Sure, I'm an optimistic, joyous
person, but I'm also afraid and insecure. One of
the reasons I go out of my way to be kind is that I've
known what it's like not to be given kindness. [When I
first came to America] I sounded different and dressed
different. My classmates were unbelievably cruel and it
left its mark. My defence was to reach out. I have
emotional vices and they can be far more paralyzing than
drugs or alcohol. I had
begun four years ago to turn my life around. I love where
I am and where I can see myself heading. Gradually, I
have begun letting go of the things I thought I had to do
to be happy. I love
working, but I also enjoy this nesting period I'm in. I'll have
a child, but only if I am really in love at the time. I
could have had kids when I was 17, but I was far too
selfish at that period. The older
I get, the less mature I get and I like that. I just
intend to channel my behaviour to benefit myself as well
as others. I did not
peak in high school as so many people feel they did, but
I still don't think I'm peaking. I want to do that when
I'm 50. As I've
said often, I did not have a fun childhood. I'm having it
now because I feel so liberated. I'm still
going to be a party girl because I love throwing parties.
I love that people say I throw incredible parties because
that is what life is all about. I now
have a two-week rule. I give it two weeks and just
observe the other person, because it's like clockwork. At
first, it's, "Oh, he's so sweet and so attentive and
so great." But after two weeks, you realize, "Oh,
he does that and that and that like every other guy -
okay, I get it!" I've been
with people who at first say "You're so fun, you're
so wild," but [then] they start saying "Oh, no,
don't do THAT." And then I don't do [what I want],
and I become this separate person from who I was, and I
resent it. In the past I've surrounded myself with people
who weren't the right people for me to be myself with. I've
always been petrified of marriage. I've always thought
that someone would want to change me, and I'd be locked
up like this veal specimen in a box. [On a
question if there's one person out there] I don't know a
thing about that. I've learned more in the past two years
about what the word "love" means, and what it
means to love somebody. I think I have a better view of
marriage now - I was deathly afraid of it in the past.
I've seen better examples, and I've seen myself become a
better person. So, if I can improve, I think other people
can improve, too. It's just a matter of being around
somebody that gives you that feeling of "this could
be the one." I mean,
anybody can look cute after about three hours in hair and
makeup, with a great set of makeup tools and a great
haircutter. The movie
star stuff is fun when you can get a good table at a
restaurant. That's the only time it works. Other than
that, it's actually sad. I've had
enough bad love affairs for a lifetime. It's taken
awhile, but I've finally realized that I don't need a man
to make me happy. The next time I fall in love it's going
to be the real thing. In the meantime I'm just enjoying
my life! [On
superstardom] It's nothing. It's money. It's people
recognizing you from the covers of magazines. But it
doesn't mean anything. I'm still
in the race. I'm still in the business, but I'm doing the
other side that I love to do, which is the production end. I've had
many things happen in my life that you really can't
explain. For one thing, I can always tell when something
horrible is going to happen. [On Speed
2] I just didn't know when to step out of a project if I
felt the script wasn't being developed properly. I went
into it with the best intentions, but its failure was the
best thing for me on a lot of levels. It proved a lot of
things that I felt to be true to begin with, and it
placed me in a situation that I was more comfortable with
because nobody cared about me after it was done. I failed
and was on the outs and I was able to go back and
concentrate on things I loved. It's such
a bore talking about myself because I only give away a
certain amount of information. I come across sounding
like a bore, and I've been called a bore. I love
people who are outspoken and brilliant and insane, people
who push the envelope and live life on the edge. Those
people set me free and show the other side of life
because I'm still pretty safe in a lot of ways. I feel
sexiest when you give me a dance floor, a great R&B
tune, a partner I really click with, when I get sweaty
and dance all night. That to me is the sexiest thing in
the whole world, because dancing makes me feel free. Actually,
when I'm dancing, every time is Sandy time, and anyone
who wants can come along. I'm a
fool for love.... I'm a big believer in love at first
