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Joy Behar Page

Interview With Dolly Parton; Interview With Carrie Fisher

Aired November 13, 2009 - 21:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JOY BEHAR, HOST: Tonight, it`s a wild tale of booze, pills and shock therapy. But enough about me, its actress and author Carrie Fisher who joins me to reveal how she turned personal pain into career gain.

Then GMA`s Robin Roberts gives us the scuttlebutt on who will replace Diane Sawyer. Maybe she`ll even tell me what scuttlebutt means.

And I`ll talk to country music legend Dolly Parton about (INAUDIBLE) and why she`s known as the "Iron Butterfly." I hope it`s kinky.

All that coming up now.

I`m excited today because this woman has had an extraordinary career: seven Grammys, two Oscar nominations, ten Country Music Association Awards and sales of more than 100 million records. The list goes on and on. And it`s hardly over. Her latest a DVD and CD combo platter called "Dolly Live from London" was just released this week.

Dolly, how are you? It`s a pleasure to have you here with us today.

DOLLY PARTON, MUSICIAN/SONGWRITER/ACTRESS: Well, thank you. I was so excited. I love your show. I`ve been watching you and you`re doing a great job.

BEHAR: Thank you. You know, we always get along with you on "The View." We love you at "The View."

PARTON: Yes.

BEHAR: And now you`re here and I have you all to myself without anybody interrupting me.

PARTON: Yes, let`s just do it all by ourselves. We like that.

BEHAR: Ok, so now let me start with the Country Music Awards last night. And we`ll get to your CD and your DVD. Don`t forget. Don`t worry we`ll get there.

PARTON: Oh I know.

BEHAR: But Taylor Swift -- Taylor Swift just made history as the youngest winner of the Country Music Association Awards and as Entertainer of the Year. Now, you won that award. Right? What do you think...

PARTON: Oh, I did. I did. Long time ago.

BEHAR: You`ve won every award except the Nobel Peace Prize. And I think I`m going to nominate you for that. I`m nominating you.

PARTON: Well, thank you.

I was really so very proud of Taylor. She`s very young and she`s very talented. But she -- she deserved every bit of it. She has had an unbelievable last several months, a year, a year and a half. She`s just killed them. So I wasn`t a bit surprised that she won that last night and all the other things she won.

We all love her and we think she`s really representing herself as well as Nashville and country music very well. So we were excited for her.

BEHAR: And she`s adorable. And what did you think of the incident with Kanye West?

PARTON: Oh, I think that`s always silly when people show their butts like that. I feel like he probably was embarrassed about it later.

But anyway, I thought she handled it really well and I think everybody just wanted to smack a knot on his head. But that`s a -- I think it was all -- you know, what can you say? It was what it was. You know?

BEHAR: You know, you`ve had so much success in your career. Do you ever just -- and you made a lot of money at this point. I mean, let`s tell the truth here. Did you ever think of maybe just giving it up and just rolling around in your money?

PARTON: No. I never just wanted to roll around in my money. I always said I`d count my blessings more than I, you know, count my money, but I have had a great career. But I really like what I do. Like you. I really enjoy the people, I enjoy the performing. I love making things happen and seeing things happen.

So I`ve been at it since I was a little bitty kid. And I hope to be doing this from now on.

BEHAR: And you...

PARTON: And I have enough money to do what I need and want to do but I still love to work.

BEHAR: What was the first thing you bought when you made money in the beginning because you didn`t start out with a lot of success? What did you do when you first got that big check? I always like that question.

PARTON: Well, actually, I bought a Cadillac. I think every country music star back in those days, back when I started out, I thought if I didn`t have a Cadillac I definitely was not a star. So that was the first thing I bought. And out of -- for myself.

And when my little "Coat of Many Colors" song became a hit, the first money I got from that, I bought my mother a mink coat that was back when it was still ok to wear it. And my mother didn`t know what to do with it. So I think she probably resold it and used the money on something else.

BEHAR: It`s always interesting to read that in the beginning people were telling you to change your look which you never did. You were always so original in the way you looked and they way you act and it certainly is, you know, something, we always know what Dolly Parton is going to look like and how beautiful you have been all these years.

What did you say to them when they said, Dolly, you`ve got to change your hair, you look a little bit too, you know, whatever. I don`t know what they said to you.

PARTON: Cheap. Cheap would be a good word. Actually I really did kind of pattern my look after the town tramp and I always was over- exaggerated. But I always felt like the way I looked -- I kind of fit the way I felt inside. Because I didn`t want to just be plain and ordinary. I wanted a little more pizzazz.

The way I started out looking was a country girl`s idea of glamour. And that`s exactly what I still do. I just feel more like myself. And I just feel happier when I`m overdone.

You see, we have in common that I admire the neighborhood tramp also for some reason. I don`t know why. I just didn`t model myself after her because she was homely; the one in my neighborhood.

