to -- my daughter was going -- my older daughter was going to school in London, and we were going over, taking a flight from London to Paris. And we needed to get on the plane quickly, and it happened so quickly that -- and it's such -- it's such a humiliating experience that it really didn't even sink in until after I was even on the plane, what had happened. It just didn't -- but my daughter, like I said, my 4-year-old was extremely upset, because she witnessed the whole thing.

KING: Diana, is it your suspicion...

ROSS: One of the -- one of the British Airways people -- one of the British Airways people said that his wife came through there and was in tears. And there were so many other women, they were so much in agreement. I didn't feel like I was standing alone, but I did feel that -- I kept saying to myself, OK, this must be something that I need do at this time in my life, is to try to find out what this is going to lead to. I didn't go there to try -- for this to happen at all.

KING: Is it your suspicion, Diana, that this woman was deliberately touching your intimate parts? That you were Diana Ross and she was -- is that your feeling?

ROSS: No, I don't think so. I think this woman...

KING: You think she was just doing her job?

ROSS: Doing her job really fast, as fast as she can, not doing whatever their normal procedures -- just going through the process. But then when I said, "Why are you doing it like that?" then she got arrogant. But I don't think -- you know, I mean, I don't think it was a sexual thing from her point of view or that it was Diana Ross. I just think she was going through her routine so quickly that she had forgotten that there are people here, humans, that you can't touch in this way. You know, and then she was -- you know, she was very -- had, you know, an attitude that, you know, like, "If you don't like it, too bad." You know?

KING: Were the -- the person with British Airways, was it a she?

ROSS: Yes.

KING: Was she surprised?

ROSS: The person that was...

KING: Escorting you?

ROSS: Yes. Yes, she was very surprised. Yes.

KING: She had not seen this happen to other females before that she'd escorted to the Concorde?

ROSS: She said -- she said to me that they have to go through security all the time, but they have to take their badges off and everything. So they dress accordingly. They make sure that they don't have metal on them in any way. But they go back-and-forth through there all the time, she said. And it is very difficult for someone with their hands, to put their hands on your breast. See, you know, I said: "Do you do this to men? Do you touch their private parts as well?" How do you -- "How do you get away with this? You know, that you can go around a person's breasts and between their legs and down their butt." I mean...

KING: Did anyone ever answer you? Have you heard an answer to this from anyone in Great Britain as to why they do this?

ROSS: The only answers -- the answer I only got, it's my job, this is the way it's done. You know, if you don't like it, write a letter. They gave me a pamphlet to fill out to say -- you know, to complain. And -- of which the girl from British Airways -- I can't even remember her name, but a very wonderful girl -- found out the name of where I should write it. And I kept the letter with me. I didn't even bring it. I wish I could show you. But it was just like, "Do you enjoy the flight?" Or "What bothers you?" And you're supposed to fill it out. And that's all I had.

KING: Our guest is...

ROSS: And I mean, I wish I could have called the police. I didn't even know that that was my option. You know, I didn't know that. I didn't want to miss my plane. I wanted to come home.

KING: Or you would have called the police right there...

ROSS: I guess I could have.

KING: ... to complain about how you were touched?

ROSS: I could have, but I didn't know that was an option, Larry. I just wanted to complain to someone there.

KING: We'll take a break. And as we go to break, let's watch a little happier days. Diana Ross at work. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP OF DIANA ROSS SINGING HER LATEST SINGLE, 'NOT OVER YOU YET')

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with Diana Ross. We go to Miami. Hello.

CALLER: Yes, Diana. I have the -- how are you, Larry? How are you, Diana?

KING: I'm fine.

CALLER: I have the solution for Diana. Diana, what I suggest for you is to fly private. Don't do it anymore. Just fly private. Take you -- there are a lot of companies that can do a good job for you and you don't have to put up with so many complications in these crazy airports. So don't fly anymore through that London airport. I have very many difficulties. You fly private. It'll take you -- only cost you maybe $3,000, $4,000 more, and you'll have no problem. It will go straight from London to New York. Good luck, Diana.

