By Jeff Pfeiffer
“I never saw him,” Tiegs laughed. “He’s a nice man, and I would have loved to have done a scene, but no, we weren’t together.”
This isn’t the first time that Tiegs, now 69, has appeared in popular culture in the years after her modeling days largely ended. She appeared on The Celebrity Apprentice a few years back, when the show was still hosted by Donald Trump. We asked Tiegs about her memories of working with the current president elect.
“I’ve known Donald for many, many years, and he’s actually quite nice in person. But the show was a nightmare for me, and I asked to be excused. I said, at the very first show, in the very first boardroom, I said, ‘This is not for me.’ And he had no choice but to fire me. I knew that. It was too mean-spirited. I spent just too many days meditating and being as kind to people as I could, and I don’t want to pick on and be mean to people.”
She has also, in recent years, memorably guest-voiced herself on Family Guy a few times, and appeared on Adult Swim’s Childrens Hospital. But Tiegs doesn’t necessarily want to be an actor.
“People just call, and I say ‘yes’ or I say ‘no,’” she explained, about how some of these roles have come up. “You know, I’m not going to change and become an actress at this stage of my life, but it’s always fun when it comes my way. And they [on Sharknado] were incredibly nice, so it was fun working with them.”
Interestingly, Tiegs pointed out some similarities between acting for a film camera and modeling in front of a still camera.
“I’m not an actress,” she explained, “but as a model I know that when they say, ‘OK, let’s go,’ you really have to go inside yourself and think of things that make you happy or make you mysterious or sexy. You can’t just stare at a camera and look beautiful; you really have to go within, and that shows on your face.”
Tiegs pulled off that amazing work in front of the camera for years before spending more time behind the scenes in the fashion industry, including launching a clothing line. But she told us that she is currently in a “gap” in relation to her fashion work.
“I don’t have a clothing line anymore,” she said. “I just finished representing a company, and that took an enormous amount of work. I’ll take a year or two off and then emerge in some other way. I’ve done that all my life, taking a break. People don’t want to see me every day.”
And while she may not be visible in the public eye or fashion industry as much as she used to be, she certainly works hard behind the scenes for her charitable passions.
“I do a lot of charity work,” Tiegs said, “but that’s because they call and ask if I will show up and speak or do something or whatever. The Farrah Fawcett Foundation for cancer is near and dear, and I do a lot of work for them.”
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