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I have managed to make myself available to any AIDS fundraiser that has ever asked me. We tragically owned this disease in North America when it surfaced 35 years ago; and I lost hundreds of friends and am still helping those of every walk of life who still suffer. How excited are you about co-starring at the event with Michael Childers and Jackie Col- lins? I want to sleep with almost everyone he’s photographed and with almost ev-


ery character in everyone one of her books and this is a great way to get started. What takes up most of your time nowadays? Fantasizing about Michael Fassbender, but occasionally I take a break to


write. I do my one-man show and play other people in movies, TV and on the great stages of the land. You have a very diversified résumé. Do you see your career predominately as that of writer or performer? I’ll ask my accountant.


What kind of perks come with being head writer of the Oscars? You get to be in small spaces with incredibly rich, famous and attractive people. That’s about it. How did you get your start in the entertainment industry? I was a child actor who somehow escaped rehab. Then, I became a writer because I was too young to get cast in the roles I was right for. I was a journalist when I met Bette Midler and she set me straight, or words to that effect. Do you ever feel guilty that you got the entertainment career your mother always wanted? How can you say guilt and mother in the same sentence? I thought that was


altered by the Cliche’ Act of 1962. Or was that the one that Joan Crawford filibus- tered against? It’s all a blur. In addition to supporting the cause, why should someone pay big money to see you at the Dine & Dish dinner? What are you gonna do, sit home and watch Shark Tank? Wait a minute, I was


on that show; never mind. How have you been impacted in your life with friends and/or family by HIV/AIDS? I lost hundreds—and I’m not exaggerating—hundreds of friends, most of


them fairly early in the plague years. It’s not nearly so bad now, but a few losses trickle through every year. The ones who lived long enough to receive the cock- tail often have a very hard life just maintaining their health. For one thing, it ain’t cheap and there is still plenty of discrimination out there. So the rest of us have to maintain deep pockets and a steady vigil. At the beginning, the amount of loss and grief was paralyzing. But there was no time to stand still. We had to get active and that was what saved many of us from emotional breakdown. Are you encouraged by the progress that’s been made fighting stigma and the virus itself? Of course, but as anyone involved with fundraising will tell you, there’s a


fatigue that sets in. People think the problem has been solved and they can’t believe you’re coming at them with renewed requests. That’s the latest wrinkle. And you know, you don’t get older without new wrinkles—unless you’re a Kardashian.


Jackie Collins


… AIDS Assistance Program provides more than 500 clients with a total of more


than $50,000 per month in food vouchers redeemable at Stater Bros. Super- markets. To qualify, an applicant must have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and have a yearly income of $16,245, or less than 150 percent of the national poverty line.


Tickets were still available for AIDS Assistance Programs’s 2013 Dine & Dish Fundraiser as this went to press. For more information, call 760.325.8481 or go to aidsassistance.org.


Palm Springs 50 RAGE monthly | NOVEMBER 2013 | NOVEMBER 2013 Michael Childers


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