KING: Warren -- a plug for Warren Buffet who has a lot of private plane business. Why not private, Diana? Diana?

ROSS: I try to fly private planes sometimes, but I want to go in the airlines that I feel very safe with. Sometimes I try to fly charter planes if I can. It's very expensive. It's not the way -- it's not the way I live. Even though I know people say certain things, I'm quite frugal about my -- the way I travel. And I travel back-and-forth, and I use the commercial airlines. I feel safer.

KING: To New York City for Diana Ross, hello.

CALLER: Yes. You don't hear about Miss Ross very much often now in the news. Hello?

KING: Yes. Go ahead.

CALLER: I was wondering if it's a publicity stunt on her part?

KING: OK. I'll ask you. Diana, you didn't hear it. She was asking if this possibly was to gain publicity for you.

ROSS: You know, I haven't worked a lot this year. I've decided to spend a lot of time raising my children, so I haven't really traveled a lot.

You know, I think people think that everything you do has to do with, you know, a career and publicizing, and that's not who I am. I don't know how to explain that anymore than what it is.

KING: You've had a life...

ROSS: I've had a career. Do you know how long I've been performing? It's been...

KING: How long?

ROSS: ... you know, 40 years or more. You know, this is -- you know, I'm trying to decide how much work I want to do and what I don't want to do. And I do it a lot because it's my life. I like to stay busy. I'm not the kind of person who kind of just stays home. But it's -- everything I do in my life is not related around publicity.

KING: Why don't you do more film work, by the way?

ROSS: What about film work?

KING: Why don't you do more?

ROSS: The projects don't seem to be there, Larry. I've done some good pieces on television. I've tried to -- I've worked Hollywood, trying to do more film projects. It's not that easy. My agent said that for "artists like myself, in this age-group," it's just very difficult to find work as an actress.

KING: We'll be back with our remaining moments with Diana Ross on this edition of LARRY KING LIVE, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with our remaining moments with Diana Ross. Chicago, hello.

CALLER: Yes, hi. My name is Loretta. I'm from Chicago, Illinois. And I want to say to Diana, please, you're going to have to stick to it. It's happened to me. I'm married to someone who is a CEO of a major corporation here in Chicago. They are humiliating. We need you. We need you to stand up. Write a letter to the queen. Do any type of correspondence. Speak out, regardless of what anyone says to you, Diana. We need to you get a change made.

KING: Has this happened to you?

CALLER: Yes it has. And it is humiliating. And what I said when the person did that to me was, "Excuse me? What are you doing to me." And she says, "If you don't like, go see my supervisor." And I didn't have time for that. I wanted to go home, just like Diana is saying. It's horrible. But, Diana, stick to it. We support you, sweetheart, and go for it. Do whatever it takes. And if you need a rally behind you, we are here, we are here. Regardless of what these callers say about a publicity stunt or whatever to promote your records, they don't have a clue, they're clueless. Do what you need to do.

ROSS: Nobody is going to go to a police station or to a jail for a publicity stunt. That would be a really stupid thing to do. Nobody is going to go and be, you know, put in this kind of situation to try to for publicity.

KING: Diana, do you know if this is the way they do it at other airports in Europe, or is this unique to London?

ROSS: You know, I'm not sure, because I've traveled so much, Larry. I just have never come across this kind of thing before.

KING: Have you ever had beepers go off?

ROSS: You know, maybe I didn't have metal on me or maybe I took my -- you know, someone was making a comment that computers have more, you know, security than people. I mean, you go through, you know, a line, and you have to go through this kind -- no one has ever been like this to me before, and I haven't had any special treatment, and I know people think that I probably have. I go through the same procedures everyone else has. This was far beyond -- you can tell when someone touches you in a way that is not correct. And you need to -- you can't just run past and just say, OK, did that really happen? And then forget did it. I think you have to make a statement. And you know, maybe everybody should write letters. I don't know. I really don't know what should happen from this.

KING: Diana, thank you for coming. Thank you for being with us tonight.

ROSS: Larry, thank you very much. I really do...

KING: Diana Ross, and her side of the story, as my friend Paul Harvey would say.