PARTON: Well...

BEHAR: Yes. But she was tramping around, believe me.

PARTON: Yes, well this lady, she was -- she wore her clothes, you know, her skirts all short and showed her legs and she wore high heel shoes, red nails, red lipstick and piled her peroxided hair way up high on top of her head. And I`ve thought she was absolutely beautiful.

So that was just kind of the look -- I did and I -- that`s what I said, everybody said she`s just trash. And I always tell the story, I thought when I was little that was I was going to grow up to be trash. And that`s how you and me both look.

BEHAR: Now, you know, the wonderful song that you wrote "I Will Always Love You" that Whitney Houston has recorded and was a big hit for her. I understand that you -- I understand that Elvis wanted to record that. I mean, you said no to Elvis. Why?

PARTON: Well, I didn`t say no to Elvis. I loved Elvis Presley. And he loved my song and he had intended to sing it. He had been working it up. And I had been invited to the session because Felton Jarvis (ph), a guy that was a friend of mine and he was also a great producer in Nashville at the time.

So he and Elvis loved it and had planned to do it and it was only like the day of or the day before that Colonel Tom Parker, who is a brilliant man, and I don`t blame him for doing it. But he called and said, you know, we don`t record any songs that we don`t -- that Elvis and I don`t get have the publishing on. And I thought, well, that`s already been a hit by me. It`s one of my most important copyrights.

So I just didn`t -- I just didn`t let them have it and it broke my heart because I still think about what it would have been like to hear Elvis sing the song. There`s no work tapes of it anywhere that I`m aware of, but it was just a decision I had to make. One of my first big business decisions I guess and it was only after that Whitney recorded it and it did so well that I was really happy I had made that.

BEHAR: No wonder they call you the "Iron Butterfly." As a businesswoman you`re really very good at that, aren`t you? People don`t know that about you, I don`t think.

PARTON: Well, I love the business end of the business. I had to learn that early on. Because when they say you`re in the music business you have to think about those things, about your contracts, about the money you have to make to keep the band on the road and the expenses and to have a bus or ways to travel.

So you have to kind of start thinking early on that yourself until you can afford to hire people that will help you out with that. But I enjoy that -- that part of it as well.

BEHAR: You know, during your live shows you banter with the fans quite a bit, don`t you?

PARTON: Yes. I love the fans. It feels more like a reunion to me, like a family reunion. They`re out there; I know they`ve paid money to come see me. I appreciate that because they`re the ones that keeps me, you know, in cheap clothes and hair.

But seriously, I do have a wonderful, warm relationship and I see in their faces. I sense how people are. I can look out in that audience and see all the different faces and I really feel like I can kind of perceive what their moods are. And I`m out to kind of work with that and to cater to that person.

So it`s a love fest, if you`re a true entertainer and you really like the audience. I`m not afraid of the stage, I`m not stage fright. If I mess up I mess up and try to make that part of my show.

BEHAR: When you were a kid, I`m just wondering, were you -- you grew up with 12 other kids, right? You were 1 of 12?

PARTON: Yes. Six girls and six boys.

BEHAR: Wow. So how did you get attention for yourself?

PARTON: Well, I actually learned early on that there was not a lot of attention in that family of that many kids and to have a special attention unless you were in trouble or you were sick or something.

So I learned early on that by playing my guitar and writing songs it was fascinating to my mother and to a lot of my relatives, although we were all very musical. All my mother`s people played and sang. And so -- but I realized early on I was getting a lot of attention and so I thought that was something I wanted to do because I needed a lot of attention.

BEHAR: You do.

PARTON: And I still do so it served me well in my lifetime.

BEHAR: Do you think that talent, kind of talent that you have is genetic?

PARTON: Yes. I know that -- all of my mother`s people are very, very musical. Some of my big musical heroes are uncles and aunts and even my mother was a great singer. They were country people; a lot of them sang in church or just sat around and enjoyed just the music.

But I definitely inherited the music from my mother`s side. I`d like to think I get my business sense from my daddy. Even though he wasn`t an educated man, he was a brilliant, intuitive, wonderful person. And I have his work ethic.

Most creative people will sleep all day and get up and write songs when they feel like it and sing when they want to. But me, I`m up early, early just like I`m going to work. I never think of myself as a star. I`m still just a working girl in my own mind.

BEHAR: You`re a working girl to us, too, but a good one.

Don`t move. We`re going to come back with more with Dolly Parton.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(DOLLY PARTON PERFORMING "9 TO 5")

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BEHAR: I`m back with the legendary Dolly Parton. You`ve got me moving over here, Dolly.

PARTON: I know. Are you singing along? 9:00 to 5:00, I can see you now.

BEHAR: Your music is hummable (ph). You don`t walk away from any of your shows not humming your tunes. That`s a great thing, I think.

