Leading Ladies Wogan: The Best Of

-'A show that went out three nights a week live...'

-Mr Wogan? You're on.

'..with a live audience

'and everyone who was anyone dropping in -

'the great and the good, the bad and the ugly - and they called it Wogan.

'Ha! I never knew why.

'So, if you're sitting comfortably,

'I'll show you something I made earlier.'

And God knows what they'll make of us in 25 years' time.

Welcome to what I think will be a real beauty of a show,

because today, we're looking at leading ladies

from the worlds of both film and music.

The line-up includes Diana Ross, Jodie Foster,

Catherine Zeta-Jones, Celine Dion and Zsa Zsa Gabor.

First, though, a woman who might just be

the world's biggest star of the past few decades.

Always controversial, constantly in the process of reinvention,

it's Madonna.

Dressed in what I think you'll agree is a rather wonderful shirt,

I joined a queue of the world's press to meet her in Cannes,

way back in 1991,

when she was promoting her film called In Bed With...

Who was it again?

Much of your performance is tongue-in-cheek.

How much if it's done...? Is it all done with a sense of humour?

I think yeah, I do. I think it's, er...

A lot of what I do is... Well, a sense of irony, you know.

I think it's good to see someone, a performer, whatever, and say,

"Now, does she mean that or doesn't she?" because...

it makes you ask questions

and it makes you see that there's two sides to every story

and everything isn't cut and dried,

everything isn't black and white, you know.

So... And I think that I try to make that clear in my work,

by being tongue-in-cheek, so...

I never want to be taken completely seriously,

I think that that's the death of anyone.

Of course, but that is the problem, isn't it?

That people think you mean it most of the time, don't they?

-Do you mean everything you say?

-I mean everything I say,

but in terms of, like, my performance and stuff,

I mean, certainly in my last show,

much of what I did was tongue-in-cheek and, er,

I mean, I'm being very sincere with you right now,

but when I present a performance, for instance,

and many times in my songs, there's a sense of irony that...that...

Most intelligent people see it and the people that don't,

well, they don't. I mean, everyone can't love everything that you do.

You seem to lead from the front.

Indeed, would you say that people are frightened of you?

-Sometimes, yes.

-What is it about you that frightens people?

-My boldness, my... Because I'm very confrontational.

-Yeah.

-You know.

And I...I think it's hard for people to hide from me, when they meet me.

Are you frightened of anybody yourself?

I suppose I have been, yeah.

-Yeah.

-What makes you nervous of people?

I feel the most nervous around people who can't be honest with me,

who can't look me in the eye, who are afraid of...

of really presenting themselves to me, and being honest.

Were you always powerful? Were you always confrontational?

-Have you changed?

-I don't know if I've always been powerful,

but I certainly have always been confrontational, yes.

-Do you like being powerful? Do you like power?

-Who doesn't?

Well, not everybody.

-Really?

-Do you like...?

-Name one person who doesn't like power?

-Not everybody wants to be famous.

-No, it's not just fame. Power is...

Anyone can have power. I mean, it's a...

It's how you feel about yourself, it's how you carry yourself,

it's the effect you have on people, it doesn't necessarily...

It's not synonymous with fame and I think, um, that...

I don't think you would find a human being on this earth

that wasn't interested in power.

-Yes, it's how you exercise it, of course, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Do you think you exercise it properly?

-Yes, I do. Yes.

Is anybody likely to tell you to your face if you don't?

There are many people who disagree with my opinions

and my points of views and the way I live my life or carry on,

and they're welcome to their opinions.

But within your own circle, is there anybody who ever disagrees with you?

-Yes.

-What do you do to them?

-What do I do to them?!

-Yes.

I have them sentenced to jail and I have their heads cut off!

-HE LAUGHS

-Yeah. But what I mean is do you welcome disagreement?

-Yes.

I absolutely insist on it, I don't want people,

a bunch of people, you know...

you know, running around kissing my ass all the time,

I prefer people to, er, be really upfront and honest with me.

I don't mind that, because it gives me a chance to explain,

not only to them, but once again, myself, why I do the things I do.

The thing that I notice - that everybody notices about you -

so you'll excuse me if you've been asked this before.

-You seem to reinvent yourself...

-Mm-hm.

-..every few years.

