Linda Blair | The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan

Billy Corgan welcomes legendary actress and animal advocate Linda Blair for an intimate conversation that goes far beyond The Exorcist. Linda reflects on growing up as a child model who booked 75+ commercials, the surreal whiplash of becoming “the avatar of what’s spooky,” and what it really felt like being a kid inside a Hollywood machine that wouldn’t let her step off. From there, the episode opens into her deeper mission—how animals (and especially horses) became her sanctuary, how veganism and advocacy grew from pain into purpose, and why she’s still fighting for the voiceless. Then the conversation takes a wild holiday turn when Santa crashes the set with a rescued desert puppy—named “Billy.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

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• 0:30Speaker 01

  I remember their faces, their eyeballs getting really, you know, big. And said, can you do it again, but angrier?

• 0:37Billy Corgan?

  Watching people talk about you, you know, in a sort of outward way. You know, you become the avatar of what's spooky.

• 0:45Speaker 01

  We go in, we talk to Billy, and he's like, what are your questions? And I said, well, for me, I don't know how to levitate.

• 0:58Speaker 01

  I was the most famous person in the world, and they want a piece of that. In the headlines, it was a hot mess.

• 1:06Billy Corgan?

  So, so there's really no plan on a future career in the arts?

• 1:11Speaker 01

  Hell, no.

• 1:12Billy Corgan?

  It's animals and animals.

• 1:14Speaker 01

  Now, the little bitty surprise.

• 1:16Billy Corgan?

  Okay.

• 1:16Speaker 01

  And then I'm going to tell you something that is really important that I need the public to know.

• 1:22Billy Corgan?

  Lynda, thank you for being here. You honor me with your presence. I'm so excited to talk to you.

• 1:26Speaker 01

  Well, vice versa.

• 1:28Billy Corgan?

  We're going to go way back, okay?

• 1:29Speaker 01

  Yes, we are.

• 1:30Billy Corgan?

  Because I started here. How does one become a child model? That's what I want to know.

• 1:34Speaker 01

  Hmm. So, in around 1966, I was born in St. Louis, Missouri. My family moved up to Connecticut when I was two. So...

• 1:51Speaker 01

  New York is very close. There was an article in Time or Life magazine talking about children modeling and in commercials. Now, there were few kids that were maybe doing Broadway, or you had your child actors in California, but this was something, oh, you know, like a model. So mom found an agent and got the pictures done. Her name was Dorothy Lohman. And we just started.

• 2:29Billy Corgan?

  And you, how old?

• 2:31Speaker 01

  Interviews. It's about six.

• 2:33Billy Corgan?

  And you remember this?

• 2:34Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. I mean, some of it is through photos that you can remember certain things. But then I booked my first commercial, which is Downy Fabric Softener.

• 2:44Billy Corgan?

  Okay.

• 2:45Speaker 01

  And I had to learn how to jump rope. And all the kids are outside playing in the snow. And mom would be like, Linda, you have to come in and learn how to jump rope, jump rope. So it was in like a lion, out like a lamb. And then there was a child jumping rope. I don't know, Billy, you tell me. But that was my first commercial. And then you book another one. So whether it was Ivory Soap, I did about six of those, did Golden's Mustard, Libby's Buttered Vegetables with Tony Randall. I did all the doll commercials. So a lot of stuff is starting to appear on YouTube now. So Tubbsy was a doll splash, splash tubbsy in a bath, little girl, yay.

• 3:30Speaker 01

  I was the Hi Heidi girl. You push her button and her hair would grow. I think because there was only about six of us really working, that you're hired because you become a professional.

• 3:45Billy Corgan?

  Sure.

• 3:46Speaker 01

  Use your hand this way.

• 3:48Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 3:48Speaker 01

  Pick up the doll this way.

• 3:50Billy Corgan?

  I see.

• 3:50Speaker 01

  Move over here.

• 3:51Billy Corgan?

  You get a rep, basically, as a.

• 3:53Speaker 01

  I think that's what, because I did over 75 commercials.

• 3:56Billy Corgan?

  Yeah. Shirley Temple, in her great book, her memoir, she talks about being very conscious of what she was in control of. And she just said, I knew what I was doing and I was very good at it, even though I was a little girl. Were you conscious of that at that time, sort of being in? Not in control, but like knowing, okay, these people need this from me and.

• 4:20Speaker 01

  Yes, that part, yes. And there's two, three things that come to mind. Number one, it wasn't necessarily something that I was interested to do. I had always told mom, and you can go back over every interview since I came, you know,

• 4:38Speaker 01

  to the public's attention, that I talk about that I wanted to be a doctor to the animals. And mom would always tell me, you wanted to be a doctor to the animals. So obviously, we knew that was a veterinarian. We don't know where it came from, but all my money was put away.

• 4:54Billy Corgan?

  So your drive, your drive was, this is going to go towards my future education?

• 4:58Speaker 01

  It was a carrot.

• 4:59Billy Corgan?

  So you're, okay, so wasn't I want to be famous, or I want to be pretty, or anything like that?

• 5:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, oh no. And I still don't want to be famous. However, that was the carrot. And then I could save my money. And we had a lot of cats, the cats. So the animals were what kept me, the companionship through, if I was lonely, I went to public school in Connecticut. And so I had great friends and they were used to me working. Mom was always like, you leave the work in New York. We don't talk about it. We don't anything to your friends, to anybody. And we never did. The kids were used to seeing me, but they knew that I wasn't thinking about that.

• 5:47Billy Corgan?

  Ah, interesting.

• 5:48Speaker 01

  It's like, let's do our gymnastics routine. My brother was a sailor, so he was Long Island Town's junior sailing champion. So I was brought aboard for ballast. So I had to learn how to sail. I danced ballet. I, but horses were my main thing. My cats kept me sane. So when I was feeling lonely, Billy.

• 6:13Speaker 01

  The cats were the ones that were always there for me. So a lot of people, because of the dog rescue and everything I do for animal welfare, to be, but Linda, what about the cats? I'm like, cats raised me. So I am truly there in heart, but it is really hard to do it all. And so the intent is to keep growing and to include cats and farm animals.

• 6:35Billy Corgan?

  Sure.

• 6:35Speaker 01

  That we had, we had chickens, we had bunny rabbits, and I lived in with wildlife, because Connecticut is such, you could see the deer. Raccoon would come up, possum would come up. My parents were very compassionate people, so they taught, you know, compassionate to squirrels and the blue jays. And I grew up just loving that serenity and calm and peace, which is very hard for many people to find is that calm. And nature brings that for me and animals.

• 7:09Billy Corgan?

  So, so there's really no plan on a future career in the arts?

• 7:13Speaker 01

  Hell, no.

• 7:14Billy Corgan?

  It's animals and animals, right? Okay. So at some point, you do start transitioning into acting, though. Was that just an extension of the same?

• 7:25Billy Corgan?

  Because before Exorcist, you did a couple notable.

• 7:29Speaker 01

  There was a movie.

• 7:34Speaker 01

  Nope, The Sporting Club. I was 10 years old and they hired me. We went to Arkansas. And mom and I on days off, we're going through, they call it like Arkansas diamond, which is, I don't know, you dig through and find these.

• 7:50Billy Corgan?

  Oh, that's right. They have those kind of diamond fields or crystal fields.

• 7:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly. So things like that. She always tried to keep me occupied. Books. I lived in books.

• 8:02Billy Corgan?

  So not a stage mom in any sense of the word?

• 8:04Speaker 01

  No, not at all. Good lady. Miss her terribly.

• 8:08Billy Corgan?

  But did you, did you have an interest in acting?

• 8:10Speaker 01

  Nope.

• 8:14Speaker 01

  So the first movie, they take me down to the makeup room. And I'm sitting there and the lady comes behind me, the hairdresser, and she goes, oh, we're gonna have to cut off. My hair was probably halfway down my back. Like, my hair was really important to me as a kid. I don't know, it's like I wanted to be a, I wanted to be a princess. But I was a tomboy. So anyway, she, oh, we're gonna have to cut your hair. And I turn around, I turn my head around and I said, oh, hell, no. And I'm like, no, I'm sorry, you can't. And it was a whole big taboo. They got, um, uh, mom and she said, no, you can use a wig, but you don't cut my daughter's hair.

• 8:58Speaker 01

  And so, you know, I have a flip to match the mom. I don't know what the movie is about. Do I care? No. So then the next movie was, um, uh, The Way We Live Now.

• 9:13Speaker 01

  And funny enough, somebody brought me a poster recently. And it said starring Joanna Miles.

• 9:22Speaker 01

  And I'm like, wait, what? Joanna Miles was later in my movie, Born Innocent.

• 9:29Billy Corgan?

  Oh.

• 9:30Speaker 01

  Which is my annual campaign. I'm like, does she even know? Oh, my God, I guarantee she never knew.

• 9:38Billy Corgan?

  Oh, I see.

• 9:40Speaker 01

  But it, so it's about a divorced couple. And they took me to the zoo, Billy.

• 9:48Speaker 01

  You know where this is going.

• 9:50Billy Corgan?

  Okay, I see where this is going.

• 9:52Speaker 01

  And they have us in with the elephants.

• 9:55Billy Corgan?

  Hmm.

• 9:57Speaker 01

  Chained to the cement.

• 10:00Speaker 01

  And as a person that is extremely feeling emotional, I get, I can read a lot of information.

• 10:10Billy Corgan?

  So you're in there with one unhappy elephant or two?

• 10:13Speaker 01

  Yeah. And it changed my life.

• 10:15Billy Corgan?

  Tell me how.

• 10:17Speaker 01

  Because the message and the chain and the lack of freedom and the not necessary habitat of just cement, where's life?

• 10:30Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 10:31Speaker 01

  Then they thought they were doing me a favor and they took me back to see some lion cubs and they were in the cement in the like the circus cages and it's the old Bronx Zoo. And I mean, the pain, Billy, the pain and seeing and knowing that this wasn't right. So years later.

• 10:48Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 10:49Speaker 01

  I fought, I was one of the people that fought really, really hard to break open the zoos to make them more, um, you know, for conservation and in natural habitat. So people, yes, we need the kids to learn.

• 11:03Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 11:03Speaker 01

  But show them in their natural habitat, but to be chained up is barbaric and it's painful. And what a lot of people don't realize, just the elephant trade, the rhino trade, all of this and why we are working so hard to stop all of that in Africa.

• 11:19Billy Corgan?

  So you have no future in your mind as an actress. You don't necessarily want to be in the arts. And then here comes this movie, which you're talking about, I'm talking about. And I don't want to dwell on it too much. But, um, 600 kids, we're up for the role. At least that's the.

• 11:42Speaker 01

  And, and, and what is the truth, you know? So really, I'll never know. Is it PR, whatever? We know they started in California and as Billy Freakin, the director said, the problem was everybody was already, you know, a child, a child actor.

• 12:01Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 12:02Speaker 01

  And he said, that wasn't what I was looking for. So then they did Chicago and went to New York. So I had just told mom that I wanted to stop acting. I wanted to stop the commercials and I'm like, cause I was 13. And I'm definitely way ahead of myself as far as I knew my friends were all getting ready for college. Like my brain was somewhere else at animals. And I said, I really don't want to do this anymore. She's like, okay. The interview with Billy literally came up within two weeks. If it had been a month, two months later, it wouldn't have been me. I wanted out. So we go in, I read for Juliet Taylor.

• 12:44Speaker 01

  So you have to go and read, you know, for casting actors. So I read for Juliet Taylor. I remember going in very well. And, um, you know, you're standing there and they're sitting over there and you have some dialogue. And it's pretty filthy, but not what's in the movie. And I remember, you know,

• 13:09Speaker 01

  and I remember their faces, their eyeballs getting really, you know, big. And said, can you do it again, but angrier?

• 13:20Speaker 01

  So I could tell they were really excited. Thank you so much. Went down. I never told my mother anything about anything.

• 13:29Billy Corgan?

  Was there a reason for that?

• 13:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, just I kept it very internal. I think cause I really didn't want to work.

• 13:38Billy Corgan?

  Okay.

• 13:39Speaker 01

  I didn't like it. So it was like, yeah, I don't want to share it. She didn't know, I mean, she'd be, are you okay? How did it go?

• 13:45Billy Corgan?

  Yeah, of course.

• 13:46Speaker 01

  But I wasn't forthcoming at all. So then the next meeting is with Billy Frekin. And I really don't remember that particular first meeting. It's the second meeting where he brought mom in and said, now I want you both to go home. I need you to read the book. So we did. And as a 13 year old, you're reading, okay. I don't understand all of this. I, I, I'm Protestant, so I wasn't raised Catholic. So it didn't mean anything to me and I didn't understand the language and I didn't understand this. And what I'm reading is I'm not trained to jump up and down off the bed. I'm not trained to levitate. I'm not trained to turn my head around.

• 14:30Speaker 01

  Seriously, Billy, when kids are young, they don't understand things and people forget this.

