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Right. The marriage broke up over a drinking problem, and like all great chicks, she comes home. She commutes to New York, teaches dancing at Arthur Murray’s and, taking a shot on her own, drives to California with her kids . . . where she works in an aircraft factory, teaching herself to be a secretary. I come out to California and veer out on my own. She becomes an assistant buyer at J.C. Penney’s, gets cancer and passes on.

June and I had so much in common. We both fought hard. It didn’t do her any good not to tell me, but she didn’t because you never know how I would have reacted when I was younger. I got a job in Mexico when June was dying. First time with a studio, a lot of weeks. Sandra was pregnant with Jennifer, and June was in a terminal state. She looked me right in the eye and said, “Shall I wait?” In other words, “Shall I try and fight this through?” And I said no.

I’m very contra my constituency in terms of abortion because I’m positively against it. I don’t have the right to any other view. My only emotion is gratitude, literally, for my life. [If June and Ethel had been] of less character, I would never have gotten to live. These women gave me the gift of life. It’s a feminist narrative in the very pure form. They trained me great, those ladies. I still, to this day, have never borrowed a nickel from anybody and never felt like I couldn’t take care of myself. They made the imperative of my self-sufficiency obvious.

You genuinely like women, don’t you?

Yeah, I genuinely do. I prefer the company of women, and I have deep respect for them. I’m buzzed by the female mystique. I always tell young men there are three rules: They hate us, we hate them; they’re stronger, they’re smarter; and, most important, they don’t play fair.

What attracts you to a woman? You once said you like women who are alluring but unobtainable.

It’s not categorizable. The heaviest prejudice to deal with is the beautiful woman. I’d like to say, “No, it doesn’t matter whether somebody’s beautiful or not,” but whatever I find beautiful is what I’m attracted to. As for the other, I’d like to have all the women I’m attracted to still with me. I don’t want them unattainable. I don’t even want them unavailable!

Do you think you’re sexy?

I know I’m sexy to some people. In the moment-to-moment thing, I always assume that my superstructural identity is working against me with women. It helps you because they know about you, and women like to be involved with known people. But in the case of my specific fantasy, it works against me. I find myself apologizing for being a film star if I’m interested in a person socially.

You’ve said that in all your major relationships, you were the one who got left.

In all cases but one in my life, that’s true. But, again, it’s like every male: You’re not sure that you’re not driving them away because you don’t know how to leave them.

Incidentally, have you ever been in therapy?

My therapy was Reichian, which is all sexual.

Did you do the whole Reichian shot, taking off your clothes and getting analyzed in the nude?

Uh-hum. It didn’t take any rationalization. It worked with me like this [snaps fingers].

You once said about acting, “You have to determine, what is your sexuality in this scene? Everything else comes from that.” The sexual part of acting is very important to you, isn’t it?

It’s the key. The total key. Actually, sex is my favorite subject. But it’s scary for me to talk about because of Anjelica. It’s like she says: “How would you feel if I were sitting down with some interviewer, telling him all I felt about sex and fucking. You know you’d flip out.” And a certain part of me says, “You’re absolutely right, I would.” But that’s the dichotomy. I yearn for honesty in life. As an artist, I yearn for the clear moment. I would tell anybody any living thing about me, and there’s a lot of stuff that ain’t great.

You realize you have a reputation as a man who indulges in a slew of drugs. Is that true?

A slew of