ABCNEWS.com

N E W Y O R K, Sept. 24 � Diana Ross has been responsible for plenty of international sensations, but the one she created in London this week was unique � she ended up under arrest.

The singer spoke with Diane Sawyer on today�s Good Morning America about what she called an inappropriate body search, and her reaction in kind.

DIANE SAWYER, Host: Well, it was baffling, to say the least, and it was not the Diana Ross we all know so well. Gone were the nuclear sparkle and the megawatt smile, and in their place, anger, fear, and, she has said, humiliation.

Police at London�s Heathrow Airport this week held her for five hours after she allegedly assaulted, they said, a female security officer after a pre-boarding body search that she felt was highly inappropriate.

The incident has sparked sensational worldwide headlines, and we are happy to have Diana Ross with us this morning to hear what went on.

DIANA ROSS: Well, Diane, first of all, let me thank you for letting me be here and have this opportunity to kind of � an opportunity to kind of clear my image and my name and explain a little bit about happened day before yesterday, which still is in my heart.

DIANE SAWYER: It�s been rough, you said. You said you spent all day crying.

DIANA ROSS: Yes. It was devastating. And I would like to be able to let go now and let this go, so it can be out of my life.

DIANE SAWYER: All right. For the people who have not heard it from you directly, let�s go back and try to figure out exactly what went on.

You were coming back home, to take the Concorde back home after making a video. Got to ask, were you tense? Were you worried?

DIANA ROSS: Well, like, we had a long work schedule day. I think the big issue is not even just what happened to me, it�s just the idea that they�re do � they can still do physical searches in this manner to a woman at an airport out in public, and I thought it was very violating and intrusive.

And I think it has always happened, but people accept that kind of � you know, it happens, and they accept it. It�s part of what�s expected. I believe in security checks, you know, metal checks at the airport. But I just thought this physical hand on was just really a lot.

DIANE SAWYER: You came through the security gate there and set off the alarm. You had a metal belt on, apparently. And they don�t have those wands that they wave over you, right?

DIANA ROSS: No, no.

DIANE SAWYER: So what exactly did she do?

DIANA ROSS: Well, usually when you go through the � it�s not really an alarm, by the way, it�s a beep, you know, it�s kind of a shocking beep. Usually they tell you to go back in and come back through again, because maybe you touched the sides or something. Or you take off your belt or bracelets or whatever.

And I never had an opportunity to go back in. And I did have on a belt with a big buckle and a jacket with little metal buttons. And before I knew it, she had opened my arms and opened my legs and was just continually going through her process.

Now, you had to go under the coat, because I had a raincoat, to get to me. And, you know, I stood there and went, like, �Oh, my God, do you have to do this?� And she said, �It�s my job,� and went on to do it again. She actually repeated all of the movements again.

And I had never gone through that before. I�ve had physical searches with the wand, and also people doing, you know, like � but never really in this way. The airport ...

DIANE SAWYER: Because you said it was as aggressive as between your legs and behind you.

DIANA ROSS: I actually felt her hands � I had a body suit on � go down my behind, and, you know, they go down your legs, and the side of her hand hit my � hit me in my private areas. And that�s when I went, like, This is too much, I want to complain.

I was with one of the people from British Airways, and we went over to try to make a stand, and they could complain about it. And that�s when I started to get more riled up and angry, because no one cared, no one listened. It was, like, you know, Write a letter.

DIANE SAWYER: They told you ...

DIANA ROSS: And I think I just got � And regrettably, because I really � this is not the behavior that I would suggest anyone � I was really upset. And I really went back to her and did the same thing to her that she did to me. Now, to her ...

DIANE SAWYER: You mean, you just ...

DIANA ROSS: Yes.

DIANE SAWYER: With your hands?

DIANA ROSS: Yes. You know, not all the way. I didn�t go on her legs and everything like that. I did like this, and I said, �This is how it feels to be fondled in this way.� Now, if I could be detained and charged for this, why wouldn�t she? She � it was the same � it was the same and even more behavior, that, you know, that she did and all of them do. That�s part of what they do.