PARTON: It is. It`s always a big thrill for me to be on stage. I used to think early on when I used to work with other people that we`re stars and have hit songs and have a whole audience singing along. I thought that must be the neatest thing it in the world to have the crowd singing your songs. Now when we do songs like "9:00 to 5:00" and "I Will Always Love You" and they sing along, it`s a major, major thrill.

BEHAR: Your grandfather -- I was reading your grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher and he said to you at some point in your life that you were going to hell in a hand basket. What is a hand basket?

PARTON: Oh, that`s just an old expression. It just means you`re going to hell. It just means you`re going to get there quicker, like Satan`s going to carry you there, I guess, in a basket. I don`t know.

But my grandfather was, like you say, a holy roller preacher. It was a very strict religion. It was not in the rules to be wearing makeup and tight clothes and all that. But my grandfather was very, very proud of me. He lived to see me become a big star and see that people really did care about me and that I wasn`t as bad as I looked.

I looked like jezebel but he got over that after he saw that -- after I wrote a song about him called "Daddy was an Old Time Preacher Man." He was really proud of that. That kind of smoothed it over for me.

BEHAR: The other thing is you have a very big gay following, Dolly. Why do you think that is? What do they like about you so much?

PARTON: I think it`s because they know that I`m different, too, and that it took me a long time to be accepted. And I think that they just kind of relate to that. And plus a lot of my gay guy friends, you know, they love to dress up or they`re very sensitive and very creative. I think they relate to that side of me as well.

I think they just appreciate the fact I just love everybody for who they are. We`re not supposed to try to change people. We should allow people to be who they are and love them as they are.

BEHAR: So then would you say you are pro-gay marriage? I`m just curious because your background would say otherwise.

PARTON: Oh, I know that`s true. I always say, sure, why can`t they get married? They should suffer like the rest of us do.

BEHAR: That`s good to know. What would we do without our gay audience? No back lighting. The studio would be barren. It would be terrible. We need them.

PARTON: That`s true. That`s true.

BEHAR: Here`s a Twitter question for you. Dolly has a huge gay following. What are your thoughts on Joel Osteen`s view on gays? Joel Osteen says that gays are not God`s best work. That was his quote.

PARTON: I don`t get into really talking this issue to those degrees but I don`t want to talk about him, I don`t want to talk about them. Like I say, I think God made us who we are and how we are. And I don`t think that if he was a religious person he would be judging people.

BEHAR: That`s nice. That`s good to say.

You just released your double disk CD DVD live from London. Are British fans different from your fans here in the United States?

PARTON: Oh, we have wonderful fans in the United States. We do have great, great fans in Europe when we get a chance to go there, especially London we love to play. We had actually been on a whole tour -- a five- week tour and we had just -- we were winding up our tour in London at the 02 Arena and we thought we`re going to film this because this has been a wonderful trip, wonderful. And maybe we`ll come back and put it together.

We had such a great time, such a wonderful audience. And all the songs, of course, that they love and all the popular songs, then we do a lot of variety of other things. We do some interview, talk to the band, show the rehearsal, show the town.

This DVD is a wonderful thing to watch. It`s colorful and entertaining, but you can see for yourself on the DVD how involved the audience really gets. They knew all the words and they were swinging their arms back and forth on all the songs, they`re singing along. It made for a wonderful experience for all of us and I`m very proud of the DVD and CD. It`s all in one package.

I have it right here. I`m hawking my goods. It`s like, I call it my double D`s. It`s like double disks here. On one side you`ve got the DVD and the CD -- it makes a nice little stocking stuffer, too.

BEHAR: Your double d`s. You don`t get tired of those boob jokes, do you? You love those boob jokes, don`t you?

PARTON: I might as well learn to love them. If I`m not telling them, somebody`s telling them about me. It`s not like I`m trying to hide them or anything.

BEHAR: No, you shouldn`t hide them. A lot of people pay a lot of money for those boobs.

PARTON: I did.

BEHAR: That was a good one. Ok.

Now, one more question about the record. You now have your own label. The Dolly Records, right?

PARTON: Yes. This is on Dolly Records.

BEHAR: Why did you do that? Why do you need your own label?

PARTON: Well, because -- well, the music business in general has totally changed since the early days with us and a lot of the major labels are not doing that well. So a lot of the artists are really starting their own labels and, of course, everything has changed since then.

But we just thought it would be a smart move to make. I`ve been putting my own records out for a while now. I always say I will always do that even if I have to sell them out of the trunk of my car, I`ll be writing songs and singing them.

We`ve had actually three records on Dolly Records. We had the cast album from the "9:00 to 5:00 Musical" from Broadway; that`s on Dolly Records and of course, we have the "Back Woods Barbie" one of the songs from the "9:00 to 5:00" but it was also a CD of mine, the first one. We`re doing good with our little label.

