I'm loath to do interviews. What comes out is generally not what I meant or thought I was saying or thought they were asking.

My mother was harsh and constantly told me I had jug ears and heaven knows what else. But she was devoted and a hard worker.

The money I've earned has enabled me to keep my life in my own hands. I had a terrific body, and I got paid for using it.

I was friends with Salvador Dalí until the day he died. Lucky me. I can't say why. I didn't live to be noticed, I lived to enjoy the excitement of doing right that day, and I knew I was doing it right when they would have me back. That was the thrill for me. I yearned to be validated because my mother was stern and I never did much right, that's how I perceived it.

When asked her view of cosmetic surgery, Carmen Dell'Orefice replies, '”That's a very polite way of asking me, I'm sure, ‘Have you had a facelift?' Well, if you had the ceiling falling down in your living room, would you not go and have a repair?

The minute we don't finance the arts, the accountants, attorneys and politicians keep taking the cream of money off the top and it doesn't trickle down unless all of society understands that we must support the arts, whether it's ballet, opera, fashion. Fashion is like opera, is like ballet, is like theatre. It's a visual theatre.

I don't live for stuff and things, and if I had to live in a cardboard box, I would put curtains on it.