• 14:34Billy Corgan?

  How can they?

• 14:35Speaker 01

  And so I don't know what mom thought. She never said a word. We go in, we talk to Billy and he's like, what are your questions? And I said, well, for me, I don't know how to levitate.

• 14:51Speaker 01

  I don't know. I don't know how to turn my head around.

• 14:54Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 14:54Speaker 01

  And he's like, oh, honey, those are called special effects. I still don't have a clue what was going on. Don't you worry about that.

• 15:01Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 15:02Speaker 01

  Do you have any other question? Nah.

• 15:05Speaker 01

  So I don't know what the conversation with mom was.

• 15:09Billy Corgan?

  Just because I know it's out of sequence because but I'm curious. You said your mom didn't say anything after she read the book, but later when she found out,

• 15:20Billy Corgan?

  you know, like what you were going to be asked to do. Did it ever become a problem with your mother or she was OK with it?

• 15:27Speaker 01

  Billy.

• 15:29Speaker 01

  Billy and Billy, master manipulator. And that's a part for years I have kept a lot.

• 15:37Billy Corgan?

  What is a director but a master manipulator, right?

• 15:40Speaker 01

  And that's where some are more by the book.

• 15:44Billy Corgan?

  I get you.

• 15:45Speaker 01

  They are.

• 15:45Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 15:46Speaker 01

  But the people, those that are highly intellectual and creative and have the visions and what they put together, it's not different than what you're doing as an artist. You're receiving information and you're asking for that information. So you're asking musically, you know, it's like Mozart. This stuff is flooding in and you have that as well, that gift. And then you've got the performance.

• 16:15Billy Corgan?

  Sure.

• 16:16Speaker 01

  And you you created your character and what you wanted. So a director is has to create the whole set. The the vision, the film, the tone, the look. And that's when then you get into your DP. So sometimes you're going to have, you know, you'll hear what's more granular. It's more grainy. It's more clear and precise. Their production and that whole world of entertainment, whether it's film, television.

• 16:47Speaker 01

  Or music, it's a production. And so constantly goes of Billy.

• 16:57Speaker 01

  When I say he was a master manipulator and all the things that I've

• 17:03Speaker 01

  kept secret for all the years, which I am putting in my book, I needed time, I needed

• 17:14Speaker 01

  to be let go by the puppeteer, and that's how I felt about him. So he had a way, whatever the conversations with him and mom. She always talked about him like a son. So he had his own thing with her, you know, you're fine and your daughter's fine and everything's good. What can I do for you?

• 17:35Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 17:36Speaker 01

  So there's that.

• 17:38Billy Corgan?

  Setting, so my mind goes in two different directions.

• 17:44Billy Corgan?

  Not that it's possible, but in a, in a, in a fun way, if it's keeping the right word. Can you, can you, can you, looking back, because obviously the movie went on to be a classic. Can you appreciate the tone that he was after, setting aside your own experience and your family's experience with it? Do you, do you see it in any extent way where you can say, I kind of understood why he was ruthless in what he was after? Does that resonate at all or no?

• 18:15Speaker 01

  Billy was driven from his childhood. He was a visionary. He knew what he was attracted to. He wanted to push the limits. He felt he could break open the walls and there were many walls to break open. That's the thing when I tell people that I come from black and white television. I come from the tapes over the head to take a picture. It took 30 minutes before you could, you know, take your photo. I come from that time. So I have watched, people forget how new television and film is. So he is part of that process where he wouldn't buy into, he started, he's one of the first with the action going away. If you watch old movies, old cowboy movies or old gangster movies and

• 19:00Speaker 01

  you think of it, everybody, you see the black and white, you know, the cars and they brrr, you know, and then the car goes brrr, you know, in these different directions or they're bing bing and they're riding the horses through the, you know.

• 19:11Billy Corgan?

  Yeah, well, he was a master of action, yeah.

• 19:13Speaker 01

  And so he's like, no, I'm gonna bring live action. So when he did the French Connection, uh, it's well known. I mean, he pushed the limit. That was like some live, unpermitted drive, crazy driving through the streets of Chicago. Um, and he pushed the limit in every way on that. So he, now there's a whole new world that's opened up and he receives the Academy Award. So it's like, well, what does he do next? So again, he's pushing, he's pushing inside. So he was gonna take, as he said,

• 19:52Speaker 01

  he needed a normal, healthy child. Everybody kept thinking Reagan was sick. And that's what he tells me, he told me was, everybody was presenting more of a sickly looking like, yes. And he said, you come in the door and you look like, you know, Cinderella.

• 20:09Billy Corgan?

  Yeah, it's the contrast.

• 20:11Speaker 01

  And so, because I was the Cinderella girl, Cinderella has a ball. It was a children's clothing line. And so he said to take that and turn that image into something that was, is so misunderstood and feared. That's what he needed.

• 20:31Billy Corgan?

  So now going the opposite way, do you view with the hindsight of time, do you view what he did in using you as a child in that particular role, do you view it as exploitative?

• 20:46Billy Corgan?

  Because I think it's pretty clear that that movie couldn't get made now the way it was made then.

• 20:51Speaker 01

  No, it couldn't.

• 20:52Billy Corgan?

  There's no way.

• 20:53Speaker 01

  So the first step that he took was he took the set to New York and it was a closed set. So no, nobody's allowed in. No one.

• 21:03Billy Corgan?

  So no L A gossip.

• 21:04Speaker 01

  No, Billy, they didn't, they weren't allowed to see, oh, dailies. They weren't privy to anything. He kept everything very

• 21:13Billy Corgan?

  Right.

• 21:13Speaker 01

  top secret and you couldn't do that today.

• 21:17Billy Corgan?

  Especially not out here.

• 21:18Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 21:19Billy Corgan?

  In L A where we're shooting.

• 21:21Speaker 01

  So, you know, a lot of the child labor laws and things came from children paying their dues.

• 21:27Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 21:28Speaker 01

  You, you know, you've got all of the little, little rascals. Those stories were terrible. You've got your Judy Garland. You've got just all the child stars to, um, and

• 21:42Speaker 01

  my performance.

• 21:45Speaker 01

  I am known to say I've been very vocal. Don't ever do it to another child.

• 21:50Billy Corgan?

  Hmm. Okay. Well, I think that kind of answers the question. Appreciate that. Um.

• 21:56Speaker 01

  And I will write more about it, Billy. I mean, that's what the book is for. That, that's my retirement. That's my gift to the animals. That's my gift to the world is to tell the truth about what really happened.

• 22:07Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 22:08Speaker 01

  Where everybody else gets so excited about it. And that's been hard for me through the years to live with my pain and what I endured. But everybody else's joy and I get it. So I just go along with it.

• 22:21Billy Corgan?

  Without, because I'm not asking for details if you don't want to give them here, but

• 22:26Billy Corgan?

  was it as simple as waiting for William Friedkin and not be on this planet anymore? Or is there like, what, what has kept you from telling that story?

• 22:34Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 22:35Billy Corgan?

  Okay. Thank you.

• 22:41Billy Corgan?

  I don't want to belabor it because, you know, when I sat, or Malcolm McDowell sat in that chair, you know, we jokingly talked about how, you know, he's asked about Clockwork Orange every day of his life into infinity. So I try not to do that to you.

• 22:55Speaker 01

  Everybody else does it to us, Billy. Why stop there?

• 22:58Billy Corgan?

  I guess, my goal is, as someone who's honored with being able to sit down with someone like yourself, is to just shed something fresh or just something, try to illuminate a different part of the process. I'm more interested in the emotional part of the journey. I think most people, because I've obviously been interviewed a thousand times, they tend to focus on, they want stories, they want anecdotes. You know what I mean? I'm more interested in...

• 23:25Speaker 01

  I can...

• 23:26Billy Corgan?

  Sure, please.

• 23:27Speaker 01

  The difference is, when we do press, and that's what the public doesn't really necessarily realize. So they get the press release, and then you have your different people and they're gonna push, try to push an envelope with you, Billy, or try to get you to do this. They're given one minute, they're given five minutes, they're given whatever. It's a chain, and we all know what our job is. It's part of the business, and it's what they read, whether it's truthful or not, in tabloids and articles and in interviews. I've certainly seen many interviews with you. I know what you're referring to. And they want to know about your band members, and they want to know why you made these choices, and they want to know how hard it was for you to write the music. So what you were going through, why did you do this?

• 24:12Speaker 01

  I know, but the public doesn't understand. This, what you bring to your table, why you were doing this, is your curiosity and intellect that you want to know. What is the other side? What's the real people? What are the stories and what are the connections? See, I know you, Billy.

• 24:27Billy Corgan?

  God bless. So the one question I do have about that time...

• 24:35Billy Corgan?

  My only way I can relate to it is when I feel like people are asking about the same thing over and over and over again. It almost becomes surrealistic because you find yourself thinking about one particular day or one particular period of time. It's like looking at the same photo and if you look at it a thousand times, you start to see something behind the tree or something. And then you start thinking, was it, was there actually something behind the tree? Or am I imagining that?

• 24:57Speaker 01

  Oh, Billy, that's you. That, that, that, that's not me. No.

• 25:04Billy Corgan?

  Okay, but can I ask, can I maybe just ask you my one question? Cause hindsight is always 2020, but you know, 14 year old you on this, on this closed set, um, you know, mouthing these obscene lines, you're in a supernatural thriller. But you're just, you're a kid, you're 14 years old. Like, what's your general memory of the ambiance of your, of, of, of, did you have fun? Were people nice to you? I mean, just what's your emotional memory at the time without what, knowing what happened afterwards? Or what came of it? Good, good and bad?

• 25:40Speaker 01

  So, first off, um, the next episode, I, I was not hired right out.

• 25:49Billy Corgan?

  Really?

• 25:50Speaker 01

  We had to do makeup, had to do makeup tests, had to do, um, acting. So it was almost probably once a week, um, meeting with Billy and he had me, you know, acting out the lines, acting out the lines. Give me more, give me more, give me more. He had it, so I was just so programmed for what, whether I liked it or not.

• 26:16Billy Corgan?

  Hmm.

• 26:17Speaker 01

  And I did not enjoy it. Just get it over with, just do what they say. And this is the problem, you know, with child abuse is do what they say, do what they say.

• 26:28Billy Corgan?

  Do you look back now and think, why didn't I walk away? Or why didn't I say, I don't want to do it? Or?

• 26:32Speaker 01

  There was no getting out as a child.

• 26:34Billy Corgan?

  I see.

• 26:35Speaker 01

  That's the whole thing. My born innocent campaign is children and animals are born innocent, but now enter abuse.

• 26:43Billy Corgan?

  I see. Okay.

• 26:45Speaker 01

  So, yeah. Now we do the makeup test. So, and these are certain things that I've talked about. It's in nothing that's new, but certainly interesting for your audiences. Way back in the day, Dick Smith was the, you know, revered makeup artist. And he had done, you know, Creature of the Black Lagoon.

• 27:08Billy Corgan?

  Oh, I know who he is.

• 27:09Speaker 01

  And Wolfman.

• 27:10Billy Corgan?

  Oh, yeah, he's the guy who's like the Wolfman transitions and yeah.

• 27:14Speaker 01

  So all of these heads likenesses, you know, are up on the, on the, his basement wall, all the makeup stuff and everything. And so the first thing they had to do was cast my head, then they cast my body. Now, what did that entail? Okay, so we are going to put a skull cap on and then we're going to stick two straws up your nose.

• 27:41Billy Corgan?

  Yeah, and then you plaster.

• 27:42Speaker 01

  And then we're going to put the plaster.

• 27:48Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 27:49Speaker 01

  And we're here, breathe through the straws and so there's nothing like sitting there and the whole world just goes black. And you're trying not to wig out. So that's the first one, then you then that on, and then you have, you know, all these facial expressions that I had to do. Then later they had to cast the whole body, you know, in the position to make. It's a lot for a child, too. A little girl with men, hello, think of it. That's, it's very hard. And he was very, very honorable and respectful, but I don't care. It's still a young girl with men.

• 28:28Billy Corgan?

  I see, I see.

• 28:30Speaker 01

  So we start the makeup test and it's a full mask. And Billy Friedkin says, oh, hell, no. I, you wouldn't know, it could be anybody. I have to know it's her. I need you to cut away the mask, but still give me the same imagery that I need. So that's how Dick started making this, the prosthetics and prosthetics and prosthetics and prosthetics and prosthetics and prosthetics. And then they took away eyebrows, no eyebrows, blah, blah, blah. And then they put the dry, they took, they couldn't, the wigs weren't looking right. So they took dry shampoo and put that hair shampoo made it dry in my hair. And so the discomfort from.

• 29:13Speaker 01

  The glue alone and on a young girl's face. So it was, people forget nineteen seventy three. Uh, that was the original glue. There, you know, and then now we're doing eye drops in order, the numbing drops in order to use contacts to change the eyes to the green.

• 29:36Billy Corgan?