Now, I�m trying to be good about it, where I think maybe she was rushing, maybe she was taking her job very seriously. But I think there�s ...

DIANE SAWYER: You didn�t sense that she was doing anything deliberate to ...

DIANA ROSS: No. But I think there�s a ...

DIANE SAWYER: ... invade you.

DIANA ROSS: ... way of doing things and a way of doing things. Like, there�s a way of shaking hands, there�s a way of touching people that is either violating or not violating. I have always taught my children � and I have five children, older girls � in school, anywhere, whenever anyone touches you, if it feels uncomfortable to you, you have a mechanism inside that answers, Is this right or is this wrong? Never let anyone touch you in a way that makes you feel terribly uncomfortable.

DIANE SAWYER: Conflicting accounts ...

DIANA ROSS: And make it stand.

DIANE SAWYER: ... but one of the witnesses there said that it was just patting you, really ...

DIANA ROSS: Oh, no.

DIANE SAWYER: ... and that you, in effect � I think the word �suddenly went mad.�

DIANA ROSS: Oh, no, it wasn�t patting me, no. No.

But, you know, I would imagine that we are going to all have different opinions about this. Unless you�ve experienced it yourself � there was a lot of women there that were in agreement with me. In fact, one standing right next to me said she didn�t want to allow this search at all. And � but you have to. I mean, you � there�s no way to go through the airport without this hands-on physical check. They don�t wear gloves or anything.

DIANE SAWYER: You know the comment by the airport, by Heathrow Airport, in which they said basically that 60 million people go through this, and they�re required by law to do it. And they said occasionally high-profile celebrities take offense at the procedure, high-profile, which, of course, raises the intimation of diva distress.

DIANA ROSS: Yes. Well, I think anyone who feels this, regardless to who they are, need to make a stand. They certainly don�t have to get angry, which I did. I reacted in that way.

DIANE SAWYER: So ...

DIANA ROSS: And � Huh?

DIANE SAWYER: ... are you sorry?

DIANA ROSS: Yes, I � yes, because I don�t want it to � I have an image � I�m � I want very much � I wouldn�t want anybody to be ... What can I say? I just think that the bigger part of the day that became more stressful is when they took me away, and I didn�t know what was going to happen.

DIANE SAWYER: I want to take a break ...

DIANA ROSS: And in a foreign country, it was very frightening to me.

DIANE SAWYER: We�re going to take a break right now and talk about that, talk about what happened when you went to sit down on the plane and they came to get you. We�ll be back.

DIANA ROSS: I sat in a police station like a criminal for five hours. And I felt really frightened . I was scared. And I�m all alone , I don�t have security people or anything. And I had no rights ...

DIANE SAWYER: Again, Diana Ross joining us here.
I should point out that a number of people phoned in last night when you were on television and have also come forward to say that they have felt the same way, but didn�t think they should say anything when they were being searched like that.
What happened when you were held in detention?

DIANA ROSS: Well, first of all, when they took me off the plane, I was embarrassed. I said, �No, I really just want to go home.� And they said, �No, you have to be detained, and you have to give us your point of view,� in other words, what happened.

DIANE SAWYER: Did they threaten jail?

DIANA ROSS: No, but the intimidation was always feeling like it was there, because they put me in a car and drove me � and it looked like I was going a long ways. And I said, �Where are we going?� It was on the other side of the airport. It was a police station.

We walk in, and the big clanging doors, and they were all really nice to me. There was two women, police officers, there that were smiling at me and very nice. And I guess they all do their job. I mean, very matter-of-factly, they do their job.

It was scary, it really was. I cried, and I tried to � they told me I had two phone calls, and I tried to find my lawyer, but I didn�t have a telephone book, and I didn�t know how long it was going to be. It was really scary.

DIANE SAWYER: Well, we have the footage of you running after you get out of detention. We�re going to play it right now, because you really seem as if you�re liberated (inaudible) ...

DIANA ROSS: No, I was running out of fear. I wanted to get home. I wanted to come home to my kids. I just didn�t want one more moment to be there. I wanted to come home. I mean it. I sat there, I didn�t want to eat, I just was � prayed that they would � that � I had no idea that � I didn�t know what they would want.

