Interview: Janice Dickinson from The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency

We had the pleasure of sitting down with Janice Dickinson and executive producer Stuart Krasnow of The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency to talk about the show, the changes, and the current modeling industry. Here’s what was said:

So I notice the fourth season of the show this year has you living in a house with the models. You know, how did that kind of come about and what was it like?

J. Dickinson: Collectively with the great network and the production of S. Krasnow, I was just doing what I did before when I started my career about 32 years ago living in Paris at the (Christa Agency).

And what motivated me when I was that young living in Paris, out of the same agency – out of an agency house was that it truly gave me an added advantage to get the jumpstart on what I truly wanted to achieve with my life in modeling.

When you eat and sleep — and kind of like Michael Phelps when you eat, sleep and swim — all I did was eat, sleep and exercise modeling. It was 24/7 modeling.

So Stuart and I both wanted to incorporate that and to provide for the – so they’ve got boys and girls proper nutrition, proper health, proper romance, proper finance – all things that your average model won’t receive unless they’re, once again, living in a house like this. This is the first of its kind.

And how was the experience for you? You know, you said you did it more than three decades ago. You know, what was it like going back into the house?

J. Dickinson: Truthfully, it was exhilarating. It – I’m a pretty tough boot camp sergeant and I demand perfection in myself, and I expect it with the people around me – especially keeping the kids focused.

I – honestly, I don’t let them – I don’t expect anything from the kids that I don’t do myself. When I wake up, I make the bed. When – after I make the bed, I go out and get – I clean the house.

After I clean the house, it’s exercise and then it’s nutrition. And then we go about our day. And that’s all before 7:30 in the morning, I might add. So the kids have to wake up pretty early to get a jumpstart on everyone else.

And I expect that because it is such a highly competitive industry.

S. Krasnow: I want to add that I think if I had done this with any other talent, the first conversation would have been all right, how do we fake it? How do I sneak out of the house and sneak back in, in the morning?

Janice lived there 24/7. She was in for the full run. I don’t really – I really can’t think of anybody else who really would do that along with a cast of a reality show.

And I think with Janice – I think what she’s saying the schedule she keeps, her balanced energy, I almost think it was harder for the kids to be in the house than it was for Janice to be there.

I think it’s interesting the twist of you living with the models. I think probably with you more so than with a lot of other reality television stars, we’ve really gotten to see, I guess, more of your life and your personality – or perhaps so we think. I’m wondering how accurately do you feel you’ve been portrayed in the various reality shows, including this one, that you’ve participated in?

J. Dickinson: Well, how accurately that I’m portrayed? On The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency – it’s really hard for me to say – repeat my own name with – it would be like you just like saying your name every time – there’s something attached to it.

But this is as accurate as it gets, trust me. The scenes that you see, when Nathan comes in and says, “Mom, we really,” — sorry, gentlemen, that’s my phone — “we really need to add a plus size into the agency, the plus size category,” he’s correct.

He’s correct. I can’t live with it, though. It’s not something that I personally promote. Nevertheless, I do allow my son the room to experience in commercializing — is that a word, commercializing — the agency.

S. Krasnow: I also want to add Janice is an executive producer along with me on the show so Janice gets to see the cuts, has say in how she’s portrayed. And I think one of the things that being in a house really allowed us to show even more of this season than previous seasons is the full character that Janice is.

I mean, I think people — you know, Janice forgive me — mistakenly think that Janice is this over-the-top caricature. And what you – anybody who really knows Janice and any producer who respectively puts her onscreen knows that she’s so multifaceted that as much as Janice can have a side that’s really, you know, tough and really extreme, she also has a side that’s very emotional.

She has so much heart. And I think you’re going to be – I think one of – some of the best scenes that we have this season are when a model is upset and gets under the covers with Janice in her bed, and obviously it’s another female model who’s upset about something…

J. Dickinson: Whoa, no one got under the covers with me, pal.

S. Krasnow: You know, but in a really sweet, almost like mother-daughter kind of a way. And I think that you’re really going to see this very – almost like, you know, a den mother side of Janice that I don’t think we’re used to seeing. And it’s actually very, very moving and very real.

You said you’ve been obsessed with Michael Phelps. I was wondering what you see in him, just and if you would ever hire him as a model?

J. Dickinson: In a heartbeat. His dedication and his drive kind of reminds me — I’m sorry you guys — of myself because when I was nine years old I knew that I wanted to be a model. When he was nine, he was in the pool.