BEHAR: We`ll be back more with more Dolly Parton. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PARTON: Thank you. Any how, thank you for remembering Jolene. That show is kind of loosely based on a little truce that happened years ago when I first got married. This old redheaded gal who was working at the bank, she decided she was going to steal my husband. Well, she didn`t get him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BEHAR: I`m back with the beautiful and talented Dolly Parton.

Dolly, I want to read you some Twitter questions because your fans are out there and want to know certain things. Is that ok with you?

PARTON: Oh, sure.

BEHAR: Here`s one. I know you`ve been married for 43 years. This person wants to know, "How has Dolly kept her marriage together for so many years when most celebrities don`t last?"

PARTON: Well, I stay gone.

BEHAR: Stays what? I didn`t hear you. I`m sorry.

PARTON: I stay gone from home. I stay gone a lot. So he doesn`t get tired of me.

BEHAR: You stay gone. I go along with that. I have a friend who says she and her boyfriend or her husband, whatever he is at this point, they have quality time apart. I like that.

PARTON: Yes. That is good. We have quality time together and quality time apart.

BEHAR: All right.

PARTON: We get along real good.

BEHAR: That`s good. Ok.

"Dolly has a lot of dead people in her songs," it says. "Does she have a morbid streak?"

PARTON: Well, I think -- I think all country people have a morbid streak. I think that`s sort of like country music in general because I know I have this one song that I wrote called "Me and Little Andy" and it`s about a little girl with her dog and the little girl dies and then the little dog dies, too, and somebody said, "I`m used to kids and people dying in these country songs but did you have to kill the damn dog?" So...

BEHAR: There`s a theme for a song.

PARTON: Yes.

BEHAR: Are you writing anything about a dead cat that we can look forward to?

PARTON: No, I`m not. I`m not. I am still writing, though. Anyway, to get back to -- in all sincerity, I think that`s just the way of country music -- a lot of people you just write about things that happen. Yes, we have a morbid side but I have a happy side too.

BEHAR: You know, it`s funny you say that, because, you know, I`m Italian and the Italians love opera and it`s also very sad and from the guts and morbid in many ways and the Grand Ole Opry. I just realized it.

PARTON: Oh, yes, it is similar.

BEHAR: Here`s one more question before I have to go. "What`s the biggest misconception folks have about you?"

PARTON: Well, Lord, I can`t even imagine. I`ve been so out there. I think people know just about everything there is to know about me. I always just say I want people to not just see the big hair, I want them to know that there`s a brain under there. And not just to see the big boobs, that there`s also a heart under there.

Maybe it`s just to see me and just think that`s all there is. Hopefully there`s a little more than that.

BEHAR: I think that everybody knows that you`re just as smart as you are beautiful and talented Dolly, to tell you the truth. I think everybody knows that at this point so don`t worry about it.

PARTON: Thank you. Again, I wanted to tell you, I watch your show because I`m usually up that time of night and getting ready to kind do my things. But I think you`re doing a great job and I love your hair.

BEHAR: Thank you, Dolly. It was great to see you.

PARTON: I do.

BEHAR: It was great to see you. Come back again whenever you can, ok?

PARTON: Ok.

BEHAR: All right.

PARTON: All right. See you later, bye-bye.

BEHAR: The CD and DVD, "Dolly Live from London" is available now. Dolly Parton, thank you for joining us.

And we`ll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARRIE FISHER, WISHFUL DRINKING: All right, welcome friends to Hollywood one on one. Thank you so much for (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Okay, so over here we have, Eddie and Debbie. In the fifties, they were known as America`s Sweethearts. For those of you that are younger, all three of you, and you can`t relate to any of these, try to think of it this way, think of Eddie as Brad Pitt, Debbie as Jennifer Aniston, and Elizabeth as Angelina Jolie. (laughter) Does that help?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOY BEHAR, HOST, THE JOY BEHAR SHOW: That`s a very funny Carrie Fisher in a scene from her hit Broadway show, Wishful Drinking. This week, I talked to the former Princess Lea about her life and loves and took time out for a call from a special guest.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DEBBIE REYNOLDS, ACTRESS AND MOTHER OF CARRIE FISHER: Hello there.

CARRIE FISHER, ACTRESS: Hi Mom.

REYNOLDS: Hello, darling daughter.

BEHAR: So, Debbie, you`ve seen the play right?

REYNOLDS: I`ve seen it about seven times. It`s great.

BEHAR: So, is there anything in there that you can relate to or that you could (laughter) or that you could say.

REYNOLDS: I just think that she should have put everything in then I would have really (UNINTELLIGIBLE), would have been an overnight sensation.

BEHAR: Well, what would she leave out? What did you leave out?

FISHER: Mom. (laughter)

REYNOLDS: I don`t need a.

BEHAR: Why you looking up? You think she`s God?

FISHER: She`s God. Mom.