Honestly, it keeps coming up for me. I kept trying to stay in control of myself, because I was really � like, I was just really frightened. And I was trying not to cry so much. I kept saying, OK, OK, this is going to be all right, OK.

DIANE SAWYER: Do you know why you were so afraid?

DIANA ROSS: I have never been to even a police station before. You know, I�ve never � police have always � the � they�re my protectors, and they take care of me at dates and when we�re doing concerts and things. I�ve never felt like this, like � I even had to sign a paper, and the line that I had to sign on said, �Criminal,� you know, or � yes, �the criminal,� I think, you know. And it was just really frightening to me.

And I know that I really think the police were doing all the right procedures. They took all my things out of my handbag, they went through all my things. When this woman started to put rubber gloves on her hand, I got really scared. I said, �What are you getting ready to do?� And she said, �I just have to handle your things with gloves on.� But I � my thoughts went everywhere, you know, it was just really scary.

DIANE SAWYER: We have to go now, but we thank you again so much.

DIANA ROSS: OK.

A London based Weekly Newspaper

Jumped Up Little Hitler's Think They Rule Supreme

The arrest of Diana Ross at Heathrow was pathetic -- the sound of puny little England stamping its foot. Sally, the creepy security officer who touched up a celebrity and then complained to the police when the same was done to her, knew exactly who she was frisking. And, no, Diana Ross is not the same as you or me. Nobody knows who we are. Everyone knows who she is, which means they know she isn't a terrorist. So why treat her like one?

If security staff couldn't spot that the alarm had been set off by a belt buckle, perhaps we should make their entrance exams tougher. And only in Britain, where jumped-up little Hitlers are the bane of our lives, do we have so little respect for individual liberty that passengers are manhandled at checkpoints rather than scanned by hand-held metal detectors.

Finally, did you see how many coppers it took to arrest her on the Concorde? Four. Try getting burgled and see how many turn up. "Looks like we may need back-up on this one, Sarge. The suspect is a known former member of the Supremes." Still, good to know there's so little crime in this country the police force can divide its time between nicking motorists doing 31 mph and hanging around "Terminal Four looking for autographs." I'm certainly sleeping safer tonight.

Supreme diva Diana Ross said last night she was scared and humiliated when a security guard patted down her breasts "and between my legs" while frisking the singer at London's Heathrow
Airport.

"I think the whole procedure should be changed - physical touching of people," the 55-year-old Motown legend said at Kennedy Airport.

Ross, wearing a black-leather jacket, tight black leggings, lilac boots and purple highlights in her hair, said she didn't intend to sue over the incident. After her brief statement, Ross raced off in a navy blue limo.

But hours earlier in London, the pop diva, whose hits have included "Touch Me in the Morning," and "You Can't Hurry Love," was determined to give the female security guard who frisked her a taste of her own medicine.

"How do you like it?" Ross sniped after touching the shocked guard's chest.

The guard alerted cops who promptly hauled Ross off to the station for five hours of
questioning. She was released with a warning.

"It's devastating to be in a police station. I have never been in one before. I was very frightened," Ross told reporters, adding that the cops had been "very good, but they have procedures."

"I am not saying that they were unkind but they did their job. It was scary. I was scared," she
said. "I am worried about my children. I want to go home."

Ross declared the frisking at Heathrow "disgraceful," but an airport spokesman suggested Ross' fame may have been the root of the problem.

"The vast majority of the 60 million passengers
who pass through Heathrow understand the
airport security procedures. We are required by law to hand-search any passenger who activates the metal-detector alarms," the spokesman said.

"Occasionally, high-profile celebrities take offense."

The brouhaha erupted around 10 a.m. London time as Ross hurried to board British Airways'
Concorde to New York.

As she walked through a security archway, the alarm went off, probably because of the heavy
silver belt she was wearing.

When a security worker hand-frisked Ross, "she suddenly went mad," another guard said.

"She was shouting and screaming that the girl had touched her breast. She then ran her hands over the girl's front and said, 'How do you like it?'"