  Hmm.

• 29:36Speaker 01

  And so that, just that alone was very abusive.

• 29:41Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 29:41Speaker 01

  Very, very uncomfortable every day.

• 29:44Billy Corgan?

  So your overall memory, to summarize my question was.

• 29:49Speaker 01

  Not, not good.

• 29:50Billy Corgan?

  Unpleasant. Okay. I was hoping there was some happiness in there.

• 29:54Speaker 01

  The happiness was that I, they always made sure, you know, I got to see my animals on the weekend. Um, Billy did buy me a horse, which would make sense now that you hear all the horrible stories. That was his gift and that meant a lot to me. Um, but, but no, it was just get me out of here. I was very, I was very unhappy, Billy.

• 30:21Billy Corgan?

  Hmm. I'm sorry to hear that. Um.

• 30:28Billy Corgan?

  Two things I'm going to ask you to put them in the order that makes more, the most sense. Over here, you win a Golden Globe, Best Supporting Actress. You're nominated for an Academy Award and over here is the sort of the controversy that followed the film when it came out. So in your mind, which came first?

• 30:45Speaker 01

  Controversy.

• 30:46Billy Corgan?

  Okay.

• 30:48Billy Corgan?

  Um, did you feel somewhat disassociative from it? It's kind of like, well, I did not my movie. I didn't write the script. I just, I'm acted in it and I did what they asked me to do. And like, it's not, nothing to do with me. Did you feel that? Or did you feel like, was it emotional to you that it became controversial?

• 31:06Speaker 01

  All of that. So at first it was.

• 31:12Speaker 01

  Highly, there was a lot of accolades. And then those accolades went out the door really quick. We had all of the religious groups attacking the film.

• 31:26Billy Corgan?

  Right.

• 31:26Speaker 01

  Therefore attacking me.

• 31:28Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 31:28Speaker 01

  So it becomes this love hate. And I think if they could have hung me by my ankles, they would have.

• 31:35Billy Corgan?

  But why are they blaming you in that?

• 31:37Speaker 01

  Because they have to blame somebody. Everybody has to blame somebody. And so Warner Brothers and Billy, I mean, they stood up for me. They, but it was George Coker that really came after the movie.

• 31:50Billy Corgan?

  George Coker?

• 31:50Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 31:51Billy Corgan?

  Really?

• 31:52Speaker 01

  Yeah, I found that out in a book.

• 31:54Billy Corgan?

  Oh.

• 31:54Speaker 01

  And I'm like, because I didn't know what was setting it off.

• 31:58Billy Corgan?

  Oh, I see.

• 31:59Speaker 01

  And I'm saying to my, why are they lying about me? She goes, I don't know, but always tell the truth and you'll be okay.

• 32:07Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 32:07Speaker 01

  And that, that's how I live my life. So they sent me, now they're like, okay, we have to send you to England.

• 32:14Billy Corgan?

  They sent you on a press tour?

• 32:16Speaker 01

  Oh, my God, Billy. And so I get to England. I mean, when you all really hear about the paparazzi over there in that time and what went down in the Beatles and Princess Diana and the royal family, that's serious stuff.

• 32:32Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 32:32Speaker 01

  They're coming at you from every angle and it is frightening to the point I couldn't even come out of the hotel room and you could look out and see this sea full of reporters. The BBC did an amazing documentary on me and they let me ride in Hyde Park. You know, give me what I want and I'll give you what you want.

• 32:57Billy Corgan?

  Well, I have a carriage waiting outside for you.

• 33:00Speaker 01

  So that's an amazing documentary because they, they document and show the paparazzi. It was frightening. It was really scary.

• 33:08Billy Corgan?

  What's the title of that documentary? I read about it, but I don't remember the title.

• 33:11Speaker 01

  I don't know. It was just BBC on Linda Blair.

• 33:14Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 33:15Speaker 01

  Then they sent me to Australia.

• 33:18Billy Corgan?

  Okay.

• 33:18Speaker 01

  And that was, I like the Australians.

• 33:24Speaker 01

  I didn't feel as stalked necessarily. I was the most famous person in the world and they want a piece of that.

• 33:32Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 33:32Speaker 01

  And the headlines everywhere. But it was, they started doing like, you know, was I mentally ill? Was, um, what would make, you know, horrible parents? Was I really the demon? I mean, just making up all kinds of things. And, um.

• 33:48Billy Corgan?

  Well, you're excited, but you're also getting death threats. Is that, is that true?

• 33:52Speaker 01

  I don't talk about it.

• 33:53Billy Corgan?

  Okay, we can skip that.

• 33:54Speaker 01

  Yeah. Yeah, no, I, I really won't.

• 33:58Billy Corgan?

  But still, without talking about it specifically, still frighten, a lot of frightening things for a young woman.

• 34:03Speaker 01

  It was, well, the police were involved, the FBI was involved. My house was monitored by, that's how intense it got. Really, people?

• 34:15Billy Corgan?

  Yeah. And, and let's not forget, a few years earlier, you're doing commercials in New York and some modeling and doing catalogs for like Sears, right? I mean, this is, this is a long, this is a long leap from where you started.

• 34:27Speaker 01

  Yeah. So Australia was good. And again, take me out to, you know, the conservation and I could see, you know, koala bears and kangaroos and like, wow. Cause that innocence is still in me.

• 34:44Billy Corgan?

  Sure, yeah.

• 34:45Speaker 01

  Then they sent me to Japan. So my sister was with me and we fly to Japan. God knows how many hours that took, cause that is before the planes.

• 34:55Billy Corgan?

  I mean, still on flight with today's travel.

• 34:58Speaker 01

  And I'm, I've been writing about it in the book and I think it's really interesting. They, the plane is brought into a hangar.

• 35:09Billy Corgan?

  Ah.

• 35:13Speaker 01

  Wow, wow, where are we going? Cause you're kind of scared. You don't know where you are in the world. And we're looking out, we see all these people. And we're like, well, there must be somebody really, really important on the plane.

• 35:27Billy Corgan?

  They're waiting for you, yeah.

• 35:29Speaker 01

  I didn't know. So everybody unloads and then they're like, okay. And we come down and all of the Japanese dignitaries, the last one was the head of Warner Brothers, and they present you. Now, you're given no instructions and back in those days was still manners and dress code. And you're in a foreign country now. So they hand me my first bouquet, roses, my second, my second. So now when they're up to here, I'm not lying about this line. My sister's trying to indicate, nobody spoke English. And they're trying to indicate, um, you know, can the flower take? So somebody, finally I get to Warner Brothers.

• 36:14Speaker 01

  This is my daughter, she speak English. Hi, I'm Amy. She's my age.

• 36:24Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 36:25Speaker 01

  I'm Amy. Oh, thank you. So she was in her, not hired, but she was brought on as my interpreter because they have these huge, massive press tours around the world. We didn't have the social media, you know, we didn't have any of that. You had to sit down with groups and a young girl to look out over a sea full of people and to answer questions. And it was always, do you think there's a devil? What do you think? It was always religious and spiritual and I could only reach from within and say, I was raised Protestant. I don't know anything about the Catholic religion, but I don't believe the devil is real.

• 37:03Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 37:05Speaker 01

  For me, it was like Frankenstein. It's just a weird new character.

• 37:12Billy Corgan?

  I'm curious.

• 37:16Billy Corgan?

  Warner Brothers sends you on this tour. Do you think they were trying to protect you or protect their investment? Or what do you think their their real motivation was?

• 37:26Speaker 01

  I know what it was. All the press backfired. It all backfired and they realized that I was now the victim. They needed the world to see. I mean, they needed to see that I was a normal child who's a good actor.

• 37:40Billy Corgan?

  Sure.

• 37:41Speaker 01

  And that was the intent.

• 37:44Billy Corgan?

  So.

• 37:46Billy Corgan?

  Moving off The Exorcist now.

• 37:50Billy Corgan?

  It's a pretty intense experience for someone so young. And obviously you go on and do other things. But per your earlier. Thought you weren't particularly interested in acting. So why did you persist in acting after that?

• 38:06Speaker 01

  Because of the machine.

• 38:09Speaker 01

  They put you on the machine. So Billy Friedkin gets me.

• 38:13Billy Corgan?

  Had you signed a deal where you were kind of stuck in it or?

• 38:15Speaker 01

  No, there's no, there was, uh, no, these were, this was.

• 38:18Billy Corgan?

  What kept you doing it? I mean, you didn't throw yourself on the floor and said never again.

• 38:24Speaker 01

  Because I was told to do.

• 38:26Billy Corgan?

  Who's, okay.

• 38:27Speaker 01

  So Billy Friedkin said to me.

• 38:29Billy Corgan?

  Who's telling you to keep going?

• 38:31Speaker 01

  Billy Friedkin.

• 38:33Billy Corgan?

  Even though he's not your director in the next thing?

• 38:35Speaker 01

  Billy Friedkin. And the movie is still getting all this press. You have to remember this thing, this beast.

• 38:41Billy Corgan?

  Oh, no, went on forever.

• 38:42Speaker 01

  It did, and it still does.

• 38:44Billy Corgan?

  I'm young enough to remember this going on at the time.

• 38:50Billy Corgan?

  You know, it was, put it this way. It was the number one topic of school.

• 38:57Speaker 01

  All right. There's so many things that are always new and interesting that I hear and learn. How it affected people's lives.

• 39:06Speaker 01

  So now, when I go on the road and do PR

• 39:08Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 39:09Speaker 01

  Things, you know, for the animals, people be like, you know, I bring back memories, their parents, their mother, where they were. It's an instant memory.

• 39:16Billy Corgan?

  Sure.

• 39:17Speaker 01

  And, and that's one of the few rare things to, to be in the world.

• 39:22Speaker 01

  Billy put us with William Morris.

• 39:23Billy Corgan?

  Okay.

• 39:24Speaker 01

  We did need protection and we were going to have to have, he tried to explain to mom about PR, that we needed continued

• 39:34Speaker 01

  uh, protection. And that it would be best to do more work in order to show the world who I really was.

• 39:45Billy Corgan?

  And did you feel that or buy that or was that?

• 39:48Speaker 01

  I really couldn't answer that. I'm not gonna lie.

• 39:51Billy Corgan?

  Okay.

• 39:51Speaker 01

  I just know that I wanted back to life and that was not available to me.

• 39:56Billy Corgan?

  Did you feel swept up in something bigger than you and?

• 39:59Speaker 01

  So remember that we've got all this controversy going on.

• 40:05Speaker 01

  Not

• 40:07Speaker 01

  I think the Golden Globes were first before they were sending me on these tours. I really do. Because of the timeline, they, they released the movie as a lovely December Christmas movie.

• 40:18Billy Corgan?

  Sure. Holiday classics.

• 40:21Speaker 01

  To make, to make the Academy Awards. And so they, they threw a big party for me for my birthday in January. And then.

• 40:31Billy Corgan?

  This is for, you're 14 or 15 at this point?

• 40:34Speaker 01

  Now I'm turning 15.

• 40:35Billy Corgan?

  Okay, so 15 years old, you're the number one topic of conversation around the world. And they're throwing you a party.

• 40:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:42Billy Corgan?

  Gave you a horse.

• 40:43Speaker 01

  Yeah. So, uh, Golden Globes. Nominated for a Golden Globe. And I'm getting accolades from the Hollywood community standing behind, which was really good.

• 40:57Billy Corgan?

  Did that influence you to want to continue?

• 41:00Speaker 01

  No, we're not there yet. We're just in it, Billy.

• 41:02Billy Corgan?

  I'm just trying to understand, yeah.

• 41:03Speaker 01

  We're in it. You've made your best album, you're nominated for the Grammys. You're, you're in it.

• 41:10Billy Corgan?

  I know the feeling. I'm just trying to understand your feeling in it.

• 41:13Speaker 01

  Yeah. I don't know if there was any feeling. I was told what to do.

• 41:18Billy Corgan?

  Who, who was the person for you in that moment who had the most influence on you?

• 41:25Speaker 01

  Mom?

• 41:26Billy Corgan?

  Okay. And what was mom saying?

• 41:30Speaker 01

  We have to do this and that. And I mean, we, if you get nominated for the highest accolades in the business, there'd be some big parties, Billy. And so you go and but so Hollywood embraced me. They knew what was happening. Thank God, and I am very grateful to them. And so they made that okay. You know, they made, you know, we love you. Hmm. You did a dang good job.

• 42:02Billy Corgan?

  Hmm.

• 42:02Speaker 01

  Good for you. Okay, then you have to be at the next event and the next event. It's different now. Back then, where you were only three events. Now you've got this party, that party, this party, pre, pre, pre, pre-party, post, post, post. There's none of that. There's no changing costumes.

• 42:19Billy Corgan?

  Tell me, because you were there, but but my sense, because I've read a lot of books about old Hollywood and new Hollywood. It was a lot smaller in a way.

• 42:28Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, absolutely.

• 42:29Billy Corgan?

