Background Image

...

The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself. So The Only Thing To Really Be Afraid Of Is If You Don't Go Get Your Mammograms.

-Cynthia Nixon

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

The Only Thing We

Cynthia Nixon

...

The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself. So The Only Thing To Really Be Afraid Of Is If You Don't Go Get Your Mammograms.

Views: 6

Topic

More From Cynthia Nixon

I'm A Total Theater Junkie - Whether I'm Working On A Stage Or Sitting In A Seat. I Am Always Looking For A Great Play And A Great Part To Do.

I Can't Go On Anymore Bad Dates. I Would Rather Be Home Alone Than Out With Some Guy Who Sells Socks On The Internet.

I Don't Define Myself. I'm Just A Woman In Love With Another Woman.

You Just Want To Love Tim Matheson And Just Cuddle Him. He's Really - And He's Gorgeous. He Has Much In Common With [ronald Reagan] Reagan's Outward Persona.

It Is Interesting To See How Far We've Come As A Society Since Then. But Also How Everybody Keeps Touching [ronald] Reagan And Trying To Evoke Him.

My Mother Has Battled Breast Cancer Three Times.

What Is Wonderful To See Is How Incredibly Affectionate And Physically Affectionate Nancy Reagan Was, You Know? She Was So On Her Guard, She Was Threatened By Just About Everybody.

It Just Feels To Me Like The Death Throes Of An America That Had Many Great Things About It, But Had Many Negative Things About It. I Don't Want To Go Back.

I Think Women Still Want To Be Married. But I Don't Think They'll Do Anything To Get Married Anymore

I Love A Warm Bath At The End Of A Day.

When Nancy Reagan Was Newly The First Lady Of California, Joan Didion Came And Had An Hour-long Interview. She Thought It Went Great, And Then Joan Didion Just Eviscerated Her In The Most - Possibly Not Inaccurate - But In The Most Devastating Way.

We Didn't Know Each Other Before [the Film "killing Reagan"], But I Just Knew We Would Love Each Other [with Tim Matheson].

Love Each Other

[nancy Reagan] Took That Career, That Obviously Mattered To Her, And Just Tucked It Away In A Box, Because She Thought, "that's Over With Now. I'm Going To Make Wifehood My Career."

When Nancy Reagan Was Presented With People Who She Really Felt Like Weren't Going To Judge Her, There Was Such A Floodgate Of Affection And Warmth And Physical Affection That, Most Of The Time, Was Kept At Bay Because, "oh, Someone's Going To Say Something." I Think That Because Of So Many Things That Happened To Her In Her Childhood, But Also In The Press.

I've Always Been Wary Of Marriage.

When Women Got The Vote, They Did Not Redefine Voting. When African-americans Got The Right To Sit At A Lunch Counter Alongside White People, They Did Not Redefine Eating Out. They Were Simply Invited To The Table. That Is All We Want To Do; We Have No Desire To Change Marriage. We Want To Be Entitled To Not Only The Same Privileges But The Same Responsibilities As Straight People.

My Mother Had Me On Four Times On Tv Show 'to Tell The Truth'. Four Times. Only Once As A Contestant, But They Had A Bunch Of Kids On At The Beginning Of Some Shows, Playing With Toys Or Things Like That.

I Feel Like Being An Actor It Is A Great Way To Do Your Job And Be A Parent, Because You Have A Lot Of Freedom. You Have A Job And Then The Job Ends And Than Maybe You Don't Have Another Job For A While Or Maybe You Chose Not Have Another Job For A While. For An Actor, It's Like Maybe You Don't See Your Kid For Two Weeks While You Are Filming But Then You Might Have Three Months Off Where You Are At Home Every Day And Picking Him Up From School. I Find It's A Great Thing.

Talk With Your Doctor, Make Healthy Lifestyle Choices And Most Importantly, Know Your Body - As That Can Make All The Difference In The World.

Lifestyle Choices

I Think It Was Interesting To Be Steeped In That [political] World.

I Understand That If I Really Need My Hair To Be Nice, Now I Hire Someone To Do It, And I Understand That Putting On A Pair Of Heels Really Makes A Difference.

There Are A Lot Of Myths About Gay People.

If You Make The Decision To Send Your Kid To Public School Don't Even Look At Private Schools. Just Shut The Door. Just Turn Off The Tv. And Then You Don't Even Have To Worry About Preschool. You Have To Worry About What's Good For Your Kid, But You Don't Have To Worry About How To Position Yourself.