Ross' scene continued as she stomped into the Concorde VIP lounge, ranting: "Why don't they
use a hand-held detector like they do at all of the other airports in the world? They wouldn't touch a man's penis, would they?"

The temperamental superstar was allowed to board the supersonic jet, but after 10 minutes
police officers arrived to investigate a complaint from the security guard.

They questioned Ross on the plane and then escorted her to a police van. She was in tears as
she was driven away to the airport police station for further questioning.

Ross' London-based spokesman, Phil Symes, said she was "extremely upset" at being arrested.

"She felt the personal body search she had was too much of an intimate nature. She felt that not
just for herself, but on the part of all women."

He said her response "was just a reflex. She just felt she had to do something to protect herself."

Ross recently split from her Norwegian-industrialist husband Arne Naess.

"I was hurt and shocked," she said of his announcement of their separation on television.
"As far as I was concerned, we were still working on fixing things."

Ross' new album, "Every Day Is A New Day," is said to draw on the turmoil. The mom-of-2 is also working on a miniseries about her early life in Detroit.

By Lyndsay Griffiths

LONDON (Reuters) - American pop diva Diana Ross was released with a warning by British police Wednesday after being arrested for allegedly assaulting a security guard who searched her at London's Heathrow
airport.

Ross was held after protesting that the female guard touched her breast during the search, and touching the guard's breast in response, a witness said.

Ross, who then boarded the supersonic Concorde airliner but was taken off in tears by police, looked harassed when she was released after the five-hour ordeal and was expected to fly straight home to the United States.

``She has been released after being cautioned,'' a Scotland Yard spokeswoman said. ``It is a black mark, but not a charge. That was deemed the appropriate action.''

Police did not specify whether the alleged assault consisted of Ross having touched the security guard's breast or whether there was more to the incident.

The fracas erupted in mid-morning as the superstar of pop and soul music prepared to board a supersonic flight to New York.

A furious Ross accused the guard of touching her breast during a routine body check and a witness said the singer reacted by touching the security officer's breast, exclaiming: ''How do you like it?''

Ross then stormed off to the VIP lounge, telling reporters: ''I'm absolutely furious. Do you know when they search you, they actually touch your breast? It's disgraceful. They wouldn't touch a man's penis, would they?'' she said.

Ross made her name with hits on the Motown label and went on to become one of the greatest female artistes of all time. While beloved by music fans around the world, she has earned a reputation as an often imperious and temperamental star.

By cautioning the singer, police in effect put a black mark next to Ross's name so the alleged assault can be taken into account in case of any future such incidents.

Dressed in black with lilac-colored boots and a large silver belt, a distressed Ross was jostled by photographers as she hurried out of the police station, escorted by officers trying vainly to keep the lenses at bay.

``I've been treated wonderfully,'' the star said before being whisked away in a waiting car.

The airport earlier shrugged off the star's vociferous criticism of its security procedures, insisting it could not tailor its checks to suit the sensitivities of stars.

``Occasionally high-profile celebrities take offence at having to comply with the same procedure as other passengers and it would appear that this has been the case,'' a spokesman for airport operators BAA Heathrow said.

``It's strange how easily negative labels are attached to women who want to exert control over their own careers or take responsibility for how they're represented,'' Ross once said.

Ross made her name in the 1960s with the Supremes, whose hits included ``Baby Love'' and ``Stop, in the Name of Love.''

The singer Diana Ross was arrested and taken off her Concorde flight yesterday for assaulting a female security officer. The tearful 55-year-old diva was released nearly five hours later, without charge, and given a police caution. The incident arose after the officer brushed her breast during a search, and Miss Ross angrily reciprocated by running her hands over the guard's chest.

THE only surprise about Diana Ross's altercation with a female airport security guard is that it has not happened - or, rather, we have not heard of it happening - before. That she is supremely temperamental is as much part of her legend as are her Motown hits.

"Just because I have my standards," Ross once said, "they think I'm a bitch." But many who have worked with the singer attest to the trials she sets; she must not only be obeyed, she must be called "Miss Ross", even by those who know her well.