When I was nine, I was on — believe it or not — the tile floor of Publix Supermarket because I couldn’t afford to buy the magazine. So I used to spread eagle on the tile linoleum floors looking at Lauren Hutton sailing across the pages of American Vogue and I knew I wanted to be that girl.

So I did everything in my way, shape and form to learn how to become a model. So by the time I got to New York – and you can read all about it in No Lifeguard on Duty, a cautionary tale of incest, sex, drugs, rock and roll, Studio 54, fashion, and all those kind of things that I’ve written about my life and it just kind of parallels with Michael Phelps.

I also wanted to ask about one of your models who’s from Michigan, (Michael Anderson), and if you wouldn’t mind, tell me a little bit about what you think of him and one of the very interesting parts from Season 3 when he came to you for the meeting with Models for Jesus.

J. Dickinson: Well where do I start with (Michael)? Here’s – he’s one gentleman who appears in the promo for the show, for example. He’s in the swimming pool. He’s one of the role models that I absolutely think the world of because he’s a great father of two.

He’s a great husband to his wife. He’s a great example of how a model should keep his act together by – I mean, I’m in a gym six days a week and so is (Michael). I see him on the other side of the gym, he’s smiling and then he goes about his day and so do I.

The one episode, Models for Jesus, oh, I can’t really – Stuart, you want to handle that one?

S. Krasnow: Yeah. I mean, I think it was a real concern. I mean, Janice really believes that every model should be free with their body and open, and not have any inhibitions and that often means being naked.

It doesn’t mean that they’re shot fully naked but in an artistic or, you know, in a tasteful way. But just think at fashion shows you have to be able to whip your clothes off and on backstage.

So it’s a really important criteria for Janice that she follows up on with the models that she truly believes. (Michael) had some issues with this even in his early audition and I think Janice and (Michael) eventually got to a good place.

(Michael) supported another model who was in an organization called — yes there is one — Models for Jesus who…

J. Dickinson: Models for Jesus.

S. Krasnow: …really believe that there’s a – kind of a moral limit and that models should put their foot down to advertisers. And, you know, I think Janice rightly took the position that, you know, you always have free choice.

You have free choice to be at another agency or free choice to be with somebody who doesn’t believe this. But if you’re going to be with me, you’re going to believe it.

And by the way, the girl who originally started that scene ended up also doing a topless scene, so she actually got over her inhibition and was able to sort of, you know, in her own – for her own choice was able to decide whether it was okay for her and who really just believes to be in sync on what her modeling career would require under Janice’s reign.

Under somebody else it might be something different.

J. Dickinson: Furthermore, I – it goes back to the old adage, you got to be naked to be a model. I mean, and I think that a lot of people took it a little bit too far what I was saying.

But nudity is part of standing around backstage, of standing in front of a designer when he starts sketching the silhouette for the pattern that is made into a couture piece.

And a lot of people sometimes can’t do that.

Was there ever any time during the season where you just needed some privacy, where you just wanted to kind of retreat into your room and just, you know, not talk to anyone and just be by yourself, you know?

J. Dickinson: That’s hilarious. I don’t know how. I honestly don’t know how. So the way to do it is – yeah, that’s the best question of all. The way to do it is, in actuality, meditation and yoga.

That allows me the decompression if I could – in a perfect world, I’d have an acupuncturist follow me around, you know, with a huge needle right through my brain.

But the only way for me to do it — and anyone else — you have to take that time, that 20 minutes in the morning and in the evening, just to decompress. Otherwise, my heart will burst.

It’s too much.

And were the models actually allowed to come upstairs and, you know, go in your room…

J. Dickinson: No, never. There has to be a decorum of modesty. You know, I don’t walk around the house naked. You know, I’m very modest with what we’re doing although you see some very (de clapet) bathing suits. But they’re never allowed in my room, ever.

I know it was your sanctuary on that first episode where it was redecorated and everything.

J. Dickinson: Correct. Oh, that’s just genius. We have Chris Ciccone, Madonna’s brother coming in to actually set up the room because it was hideous. And he made it even more trashy and hideous by painting the walls red, putting in a surveillance system in – within the confines of my room which I might add for everyone that’s listening, is the beauty of the show because the models do not know they’re being observed by me — the Dr. No of modeling — 24/7 so they can’t get away with what they think they could get away with.

Now was that more helpful to everything or did it just stress you out even more because you were seeing all the little dirty deeds?