BEHAR: Debbie is God.

FISHER: I her voice from up there.

BEHAR: You`re very close to her now, aren`t you? You`re living next door to each other.

FISHER: Yeah.

BEHAR: Where? In California. How is that working out?

FISHER: Good.

REYNOLDS: I adore my daughter. She`s my daughter. She`s my child. Very talented.

BEHAR: She certainly is. So are you, Debbie.

FISHER: Mom, if I did not have you as a role model, there would be no way that I would still be working. She. When you stop working out, she goes to night clubs, she goes to places. She re-invents herself. And I got. I do that also.

BEHAR: She`s a great role model for that.

FISHER: and I finally turned into her. Right, Mom?

REYNOLDS: Well, you are a wonderful talent and I want to thank Joy for coming over to the Carlyle Hotel to see your mother. That was very nice of you, Joy.

BEHAR: I did. You know, Debbie, I was looking for you after the show but you disappeared, you just wanted to get away from everybody. Because I was going to come over.

REYNOLDS: .no dressing room. There was no dressing room there. SO I either change naked in the lobby. I didn`t think the Carlyle was up to it. (laughter)

BEHAR: Well anyway Debbie, you were great and thanks for calling in and you and your daughter can bond later.

FISHER: I know. We`re going to do a great garden`s thing. (laughter)

REYNOLDS: It`s the greatest. I love you, Carrie.

FISHER: I love you, Mom. Later.

BEHAR: Good bye. You know Debbie, she`s an incredible icon in American.

FIUSHER: She`s awesome.

BEHAR: She`s awesome, she really is. But, as a mother, there`s a few things I have to question. Does your mother really suggest that you get pregnant by an ex-husband? Ok tell me about that.

FISHER: Okay. Yes, she did but she wanted me also. It would make show too long. She thought though, she couldn`t have children, Richard didn`t just ended up as an awful husband. Awful.

BEHAR: One of your husbands?

FISHER: One of my mother`s husbands.

BEHAR: One of your mother`s husbands. That was not the one with

(UNINTELLIGIBLE) (CROSSTALK)

BEHAR:: Is he alive?

FISHER: Oh yeah. I wonder who`s taking advantage now. But anyway, so my mother thought though that you can get pregnant was explained recently because I finally did say, you really, she thought you could get an injection like a sperm in your arm injection.

BEHAR: What made her think that?

FISHER: And then the sperm would go down here.

BEHAR: So this is what happens when you raise Catholics. They`re eccentric.

FISHER: She`s not Catholic. She`s raised by a very strange group of people. (Laughter)

BEHAR: SO she figured that that would be the way to do it?

FISHER: Yes that`s one of her ideas.

BEHAR: Let`s talk about your stepmother, Elizabeth Taylor, for a second. What was she like?

FISHER: Well, I didn`t get to know her late. till much later, but I think she`s terrific.

BEHAR: Everyone loves Elizabeth Taylor.

FISHER: She`s Lovely and.

BEHAR: She did steal your father away from your mother.

FISHER: I once gave her an award and thank you for getting daddy away form the house. But, the thing is, I say to her once, "Did you love my father?"

BEHAR: Yeah.

FISHER: And she said, we kept Mike Todd alive.

BEHAR: Oh cause, he really on the hills (CROSSTALK)

FISHER: She`s best friends with Mike Todd and Mike Todd was fantastic.

BEHAR: SO he was like a surrogate Mike Todd?

FISHER: That was weird.

BEHAR: But your father. was he in love with her?

FISHER: I`m sure he was. Look at the woman, she`s fun.

BEHAR: She`s a lot of fun. But so is your mother. They`re both. (CROSSTALK) You know, you really had a great, in a certain way you had a great, great time, didn`t you?

FISHER: Yes, absolutely. And I have some other stuff to make sure that I know at that time was great. That was what`s good about that time and you really appreciate.

BEHAR: That`s true. How about your father? Was he any kind of a father at all? Was he just an absentee? What?

FISHER: He was not. My father is adorable, he`s lovely, he`s charming. That`s why he got all that. But, I can say it. And he loves women. And we have a very large relationship now, so like now, I`m sort of, you know. But he, my father was a boyfriend. He had children who were by product of sex. But he was not a bad father at all. He was. When you saw him, you`ll love him. That was the tragedy of it if there was. He was up and available at that time.

BEHAR: Well, you know nowadays, when you hear about these horrible fathers and how sexually abusing their children you look back on our fathers who were negligent and you say thank you.

