Smoke - Winter, 1997/1998
Artical: Ian Spelling
Photos: Jeff Katz
Styling: Jessica Paster
Clothes: Valentino, John Bartlett, Tag M, Mui Mui and Vivian Tam
armen Electra. You've heard the name. You've seen that face, those eyes and, admit it, that body. And now you are waiting for her to decend the steps of the home she shares with her boyfriend, rap star B Real. The publicist has politely warned you that Carmen's got a nasty flu, that she's not dressing up for you, that she's granting this interview today only because you've flown 3,000 miles and driven out to her house in Los Angeles for the sole purpose of meeting her. You're waiting- simultaniously intrigued and anxious - to see how she looks, what she's like, to determine her mood.
A couple of minutes pass. You've stared through the sliding glass doors and seen the pool. The bird houses, and B Real's imposing dogs. Five minutes slip by and you've glanced at B's gold and platinum records and soaked in the dozen or so framed magazine covers and articles about Carmen that line the living room walls. You sit down on a chair and turn your attention to the TV, from which Ricki Lake bleats on about long lost loves. Then, Carmen arrives.
At first, all you see is leg. Sleek leg. You're tantalized. Then you eye skirt - a black, knee-high number. Then you see torso, encircled in a leopard-pattern, spaghetti-string top. One more step, and into focus comes the face that's melted the heart of many a man and sent the hormones of countless teen boys a-raging. Carmen's eyes beam bright blue and she smiles as she extends a hand. "Hi," she says, in her breathy voice. "Thanks for coming all this way. I hope I don't give you what I've got. Actually, the second we're done, I'm going over to my doctor's office."
As you head to the couch to talk, it hits you like a thunderclap. We should all look so damned good when so sick. Electra, wearing virtually no makeup, dazzles. In fact, sans makeup, she looks even better - softer, rounder-faced, and far less sex-kittenish than she does on SMOKE's cover, which - you'll surely agree, redefines sexy. And she's warm and talkative and willing to chat about anything and everything. So, we do just that, beginning with a basic query: Exactly who is Carmen Electra, and how did this 25-year-old kid from Cincinnati, Ohio, wind up as a protogee of The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, Jenny McCarthy's replacement on MTV's "Singled Out," and one of the new babes on the single most popular show on the planet, "Baywatch?"
"I always wanted to be a star," Carmen admits with no hesitation. "When I was three years old I sort of decided that this is what I wanted to do. I took ballet lessons and loved them. Also, my father was in a band and they always played in our basement. I'd dance while they played. My mom used to be a singer. So, I came from a musical family and entertaining was what I always wanted to do.
"I used to spend weekends with my grandmother, and she'd take me to this little dime store where you could buy candy and stuff. The manager would say, 'You're going to be a star some day!' It's weird how many people used to tell me that. In my mind I'd be thinking,'God, I wish I could be a star, but I live in Ohio and nobody makes it out of here.' Most of the kids my age were getting pregnant, getting married, getting stuck at home, or quitting school. I wanted to get out of Ohio. I worked at a place in Ohio called King's Island. It was an amusement park, and I danced there in a magic show. It was a cheesy magic show, I might add. My ultimate goal was to go to New York and be on Broadway, because of my singing and dancing background. I never really thought that much about acting. I saved my money and moved to L.A. A week after I got here, I met Prince, and everything happened from there."
Prince, as he was then known, took Carmen under his wing. That was his thing: Unearth a pretty young thing with talent, relocate her to his Paisley Park complex in Minneapolis, and groom her. The result of their professional relationship, the 1992 album Carmen Electra, yielded the modestly successful dance hits "Go Go Dancer" and "Get On Up." There's been much speculation about the scope of Carmen's association with The Artist, and she knows it. "We were only friends," she says, setting the record straight. "I met him and he was willing to help me out. He was really sweet. We went into the studio and we just started working on music. I'll always admit that I was very attracted to him and that I had a crush on him. But with our schedules it was just impossible for us to get together."
After the release of her album, Carmen returned to Los Angeles, determined to make it as an entertainer. She danced on "Soul Train." She posed for a Playboy celebrity spread. She guest-starred as a recurring character on "Baywatch Nights." She then stepped into Jenny McCarthy's high heels as the co-host of MTV's dating game, "Singled Out," made a cameo appearance in the kiddie film Goodburger, and won a coveted role as a regular - Lani McKensie, a Hawaii native who aspired to a singing and dancing career - on "Baywatch." Each week, one billion viewers in 140 countries on six continents tune in to watch Carmen and her colleagues fill out their famous Baywatch red bathing suits as they save the occasional swimmer from sinking into the California surf.
