Shirley MacLaine was once a man – a strong, powerful warrior to be exact. The details of whether she had beefy pectorals and sinewy abs though, aren’t as clear. But man then, woman now – it doesn’t matter to the Hollywood legend.
“We’re all androgynous, anyways,” MacLaine said smartly in an interview with San Diego LGBT Weekly. She is in the city prepping for her one-woman show, an intimate question and answer forum for fans, at Harrah’s Rincon Casino, March 5 at 8 p.m.
The 74-year-old Academy award-winning actress, dancer, singer, activist and bestselling author has been in over 50 films and played even more characters, yet the range of roles she’s reincarnated as are incalculable. In fact, at this point in humanity’s lexicon, her roles are nameless as well.
“There is not just male and female,” MacLaine asserts, “there are so many blends of diversity. It’s a crime to separate homosexual and heterosexual and say there are only two polarities. I think there are many more.”
Out of all the eras she’s time-traveled back to, MacLaine finds this generation to be the most open and accepting of alternative lifestyles, and not because previous generations were more open-minded, but because sexuality just wasn’t an issue.
“It never came up,” MacLaine shrugged. Throughout her many red-carpeted relationships MacLaine didn’t focus on the physical, and she’s rather irritated that so many people do.
“My goodness, the whole world seems to be obsessed with sex,” she exclaimed petulantly. “What is this? What is it that it’s making the top of our list as trouble?”
Those attending this contagiously sassy sage’s up-close-and-personal interview at Harrah’s can expect to get her take on sex – a concept that she thinks society has misconstrued. To her, sex is about recognizing a close relationship; it’s about remembering the soul of another person. And she believes somewhere along the way, people have forgotten that.
“At least now, when everyone is obsessing over sex, it is also forcing an investigation of who we are. Sex is a problem for everybody. Why?” MacLaine asked. “It’s not a problem for nature. It’s only a problem because we’ve been taught it’s a problem. It’s a weapon of separation. If sex weren’t continually remarked upon, it would probably be healthier.”
And the keys to health are what MacLaine, a devout, New Age spiritualist, has unlocked throughout her seven decades. She practices Transcendental Meditation, she’s walked the Santiago de Compostela Camino across northern Spain for 30 days, 20 miles per day, and searched for the essence of gender and sexuality and the true path to higher love.
“Instead of all this LGBT-ABCD-XYZ stuff,” she laughs, “we need to have our spiritual core in harmony. When your spiritual core is solved, when you know where you are spiritually, then everything shifts better into harmony.”
Society’s unfilled spirit finds itself compensating through sex, leading to promiscuity, which Maclaine warns is unhealthy.
“Be careful with your sex,” the wizened, red-head cautions.
Her metaphysical interpretation of the HIV/AIDS virus comes from this theory as sex being used as a coping tool for the spiritual void inside. MacLaine believes the disease tends to infect people “who don’t feel they are within the mainstream of society,” people who “feel a sense of not belonging, of being unloved.” Whether it’s through intravenous drug abuse or hetero or homosexual relations, the sickness of the soul will manifest itself physically if people are not careful, if people ignore the needs of the spirit.
MacLaine has learned how to speak to her own spiritual needs, and considers it a part of her life’s journey to teach others. During her question and answer this Friday, MacLaine will be playing some of her favorite movie clips, starting and stopping the film to discuss the wisdom gained and mistakes made throughout her life. She says she will speak on coming out as who you are and not worrying what others have to say.
“Be yourself,” she said, “and listen to your intuition,” the first steps to a fruitful and thriving spiritual life.
Tickets for the intimate Hollywood Legend series are on sale now at harrahsrincon.com, ranging from $55 to $125. Audience members are encouraged to bring their own questions for MacLaine.