FISHER: He had Elizabeth. (CROSSTALK)

BEHAR: Now, Meryl Streep, I want to go here. We have time for this? She played a character, Lucy, based on you in Postcards in the Edge. Can we see some of that?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOTHER: Will you please tell me what is this awful thing I did to you when you were a child? DAUGHTER: You want to know? MOTHER: I want to know. DAUGHTER: Fine, from the time I was nine years old you gave me sleeping pills. MOTHER: That was over the counter medications. (CROSSTALK) DAUGHTER: Mom. How could you give me sleeping pills. MOTHER: They were not sleeping pills. It was (UNINTELLIGIBLE), it was perfectly safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BEHAR: That was one of my favorite movies. I just love the way Shirley MacLaine.

FISHER: She was great.

BEHAR: Was she. Is she like Debbie in the movie?

FISHER: Yeah. Well. You know my mom. I don`t know if that`s. I wouldn`t call my mother self-absorbed. I mean.

BEHAR: All actresses are self-absorbed.

FISHER: Well, we are. We`re narcissistic, you`re probably that, I am that.

BEHAR: Not narcissistic, that`s a disorder. Self-centered.

FISHER: Good form of narcissism.

BEHAR: You think so. Alright, now, let`s do a little bit of your men before we run out of time here. You were married to Paul Simon.

FISHER: You`re kidding.

BEHAR: I went to college with Paul Simon.

FISHER: How was that for you?

BEHAR: We used to hear him playing a guitar in the library steps in Queen`s College.

FISHER: He said that Arty Garfunkel`s (UNINTELLIGIBLE) was standing room only.

BEHAR: I mean how did that. That lasted for a little while. Remember when you were married to him?

FISHER: It was great.

BEHAR: Are you friends with him now?

FISHER: That`s complicated, you know, because, we`ve moved on.

BEHAR: Yeah. Has he come to see the show?

FISHER: No

BEHAR: No?

FISHER: I mean there`s nothing in it that would be bad. I mean I admire Paul and I.. you know, some of our relationship was fantastic.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

BEHAR: She had said such a fascinating life, we could have talked for hours. Coming up, Good Morning America`s Robin Roberts for a search for a new GMA co-host.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBIN ROBERTS, CO-ANCHOR, ABC GOOD MORNING AMERICA: I am not my hair. I am a soul that lies within and that`s it. No more wig, that`s it, that can do it.

DIANE SAWYER, CO-ANCHOR, GOOD MORNING AMERICA: And aren`t you afraid to do it now? (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

ROBERTS : I was finally strong enough. Hair keeps us from doing all we ought to do and I realized that there was a part of me that was holding on desperately to the. holding on tight.

SAWYER: Do you believe when we all say that you are beautiful? Cause you are.

ROBERTS: My mom says I look like a little Greek boy (Laughter)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BEHAR: I had a chance to sit down with Good Morning America co-host Robin Roberts earlier and I began by asking her who`s going to take Diane Sawyer`s seat on the couch.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ROBERTS: I really don`t know.

BEHAR: How about Levi Johnston.

ROBERTS: I love that.

BEHAR: He`s good and he`s mute.

ROBERTS: That`s true. Give me some other names. Anybody else out there?

BEHAR: George Stephanopoulos, he`ll have to sit on your lap, but still. (laughter)

ROBERTS: Come on, Joy, you`re doing so well there with Levi. (CROSSTALK)

BEHAR: Are you looking for a man or a woman?

ROBERTS: We`re looking for the best available person.

BEHAR: Well, the best available person could be the security guard down the hall.

ROBERTS: I feel like an athlete, you know, when you say the best available person a draft, you stop by the position the best available athlete. Let me just say this, in all sincerity, I have had the time of my life sitting next to Diane and I have learned from her. I am so grateful to that. So, it`s going to be difficult for anyone to. There`s no one who will be able to replace her. So we`ll find out how we`re going to move ahead. It`s about Good Morning America. It is, it always has been and always will be. No matter who`s sitting there. Come on, that was good, that was pretty good.

BEHAR: Very sincere.

ROBERTS: Thank you. (laughter) Sincere. I know.

BEHAR: Are you part of the discussions. Are you like Jay Leno hiding behind the closet, listening to the negotiations?

ROBERTS: But we have a very open door policy there. I mean people. We do have discussions. I think we all have a say. I don`t know who will have an ultimate vote but absolutely they listen to us because. and we listen to our audience and see what they want from us.

BEHAR: What you heard from the audience?

ROBERTS: Not much actually. Please let us know. Go to our shout out board. The audience they like family. People don`t like change in the morning. You had your routine in the morning. I had my routine in the morning. (CROSSTALK)

BEHAR: It is always painful when we change the cast. You go through growing pains.

ROBERTS: How have you all been able to do it because you have a lot have changed? But seriously, you all have made a lot changed that you`ve been able to maintain what it is about the view. How have you done it?

BEHAR: Well, because Bob and I are still there. Kind of like the pillars, the Twin Towers are still there.

ROBERTS: Right, right.

BEHAR: You know, so that`s why maybe. Maybe if they took everybody off at once, change it all at once it wouldn`t work. But because it`s gradual, it`s not so bad.