"Baywatch is going great," Carmen enthuses. "When I auditioned, I wasn't a great swimmer. I could swim, but I always got water up my nose. Every time I'd jump in I'd come up coughing. When I went in to audition they asked me if I could swim and I said 'Yes.' I wasn't going to say 'No,' right? It was the middle of an audition. But I had no idea they were going to take me down to a water tank so I could show them what I could do. I had to do it. So I said a little prayer and went for it. Thank God I made it through OK, and nobody had to give me CPR. Now I've got to get scuba-certified." And do the ladies in red all get along? "Yes," Carmen replies with a laugh and a mock frown. "I was hoping there'd be problems. I was looking for a good catfight. No. Actually, we all get along fine and everyone is very professional."
Carmen continues to build upon her resume. She recently guest-starred in an episode each of the comedy "Just Shoot Me" and the cops-on-bikes show, "Pacific Blue," and worked for a few days on an independent feature called Dust and Stardust. "I get to play a completely different kind of character in the film," Carmen says. "Lani gives CPR. She helps other people. She's a role model, I guess; someone kids can look up to. She's a bit of a superhero, which we all kind of are on Baywatch. In the movie, though, I play a drug addict. It's a very small role, because I didn't have the time to take on a bigger one. But it's cool. It's edgy. It was interesting because I've never done any drugs. For me to have to pull this character from somewhere was hard. I kept asking all of my friends, 'Have you ever tried Ecstasy? What did you do? What was it like?'A couple of them could actually answer my questions!"
With each credit, each role, Carmen believes she's improving as an actress. "I'd like to think I'm getting better, but I know I'm getting more comfortable," she notes. "The key is to relax and let yourself get comfortable, and not to think too much. In the beginning, every time I'd go to do a scene I would talk to myself as I was doing the scene. It was like, 'OK, that was really bad' or 'Maybe I should move more.' You're so busy telling yourself all these things that you can't be natural when you're reading lines. Now that I've been working so much I've been able to just completely relax. I know I have a long way to go, but I'm not so much worried about how I'm doing."
Nor is she worried right now about the reality that more people recognize her for her name, face, and body than they do for her talents as a thespian. "I think more people are familiar with my name than my face at this point. If you say my name," she asserts, "people say, 'Oh yeah, that girl from Baywatch.' What's funny is that people think I'm much taller. It happens all the time. I go into a restaurant and there'll be a group of guys at a table. One guy will say, 'Hey, you're Carmen Electra. Can I have your autograph?' Then a guy sitting with him will say, 'That's not her. Carmen's like 5' 9"!' (She's actually 5' 4 1/2"). I've almost had to stand there and convince people it was really me. It's funny, but some people do expect me to be one thing or another. People tend to stereotype. I honestly don't mind it at all, because that makes it more fun for me to surprise people with who I really am and what I'm doing."
It strikes you as you converse with Carmen that all her cylinders fire, that the elevator darts straight to the top. She's got smarts, a game plan, and patience. But she's not Meryl Streep just yet, thank God. And you realize what that means. It means there's still time to have some fun with the mandatory questions that must be asked of a reigning sex goddess. Carmen's done it before and now she's doing it for you, you, you. So here goes:
Growing up, Carmen, were you an ugly duckling? "I wasn't, no," she admits. "I also wasn't the best~looking girl at school. I'd say I was pretty average. I'm always hard on myself." Are you comfortable with your looks now? "I am, but I'm a perfectionist. I drive myself crazy. I'm constantly criticizing everything I do. Even my dancing, which I think is my best talent, I criticize. If I'm watching myself dance I'll say, 'God, my feet were flexed! What was I doing! They should have been pointed.' It's like I said; I'm my own worst critic."
What's your favorite part of your body? "Probably my butt," Carmen reveals. Really? Most woman hate their butts. "I've always had a bubble butt, which I'm very happy with. I could've had a flat one, but God blessed me with a little booty. I like my feet, too. They're real small. I wear a size 5 and 1/2."
Who do you consider beautiful? Men and women. "Sophia Loren is naturally sexy," Carmen coos. "She doesn't push it on you. I love Arm Margaret. Sugar Ray is really hot. Lenny Kravitz. George Clooney is pretty hot - not as hot as the other guys, but he's in there."
Have you ever dated an ugly guy? "Yeah, definitely," she says. "I'm more of a personality kind of a girl. People grow on me. I did the sitcom "Just Shoot Me" and, it was weird, but I developed this little crush on David Spade. I think it's because he's so funny. He'd knock on my trailer and I'd peek out and not see anyone. The third time this happened, David stood there, calling my name. 'E-lectra. E-lec-tra.' I thought he was cute a cuddly cute, anyway. Oh, going back to your last question, I've got to add John Travolta. From when I was five, he's been one of my favorites."