sight because I think everything happens for a reason. Everyone
wants me to get stuck in sweet parts. There is a whole
other side of me that wants to get out. [On a
nude scene from the book, A Time to Kill, not included in
the movie] The nudity seemed a little cheap. Anyway, I
didn't want everyone inspecting my naked body and
laughing. I relive
in the tabloids all these relationships I'm having with
people I've never met. My goal
in life is to go out dancing. [On her
father's taking charge of her business affairs] My
father's been involved in my life since pretty much my
birth. Even before the inception, he was kind of involved
with that, too! In the
past year, I go, "Wow, this is a lot more than I
ever anticipated." I can handle it now because I
want to. But I think in about two and a half years I
won't want to handle it anymore. I like
simple people. People who aren't into money, who don't
have extravagant lifestyles. A friend of mine said,
"Where are you going to meet those people?" When I
was younger, I never enjoyed being in the moment. All of
a sudden it's very clear how quickly you're here one
minute and gone the next. I'd like
to keep feeling comfortable with my freedom, to take it
and not apologize for it. It's a hard thing to own. I
relinquish it a lot. And that's my fault. I will
always eat pizza, and I'll always have a beer with the
pizza. Heineken, a slice, or fried chicken with biscuits
and gravy. That's America, for crying out loud. [At age
12] I hadn't developed, I wore green bell-bottoms, and I
had a big old bowl-shaped haircut. The word 'dog' was
used a lot.... I'm so glad it happened to me. It made me
very sensitive to cruelty. When I
start a book, I become obsessed with it. I'm up at 5 a.m.
finishing it. I spend
most of my time trying to be this exceptional person
that'll fulfil every person's wants. In my friendships,
in my relationships, too. But you know what? You can't
please everybody. It's really important to keep things
simple and small and real. Pickles
are so difficult to work with. You grab too tight, they
slip right out of your hands. Pickles are a lot like life
that way. I like to
work, and I like to be creative, and I like to have fun. I'm not
cut out to be a superstar. I don't have what Jim Carrey
has, or what Demi Moore has. I just don't have it. My shelf
life is maybe four or five years and then what do you
have? Learn how
to laugh at everything you do. If you get great reviews,
laugh at them. If you get slammed, laugh at that. Either
way, it has nothing to do with you. Even when
I was hand-to-mouth, waitressing in New York, I felt like
I always had enough. I never look at money and rely on it.
I let other people worry about it. I want to make sure
that everything's paid off, that everybody's taken care
of, and that's all I need. If Joel [Schumacher]
had been directing Showgirls, I probably would have done
it. I wasn't
raised thinking somebody was black or white. My best
friend in school was black and it didn't register until
five years ago that there should have been an issue
there, and it never was. I trust
everyone until they give me a reason not to. It's so
simple what I like: people who know what they want out of
life - whether they want to be a shoelace maker, I don't
care, just have passion, and I'll go along with you. You get
what you give, whether it's bad or good. I love
The Muppet Show. There's
something sexy about a gut, not a 400-pound beer gut, but
a little paunch. I've got
a lot of bad work out there, but if it wasn't for that
work I wouldn't be sitting here. I have
these big piano-playing hands. I feel like I should be
picking potatoes. I think
if you base your choices on money and the potential
success rate of the film, you are doomed. You do it for
the love of what you want to do. And I think anything
else is a big mistake. Everyone
told me to pass on Speed. I heard, "You're not going
to do the bus movie.... Chuckle chuckle." It was the
industry joke. I'm a
good ear for men and a good voice for the woman's side. Life is
good, big time. It's
going to be a long time before I can trust anybody again.
I don't know anybody who'd want to get involved with me
right now and be put through all the strain. I've hit
that, that three-ish area where I'm now heading towards
that hill. I have a
great fear of abandonment. That somebody or people that I
really care for will leave, so I've always sort of held
people at a really good arms length. You embrace them,
but only to a certain degree. I can't
see myself in ten years, really. Nothing's ever gone the
way I planned it, ever. So I have no idea. I've been
so aggressive and so determined to make things happen in
my career. And now I really think I can have both
professional success and a well-rounded personal life.
