Karrine Steffans: The Vixen Diaries Interview

Interview with Kam Williams

Headline: From Superhead to Supermom

Born on St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands on August 24, 1978, Karrine Steffans was a naive ingénues who, as a tender teenager, made her way to Hollywood in search of fame and fortune. Unfortunately, the best that she could do was to parlay her looks into working for scale as a scantily-clad dancer in gangsta rap videos. As a result, her bootylicious bod came to upstage a bevy of other beauties appearing in such video as Mystikal’s Danger (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVKIZiwaQQ8) where she went topless except for wearing a pair of sheer, star-shaped pasties over her cannonball implants.
This notoriety came at a cost, however, as she was expected, in turn, to provide oral favors not only for hip-hop stars but for members of their entourages and assorted hangers-on. Nicknamed “Superhead,” Karrine became so popular that Vivid Entertainment eventually released an X-rated video (http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7063858&style=ice&cart=617104039) of her performing her specialty on a porn star.
A couple of years ago, she got the last laugh by publishing “Confessions of a Video Vixen,” a tell-all memoir in which she shared the names of many celebrities she’d slept with, and also hinted about some she suspected of being on the down-low. Here, the former groupie talks about her relatively-tame sequel, “Vixen Diaries,” which is comprised primarily of journal entries about her current platonic showbiz friendships plus a love note to comedian Bill Maher who she refers to as “The love of my life.“