The tales of her tantrums are legion and, in recent months, the break-up of her marriage may well have increased the pressure.

Michael Browne, a former assistant road manager, said that she gone through 42 secretaries in the five years in which he was working for her. "All you had to do was say one thing she didn't like or ask a question without her permission and you were out," he said.

Randy Taraborrelli, who wrote a biography of her, said it was a trying process and not just because her lawyers sought to thwart him. "It was a struggle because there's a fan in me who will always think of her as the perfect star," he said. "And then there's the journalist, who has interviewed 403 people who tell me otherwise. You don't have to be a great woman to be a great star. You just have to be a great star. Maybe that's all we can expect of her."

When The Supremes sang their last in 1970, Miss Ross went on to further glories while the others faded. When she turned up at the funeral of Florence Ballard, the Supreme who was fired for being too fat, drunk and missing performances and who descended into alcoholism and poverty, she made a grand entrance, to boos from onlookers, and was criticized by other mourners for turning the event into a show.

Some have suggested that she has been driven to keep recording because of a resentment of younger stars coming up on the rails and that she is obsessed with retaining a place in the spotlight. It has even been said that the timing of the announcement earlier this year of her split from her second husband, the Norwegian shipping magnate, Arne Naess, was timed to coincide with the release of a new CD.

That seems harsh. Miss Ross has spoken of the anguish of the break-up of what was clearly a difficult inter-continental relationship. She said she was hurt and shocked to hear the marriage was over in a call from her publicist after her husband had spoken of it on television. "As far as I was concerned, we were still fixing things," she said.

People magazine reported recently that she had been increasingly lonely in the past two years and Mr Taraborrelli said: "The challenge for her is to find a man who can live up to the glory of Diana Ross. She's an intimidating person by virtue of her image, persona and wealth. All the great divas have that in common."

Who the hell made J. Randy Taborrelli her 'Biographer'.

by Richard Littlejohn

If Diana Ross hadn't made another record after 1969 she would still deserve immortality. Her B-sides were better than most people's A-sides.

I'm listening to Back In My Arms Again, recorded in Detroit in 1965, as I'm writing this. I still can't hear Reflections without shivering and the last record she made with The Supremes, Someday We'll Be Together, is as good as anything she's ever done.

In a world of hype and mediocrity, Diana Ross is a real star. She clawed her way out of the ghetto to become the best-selling female singer on the planet. Yet throughout she has behaved with great dignity, poise and style. Even when she was in the gutter she was staring at the stars, unlike some of the lowlife 'megastars' these days who have risen above the gutter but are
still staring down the drain.

So she deserved better than the treatment she received at Heathrow this week. If she was upset at having her breasts fondled by a security guard, she was entitled to be. Yeah, yeah, I know all the arguments about stars being treated just the same as anyone else. But this was way over the top. Why did it take four coppers to arrest her on board Concorde? Why the hell was her luggage taken off the plane, inconveniencing all the other passengers? And why was it necessary to keep her in custody for five hours?

She wouldn't have received that kind of attention if she'd burgled British Airways' offices or broken into every vehicle in the car park. Where's the sense of priorities, here? You can't help concluding that she was singled out because she was Diana Ross. There's nothing pygmies like more than humiliating the famous. And, as I've remarked before, if you give someone a uniform and a modicum of authority they will always, always, always abuse it.

When we talk about Nazi Germany, we like to comfort ourselves with the belief that 'it couldn't happen here.' Believe me, it could, and one day it probably will.

Yet after this ordeal, Miss Ross, though shaken and close to tears, still had the grace to remark that she thought our police were wonderful. What a star.

The following are various opinions concerning one of the more "infamous" incidents that has attributed to the rumors of Diana Ross' harsh reputation. Regardless of what really happened during the taping, the truth remains with the former ladies of the Supremes. Like eyewitnesses to a car accident, it just goes to show that opinions will vary...

Yes, it's true....I did attend the taping of "Motown25" on March 25th, 1983 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. It is something that I've never really talked about but since you asked and that's what this list is here for....