  Like you were in the club or you weren't. But if you were in the club, it was very insular.

• 42:33Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 42:33Billy Corgan?

  Does that?

• 42:34Speaker 01

  I would.

• 42:34Billy Corgan?

  That tracks with your experience.

• 42:36Speaker 01

  We are very private people. The industry is very private, was.

• 42:39Billy Corgan?

  Well, look at how they protected people in the closet. I mean,

• 42:43Speaker 01

  Correct.

• 42:43Billy Corgan?

  There's a lot that went on in old Hollywood that like, it was like, it was a company town, right? Still is in many ways.

• 42:49Speaker 01

  Yeah. So I think that's really good that you're bringing this up. And it's things that I keep wanting, okay, Andy, you have to insert these things into the book for people to understand the way it was.

• 43:01Billy Corgan?

  Yes.

• 43:01Speaker 01

  And what you just said is true. So Hollywood protected Hollywood.

• 43:06Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 43:07Speaker 01

  And so

• 43:10Speaker 01

  when we talk about

• 43:13Speaker 01

  that somebody had different actresses on their arm, but it wasn't necessarily, they weren't really in a relationship.

• 43:24Speaker 01

  We can now openly discuss. So they were gay.

• 43:27Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 43:28Speaker 01

  And everybody protected everybody. And the studios, what they did is they made sure that there was a starlet on somebody's arm or that they were seen in this light. But years later, what I learned out in Malibu, there's one place out by me, and that's as far as I know. I know there's a lot of stuff down in Hollywood. So that is where the studios had places for well-known celebrity types, industry. They could go and party. So they could play, you know, they're gambling, they're drinking, they're, you know, whatever, you know, game activities that they wish. They had their affairs. So that was a place down in Malibu.

• 44:12Speaker 01

  I know for sure that was an hour by, you know, Model T Ford at the time. But there was that protection was built in. So they had places for everybody to go where the press wasn't allowed. Now they have, they hire Rhona Barrett. And was it Headahopper, I think?

• 44:31Billy Corgan?

  Headahopper, yeah.

• 44:33Speaker 01

  These people were basically given the stories. This is what we need you to do.

• 44:38Billy Corgan?

  Yeah, we'll give you the access. You'll get to be the person and we'll control the narrative through you.

• 44:42Speaker 01

  That is how, and that is how Hollywood is controlled.

• 44:45Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 44:46Speaker 01

  And so for me, they had all of those things. And then, so the Golden Globes. I'm at the Golden Globes. I'm sitting at the table. Why would I think I'm going to win anything? I'm not there to win. I'm just there, you know, I mean, I'm just like, mom and I are doing, wow, wow, wow.

• 45:03Billy Corgan?

  There's so and so, yeah.

• 45:06Speaker 01

  And trying to mind our manners, the Connecticut kids, right? And I like, and when they announce my name, it's something that when you hear people say they're having an out of body experience.

• 45:20Speaker 01

  You have not about experience. Everything's gone. And I remember looking this way and I remember looking that way. And it's all surreal and you know, and you're frozen. And you're like, but I know I've got to get up there.

• 45:35Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 45:35Speaker 01

  And I remember looking at Alan and my mom. That's what I all remember and you know, getting up and this beautiful gown. My mother made all my gowns. She was a great seamstress and I'm running, I don't got it. I want a trip and I'm going through tables and you're going, oh my God, there's theirs. And I get up and I turn around and I face. And it was a standing ovation.

• 46:02Billy Corgan?

  Wow.

• 46:03Speaker 01

  It was really beautiful and it really takes you. You don't know what to do when you're young. You don't know about a speech. Joel Gray was behind me. There's a famous picture of him and he's like, huh? But truly people don't know. You see the speeches and you hope that, you know, somebody's going to be able to give a good speech. But I'm telling you what is happening. There ain't nothing. You feel nothing and you hope by a spiritual gift that you are given the words to speak.

• 46:37Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 46:37Speaker 01

  And to, you know, give, give appreciation for, for those that have been on the journey with you.

• 46:45Billy Corgan?

  Yes.

• 46:46Speaker 01

  That's why you see people pull out, you know, and there are 50 little, I don't know, people and they're reading names because everybody wants to be thanked.

• 46:52Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 46:53Speaker 01

  It's gotten really out of control. But, um, so there was that and then the Academy Awards. And we're sitting there and a lot of people, you know, are, are still upset, but they don't understand. I'm a kid. I'm cool with it. I'm good. If I'm good, everybody needs to be good with it. So Tatum, in my opinion, did give a great performance. Tatum O'Neal, Paper Moon. I wasn't thinking about it. Sitting there with mom and. It was well known that there was no award to be given that year for special effects. Like it was all over the headlines. And I don't know enough and I'm saying to mom, I mean, do they really think I can turn my head around?

• 47:38Speaker 01

  You know, like, I don't get it. So that was the year that the streaker.

• 47:45Billy Corgan?

  Oh, my goodness.

• 47:46Speaker 01

  This stage. And then they caught, you know, my expression and everybody, you know, streaking was in freedom. And so Tatum O'Neal won. And I have nothing but love and accolades. And I'm not great friends with Tatum, but we are very, we're very friendly and kind. When you all are in the young age and surviving. So we're all good. But from there then, and I won the People's Choice Award.

• 48:14Billy Corgan?

  Wow.

• 48:15Speaker 01

  That's still one of the ones that I honor. But all, all three, nobody can take those from you.

• 48:20Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 48:20Speaker 01

  For everything that you've been through in your life, your Grammys, everything. It's, we did, you know, we have given and done something and should be able to be allowed to embrace. I'm so involved in animal welfare and humanity, feeling like I'm supposed to do something. Why was I given such a platform?

• 48:42Speaker 01

  And I believe that that everybody wants something for you. They want to understand that something that affected their life. I'm happy to talk and give, but you must also understand my side that we must be more compassionate.

• 48:56Billy Corgan?

  Sure.

• 48:57Speaker 01

  So I believe that's a platform. It's a huge platform.

• 49:00Billy Corgan?

  Sure.

• 49:01Speaker 01

  And then it's like, doggone it, listen to me. I'm gonna get you.

• 49:05Billy Corgan?

  Okay.

• 49:09Billy Corgan?

  It still confuses me though, if you weren't particularly motivated to act, that, and I know it wasn't the next film per se, but you did this film, Borness, which is the shirt you're wearing.

• 49:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 49:21Billy Corgan?

  I'm probably gonna botch the, the setup, but it's a runaway girl. Who ends up with a lesbian woman who abuses her. Is that, is that accurate?

• 49:32Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 49:32Billy Corgan?

  Oh.

• 49:33Speaker 01

  You're so close.

• 49:35Billy Corgan?

  I'm in the neighborhood.

• 49:36Speaker 01

  You're in the neighborhood.

• 49:37Billy Corgan?

  But it, but before I, before you correct me, the film ends up, this film ends up being controversial too. Is that true?

• 49:45Speaker 01

  So.

• 49:46Billy Corgan?

  Okay, tell me.

• 49:47Speaker 01

  Pre was they put me in Airport Seventy Five, Airport Seventy Five, yeah.

• 49:53Billy Corgan?

  Not as controversial.

• 49:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, so Mom and I are on the, um, Honey Wagon is, people may or may not be familiar. It's a trailer and then you have the different, uh, cubicles for the actors and it's just a little room. Later you get your trailers, but I was still at, I was Honey Wagon level. And so anyway, Mom and I would be sitting there, you know, and here goes Charlton Heston. Here goes, you know, Karen Black, here goes Myrna Loy, here goes George Kennedy. And Mom and I are like this.

• 50:27Billy Corgan?

  Gloria Swanson too, right?

• 50:30Speaker 01

  What the hell's going on? Eric Estrada, my mom, became very, he was a young actor and Mom would always talk about him. And Eric, and you know, whenever I see him, I do say.

• 50:42Speaker 01

  And he talked about, she then talked to me about the contracts. Why all these young actors, they needed the contracts and contracts were starting to end. It was becoming independent. Why did all the actors and actresses, they had to go for the contract, Mr. Mr. DeMille, you know, Warner Brothers. We, you must give me this part. I must have this part because that is my career and that is my life. Why they were all so dramatic? Because they needed these contracts. That was the only way that they could ensure their living. So Eric is telling Mom about they're gonna start ending their contracts. So we're talking about all of that. Anyway, yes, we do. I sat with Gloria Swanson.

• 51:26Speaker 01

  And I'm sitting next to her and do, do, do, and I'm looking, she's got a makeup, what's called a train case, which is the, they used to take them on the trains. It's a little mix box. She's going through and she says, honey, if I can ever teach you one thing, is take care of your face. Okay. And I didn't forget. And I always took care of my skin the best that I could. Uh, and then I had Helen Reddy singing as a, as a nun. And I'm laying there like this and I'm looking up. My goodness, this, this is surreal. That's, you know, I am woman, hear me run. Do, do, do, do, do, do. You know, Helen is a funny one to mimic.

• 52:09Speaker 01

  Lovely person. And she's singing to me in a nun outfit. And I'm like, okay, this, there's something really, really weird about this whole thing. Anyway, so we went on. We had a meeting with Donald Rye for a movie called Born Innocent. Now, at this point, Billy, I am trying to get out.

• 52:29Billy Corgan?

  Okay.

• 52:30Speaker 01

  I am trying to get out. I'm like, okay, I'm done. And this has all been really weird. Abusive and weird. And he is, um, I don't know if you're really ready for this. Cause I think at this point I had, um, my sister was still with me, I think. Let's see, there was Sean Cassidy in my, you know, you know, uh, do all these Hollywood boys around, of course. And, um,

• 52:58Billy Corgan?

  Can't blame him.

• 52:58Speaker 01

  I hadn't met Rick yet.

• 53:01Billy Corgan?

  Rick Springfield.

• 53:02Speaker 01

  I, it was right, it was somewhere in that area. Yeah. Actually, I think I just met him because they were ripping me away to New Mexico. And it's in that area. And that was very hard on me. But Donald said, I don't, I don't really know if you're ready. You don't seem very focused. And that maybe leads to what you're asking me.

• 53:28Billy Corgan?

  Yes.

• 53:29Speaker 01

  No, I wasn't focused because I wasn't in it.

• 53:31Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 53:32Speaker 01

  But you say action, I'm not going to make a fool of myself. And that I think is the difference is that I knew that, okay. I have to, we're going to do this thing. We're learning this to do, you get it all done, get it all done, do, do, do. And then you go on and you're like, okay. Billy had taught me to be in the moment. Billy had taught me how to bring up pain, fear, the visuals, what you needed.

• 54:02Speaker 01

  So in Born Innocent, it's about child abuse. It's about the father beating the hell out of her.

• 54:11Billy Corgan?

  Okay.

• 54:11Speaker 01

  And so she runs.

• 54:13Billy Corgan?

  Okay.

• 54:13Speaker 01

  And then the brother is the only one that really knew where she was. But they catch her and take her to a girl's home. And the point of the story was to show that you go in and you're not incarcerated, but you go through these programs.

• 54:35Billy Corgan?

  Oh, I see.

• 54:36Speaker 01

  You don't necessarily come out better. And she was abused yet again and raped in the girl's bathroom. That's what you're thinking of.

• 54:48Billy Corgan?

  Okay, that's where I'm getting confused.

• 54:49Speaker 01

  So now I'm laying on the floor in my pasties and little underwear with men all around and going through a scene with older girls. They were not juveniles, very professional.

• 55:09Speaker 01

  And the crying scenes and the scene where I'm introduced, brought into the girl's home and they do the, you know, body check for any substances. So that movie blew Hollywood television open. It was number one primetime. It freaked everyone out. It was extremely controversial. I didn't make that happen. I did my job. And then Sarah T. Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic with Dick Donner followed.

• 55:54Speaker 01

  Now I'm an alcoholic. So yes, I was known as the most controversial teenager. Where was the truth? Where wasn't the truth? I did a good job at my work, so people just didn't know who I was.

• 56:04Billy Corgan?

  I guess I'm asking almost from the adult perspective of thinking of one's careers. If you, if you want to be an actor, these are not the best career choices because you're getting into this kind of, you know, if it was modern Hollywood, they would put you in something controversial and then they would put you in something sort of totally milquetoast and kind of.

• 56:26Billy Corgan?

  You know.

• 56:27Speaker 01

  I know what you're saying, Billy. I honestly, I think, you know, they put me with um the two young and up and coming agents, one being Rick Nocita, who's very, very famous now. As he always said, your career made my career. Their job was to get me to work in the highest, most notable content. There was very few things for teenagers.

• 56:50Billy Corgan?

  Sure, but I mean, do you look, I mean, because, because you're, because you're, you're, your future work in, let's call it the entertainment field, ends up being sort of defined by these things, you know, what they would oftentimes call typecasting, you know, but you're so young. It's like, I, I just struck by the fact that on one hand, you really are not crazy about doing it. And yet these adults are making the decisions that define your future as an adult.