ROBERTS: Well, hopefully we won`t do that.

BEHAR: You should have chemistry when you`re sitting down with those people, right?

ROBERTS: Especially in the morning, there`s something very intimate about morning television. People are watching in their pj`s, they`re watching you between their feet and they want to feel comfortable. So, yes, chemistry is so important. Just making the audience feel comfortable but at the end of the day, audience wants to be, especially in the morning now, different world right now, so they want to be able to leave the door and know what is going on. So that`s our main objective, giving them the information they need. (CROSSTALK)

BEHAR: Not so much that is going to wake them up.

ROBERTS: Not that they`re going to put the covers over their head and go, I`m not going to get up this morning. It is a balancing act.

BEHAR: You know, you were talking in that little footage that we showed about your looks. That was an interesting thing about, you know, they`re going to shave your head, and you really had to go look in the mirror and say, who is this woman, right? How tough was that?

ROBERTS: It was a very difficult choice. It really was. I mean many women will say, they would rather lose a breast than lose their hair when it comes to fighting breast cancer. Yes, because you can hide that, but you cannot hide the fact. That was the first time throughout my battle when I lost my hair, that`s when I felt I looked like someone facing cancer. Up until that point, I was, you know, I was not feeling well, people knew I was going something.

BEHAR: You didn`t wear a wig?

ROBERTS: Only on the air because I didn`t want to distract. Because I didn`t want people looking like this. You know that was the election year at that time so it is very important. But around the streets of New York City, I was like, "Hey, how you doing?"

BEHAR: What kind of reaction did you get from people?

ROBERTS: It was great. You look wonderful. People were just. They embraced me, they told me their stories. Everybody.

BEHAR: I think everybody. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) They know about that.

ROBERTS: Because its something that you`re saying to the world that, you know what, I`m so grateful that I`m here, I don`t care if I have hair or not.

BEHAR: And you`ve been through the health care system in the country now?

ROBERTS: I have.

BEHAR: How did you think it faired for you?

ROBERTS: I was very blessed, very fortunate.

BEHAR: Good insurance.

ROBERTS: Yes, that is why I am very grateful. That is why I decided to make my mess a message. Because my mother said to me that she knew I had a good job, I had health insurance and that`s not the way it is for everyone. I could not imagine facing cancer as I did if I had to worry how I was going to pay for it and worry about the care. and many, many people do that is why I was really speaking out and just letting people. and not getting into the whole debate about, you know, universal coverage or anything like that. I`m just saying that if you`re going through something like this that I cannot imagine going through it and having those concerns as well.

BEHAR: In your job though, would you actually come out and say I`m for or against Republic options.

ROBERTS: No.

BEHAR: You would never do that? It`s not your job.

ROBERTS: No I can`t do that because my job to do, that segment that you just did was great. You bring people out to talk about the subject. You let the viewers get the information. They are supposed to make their informed decision based on the people you talk to, that I talk to.

BEHAR: That`s right.

ROBERTS: They don`t want to hear my opinion. My opinion doesn`t really matter.

BEHAR: Remind us. (laughter)

ROBERTS: You see, that`s why it`s The Joy Behar Show.

BEHAR: Exactly.

ROBERTS: Okay, if I had a name on my show, then I can have an opinion too. But till that time. You`re good.

BEHAR: Okay. Let`s see. (CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: What else you got there? Let me see that over there.

BEHAR: Let`s talk about your upcoming interview with Janet Jackson a little bit. Tell me about that. When is it airing?

ROBERTS: It airs on the eighteenth. I was at her home in Malibu on Saturday. Talked about. because she has a new number one hit album that`s coming out. She`s working on a book, she`s working on a lot of things, but also, of course, by the way, talking to her about Michael. She has not been on the record very much since his death so.

BEHAR: She just separated from that crazy family among some of the others.

ROBERTS: I asked her about that. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I asked her, you know your father, does he make you cringe sometimes. She loves her family and when I`m asking her about her father in particular, who has made some statements that are.

BEHAR: Cringe worthy

ROBERTS: Yeah. Cringe worthy. She says, I love my father but she did talk about the. like lot of us, when she first heard about Michael. You know we`re all like, "No." This is like. She`s used to things about her family. That`s the first thing she said, you know it`s my family, people are always saying something. She didn`t even believe it at first he was brought to the hospital and to hear her talk about.

BEHAR: What was this? She thinks he was murdered? (CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: I know. I asked her about that. I asked her about Dr. Conrad Murray in particular. I asked her about the conspiracy theory if there is one. What is. the family feels? I asked her all these things.

BEHAR: And what did she say?

ROBERTS: I`m not going to tell you. (CROSSTALK)

BEHAR: Give me a little something here.

ROBERTS: You. you.

BEHAR: Come on a little taste. What about the film This Is It? How does she feel about that?