Gay People Who Want To Marry Have No Desire To Redefine Marriage In Any Way. When Women Got The Right To Vote, It Did Not Redefine Voting.

He [tim Matheson] Is Such A - He's Not Like [ronald] Reagan - But He's So Commanding Of Respect But He's Also So Sweet.

While I Don't Often Use The Word, The Technically Precise Term For My Orientation Is Bisexual. I Believe Bisexuality Is Not A Choice, It Is A Fact. What I Have 'chosen' Is To Be In A Gay Relationship.

I Am Heat Obsessed. I Crave The Heat In My Bedroom.

I Feel Like When I Really Did My Research, I Both Came To Hate Nancy Reagan More.

In A School Where Everyone Is Famous Or Rich Or Whatever, You Have A Culture, 'what Does Your Dad Do?' 'what Does Your Mom Do?

And For Me, It Is A Choice. I Understand That For Many People Its Not, But For Me Its A Choice, And You Dont Get To Define My Gayness For Me. A Certain Section Of Our Community Is Very Concerned That It Not Be Seen As A Choice, Because If Its A Choice, Then We Could Opt Out. I Say It Doesnt Matter If We Flew Here Or We Swam Here, It Matters That We Are Here And We Are One Group And Let Us Stop Trying To Make A Litmus Test For Who Is Considered Gay And Who Is Not.

I Think My Least Healthy Habit Is Running Around Too Much. And I Think I'm Getting Better About It As I'm Getting Older.

I Think Tim Matheson Is Amazing And I Think He's Amazing In This - I Haven't Seen The Film [killing Reagan] Since We Shot It, But I Think He's Just Incredible.

I Find That Vegetables Like Butternut Squash, Which I Feel Unexcited About As A Side Dish, I'm Thrilled To Eat In A Soup.

Cancer Is Really Hard To Go Through And It's Really Hard To Watch Someone You Love Go Through, And I Know Because I Have Been On Both Sides Of The Equation.

Someone You Love

I Used To Just Take Every Job That Seemed Relatively Appealing. But Now I Take A Job And It's In The Trades The Next Day - It Feels Like People Are Watching And Waiting To See What You Do, And When You Do Take A Job, Attention Is Noted.

Even Though I'm Over 35, I Feel Like So Much More Of A Leading Lady Than I Did When I Was 30.

Abortion Is A Right I Feel Must Not Go Away, And I Feel Like People Aren't Mobilizing So Much Because It's So Complicated And It's Difficult To Understand.

Every Thursday Or Something, My Mother Would Shoot It At Nbc Studios At Rockefeller Center. And Sometimes She Would Have Me There When Morris The Cat Was On, And Lassie Was On.

I Feel That Between My Experience And My Mother's, Breast Cancer Is A Little Bit Like Someone Who Lives Next Door. I Know What That Person Looks Like And What Their Daily Habits Are.

Motherhood Is The Only Thing In My Life That I've Really Known For Sure Is Something I Wanted To Do.

Women Are Half The Population And They Know How To Take Care Of Themselves, If They Are Only Given Access To Health Care.

I Always Like To Start My Morning With A Good Amount Of Fruit. I Really Like Pineapple, Particularly Because Of The Enzymes That It Has. Sometimes I Have Oatmeal. But If I'm Feeling Like I Really Want To Be Watching My Weight More, Then I Definitely Do A Protein, Like An Omelet, Scrambled Eggs Or Some Smoked Salmon.

I've Seen Wonderful Stay-at-home Moms And Moms Who Could Use A Little Improving.

I Never Felt Like There Was An Unconscious Part Of Me Around That Woke Up Or That Came Out Of The Closet; There Wasn't A Struggle, There Wasn't An Attempt To Suppress.

I Have A Cousin, A Second Cousin, Who Lives In L.a., And She Was With Me While I Was Getting Ready. She Was Talking About Her Father And His Brothers. And I Remember My Mother's Tales Of How Competitive They Were With Each Other And How They Would Play For Blood, You Know. And I Thought - I'm An Only Child, And I Don't Know What That's Like. I Have To Figure Out The Southern Thing.

I Did An After-school Special As My First Big Thing. It Was Starring Butterfly Mcqueen. She Was The Name. But The Real Star Of It Was Robbie Rist, Who Was That Little Blond Kid Who Looked Like John Denver.