Is that a conscious thing or do you just get tired of yourself

and say, "I want a new Madonna every couple of years?"

Well, I don't think it's a question

of getting tired with myself, but it's like, um...

It's like, er... It's all different aspects of my personality

and I just kind of get... I focus in on different

aspects of my personality and I kind of...

get very involved in it, you know, like, sometimes,

I'll feel very vulnerable and that's how I'll appear.

Sometimes, I'll feel very strong and that's how I'll appear.

I don't think there's a big difference between what I do

and what, say, Robert De Niro does,

when he gets completely involved in a character

and, for that six months or whatever,

he walks around all day long with his, you know,

weighing 40 pounds more than he does, with long hair or whatever,

and he completely changes, you know, his appearance

and, you know, obviously, he's searching out...

I don't think an actor chooses to do roles in movies

that he can't somehow relate to in some way, you know, um...

so...in a way, I think it's very similar, you know,

I'm just kind of acting out different parts of my personality.

Like Madonna, Motown legend Diana Ross is a singer

who's occasionally crossed over into the world of film.

Now, I think that's all they got in common.

There's also a reputation for both being massive divas.

Well, we never tolerated that sort of behaviour on Wogan!

And, to be fair to Diana, she was sweetness itself when she visited.

She was marking 30 years in showbiz

and had just released her 58th album!

And I just wanted to know... what kept her hanging on?!

I just wondered why you want to continue doing it.

You can't need the money. Is it that urge to perform?

Is it the roar of the greasepaint?

Oh, roar? Well... Um, I really do enjoy the work,

I really probably should stay at home and be with my kids more.

I like to be on the stage and, um, I think

next year I'll probably slow down a bit.

But I had decided that my kids are little right now,

so I thought, maybe this next two years, I would work really hard

and travel around and see everyone and then maybe I'd slow up a bit.

-Is it...?

-But I really do like to perform

and I like to be on the stage and it's, um, I think it's, er...

It really is healthy somehow.

It really is quite a healthy experience.

You get a chance to perform and sing and let go of a lot of emotions and

somehow it keeps me kind of quiet and at peace with my life somehow.

-Yeah.

-Also, it's a gift, I have never studied singing and, er,

it's a wonderful work and a wonderful pay.

-Yeah, the money's good.

-Yes, it's very nice. When it works, it's nice.

But you miss your children. Do you take any of them with you?

-I have the little ones with me all the time.

-The little ones?

-How old are they now?

-Three and four.

And then I have a 16-year-old, a 19-year-old and 20-year-old

and the two older ones are in college and, er,

so it's easier to leave them, cos they've left me already,

but the boys travel with me for now, but next year, Ross should be

in kindergarten and I think that we won't travel as much then.

Yes, it's hard to imagine you're the mother of five children.

-Well, thank you!

-And aged from 20 to three!

-Yeah, yeah.

Did you get to spend as much time as you'd like with your older children?

Yes, um, the lucky part with them is, er,

I was able to travel in the early days with them as well and then,

when they started school, my mom was there with them,

so I kind of commuted back and forth, but my mother was there.

-So it kept in balance in your life?

-Yes, it really did.

-You are seen as a tough businessperson.

-Am I?

Well, do you see yourself as that?

Um, no, I don't think I'm a tough businessperson.

I'm a perfectionist and I like...I have...

-Are you tough to work for?

-I don't think so.

-I don't really.

-Ruthless?

-SHE LAUGHS No! No!

-I don't think so.

-Demanding?

I have a lot... My husband says, "You have a lot on your plate."

I have a lot that I do and, in a sense, that means that you have

to really stay on purpose all the time and I want very much to not

ignore my children and I want to be there and I want to see everything,

so, in a sense, I don't have a lot of time for a lot of nonsense.

-I really have time for being on purpose...

-You've never had time

for the nonsense of your business?

No, I think there IS a lot of nonsense in our business.

-The drugs and the drink and the rock and roll?

-No.

-Drugs, drink and rock and roll!

-And the sex?

Oh! That's a good one! No!

LAUGHTER Only if you're married!

-APPLAUSE

-Yes!

Well, that's how I got five kids!

Yeah, well, it had to happen somehow!

Now, you signed to Motown in 1961.

-Yes.

-And among your contemporaries were people like

-Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops.

-Yes.

