You became famous in the 1980s for putting billboards of yourself—scantily clad, suggestively posed, bleached-blonde hair—around Los Angeles. You weren’t selling or promoting anything. The billboards simply said Angelyne and listed your management’s phone number. As you told the Los Angeles Times back then, “I’m the first person in the history of Hollywood to ever become famous for nothing.”
I wanted to prove that I have control over my own image and my own life. I wasn’t waiting for someone to do it for me. I talked an investor into it. His name was Hugo. People were putting me down for it: “How dare you!”
How did you persuade him?
That’s my secret.
The first billboard was on Sunset Boulevard in 1984. Why there, and why a billboard?
Because it was available, and because the bigger, the better!
How did you feel when you saw it for the first time?
I felt like it was normal.
In a 1996 interview with The New York Times, you said, “I don’t do; I am.” When did you realize that?
Well, when I was 2 years old, I said, “I’m a leader.” And then all the kids in the neighborhood followed me around.
You were decades ahead of the whole Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian “famous for being famous” phenomenon, which exploded in the aughts thanks to reality TV. Would you ever do reality TV?
No! My reality is glamorous. I don’t want to do it on gauche TV—it’s immediately accessible. People don’t have to make ritualistic glamour in preparation.
Do you watch reality TV?
N-A-Y! Never. It’s a waste of time!
Do you have any hobbies?
My hobby is my career. My career is my hobby.
We are currently at a nearly empty Denny’s on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, where you take your meetings. How long have you been holding court at this Denny’s?
Ten years. [Angelyne, who is eating French fries, takes the Heinz ketchup bottle and squirts two mounds onto a plate.] Look, I did boobs!
Right now, as always, you’re wearing a lot of pink—your nails are pink, you have pink ribbons in your hair, you’re wearing a pink jacket, you’re in a blue and pink minidress, and your eye shadow is pink. Why do you love pink?
I had a vision that it’s the highest-vibrating color on the color spectrum. It’s very happy; it’s positive. I wear black sometimes, but no matter what I wear, it looks pink. It’s my energy.
Who inspires you?
Me and Barbie. Barbie wants to be me. I take from everyone’s best and put it together, but it’s me. I do what I want. My slogan is “I know what the fuck I’m doing.”
How’d you learn to pose?
It just came naturally. Big boobs, curvy butt, and a tiny waistline.
What’s your favorite place in Los Angeles?
Wherever I go, and wherever I live! When I lived in Malibu, that was the best. When I lived in West Hollywood, that was the best.
You drive around L.A. in one of your four custom pink Corvettes. Did you name your cars?
No. The license plates are what I identify them with. The license plates are all my name, but each one spelled differently.
You’ve run for governor of California twice—first in the 2003 special election to recall Gray Davis, and then in the 2021 recall election of Gavin Newsom. What was your platform?
There was [Jerry] Brown and Gray, and now it’s time for some pink.
If you had been elected, what would you have done in office?
Put someone in as my proxy. I ain’t sitting in an office. I feel sorry for politicians. If they aren’t bad, they will get slaughtered, and if they are bad, they will be hated. I won by not winning. [Angelyne pulls out a hot pink brush intended for a Barbie doll and starts combing her bangs as she eats a bowl of chicken noodle soup.]
In 2022, Peacock made a mini-series about your life and cast Emmy Rossum as Angelyne. You’ve made it clear you weren’t a fan of the show.
I don’t know why she has a hard-on to portray me. She said she loved me, and I said, “If you loved me, you wouldn’t pretend to be me!” I have a message that nobody can convey but me.
On YouTube, you’ve released trailers for a movie you’re working on about yourself. What exactly is the film?
It’s a sci-fi sexy fantasy starring Angelyne.
You’re making it independently and fundraising to finish mastering the film. Why didn’t you do it with a studio?
The studio will want me to do what they want me to do. I have to have control.
How are you raising money?
I’m selling some of my prized possessions, like a Star Trek communicator from the 1960s and a shirt Spock wore. They were given to me by the prop master. I’m also selling my 2008 Corvette that was in the film The Disaster Artist. It’s $250,000. Someone from Dubai offered me $800,000, but I didn’t take it. [Angelyne pulls out a hot pink wand that is decorated with cartoon unicorns and lights up in rainbow colors.]
Do you like toys?
Who doesn’t like toys?
What is Angelyne’s perfect day?
It would have to be perpetual. I would always be in a beautiful, blissful state of consciousness. I would feel whatever I wanted. Everyone in the whole world would get to come along, even the plants and the animals.
Top Image: Photo Assistant: George Wolf; Retouching: Samy’s camera.
