Genital augmentation? Pastie scars? Dwarfs? Margaret Cho, star of a new VH-1 reality series, The Cho Show, and a touring burlesque act, gets intimate with us.
Q: What makes your series unique?
A: My life is anything but typical. My show features my very Korean parents, my very gay friends, and my wonderful assistant—who also happens to be a little person. So it's like a cross between my stand-up specials and Madonna's Truth or Dare, with a bit of Little People, Big World mixed in.
Q: How did your family react to the show's cringe-worthy fare—like when you injected collagen into your G-spot?
A: My parents are very funny when they have to deal with anything racy or off-color. They usually pretend they don't speak English.
Q: What should women know about your burlesque show, Beautiful?
A: I'm exploring how we feel about our bodies through laughter. It's important to feel beautiful; it's political to feel beautiful. All my life I felt awkward, insecure, and chubby.
Q: Now you strip onstage. And once you started dancing, you shed pounds. What happened?
A: It's weird. Discovering burlesque led me to take up belly dancing, and a lot of my weight came off. It's a pleasurable movement that has positively increased my body awareness. It's so unlike going to the gym and hating it.
Q: How long do you plan to shimmy?
A: Burlesque is fun, but now I have big circular scars on my breasts from wearing pasties every night, so soon I'm going to have to take a semi-retirement.
Ever wonder what Marie Claire editors chat, gossip, and gripe about over their morning lattes high above Manhattan in the Hearst Tower? Click on our daily editors blog and join in the fun.
post a comment