‘This camera needs to be higher,’ Gina Gershon tells me with authority.
She is sitting in front of said camera in the Daily Mail studio, lights blazing, about to embark on an interview aimed at promoting her upcoming memoir, AlphaPussy: How I Survived the Valley and Learned to Love My Boobs, which is published on March 3.
And, if anyone had any doubt as to the accuracy of that self-descriptive title, her confident arrival on set removes it. Gershon has four decades of experience in front of the camera and she’s not going to let you forget it.
The actress came up with the decidedly NSFW title when she began to realize that the technique she used to pull rank with her pet cats worked just as well with humans, particularly overbearing men.
Gershon explained: ‘The From saying no to intimacy coordinators, to a defense of Woody Allen: GINA GERSHON lays it all out in her most unapologetic interview yet came from being the alpha male, the “AlphaP***y” with my cats. I made up this game that I would stare at them, and they would stare at me. You have to keep eye contact, because if you don’t, they’ll jump on you. But if you keep looking and looking, at some point, they’ll roll on their back, and you become the Alpha.’
This assertive approach is the lifeblood of Gershon’s dishy new book. It’s a wild romp through the actress’s childhood and coming-of-age in the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s, through her early years as an actor in New York and Hollywood, to starring alongside Tom Cruise in Cocktail in 1988 and of course, her turn as dancer Cristal Connors in the notorious 1995 film, Showgirls.
Throughout the book, Gershon chronicles not just her many adventures, but how she’s spent her life fighting to live on her terms. Gershon is blunt – if you blink, ‘You’re either the victim or you’re victimized.’
It’s an interesting assertion, this suggestion that victimhood is some sort of choice or something that can be rejected, given her infamous stance on the director Woody Allen, but more of that later.
Gershon has four decades of experience in front of the camera and she’s not going to let you forget it
Gershon (left) and Elizabeth Berkley (right) starred in the much-maligned 1995 film Showgirls
Gershon’s refusal to be a victim began at an early age. As a young girl growing up in the Valley during the heyday of the porn industry, she writes of narrowly avoiding sexual predators on multiple occasions by relying on her instincts.
Later, during puberty, she recalls how she bristled against being undermined because of her developing body and striking looks. It’s something that, she says, happened repeatedly throughout her career, as people would underestimate her or worse, try to take advantage of her, due to her appearance.
‘I was a tomboy and then all of a sudden, I grew boobs and people’s reactions to me changed,’ Gershon said. ‘I almost found myself getting resentful because they would treat me like an idiot…do not underestimate me just because I’m wearing a C cup!’
Gershon is quick to note that many of her more adventurous stories – like when she attended a party at the Playboy Mansion when she was 15 years old or spent a summer as a college student working as a cocktail waitress at Chippendale’s – could have had ugly or dangerous outcomes.
And while her ability to stand up for herself might be seen as empowering now, in retrospect, she says it was about survival.
‘I don’t think I was confident, I think I was scared,’ she admitted. ‘I got lucky. There’s a lot of women who don’t get lucky. My heart goes out to them, and I really hope they get the justice they deserve.’
Scared or not, since Gershon’s acting career began in the 80s, she’s marched to the beat of her own drum.
Cocktail was an early break and included her first ever love scene with a young Tom Cruise when the two improvised kissing one another.
‘Tom was so protective and safe, and he made me feel so comfortable,’ Gershon said.
When I point out how fortunate that was and that today the scene would probably have an intimacy coordinator, Gershon reacts with horror: ‘I’ve never used an intimacy coordinator.
‘I don’t think I want to use it because love seems really specific. Maybe I’ve just been lucky, but I just work it out with my partner. It just depends on the people and the situation.
The last movie I did, someone said, “Do you need an intimacy coordinator?” I was like, “No!” To me, it was almost intrusive.’
‘I was a tomboy and then all of a sudden, I grew boobs and people’s reactions to me changed’
Gershon in a scene from Cocktail with Bryan Brown (left) and Tom Cruise (center)
Since Gershon’s acting career began in the 80s, she’s marched to the beat of her own drum
Gershon, it seems, is very clear on what she is and is not comfortable with.
As a student at New York University, she turned down Prince’s offer to be in Purple Rain because she didn’t feel like the role, especially its sex scene, were aligned with her goals as an actor.
She was also unnerved by what she felt was the singer’s attempt to size up how he could mold her into his vision for the part.
‘I just know that when Prince was really rearranging my molecules, telling me how he thought I should be called “Ghee-na,”’ Gershon said. ‘I never felt someone look at me that way. It made me uncomfortable even though I couldn’t articulate it. It was like I almost felt these invisible ropes. I don’t like to be controlled.’