-You've all done concerts recently.

What do you think is the reason for the longevity, the great success,

of people like you and Lionel Richie, Four Tops, those people?

Well, er, I think the songs from the early days, it was the music

and the kind of music, it kind of really touched the heart,

and it was a lot of love songs.

I have so many love songs in my group of songs that I have

and I think the songwriters kind of wrote songs

that people could really identify with.

They weren't abstract songs, they were really kind of special,

very simplicity in nature, and I think that melody and that rhythm is

just really just coming back around, people just still like the music.

I look into my audiences and there's young kids

that still know the words to all the old songs.

-Yeah.

-So I think the Motown sound really made a mark in the business.

-And, of course, Berry Gordy was very careful of his artists.

-Yes.

-He taught you everything?

-He was really, um,

I don't think they have those kind of mentors any more for performers,

someone who really takes the time with their career.

It was more a performer development and artist development,

caring about their appearance, caring about their home life,

caring about just all the parts of their life, it wasn't just

about going into the studio and making a record and selling records.

They were really concerned about us as people and building human beings.

And in that perfection of his, I think I caught a lot of that,

because, in a sense, I see that there's a way to have things really,

um, really right and maybe that's the reason why that it has been...

Next year's my 30th year anniversary, so,

maybe in trying to be... have it correct, you know,

that it gives you some legs in the business and you don't have time...

We were nurtured, we had chaperones for years.

-You're off to appear at Wembley.

-Yes. Tonight is...

-Monday night is our last night, yes.

-Any more concerts in the UK?

Um, I do think we have one more, in Scotland, er...

-You've got a husband in the UK, of course.

-Yeah!

So does that mean that you sneak over here more often than we think?

I'm over here a lot, I am over here a lot,

and, er, yes, he has his business here

and he works here, um, so I'm over here quite a bit.

-We're doing this.

-The secret of a happy marriage -

distance lending enchantment, is it?

Well, actually, the song I'm going to do for you now, my new release,

er, to me, if you take a listen to the words,

it's really about my relationship with my husband and my children.

-They're a very, very special part of my life.

-Let's hear it, then.

-OK.

-Thank you for joining us.

-Thanks a lot.

-Diana Ross, thank you.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

MUSIC STARTS

# Tell me who, what, when

# Where did it start?

# Tell me when, where

# How did you get in my heart?

# I feel your love washing over me

# In waves of emotion so strong

# I want to say while I've got the chance

# In the words of this song

# You're my...one... shining moment

# You are...all my dreams come true

# Honey, you're my...

# One shining moment!

# And if I never have another

# I'm glad that I've known you

# You fill up for me

# All the empty spaces

# All the pain I've ever felt

# You've erased it

# Is it any wonder?

# No way

-# That I'm growing fonder every day!

-Every day!

# There's a freedom that I never knew

# And it's all because of you

# Honey, you're my... one...shining moment

# You are all... all my dreams come true

# Honey, you're... my one shining moment!

# And if I never have another

# I'm glad that I've known you

# I wake up with you on my mind

# You light up my day

# There is nothing better I can find

# Oh, my love, I'm so proud

# That I can say, hey!

-# You're my...one...

-Ooh-ooh! Ooh-ooh!

-..shining moment

# Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

-# You are...all my dreams come true

-Wrapped into one under the sun

# Honey, you're... my one shining moment!

# And if I never have another

-# I'm glad that I've known you

-If I never have another

-# I'm glad that I've known you

-If I never have another

# I'm glad that I've known you

-# You're my...one...

-Shine, shine, shine!

-# Shining moment

-Shining!

-# You're my...one...

-You...you...

# Shining moment. #

MUSIC STOPS, APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Now, Jodie Foster, a fine actress who'll be for ever associated

with a film that scared the living daylights

out of everyone who saw it, and I'm not talking about Bugsy Malone!

It was The Silence Of The Lambs, of course,

for which her role as FBI agent Clarice Starling

earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Jodie, do you find it unusual to have 200-300 people applauding you

from a distance of about 3,000 miles?

Er, yeah, especially since I sort of hear them out of sync,

so I see your mouth move and then you talk a little while later.

It's good! It's funny! It's a very, very, um,

-charming prospective.

-Well, you're perfectly synchronised

-from where we're sitting. Now...

