Patricia Sheridan's Breakfast With ... Raquel Welch
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Raquel Welch will be guest programmer on Turner Classic Movies on Thursday. -
Raquel Welch, shown in 1967, shot to fame as a Hollywood sex symbol.
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She became an instant sex symbol the moment she appeared in that fur bikini in "One Million Years B.C." That was in 1966. Today Raquel Welch says: "That was also the moment the real Raquel disappeared." Her book "Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage," to be released today, is about the real Raquel and the lessons she learned. The 69-year-old actress, author and businesswoman won a Golden Globe for her comic performance in the 1974 film "The Three Musketeers." She married her first husband, James Welch, when she was 19 and has two children from that union. She went on to wed three more times. She is scheduled to be on "Oprah" today and will guest host Turner Classic Movies with Robert Osborne on Thursday to present four of her favorite films.
Why write the book?
I had these things sort of bubbling over to express. I felt like because I had always been a symbol, a thing and somebody without a voice, just an image, that it was very important for me to voice those things. And I felt a kinship with other women. I felt a need to write down what my discoveries were. It was one of the few chances I have to use my real voice and people will not be distracted by the physical image.
You talk about the compromises of fame in the book.
See the What I was trying to do was make it a kind of handbook for women that touched on all of the things that concern every woman, not just actresses or people who are considered famous. My experience is maybe a little bit different from them because of my career. But otherwise we have so much common ground between us. You know, to show them that even with the fame and the wealth and the excitement of meeting fantastic people and travel and all that, underneath, the fundamental qualities of being women is very much there and shared by all of us. We have the same kinds of doubts and fears and challenges and insecurities that we have to fight and do psychological battle with.
First Published March 29, 2010 12:00 am
