Cybill Shepherd Discusses Skinny Models
HAMMER: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT for Friday night. This is TV`s most provocative entertainment news show. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York. It is time now for a story that made us say, that`s ridiculous? This one sure did. A Florida woman taking the law into her hands by shedding some light on the matter. You see, Calli Golespi (ph) claims drivers are just speeding down her block. So what did she do? She put up this flashing light to warn them to slow down. That looks straight out of the 1970s disco, doesn`t it? Police say most of the drivers don`t have a lead foot there and slapped her Calli with a 200 dollar ticket for get this, putting up an illegal traffic sign. So Calli`s light plan, that got burned, that`s ridiculous.</s>ANDERSON: It`s time now for the SHOWBIZ Weight Watch. Now this is where we cover Hollywood`s obsession with body image like no one else. Tonight, a stunning decision by top U.S. fashion designers. They`re saying that skinny model ban thing, not for us. The Council of Fashion Designers represents the biggest names in fashion and puts on some of the most fashion shows in U.S.. They tell SHOWBIZ TONIGHT they are not following the growing trend around the world to ban women who are scary skinny from the runway. Milan and Madrid have done that. Instead they are offering up recommendations, guide lines they call them, like not hiring girls under 16, and educating the industry about eating disorders.</s>HAMMER: Someone who dealt with the intense pressure the fashion industry places on models is former model and actress Cybill Shepherd. Now, I had the chance to ask Shepherd, who makes her debut on Showtime`s "The L Word" this Sunday, if there needs to be a ban on super skinny models here in the U.S.</s>CYBILL SHEPHERD, MODEL AND ACTRESS: I think we need to do something to curb this outrageously grotesque emaciated look in the models. I mean, I started as a model a long time ago, and I just happened to fit into this little window of opportunity where women were kind of a normal size and then that was gone and we`re back to the heroin chic and the emaciated. To me it`s painful when the young women walk down that runway, their eyes look dead. They need cheese burgers.</s>HAMMER: But what do you think happened? Because what was it, 1968, you were model of the year and the standard of beauty then and now is almost diametrically opposed. And it just doesn`t make sense to me. What is appealing about these images that they are sending out? Do you get it?</s>SHEPHERD: Before I answer that, I would like to say that in 1968 when I won model of the year, you were supposed to be very thin, but then I became -- my big success came in 1970, 1969, really 1969 was when there was a little bit of a window, but it didn`t happen until 1969. I think it`s just a devastating message to send to women and girls.</s>HAMMER: Of course, this isn`t just coming from the modeling industry, we should be clear about that. It`s also coming from Hollywood and young starlets. You pick up any magazine.</s>SHEPHERD: Starlets are young, excuse me for --</s>HAMMER: I`m sorry, was that sort of repetitive, redundant to say young starlets?</s>SHEPHERD: I guess so, but also, maybe a starlet is skinnier than a star, because they`re less.</s>HAMMER: Why do you think this is so pervasive, this desire to look this way?</s>SHEPHERD: I think we`re afraid to look as if we enjoy life and that we eat and that we`re afraid to have any bulges. Where there is a demand, of course, there is always going to be the need filled. So, yes, it`s not the model`s fault, it`s not these young women, but if we did set a different standard, and it goes right to the designers. Are you willing to have curves in your clothes? Women have curves. And, you know, there are so many things I could do my body and my face to make me look better, but I just don`t know where to begin.</s>HAMMER: But I look at the women who are on "The L Word" on ShowTime with you now, and congratulations, by the way, being part of what I consider one of the best shows on</s>TV. SHEPHERD: And premiering this Sunday.</s>HAMMER: You`re premiere is this Sunday.</s>SHEPHERD: My debut episode.</s>HAMMER: Playing a woman who is coming out later in life, some of the best acting talent, I think, on television in this show, but I have to ...</s>SHEPHERD: Midlife, not later in life, mid life.</s>HAMMER: I`m sorry. I`m messing up left and right here. I have to imagine Cybill Shepherd shows up on that set and people are just bowing in awe.</s>SHEPHERD: You are so charming.</s>HAMMER: Isn`t that what happened?</s>SHEPHERD: You know, I was very nervous. Yes, they were all so wonderful. I`ll never forget when I went to the first table read and they announced that I was doing the show and everybody applauded. It was a really wonderful -- I was welcomed into the sisterhood. That was just the table reading, when I had to show up and do the part, I was very nervous. I didn`t know anybody.</s>HAMMER: I have to ask you, because here we are, some more than 20 years after "Moonlighting" first went on the air and people are still buzzing about the possibility that you and Bruce Willis are going to get on the big screen and do a reunion. Can you kind of set the record straight for the reality of that and the possibility that that may actually happen?</s>SHEPHERD: Well, Glen Gordon Caron, who created "Moonlighting," can`t figure out how to do it. So that means he`s not going to be a part of it. I think that Bruce Willis and I should do something together, even if I`m forced to play his mother.</s>HAMMER: And, just for the record, I did tell Cybill there`s no way she could ever play Bruce Willis` mother. She`s much too young for that. You can catch Cybill Shepherd`s premiere on "The L Word" this Sunday on ShowTime.</s>ANDERSON: The unbelievable story of TV`s Buck Roger, A.J. How he went from Hollywood heartthrob to dangerously obese. Gil Gerard reveals the dramatic steps he took to lose a ton of weight and save his life. We`ve also got this.</s>BINDI IRWIN, STEVE IRWIN`S DAUGHTER: Sometimes I have good days and bad days. Sometimes it brings back memories and it`s really nice and some days I just cry straight off.</s>HAMMER: Steve Irwin`s daughter Bindi there. It is just amazing that she`s able to talk so eloquently about her father`s tragic death and how she`s dealing with it. Her emotional interview, along with her mom Terri, that`s coming up.</s>ANDERSON: And the stars who just can`t say I do. Just why are so many Hollywood couples afraid to use the C word, commitment? But first, we want to hear from you. It`s our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day, celebrity couples, is marriage no longer a must-do? Vote at CNN.com/SHOWBIZTONIGHT. Send us an e-mail. Here is the address SHOWBIZTONIGHT@CNN.com And don`t forget, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is the only entertainment news show that lets you express your opinion on video. Just go to our Web site, CNN.com/SHOWBIZTONIGHT, to learn how to do it.