Subscribe to our feedon the cover of the rolling stone
Are any of you out there reading this old enough to remember this song? Ever even hear of Dr. Hook?
Well, if not, it’s okay. And my picture is not on the cover of ROLLING STONE magazine, but it’s even more amazing than that.
I was just in New York where I was photographed by Annie Leibovitz, my new BFF. Perhaps I exaggerate. But it is no exaggeration to say that Annie is considered the most influential editorial portrait photographer of the past half-century. She did indeed put lots of people’s pictures on the cover of the ROLLING STONE – she was that magazine’s house photographer for the first ten years of its publication. And she’s created many of the most iconic, unforgettable images, mostly of celebrities, many for VANITY FAIR and other magazines.
Many of these images, for me, have a lot to do with skin. She likes to get people naked. She photographed Bette Midler naked, covered in heaps of long-stemmed red roses. One of the rumors, perhaps true, about this photo is that Annie, being a bit of a stickler, had assistants remove all of the thorns so as not to prick Ms. Midler.
Annie photographed Whoopi Goldberg roaring up from the depths of a deep, old-fashioned bathtub filled with milk—surely Cleo herself would have been jealous. She famously photographed a very pregnant Demi Moore naked. You can almost feel the double heartbeat in that image.
Those are three of thousands of pictures Annie has taken that we can’t forget. And, she just photographed me for a forthcoming book about the politics of women’s sexuality. I was lucky enough, earlier in the summer, to participate with Gloria Steinem (ooops—and I told Gloria she was my BFF — hope she doesn’t get mad!) in a roundtable hosted by STEP UP WOMEN’S NETWORK and Bayer Healthcare, addressing, among other things, the 50th anniversary of the Pill. And this roundtable formed the content for the book, which will be published in 2011.
Did I get naked for Annie? Wait and see.