CYBILL SHEPHERD DOES THE L WORD

Cybill Shepherd joins the cast of The L Word and still can’t believe the fuss over same sex relationships.

Cybill Shepherd joins the cast of The L Word as the president of the college where Bette Porter played by Jennifer Beals attends graduate school. As a woman who has been in a heterosexual marriage forever, her character begins to suddenly question her sexuality.

Cybill says believe it or not there are still people who flinch at the sight of seeing two women making out on national television.

“Well I think that a lot of people are really still shocked by the idea of it. Yes we have come a long way but at the same time we’re seeing a small group of religious fanatics trying to get an amendment to the constitution so that the same sex partners can’t marry and have the rights of different sex partners. So yes we’ve come way but in some ways there’s a reaction to it that’s more offensive.”

Cybill’s character Phyllis has a love affair with Alice played by Leisha Hailey and the two women share some steamy scenes. Cybill talks about filming those scenes.

“I was nervous and I’d never done a love scene with a woman but they really know what they’re doing on the L Word. Ilene Chaiken the creator and executive producer told me exactly how they were gonna shoot the love scenes, that they choreograph them in private and when you go out you know exactly where you’re gonna be in the scene. I was nervous but when I got through I was proud of the work that Leisha Hailey and I both had done because the scene wasn’t about the sexuality or the sensuality. It was about the emotional quality of a woman in her prime discovering her sensuality fully for the first time.”

The L Word marks the first series commitment for Shepherd since Cybill in 1995 for which she won three Golden Globes.