I'm A Very Big Public School Advocate.

Eleanor Roosevelt Was Painfully Shy, Painfully Shy. So She Overcompensated. In The Same Way That Nancy Reagan Felt Unattractive And Unlovable And So Everything Had To Be - Hair Had To Be Perfect, And The Makeup And The Clothes. Because She Thought, "they Don't Think I'm Pretty."

I Don't Have Steve. There Is No Having The Steve.

I Just Want My Relationship To Be More For Myself Rather Than A Public Statement.

The Idea Of Making Access To Safe Abortions Harder And More Expensive And More Difficult, Having To Travel Across State Lines - That Puts Women's Health And Lives In Jeopardy, Which Is Something I Think No One Wants.

What Was Really Great With Eleanor Roosevelt - I Mean, Of Course, We All Have This Stereotypical, Really Satirical Almost, Version Of How She Speaks. What Was Really Interesting To Me Was I Found Various Radio And Tv Appearances Of Hers, But There Was One Talk Show That I Saw Her On; She Was The Only Woman, It Was All Men. They Were Talking About Policy - I Think It Was After She Was First Lady. I Think It Was More In The U.n. Days.

[my Mother] Was Taking Me To Shakespeare In The Park When I Was Like 6. There Was Just A Lot Of Theater-going And A Lot Of Movie-going And A Lot Of Discussion About It Afterwards, Dissecting It And Stuff.

Some Friends Of Mine Who Are Actors Feel Directing Shuts Them Down And Kills All Their Impulses, But The Worst Thing For Me Is If I Feel A Director Hasn't Noticed.

I Am Definitely As Happy As I've Ever Been. Happier, I Would Say, Than I've Ever Been.

I Don't Really Want To Get Married To Get Married Pretend.

I Am Not A Redhead, I'm A Blonde.

As I Said In The Times And Will Say Again Here, I Do, However, Believe That Most Members Of Our Community - As Well As The Majority Of Heterosexuals - Cannot And Do Not Choose The Gender Of The Persons With Whom They Seek To Have Intimate Relationships Because, Unlike Me, They Are Only Attracted To One Sex.

Intimate Relationships

What I Do For Exercise Sort Of Depends On What's Happening In The Rest Of My Life.

I Go For My Completely Routine Mammogram And Then I Get A Call From My Gynecologist. And She Says, 'well, I Have Some - It's Not Such Great News, But Here It Is, But It's Very Small And We're Just Going To Get In There And Take It Right Out, Right Away, And Then You'll Probably Have Radiation.'

I Believe We All Have Different Ways We Came To The Gay Community And We Can't And Shouldn't Be Pigeon-holed Into One Cultural Narrative Which Can Be Uninclusive And Disempowering.

My Girlfriend Is Much Better Than I Am At Working Hard Then Resting, And She Demands That From Me, Too. She Insists On Having Time When We Don't Do Anything. We Leave The Housework And Watch A Movie.

Even When The [ronald] Reagan Revolution Happened, It Was In Large Way, A "'let's Make America Great Again' Without Saying That" Kind Of A Movement, Don't You Feel? It Was Kind Of A Throwback To An Earlier Generation.

It Was Weird To Be In A Movie That's Very Clearly A Period Piece Like Killing Reagan, But That's About A Time That's Within My Own Memory. That's Really Weird. And Conscious Memory, Not Just Vague.

I Feel That The Thing About Film And Particularly About Tv, Actually, Is It's Being Created Now. We're Living In The Best Time So Far Because There Are Many More Women Writing And Women Directing, Women Producing, And People Are Finally Catching On To The Fact That Women Want To Go And Buy Tickets To See Female Characters And More Than One In A Film. So I Actually Think It's A Very Fertile Time To Be A Woman Over 40.

I Was In Film Before I Was On Stage. I Started Acting When I Was Like 12. But, No, I Think My Mother Indoctrinated Me Very Early.

If You Have One Article Of Clothing That's Very Expensive, You Don't Have To Have The Whole Ensemble And Look Like A Christmas Tree. To Wear The Clothes, To Not Let Them Wear You. And To Really Remember That Clothes Are Beautiful. It's Like Are You Gonna Wear Something That People Say: "oh That's A Great Blouse." Or Are You Gonna Wear Something That People Say: "oh You Look Great Today.." .

