BRET MICHAELS: 'I Don't Want To Be Famous Just To Be Famous'

October 8, 2005

Mike Ross of the Edmonton Sun recently conducted an interview with POISON frontman Bret Michaels. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On not wanting to be famous simply for being famous:

"If I showed you what I get offered every day, you'd laugh: 'Climb the Himalayas with a backpack and float down on your ass, you'll be on TV.' I'm like, no, I want to be around music. On 'The Chris Isaak Show' I was around music. On 'Yes, Dear' I was around music. On 'Nashville Star' I was around music. I can be on 'Fear Factor' and asked to eat worms, but I don't know that it's a good idea. I don't want to be famous to have some guy at the airport say, 'Dude, I saw you eat worms on 'Fear Factor', but I've never bought any of your records!' I obviously want people to like what I create. I don't want to be famous just to be famous."

On being an unwitting star — like Tommy Lee — of a sex video with Pamela Anderson:

"After Tommy and Pam's video came out, it was everywhere. It obviously did not help him sell a lot of solo records. Now do people know his name? Absolutely. But people in the rock world also know my name. If you were in the business of selling porn tapes, it would be wonderful, but I'm not."

On the early days of trying to make it in Hollywood:

"When you first move out there and you're living in a warehouse behind a dry cleaner, you're out there surviving and playing. When life around you is grey, I made my shows my icing on the cake. That was fun for me. I wanted to have fun. I will never be able to go on stage and pretend I'm depressed and bored and stare at my shoes and tell my audience that my life sucks. And I'm a juvenile diabetic. I've been taking four shots a day since I was six years old. So for me to go around and say, I just made $100 million selling my new record and I'm depressed, it's tough for me to do.

"If you're a survivor and you love what you're doing, you stay in the game and eventually it just all comes around."

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