Gracie: Well the first and most obvious question is - is this article true?
Debbi: NO! Not a word of it!... Well, except for the part about me liking Englishmen.  After all, I married one.

G: Right. Did it have anything to do with this article?
D: No, no - we were already seeing each other when this came out.  We weren't serious yet, but things were already well underway.

G: That's interesting, because I'd just assumed maybe this was a publicity stunt in advance of your wedding.  Like there'd be a follow-up article titled "Brokenhearted Bangle Finds Belting Brit!"
D: What's "belting?"

G: Um... I thought it was Brit slang meaning something good?  ...Hm. Maybe I watch too much BBC America.
D: You and me both! Hey, maybe you should find yourself an Englishman...

G: What amuses me the most about this article is - and I don't mean to say that you're not well spoken, you are very well spoken - but these "quotes" sound like excerpts from 'The English Patient'.  Since when do you say things like "it's not been easy," or called a man "tops?"
D: I know! But that's something I think was always true about the British press - not only did they fabricate the topics, they weren't afraid to fabricate entire dialogues!

G: American papers never did that to you?
D: Well, of course they sometimes took liberties; they still do, in fact.  But it's rare for reporters here to just completely make things up.  They might switch a quote around to make it sound a certain way that perhaps wasn't the exact angle that YOU'D presented it... but inventing entirely fictitious stories out of thin air seems to be primarily a UK phenomenon.  Or it was, anyway.  With all the litigation and changes in privacy laws since the 80's, they probably don't try that kind of thing anymore.

G: So did it upset you, that they just invented this out of nowhere?
D: I thought it was funny! And frankly, I thought it was kind of cool to be there in the gossip columns with all the huge stars... I don't remember if management knew about it, but I'm sure that if they did, they'd have thought it was ok.  If it had been something insulting or hurtful, maybe we would have reacted differently, but we thought it was all in good fun and a bit of a laugh.

G: Even Steve thought it was a bit of a laugh?
D: Of course he did! He thought some of the scarier letters and photos were quite amusing...

G: Scarier letters?  People actually mailed stuff to CBS about this?
D: OH yeah!  And apparently not everyone read the bit at the end where it said "no macho hunks please" because I got tons of mail from these big mean-looking guys with scars and tattoos.  I even got some from prisoners - they'd write "Oh, don't be sad, Debbi, as soon as I get out I will come rescue you and be your boyfriend" and I was like, "Umm... Well, THANKS, but maybe you should just stay right where you are"...

G: So much for those "intellectual" and "charming" boys you were supposedly looking for...
D: They weren't all convicts though, and some of the letters I got were very cute and nice. Of course there were also the skinny strange looking dudes in bad 80's glasses, trying to pose all sexy for the camera.

G: Speaking of sexy guys, what about this ex of yours - Joe Johannson? Did he think it was funny?
D: I couldn't really say, since I've never met much less dated anyone by the name of Joe Johannson!  But hey Joe, if you're out there, why don't you drop me a line?

G: Oh, great. You realize of course that now I'm going to spend the next eight weeks opening mail to you from guys named Joe Johannson...
D: Just don't show me the ones from prisons...