I'm getting a lot of selfish things out of my system. My mother
realised that to get me to do something was to tell me
not to do it, and to not get me to do it was to tell me
to do it. I'm psychologically dyslexic. Ever
since I was a child I've loved Tom Jones. It's his
charisma. It transcends all age groups. I love
guys who can build things because they remind me of my
dad. I have a huge connection with my dad. I've
given up on my hair because it's a mop. I'm dishevelled.
So why not go with the out-of-control look? I call it the
"just fell out of bed look." As a
child I was always getting criticized for laughing too
much, being a little too crazy. I was always self-sufficient. My mother
told me when I was a baby I wouldn't let her hold me. I
came out of the womb and thought I was Mighty Mouse. Manual
labour feels so good. I want to be able to install my own
toilet. Also, I guess I do as much manual labour as I can
because it stops me from thinking, gives my mind a rest. Now I'm
single and I hate it. I feel like I have this L on my
forehead - for Loser. Sometimes I'm miserable and lonely.
I just want somebody to brush my hair and tuck me into
bed. I like
normal, simple, good people, and those are few and far
between. Nothing
makes me happier than dancing. It transforms me. It's the
only time I let out what is inside and I feel completely
sensual and sexy and alive. I'm obsessed with it. I love
rock climbing because it makes you feel like you have
conquered the world. You feel like you're capable of
doing anything when you have done that. Don't
corral me and I'll always come home. Always. Just let me
go out and play during the day. When I'm exhausted, I'll
come back. All my
life is based on having fun, laughing and making things
as funny as possible. There is
something comfortable about me. I'm like a sleeper sofa.
A good couch your grandmother has. I never
want to give anyone the chance to stereotype me. If
anyone's going to do any stereotyping around here, it's
going to be me. I just don't want anyone to do it for me. [On Fire
on the Amazon] I was young and inexperienced, but I was
still smart enough to not trust those people, and I
insisted on duct tape being placed across my private
parts. Believe me, you don't see anything of mine in that
movie. And I don't care how famous I get, nobody is ever
going to want to see that movie. It is a horrible piece
of garbage. I went
through the tomboy phase, the very shy phase. I was a
chameleon child. Right
before I got the film, The Vanishing, I was ready to quit
the business. I don't know for sure what I would have
done, but it wouldn't be acting. I was
raised like a man, not to marry myself off and have a
husband take care of me, but raised to take care of
myself. I love Dr.
Seuss, flamenco dancing and computers. I'm always on the
Internet. My music
tastes are very eclectic, but on the top of the list is
anything R&B, Blues/Soul, progressive Salsa and then
anything by Tom Jones. [For fun
I like to] Eat, sleep, not work, dance, work on my house,
travel, or road trips, and a romantic evening would be a
trip to KFC, a great video topped off with Haagen Dazs
Vanilla Swiss almond and with a partner in crime. [My
favorite actors are] Everyone with the last name Hepburn,
Jerry Lewis, Whoopi Goldberg, Jessica Lange and the list
could go on for a very long time. I started
in movies by doing small student films in New York and
waitressing, two very important talents to have as an
actor. I know I
will never direct. I would be lousy at it. I have to
admit it's hard sometimes to overlook things when they
are hurled at you, but I always try to adhere to a motto
that makes a bit of sense to me and that is: "That
which you resist, will persist." So step aside and
let it pass. I'm a bit
odd. I'm a basic person. I like basic food, simple tastes.
I like things I understand, things (and people) I can
identify and not have to question their motives. My
friends and parents are brutally honest and you always
know where you stand. I'm one
of those people who used to be really worried about what
everybody thought, and once I started getting my feelings
hurt a lot I said, "You know what? I've got to get
over it." So I just isolated myself from it. I went to
high school, did drama, went to New York. Packed my car.