-Oh, well, that's good!

You don't...you don't go for - or it doesn't seem to me anyway -

that you go for glamour girl roles. Is that a deliberate process?

That you go for controversial roles?

Well, I don't really think that I kind of go for anything.

I mean, that's... Gee, I don't know, I mean, I think I'm less concerned

with my image than I am making good stories and good films

and that the one thing that's always been a strain through my films is

I've chosen the story above anything else, sometimes above the character.

Sometimes I play characters, er, that aren't as flashy,

for example, but that, er, that tell the story in a way that's, er,

probably a controversial and more dramatic story

which I always find interesting.

Tell me about this particular role as an FBI agent.

Did you pick that for the...for the writing

or did you pick it for the nature of the role?

Er, well, actually, I was a big fan of the book and, um,

I had been following the book for a long time and sort of found out

which writer was doing it and so I had been in contact

with it for a long time before the film was set up, so I knew about it.

It was really the story I think that I was most caught up with.

It's made a great number of waves in America, this particular movie.

-It's good to see our Anthony Hopkins do so well in the role.

-Yes.

It's a very terrifying film, he plays Hannibal The Cannibal,

who in fact...eats people.

-I mean...

-Er, not on screen.

-SHE LAUGHS

-No, not on screen.

-But he does like a little liver and stuff like that and, I mean...

-Yes.

Do you think - probably not from your own personal experience -

but from your research into this, which I know was considerable,

do you think there are people like him around?

Er, there's no question of it.

I mean, the character was composed of a number of different, er, profiles

of different, um, historical killers, you know, that had been out there.

There is a pattern and there are motives and one of the things

I think that is probably one of the most contributing factors,

and definitely is the one thing that they all have in common, is that, er,

they've endured some kind of abuse as children, so, er...

That's the one thing that every serial killer,

almost every serial killer, has in common.

We'll ask you about your childhood a little bit later.

SHE LAUGHS OK!

What do you think the public fascination,

particularly American public fascination, is with serial killers?

Well, um, irrational motives and I think, er,

that kind of darkness of picking out somebody randomly

and, er, not for any reason except for the glorification of violence

and for enjoying the fact of violence and having violence be your way

of coping with life, or your way of, er, expressing yourself, ultimately,

and that's something that I think people find

-a very horrifying principle, as they should.

-Yeah.

But when you make a film like this -

I'm not suggesting that you made the film -

-but I mean, when a film like this is made...

-Yes.

..there's a lot of loonies out there and aren't they likely to look at it

and say, "There's a good idea, I'll go and kill a few hundred people

-"and have a movie made of my life and die happy"?

-Well..."

The truth about dramas is that, er, like anything else,

you can take a two-by-four and you can build a building

or hit somebody over the head with it

and there are two things you can do with pieces of information.

You can use them to construct things and to change things,

and I think our film is responsible and deals with the subject

in a very frank and... and very, er, responsible way

or you can, you know, obviously use any piece of information

to stimulate anything that you want. You could see that about the news

and, er, information is always good

and I certainly will never believe in censoring information.

Your mother guided your career from your very early days.

-Yes.

-Does she still do that?

Does she still dictate to you? Or do you dictate to her more?

Um... "Dictate"? No, probably neither one of those, but, er, yeah,

She was very involved at a young age, which is understandable,

since I was three when I started, and needed someone taking care of me

and ultimately looking after me, to make sure that the sharks didn't

devour me, which I think was much more her function, and rightfully so.

And then, The Accused came along and you won, three years ago,

-you actually won...

-Yes.

-You won the Oscar for that.

-SHE LAUGHS Yeah, I did!

-Yeah. I thought you might have forgotten.

-But I mean...

-No, no! It always makes me laugh!

-Every time I think of that, it just makes me laugh.

-Was it a big night?

You were drunk?

No, I wasn't drunk! I had fun! It was a blast! I, er...can't...

It was like being on a ride at Disneyland or something.

It was just I kept getting, you know, moved somewhere else

and then, this would happen, and that would happen, it was, er,

a little bit unreal, I couldn't stop laughing.

Yeah, it was like winning the lottery or something.

Now, just a month before that encounter with Jodie,

I interviewed another actress who would go on to find Oscar glory.