• 57:18Speaker 01

  They don't care.

• 57:19Billy Corgan?

  Okay, that's kind of what I'm asking, yeah.

• 57:22Speaker 01

  Their job was to find the money and put her to work. It's called the machine. That was how it was.

• 57:28Billy Corgan?

  When did you, when in life did you kind of sort of figure out like, wait, I'm kind of put into a corner here, by the way, by these choices?

• 57:38Speaker 01

  I didn't want to do The Heretic for sure. And I kept saying no. Um, I did Sweet Hostage with Martin Sheen. And I tried to get them to hire Rick. And they're like, well, you know, we'd like to go with this other young actor who had just done Badlands with Sissy Spacek. And, you know, Rick was interested to dabble in acting and, and so on. Um, okay. So we go down.

• 58:08Billy Corgan?

  Sorry to talk about Rick for a second, but, uh, but Rick had a similar life path and like, certain things happened in that he wasn't like, him being a soap star and, you know, I mean, it's interesting that you guys connected during this time because he was.

• 58:23Speaker 01

  No, that happened after.

• 58:25Billy Corgan?

  My, my point is not to connect it that way. I'm saying it's interesting that you both had similar life paths where the public or the business put things upon you that forced you to make choices that are not optimal.

• 58:38Speaker 01

  It was a hard time and, and I talk to, tell people all the time, the other thing was, if you did comedy, you were not allowed to do drama. If you did drama, you couldn't do comedy. What do you mean? You can't do that.

• 58:52Billy Corgan?

  Well, now, nobody would blink, but back then, yes, you were right.

• 58:56Speaker 01

  Billy, Bill, Billy, Bill Blatty, we became good friends later in life. He wrote The Exorcist. And he had written at least one of the Pink Panthers. So he's a comedy writer. And he told me the story where he said, I told my agent that I'm writing a drama. And they said, oh, Bill, you can't. What do you mean, I can't? Well, that's not your lane, not your lane. And that is the part that a lot of people, they really tried to categorize you back then. You're known as a mobster and you're gonna be a mobster. You're known as a dame and you're gonna be a dame. You're a comedian, you're a this.

• 59:36Billy Corgan?

  Yes.

• 59:37Speaker 01

  So with that, Bill Blatty said, if, when they said you can't, and he says, watch me. So he, there's all these people that broke open the barrier, just like you did. You gotta break it open. Don't tell me I can't do that.

• 59:55Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 59:55Speaker 01

  Don't tell me I can't do that. So with that said.

• 1:00:00Billy Corgan?

  But can I?

• 1:00:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:00:03Billy Corgan?

  Okay, now you're working as a professional actor, right? You're, you're going project to project to project. And I know at some point you took a break and went to equestrian stuff. So we're getting there in a second, but before we talk about that. I mean, I'm just surprised you didn't stop or I'm, I'm still looking for the answer of why you kept going. If inwardly you had this sense of like.

• 1:00:29Speaker 01

  Cause you were told your next job. Your next job, your next job, I don't know. That's the way it was. You didn't walk away. They wouldn't let you walk away. I don't know. The horses so that that, like you said, that was.

• 1:00:43Billy Corgan?

  Did you, did you walk away before or after Exorcist two? I feel like it's in here somewhere, but.

• 1:00:49Speaker 01

  None of the above. Um, so when, when the hair tie came along, um, somebody tracked my dad down and, um, he came to me and mom and he was not part of our, the career. My brother and sister didn't want to be part of it. So, um,

• 1:01:11Speaker 01

  he thought it was a good script. So he, they kind of came at that angle, which is surprising. But later in life, he was like, work begets work and you're gonna work. My dad was military. Work begets work. You're gonna work. So there's that side of me too, Billy.

• 1:01:28Billy Corgan?

  Okay.

• 1:01:29Speaker 01

  Um, and, um, so I read the script and it was like, okay, now this, you know, I, I could do that. I can live with that. So now we've got John Borman just won the Academy Award for Deliverance. We've got Richard Burton. Wait, what? Wait, what? Richard Burton? I was a huge Burton fan. Oh God. Oh, and the life of me as I just said, and the big booming Welsh voice.

• 1:01:59Billy Corgan?

  Yeah, the guy can read the phone book and it sounds interesting.

• 1:02:01Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 1:02:04Speaker 01

  And I was a big Clint Eastwood fan. Oh golly. So with that said, we all have to, we're signed on and Luis Fletcher and we're in rehearsal. And they changed the script and they changed the script and they changed the script. Burton is, I mean, he got to a point where he's like, mm hmm. And I still was over Burton, if you can believe that. So he's looking at me going.

• 1:02:36Speaker 01

  Uh-uh. We had no say. We had no anything, really. There was no control at all. So they changed the script five times. We get into filming. Everybody hates everybody. I'm just doing my job. There's a documentary that just came out. It's, uh, Borman versus the devil. And I do recommend people see it. And I'm in it. Everybody's in it that was still alive. And we're talking and they're like, you know, I showed up. No matter what the adults were doing, I'm seventeen. I showed up because it was my job. And so, uh, Burton started drinking. Uh, Louise Fletcher hated John Borman. Um, they got some weird, um, uh, sickness. Uh, the set was shut down.

• 1:03:20Speaker 01

  And then we were in New York and there was, it was a hot mess. And I was, uh, going through personal stuff with the boyfriends. Yeah, it was bad.

• 1:03:38Billy Corgan?

  Teenager.

• 1:03:38Speaker 01

  It was bad.

• 1:03:40Billy Corgan?

  But you were a teenager.

• 1:03:41Speaker 01

  Yeah. Well, they're, but they were big story, you know, it was adult stories. So now we're eighteen and nineteen. Work is starting to diminish. You've got, um, uh, Sylvester Stallone. You've got, um, you know, all the, the big, the macho films coming. And, uh, Golden Globus got very involved. That was a company, I think. And, um, there was nothing and women were starting to get really belittled. So there really wasn't any work. So I believe I did, um, Hell Night. Roll the Boogie. I did a movie in Canada called Wild Horse Hank.

• 1:04:26Billy Corgan?

  But this is after you came back from, from taking a year off, right?

• 1:04:30Speaker 01

  I don't believe I took a year off for any other reason than, oh, yes. There was some bullshit that went down. And I'm not, I'm not even gonna talk about it.

• 1:04:41Billy Corgan?

  The story I read was you, you took time off to just become an equestrian person for a while.

• 1:04:46Speaker 01

  Oh, I was always trying to do that.

• 1:04:48Billy Corgan?

  But, but you even went under an assumed name.

• 1:04:50Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

• 1:04:51Billy Corgan?

  What was the assumed name?

• 1:04:52Speaker 01

  Mm hmm. I still use it.

• 1:04:54Billy Corgan?

  It's out there.

• 1:04:55Speaker 01

  Mm hmm. It was not.

• 1:04:59Billy Corgan?

  You're not gonna give me the dope.

• 1:05:01Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:05:02Billy Corgan?

  That's good. So, but I, but, okay. Just indulge me in this way.

• 1:05:05Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 1:05:06Billy Corgan?

  There you are. You love horses, you're, you got the cool outfit. What, what was your equestrian discipline or is? What is your equestrian discipline?

• 1:05:15Speaker 01

  Well, number one. The reason that I shared some pictures with you that I've never released before from showing. So I trained eventually for the Olympics. That's how highly trained. And I wanted to talk about it because I've tried to explain to people that. I was a teenager. I was very famous. I was also in all the magazines for being. A few pounds overweight. I was 125 pounds. That's normal for a young girl. But not for California, not for the industry, not for the tabloids. And that hurt. And you'll read cherubic, cherubic.

• 1:05:57Speaker 01

  Well, okay, I'm a girl and I'm fertile. I'm gonna develop. We got the hormones. And y'all are making me so crazy and so stressed. I'm gonna eat my ice cream and pie and put the plates under my bed. So I was a, a, a stress eater.

• 1:06:15Billy Corgan?

  Okay. But you know what's so crazy is I remember reading articles about your weight as a kid.

• 1:06:21Speaker 01

  What the hell?

• 1:06:22Billy Corgan?

  I know.

• 1:06:23Speaker 01

  Nowadays, if you people nowadays, that's why it's important. What they did to me in the press, don't believe any of it. And shame on them.

• 1:06:34Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:34Speaker 01

  Shame, shame, shame on them for belittle belittling me. Your nose is too big. You need to lose a little bit here. They made you feel bad.

• 1:06:43Billy Corgan?

  Sure.

• 1:06:43Speaker 01

  About yourself and you're a teenager and it's hard enough. So I know that some of the conversation is also about at some point about depression. And so of course that is going to make me deal with depression. I don't know, I'm looking in the mirror. What do you mean? Why are you telling me I don't look right? Why are you saying this, this and this about me? Believe me, it didn't make me feel good. That's hard to do and keep going. I don't know how I did it, Billy. It was a gift that somehow, but the animals saved me. The animals, the animals. So with horses. So, okay, now I'm 15 years old and yeah, I'm working. But understand I'm running. I'm going to be with my horses. I'm going to the barn.

• 1:07:27Speaker 01

  I'm smelling the dirt and the hay and the horses. And they, they have a smell that is so sweet and their spirituality is so kind. And I've got my cats and I've got my dogs and I've got the woods. I've got dance. I was raised to keep very normal. I didn't know life could be any different, just like you didn't as a kid, but you knew it was wrong.

• 1:07:51Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:51Speaker 01

  I know. I've read your story. It made me cry. And so we didn't know, but we knew it wasn't right.

• 1:08:01Billy Corgan?

  Sure.

• 1:08:02Speaker 01

  We didn't know. So I'm riding the horses and yeah, sure. If I took time, it would have been because.

• 1:08:14Speaker 01

  Mize'll just get it out there. It's always out there. I was arrested for drugs.

• 1:08:20Billy Corgan?

  Sure. Cocaine.

• 1:08:25Speaker 01

  Yeah. So my family,

• 1:08:31Speaker 01

  my brothers, who became famous at the same time, I met them when I was doing Airport 75, was the band Lynyrd Skynyrd.

• 1:08:39Billy Corgan?

  Okay.

• 1:08:39Speaker 01

  Those are my brothers.

• 1:08:43Speaker 01

  So what I found is that I ran to music because they protected me. They let me be me.

• 1:08:52Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:53Speaker 01

  Was it, you see, there's another side of me, which is just, I was a young kid and happy and a person, and I loved the music and it was fun and you're backstage and it's like, you get to, you know.

• 1:09:07Billy Corgan?

  Well, certainly a less judgmental atmosphere than, say, Hollywood.

• 1:09:11Speaker 01

  So they, they had to, you know, they convinced mom, mom was, you know, we'd like, can she come to our concert? It was the first concert for Lynyrd Skynyrd. Anyway, they became my brothers and I was always on the road with them and they were my family. I did, you know, a lot of people know Aerosmith. They protected me. I could sit and watch the show and I was safe and nobody could bother me. I could, you know, be normal. And they weren't normal either. So we were all not normal together.

• 1:09:44Speaker 01

  And so I, I, when their plane crashed in the.

• 1:09:52Billy Corgan?

  Florida, right?

• 1:09:53Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm, in the Everglades. Artemis, the drummer, was able to get out and he had to make it through like five miles in the swamps.

• 1:10:02Billy Corgan?

  With no shoes on. That's a crazy story.

• 1:10:05Speaker 01

  And Dean was my, like, my best friend. He was their tour manager and he and Ronnie, you know, died right away. Gary Rosington, they were just badly, badly damaged.

• 1:10:24Speaker 01

  So I was working at the hair tech. That's one of the things I told you. That was my family. That wasn't the boyfriend that I was with. But so my best friend, she died. She was out on the trails with her horse and, and there was a hornet's nest and he bucked her off and she broke her neck on, on the stone wall. So mom and I had to go through that. And now Leonard Skinnerd. So I'm devastated and I still have to perform. So I go to Florida and there's, you know, one funeral after the other.

• 1:11:09Speaker 01

  One thing I don't, because my family had many, you know, cousins die when I was young. It ain't a party. That's how, how it was for us. It wasn't a celebration. It was sad. It was hard. So I was there and Lynn Scarborough, the senator's daughter, and I bring it up because she's the one that was arrested. She said, do you want to go and get some cocaine? And I said, no, no, no, no, I'm not partying. And she came back a couple of times and finally it was like, fine, I'll go with you. Well, they've raised dogs. Oh, dogs.

• 1:11:54Speaker 01

  It's dog people, animal people are like, what? Animals? Dogs? We're wired different. So I go along, nothing to do with nothing. But I make a deal to buy one of their puppies who was Basenji. And so we go back to Connecticut and I had a boyfriend, Teddy. And we, I had a security guy, Steve. And I had no idea that the people in Florida, when they were calling, because remember we had house phones, dial it up, hello?