KW: Hey, Karrine, thanks for the time again.
KS: Thank you.
KW: In reading “Vixen Diaries.” I was sorry to see that you had relapsed into substance abuse and some of the same stuff that things that had troubled you before.
KS: [Chuckles] You think so? I don’t think so. Not at all.
KW: Didn’t the book say you made another suicide attempt? Or did I misread that?
KS: That was just a chapter on self-mutilating and cutting. That’s what that was about, not a suicide attempt.
KW: Oh, okay. This book seems, more than anything, to be a love note to Bill Maher, who you call the love of your life. Is that how you feel?
KS: No, not at all. I’m getting married to somebody else. That’s not what it was about. As far as the Bill situation is concerned, he and I have grown closer as friends. Initially, when we were together, we promised each other to be together for the rest of our lives. I don’t think we understood then in what capacity that would be. We’ll always be together, but not romantically. Now, it’s better than it was before. We’re more suited for each other in this type of relationship than being romantically involved.
KW: Well, congrats on getting engaged! Who’s the lucky guy?
KS: My fiancé’s name is Darius McCrary.
KW: You mean the actor who played Eddie on Urkel? Congratulations!
KS: Thank you.
KW: This book has a lot less confessing than your first. Why is that? Were you more hesitant to burn bridges, or did you just have less dirt to dish?
KS: This book is different because it’s based in Hollywood, which is where I live, and those are the bridges that you don’t want to burn, because you’ll never be able to get anywhere. And it’s important for me to protect the people that I need to protect, people that can make or break my future in that town and all that I plan to do there. So, yeah, I’m very careful, but I was very careful the first time also. There were plenty of people I’ve never mentioned at all. This book isn’t about people; it’s about the last two years of my life.
KW: But you do drop a lot of names here, Eric Benet… Chris Rock… Eddie Murphy… Bobby Brown… etcetera… But each passage ends with your saying there was nothing romantic between you and each guy.
KS: [Laughs] Because nothing happened. I can only write about what’s happening. I know a lot of men, and most of my friends are men, 99%, but I don’t have romantic relationships with every man that I know. I’m in a committed relationship, and I’m getting married. So, what I’m doing is giving you my life today.
KW: Do you understand if your fans might feel a little cheated by this book, especially given the provocative photo of you on the cover?
KS: I’m 29 now. So, I hope that you and audiences in general would expect me to grow and to evolve. There aren’t a heap of romantic relationships in there, because I haven’t had a heap of them over the past two years. I enjoyed a year of celibacy. And I enjoyed getting back into the dating pool again after Bill and I broke up, which was difficult until earlier this year when I realized who I really wanted to be with, and settling down to be with that person.
KW: I don’t remember seeing Darius being mentioned in either of your books.
KS: No, he isn’t. Not at all. Nor do I talk about everybody I know. I give you guys what I want to give you, nothing more. You have no idea who I know. You really don’t. And you just won’t. I only give you what I want to give you and what’s relevant to the story that I’m trying to tell. And I leave a lot of my current, very, very personal things out of it.
KW: How’s your son, Naiim doing, and how’s his relationship with Darius?
KS: Those are my two boys. I can’t separate them. They’re home together, right now, doing boy stuff like football and baseball. Darius also takes my son to school and drops him off, helps him with his homework, gets dinner ready, and generally takes care of the home front while I’m on the road. They have a great relationship.
KW: Jimmy Bayan was wondering what area of L.A. you’re living in now?
KS: I’m adjacent to Beverly Hills.
KW: How do you enjoy being in the public eye again after two years?
KS: I’d rather be home. I cried all the way here. I love to write books and tell stories, but I wish I was famous enough to cancel all my interviews and still sell books. This is the part of my job that I hate, so I’m just kind of grinding my way through it.
KW: Are you interested in parlaying your fame into a TV show?
KS: No, I’m not. I just want to be home, and not have to talk to anybody. I know everybody has a show in this pop culture. I’ll never say never, because you never know what opportunities will come up that might be in your best interest. But I’m presently not interested. That’s not my plan. I just want to go home to the way my life was before this book dropped.
KW: The Columbus Short question: Are you happy?
KS: I’m extremely happy at home. I feel very uncomfortable in the world. Being at home with family is such a beautiful thing because that’s the only place where you’re actually safe. When you step out of your home, you encounter all these different energies. I don’t like all those different energies. I like the people at my house. [Giggles]
KW: Are you burdened by people reacting to you as if you’re still the model they see dancing in the videos?
KS: I’m not burdened by that. I’m not burdened by much of anything at this point. After a while, you just realize some people are stupid. Sometimes, I feel sad, or maybe frustrated, for them. I feel bad for people who can’t move forward. Because what it does, and this is something that I’ve learned from talking to my psychologist a lot, and by going into psychology myself, when someone has a hard time getting over me it’s because of something within themselves. Maybe they have a hard time moving on in their own lives, and God forbid I should be the one to move forward and do better than they are. So, it’s like they’re projecting. I get a lot of projections. I’ve been careful now to call it out and tell people not to project their nonsense onto me. I’ll say, “I’ve never met you before. Why do you have such strong feelings about someone you’ve never met?” And even some people I have met, I don’t have any feelings for. I’m a content individual. So, the only thing I can project is my happiness and structure and blessings. I just feel sorry for those people.
KW: Think you’ll go back to acting and make another movie like the one you did with Vin Diesel?
KS: No, I have no interest in television or film.
KW: What do you want fans to know about you?
KS: What I wish is that when I tell people that I’m okay and that I’m happy that they would accept it and not fight it. And that my son is fine. I feel almost that people were wishing that he and I were damaged and unhappy, because when they ask questions, they ask them in accusatory ways. My son is fine. He’s nine years old. He has no idea what’s going on. As far as he knows, everything’s great. He doesn’t pay attention to adult things. And yes, he’s well read, and well spoken. He speaks three different languages. This is my kid and we have a great relationship. So, it’s kind of disheartening for me when people respond, “Well, yeah, but he’s going to be messed up later.” He’s not. He’ll be great. I feel sad for people who can’t accept the fact that others are doing well.
KW: And how’s your relationship with your mom? You wrote about your reunion after many years of estrangement from her.
KS: Um, it’s as good as it’s going to get, because I don’t want it to get any better. I like it just the way it is, because I think it’s the way it’s supposed to be. I’ve realized that you don’t have to go around fixing all the wrongs in your life. You know what I mean?
KW: Yep.
KS: She calls often, but I won’t even answer the phone, because she has nothing of importance to say to me whatsoever. But I think most moms are like that. I love it just the way it is because she’s not my mother to me. She’s never been. I don’t know what it’s like to have your mother love you. So, I’m not missing my mother’s love. You know what I mean?
KW: Yep.
KS: I have no feeling for her. I think it’s the same for my son with his father [gangsta rapper Kool G. Rap]. He’s never known his father, but he doesn’t miss his father, because he’s never seen the man. He doesn’t even know what a father would look like at this point. I’m fine with that. I like it just the way it is.
KW: Are you and Darius thinking of having kids?
KS: Yes we are. But we have to get married first. We’re getting married New Year’s Eve. I’m planning on settling down from that point on and just having kids and writing books.
KW: Well, thanks again for the time and best of luck with both the book and your marriage.
KS: Things are great. And thanks again for talking to me. It’s always a pleasure.
KW: Same here.
KS: Have a good day. Bye-bye.