At the time, Catherine Zeta-Jones

was getting her first real taste of fame,

in the much-loved TV series The Darling Buds Of May.

It was clear, even back then, just where her ambitions lay.

-Zeta?

-Zeta.

-It's a silly name, isn't it, Zeta?

What do you mean it's a silly name? It's my grandmother's name.

-Was she Greek?

-No, she wasn't Greek, but it's a Greek name,

and it's named supposedly, from what my grandmother tells me,

it's named after a battleship that, um, went round the Cape Horn,

but my grandmother's a great drama queen, so, whether that story

is true or not, I don't know, but it's my story, so I'm sticking to it.

You haven't found... Excuse me. You haven't found it held you back?

Having a Zeta in there?

Well, it is a bit long, but I was christened Catherine Zeta-Jones.

My other grandmother's called Catherine, so I thought,

well, it's my name, so let's use it.

-Now, your picture is everywhere at the moment.

-Yeah.

Fame has kind of arrived in a burst over the last two weeks.

You've been called a sex kitten, a darling bud of May.

Do you find...? How do you find coping with the sudden interest?

Well, I think you have to put it in perspective, really,

and realise that I'm here to do a job that I love

-and, in doing that job, other things come into it.

-Yes.

And you need it, in a way, but it becomes a hassle if you want

to continue in a career, but I'm just putting it, you know, to myself,

to say that that's part of the job and take it with a piece of salt.

-SHE GIGGLES Eat it!

-Yes, but it must be good.

Are there a lot of offers flying in? Any interesting offers?

Well, I'm booked to do the second series of Darling Buds Of May,

so that takes me up to near the end of the year,

but, um, I've got some personal things that I want to do,

I want to be singing again, cos that's how I started off,

and so I need to have some time to concentrate,

get my energies in that direction, and also I'd love to do another film.

Is it a tough business? Do you have to be tough to survive?

Well, I've been in it for quite a while. I did theatre for a long time.

I did musical comedy, and, um, that's a very hard business to go into,

because it's dog-eat-dog, you know,

I went into 42nd Street as a chorus girl

and, you know, you're there with a thousand other chorus girls

waiting to get a job and it's hard.

How young were you when you started?

I was, er...I did Annie and Bugsy Malone as a child.

When I was 16, I left school to go to get my Equity card,

which was the most important thing for me at that time.

And were you encouraged into this by your family? Was there anybody

-in the family...

-No.

-..who was a dancer or an actor?

-Nobody.

-How did you get that into your head?

-It's just an ambition I always had.

I went to dancing class, I was interested in youth drama,

and I wanted to do all these things, and I had a chance to do that

when I left school to get my Equity card, and so I bashed into it.

-You got a good break with 42nd Street, didn't you?

-Uh-huh, yeah.

That kind of... I was a chorus girl and I took over then the lead,

-so that springboarded me.

-You were the second understudy?

Uh-huh. I was second understudy and then the girl hurt her knee

and I took over and, within 40-45 minutes' notice,

I was thrown on to do the show, but, um, it was difficult to get,

not difficult, but I wanted to get out of that musical comedy actress

for a while and try and work on the straight side of it.

Well, it's difficult to make a living,

-as every actor and actress who comes on says.

-Mm-hm. Yeah.

-But you, you then got into European films.

-Yeah.

-How did that happen?

How did you make that one bound from 42nd Street into that?

Well, I went for loads of interviews over here in England and, um, I...

I hate to say it, but I felt that they weren't taking me seriously

as a straight actress and so I went for this movie,

it was a comedy fantasy film based on Arabian Nights,

and it was to play Scheherazade, and I went for numerous screen tests,

because the producer said, "No, no, she's an English girl!

"She can't do a French film!" And so, I went to do this and, um,

it was four months in the African desert shooting it and it was, er,

it was great and I learnt so much about making films

and the different discipline and the different technique

of working for a camera on that film, it was wonderful.

How is it that you had to go to Europe to get a break in films?

Normally, people go to Hollywood or see if they can get a chance here.

Well, the French director came over here to find a star

and I went for the casting director and he - to the casting - and he was

interested in me immediately and I kept saying, "But I'm not a star,"

cos he didn't know, and he said, "You were in 42nd Street," but I said,

"But I'm not a name, you know, people don't know me over here,"

and he wanted somebody to come from England, cos he respects

English actors and actresses very much and so, the producer,

as I said, was completely adamant not to have an English unknown actress,

but he pushed and he pushed and he pushed

and I eventually got the part and it was very strange,

after doing one role like that, you get, you know,

you get taken seriously, people will, will put that

financial, you know, grab on you, that it's not a big financial...

