Debi Mazar has been thinking a lot about her twenties lately.
Shes currently writing a memoir, and her daughters Evelina and Giulia are inching closer to their second decade.
She blew my phone up a lot wanting to know, Deb, do you remember when or what?
So I venture to help remind her of certain things and procure a few pictures for her.
But it’s a movie about Madonna, Mazar, 57,tells Bustle ofBlonde Ambition.
I don’t know how big the role is.
I know that [Madonnas] looking at several people aside from Julia.
I don’t know what her range is or anything.
I loved her inUncut Gems, she seems like a lovely girl.
To Mazar, she and Madonna were likePatti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe inJust Kids.
Theyd have sleepovers, go out dancing, and bop around the city.
And much like with Smith and Mapplethorpe, their friendship was also tinged with some truly extraordinary moments.
I was like, F*ck.
So I just picked up this ice bucket and dumped it on her head.
She looked so angry at me.
Of course, Mazars twenties werent all nights out with Madonna and dance parties.
Mazar also found herself struggling with being typecast and neglected to save money for the future.
But the one thing Mazar could always find solace in was her hometown.
It was just a great time because New York was still exciting.
New York had clubs, art, and fashion.
It was still edgy, she says.
Below, Mazar reflects on 90s New York from going out dancing at 4 a.m. to befriending Manolo Blahnik.
Take me back to 1992, when you were 28.
Goodfellashad come out and I became the New York City It Girl at the moment.
I was single; I had two homes one on the West Coast and one on the East Coast.
I got myself a brand new shiny black Cadillac Eldorado.
It was really tacky.
It had gold rims, a gold chain around my license plate.
She was fully loaded and tricked out, because I was making TV money.
I was like, “I want to drive the car the gangsters drove in Brooklyn.
The cool car.”
How were you feeling about your life and career?
I was figuring out, Do I want to direct?
Do I want to produce?
But it was too ahead of its time.
CBS didn’t want to have a gay character, they didn’t want to have an interracial romance.
I’m like, “What year are you living in?”
I was dealing with a studio system that, at the time, was extremely archaic.
And I didn’t have the good sense to keep my mouth shut.
I always went up against the heads of studios and the heads of production offices.
I was always a very professional actress I would show up on time and I knew my lines.
It made things stressful, but I learned a lot of good lessons in that period.
Do you have any regrets from that era?
That I didn’t save money.
I just thought it would just keep on coming in.
I mean, did I want other roles?
Did I want a different career?
Every actress wants different roles and to have a better, bigger splash at certain moments.
I had a couple movies that didn’t do well at the box office.
I had a couple of disappointments in how things turned out.
I got typecast to a degree.
Then I worked really hard to be un-typecast.
But you know what?
It’s all fine.
What was your fashion aesthetic like at the time?
I had a couple different looks going on.
One of them was like a Barbarella sort of mod squad [look].
I had one latex outfit, other ones in pleather, I had other ones made out of Lurex.
Was there anything you actually splurged on at 28?
I was really into Manolo Blahnik.
He also became a friend of mine.
This is pre-Sex and the City.
In fact, I was his date for the Met Gala one year.
What did a typical Friday night out look like for you?
I just liked to smoke a little weed, drink tons of water, and dance for five hours.
So the evening would generally consist of dinner, home, a disco nap.
The club didn’t get good until about 2 in the morning.
I would just start my day out dancing.
Who were you partying with?
For the most part, it was Drena De Niro, jewelry designer Wilfredo Rosado, Madonna.
If I was in New York it was Kenny Scharf, Keith Haring.
I’m a Leo, so my friends mean a lot to me.
1992 was also the year you were in your fourth Madonna music video.
Oh, I just did her a favor.
She’s like, “Deb, could you be in my video?
Would you do my video for me?”
I’m like, “Yeah, sure.”
One time I said, Just give me one of your outfits or something."
She gave me an ALAIA snakeskin jacket.
I wish I still had it.
I gave it to one of my gay friends, a male.
It was too 80s, too extra.
I was like, “This is so not my look.”
But I’m seeing that friend of mine in New York…
You should take the jacket back!
Maybe I’m going to get that f*cking jacket back.
What advice would you give your 28-year-old self?
I loved being 28, because I was still free.
I felt in control.
I’ve been married 20 years.
I have two amazing daughters.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
