I spent Friday afternoon with actress Christina DeRosa at the store of her friend Jacob Meir — Shoes for the Stars(7558 Melrose Ave, shoesforthestars@hotmail.com, 323-655-2657). Complete video.
I meet makeup artist and clothing designer Tal Sheyn.
Christina Christina Christina Tal Sheyn, Jacob Meir Jacob Meir Christina
Tal Sheyn Tal Sheyn Shoes Shoes Christina Christina Christina Christina’s billboard at Highlands Christina Christina Christina Christina Christina Christina at her billboard on Highlands Christina in Hawaii earlier this year
Christina picks me up at 12:30 Friday afternoon in her bright red BMW Z4. She’s always on time, I love that about her!
It’s foggy out but she’s promised me a ride with her top down, so off we go to the store of her friend Jacob Meir.
Luke: "I wonder how you explain love scenes back home. ‘That was just acting, dear.’"
Christina: "Two women on the series Zane’s Sex Chronicles had very serious boyfriends. One was actually married. And right after the series, they got divorced. Another girl broke up with her boyfriend halfway through the series. They were living together. He just wasn’t comfortable… She had some very tasteful scenes where they were just kissing. He just wasn’t comfortable. I believe that was one of the main reasons they broke up. I think that’s crazy. For a man to feel so inferior to that. If you are an actress, you have to let your significant other know, you have to make them feel comfortable, bring them on set and show them that you are not really having sex. It’s just good acting."
"To be married to an actor, or dating an actor, you have to be crazy. I don’t date actors. It’s too much."
"It should be pleasurable. If you’re acting and in the moment and you believe it is pleasurable, it is confusing. You get so passionate, so into your moment, you forget what’s real. That’s why people fall in love on set and break up when the movie is done. That’s why people in Hollywood are always getting divorced… You’re extremely vulnerable all day long and you make friends with the people you are closest too."
We then stop off at her billboard on Highlands and La Brea.
On the ride home, I ask: "I heard that before you had this car, you were driving a Jetta at 120 mph."
Christina: "Yes. One of my first speeding tickets in LA was a big fat speeding ticket… I had an amazing attorney and I got out of it all… I was driving back from Vegas. It was six in the morning. There was no one on the road. I was anxious to get home. I was talking to an ex-boyfriend. It was this feeling of freedom. It was the first car I’d bought and paid for on my own. It was exciting driving back on my own, a single girl… I have not driven that fast since."
Christina’s had a few speeding tickets. "I don’t get tickets for anything else. I don’t do drugs. I don’t really drink. I don’t smoke. I’m not a bad person. I was a really good kid growing up. For the most part. At least my parents thought I was. I studied hard. I did well at school. If speeding…"
Luke: "Is the worst thing you do?"
Christina: "Please. As long as I’m safe. There was no one on the road. I didn’t feel like I was endangering anyone. Regardless, I shouldn’t have been going that fast."
Luke: "So why did you then get this sexy red sports car that screams, ‘Give me a ticket!’?"
Christina: "All my life, I wanted a convertible… The BMW is a muscle car. It drives like a man. I drive like a man. If you weren’t in the car with me right now, we’d definitely be going faster."
Luke: "Do you realize what a great job your parents did with you?"
Christina: "Why is that?"
Luke: "You’ve got great manners. You haven’t self-destructed in a profession where people self-destruct all the time. You’re on time. You’re reliable. You’re responsible. You are courteous. You are well spoken. Your parents did a really good job with you."
Christina: "You think so?"
Luke: "Do you realize that? Do you feel gratitude to them for the job they did with you? Or do you think, ‘Hey, I made this. I created all this.’"
Christina: "That’s a really great question. Wow. I don’t even know if I am ready to answer that. That’s intense. I like what you said about gratitude because I think life is all about gratitude and being grateful for everyone and everything and the universe and how lucky we are to live. I’m excited to go do yoga tonight where I am going to be feeling such gratitude. It’s a two hour class, yay. Notice how I am avoiding the question.
"Parents give you wings to fly. A parents greatest gift to the child is to allow them to fly. You give them the tools and then it is what they make out of those tools. You just give them a rock or a stone, a stepping stone, or whatever you want to do with what you are given. Definitely my parents taught me a lot. I grew up in a house where manners were important. I like that wine often was included with meals. So alcohol has never really been a big deal to me. For a lot of kids, it is so forbidden and what’s forbidden is what you really want to do in life.
"It’s funny. As I’m talking about this, I’m thinking, what was forbidden in my house? What was uncomfortable in my house? It was more like nudity and sex and talking about things like that. I come from a Sicilian background where my parents aren’t comfortable maybe in their own skin. That’s interesting because I’m like the opposite. I’m very comfortable in my own skin. I made that for myself because my sister is not that way. She’s not comfortable in her own skin and not as comfortable sexually as I am, which is fine. To each his own. So there is a lot about me that I feel is self-made. I moved out. I left them to move to Boston for my first year of college and then to California. It was all my decisions that I wanted to take these venturing out steps. My sister didn’t do that. My sister stayed closer to home. She’s closer to their morals and to what they were teaching and preaching.
