INTERVIEWS

Tammy on meeting Melissa

``Anyway, I was out with a bunch of girlfriends. `Popular' had literally wrapped for the season -- and the series, for that matter -- the night before. I had been avoiding gay bars the entire time I was working so all of a sudden I was like, 'Let's go out! C'mon, girls, I don't care who sees me!' So we were sitting at this table and there she was. So up until then, I'd been living in a virtual tunnel for the past ten years. I mean, I knew who she was, but I wasn't super aware. I mean, I'm not a celebrity stalker or anything. But you know, I just thought she was cool. So my friends were egging me on to go up and talk to her. They were like, 'Ask her out! Ask her out!' I was like, 'No!' and so they started coming up with really cheesy pick-up lines for me to say to her. Now, you'd think my friends would realize that women don't go for the cheesy lines, but they kept egging me on. So I decided to show them how to pick up a woman. I mean, I really just wanted to get them off my case. So this guy -- a gay boy who worked with me on `Popular' -- offered to introduce me. He introduced us and I was like, 'I'd like to take you out to dinner.' And she was like, 'Okay!'"
--Actress Tammy Lynn Michaels from TV's ``Popular" on meeting her new girlfriend, rocker Melissa Etheridge, to mightybigtv.com, July 14.