Have you become immune over time to gossip or just learned to disguise your sensitivities?
No, I am sensitive, and it does create problems for me. I mean, there’s part of me that really loves the attention, so there’s that side of it. But the side that’s sad is how much people love that kind of negativity—the bad news—and how that, unfortunately, allows certain people to feel better about their own lives. I think it exists in everyone to a certain extent, and I’m not going to exclude myself. I do sometimes, with my own insecurities, feel better about my abilities when someone else doesn’t do so well, someone I’m envious of.
[FONT=宋体]
And what are your insecurities?
There’s a lot of them. I mean, right now I feel better about the way I look than I’ve ever felt, which makes a huge difference, but I used to really hate seeing my own reflection in the mirror, and I’m not talking about in a drug- or alcohol-induced state—I mean in general. I just hid behind clothes, and I didn’t really care about what I wore, and I didn’t care about my skin or my hair—I just felt like, There’s nothing more I can do to look more attractive…what’s the point? and believing that, I just avoided having my picture taken. But I do feel better since I’ve been going to the gym and keeping on this diet, and also I find I’ve been taking time for myself. I’m doing all the things I used to make fun of. I’d always say, “The idea of a guy who spends an hour in his bathroom every morning, grooming and picking out his clothes, that’s just not me, I’d never do that,” but you know what—I really enjoy doing that now.[/FONT]
[FONT=宋体]
It’s somewhat ironic given that you’re in the business of making other people look and feel good about themselves.
Right, and as a kid I thought, God, I’d love to work in a pizza parlor because I’d get to eat pizza all day, but the reality is that if you work in a pizza parlor, I doubt you want to eat pizza all day. The funny thing is, going back to the blogs, there’s a bunch of people who’ve said, “Oh, we liked the way he used to look, when he was grungy, and now he just looks like every Chelsea queen, blah blah blah,” and I just think, You know what, I’m just going to do what makes me happy. And I’m the same exact person, so if my haircut is too Chelsea for somebody, and if I’ve changed from funny awkward ’70s reading glasses to contact lenses, and if I’m tan now and in slightly better shape, well, it’s too bad. My behavior and my likes and dislikes are the same.[/FONT]