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Interview With E. Jean Carroll

Aired January 10, 2003 - 14:54   ET

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

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


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: It's a new year, and that often means making resolutions, ones we'll hopefully keep. So all of us here on LIVE FROM and our crew, we decided to devote a week to making it a little easier to keep those resolutions. We're calling it "new year, new you." And each day we focus on a part of ourselves that we hope to improve throughout the year. Fitness, spirituality, organizing our lives, money, and today romance.
If you know tons of people who got engaged over the holidays and you're wondering, why not me or if your relationship is more fizzle than sizzle, well, we have some tips for you now. E. Jean Carroll, author and co-creator of a dating site called GreatBoyfriends.com. She's also an advice columnist for "Elle" magazine. E. Jean Carroll joins us live from New York. So good to see you.

E. JEAN CARROLL, ELLE MAGAZINE: Kyra, can I just say you look smashing today. Smashing.

PHILLIPS: My goodness. Thank you. Well, I'm married. So I guess I'm OK. I'm lucky. I don't have to be on a hunt, at least right now.

CARROLL: That's true. It's the number one question flooding the old "Ask E. Jean" column, how do I find a man?

PHILLIPS: So how do you find a man? What do you do?

CARROLL: Well, you know what? It so drove me crazy for 10 years, how to find a man. My sister Candy and I started a Web site called GreatBoyfriends.com. And on this Web site, women who are smart and successful recommend their ex-husbands, their ex-boyfriends, their friends, their brothers, and their sons to other women. So it's girls and women recommending men to other women.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, as you can imagine, we're getting tons of e-mails, and I want to get to those. But one question that everybody was asking, what do you think about the marriage versus living together?

CARROLL: Well, see, I don't like marriage at all. I think it's archaic. I think many people who get married -- now, Kyra, I know you are extremely happily married.

PHILLIPS: Yes, I am.

CARROLL: But many people who get married, it's frustrating, they go into it with expectations which are way out of line, they haven't decided big, big issues about children or how they spend the money, and it becomes a disaster. I'm not fond of it. I like people who are one is a man, one is a woman, they are living side by side, it doesn't necessarily -- you don't necessarily have to have a label, you don't necessarily have to be in the same house, you can live together without being, you know, banged up against one another.

PHILLIPS: All right. Let's get to these e-mails in addition to that. Jimmy wants to know: "I'm 54, recently divorced after 29 years, I'm not a bar hopper. I've connected with my local church, civic organizations, I'm involved in volunteer work, all trying to connect with available ladies. Am I on the right track?"

CARROLL: Well, yes. Do you like sporting events, Jimmy? I wonder if you like sporting events. The church is a very good place. Do sports that women like. OK? If you want to meet women, this is -- Jimmy is a woman -- is a man, right?

PHILLIPS: Very good advice. That's a good point. Get interested in other things.

CARROLL: Yes. Do what women like to do. Go to the hair salons, go to the nail salons. Go shopping at the mall at the Banana Republic.

PHILLIPS: Jimmy, start getting a pedicure.

CARROLL: Kyra, that's it. Go in, pull up his old hairy leg, put down his toe, and bask. On both sides surrounded by luscious, beautiful women that make a big deal over him.

PHILLIPS: Here we go, James from Columbia. "I am a 20-year-old college student who cannot seem to meet the right kind of woman, partly because I am a coward and partly because I have difficulty just with the introductions."

CARROLL: Oh, now, see, if you're vulnerable, that's a lovely thing. And I'll tell you why. Because if you're a little bit afraid of talking to a woman, women love to talk. So this is a very positive thing that you have. Just all you have to do is go up and say hi, my name is, tell them your name, and just smile. The woman will talk. The woman wants to meet you. You know, a vulnerable, shy man can sometimes be a very, very, very attractive man. Don't you think, Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Absolutely.

CARROLL: You know, the Joe blowhard numbnuts who's in the bar coming on strong, that's not...

PHILLIPS: What a turnoff. Yes. Absolutely. Shy, and you know, you get a man, you can kind of mold them, you know.

CARROLL: Exactly.

PHILLIPS: E. Jean Carroll. All right. You've got to read your column in "Elle" magazine. It's fantastic. GreatBoyfriends.com. If you didn't get enough today. I am so bummed we are out of time. Will you come back and talk with us again? Maybe Valentine's Day.