• 1:12:30Speaker 01

  They were talking pot. I have nothing to do with it. I'm not on the phone. I'm talking about a dog. When are you coming? When are you coming? And so that's how things started and the FBI had their phones tapped.

• 1:12:45Billy Corgan?

  Oh, okay.

• 1:12:46Speaker 01

  So it was the drug dealers and Lynn Scarborough and maybe others, I don't know. That's how I was arrested for conspiracy to possess, conspiracy to distribute. I know I have nothing to do with nothing. That is why I was so angry, but I had to fight for my life. Most controversial person. So when they just assumed, I remember when they arrested me, that was horrible. And they're like, why'd you do it? Do what? Do what?

• 1:13:20Speaker 01

  When I got in front of the judge, and this is the part people need to hear.

• 1:13:26Speaker 01

  It wasn't forgiving back then. And I didn't do anything. The judge said, you Hollywood people think that you are untouchable. And Johnny Carson made a joke last night about talking about cocaine and he said, you don't see the kids dying on the street? That's all you fucking needed to say to me. Sorry for my language. If he had said that, but he just tried to destroy my life. And that's not cool. I will give openly. And people, people know, if you know me, when you don't know me, it's offensive. I have tried to always help. I am happy. I did so many talks on drug abuse and alcohol, depression, you name it. Because it's part of the human road.

• 1:14:10Speaker 01

  It's a path and some people have more of the addiction than others and depression. And if you don't think that it doesn't exist in the music and acting and life, you'd be wrong. It's everywhere.

• 1:14:24Billy Corgan?

  But, but in your, um, this is a strange way to ask it, but you know, in, in looking at your life story, of course, I saw the references to you being arrested and I just thought that that interested. So why did, why do you want to talk about it? I'm just curious.

• 1:14:37Speaker 01

  Talk about what?

• 1:14:38Billy Corgan?

  Getting arrested in cocaine.

• 1:14:40Speaker 01

  I don't, but.

• 1:14:41Billy Corgan?

  But you brought it up.

• 1:14:42Speaker 01

  No, I bring it up because.

• 1:14:44Billy Corgan?

  That's what I'm asking, I just want to understand.

• 1:14:45Speaker 01

  About taking a year off.

• 1:14:47Billy Corgan?

  Okay, I just didn't understand.

• 1:14:49Speaker 01

  Let me destroy your life, Billy, and see what it feels like. So.

• 1:14:53Billy Corgan?

  Well, you're not the one destroying my life, so.

• 1:14:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, no, but I'm just saying that is probably where.

• 1:14:58Billy Corgan?

  Okay.

• 1:14:58Speaker 01

  Because nobody knew if I was a drug addict, if I had problems. So now, but years later, if you drove your car into a tree, oh, we gotta help this person. No, not with me.

• 1:15:10Billy Corgan?

  Okay, now I understand.

• 1:15:11Speaker 01

  I was attacked.

• 1:15:12Billy Corgan?

  I just didn't know where you were coming from in all this, because it's a lot, it's a lot to process.

• 1:15:15Speaker 01

  It's my life is so massive, it's ridiculous. Just.

• 1:15:19Billy Corgan?

  I'm gonna repeat one question, because I'm honestly curious. What, what was your equestrian discipline?

• 1:15:24Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:15:27Speaker 01

  So if I start really young, I used to, you know, run through the woods. You take your riding lessons, you do this and this. It's very disciplined. So I dance, discipline.

• 1:15:41Speaker 01

  I always tell people, you know, get your kids into martial arts, because it's the, it's discipline. I was a disciplined child.

• 1:15:48Billy Corgan?

  I still need you to answer my question.

• 1:15:49Speaker 01

  I'm trying, Billy. So I'm athletic, you have to muscle, you have a lot of intensive training, the love of the horse and the animal. There's nothing like it. You can watch videos now where they put, point of view cameras, right, what it's like to ride. It's, people need to know what, what that feels like. And that, but you don't just get to ride. You have, we are very trained, and we're moving one with the animal. And it's my, my need to learn the precision, the mathematics. We walk courses, we have to figure out how to work each horse is completely different, the stride length and this.

• 1:16:35Speaker 01

  So it's a love, it's a sport, it's uh later I got, you know, into with jumpers. Uh hunters is very precise, precise, precise. Everything has to be just.

• 1:16:48Billy Corgan?

  Are you doing competitive jumping or?

• 1:16:50Speaker 01

  And then I the the jumpers.

• 1:16:51Billy Corgan?

  Okay.

• 1:16:52Speaker 01

  It took a long time because you have to be really, really good or you.

• 1:16:54Billy Corgan?

  I'm a novice in this world, so I'm just.

• 1:16:57Speaker 01

  So the jumpers are what you see in the Olympics.

• 1:16:59Billy Corgan?

  Sure.

• 1:17:00Speaker 01

  It is precision.

• 1:17:02Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 1:17:02Speaker 01

  Just I'm not um like a competitive driver, but it's precision. There's things going on.

• 1:17:09Billy Corgan?

  Sure.

• 1:17:09Speaker 01

  Except you have an animal.

• 1:17:10Billy Corgan?

  Do you still do competitive equestrians?

• 1:17:12Speaker 01

  No, sir. I quit a long time ago um for two reasons. I ran out of money in my twenties. Work was no longer there. It went to the macho and the big movies and the men. And I was working a little, but.

• 1:17:27Billy Corgan?

  Do you think it had anything to do with typecasting or your controversies?

• 1:17:30Speaker 01

  No, there was no work for women. Jodie Foster went to school uh in Canada uh and look at her. She's just, she's so, so smart. Uh Melanie Griffith married Don Johnson. Uh kids, young girls that were in acting were everybody's moving. There was nothing for.

• 1:17:48Billy Corgan?

  Even even look at Tatum's struggles when she.

• 1:17:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:17:52Billy Corgan?

  Entered into.

• 1:17:52Speaker 01

  There was nothing, so everybody kind of went, wow, I'm gonna go do this.

• 1:17:55Billy Corgan?

  Okay.

• 1:17:56Speaker 01

  And I was in the middle of going, now what do I do?

• 1:17:58Billy Corgan?

  I see, I see. Explain to me the connection and the through line with you and musicians. But let me read your list here and you amend it at will. Rick Springfield.

• 1:18:11Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:18:12Billy Corgan?

  Hold the thought. Glenn Hughes, Neil Giraldo, Tommy Shaw, Jim Dandy, a black folk orchestra, Rick James.

• 1:18:22Speaker 01

  There's gotta be somebody else in there, Billy.

• 1:18:24Billy Corgan?

  You tell me. You tell me.

• 1:18:27Speaker 01

  So um.

• 1:18:28Billy Corgan?

  Why musicians? Not, I don't need any gossip about the musicians, but.

• 1:18:31Speaker 01

  No, but think about what I said. There was my freedom and security and freedom and so.

• 1:18:40Billy Corgan?

  But you know musicians are a complicated lot.

• 1:18:42Speaker 01

  And so am I, and so are people. We, if you're an artist, you're not normal.

• 1:18:49Billy Corgan?

  You're not, you're not normal.

• 1:18:53Billy Corgan?

  You speak for yourself there, Linda Blair.

• 1:18:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's right. Area talk for yourself, lady. Um, I think, um, artistry, fresh to laugh, um, highly driven, fun, uh, artistry, uniqueness.

• 1:19:12Billy Corgan?

  Yes, I get it.

• 1:19:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, you are one, need I describe. You know, you're just.

• 1:19:18Billy Corgan?

  Well, you know.

• 1:19:19Speaker 01

  But let me, let me say this.

• 1:19:21Billy Corgan?

  Please.

• 1:19:22Speaker 01

  So here I was, fifteen years old.

• 1:19:25Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 1:19:25Speaker 01

  And my sister's bored. And I think we were just getting with, that's the whole time around, born innocent.

• 1:19:32Billy Corgan?

  And you moved to LA, living with your sister?

• 1:19:35Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:19:35Billy Corgan?

  You never moved to LA?

• 1:19:36Speaker 01

  Nope.

• 1:19:37Billy Corgan?

  The internet is wrong about you, you see?

• 1:19:39Speaker 01

  Yep. No, no, no, no, no. I always stayed home in Connecticut. Connecticut's my home.

• 1:19:42Billy Corgan?

  That's good to know.

• 1:19:43Speaker 01

  But not now. I mean, I'm out in California for the animals, but, um, no, no, no, no, no. So Debbie's bored and, um, let's see, she'd met Iggy Pop.

• 1:19:56Speaker 01

  I came home to that one day.

• 1:19:59Billy Corgan?

  There's a future there.

• 1:20:01Speaker 01

  So, uh, and, and, and, and others, there was a lot. I told you about Sean. Sean Cassidy was a good friend. Um, we were just young. Uh, so, um, Debbie's bored and, um, you had a couple of different ven- venues, um, on Sunset Strip.

• 1:20:23Speaker 01

  And one was the Whiskey Go-Go. And so let's say, oh, there's this one playing at this place. The Rainbow Room was very popular.

• 1:20:33Speaker 01

  And so we end up at the Whiskey Go-Go some, she goes, you know, Rick Springfield. And so Rick, I was on the cover of Teen Beat, you know, all of the teen magazines, Teen Beat, Tiger Beat, all those. So it was Rick, me, Michael Gray, David Cassidy, maybe Sean Cassidy.

• 1:20:53Speaker 01

  Susan Day, myself. I really don't think any, because I tell the world on the road nowadays when they were like, you know, I grew up with you. I said, you grew up with me because I was forced in your face by the teen magazines. There was only so many of us. Anyway, um,

• 1:21:15Speaker 01

  I, uh, was not attracted to Rick. Rick was not, I was.

• 1:21:22Speaker 01

  Wasn't attracted to anybody. I had a boyfriend at home, so to speak. You know what I mean? I mean, it was a girl. It was young. Walk in and we're sitting there and I didn't really want to be there. And his manager, they came in there like, do you want to meet Rick? I'm like, not really.

• 1:21:41Speaker 01

  He knows the story.

• 1:21:44Speaker 01

  And then I realized I'm, I'm going to embarrass somebody here. Have your manners and say, of course. So we go upstairs and it was just love at first sight. He was just standing there.

• 1:21:57Speaker 01

  And dressed in that Tarzan outfit, which I didn't understand, but that face and that vibe. And we didn't know what to do with it. Watch the show thinking, I, I, I don't know what, what the hell just happened. Go back upstairs and he's like, you know, and people are watching us. And he's like, you know, can I get your number? So it was kind of like that. We went on a lot of dates with my sister and, and

• 1:22:29Speaker 01

  it was that young first love. And we're tight. That's why we're tight till today. But get to the bottom of. He was being forced out of his contracts. He wanted to do this type of music, which of course you talked to him about. And they wanted to do, him to do bubble gum rock. He didn't want to do that. Yeah. And I would sit and watch him, you know, trying to find the different channels. And we're both dealing with

• 1:22:59Speaker 01

  difficult decisions, business world and trying to be, we're young in an adult world. And we couldn't let anybody see us. Because they, they, because it was me and because it was him, he was, he was, you know, a teen idol too. Oh, that's right. That was really fun and hard. So we'd go home to Connecticut a lot. Mom loved him as a second son. On her deathbed, she said, I always wished you'd married Rick. That broke my heart. We're, we're very close in a lot of ways. We, our story that we could not have lasted. Most, a lot of couples don't.

• 1:23:36Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 1:23:36Speaker 01

  Ours is, because we're both in, in our separate lives, careers. I wouldn't have been career driven. I was kind of forced into it. He was driven to be what he wanted to be.

• 1:23:50Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 1:23:50Speaker 01

  And it was really, really hard.

• 1:23:54Billy Corgan?

  Hmm.

• 1:23:54Speaker 01

  But we still supported each other even though we were just being ripped apart. Without anybody.

• 1:24:03Speaker 01

  It wasn't in your face. It was just careers and management. You have to go here and you have to do this and you have to do this. And you just, you know, so, but that's why we care. Because spiritually, we still care. But it's not possible. It wasn't anything. And that's why, you know, years later, when we almost got back together, that's when Barbie came along. Barbara. And so, it's all good.

• 1:24:26Billy Corgan?

  Yeah. All right. Let's get down to the good stuff now. Thank you for sharing. Uh, you take this in whatever order you want, because I know these are issues that are very dear to your heart. Of course, you wrote this book, Going Vegan. I'm a vegan as well.

• 1:24:40Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:24:41Billy Corgan?

  Uh, and I, of course, it's not all, only connected to your love of animals and animal rights issues. Um, and then you've been taken on a very strong advocacy for animal rights.

• 1:24:52Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:24:53Billy Corgan?

  So however you want to dive in there, because it's obviously something that's.

• 1:24:57Speaker 01

  Well, something I'd, I'd like to say, Billy, is how, in getting to know you better, when you became as popular on your journey, was when I was hit first with my mom getting diagnosed with cancer.

