Kelly Le Brock, the supermodel known as “The Woman in Red,” gives us some wise words on life, beauty and priorities in the first of three of our latest interviews together.

I always love having Kelly on The Global Townhall, so it is my absolute pleasure to welcome her back.

 

Gabrielle Reilly:   So Kelly, I read somewhere that you became a hermit and had absolutely no esteem after your divorce. How has that impacted you and your family and how are you handling it now?

Kelly Le Brock:  Well, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being a hermit. Quite frankly, I think the world’s gone kind of bonkers. So, I think I did what was right for me, what was right for my kids, and that was to just separate myself from a very phony world and have my children.  I think they thought that I was just, you know, the dish mop, and that I didn’t have this crazy past that I really wanted to protect them from.

I didn’t believe that I could do Hollywood and kids and do the kids the right way. I could always go back to my career; it probably wouldn’t be as good but I’d already had the success, but I couldn’t go back to my kids. Once the kids have grown, that’s pretty much what you’ve got.

So, that was my feelings, and being a hermit, yes, I had to lick a lot of wounds. But just last month, I just finished writing the 27 chapters of my book. I had a big deal with Harper Collins but it didn’t work out, which is fine. I’m very happy about it actually. I’m waiting for my term to run out with my literary agent and when that runs out in about another month, I will start shopping my book again to all the big publishers. I have one already interested, but like I said, I have to wait for this termination on this contract to end.  I want to be correct, you know?  

But, writing these 27 chapters was not easy. In fact, it took me back to places that I had never ever wanted to go, never looked at, and actually made me quite sick. It was like reliving all the old stuff. It was pretty painful, I have to say.

 

Gabrielle Reilly:  Do you think that people should go back and revisit to release it or do you think if they don’t have to do it, it’s better not to?

Kelly Le Brock:  No, I think it’s important to look at your past so that you can get rid of it or make peace with it or make peace with people that have hurt you because ultimately if you don’t it just lurks… you might as well still be in the mess and the horror of it all. I think it’s important to go back, reflect, and quite frankly, who I am today is because of what happened yesterday.

Gabrielle Reilly:  So how is your self-esteem now then?

Kelly Le Brock:  Well, my self-esteem at my age, it’s like, what the hell. Self-esteem is something you have to earn and you have to grow into. You know, we’re not taught it. We’re all taught that we’re not good enough.  I just read an interesting article about a Pantene commercial I did in the 80s, where I said “Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful.” The 80s, were the days people had more self-esteem. I think a lot of people had more self-esteem in the 80s.  When we look at today, everybody, when their name is mentioned, has their age. Bloody ridiculous. We’re no longer people, we’re numbers, we’re ages, we’re categorized, we’re fat, we’re thin. It’s no longer about the person, it’s what they look like. It’s kind of a strange thing, no?

 

Gabrielle Reilly:  Yeah, actually I was just watching Oprah Prime.  Oprah had Sharon Stone and Cameron Diaz who were talking about aging and it was excellent. It’s good that women are standing up and bucking the system on it.

Kelly Le Brock:  Well, I think that we have to feel good within ourselves.  Obviously we can’t have somebody else making us feel that way.  If you don’t feel good about yourself that’s a terrible thing because there’s people out there without legs, without arms, or who have suffered horrible atrocities.  We’re all very, very blessed for what we have and instead of looking at what we don’t have we should be looking at what we do have. You know? I think that’s why so many people are sick because of the emotional, disturbing sickness in everybody today. I mean you look at posters and everything is about how big your boobs are and how long your hair is. But that’s not the reality and the telephone and the texting. I mean, shit, does anybody look anybody in the eye anymore?

 

Gabrielle Reilly:  And so, is that basically the message that you gave your daughter and now she’s on the cover of…Is that your tea kettle boiling?

Kelly Le Brock:  Yes, love, I’m having a nice cup of tea.