A Couple Of Hanging Glands Have Nothing To Do With Making Someone A Man.

I Met This Woman, I Fell In Love With Her, And I'm A Public Figure.

I Am Always Looking For A Great Play And A Great Part To Do.

I'm So Not A Financial Person.

Unlike Me, A Lot Of Child Actors Are Very Short, Which Is Why They Work. So When They're 15 They Can Play 11 Or When They're 18 They Can Play 14. They Look Young For So Long, They Have Abilities A Much Younger Kid Wouldn't Have.

I Have A Lot Of Shoes.

The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself. So The Only Thing To Really Be Afraid Of Is If You Don't Go Get Your Mammograms.

I'm Fairly Out Of The Loop When It Comes To Pop Culture.

I Was A Huge Della Reese Fan, When Della Reese Was On. I Idolized All The Panelists. I Was In Love With Kitty Carlisle. Nipsey Russell, Bill Cullen, Peggy Cass, Gene Rayburn.

Nancy Reagan Actually Took Some Movies That She Didn't Want To Take Because They Were [with Ronald Reagan] Really Strapped For Cash.

I Do Tend To Be An Analyzer. I'm An Old English Major From Way Back, So I Do Have Fun Tearing Apart Texts And Trying To Find The Hidden Secrets And The Subtexts In There.

My Private Life Is Private. But At The Same Time, I Have Nothing To Hide. So What I Will Say Is That I Am Very Happy.

I Don't Even Want To Go Back To '81.

My Mother Worked On A Whole Bunch Of Those; She Worked On What's My Line?, I've Got A Secret, Play Your Hunch... In My Memory, She Worked On To Tell The Truth. So It Was Her Job To Brief The Imposters.

Make America Great Again? Right, But Now It Comes Back To Us In A Completely Twisted Way. And In Some Ways They Achieve That, Or They At Least Achieve The Appearance Of That, But Now You Try And Do It Again And It's Just... It's So Out Of Sync With Who We Obviously Are As A People.

I Also Grew To Love Nancy Reagan In A Certain Way. I Learned More - Certainly I Learned More Bad Stuff That I Had Known About In Greater Detail, But I Also Got A Lot Of Empathy.

I Am Very Annoyed About This Issue. Why Can’t It Be A Choice? Why Is That Any Less Legitimate? It Seems We’re Just Ceding This Point To Bigots Who Are Demanding It, And I Don’t Think That They Should Define The Terms Of The Debate. I Also Feel Like People Think I Was Walking Around In A Cloud And Didn’t Realize I Was Gay, Which I Find Really Offensive. I Find It Offensive To Me, But I Also Find It Offensive To All The Men I’ve Been Out With.

I Understood More What Nancy Reagan And Ronald Reagan, What They Were Coming From. Kind Of The Horrors Of Their Childhoods That They Were Coming From. When You Experience Such Pain Early On, Some People Really Interface With That Pain And Try And Unpack It, And Some People Just Take It And Squelch It Down And Try And Be As Successful As They Can. And, You Know, Encourage Everybody, "don't Dwell On The Negative! Come On, Buck Up!"

In New York - Not To Say New York Isn't A Competitive Place - But There's Much More Of A Sense Of, We're All Here And Some Of Us Are Up And Some Of Us Are Down And Some Of Us Are In The Middle, But We Have A Longer View Of History And How It Works, Rather Than Just This Week.

Nancy Reagan Sort Of Downplayed That, You Know - But She Was Quite Successful. At The Time She Married Ronald Reagan, I Think She Was Keenly Aware That [reagan's First Wife] Jane Wyman's Career Had Eclipsed Ronald Reagan's, So She Was Very Determined Not To Have That Happen.

Now I Have A Third Must-do On My List Of Things To Do With Cancer, And It's This: Follow Your Gut, Ask Questions, Don't Be Complacent.

Abortion Is A Hard Thing For Hollywood To Deal With Because It Is So Controversial And You Don't Want To Alienate Half Your Audience By Sending One Message Or The Other.

There Are No Available Men In Their Thirties In New York. Giuliani Had Them Removed Along With The Homeless.

[my Mother] Worked In The Seagram's Building; It's Kind Of An Iconic '60s Skyscraper On A Floor So High That Your Ears Popped. And All The Women - The Whole Thing Was So Very Mad Men, Very Glamorous.

Trending Author

Lawrence Lessig

Category