BOYZ (A Gay Magazine)
August 27th 2005
Could things be any better for you at the moment? I hope that it doesn’t stop, I’m having too much fun right now [laughs].
Has it done crazy things to your ego, the fact that it’s been such a hit? Well, it didn’t feel like that, it felt more gradual. It took a long time to make the record. It was hard, my ego was just smashed during the process, because I’m normally the person that goes in and writes the words and the melody, but with this album the people I collaborated with would have ideas that were good. These things are very threatening to me: it was really uncomfortable. But at the end of the whole project I just felt so lucky to be able to work with everyone. I’m so proud of the record and confident about it. I knew that even if people didn’t like me or the record, even if it was shoved down their throats, it would be a guilty pleasure.
Are there ’diva‘ moments with Gwen? I had a ’diva‘ moment because we were all in Italy doing my video, which is fantastic, and my hairdresser is one of my best friends, and is so talented. So when I don’t have him around I get, well… I’ve done my own hair and make-up forever, but I’m like, ’Can I bring him to England if I have to do press?‘ I totally didn’t need to have him, but shh!
What’s going on with the fashion label? Do you actually do the drawings? I do some drawings and I do like to be involved in every part of it, but obviously I don’t deal with the factories and I’m not in every single fitting. We’re going to do a fashion show in September, it will be our first one, though this is our sixth collection. You know I really enjoy the design process, it’s something I’ve done my whole life, but I don’t know anything about it. But I don’t know the fashion world, I’ve only ever been to three Christian Dior shows and one Vivienne Westwood show in my whole life!
Do you want to be a brand? I think I already am a brand, which is so weird. I get offers to sell people stuff all the time and be associated with certain things. I know that when I dyed my hair pink, the sales for that colour went up 90 per cent! And I was like, ’Damn it! I should have put my own pink hair colour out‘. Does it bother me at all? I don’t really think of myself that way, it’s exciting to be successful and it’s exciting to make something creatively, out of your heart and have people pay attention. It doesn’t get old.
I’m sure there’ve been a lot of tragedies in the world of style for you? My stylist will tell you that I’ve been wearing the same things since the dawn of time. I swear to God, our spring collection is the same shit I was making when I went on the first No Doubt tour. Obviously now it’s a bit more updated, more ’fashion‘ than the shit I used to make when I didn’t have any money. But I don’t feel ashamed of those time periods, because I look back and think that’s exactly where I was at and I think it defines who you are.
I’ve read you’ve only ever had two boyfriends. I know! But how far do you have to go for it to count? I met Tony [from No Doubt] when he was 16 and I was 17, it was instant. The guy walked across the street from his car with his bass and he was coming to try out for the group and I was like, ’What’s happening to me!‘ It was like arrows, you know.
Wasn’t it hard to be in a relationship and work together? It was a long time ago, we hid that we were going out from the rest of the band, and then our singer died, we had some tragedies, you know, and then everyone found out and it was like ’Tony/Gwen/Tony/Gwen‘. It was just like everybody knew, and then we went out for so long, then we broke up. It was really horrible, we thought that the band were going to break up. And then I met my husband! And that was like arrows, arrows, arrows! And my eyes were opened and I’ve been kissing him ever since. That’s how it happened, it wasn’t like I only wanted to have two boyfriends.
Are you a good girlfriend? I think that I used to be a totally different girlfriend. I think there’s always two sides, you know the obsessive, crazy girlfriend I used to be when I didn’t have any passion or inspiration in my life, or anything else in my life.
How crazy was the crazy girlfriend? The girlfriend that would show up at the high school, when I was already graduated, just waiting for my boyfriend to get out of school and hang out with me, give me some kisses. But when I became a songwriter I found that I had something that I could do and I actually became human, you know. That changed me so much, to have a passion that defines me, gave me self-respect and purpose.
So have you and Gavin made a conscious decision not to be a ’celebrity couple‘? Well, I don’t see it from that point of view at all – this is my real life. Actually, since I got married I don’t really want to talk about it, because it’s nobody’s business. I didn’t get married so that you could judge me, this is my personal love.
What’s your take on everyone’s current celebrity obsession? I wonder if it’s always been like that? When I was doing my Jean Harlow thing [in the movie The Aviator], my friend bought me this original magazine from back then, and it was the same shit: who’s doing who and who’s smoking what, you know. I think that we don’t do photo spreads together. There are plenty of times where we have been photographed together, especially here in London, every time I walk out the frickin’ house it’s like photoshoot time.
Has there been anyone you wanted to punch and kill? No, not at all, if I look cute then I’ll be like, ’Go ahead, take my picture, I just made a big effort, shoot it!‘ But if I feel like I’m in a really bad mood, or just sometimes you just wanna run down and get something at the store, and it seems like, ’Oh God, I’ve gotta put on a cute sweatsuit and sunglasses!‘, that gets boring. I know they’re really only sitting out there waiting for me to pick my nose or do something really bad [laughs].
Do you think you’re going to be doing more acting? There’s nothing going on right now. I’m developing something and these writers are writing something for me, but it’s kind of boring to talk about it until it’s happened. I would love to do a film, but I have so many things on the list.
Are you a gay icon, yes or no? I don’t know, you tell me.
Has the question come up? Not really, I hear whispers about things like that, but I never actually experienced it. I could understand why maybe that audience would like this album, being that it is very creative, I feel, and at the end of the day the album has lots of layers. And a lot of my gay friends that I have are just really intelligent, creative people and it’s kind of in their nature. I don’t know. Next question.
Surely there are Gwen Stefani drag queens. Yes, but that’s been going on for a while.
Who’s the best that you’ve seen? I haven’t really seen them, it’s more that I hear about them. I saw one girl, but she was a girl! It was one time when I was in Hawaii, so long ago when I was first with No Doubt, and I was flicking through the channels and there was this one girl and she was this Hawaiian girl, but she was really dressed like me. There is also this another group called No Duh, which is a real No Doubt cover group, but it’s a girl.
What’s your take on that? They’re amazing, I met her for the first time, just recently, and I was almost jealous of her because she was just so cute. They do everything, it’s not just me. There is a Tony, they have a Tom, everything.
Madonna: hero or villain? Hero. Yeah, she’s been very sweet to me, you know. She’s been very generous, invited me over. I think she’s incredible. It was one of the things that when I was a kid I was so anti anything popular, I was into ska music, so I was really like ’whatever‘ about Madonna. But over the years, especially seeing her like do it for so long and keeping people’s attention is just extraordinary.
Do you think it’s become boring? I went to the last concert here in England and I was blown away. I can’t do choreography, so I was like, ’Wow, look at her outfit and her body!‘ I really enjoyed it, and when she sang ’Crazy For You‘, I cried! And she was flirting with my husband in the audience, so it was pretty exciting.
Didn’t you want to punch her out? No, it was cute. It was like, ’Honey, she’s looking at you!‘ It was either him or the guy behind him, I couldn’t work it out!