• 1:25:21Speaker 01

  When that happened, Billy, it really took me off course. And these are the things I know you work on talking openly. We talk about depression and life and why we make choices. And you've asked me in this interview so many times, why did you make this choice? Sometimes it's not always in our control and sometimes it is. And this is important that the world maybe dialogue better to understand why they have meetings or do this or that. So people realize there are like minded and there is help. So for me, I knew darn well who you were, but unable to function because my job was how do I keep my mother alive?

• 1:26:07Speaker 01

  How do I and on that journey? And 1979, I was doing the movie Wild Horse Hank in Canada. I've now shared with you that I was arrested for drugs. Yes, Neil Giraldo was my boyfriend. Not yet. We, he was my best friend and would have remained so. But I was hospitalized for an ulcerated intestine. Stress, stress. I didn't drink. Yeah, you party little, but I mean, I wasn't a drinker. I was stressed and scared.

• 1:26:51Speaker 01

  So cut two years later.

• 1:26:58Speaker 01

  That is something that has been a constant in my life is my intestines. You're fat. My intestines hurt. How do you, doctors say, well, you know, I don't really know what to tell you. I wasn't, thank God, I didn't have any pill popping doctors. That was sort of going by the wayside, you know, in our industry. But there was no information. Everybody would say, we don't know. And that doctor said, I don't know how to help you.

• 1:27:30Speaker 01

  You have to figure out how to eat and you have to eliminate your stress or you will die. That was at nineteen.

• 1:27:37Billy Corgan?

  Wow.

• 1:27:38Speaker 01

  So I tried to figure food out. Nobody was out except Jack LaLanne.

• 1:27:44Billy Corgan?

  Yeah.

• 1:27:45Speaker 01

  So that's where the vegetarian came in. Then you find out you're lactose intolerant. So that's how I cut out.

• 1:27:51Billy Corgan?

  Did you ever go to the Source Family Restaurant out here?

• 1:27:53Speaker 01

  The where?

• 1:27:54Billy Corgan?

  The Source Family Restaurant?

• 1:27:55Speaker 01

  Oh, gosh, that's a long time ago. Wow. Yeah, but.

• 1:27:59Billy Corgan?

  It was on Sunset. That was the first vegan restaurant in California. And it was run by Father Yod, who was a spiritual guru type who had a rock band.

• 1:28:11Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:28:11Billy Corgan?

  Called Jehovah Thirteen. So I wonder if he interacted with that world.

• 1:28:15Speaker 01

  Not really. No, not really. I think I was off doing other things. But so that's how that started. Uh, then I met up with, you know, Farm Sanctuary, the farming of animals and did their Thanksgiving. Um, I worked with Chris DeRose at Last Chance for Animals. My, my dog was stolen. While I was making, uh, doing a play out here at the Roxy Theater, which had done shows like, uh, Rocky Horror Picture Show with Tim Curry. Big, huge. These were events that were happening. Now they're doing, um, uh, uh, uh, Not Run For Your Wife. That was the play I did with Pat Paulson and Marie Langston.

• 1:28:56Speaker 01

  Um, up in, um, in, in San Francisco when mom was diagnosed. Um, I was out of my mind. Trying to find answers and so on. But I was doing a play at the Roxy Theater and, um, somebody stole my dog, my Jack Russell Shiba. I went all over the news begging for my dog back. I went as much as the inquire. I did anything. I never got her back. It's what changed my life forever. And that is why, so I started on, um, pet theft awareness with Last Chance for Animals. They were stealing pets, selling them into medical research. Genetically doesn't cross over. We are still doing it. It's been brought to my attention.

• 1:29:39Speaker 01

  The reason we have the Beagle Freedom Project here in Los Angeles. There's another one in Detroit and another in Baltimore. And we must stop. There is no point to operating on beagles when it does not genetically cross over to humans in any way. It is all about money and corruption and politics. And it needs to stop. So there was that. Then years later, and I'm like, I'm gonna write this book. Like some writing and somebody from Tipi Hedren Shambala, The Lions and Tigers. She has her, her property is not too far from where I am at with the dogs. And they said, you need help with the book? I said, oh, yes, please. I don't know what I'm doing. They're like, oh, yeah, we need to publish.

• 1:30:22Speaker 01

  And that's how this book came about. And as I was writing it, Billy, I've never cried so much in all my life. I never was so smack in my face. Wait a minute. This is where I know about acid rain. I know about chemical farming. I know all of this. And this is what's getting into our food, our water, causing children cancer. Where all this comes from? That's my world. I'm a tree hugger.

• 1:30:51Speaker 01

  And then I saw how they, you know, are, are, are processing our food. And I said, oh, hell, no. That's not who I am. It's not what I want to be. I'm sorry, the pain and suffering not acceptable. That's why we're vegans. And if people just look online, read some articles for yourself and understand health to your family and health to you. So that was why and where that comes from. And then, um, as, as, as time has gone on, I, you know, I went back to work. I've done, you know, I did Repossessed with Leslie Nielsen. I really encourage people with as serious as this interview, but knowing that I, if I pursued a career, Billy, it would have been comedy. Lucille Ball, my idol.

• 1:31:36Speaker 01

  That was my idol. And so I have that side in the mischief. And then I've got the other side, which is, you know, as an actor, you learn to be anything. Uh huh. The chameleons, but who are you really? So at least I know who I am, but I love to work and I love to play. And so I would have followed a Hollywood, a comedy career. But because it was starting to open up that you could do both and do everything. And I was starting to work. I decided I was going to write, produce, direct. That's what I wanted to do. Billy Friedkin, you know, all these people remain in my life. And that's the path you're supposed to take.

• 1:32:18Speaker 01

  Ron Howard being the ultimate example. And so I wanted to put good in the world. You know, I was a Disney girl. I was Wild Kingdom and Bambi and Flipper and Gentleman. And so that's really who I saw. So I'm going to be in the business. Maybe I'm meant to do something, put back something good.

• 1:32:43Billy Corgan?

  So that's how you found the balance of the work.

• 1:32:46Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:32:47Billy Corgan?

  Your advocacy, happiness.

• 1:32:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:32:50Billy Corgan?

  Is that accurate?

• 1:32:51Speaker 01

  Yeah. And I realized I could do something. And I realized, boy, this is a challenge. It's a whole lot harder than Hollywood's hard. This is harder.

• 1:33:01Billy Corgan?

  Why is it harder?

• 1:33:03Speaker 01

  Because a lot of people aren't listening. A lot of people are very selfish. A lot of people just don't care and they don't see the abuse. So to go, go ahead.

• 1:33:11Billy Corgan?

  Oh, please.

• 1:33:12Speaker 01

  To go back, let's talk about you for a second.

• 1:33:14Billy Corgan?

  Sure.

• 1:33:14Speaker 01

  When you, everybody is very aware of your life and that you were very challenged as a teen, a child. And for that, I'm sorry.

• 1:33:24Billy Corgan?

  Thank you.

• 1:33:24Speaker 01

  I acknowledge and I understand. When I think of the connection, you at some point found me. I was the most famous person. So when I meet people that say, you changed my life. You affected my life. That's a gift, Billy. That's a gift if I've done something good through all the hardship, the challenges.

• 1:33:46Billy Corgan?

  Yeah, I get what you're saying, yeah.

• 1:33:48Speaker 01

  And so I was in your psyche. You knew me. I wasn't really doing anything wrong. And those, most people knew that.

• 1:33:59Billy Corgan?

  Can I tell you something funny as long as we're talking about it?

• 1:34:01Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:34:03Billy Corgan?

  As I said earlier in this nice chat we've had,

• 1:34:08Billy Corgan?

  I remember kids talking about you at school. And it was the typical stuff you'd expect in America in the seventies, you know.

• 1:34:14Speaker 01

  Girl stuff.

• 1:34:15Billy Corgan?

  Well, it was.

• 1:34:16Speaker 01

  Boy, boy stuff.

• 1:34:17Billy Corgan?

  Well, what was funny for me is, is we all have our own personal sort of story, right, of how things happen. And my family on both sides is fairly Gothic and is not sort of scared of talking about things that are sort of outside the mainstream American culture, particularly in the 1970s. So I had the experience on one hand of, of

• 1:34:44Billy Corgan?

  seeing what was happening to you from the outside.

• 1:34:48Billy Corgan?

  The way people spoke about you, you know, caricatured you. And obviously, you know, there's all the typical memes of, of, of you and the exorcist, you know, the, the spinning head stuff, you know? So there's that.

• 1:35:02Billy Corgan?

  My mother was committed when I was four to an insane asylum. So I dealt with madness and, you know, as, as has been historically documented, there's a very thin line between possession and madness. In fact, some people wonder if historical possession was madness or the other way around. Certainly, my mother talked openly when she was disabled about, you know, it's like forms of possession. And again, no one really is quite totally sure about what that actually looks like, right? You know, I'm saying possession or madness or both.

• 1:35:33Speaker 01

  Correct.

• 1:35:34Billy Corgan?

  Okay, so I'd already experienced someone in the throes of possession. I'd witnessed it. I'd had my own supernatural experiences and then here I'm watching people talk about you, you know, in a sort of outward way, you know, you, you become the avatar of what's spooky.

• 1:35:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:35:54Billy Corgan?

  And, and there weren't many spooky movies back then like there are now. Now there's a zillion spooky movies.

• 1:36:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, thank.

• 1:36:01Billy Corgan?

  But, but, right. But back then it was very novel and it was a huge book and it was a huge movie. So it was, it was at the center of American culture. And then on top of it all, right? It's like, I'm a young man. It's like, wow, she's really pretty. So it's like a weird mixture of memory of thinking this person's attractive and interesting. You always struck me as interesting person, as a person. And, and then it's all sort of mixed up in your mind, you know, the teen mind or the young person's mind. So, so, so when you're talking about like, you know, you being somewhere in the ether of my, of my life and my experience, it's kind of funny because my sense of you was always positive, no matter what anybody

• 1:36:42Billy Corgan?

  said. And the way I would say musician to musician, and I think you are a musician, is I thought you were cool. The bullshit of it all didn't mean as much to me as I thought you were cool above it. And I found this clip that I found, I found really interesting today and, and getting ready to talk to you. You're on What's My Line? I think you're 14 years old. And at the end of, at the end of the thing, they, you know, they ask you kind of the typical kind of stuff and you're being very much yourself, you know, your, your natural personality. And at the end, they say, is there anything you want to do or something like that? And you say, I would like to help animals. 14 years old.

• 1:37:22Speaker 01

  You can document my, my life?

• 1:37:24Billy Corgan?

  Right there. And I thought, I thought, how cool is it that even at that age, you're like, no, this is what I really care about.

• 1:37:31Speaker 01

  Isn't it? Cause that clip came to my attention recently too. And I said, you can document this. You know, nobody can know exactly. They weren't there when I was six and seven going to be doctor to the animals. You can see it in every single interview. I've never strayed. Like I have not changed. But one of the things I would like to do, may I just go for it? Okay. So to continue about that correlation between being brought to your, to your young mind and being one of the most famous people. I too, like you, we get rebellious. My rebellion.

• 1:38:12Billy Corgan?

  You rebellious?

• 1:38:15Speaker 01

  According to press, I was really

• 1:38:18Billy Corgan?

  According to People Magazine.

• 1:38:19Speaker 01

  Yeah. See what I mean? But I'm one of the first people that got the second hole in my ear, the third hole in my ear. Oh my God. Anyway, I don't wear any Jordan anymore. That's because when you work with animals, you do not want to be ripped. You don't want anything ripped. I'm the real deal. I'm in it, working with animals. So what I wanted to say was that I realized that your life and my life connected with, if you're born innocent, we were both born innocent. And I realized years later, wait a minute, the animals were born innocent. And so that is why I fight for them, for their rights.

• 1:39:01Speaker 01

  And I'm asking the world to join me and make this world more compassionate. So the movie, it connects to my movie. It connects to all of us. So that is what I'm doing. I'm trying to collect a million followers. I have them, but I need them to go to my site. Linda Blair, World Heart, Linda Blair WF, that is where I post. I want to make the world better and we need the politicians and everyone to know this is serious.

• 1:39:29Billy Corgan?

  Do you feel compelled because you feel they, are you speaking for the voiceless? Or like, what is the through line for you?

• 1:39:35Speaker 01

  Well, I wanted to be the doctor. I wanted to be a veterinarian and I could never get the time to go back to school and that really upset me. So I realized with animal welfare, Billy, I can work and save a whole lot more animals around the world.

• 1:39:50Billy Corgan?

  I see.

• 1:39:51Speaker 01

  And I'm very, very connected. I'm holistic, body, soul, and my veterinarian care until you, where you need to have. And how we're going to tie this in, I have a little bitty surprise.

• 1:40:02Billy Corgan?

  Okay.

• 1:40:03Speaker 01

  And then I'm going to tell you something that is really important that I need the public to know.

• 1:40:07Billy Corgan?

  Sure.

