Forget Teri Hatcher and Alyssa Milano. Cindy Margolis holds the very '90s distinction of being the most downloaded woman on the Web. Just ask the folks at the Guinness Book of World Records.
Indeed, Margolis has come a long way since her days as a Bob Barker babe on The Price Is Right. The Valley born-and-bred gal had always dreamed of being a model, but after one too many doors slammed in her face, she took matters into her own hands.
She started her own greeting-card company, featuring her puss on every card, and then graduated to pinup calendars. But her real break came when Extra decided to cover the shoot of her 90th poster, putting her pictures on the Internet. Success came literally overnight: The next day, America Online called to tell her she'd broken all records, receiving 70,000 downloads in a 24-hour period.
Well, this model's no dummy, and before long, she launched cindymargolis.com, where she keeps in touch with her 60-plus million fans.
Named one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People and endowed with that Guinness World Record, Margolis is now primed to tackle TV. She's got a late-night show with CBS in the works, but first she puts her best foot forward as a fairy godmother of sorts in six specials for E!'s In Your Dreams with Cindy Margolis, where she takes Internet fans--or cyberbuddies as she calls them--and sets out to make their Hollywood dreams come true.
From a wannabe actress to an aspiring mother-daughter modeling team, she's got her work cut out...
So, what's the secret to your appeal?
How many emails do you get a day?
Have you ever had a problem with cyberstalkers?
There are 120,000 illegal, unofficial Cindy Margolis sites. Most of them are fan sites, and I love that. But it's those X-rated sites that dupe my fans into paying to see completely fake naked images. I cannot have that--especially for my young fans. The money that we raise from the lawsuits goes to fight breast cancer.
Before you married Jerry's Famous Deli owner Guy Starkman, did you get lots of online proposals?
Were your fans disappointed when you tied the knot?
How did you meet Guy?
You do all this modeling, yet you love to eat. I heard that you've had this body since you were in the sixth grade. Do you have to work at it?
So what do you do in it? Walk up and down the stairs?
How did you feel when your exercise videos were pulled from QVC after the Howard Stern appearance, where you and a friend stripped down?
But Stern has been terrific to me, and I owe him a lot. It's fine because now I have a deal with Home Shopping Club, which is bigger and better. So, I say, Good! I'm going to kick QVC's butt.
What were you like as a kid?
How did you feel when you heard you were going into Guinness?
So, you know all about programming and stuff now?
Any idea what feminist groups think of your online antics?
Can you define the line between barely wearing anything and being naked?
What's up with your specials on E!?
Do you screen them in case they're completely untalented?
What do you think your talk show will be like?
Any bad habits you'll admit to?
It was ironic. My husband was so funny. He was like, 'Don't ever tell anybody! They'll take the award back!'
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I hope it's because I care so much. If you send a fan letter to a celebrity, you never know if they get it. With me, I respond. I do all these things to give back to the fans.
It can range anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000. It depends if I'm on something or if there's a promotion. Everyone is so nice. It's so rare that I get a perverted email. I think it's because there are so many explicit sites, if you want that stuff, then you can go there. If you don't, you go to my site. I get emails from 8-year-olds to 80.
In the beginning there were one or two instances, but nothing in the past couple of years, which is surprising because there are so many more millions of people on the Internet. As much as I am all for freedom of speech, I am also for some regulations on the Internet. I have to protect my image. I'm working with Cyber Trackers, run by Alyssa Milano's mom.
That was my favorite thing! I would ask for them!
My husband said, "Don't tell anyone!" I said, "Are you kidding?" I put everything up on my site--all of my wedding pictures. And some of them were requested even more than my swimsuit pictures.
We met on a blind date. My manager at the time tried to fix us up, and I turned him down nine times because I didn't want to go on a blind date. But he tricked me. We had to go to lunch, and we pulled up in front of Jerry's Famous Deli. I asked, 'Is he in there?' My manager said he wasn't going to be there, but of course he was--and that was it. I regretted that I had turned him down before, but timing is everything. People joke that I married him for the food.
>the time, I walk up and down the stairs. People think I'm pacing or nervous, but it's really just my exercise. I do have a gym, but to get me to go in it is pulling teeth. And I have my own exercise video, believe it or not.
Actually, because I'm not by any means an exercise guru--I hate going to the gym, and I love eating bad food--what I did was get the two Miss Fitness Americas. They showed me how to workout. It goes from beginner, which I totally am, to intermediate to advanced, with something for everybody. But it's me learning along with them.
I was supposed to go on QVC for like 10 minutes as part of this two hours of fitness to sell my tape. But after they saw me on Howard Stern, they disinvited me. I was a little taken aback. I've never done nudity. I have a completely PG-rated site. I felt like I was a wholesome person. But they'll have on Cindy Crawford--who I love--who has been in Playboy twice.
I joke that I came out of the womb smiling because I'm a ham for the camera. I don't say a lot, but if you put a camera in front of me, it's like, Would she just shut up already?
It's an honor. I was glad I didn't have to swallow a hundred goldfish or kiss a cobra or anything! It was on my own merit and technology.
I wouldn't go that far. I've learned, but I have all the techno people who I trust doing that. People come up to me, and they say, "My computer's frozen." And I'll say, "Then get it a sweater."
I think at first they don't know what to expect or they expect nudity, but when they meet me or go to my Website, it's completely different. It was an image I had to fight in the beginning.
I personally have nothing against nudity. I'm not taking a stand. It's fine if it's tastefully done. But I figure since everyone's doing it nowadays, why not be the only one who doesn't? It's no big deal to be in Playboy or do a nude scene in a movie. I figure when that role comes around with Brad Pitt--and they're not knocking on my door--then I'll jump at the chance.
I came to E! with the idea. I told them about how many people email me asking for advice on how to get started in the business. And I wanted to do something to give back. The first special was an aspiring singer, an aspiring actress and a mother-and-daughter modeling team. People emailed my site, and I went through all the emails and then called people.
Yeah, definitely! It's an hour-long special, so each person has to be able to carry it off. The singer is so good. He's going to be huge, I know it. But I wanted to show how you do it. I took him to see a record producer. I told the producer to be brutally honest. If I made it all easy, people will think it's always easy. And it was not easy for me. And even if nothing else happens to them, they're already so happy. The mother and daughter are going to be in a shoot together. The actress got her SAG card.
It's going to start in June 2000. It's a late-night talk show, but it's not really a talk show. It's a party, with fun topics and young, sexy people outside on South Beach. Sometimes we'll have celebrities, and sometimes we'll do segments like, 'Teach me to be sexy.'
People aren't going to believe this, but I'm such a slob. People may picture me sitting at the computer in lingerie, but it's so far from it. I'm in my pajamas head to toe, no makeup on. When I got the call from People to be in their 50 Most Beautiful issue, I was sick. I was in my dirty sweats and hadn't even brushed my teeth for the day. Kleenex everywhere.
Still on the forefront on the Internet. Maybe not still as the most downloaded, but more importantly, a mom. I definitely want to have a family soon.