Shep Gordon: The Supermensch Interview
OMTIMES: It’s interesting you say that that it takes you off your journey, and yet it also is your journey.
Shep Gordon: Yeah. It is to an extent. I mean, I had an example the other day that was really–and, you know, I spend so much of my life protecting artists from contact with their fans that I’ve never really thought about what it does to the artist. I know what it does to the fan. You know, I know you hear people say, ‘Oh, he was really cruel. He wouldn’t talk to me. He wouldn’t do this.’ But, I never really thought about it the other way. And I had an incident the other day that was really interesting. I was going to an interview. I was a little late for it, and I didn’t know the person. And I was walking, and I was–like I always do, I’m daydreaming in my head thinking about something, maybe dinner or something. And I heard someone say my name. And I looked over and there was a middle-aged lady. And she said, “Are you Shep Gordon?” I said, “Yeah.” She said, “Oh, I just saw this–I was just in a screening of a movie. “And, you know, I had a difficult childhood, too, and I’m in the same business, I work at CNN. I’m in the entertainment business, and I want to produce movies. And you overcame all that. Could I talk to you a little bit about that? It’s really important to me.” I really wanted to talk to her. You know, she was really reaching out. You could see that this movie, it affected her from a deep place, and that she really wanted to talk about it, and get whatever was inside of her off her chest. But I was late for an appointment, and I had to leave her. And I felt bad about it. All day, I felt bad about it, and then I started thinking about, oh my god, how many people have I walked Alice [Cooper], or, you know, Raquel [Welch], or somebody past–? And how many people have been, like, in wheelchairs, that I’ve walked them past, who really had something they wanted to say? And if I didn’t do my job and let these people talk to everyone, they’d have no life left. They’d only be talking to other people. So, it’s very weird. It’s hard to stay compassionate and humble, and not get hard and still live your own life. So, I think I’m lucky that I won’t have to ever really deal with it on an intense level. But, it gave me a completely new appreciation for how hard it is to be that person with fame, and how hard it is to stay compassionate, and stay loving, and yet have all these people who really want to touch you, and say something, and do something, and have to move on by them.