You think, 'Carmen's still with me here, I'm gonna try a few more,' and, like a trooper, Carmen plays along. Do men find you intimidating? "I don't think so," she says and somehow her nose doesn't grow. "I hope they don't. But I don't know for sure. Guys are always coming up to me. They are almost always nice. I'm an open person and I don't take things as personally as another woman might. I can handle a man who makes some comment, without getting upset."
Is it true you used to beat up boys? "When I was a little girl I was actually very shy," Carmen recalls. "My mom always wanted to cut my bangs, and I never wanted her to, because I'd hide behind them. I didn't like meeting new people and I held my head down and let my hair fall over my eyes. When I started dancing and competing I learned how to open up and not be so shy. After that I became a bully. In the fourth grade I had one boy carry my books up the stairs and I'd take another boy's lunch money. It was a pretty drastic change. I'd like to apologize or maybe write him a check for all the money I took."
You mention to Carmen that beauty, at least physical beauty, can't last forever. Does the idea of aging, you wonder, terrify her? Carmen's huge blue eyes open wide. The wordless answer, obviously, is "Yes!" The spoken answer confirms it. "I've never liked the idea of aging," she acknowledges. "I always try to talk myself out of feeling that way because it happens to everybody and it's just something I have to accept. People say the older you get, the wiser you get, that it's beautiful to be an older woman. But everybody, deep down inside, hates the idea of aging. That's what I believe."
OK, you figure, you're writing for a magazine called SMOKE. You'd be remiss if you failed to ask at least a few cigar-oriented questions. But Carmen practically beats you to the Punch, or the Cohiba, or the Romeo y Julieta.
"I think the whole cigar craze is great," she says. "I love it. When I first got into cigars, it was more or less the look that I liked. I thought that a man looked really sexy holding a cigar and that a woman looked even sexier. It's kind of cool to see a woman with a big cigar. But I honestly never wanted to try one. I used to have a fear of puffing a cigar, actually. Finally, I was at a party and everybody was lighting up. They were going, 'Come on, Carmen. Try it.' I gave in. I tried it. It was a great feeling. I really enjoyed it.
And now it's back to more serious matters. Carmen is driving herself pretty hard these days. Beyond "Baywatch," there are photo shoots, auditions and meetings, interviews, guest spots on such shows as "Pacific Blue", and cameos in the likes of Dust and Stardust, as well as a Carmen Electra comic book to keep tabs on and an hour-plus to be spent every Sunday night, interacting with fans visiting the Carmen Electra site on America Online.
She's a busy, busy young lady and it's catching up with her. Case in point? This flu of hers that just won't go away. So miserable was she feeling that she had to call in sick to the producers of "Pacific Blue." "I want to be this busy now," Carmen explains, "but what I've discovered is that it's important to pace myself, so that I have time to recover. I've got so many opportunities and I don't want to pass on any of them. So I am pushing myself and pushing myself. At some point I'll have to say, 'What about Carmen? What's she feeling inside?
"Does anyone really care? Does anyone really care that I've got the flu and can't get over it because I'm working 13 hours a day, because I'm swimming in the ocean, because I'm constantly work- ing?' That bothers me more than any- thing, because I real~ ly don't know who cares. B cares. My family cares, but they're back home. So I have to look out for myself. I try to be nice about it, but it doesn't always work. I'm learning that I have to put my foot down sometimes."
As Carmen speaks, you wonder what Tara Patrick, Carmen's real name - thinks of the whole Carmen Electra phenomenon. Carmen smiles. Or is it Tara? "I'm the same person," she argues. "I don't think the name makes a difference. It doesn't mean anything. I have to be myself. Some people, when something's bothering them, hold it in and finally explode. That's so harsh. When something bothers me, I can't hold it in. I let it out right away. That's never going to change, and I'm not going to change. I know where I came from. I know what I've got to do to make myself happy and I appreciate everything I've achieved so far."
One day, some 50 years down the line, Carmen Electra will have aged. Her star could have long before burned out, or she might be referred to in the same breath as some of our best, most timeless talents. Carmen, like the rest of us, has no idea what the future holds, but she happily shares her vision of life at 75. "Hopefully, I'll have a huge family, like the Brady Bunch, and lots of grandchildren," she says, laughing. "Hopefully, I'll have everything I need to take care of my family. It's a dream of mine to build a huge house and move my family and friends into it, so we can all be together. The house would be so big we'd all have our space. Career-wise, I want to be doing nothing, absolutely nothing at all. When I'm 75, 1 just want to be able to enjoy everything I've accomplished, enjoy the rest of my life and not have any stress or worries.
"Maybe I'll be in my rocking chair, smoking a cigar, just totally relaxed."
As you exchange farewells and head back to your car, you ponder that image: Carmen Electra, 75, sitting in a rocking chair, smoking a stogie. And you say to yourself, "I can see that. I can see that."
And you know what? You really can.