GAY PEOPLE'S CHI
Bernhard
Continued from C-1
reflective of what I'm observing in culture. Also it's very musical. I'm on the road with my keyboard player.
I just found a web site that is devoted to bringing back your TV show Reel Wild Cinema.
That's cute. But no thank you.
I was surprised to hear that Howard Stern spoke against Laura Schlessinger on his show after all the protests his show survived. Do you have an opinion since you, too are often attacked because of your edginess and rawness?
Well needless to say, I prefer people who are interesting, smart, and coming from a little more socially conscious place with their opinions.
She's coming from a very religious place, and not a spiritual place, because if you're a spiritual person there are no limitations. You wouldn't look at somebody who is gay and put that kind of onus on it.
Howard Stern takes things to an extreme in his critique but it's much more intelligent and an interesting place. Without extremist behavior, there would be nothing to comment on and life wouldn't be fun. And we'd have nothing to overcome and no challenges. So everybody serves their purpose.
But do I like Laura Schlessinger? No. Is it fun to rally against that kind of thinking? Yes.
How do you fit in your religious practices of Cabala into your lifestyle?
It's like brushing my teeth. The things I do spiritually are things I do with my baby every day, specific meditations. Every moment of our lives is a spiritual journey and an opportunity to make connections. You don't take a break from being a spiritual person. Dose Cicely travel with you? Yes. Always.
Is she enjoying that?
She's a seasoned traveler. She likes to stay in five-star hotels and she likes room service.
Do you have a nanny?
rige Guide 2000
Absolutely. And she likes to stay in fivestar hotels and order room service, too. What's your five year plan?
I have a lot of new projects that are right on the verge of happening. I'm not going to talk about them until they do. I'm not a master
I don't live my life like a celebrity. I live my life as
a person. I go shopping
and I go to the dry cleaner.
planner. You work in conjunction with the light and leave yourself open for all kinds of possibilities and experiences.
What is your dream job?
Every day is my dream job. That I get acknowledged and respected and get to completely express myself in a marketplace where that's almost unheard of. The reward and the goal is what you get to do every single day.
Do you feel limited doing film and television, as opposed to being on stage and saying whatever you want?
It's very limiting doing other people's work in television, in the atmosphere of what's being put on mainstream television. Which to me is just pretty unimaginative. But it keeps your face out there. It's part of the deal. You've got to be out there to continue to do your own work. It's not always what I want to do. But it's also an experience and fun.
You seem to be one of those people that people relentlessly want to put in a box. Has motherhood changed that?
No. When it comes to Hollywood, and doing stuff there, they still do. Because very few of them are really familiar with my real work, they can't imagine me being sexy or multi-dimensional, or a mother or anything
Fashion.
It's your choice.
of any kind of depth. I roll with the punches. I'm not looking for anybody to make me feel good or give me opportunities. I try to just constantly create them myself and really be a creative person.
What I noticed about your pregnancy is there wasn't this big scandal about who the father was. Why?
Because I don't feed into that thinking and that energy. You create the world you want for yourself. Even being in the public eye. And it's totally up to you to set the tone of how much you want to reveal. I'm a very private person. I talk about stuff in my act, and I write pieces and I seem to be revealing everything, but the things that really mean the most to me are really protected.
I've always wondered what would drive a star to want to tell the world about a scandal in their life.
None of it makes any sense to me either. I've been very savvy and smart about how I've handled that part of my life. I'm not interested in that kind of publicity. I know they say "There is no bad publicity" but to me I want to keep my life protected, especially now that I have a baby.
I would imagine that having a baby turns up the volume on that.
It does, very much so. Are the paparazzi trying to photograph her?
No. Nobody ever does that with me. The media in New York, I know all of them. They would never do that to me. They are totally cool with me.
How do you obtain that kind of respect? Because I'm more a person of the street. I don't live my life like a celebrity. I live my life as a person. I go shopping and I go to the dry cleaner. People see me in my neighborhood. It's just a different way of living.
Do you think that harms your career at all?
I don't know. I would just never want to live in that kind of rarefied atmosphere where your only contact is with other celebrities and there is never any kind of honesty, or you surround yourself with "yes" people. I couldn't do the kind of work I do.
When you perform on stage, is that a larger-than-life Sandra or is it a Sandra character?
It's definitely a heightened version. People are paying to see entertainment. You're not going to go out there and be a schlepper. I try to infuse as much of who I am and my point of view into that persona as possible.
The world of show business takes a few hits in your performance. Where do you obtain your ammo?
Not Feeling Yourself?
I do a little bit of everything. I think a lot of it comes from magazines, because that's just the most available. I try to see as much as I can.
If your daughter came to you and said "I want to be a performer”—
I would totally encourage her.
Do you see that in her?
She has a big sense of fun more than anything. She really is like a character. I think that's a great thing.
Are you going to introduce her to Cabala at all?
She is Cabala. She is the result of Cabala. How so?
Because without it, I never would have even had the certainty to have a kid. Everyday is involved with that kind of spiritual infusion. We go to Shabbat and all the events and it's part of her life.
What do you have to say to people who are against single parenting and think kids should not be without a positive male role model?
Well she does have, she has many. That's craziness. Of course she has men in her life. She is very open. There's nothing to say about it. It's my decision and my choice. I'm raising my baby the way I would raise her whether I was in a "normal" relationship or not. The mother is the backbone of the family, regardless. You can be in a conventional relationship and your husband can say, “Fuck you. I'm leaving," and the kid can never see the father again. The male figures in her life are people that will always be in my life. Therefore, there's a consistency and a kind of mutual respect and friendship that probably a lot of conventional parents don't have.
Do you have a relationship with your parents?
Very much so. My mother specifically. My father has veered off into his own world, he's been remarried twice. He's a little more remote and detached from the family. I appreciate everything that I got from him growing up.
Do you attribute anyone to your sense of humor?
My whole family. Both my parents in their own way, and my siblings, my brothers, are all very funny. We just had a lot of fun growing up, always had a good sense of absurdity and irony in the whole brood.
If you were straight and married would you still be a performer or did your camp appeal thrust you into show business?
I had a passion to do this when I was a kid. I was always going to be a performer. ✔
Sandra Bernhard will be performing at the Ohio Theatre on Playhouse Square in Cleveland on Friday June 23.
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