Gershon’s instincts have served her well in the long run, even if at the time, it may have seemed unwise. Case in point? Her decision to take on the role of Corky, a butch plumber, in the 1996 queer neo-noir film, Bound.
Gershon was told by her representation that they would drop her if she took the part.
‘They were like, “You do this movie, we can’t represent you and you’ll ruin your career,”’ she said. ‘I really, truly didn’t understand why. Because I was playing a lesbian? The part was bigger than that. I said, ‘I’m doing it.”’
Two decades later, the film has become a cult classic as well as one of Gershon’s most beloved films to date.
While the memoir is a study in Gershon’s plucky resilience, it also provides a whirlwind tour through the high-profile friendships and connections that Gershon has made during four decades in the business.
She goes out dancing as a teen with Jodie Foster, boxes with Bob Dylan, counts Lou Reed’s wife, artist Laurie Anderson as a good friend and jams with a teenage Lenny Kravitz while they are both students at Beverly Hills High.
Her uncle is the composer Jack Elliot, and her cousin is talent manager Benny Medina, whose adoption by Elliot was the real-life inspiration for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Gershon’s instincts have served her well in the long run, even if at the time, it may have seemed unwise. Case in point? Her decision to take on the role of Corky, a butch plumber in Bound
Gershon was told by her representation that they would drop her if she took the part
Sharon Stone was briefly a cousin by marriage, after she married Gershon’s maternal relative, Phil Bronstein. Stone encouraged Gershon to lie about her age, cautioning her that Hollywood could be unforgiving to women as they aged.
She wasn’t sure about Stone’s advice at the time, but she followed it later. To this day Gershon will not confirm her age when asked, pointing out the ageism that women face in show business and beyond.
She said: ‘I find that really sexist and it’s really rude, especially if you’re an actress, you know, you’re supposed to be able to play anything. It could hurt you from getting jobs.’
Gershon’s memoir is a dishy romp through four decades of showbiz
The decision to take a role in Showgirls very nearly did that. Truth be told the infamy of the movie, which was critically panned on its release in 1995, has overshadowed much of Gershon’s prolific career, especially her work in television and theatre.
Filming was fraught, with Gershon remembering director Paul Verhoeven as controlling and antagonistic towards her, so much so that, one day, she threw a chair at him in the makeup trailer. Gershon admitted: ‘As soon as it came out, I just wanted to get so far away from it.’
But, over the years, even Showgirls has had a rehabilitation – becoming something of a camp, cult classic with Gershon’s character a firm fan favorite.
Gershon said: ‘I look at it now, and especially in the context of [Verhoeven’s’] other work, I think he was trying to make a statement. He’s making a comment about how ugly America is capitalism and power and power dynamics.
‘You have the big star who brutally raped this poor innocent girl and because this guy has so much power, no one’s going to do anything. There’s no comeuppance, there’s no accountability. I guess some things haven’t changed, but they need to change.
Speaking in a post #MeToo era that calls for ‘accountability’ and ‘change’ cannot pass without reference to a man accused of much, and of whom Gershon is a vocal supporter.
The infamy Showgirls, which was critically panned on its release in 1995, has overshadowed much of Gershon’s prolific career
Gershon (left) starred opposite Elizabeth Berkley (right) in the 1995 camp classic
In 2020, she starred in Woody Allen’s film, Rifkin’s Festival, despite resurfaced allegations that he sexually abused his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, when Farrow was a child.
When asked at the time why she wanted to work with Allen, Gershon said it was because he was ‘a genius.’
In an interview with WGN News, Gershon made the case that, ‘It serves no one to keep great artists from working, even the alleged victims.’
Given the recent release of more of the Epstein files that link Allen with the notorious pedophile, I ask Gershon if she has reconsidered her view of the filmmaker.
‘I’ll say this. I mean, the Epstein stuff is new,’ Gershon said. ‘To this day, I think that Woody is innocent of molesting his own daughter and all the things that he was being charged for.
‘I’m a huge fan of Woody Allen and I was really honored and excited to work with him. But I did a lot of research and what I found – I would still work with him today.
‘To be honest, I talked to him a lot about that stuff and I just don’t buy it. I’m a really firm believer, just because I have been in these situations to a certain degree, you can’t just throw someone under a bus just because there’s a one-sided opinion piece written or filmed about someone or said.
‘We all read the headlines. We don’t really do a deep dive. And I think that’s a real shame, especially when it comes to someone’s career and who they are.
‘I personally find it important to do the work and to really investigate myself and then I can make an educated decision.
‘And that’s what I did. I’m really happy. And I only had the greatest experience.’
AlphaPussy: How I Survived the Valley and Learned to Love My Boobs by Gina Gershon is published by Akashic Books, March 3