So many films, there's so much money in them, they can't take the chance

-of somebody who's not going to come up with the goods.

-Yeah.

Why don't we enjoy some more music now with Celine Dion, who's enjoyed

phenomenal international success over the years.

She first assailed our ears at a Eurovision Song Contest and now,

she has her own stage in Las Vegas.

Obviously, an early performance here, accompanied by Peabo Bryson.

It's Beauty And The Beast.

# Tale as old as time

# True as it can be

# Barely even friends

# Then somebody bends

# Unexpectedly

# Just a little change

# Small, to say the least

# Both a little scared

# Neither one prepared

BOTH: # Beauty and the Beast

# Ever just the same

# Ever a surprise

# Ever as before

# And ever just as sure

# As the sun will rise

# Whoa! Whoa! Whoo!

# Whoo! Whoo! Whoa-oh!

# Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

# Hmm, ooh, whoa, whoa-oh!

# Ever just the same

# And ever a surprise

# Ever as before

# And ever just as sure

# As the sun will rise

# Oh! Oh!

# Oh!

-# Tale as old as time

-Ooh, ooh, ooh!

# Tune as old as song

# Bittersweet and strange

# Finding you can change

# Learning you were wrong

# Certain as the sun

# Certain as the sun

# Rising in the east

# Tale as old as time

# Song as old as rhyme

# Beauty and the Beast

# Tale as old as time

# Song as old as rhyme

# Beauty and the...Beast. #

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Now join me in a fascinating look back at child stars who once trod

an all too familiar path - early fame,

going off the rails, struggling with drink and drugs.

Macauley Culkin springs to mind.

But when a young Drew Barrymore came on the show,

she seemed to be getting her life back together.

A relief for everyone who'd fallen for her cute appeal

in Steven Spielberg's classic film ET.

-It's nine years since you made that.

-Yeah, nearly ten years.

Do you still look back on that as a happy time of your life?

Probably the best time of my life.

It was the first experience that really showed me how to grow up.

I learned a lot of lessons and it was a really happy time.

You made friends on the set.

You were young enough to think of ET as a real alien, as a real person.

Yeah.

Oh, I believed he was one of my best friends in the whole world

and sometimes I still think he is. But he was really important to me.

Did you go and talk to the dummy as if it was a real person?

Yeah, I'd eat have my lunch with him every day.

You were a mature six when you make the film.

Had you had a lot of acting experience before that?

Yeah, I made one feature film, maybe three or four TV movies

and about 20 commercials.

-How old were you when you started?

-I was 11 months when I started.

LAUGHTER

I mean, did your mother want you to be an actress?

Well, a friend suggested that she take me on this audition

when I was 11 months for a puppy chow commercial.

And I went in and the dog bit me on the nose and everybody freaked

and I started laughing and I got the commercial!

So after that I just continued to do some commercials

and some TV movies,

and I was about four

and I was staring at the TV and said something like,

"This is my life," and she explained to me that maybe it was too

difficult for me and I said, "No, this is what I want to do."

So, knowing that I wanted it so much,

because she didn't want it for me she just wanted me to be happy.

For once she understood that this was what I wanted and she helped me a lot.

Well, you are a Barrymore!

I mean, you come from such a long dynasty, DI-nasty...

-of actors and actresses.

-Yeah.

But I didn't understand that when I was little.

My name was just my last name

and it was explained many times that my family was a very big acting

family in the Shakespearean theatre, but I never really understood.

As I got older my mother would show me more work of my family.

Your progress downhill from the time

you were about nine has been pretty well documented,

but in a sense it's good to hear it again

because it can be a lesson and it can help other young people.

-How old were you when you first had alcohol?

-Nine.

And then... How did you start to drink?

The usual way, someone said, "Have a drink"?

Right, well, I had grown-up very fast and it's not very normal

to see a nine-year-old at a big Hollywood party drinking.

And it looks a little weird and people were laughing and saying,

you know, "I dare you to do this," and I did.