First of all, it was very, very very long. The edited version they showed on television was maybe a third of what was actually filmed. Many "lesser known" artists were cut out of the final shows tape. I remember that it was about 3 hours into what was about a 6 hour taping when Diana came out onto the stage while Adam Ant (anyone remember him?) was singing his rendition of "Where Did Our Love Go"....Ross fans were screaming!!! I always felt that Diana must have been soooo bored backstage that she was just itching to come out....and so she did, much to Adam Ants surprise. If you watch the tape you can see it on his face.

Another highlight was what I considered to be the emergence of Michael Jackson as a superstar. When he sang "Billie Jean" it was electrifying....the audience just went crazy. I was in aisle 2, sort of in the middle and I remember looking towards the back of the auditorium because everyone was going berserk over Michael. When I looked back, I saw that the double doors of the auditorium that lead to the lobby had a white, fur-like "thing" sticking out between the double doors! My friend and I both howled and screamed when they opened up a little and we saw Diana standing there. She was watching Michael's performance through the doors!!!! The white, furry "thing" was Diana's white, foxtail stole she had wrapped around her neck and she was using it to hold the doors open!!! I will never forget that moment....

Anyway, it was almost right after Michael sang that Diana came running down the aisle singing "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". Now, I'm not saying that this is true because only Diana knows for sure....but it has always been my belief that our Lady may have had a few drinks backstage. Keep in mind that it was a near six hour taping and she must have had alot of anxiety over being in the same room with all those people from her past. She had left Motown only 3 years back, it was her 39th birthday, and I know that if it was me-- I would have had MORE than just a few drinks!!! I had seen Ross many times perform live onstage before that night and she just didn't seem herself that night at all. When the Supremes came out onstage she seemed nervous. And Mary Wilson must have caught on to that because IN MY OPINION she provoked Diana to act the way she did. As for the "pushing-shoving" incident---it seemed as if Mary wanted to be heard and while Diana was addressing Berry Gordy she would butt in while Diana was speaking...this in turn irritated Diana and she merely pushed Mary's arm down and said "It's been taken care of". The microphone Mary was holding was in the same hand that Diana pushed down and so it made a very loud BOOM when her arm went down. I think some people thought the loud sound was more of a shoving sound and thus... the rumor of Diana shoving Mary. But it never happened. I want to say that telling everyone about this is not something I prefer to talk about. It is merely a recollection of what I saw and perceived that night. Diana went on the very next week in Las Vegas to give what I felt at the time to be the performance of her life....

A couple of years ago, a group of us would get together on AOL in a private "Supremes" room once a month and talk, dish and bitch about this and that Supreme. To our surprise, through someone who was giving her computer lessons, Cindy joined us. I still have the transcript from the log and when someone asked her about Motown 25 and whether or not the shove was a myth, Cindy simply replied "It is no myth, I was there!"

I am a very skeptical person and I think that 99% of these so called chats with the stars are bogus. How in the world would you ever know for sure unless they have a cam and you do it on CU See Me with them transmitting a live picture??? ...Regarding "the shove", my friend said that Diana simply put her hand on Mary's shoulder and said "It's been taken care of" in a stern voice and that was all there was to it. No shoving and certainly no kicking as someone posted on this list recently.

1) Diana Ross wasn't backstage for most of the show. She was sitting in the audience with Berry Gordy watching the show. I know because i was three rows in front of her.

2) After Michael Jackson performed "Billy Jean" was no the time to introduce Diana Ross. He got a much better response than she did.

3) Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong came out and gave a tribute to Florence Ballard, and the other Motown stars who had passed on it was well received by the audience. Ms. Ross looked very uncomfortable. In my opinion, this set the stage for everything that followed.

4) The actual incident occurred because DR was thinking of the Supremes as they were in the Cindy days, her with them two feet behind. MW was thinking the Supremes as in the old days: all three alongside each other. She and Cindy had spoken before the show and Cindy agreed to do what Mary did.

5) After the show at the reception, I sat with Cindy Birdsong and talked about the evening. She couldn't believe what happened.

The shove is no myth. At the same time MW shouldn't have started singing lead on "Someday".