Q 13

PLAYBOY: What do you consider most attractive about yourself?

Lauren Hutton: My old man says I have spunk and spirit. I guess that must be it.

Q 14

PLAYBOY: Why haven't you married?

Lauren Hutton: I was afraid of a question like that. Well, because I didn't want to get divorced. My mother was divorced when I was an infant. It was a major tragedy of my life. I didn't even know my father, for whom I was named. I will miss that for the rest of my life. I don't ever want to do it to anyone else. For me, marriage is for children. Otherwise, you're married in your heart. I've been with someone for a very long time. And if we're not married, I don't know who is. But for the actual thing, I don't know if I could stand the idea of being hooked.

Q 15

PLAYBOY: Did you feel that way from the beginning of your relationship, or grow into it?

Lauren Hutton: He taught me. Wait a minute. No, I felt that way since I was 13. I'm not supposed to talk about him. He hates it. I miss him. It's been two weeks and I'm getting crazy. But I must say that when I was very first in love, I suddenly saw big white dresses and little engagement rings. They were all the things I had felt very much above when I was growing up in the South. I would get rushes of dates because boys thought I believed in free love. And then, when I didn't come across, I didn't get asked again. I didn't know why guys were jumping on me; perfect strangers at football games or hamburger stands taking a lunge at me. I guess it was because I had told some girlfriends that I certainly wasn't going to be a virgin when I got married. It was a very hot idea for the time. But it came from all my reading, not from someone telling me. But I think that every girl around 23 or 24, whenever it is that you truly make that connection with someone--if you're that young, I think bells go off. We really are nesters. And for a woman to say "I never want children," just watch out. We've got 50,000 years of history to contend with. But when a commitment is of the heart, it's purer. It's more faith in yourself. People separate because they change and grow in different directions. That's natural. I've met someone who, despite all the changes we've gone through, is still interested in the same things I am. I lucked out.

Q 16

PLAYBOY: What do you like to do?

Lauren Hutton: Well...travel. It's always been my first great love. I've been all over the world. Traveling really helps my perspective. I did a lot of reading as a kid. I thought America had real luxury that other countries didn't. But that's not true. I went to Morocco and the living was unbelievably sensuous and erotic. Eating under the stars while little kids entertain you. Flowers big as dinner plates. Lying on cushions, eating out of communal bowls. America is all right angles--it's not built for animal living. We've gotten very much away from that and become dependent on machines. One wonders what happened to the flesh. And I love animals. The whole thing. I even collect bugs.

Q 17

PLAYBOY: When people see you on the street, how do they react to you?

Lauren Hutton: On my time off, I'm seldom duded up, and because I've lived in the Village for 14 years now, everybody is used to seeing me around in sneakers and a T-shirt. However, every once in a while, something strange happens. For instance, about seven years ago, I was walking down Madison Avenue and someone started yelling my name from across the street. I put on a little speed, but he caught up with me. He was a very distinguished-looking man in his late 30s, with a three-piece suit and a briefcase, which he flung. I immediately liked him because it was out of kilter with his drag. Anyway, he got very excited and flung his case down on the ground and ripped it open and started telling me that he would freeze me for free. He said he'd written letters to me but didn't know where to send them, that this was his great moment. He was a guy who had a cryonics bin out on Long Island--a big cylinder--and there were 12 slots but only three filled up. He wanted to give me--well, I can't call it a life membership. But any time I wanted to get frozen, he was ready. That was funny.

Q 18

PLAYBOY: Do you own any beach-front property?

Lauren Hutton: I own nothing. Seriously. No car, nothing. If you're thinking it looks good on my taxes, forget it. I get nailed every year.

Q 19

PLAYBOY: What's the etiquette for your tooth cap?

Lauren Hutton: I put it in when I think there's a character I'm doing who would use it. I used it for Revlon because they wanted it. I'm not sure I would continue using it.

Q 20

PLAYBOY: How does a girl like you get to be a girl like you?

Lauren Hutton: That's a good question. Keep your eyes closed and your mouth shut. No. Keep your eyes closed and your mouth open. I don't know. Curiosity, probably.