ROBERTS: Hasn`t watched it.

BEHAR: Has not watched it. Did you see it?

ROBERTS: No. But I would like to but not for the same reason she. She does not want to see it, she said maybe at some point. She hasn`t seen it now because like her brother, she was a perfectionist and that wasn`t meant to be seen. That was kind of like the out takes, like what we are doing here and throw it out on the big screen.

BEHAR: But you know even if he`s not on top of the game, he`s still better that a 99.9 percent.

ROBERTS: Exactly, but if you`re a perfectionist, about the lighting, about curtains, those kind of things, you would not want. But absolutely, to the average person watching.

BEHAR: Are you a perfectionist?

ROBERTS: No. Not really. As you can see, not really. I`m just kind of hanging out. No, I`m demanding on myself, but I cut myself a lot as well, especially post-cancer. I mean I really.

BEHAR: There`s nothing like a near death experience. (CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: I recommend it for everybody. (CROSSTALK) It really is. You put it like that.

(END OF VIDEO TAPE)

BEHAR: Wait, Lady, we`ll be back in a minute.

BEHAR: Remember the disgraced New York Governor Eliot Spitzer? Remember him? Guess what he`s doing. He`s giving a lecture at Harvard University Ethics Center. Hello? Ethics is the keyword here. With me to discuss this is Kristen Davis, not the Kirstin Davis from Sex in the City. Although , she could be if that city was urbanite, but she`s not. She`s the Madam, who provided Spitzer with his escorts and she joins me now for an exclusive interview. Welcome, Kristen.

KRISTEN DAVIS, FORMER MADAM, EMPEROR`S CLUB: Thank you.

BEHAR: So, let`s discuss this. The guy goes to Harvard and he`s giving a lecture on Ethics there. But the professor there says, he is not talking about ethics, he`s talking about institutional corruption. You wrote a letter objection to all these. Tell me about it.

DAVIS: Initially, I wrote a letter just (UNINTELLIGIBLE) addressing some very basic questions. I can`t attend the conference because I`m on probation, so I can`t leave the city of New York.

BEHAR: You were going to go there?

DAVIS: I would. I`d love to.

BEHAR: Just to hear it?

DAVIS: Maybe ask some questions. Same questions I asked in the letter. No one replied to my letters, so, I posted it on my blog.

BEHAR: I see. Why is he doing this? Is he trying to meet women or what?

DAVIS: Big money in the public speaking market. You know. (CROSSTALK) The fact that he had some influence over the future ethics of the Harvard students. any student in general. (UNITELLIGIBLE) Obviously, it`s an economic decision by Harvard to increase their bottom line. He sold a lot of tickets, press also help.

BEHAR: So you think he should not be talking about ethics? Is that your point?

DAVIS: I see some merit. (CROSSTALK) However, if you`re going to listen to this man, then why don`t we talk about the real issues?

BEHAR: Which are? DAVIS: Corruption by public official. How. obviously we can learn something from a public official who committed and covered up his crimes, who lied to the same public he who promised to protect.

BEHAR: That`s true. (CROSSTALK) The attorney general went around arresting and making examples out of the same escort agency was frequenting. So hypocrisy is his middle name?

DAVIS: Of course.

BEHAR: That is what you ticked off about.

DAVIS: Yeah. Of course, we could all learn something from him if we talk about the real issues, how we as American public can question public officials. And let`s talk about, he made some mistakes and how he can rectify them and we can question the people in power. Let`s not talk about Wall Street. Why does he want to talk about Wall Street? The biggest (UNINTELLIGIBLE) scheme in the history of the world right under his nose.

BEHAR: He`s a dog but he`s a smart dog. The guy is not stupid.

DAVIS: No, no. Of course. He`s not going to be paid well. (CROSSTALK)

BEHAR: Obviously, he had a very big bill in your agency.

DAVIS: Sure and his father`s a billionaire. He bought his way out of jail.

BEHAR: How often did he use the services that you provided by the way?

DAVIS: Weekly.

BEHAR: Weekly. Was he a big tipper?

DAVIS: He was actually good tipper. You know, the girls were nice to him. He had a good time, he tipped them well.

BEHAR: Why is it that he. the johns (ph) didn`t get in trouble?

DAVIS: Johns never get into trouble because in this country we promote an equality amongst the sexes. So the women get in trouble and go to jail and the men, you know, historically never prosecute the johns.

BEHAR: What do you say to people that the pot calling the kettle black, in your case.

DAVIS: I served my time.

BEHAR: You served you time.

DAVIS: I mean, America. (CROSSTALK)

BEHAR: What do you do now? Quick before I go.

DAVIS: I`m working on. With non-profits to promote, you know, legalization of prostitution.

BEHAR: I love that. Thanks, Kristen and thank you for watching. Good night everybody. Good night Elliot.

END