I knew one person. Got a job in a nightclub that turned
out to be a drug front. I didn't even know it. I had like
the best stories. I was mugged. I was held up. And
nothing ever happened to me! I managed to get out, so
that anything that could happen, did. The fact that I
didn't know fear was probably the best thing for me. I'd say
50% of my humor is because I feel great, and the other 50%
is because I want to make others feel comfortable, so I
can get comfortable. It's definitely a control zone. I'm
afraid of actors. I don't understand actors. I
understand people who work with their hands. Those are
the people I'm not afraid of. I rarely
lose my temper, and only then when someone talks down to
me, or when I see people treating other people with
disrespect. I love my
scar. I figure if Harrison Ford can have a scar on his
chin, I can have one above my eye. It's a guy thing. When I'm
having a bad time, I go out and buy dresses. Floral
dresses. I have a closet full of them! When I
first got AOL, I went on the chat lines. But I would
always say something and nobody would ever respond. And
I'd feel like: "Hello! Hello! Doesn't what I have to
say matter to anybody out there?" I hated that. My No. 1
favorite food is Kentucky Fried Chicken, extra crispy,
with mashed potatoes, biscuits and corn on the cob. Even
though we're adults, when it comes down to basic needs
and wants, we're still essentially the same people we
were in the seventh grade. I think
my sister and I are incredibly open-minded people. We're
not afraid to travel, to be thrown into things. When I
have kids, I want them to be that way. I'm the
kind of person who wants to know how to do it all myself.
That way, I don't have to call up everybody and burden
them. But I'm getting to the point now where I know how
to do it all by myself. I'm at the point where I'm like:
"I'm tired of being responsible. Will somebody else
drive the car please?" I love to
go into clubs and dance. That's when I feel sexy - I know
I'm sexy. When I
got to salsa and Latin clubs, when me and my partner are
dancing to great music, a different side of me comes out,
I dress differently. The skirts are short, you were the
higher heel, the tighter top. You know, your hair is
everywhere. I suddenly become Charo. I am Charo
reincarnated. My mother
is from Germany; my dad is from Birmingham, Ala. These
two met in the middle and had us kids. I think we got a
little bit of everything in life and ended up relatively
normal, which is amazing to me. It's hard
for me not to always do romantic comedies, because I can
live there a lot easier. Everything in my life I play off
with a joke anyway. Yeah, I
go through lonely periods. Sometimes I just want to deal
with things myself, stay at home. And my friends know
when I'm doing it because I won't pick up the phone; I
just shut off. But I need it; it's, like, my rejuvenation. I walk
into a room and I usually spill something along the way.
There's always cleaning up around me to some degree. They said
a drama major could not be a cheerleader. I decided to
break that mold because I could do flips and I look
really good in a short skirt. There are
very few people I trust - very few. The truth
is in the kisses. I'd love
to have a guy come with a big broom and sweep me off my
feet - the right person. I love the term "soul mate";
that's what I really want. But not for a while. There's
so much fear of failure in me that if I think too much
about something, I won't do it, so I sort of do things
blindly." I'm just
afraid I'm going to marry somebody, and he's going to
turn out to be an ax murderer. I'm like
a shark. If I stop, I'll just die; if I keep moving, I'm
okay. Crushes
are wonderful - they make you feel like you're two years
old and you say the stupidest things. I love
small, noncommercial films. Wrestling Ernest Hemingway
was beautiful. In
Hollywood, with all the air kisses and hugging, I'm the
kind of person who says, "Don't touch me unless you
mean it." I have a
big mouth, very strong opinions, and I always question
authority figures. There's
the European side, where I feel comfortable in any
cultural situation, and the good-old-boy side, where I
like my friends to come over, drink a couple of beers and
talk about men. When they
ask me to be sexy, I panic. I put on a tight dress and
makeup. But when I doll myself up and make a conscious
effort to be attractive, no one gives me a second glance.
When I'm at my most lost and vulnerable, people say,
"You look beautiful." I feel
very comfortable playing the klutz. I am a klutz, but I
don't find that to be an unattractive thing. The first
time I met [Sylvester Stallone], he had golf tees up his
nose. So I figured we were going to be OK. Everybody
goes through the garbage and sometimes finds a chicken
leg. I got a nice chicken leg. I loved
acting. I was a ham. I was good at goofing off. I didn't
know if I wanted to do acting permanently when I started
in college. But I did love goofing off because I was no
good at math. My best
times were in North Carolina. It was a very comfortable
place and I think being there taught me how to relax. Just
because you're an actor, it doesn't excuse you from being
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