Who are your heroes?

I loved Lucille Ball. She was funny, and she was a tough woman. I like Dolly Parton because Dolly's a tough, strong woman. I feel like we're a lot alike. She has gone through a lot to get where she is. I like strong women.

In the book you say very specifically that you're not a women's libber.

I am not a women's libber.

What does that mean?

It means that I love to be taken care of by my husband. I think it's terrible that the men don't open the doors anymore for the women; they don't dare. The men don't carry things for women anymore; they don't dare. They don't pay the bills anymore; they don't dare. I mean, how awful is that?

We've ruined it ourselves. I want my husband there. I want to be under his protection and care. I love that feeling. And women's libbers who say, Well, I can do it all myself. Well, I can't do it all myself. I wouldn't want to do it all myself.

But you're hardly staying at home, meekly ...

The calling of God is like a little puppy dog chasing you, nipping at your heels. "Pick me up, pick me up, pick me up." And that little dog will not stop running after you till you pick it up. Once you get the calling of God on your life and God says, "I want you to work for me," you can never lay it down.

Has anyone in your family fallen away from the church?

Oh, many. My own son drifted away from God. He was on drugs and an alcoholic. Oh yeah, of course they have, but they've all come back.

What's your son doing these days?

He's a preacher. He preaches better than his dad -- and his dad was a good preacher. He goes all over the country, preaching to young people.

When he was in his drug phase ...

That's when his dad was in prison.

Did you feel somewhat responsible for that?

Oh, course I did. But even if you feel responsible for it, you still have to do something. So I just loved him. I didn't understand drugs, I didn't understand alcoholism. So all I did was clean his room, feed him food, love him, wash his clothes and then when he wasn't looking pray for him, back in the bedroom on my knees.

And yet you, at least according to the documentary, also had a struggle with addiction at one point.

I had a struggle with a little prescription pill called Ativan because I was feeling like I was having a heart attack all the time. I was stressed. And when I would take an Ativan, that would go away. Now, if you were feeling like you were having a heart attack all the time, you'd want something to take it away. It's a very scary thing. I've learned how to live without it now and how to control that stress in my life, through Betty Ford. That was the best thing that ever happened to me. To go there and get knowledge. And that knowledge set me free. I just cold-turkeyed it.

Do you think you have an addictive personality?

No, not at all. I don't think I have an addictive personality. Because I don't know of another thing I've ever been addicted to -- ever. Well, shopping.

Whatever works.

It's so funny because I'll go out shopping. And I'll hear women whistling and singing and humming. And I never see women as happy as when they're out shopping.

So what made you decide to get eyeliner, eyebrows and lip liner permanently tattooed on your face? That's a bold move.

No, it's not a bold move. I tattooed around my eyes because I line them anyway. I tattooed my eyebrows on because they were gone from pulling them out so much when I was a little girl. When we were young ladies we all plucked them real thin and they never grew back in. So I had to do that. The only thing I wish I wouldn't have done was the lining of my lips, but that's all faded now, so it's about gone.

It must have been incredibly painful.

It was. Yeah. It felt like fire. I thought, man, I don't want to go to hell after that.

And the beauty mark you have tattooed on your face?

I did that way after. And I cover it up now.

So, plastic surgery: When you wrote the book you hadn't had any.

No, I still haven't. I want to do this [pulls skin on face taut] so bad. But I haven't been able to get brave enough to do plastic surgery. Now I love liposuction. See, because your clothes can cover that if they mess up. But what can you cover your face with if they mess up? And I don't like to see women who look as if they're in perpetual surprise. So I may not ever get my face done. I just may age gracefully.

What made you decide to do lipo?

Oh, that was years ago. But I was a very round little woman. I was that old-fashioned hourglass figure and all the sand had fallen into the bottom.

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