Q&A: Ashley Judd
— -- Taking a break from the romantic misadventures of Someone Like You, Ashley Judd takes on the PrimeTime Q&A.
Q: If you could be anyone in history, who would you be?A: If I could be anyone in history, I don't think I would want to be someone terribly important. I would either want to be Buddha, because he was happy … or I would want to be, I think, just a normal probably rainforest Aboriginal. I love being outside and I think that that would be … They have such an extraordinary relationship to the Earth and the cosmos and such an imaginative way of explaining this dimension. I think that would be the most fabulous experience.
Q: What's your favorite movie? A: I think my favorite movie changes. But at the moment, and it also has been before — it's making a repeat appearance as my favorite movie, so it might end up being the ultimate victor — Adam's Rib with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracey. The love story between those two is so ripe and passionate and it's also intellectual. And I love it when she gets all fired up about how she can tell that this woman is going to have a really hard time getting a fair trial. And Spencer Tracey just says, "I love it when you get all cause-y" because he's … he's making fun of her but at the same time, he loves her. And I think actually that happen to me a lot so. It was good for me to be able to see it from his point of view, and how much he loves her. So then it wasn't as frustrating. Do you know what I mean?
Q: What really makes you mad?A: Injustice. Ignorance and injustice.
Q: What would you order for your last meal?A: For my last meal, I think I would want something really, really simple. Like I would want creek water … you know, I would want some fresh water that came from a spring that has a shale rock to it … like you get in Kentucky … I don't think that having, you know, some big greasy meal would be what I would want. I think that I would want something very sort of simple and from the Earth.
Q: Outside of your spouse, who would you like to be stranded on a desert island with?A: If I were stranded on a desert island, I think I'd want to be stranded with Nelson Mandela. I mean talk about a gigantic aptitude for enduring. You know, and I would want to be stranded with someone who had an amazing mind. Someone with whom you could co-exist in a very peaceful as well as in a stimulating way … definitely Nelson Mandela. The man's a genius.
Q: Other than acting, what talent or skill do you wish you had?A: I would love to fly. I would love to just have the ability to fall asleep the way cats do. You know, how you're looking at your cat and all of a sudden, they just start going … and they're sound asleep. I wish I didn't need sleep.
Q: If you weren't an actor, what would you like to be?A: If I weren't an actor … some sort of anthropologist probably. Or just like a really simple person with a rural lifestyle … you know, who lived out in the country and did everything kind of an old-timey way.
Q: What have you done that you regret the most?A: Dyed my hair blonde for another movie. That's a pretty superficial answer. What have I done that I regret the most? I wish that I had spent more time with my Grandmommy before she died because she wasn't a particularly elderly person … and it was difficult for me, especially when I was in college, and that's such a hopeful, youthful time, and you feel invincible, to accept the fact that her demise was imminent. So I really regret that I didn't get a little bit more time with her.
Q: What's the happiest moment in your life?A: I think that probably the happiest moments in my life have come from really, really tiny moments that I happen to be conscious of. Some instant when I was sort of present and aware. A couple days ago, my fiance and I were driving and he had his hand on the gear shift and I put my hand on his, and he locked his pinkie with mine. And it just sort of captured everything.
Q: What's the most embarrassing moment of your life?A: I actually don't get embarrassed that easily because I think, you know, we're all human and naked under our clothes. And that's certainly a self-protective device, too. But I think the most embarrassed I've been is when this kid asked me to the prom … we were teenagers … and he had this big, long, gigantic, stretchy, greasy booger. And I was so embarrassed for him that I just could not recover myself. You know, and when you're 17, that stuff is so heightened.
Q: What makes a person sexy?A: It's so irritating that everybody says the same thing probably … but I think confidence makes a person sexy, and a sense of self, and a sense that … if they love and respect themselves first, they have more to give other people. I think that's very attractive.
Q: What do you spend your money on?A: I spend my money on trees and flowers. I don't spend a ton of money. … but I just planted 18,250 daffodils. So that's where I like to put my money … into the farm.
Q: Who are the three people you'd have over for dinner?A: Three people I'd have over for dinner? Probably Dario and my grandparents. But I'd probably have to pick like one grandparent from each side. You know what I mean? Because I would love for him to meet them.
Q: What is your secret passion?A: My secret passion is probably something pretty domestic oriented, you know, just hanging out and kicking back and cooking and baking and stuff like that. I really like to bake. I'll take the slightest provocation to bake a cake or a pie, or something, you know? Hear somebody mention that they like a certain thing and I'll use that as my excuse. You know what? Actually I may have to say travel because it's so funny … because I travel so much with my work that right now it seems like a bit of an obligation … I would love to like walk across Australia or do something really outrageous and difficult and dramatic.
Q: Have you ever had a near-death experience?A: Well, probably not of the variety that the question intends. But let's not forget that the, um, French call a sexual climax "la petite mort." … Is that too naughty?
Q: What's your favorite snack?A: Chocolate pudding.