CARROLL: I would love to. Thank you very much, Miss Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, thank you. We appreciate it. Always a joy.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired January 10, 2003 - 14:54   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: It's a new year, and that often means making resolutions, ones we'll hopefully keep. So all of us here on LIVE FROM and our crew, we decided to devote a week to making it a little easier to keep those resolutions. We're calling it "new year, new you." And each day we focus on a part of ourselves that we hope to improve throughout the year. Fitness, spirituality, organizing our lives, money, and today romance.
If you know tons of people who got engaged over the holidays and you're wondering, why not me or if your relationship is more fizzle than sizzle, well, we have some tips for you now. E. Jean Carroll, author and co-creator of a dating site called GreatBoyfriends.com. She's also an advice columnist for "Elle" magazine. E. Jean Carroll joins us live from New York. So good to see you.

E. JEAN CARROLL, ELLE MAGAZINE: Kyra, can I just say you look smashing today. Smashing.

PHILLIPS: My goodness. Thank you. Well, I'm married. So I guess I'm OK. I'm lucky. I don't have to be on a hunt, at least right now.

CARROLL: That's true. It's the number one question flooding the old "Ask E. Jean" column, how do I find a man?

PHILLIPS: So how do you find a man? What do you do?

CARROLL: Well, you know what? It so drove me crazy for 10 years, how to find a man. My sister Candy and I started a Web site called GreatBoyfriends.com. And on this Web site, women who are smart and successful recommend their ex-husbands, their ex-boyfriends, their friends, their brothers, and their sons to other women. So it's girls and women recommending men to other women.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, as you can imagine, we're getting tons of e-mails, and I want to get to those. But one question that everybody was asking, what do you think about the marriage versus living together?

CARROLL: Well, see, I don't like marriage at all. I think it's archaic. I think many people who get married -- now, Kyra, I know you are extremely happily married.

PHILLIPS: Yes, I am.

CARROLL: But many people who get married, it's frustrating, they go into it with expectations which are way out of line, they haven't decided big, big issues about children or how they spend the money, and it becomes a disaster. I'm not fond of it. I like people who are one is a man, one is a woman, they are living side by side, it doesn't necessarily -- you don't necessarily have to have a label, you don't necessarily have to be in the same house, you can live together without being, you know, banged up against one another.

PHILLIPS: All right. Let's get to these e-mails in addition to that. Jimmy wants to know: "I'm 54, recently divorced after 29 years, I'm not a bar hopper. I've connected with my local church, civic organizations, I'm involved in volunteer work, all trying to connect with available ladies. Am I on the right track?"

CARROLL: Well, yes. Do you like sporting events, Jimmy? I wonder if you like sporting events. The church is a very good place. Do sports that women like. OK? If you want to meet women, this is -- Jimmy is a woman -- is a man, right?

PHILLIPS: Very good advice. That's a good point. Get interested in other things.

CARROLL: Yes. Do what women like to do. Go to the hair salons, go to the nail salons. Go shopping at the mall at the Banana Republic.

PHILLIPS: Jimmy, start getting a pedicure.

CARROLL: Kyra, that's it. Go in, pull up his old hairy leg, put down his toe, and bask. On both sides surrounded by luscious, beautiful women that make a big deal over him.

PHILLIPS: Here we go, James from Columbia. "I am a 20-year-old college student who cannot seem to meet the right kind of woman, partly because I am a coward and partly because I have difficulty just with the introductions."

CARROLL: Oh, now, see, if you're vulnerable, that's a lovely thing. And I'll tell you why. Because if you're a little bit afraid of talking to a woman, women love to talk. So this is a very positive thing that you have. Just all you have to do is go up and say hi, my name is, tell them your name, and just smile. The woman will talk. The woman wants to meet you. You know, a vulnerable, shy man can sometimes be a very, very, very attractive man. Don't you think, Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Absolutely.

CARROLL: You know, the Joe blowhard numbnuts who's in the bar coming on strong, that's not...

PHILLIPS: What a turnoff. Yes. Absolutely. Shy, and you know, you get a man, you can kind of mold them, you know.

CARROLL: Exactly.

PHILLIPS: E. Jean Carroll. All right. You've got to read your column in "Elle" magazine. It's fantastic. GreatBoyfriends.com. If you didn't get enough today. I am so bummed we are out of time. Will you come back and talk with us again? Maybe Valentine's Day.

CARROLL: I would love to. Thank you very much, Miss Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, thank you. We appreciate it. Always a joy.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com