"Yes, I’m grateful. I’m also grateful to myself and am very proud of the things I’ve done in the face of great opposition. My parents are not OK with my being on Zane’s Sex Chronicles and not OK with my being in Playboy until they saw the article and saw that I was not even nude. I had panties on in the picture. I think I am very self-made. It’s a combination."
Luke: "How did you come to feel so comfortable with being so physically exposed?"
Christina: "I’ve always been an exhibitionist. When I was a kid, my parents would drag me to church on Sundays. It wasn’t my kind of church. It wasn’t where I felt comfortable. I’ve always wanted to stand out. I’d flash people, my little bum, when I was four or five years old. I would do things that were in an endearing cute way, that was harmless, I was a child, flash people, maybe take off my underwear, something that I maybe wasn’t supposed to do, but that felt fun and freeing. It’s always been a part of me, it just came out more when I moved to California and got away from all the family and the East Coast vibe."
Luke: "Are you an exhibitionist?"
Christina: "I think so. I love the attention."
Luke: "You live a disciplined life. You’re not like an idiot."
Christina laughs. "Wow, these are strong statements. You must have conversations with idiots who don’t lead disciplined lives. What’s your definition of a disciplined life?"
Luke: "You always show up on time, which is such a beautiful trait. You’re always polite. You’re responsible. You seem to pay your bills and meet your responsibilities. You’ve maintained lifelong relationships. You do all the things that make for a responsible happy life. You don’t just use people to get your attention fix."
Christina: "Being on time, remembering somebody’s name, those things are important to me. There were a lot of guys I knew from back in the day who’d say, ‘Hey sweetie,’ or ‘Hey prettie’ or ‘Hey this or that’. There’s nothing like the respect of just using somebody’s name."
"Did that homeless guy just open somebody’s car?"
Luke: "I think so."
Christina: "It kinda looked like it. I was turning right and this homeless guy was right there and I looked at him and he opened my door and started to get in. I screamed and he jumped away. He must’ve thought that my looking at him was his invitation in."
Luke: "So what’s a girl starring in Zane’s Sex Chronicles doing going to church on a regular basis?"
Christina: "Why not? It’s my spiritual center. I love it. Why judge and say that a girl in Zane’s Sex Chronicles can’t go to a spiritual center? My spiritual center is a huge part of who I am. They’re constantly finding ways of volunteering. I sing with the Agape Road Show. We sing at different nursing homes. I’ve done all sorts of volunteering, picking up trash on the beaches. It’s like a motivational center. It doesn’t feel church-like. It’s non-denominational. And it’s all love. I’m very proud to be part of the Agape spiritual community. I’ve met so many fabulous people. I go Wednesday nights at 6:45 for the meditation and the service begins at 7:15."
Luke: "Did you go to an Agape-style church growing up?"
Christina: "No. I went to a Roman Catholic church growing up. As I started to understand the Roman Catholic religion… There are so many rules and regulations. I don’t think that’s what the premise of any religion is all about. At the end of the day, whatever works for you."
Luke: "How would your parents react if you took them to Agape?"
Christina: "I considered taking them there. I wanted them to see how beautiful it was, how much love… At the end of the day, they wouldn’t appreciate it. There are a lot of black people. There are a lot of Baptist ways. I just think honesty there prejudices and racism would inhibit the experience. Rather than invite them and have them say negative things about it and have that hurt me, it is a better decision to not invite them. I wish that they would be able to come, to see that, it’s a big part of who I am."
Luke: "Have you ever been with a motorcycle gang?"
Christina: "No. I’ve been on the back of a motorcycle, which is very erotic. I had this one boyfriend for a while in LA who had a motorcycle. I thought it was so hot. He bought me a little helmet, a very sexy black tiny one, and I loved being on the back of the bike. I made love on that bike."
Luke: "While he was driving it?"
Christina: "No. It parked in a parking garage."
Luke: "What’s the difference between being spiritual and religious?"
Christina: "I see myself as being spiritual rather than religious because I don’t really practice a religion. I meditate. I go to the spiritual center. I have spiritual practices that make me happy and make me feel closer to the universe and closer to God and to myself. I’ve read some books on the Buddhist religion, which I find interesting, but do I want to take it upon myself to be such a follower? I don’t think I’m ready yet. I know what works for me and what makes me feel good and that’s what I do… Agape feels like less pressure than having one religion."
Luke: "Are you willing to share any temptations?"
Christina: "E! The drug E. I’ve never done it and I’m curious about it because it is such a love drug. I’m so little, my body is not used to drugs. I had two small glasses of wine on New Year’s Eve and that was enough for me. I was feeling good, I was flying high, I was hanging out, I was talking to everybody, I was wishing everyone possible a happy new year, I was kissing people on the cheek who I didn’t even know… I’m a little afraid of what taking a whole pill of E, how that would affect me. I know my body. It doesn’t do well with poisonous stuff. My temple’s pretty clean."
Luke: "Do you like danger?"
Christina: "It depends on the kind of danger. My career is risky. My life is like a rollercoaster ride. I don’t like to gamble — unless it is with someone else’s money — because I love my money so much. I work so hard for my money. I know what I had to do for that money. I know how many hours it took on set. I like to hold on to my money for as long as possible and only spend it in wise situations."