And I got really drunk and it was such a scary,

frightening feeling, yet it was such an escape from everything else

in the world, that I became... I had a liking to it and um...

Do you think it ran in the family?

Because there were generations of Barrymores who were

-keen on the drink.

-Yeah. And my whole family...

My whole family, definitely, were all drinkers and they abused it.

And they say it's hereditary and I'm sure it is

because there is a long list of it.

What about the drugs?

That started when I was about 10 and 11, and...

-Ten! Who gave you your first drug, for goodness' sake?

-Um...

As I said then, they were friends but they weren't really friends.

And to me it just seemed normal.

All the people I was around did it

and they thought it was a way of life that was just normal to be living.

The people you were around weren't the same age as you.

No, I always had older friends.

I was always with a much advanced,

-older crowd from when I was about six.

-How did you feel?

You must have felt... It must have made you feel good.

Yeah, it did.

It was that great escape that you look for when you are younger.

And actually at any age in your lifetime,

you look for the escape, to get away from your problems in life.

And when you do drugs, your problems in normal life seem so much bigger

that you just do more just to get away from them.

It's kind of a complete downward spiral.

It's a complete downhill cycle that you just get caught up into.

Either you make it out or you don't and it's very scary.

And you went for the treatment but you had setbacks.

-You did some crazy things when you came out of treatment.

-Yeah, I did.

At first I was clean, I was off drugs,

but I still had the same behaviour. I was still doing the same thing.

And that's when I really got clean,

when I realised I just wasn't doing it right.

I mean, is there any kind of...?

Obviously, the message is to all young people, don't do it.

However young you are you can fall into these traps.

Is there any one rule that you'd say or anything you'd say to parents?

Well, you can't just say "Just say no," because they don't listen.

I didn't listen and other friends of mine didn't listen.

You have to really understand where your kid is coming from

as a parent and you have to let go and turn it over to either

a higher power or whatever you believe in and have a lot

of patience and understanding and really help your kid.

And for the kid, it really depends on the individual,

because everybody is different

and everybody needs a different type of help to get through their problem.

And hopefully they can find the right one and really stick with it,

and it takes a lot of patience and a lot of understanding.

-And you... How old are you now?

-I'm 15, almost 16.

-And you're just having a day at a time.

-Yes, one minute, one moment.

We wish you well and it's good to see you.

It's good to see a young person come out the other side.

It must have taken a great deal of fortitude and strength

and intelligence.

-But it looks as if things are on the up for you.

-Very.

We look forward to seeing ET with you in it,

a very small Drew Barrymore, very innocent,

with an awful time ahead of her, and now you are at the other side of it.

-We hope you will continue to be.

-Thank you.

Drew Barrymore.

APPLAUSE

And finally, a lady who certainly lived the glamorous life

of a Hollywood leading lady.

I'm not sure if I can remember any of her films,

but no matter, the much-married Zsa Zsa Gabor

was one of a kind, and when we got together she'd just been

forced to do community service after slapping a Los Angeles policeman.

She brought along her pet dog.

It was hard to tell who was the more barking.

APPLAUSE

BAND PLAYS: I'll Never Fall In Love Again

-You sit there, please.

-Thank you.

-Is the dog happy without a seat?

That's Macho Man.

He would like to be on top of the table if you want to lift him.

-Put him up there.

-Is he all right if I lift him?

-Of course! Be good.

-Be good, Machie.

-He is not going to eat you.

-Good.

-The tray! Oh, my goodness!

-I'll move the tray.

-The English with their tea! OK.

-OK.

-Watch the tea, Macho.

-Macho, watch the tea, please.

-How old is Macho?

-Macho is nine years old. He is my oldest Shih Tzu.

I have three more Shih Tzus, two German shepherds and a Rottweiler

and seven horses and a husband.

LAUGHTER

I'm sure you don't mean to put your husband last.

He is the first, but I put my animals first because they cost me

so much money, the animals.

-The husband is cheap, is he?

-The husband is wonderful.

He's not cheap, he's the most generous man I've had

and I'm very much in love with him.

-And you've had some very generous husbands.

-No, not at all.

All the other husbands cost me money, including Hilton.

-Even the enormously wealthy one?

-Yeah.

The enormously wealthy one didn't give my alimony or child support

and the only thing that I... I gave his mother my mink coat my daddy in Budapest gave me.