• 1:40:08Speaker 01

  So I'm going to ask, oh, wait, do I hear bells? Do I hear something coming on to the set?

• 1:40:19Billy Corgan?

  Goodness gracious.

• 1:40:20Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 1:40:23Speaker 01

  Santa Claus.

• 1:40:24Billy Corgan?

  Santa, come stand here so we can see you.

• 1:40:27Speaker 03

  I did not expect to see Sally Field and Joe Rogan today. Now, wait a minute, Santa Claus.

• 1:40:34Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:40:35Speaker 03

  Christopher.

• 1:40:35Speaker 01

  Santa Claus.

• 1:40:36Speaker 03

  I'm very old. Hold on, hold on. I got the puppy for you. But, but I realize, because I'm seventeen hundred years old, you know.

• 1:40:44Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:40:44Speaker 03

  Good luck, lady. Could you hold your puppy?

• 1:40:46Speaker 01

  Oh, yes. Oh, Santa Claus, you need your glasses. That's very, very true.

• 1:40:50Speaker 03

  Hold on.

• 1:40:50Speaker 01

  Very, very true.

• 1:40:51Billy Corgan?

  Sally Field, you gotta watch your microphone.

• 1:40:52Speaker 03

  Little Linda Blair. So sorry, young lady. Oh, goodness. Billy, Billy Corgan, Billy, Billy Corgan. I am so sorry. I need my glasses, you see.

• 1:41:04Speaker 01

  Oh, yes, you do, Santa Claus.

• 1:41:06Speaker 03

  I brought you a puppy.

• 1:41:07Speaker 01

  Yes, but where did we get this puppy, Santa Claus? Shall I take over from here? How you help me?

• 1:41:13Speaker 03

  You take the puppy and you tell the story.

• 1:41:16Speaker 01

  Billy, this puppy I just pulled from the desert.

• 1:41:19Speaker 03

  Hmm.

• 1:41:20Speaker 01

  This dog was dumped in the desert. And we just pulled fifty dogs out of the desert on Saturday. This is what's happening.

• 1:41:26Billy Corgan?

  Are people just dumping dogs in the desert?

• 1:41:28Speaker 01

  So this little baby, I wanted everybody to see, was left to fend for himself with his siblings. Along with Chihuahuas, we got shepherd mom and newborn puppies. No idea. I know they're dumping. We got trappers out there. This is all over California. But this is, I wanted people to understand when we talk about desert and dumping. Now, we bathed this little sweetheart. And, um, just so you know, guess its name, Billy?

• 1:41:59Speaker 03

  Um, we're announcing to the world today, Jane.

• 1:42:02Speaker 01

  What's name is, is it Billy? Did we name the Billy after Billy?

• 1:42:08Billy Corgan?

  Billy, Billy Friedkin, or?

• 1:42:14Billy Corgan?

  Watch your mic here, just so you know. There you go.

• 1:42:16Speaker 01

  Do you like puppies?

• 1:42:17Billy Corgan?

  I do like puppies, but don't give me a dog, please.

• 1:42:19Speaker 01

  You're not giving, being given your dog. Will you hold the puppy?

• 1:42:22Billy Corgan?

  Sure, yeah.

• 1:42:23Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:42:24Billy Corgan?

  If the, if the dog is okay with it, come here, come here precious, come here, I got you.

• 1:42:28Speaker 01

  You gotta put your hands on it to understand it.

• 1:42:30Speaker 03

  Four-legged, four-legged.

• 1:42:32Billy Corgan?

  We are, you know.

• 1:42:33Speaker 01

  I am, I am naming this puppy after you, by the way.

• 1:42:36Billy Corgan?

  At home, you know, we have, we work with Paws Chicago.

• 1:42:38Speaker 01

  I know you do.

• 1:42:39Billy Corgan?

  Uh, which is a no kill shelter for people that don't know.

• 1:42:41Speaker 01

  And thank you, and thank you.

• 1:42:42Billy Corgan?

  Incredible organization. And, uh, and so we have, uh, one rescue dog that was from a puppy mill situation, a French Bulldog Colette. And then we have three kitty, rescue kitties.

• 1:42:54Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:42:55Billy Corgan?

  Angel Face, Diamond Baby, and Goldie. So our home is blessed with rescue animals and I can't.

• 1:43:00Speaker 01

  No animals.

• 1:43:01Billy Corgan?

  With you, let me finish, cause I, I, cause I, I wanna say something because we're talking about things that are close to our heart. There's no greater thing you can do, uh, in this world, uh, to, to, to find love and affection than to, uh, save a rescue animal.

• 1:43:16Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:43:16Billy Corgan?

  It's, it's the, I think it's one of the highest callings that we have. Obviously, you have to take care of our human family, of course. But, um, the, the blessings in our life from, from bringing rescue animals in our home. It's just, it's, it's magical. And you know, I'm not telling you anything you don't know, you know, but I wanna share that with you.

• 1:43:32Speaker 01

  So I have one of the largest rescues. What happened was I was out here working for, um, Fox Family Channel, doing Scariest Places on Earth, which everybody loved, number one show. I am back. You're asking where the heck do I, you know, I'm doing this and any actor and musician entertainer does. So I'm doing Fox Family Channel. Now I'm gonna do a dramatic, uh, comedy. I told you I was gonna produce for, and I had scripts around town and I was gonna do a drama comedy. And then suddenly they sold overnight. With that said, the next thing I know, I'm up in Sacramento fighting the breed ban. What is a breed ban? They were gonna ban pit bulls, German Shepherds, Rottweilers, it, the list went on. I fought that, Billy, I won. I couldn't stop.

• 1:44:14Billy Corgan?

  For those, for those who know, cause obviously it's, it's a somewhat controversial subject. Well, what, what is your argument for not banning breeds?

• 1:44:22Speaker 01

  Billy, I need to go further than this for a second. Because Santa Claus brought.

• 1:44:29Speaker 01

  Oh, hello, Santa.

• 1:44:30Billy Corgan?

  Does Santa have a kitty in his, uh, back pocket?

• 1:44:32Speaker 01

  No, so.

• 1:44:35Speaker 01

  After I did that, Hurricane Katrina happened and I was brought in to rescue the remaining animals. It changed my life forever and gave me a really bad form of PTSD. It was bad. I couldn't do anything to do with Louisiana for a long time. So I come to California. I hand drive. I could buy an old motorhome. I'm driving the dogs out of there. And I get back to California, I realize I need to buy a property. That's what I'm doing up in the mountains. But in recent years, as hard as I work, so about 18 years into it, two years ago, I don't feel well. I do a show called Masked Singer. So they came to me and I said, I can't sing anymore.

• 1:45:19Speaker 01

  And they said, oh, no, no, we'll take care of you. So Dr. Nasari, he says, Lynda, you're allergic to the desert. You have a fungal infection and you're a polyp. I can't do anything. You gotta go. So I've been looking to move for my health for a very long time. And that is the intention. But along with it, Billy has started feeling really bad and getting sicker and sicker. And my doctors, oh, you have the flu. Oh, you have the flu. Oh, you have the flu. I go to UCLA and they did 28 tests, couldn't define. They knew it was autoimmune. So cut to what happened. I ended up in the hospital, March 28th, 2023. People wondered, where did I go?

• 1:46:03Speaker 01

  My thyroid was overdosed through medicine. Nobody listened to me. And I went through what is called a thyroid storm, which nearly kills you. I had pneumonia and was sepsis. As you know, that will kill you. And in one minute, to wrap up, to be challenged with a life-threatening situation. There are many actresses that are coming out now and saying that they have Graves' disease. I have Graves' disease and it attacks your immune system. I have lost my hair. I'm growing it back. Lost everything. I went down to 91 pounds.

• 1:46:45Speaker 01

  The challenge to recover, and I'm still in it, is extreme. I have many things I have to fight for every day. But to fight for their lives on top of it all. This has been, I can't stop who I am, Billy, I can't. And so to pull a little baby like this out of the desert, no food, no water, no nothing. His siblings are in the hospital right now because they found some detergent. I'm not allowed to mention the name. I cannot mention the doctor that caused this situation to happen. But I want to be very clear that you don't get to just not pay attention to us. In this world, there's so many people not receiving the medical care they need. And autoimmune, many people have, and there's not enough information on it.

• 1:47:29Billy Corgan?

  True.

• 1:47:30Speaker 01

  And I am, I'm in it. And I need all the support I can get to help our friends and to make the world a better place. And it's all through Linda Blair World Heart Foundation, lindablairworldheart.org. Let's just stop human and animal abuse and make the world a better place.

• 1:47:48Billy Corgan?

  So, am I getting the message that you're talking about something very personal and private? But part of your reason for, or maybe most of your reason for doing this because you want people to pay attention to this? Is that my following you?

• 1:48:01Speaker 01

  I have not been able to be in public, you're the first time that I'm talking about this. But I trusted you.

• 1:48:08Billy Corgan?

  Thank you.

• 1:48:08Speaker 01

  And all of our friends to understand.

• 1:48:10Billy Corgan?

  Well, we're in the right place, see?

• 1:48:12Speaker 01

  And that was really hard, Billy. Recovery is really, really hard.

• 1:48:16Billy Corgan?

  Sure.

• 1:48:16Speaker 01

  I'm lucky I don't have an addiction. I'm not dealing with alcohol.

• 1:48:21Billy Corgan?

  Well, you have an addiction, it's called puppy love.

• 1:48:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:48:24Billy Corgan?

  I made Santa laugh. I made Santa laugh. Santa, we're hitting a hard break here, we gotta get out of here.

• 1:48:31Speaker 03

  Let me take the puppy.

• 1:48:33Billy Corgan?

  Oh, I hate to, I hate to give him up.

• 1:48:35Speaker 03

  Little Billy, give me the puppy.

• 1:48:37Billy Corgan?

  There you go, what a sweet doggy.

• 1:48:39Speaker 01

  But I wanted people to see.

• 1:48:41Speaker 03

  Come on, little Billy.

• 1:48:43Speaker 01

  This is what, they need our help.

• 1:48:47Billy Corgan?

  I'm with you 100%.

• 1:48:48Speaker 01

  I know you are. I know you are.

• 1:48:50Speaker 03

  I'm gonna step away now. Little Billy must go.

• 1:48:52Billy Corgan?

  No, Santa stay, cuz it

• 1:48:54Speaker 01

  We're gonna wrap it up.

• 1:48:55Billy Corgan?

  We're wrapping it up here, Santa.

• 1:48:56Speaker 01

  Billy?

• 1:48:56Billy Corgan?

  I know you're used to being in charge, Santa, but

• 1:48:58Speaker 01

  Billy will be up for adoption as soon as he's cleared on his health check and his siblings. And we have shepherds and all kinds, but that is what I needed. Everybody this holiday season, please, we need your help. Give to your local charity, rescue, volunteer. I promise, your person, if you're going through something, an angel will be there. They will help give you the guidance. And it's like friends, the friendship that we have to give to the world and make it just a little better place through our truth.

• 1:49:28Billy Corgan?

  Yeah, as I, I'll end here for, for our brothers and sisters listening.

• 1:49:34Billy Corgan?

  Consider adopting a rescue pet.

• 1:49:36Speaker 01

  Oh, please.

• 1:49:37Billy Corgan?

  Make the world a better place.

• 1:49:38Speaker 01

  Yes. Volunteer, foster, anything through the holidays. Help us to get to this place.

• 1:49:43Billy Corgan?

  See, Posh Chicago is all volunteer.

• 1:49:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:49:45Billy Corgan?

  All volunteer.

• 1:49:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, some are and some aren't.

• 1:49:47Billy Corgan?

  And they just opened recently, they just opened a, a farm for the, for the bigger dogs because they can't get adopted out of the city. So now they've created a suburban rescue center for the bigger dogs.

• 1:50:00Speaker 01

  And this is what we need is to all of us to keep expanding and rescue. It shouldn't have to be happening, but God bless and please, we're counting on you all to help, all of us to help them. We can do this together.

• 1:50:12Billy Corgan?

  Well, we don't, well, actually, this is gonna air really soon, right? So, so merry Christmas to everybody and you too.

• 1:50:17Speaker 01

  It is, but we are non-denominational, so it is happy holidays to all.

• 1:50:22Billy Corgan?

  Oh, okay.

• 1:50:23Speaker 01

  Be well.

• 1:50:23Billy Corgan?

  That was very LA what you just did. You switched it from merry Christmas to happy holidays.

• 1:50:27Speaker 01

  No, that's the world right now, Billy.

• 1:50:29Billy Corgan?

  I'm just joking.

• 1:50:30Speaker 01

  Billy, the world is a little difficult, right?

• 1:50:33Billy Corgan?

  Okay, thank you, Linda.

• 1:50:35Speaker 01

  Thank you, Billy.

• 1:50:36Speaker 03

  You're welcome, little Billy.

• 1:50:44Speaker 04

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• 1:51:08Speaker 04

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