Celebrity Interviews

7 Questions with Heather Graham

Actress Heather Graham at the Los Angeles premiere of "The Hangover" at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on June 2, 2009 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

Every decade can have a cinematic Heather Graham memory. For the ‘80s it was License to Drive. For the ‘90s, take your pick from Swingers, Boogie Nights, or Austin Powers. After a few missteps (ahem, Emily’s Reasons Why Not), Graham eeked out a big ‘00s comedy with The Hangover.

Zimbio: What’s your hangover cure?
Heather Graham: My cure has been pacing yourself, like when you reach that point, knowing that you should stop. Stopping drinking.

Zimbio: Have you ever had a crazy bachelorette party?
Heather Graham: Well, my best friend kind of had kind of a crazy bachelorette party. Her name is Allison and it was on Fire Island. She knew these girlfriends that drank so much. We were staying at this little place and they were all throwing up in the sink. She had a candy necklace and she would go up to men throughout the night, getting men to eat the necklace. But, for some reason, her husband was at this bachelorette party, which kind of made no sense. It’s like they love each other so much, it’s like, “I’ll just hang out, it’s fine.” And then one of her friends almost got arrested, but my friend is a lawyer, so she started threatening to sue him and it became this whole thing of fighting with the police officers. She was still in law school, by the way. She was like, “I’m a very successful lawyer and I’m going to sue you.”

Zimbio: What do you like to do when you are in Vegas?
Heather Graham: I kind of like going to the spa. There’s all these pools. I’m kind of hippy-ish, so I like to go out and relax. I’m like, “This is too much stimulation for me.” But I did like going to Cirque de Soliel. I like O. I want to see all of them. When I was shooting, I guess the publicist helped me get tickets, so they took me backstage and I got to meet a lot of the performers. They showed methe tank and they were showing me how it worked, and they showed me their room where they work out and do all their gymnastics, so it was cool.

Zimbio: And don’t forget poker.
Heather Graham: Well, we had a poker tournament during shooting and that was really fun, because I did well. Then we had another one the other night and I didn’t do as well, so I got really mad. When I had a tournament during our shooting, I came in fourth out of the whole cast and crew which was fun, and [director] Todd [Phillips] is like a hardcore gambler. He really does it with lots of money and plays a lot. I like playing with friends, you know? I’m not really going in to the casino with some hardcore gamblers. I like it when I’m with my friends. I like to beat my friends, not strangers. No, I feel like the strangers will probably beat me. I like to watch people for a long time and to know how they’re playing, but strangers are so scary. These people in Vegas, they’re so good. I just feel, like, not.

Zimbio: If you were a teacher, what subject would you teach?
Heather Graham: Well, I think that I would teach either English Literature or maybe psychology. Maybe not just English Literature, maybe broadly literature or psychology. I like analyzing people’s psychology and I like reading.

Zimbio: What’s on your iPod and your Tivo?
Heather Graham: I really like Radiohead. My favorite TV show, I have a few. I really like Flight of the Concords. I like 30 Rock. I like The Office. I’ve been really getting into The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency which is more like a new series.

Zimbio: When are you going to settle down and have some babies?
Heather Graham: I was never really that interested in it, but recently I’m like, “Hmmm, that could be fun,” so I’ve definitely been thinking about it more lately. More interested in it lately.

Zimbio: How do you keep in fit, sexy shape?
Heather Graham: To be honest, I feel like I think too much so I like working out because it makes me kind of relax. I already kind of have a workout routine that I do. I like doing yoga. I do yoga three times a week and I do pilates twice but I like yoga the best.

Zimbio: No diet though. You’re probably one of those who can eat whatever you want.
Heather Graham: I used to be eating a lot of sugar. It was terrible. I would eat, like, five candy bars. I was like, “I can’t do that.” But, I can eat a lot of things I want. I definitely try to eat healthy and I let myself have some days where I just eat anything just but I actually like healthy foods.

Zimbio: At least you never appear in those magazine photo spreads of who’s gained weight this week.
Heather Graham: To be honest, I try not to read those magazines that much because it makes me neurotic. I try to limit reading things which will make me more neurotic than I already am.

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