BRET MICHAELS Talks About Women, Relationships

Allison Kugel of PR.com recently conducted an interview with POISON frontman Bret Michaels. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

PR.com: I want to ask you about women, because people have a certain idea about what rock stars want in a woman. The stereotype is that rock stars like to hook up with the blonde haired, big boobed, not much going on upstairs, type. I feel like a lot of women play into it because they think that's what you want, and I don't know if that's the case.

Bret Michaels: I'm only going to speak for myself. Obviously in my past I had a quite wild relationship with Pamela Anderson…

PR.com: I'm not saying she's not an intelligent woman…

Bret Michaels: Go with me… I found Pamela, and obviously she has blonde hair and big boobs, and she was very intelligent. Don't let her fool you. She knows what's going on. Here's what I'm looking for in a woman. The first thing you have to find, forget about the hair or the breasts for a minute; I'm looking for what I say is a physical attraction. That physical attraction comes when there's something about them that you look at, and one day that can be blonde hair and humongous breasts, and the next day it could be a very exotic looking girl with dark hair and green eyes and small breasts who's just beautiful. It doesn't have to do with the hair or the breasts. The first thing you need is physical attraction. You don't walk into a party and find the person you're most un-attracted to and then want to start a relationship. Everyone walks into the room and they say, "Wow! That person's really attractive." You walk over and you start talking and hanging out. Next thing you know, a couple of them immediately turn you off once they open their mouth. You're like, "Eeek! That will never pan out..."

PR.com: Yeah. "Peace out."

Bret Michaels: Maybe one night on the bus if I'm really drunk that could work, because I could drift out of town quickly. But for a relationship that will not work. Second, what I'm looking for is a great sense of energy and humor combined. I'm very self-deprecating. I'll make fun of myself before I will put someone else down. I'm looking for that in a woman as well; [someone] who can roll with the punches. I don't like high-maintenance. High-maintenance does not work for me at all. And I don't like anybody who talks down to people. I don't speak down to anyone who works around me, and so I won't put up with it in a relationship.

PR.com: Then you've debunked some of the stereotypes. Actually Pamela was the furthest thing from my mind.

Bret Michaels: Well that's the image that every rocker gets. Meaning, you go, "Damn! She's hot, blonde, big breasts." Kid and Tommy and myself… but I was first (laughs)!

PR.com: (Laughs) You were there first!

Bret Michaels: I was the number one man!

PR.com: You set her on this path towards rock musicians…

Bret Michaels: I set her on this path towards rock destruction (Laughs)! I am the man who can claim that. We used to laugh and she'd go, "Gosh, I used to go out with models and actors, and then I met you and it's been a path of destruction ever since."

PR.com: (Laughs) I don't think she's recovered yet.

Bret Michaels: No! She hasn't recovered! And I'm so sorry because she's such an awesome person (laughs). But once she got a little taste of that rock, she just couldn't go back. She got that bad boy thing and then she just couldn't go back. She tried and tried, but never went back to the other side.

PR.com: Girls like a bad boy with a good heart.

Bret Michaels: What you're saying about what girls are looking for, I think that if a guy is a likeable good hearted bad boy, who also can be creative and driven and spontaneous… in other words, girls talk about a bad boy, but they don't want a guy that hits them. That's not the bad boy they're looking for.

PR.com: Actually, you know what, I misspoke. Women misspeak when they say that. You're looking for someone with a deep creative spirit and oftentimes that gets misunderstood as being bad.

Bret Michaels: We're both saying the same thing. A good hearted bad boy, meaning a guy who has this deep spirit, he lives outside the box and it's a turn on because they're likeable and great to that woman. What they want is this likeable good hearted bad boy, meaning rocker bad boy. That's not a bad thing. That guy's got a good spirit, he's creative and driven. They're looking for a guy that's got something going on, but he lives outside the box.

PR.com: Right. And that's oftentimes misinterpreted.

Bret Michaels: Yeah, but we like the word "bad boy."

PR.com: (Laughs) Yeah, we'll stick with bad boy.

Bret Michaels: We like the loveable bad boy (laughs).

PR.com: The loveable bad boy, yeah. But the reason I bring up this point is because in those promo clips for "Rock of Love", there were these girls who were hanging all over you and they didn't seem too intelligent. If they were, then they were hiding it, because they're trying to fit into this category that they think you like.

Bret Michaels: A couple of the girls who were extremely intelligent and funny, at first, just were sort of living out what they thought I wanted, so I made a speech. I said, "What you need to bring is the real you. Just pop it out. I don't care." And a couple of girls, and this is no lie… I had one of the girls that I was really head over heals for, and you know when you start to sniff out that something's wrong? I take her on this amazing date and on the way back in the limo we're sitting there talking and we're sort of connected, but not completely. I go, "What's the deal? I'm a big boy. I can handle rejection." Not well, and I may cry later, but not on TV (laughs). This show got very real. It brought out real conversations. One of the girls even booted me to the curb. How many people get kicked to the curb on their own show (laughs)?! That was a painful moment, but the reason I loved it is because I think people will understand that no matter where you are in life, rock star or not, the same shit happens. It's not like there's this magical vale. You may meet more people, but the same emotions play in.

PR.com: That makes sense. Because the more people in the public eye who I interview and speak to, on a human level, the more I realize that there's no magic carpet ride. We're all just people.

Bret Michaels: That is one of the best comments ever. There is no magic carpet ride. We're just people. And you've got to really fall in love. And this is my thing about being a "loveable bad boy" is that people know what I am and what I do. It's not like all of a sudden they woke up one day and I was working at a job and then I get a hit single and then I'm on the road. This is what I've done for twenty years, so they know what they're getting into. When [women] get around me, the one good quality I have in most of my relationships, well two qualities, is that I'm a good listener and I love sex. And I told them, "Please, do me a favor. If it's going to happen, let it just happen no matter if it's on a table, a chair, the floor, or the bed. Please don't take, like, an hour and a half shower to prepare to do it."

Read the entire interview at www.pr.com.