INTERVIEW WITH MICHELLE PHILLIPS FROM TheCelebrityCafe.com ARCHIVES
DM) When we look at the Mamas & the Papas and their heavy shadow of music, we wonder how much of your desire to go into acting was founded on the idea of making it on your own, away from that?
MP) Well, I think that I wanted to make it perfectly clear that I could make it on my own, as well as in a group. Yes, I know that was important to me.
DM) You'll always be known as a part of the Mamas & the Papas, but would you like to get to the point that, when you go out, people aren't always mentioning that?
MP) Oh no, no. I hope that that's never forgotten, and it never will be. When I successfully bring the Mamas & the Papas movie to fruition, I hope that people will say, "She's also a producer." I wrote a book, and I just love it when people come up to me and say, "I read your book and loved it." I am a woman of many talents and they're all just pieces of the puzzle that make me and make my career. I was also a model.
DM) Before the Mamas & the Papas, I believe.
MP) Yes, it was.
DM) Do people remember you for that part of your career?
MP) No, I was just a little model. I never reached the stage of being a big model. In those days they didn't really have supermodels. Before Twiggy and the rest; it wasn't the same as today. The time of the supermodel came later, but I was making a living being a model. I didn't take a job if it interfered with something I really wanted to do. Modeling wasn't the thing that was going to define me in any way; it was just a way to make a lot of money.
DM) Going back to the Mamas & the Papas. Do you think it was at all within the realm of possibility for the Mamas & the Papas to have lasted much longer?
MP) No, I don't. I think it was a little bubble of energy that had its moment in space, and then it exhausted itself. Like those Supernovas, it burned itself out.
DM) Was that also one of the biggest reasons for its success?
MP) Yeah, because that's what made it special, because it truly was something special. I can't think of very many things that are exclusively so special and last as long as the group.
DM) It sounds almost poetic.
MP) I'm going to have to write that down! (laughing)
DM) So, bringing your career from modeling, to the Mamas, and up to today, you've done a number of television shows; and you're now guesting on Sabrina. Would you like to go back to doing a regular series?
MP) I would love to get back on a series that I really enjoy. I would just love it. I would like to do it as a regular. I do lots of guest spots, I go out and do one, or a movie of the week, or another guest spot, or a feature film, but frankly I prefer to find a character I really like and know that I have a job. I love to work. I'm constantly searching like a shark, patrolling the waters for work!
DM) What is the motivation that keeps you working so much?
MP) I have to feel that I am useful, and also I don't like having nothing to do. I'm a "double Gemini"; I go nuts when I don't have things to do. Then I'm getting myself in trouble! (laughing)
DM) When have you felt the busiest, and thereby fulfilled?
MP) Doing Knots Landing, when I was on the series.
DM) Was that one of the happier points of your life?
MP) Yeah. God, I loved it. I loved it. We couldn't wait to see what devious scenes they were going to have us doing in the next show. We loved getting the new script.
DM) Do you miss that more than you miss the Mamas & the Papas?
MP) Yes. The Knot's Landing family was a very, very happy one, and it was a lovely working experience for me. It was a big ensemble cast that prevented the producers from working you to death, yet you worked every week. You worked all the time. You got a great big fat check every week, and it was amazing, the power of television...If there's ever any question, get yourself a series and you'll see what being famous means.
DM) But it was a very different fame. If we were talking about pure fame fulfillment, then I'd imagine the band would give you more?
MP) Yes, but that was a long time ago and a very different experience. With the Mamas & the Papas, it was fame, but nothing like having people recognize you from a television show. Millions of people seeing you every week. You couldn't walk down the street without someone saying, "Oh, I love your work on the show." Oh, come on here, Kitty, here, Kitty Kitty. (she calls out in the distance)
DM) Excuse me? You know, it's very hard to believe that you play a mean character on television now as you call your cat out by name like that! (laughing)
MP) (laughs) No, I'm just a gal with a cat and a dog.
DM) After all of this talk about everything you've done, now you'd like to be remembered as simply, "a gal with a cat and a dog"?
MP) (laughing) That's all I am to them! She's ignoring me completely because she hasn't seen me in three days. She's really pissed off.
DM) You're supposed to be mean like you are on TV!
MP) I can only be mean if you pay me!
DM) So this sounds like you really have to stretch to play these types of characters?
MP) Well, there must be something in it, because I do it really well. You should see the scene that I'm doing tomorrow morning. The show is very tongue-in- cheek, so when they make Helatious (her character) mean, they make her really over-the-top mean. Because you know this is just the way that the show is written; you can get away with it.
DM) Do you ever feel bad about being this mean sometimes?
MP) Oh...no. I'm just playing my part.
DM) You seem to really enjoy doing the series. Before, you were saying how the series was one of the happiest points in your life...
MP) Well, we're talking professionally now...because I think I'm in the happiest time of my life right now. I have an incredible man in my life. My teenage boys are, mercifully, in college. And I have a very carefree life right now. It's wonderful.
DM) Of all of the things in your life, what makes you happiest right now?
MP) Well, I love to travel, and I'm going with my boyfriend to see the leaves turn in New England. We're going to do that; and I'm looking forward to it. I also like the fact that my boys are growing up, and they're both growing up to be happy, productive guys.
DM) Do you enjoy your job as mother?
MP) Yes, but I've had a child in the house since February of 1968, and let me tell you something... I've kind of had it! This is the first time I've ever not had the responsibility, on a daily basis, of having to watch the kids.
DM) And how does that feel?
MP) Wonderful!
DM) Do you ever miss it?
MP) No, not at all. They know it, too!
DM) I keep on remembering how my mother cried when my sister left home at the age of 23. Her baby left home.
MP) Well, I cried when Chynna left home at 21. I wasn't quite ready for it, and I hadn't been through the experience of having boys.
DM) Was it that different?
MP) Yes, dear! I felt like I skated on this one. I thought we'd all be in prison before the century was out. They're great boys, though, and they're happy. One of them's in Santa Barbara going to college and the other one is in an internship program.
DM) We know how the world sees you, depending on what generation they're from, and thereby what medium they've seen you in, television, radio, etc... How do your kids see you?
MP) Well, they see me as "mom." They know all about the Mamas & the Papas. I think they think it's kind of funny.
DM) It sounds like all of the things that make you happy right now are normal things.. the kids, the house, the boyfriend, traveling, and the cat. Do you feel you've worked through the period when a person wants to be famous?
MP) No, no. I still want to be famous. I want to be famous for my accomplishments, and I don't want to stop accomplishing things, and I want to be rewarded for what I set out to do.
DM) Haven't you already experienced that?
MP) Should there be a cap?
DM) Well, I guess I would look at fame as a place, a destination. Once you've reached the Europe of Fame, would you need to do more?
MP) Now I need to go to the Atlantis fame.
DM) Is it that fame is fun and addictive, or do you like acting?
MP) No, I told you, I always liked attention, and I still do. I love it when people come up to me and tell me how much they adore me.
DM) So you don't mind signing autographs or anything?
MP) No, I love it. I answer all of my own fan mail myself.
DM) Being so busy, do you ever get a break?
MP) Rarely. Life is a busy thing.