J. Dickinson: Oh no, well no. Here’s the deal, when a model goes off on a shoot, they’re expected to book themselves into a hotel, sometimes with other models, makeup, hair, photographer, styling.

On trips – I’ve been to Peru, China, Russia, Iraq and Iran. I’ve been everywhere and you have to be able to cohabit with people in order to keep the – keep your working relationship going.

And you can’t be like having some hidden secrets because if it comes out on a job somewhere in the middle of Katmandu or for example where I was last November, in the middle of the rainforest in Brisbane, Australia for a month, you’re going to come up into some serious trouble.

So that’s – we – I discovered that some of the models had eating disorders. Other models were having to have romantic trysts when it wasn’t allowed inside the house.

You have to tune in and watch the show to uncover what I saw on those surveillance cameras which is why after two weeks on the show I was walking around like a zombie – how I – exactly how I feel right now with the Olympics going on. I’m like obsessed with the television at night and I can’t stop watching Michael Phelps.

Can’t turn off the cameras.

S. Krasnow: Yeah, you know, we – actually, we provided Janice with the same 16 camera compliment that the producers and everybody uses in what we call Video Village.

Oh wow.

J. Dickinson: Fantastic.

S. Krasnow: You know, we were trying to be – I think with all these reality shows and these, you know, contestants and people that are on shows all the time now, there’s a certain awareness that they’re on camera and they get very savvy about it.

And they always try to stay a step ahead of us. You will see as the show progresses, not in a million years did they expect that Janice herself was having the same access the producers had and really able to just go into her bedroom, hit a button – hidden inside of a mannequin by the way.

You can see doors slide open as some sort of like glamorous, you know, Dr. No and really be in the know and be able to see everything the models were doing, and really be able to watch it unedited and raw the same way we do.

But, you know, we weren’t filtering anything for Janice. She was really able to see it herself and come running out to us and go, “Oh my god, I’ve got to take care of this. When can I jump in?” you know.

So we really were doing a very unusual thing and it really worked out well.

J. Dickinson: You know, Stuart, it’s not that unusual to be a parent and set up nanny-cams…

S. Krasnow: True.

J. Dickinson: …when you go out on a date to see who’s messing with your babies – even your dog. I’m sorry. I’m going to take care of my kids no matter what. So thus, we came up with the cameras and thus, you will see entertainment like you’ve never seen on any show ever. It’s the first of its kind.

You said something earlier I wondered about and I just wonder if you can just clarify it. You were talking about proper nutrition, proper romance. I wonder what you meant by proper romance?

J. Dickinson: Proper romance – where you don’t get in trouble – where one doesn’t get in trouble from falling too in love at a point in the industry where – I know, what does that mean?

Eighteen to 22 basically is what – are the models’ ages, chronological ages that are living inside the house. Right now from 18 to 22, the models have to make a choice.

Do they want to go out and have careers or do they want boyfriends or girlfriends or girlfriend to girlfriend, to boyfriend to boyfriend? You know what I mean?

S. Krasnow: That are also very jealous and get in their way.

J. Dickinson: Oh my god, the – a goldfish makes these models jealous.

Can you give me a brief idea of what your daily schedule was like while you were shooting this season?

J. Dickinson: I can tell you exactly. I wake up, I pray. I meditate. I do yoga. I stretch. That’s just before I even like basically wake – open my eyes. It’s just – it’s so engrained in me to do this because here’s my motto: if I can dish it out to those models, I better be able to take it for myself.

Example, I was hired by Orbit in – to appear in a bathing suit for the Orbit commercial, Maui Melon Mint. I was also – we reenacted an advertisement for Orbit that appears in an advertisement in Maxim Magazine.

And so if I’m going to put my butt in a bikini, my ass better be off the back of my kneecaps. So if I – you know, if I don’t look good, you know, who am I to be doling out all these commands?

So it’s kind of like I can drop trou and keep up with the kids. And there’s a lot of respect in that, you know, from the kids.

Tell me how has the show changed you?

J. Dickinson: Changed me?

Hal Boedeker: Yeah.

J. Dickinson: Oh, that’s a great question. Gee, I don’t know. Can you give me a great answer? Gee, I don’t know – dot com. I have – has it changed me? The show has fueled me to further access models from all cities, states, white parties, black parties.

I will continue my quest to find the next Kate Moss, (AE), or Gabriel Aubrey, Mr. Halle Berry, you know, to find that face – that (serial) thing that’s out there somewhere at a football game or at a rock concert that’s out there. It’s just fueled my passion for the industry.