Don't talk to me about enormously wealthy men, they are the most cheap.

LAUGHTER

I found out in life.

Always find...

Perhaps it's best to find a man who is poor to begin with.

It's best to find a man you love and you want to go to bed with

and then you can work things out.

LAUGHTER

My friend says you can fight the whole day.

If you wind up in bed, you can always work out the marriage

and I found that out very young in life.

Do you think sex is the most important thing in a marriage?

Not the most, but very important.

Because if you fight the whole day

and then you go to bed with a man and you like him in bed,

then you forget all his shortcomings, which they all have so many.

LAUGHTER

If you're married for an awfully long time, married 25 years...

Oh, my God, how could you stand it?

LAUGHTER

Well, it's not me, it's my wife I feel sorry for.

This is my longest marriage - it's four years and a couple of weeks.

We are giving a big party on our ranch.

My last marriage was one day and I didn't think it would last that long!

LAUGHTER

But you give your heart so easily, don't you?

Not so easily at all, but I am such a jerk - excuse the expression,

an American expression. I always fall for the real chauvinistic pigs.

I think they're wonderful, and then when they are chauvinistic pigs, I'm surprised.

LAUGHTER

-So, you're really quite silly about men.

-Very.

You're supposed to be the most famous

-woman of the world in the world.

-Oh, not at all.

-Sophisticated...

I forgot one thing. I wanted to slap you!

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

-You see? I got my...

-I'm not even wearing a policeman's uniform!

But you look to me like a chauvinistic pig, which I love!

-Have you finished doing your community service?

-300 hours.

But I must say one thing, darling, seriously now.

The best thing in the world happened to me.

I went to the homeless, where I fell in love with every homeless

and wanted to make them each a home. I raised them 165,000.

So the judge tried desperately to punish me but he can't

because I enjoy everything he makes me do!

-The punishment has done you good.

-Jail was terrible.

I have terrible claustrophobia and to be locked up for me...

When I married Hilton, he once told me

when I asked him where he was last night, he said,

"Zsa Zsa, don't fence me in." I said, "Conrad, how well I understand you.

"I can't be fenced in either."

And let's face it, in jail you are sort of fenced in.

-How long were you in jail for?

-Only three days.

-That's enough.

No, because I could finish my...

I'm writing a book, which is

right now called One Lifetime Is Not Enough, and it isn't

because I have so much living to do and I've done so much already.

When I dictated this book, my writer said, "My God,

"it's impossible you lived all that." I said, "That's just the beginning."

What have you learned from life?

As I say, you've lived a lot and you've seen a lot.

I learned one thing, that I still like the animals the most.

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

-What about these plans for a movie of your life?

-Yeah.

Who's going to play that?

Well, they have to find a 15-year-old naughty blonde Hungarian girl

who can also act.

-MIMICS ACCENT:

-A notey blonde Hungarian girl?

-Of course!

I married the Turkish ambassador at 15, only

because I wanted to keep my Scotty then. I had a Scotty...

That's as good a reason as any.

Well, then he said I can't keep him and I called him up,

"Your Excellency, will you marry me?

"But I have to bring my dog to Turkey, Ankara." And I talked him into it.

Three days later I was Her Excellency...

What a life you've led!

Do you look back on it with any regret?

Do you think, "Oh, I wish I hadn't done that"?

I wish I hadn't driven down Olympic Boulevard a year ago!

Never mind. But what about other things?

You must regret some of the men that you've met.

The only one is the lawyer, the Yugoslav lawyer, Michael O'Hara.

I could have skipped that.

-A Yugoslav lawyer called Michael O'Hara.

-American.

His name is Milan, but they made it Americanised.

He came with his mother from Yugoslavia and I met him...

He was my divorce lawyer from Jack Ryan, the Barbie Doll man.

And the day we got divorced, I married him because he was gorgeous.

But that's it.

-You're a woman who's carried away by physical beauty.

-No.

He was a lawyer! A very intelligent man.

I am liking a good-looking man, yes, sir! You are very good-looking!

Please! Please!

APPLAUSE

And hearing those words from Zsa Zsa brings on the urge...

to make a quick exit.

Time I wasn't here, but there's always a next time,

so back again with a more Wogan and their best bits.