I have a few, yes. My goddaughter is throwing one. I don’t go to a lot of parties, but I expect this will be fun because her friends are fun. It’s going to be great. And then, tomorrow night we’re going to a Universal party, and it’s Halloween Horror Night, so I’m excited about that.
When did you first start working on your memoir, and what prompted you to begin writing it?
I don’t know exactly what prompted me, but I started work on it a long, long time ago. I quickly realized there were a few things that I didn’t want in there. Truthfully, I started work on it at least two times, maybe even three, but I always thought, “You know what? If you’re going to write this book, you’ve got to tell more.” And in the beginning, I just didn’t want to. Then eventually, I realized, “Oh, well, who cares?”
What was it that you were reluctant to share? Or that you were struggling to get down on the page?
I truly can’t remember the individual things, because once I started writing, I just started writing. But there were moments in the beginning where I thought, I don’t want to go there. I thought too, I won’t be able to explain certain things about my relationships—how could I do that? I was really concerned.
There’s a remarkable level of detail in the chapters about your childhood. Was that all plumbed from your own memories, or did you talk to others who were there at the time to piece it together?
Well, my mom always told me things from my childhood, but she also left out some important things. As a teenager, or even as a child, you don’t hop a freight train if you’re not… different. [Laughs.] So I think my mom was ready for it. But my grandmother? When I was in my early 30s, she came backstage one night when I was getting ready to go on, and she arrived with a high chair that had Bambi on it and said, “When you lived with us, this was your high chair.” And then my grandmother started telling me these stories, and I just thought, Oh, my God. I thought, Whatever I feel, I have an audience out there waiting, and I just don’t have time to feel this now. I’ll feel it later.