Were there any moments, either in this season or previous seasons, that you wish hadn’t been caught on tape?

J. Dickinson: Yeah, well there were hundreds of moments that I wish I hadn’t been caught on tape. For example, bad lighting. You know, I see myself in my 50s not looking 20 at times. Age is sometimes, you know, hard for anyone to cope with.

But it’s – you know, the beauty of this show is we don’t – we keep the cameras going no matter what. You’re going to see bad lighting and you’re going to see, you know, particular harsh exits.

For example, one of my favorite models is a kid called Kehoe from Reno, Nevada. And this kid is effervescent and he’s a brat, but he’s got something basically that no one else has in this agency.

He’s got that it factor which you see and I see, and the audience will get, that he’s just like a – like the bad apple but will turn out to be the entire orchard. He’s just wonderful.

A moment – and you see me at odds with this kid with tough love always, just putting my foot down and shutting the door on him just to toughen him up, addressing issues like sobriety, being the bratty kid, cohabiting with the kids, showing up on assignments where he wasn’t even invited.

It truly is – this was all this kid – it wasn’t – these weren’t setups so you’re going to see, you know – I saw sides of myself that I didn’t like. Who likes to sit there and say with me saying get the fuck out, you know, get the fuck out of my agency, get the fuck out of my house.

But you know what? It’s in the show and it’s a reality. And I don’t necessarily like the harsh language that comes out of my mouth but that’s who I am, you know. And I do work on my language. I try.

S. Krasnow: I want to say, I’m in about my eighth year of doing these types of shows and one of the things that Janice gives us which is really rare, is she’s never, ever boring. There are very few people who you meet in your life who are never boring, you know, or have a boring moment.

And one of the things we had to adjust in Season 1, that we’re able to account for in our subsequent seasons, was we never take a full lunch break, meaning that we never have no camera on Janice.

J. Dickinson: Good grief.

S. Krasnow: So even during lunch, even if a director or one of the producers have to pick up a camera, we never let the cameras go completely off because what happens is if we have the entire crew take a break at the same time, Janice inevitably is going to do something or someone is going to come up to her, or someone is going to get on her wrong side, or some model is going to come up and ask for a piece of advice and it’s going to turn into a tearful scene.

And we’d miss something, so we’ve really learned that the only way to truly cover Janice is 24/7.

J. Dickinson: I now know who to bill my hair dye to.

S. Krasnow: She’s sort of like the CCN of models, you know.

J. Dickinson: Season 5, NBC will pay for my hair color, trust me. All those grey hairs coming in, you guys will pay.

Who is the most important support person behind the scenes for your models on your show? Is it the hairstylists, the makeup artists, the costumer? Who’s the most important person that a model relies on?

J. Dickinson: You know, the most important person a model has to rely on is the agent. The agent is the one that sees that the model isn’t wearing too much makeup or needs to put some more on, that she needs to cut her hair to keep up with the times or take it down.

It’s the mentor and the agent, which is what I’m supplying, you know, for the girls with my experience and – what’s that noise?

It’s a – but mind you, I also need to add that without stylists, hair, makeup, (trap) services – just everybody around you, photographers, assistants, lighting guys, you don’t have what – it’s a collective team.

So you can’t have one without the other. You really can’t.

S. Krasnow: Can I – I want to add, Janice, and I’m just going to be a little bit in support what you said because I think it’s hard for you to say this about yourself. As a producer behind the scenes, every model is obsessed with the idea of having more access to Janice.

And they’re always coming to all of us saying when can I see Janice, can I come to up to her because we like everything to be on camera. And of course, sometimes they want to come up and do things not on camera.

We insist it is on camera. Her time, you know, is dedicated to so many other things on the show and it’s literally a line-up when you arrive at the house in the morning of models that surround you when you walk into the house.

I need to ask her this. I need to ask her that. They really, really do trust what she has to say and since these models are up for real jobs, and potentially real campaigns and real exposure — it’s not an elimination show — so every piece of information they get from Janice, it could be the difference between getting a job or not getting a job.

It is real and they want to have that information on camera, off camera and Janice — against my better wishes — insists on making sure that every one of the models has her cell phone number and is able to text her.

And, you know, even when I will have breakfast with Janice, there’s, you know, a call or two from one of the models that’s been on the show with a question about something.

So, you know, it goes way beyond what we documents on the show. Her relationship with them is very real and very genuine, and she’s very much in their lives on every level.