Gabrielle Reilly:  [laugh] I’m sitting here with my cup of tea too.  So, I saw your daughter on the cover of the Plus Model magazine (her picture is in the scrolling photos at the top of the page.) She is stunning. So, basically, is that what you’ve taught her about beauty, what you were explaining earlier about numbers?

Kelly Le Brock:  Yeah, beauty comes from inside and you know, we all have self-esteem issues but I think that Arissa is pretty solid in who she is.  Hopefully if she can get started with this, that if she’s into it, she will go out there and make other girls that aren’t “Polly Perfect” feel good about what they do have and not what they don’t have. We have to stop comparing ourselves to each other because we’re all beautiful in our own way. I really believe that.

Gabrielle Reilly:  Absolutely. She’s definitely stunning.

Kelly Le Brock:  And she’s stunning inside. She’s a really wonderful human being. She has an extraordinary voice, I’d like to try and get her on The Voice. I just tried to do a reality show that these people, Pilgrim Studios, they did Dirtiest Jobs, they did The Nanny, and I’m going to shoot a three-day sizzle reel and we’ll shop it to the networks and we’ll see where we go with that.

 

Gabrielle Reilly:  Oh, is that what you’re in the process of doing now?

Kelly Le Brock:  Yes, it is. I’ve been looking for a company that I feel secure and safe with, that wouldn’t turn my life into some cheesy drama.

Gabrielle Reilly:  So how old are they all now?

Kelly Le Brock:  26, 23, and 20. All going to be 27, 24, and 21.


Gabrielle Reilly:  What are your other children doing?

Kelly Le Brock:  My son is waiting for a million dollar deal with diamonds. He hears on Friday. He’s gotten involved with bringing diamonds from Russia to here for some big jewelry company. He’s sort of the middleman, which is kind of cool. I’d like to see him maybe try a little bit of the acting but he’s not into it so that’s alright. But he’s, you know, I haven’t had to give him any money for a while, so that’s awesome. And my oldest is helping me run the ranch. She’s an EMT, an emergency medical technician, and she’s learning to be a vet. So, we’re all busy.
 

Gabrielle Reilly:  I think you made a really wise choice choosing your children over your career given your extraordinary career success.  I totally agree, because you can’t fix your kids later.

Kelly Le Brock:  No, you can’t and I just didn’t feel like I could do both and my kids are everything to me. I think I proved that to them and because I did stay home.  You know, I had to stay home too because the divorce was so awful that somebody had to be there completely, you know? I really tried the best I could. I’m sure I’ve made mistakes but my kids are pretty well-balanced and they still like me. In fact, I can’t get rid of them, they’re still at home.
 

 

Gabrielle Reilly:  So, you recently starred in Hidden Affair. I believe that’s in post-production now?

Kelly Le Brock:  The funny thing is I did that film years ago and the director has…he’s recut it so it’s a different film. It’s the same film, but different. Same actors, different takes. A different spin on the film and it’s kind of fun. He just sent it to me and I had a look at it and I kind of enjoyed it.

 

Gabrielle Reilly:  Oh, and where was it filmed?

Kelly Le Brock:  It was filmed in this hideous little area of downtown Los Angeles. I’d never seen more penises in my life. It’s all homeless people and they have nowhere to go to the bathroom so everybody exposes themselves down there. But they rented this nasty little space that looked like it had more termites holding hands than it had actually wood in the building. It was shot in two weeks. I believe that it was done for $150,000 and I had an absolute blast. It all took place in one room, the bathroom.

 

Gabrielle Reilly:  Wow.

Kelly Le Brock:  It was really fun. I mean to…It was kind of like doing a play.

 

Gabrielle Reilly:  Right, and when is it going to be released?

Kelly Le Brock:   I think you know more about it than I did. Because he didn’t tell me he’d recut it and put more of me in and all that sort of stuff.

Please stay tuned for two more interviews with Kelly Le Brock on her life and support of veterans.