My only regret is that I’m not really on my daughter’s 15-year-old radar. I wish my daughter had the same – she’s – as soon as she gets in – comes into the house it’s like lock the room and it’s like barricade away from me. But you know, I think that’ll change.

Has the criteria for models changed in your lifetime for “supermodels?”

J. Dickinson: Oh absolutely. With what we – what the network and the agency is trying to achieve on The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency, it’s a show that is so unique and different – the agency ethic.

We are trying to bring diversity and equality into the agency with a vision that doesn’t quite fit the magazine and the editorial mold that’s out there as to date. For awhile, there was the Brazilians that came in and took over the industry.

Then it was – now it’s the Russians. You know what? I want it to be the Americans.

And that’s primarily what we’re doing. We have Americans, aka we’ve got a Russian girl in the agency now. We’ve got a Japanese girl – just to diversify it a bit. But we’re trying to keep it all American.

Let’s talk about that it factor. How do you pick the models? I mean, how do you see something that separates them from everyone else?

J. Dickinson: My experience in working with some of the great models of my day, of all ethnicities, starring the great Lauren Hutton herself – just seeing a kid from the Everglades, Florida growing up, you know, wrestling with alligators, just – she’s got that it factor. I mean, she’s a tomboy.

What I look for is that thing in the eye. I can’t explain it until I see it in back of the camera. But you can see it. It’s a hunger. It’s a hunger. It’s – I can’t explain it. It’s an it thing. It’s a hunger to get what you want and then excel in it.

Just in terms of models, what do you think — outside of the physicality — what’s the biggest difference between a male model and a female model?

J. Dickinson: A penis.

Well I said besides the physical…

J. Dickinson: Oh, I’m not that quick on the uptake. What’s the difference between a man and a woman? It’s an industry, unfortunately, where women dominate. Men, for years, have been the accessories and continue to be so.

And women’s paychecks — with the exception of just lately — women’s paychecks are a heck of a lot more than men’s paychecks.

And the models themselves, do you see like a male model or a female model – like do you see one of them, you know, one of the genders kind of adapting to modeling or listening to advice? Like do you think anybody does it better than the other or does it just depend on the person?

J. Dickinson: I’ll tell you, we have a kid on the show thanks to Stuart bringing it to our attention. His name is Martin. He has a – he’s hearing impaired and he is gay. So he’s got all things going on that make him the perfect model.

He is beautiful. He’s beautiful inside and you see a swan slowly developing in front of our eyes where it gives hope and a role model, and a play to a whole generation of kids out there thinking that they can’t do something.

Martin was chosen for his hearing impairment to – and he’s a great model. He wouldn’t have been chosen if he wasn’t a great model.

But you see him slowly learning ballet and you see his insecurities on the show about how can a deaf guy — and he calls himself deaf so I’m quoting him and I don’t know if it’s PC — but he says how can I, a deaf guy, take a ballet class when I can’t hear the music?

Well I, along with the ballet teacher, taught him how to do it and you see the look on his face of achievement where he was able to get the dance moves. I want to start to cry when I think about it.

It’s just so wonderful that we’re allowing things like this to happen. And it’s not scummy television. It’s just – it’s wonderful television.

Let’s talk about America’s Next Top Model for a second. I know you had a transgender model named Claudia on your show, Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency, and I remember from the…

J. Dickinson: I miss her.

… shows she said that she was disqualified from Top Model because she was transgender. Is that accurate? Was that the case?

J. Dickinson: I can’t state what Tyra Banks and Ken Mok do on their show because I’m not – I can’t state it now. I hear that on their new show — I hear, hearsay — is that they have a transgender.

Everything I did on America’s Next Top Model for the first, I think it was five seasons – four or five seasons that I was on, was taken directly from my life and out of the books that I’ve written.

Transgender – I personally work with a transgender model in Paris, (Terry Toy), back during the Thierry Mugler Show, and she knocked the socks out of everyone until she got to the end of the runway and got very excited, and the dress started to bulge down by the waistline.

So it kind of like threw the audience off back in the early 80s. I – but I see nothing wrong with transgender – am I answering your question?

Yeah, I mean, that was going to be my follow-up question. You know, what do you think about a transgender model, you know? Do you think there’s a place in the modeling industry for them?

J. Dickinson: I think it’s wonderful if the world would catch up to speed. The reason why we loved Claudia – because she was qualified and she was absolutely prepared to be a model. Just her other tools got in the way.

You know, with cable being what it is today and there’s so many options out there, and it seems like your show is just getting more and more popular…What do you think is the key to the success?

J. Dickinson: Stuart.

S. Krasnow: Well I…

J. Dickinson: No, I just have to say this is the fourth franchise that I’ve done and I’m sorry everybody, excelled in. Excuse me, I didn’t just fall off a tomato truck. It’s – I don’t go into anything that I don’t know that I have a working team around me, that completely has my back.

I chose the best producer in the industry, S. Krasnow, after interviewing hundreds. After getting the boot on Top Model, I knew exactly how I wanted to do a show.

And Tyra Banks knew it when she hired me in the first place, which propelled her show into a phenomenal franchise in itself. She took every single chapter of No Lifeguard on Duty and turned it into episodes.

We haven’t really done that in this show because it’s already been done on Top Model. I did it. Tyra did it, from my writing. And there you have it. You have to have great people in that – around you.

And I love – I skip coming to work in the mornings. I just love what I do.

S. Krasnow: And I think that the other – there are two other factors. I mean, one is that we have to keep evolving the show and evolving the premise which is why we added the house this season.

But I think that, you know, in a fifth season we have another surprise up our sleeves.

J. Dickinson: Yeah, we do.

S. Krasnow: And we expect to have one. And I think one of the things also, you know, Janice is again one of these personalities that is so unpredictable. So you always are going to tune into the show and something is going to happen that you’re not going to expect.

And I think with the extra demand on TV producers right now, it’s all about the Internet. We have to compete now with an audience that has a lot of choices – more choices than they’ve ever had, and their time is more important than it’s ever been in terms of where they want to spend it.

It’s not like people just sit up and cozy up in front of three networks anymore. And I think that what Janice really provides for us is an ability to really deliver to the audience something that is always going to be unpredictable.

There are always surprises. And also, we translate virally so well. I mean, it’s so funny because I’ll just have scenes, you know, emailed to me that I didn’t even know were lifted from the show that we didn’t put on YouTube or anything.

J. Dickinson: Yes.

S. Krasnow: And like all the time. Every day, the day after the show airs, I get three or four scenes from somebody saying, “Oh, someone just sent me this and they didn’t even know that I knew the person who does the show.”

So I know that it exists out there in the viral world and we are very alive on the Internet. We have been since Season 1 – been, you know, very YouTube-able and also been very, you know, we were a part of MySpace our first season.

So, you know, we really have a great relationship with the Internet audience and they know that when they have something really great and really outrageous that’s going to get a laugh in a minute that they can pass on to a friend, I think that’s the only marketing that really works anymore.

J. Dickinson: You know what, Stuart, that makes total sense I guess for everybody out there that understands cyber world and Internet, and all that stuff. But for the record, I am computer illiterate, which makes me perfect television.

I don’t subscribe to technology. I hate it. I hate video technology. I wrote a book about it – Everything About Me Is Fake…and I’m Perfect, HarperCollins, Judith Regan, Regan Imprint. That was book two.

I think – I’ll tell you a little story which is true that just happened to me last week. Check YouTube. I was driving down the street and I got pulled over because I was on this confounded thing called a BlackBerry.

Everybody tells me get a BlackBerry, so I get the BlackBerry and I forget that there’s a new law you can’t be on your phone and drive. I get pulled over and I was wrong. I didn’t know there was a new law in effect.

The officer asked me to step outside of the car and get into the back of the police car. And I’m like what for? He goes get in the back of the car. I just did what he asked and I said oh, officer, this could be good.

And he’s going what is going on, young lady? I said I don’t know, but I like it. I kind of liked it. At that point, a paparazzi crossed Sunset Boulevard and started photograph- put the camera inside the back of the police car and started taking pictures.

And I’m like officer, are you going to let this man jaywalk? I didn’t do anything but – I was on the phone. This paparazzi – he goes who the – may I ask who the heck you are? And I’m like, “I’m Janice Dickinson. I’m famous.”

And he goes well I had no idea because I don’t watch TV. I said then why don’t you arrest that man? I’m making a citizen’s arrest. Thus, the guy got pulled over, there was like ten squad cars like arresting this paparazzi.

What kind of a society do we live in? I’m just – I get confused. Meanwhile, I was pulled over because there was a bench warrant for a speeding ticket back in 2006 that I hadn’t taken of. I have taken care of it.

So, you see, it’s like things like this always happen to me. I’m like Lucille Ball on crack. Things happen and, you know, it’s just things happen – shit happens.

Interview By: Emma Loggins