On Q: with Pam Grier

Coffy. Foxy Brown. Jackie Brown. The L Word. No need to say anymore. There can be only one person we're talking about, the one and only Pam Grier! Grier is truly one of the most iconic and dynamic personalities ever, with more than120 film and television roles in her impressive career. Grier is currently working on the new film Larry Crowne with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts and has been touring the country promoting her best-selling autobiography, Foxy (Springboard Press), which is an unflinching look at her life, the hard times, good times, the loves of her life and, of course, her famous roles.

Here, Pam Grier tells N'DIGO about the movies, men and Hollywood mayhem and why she resolved that she's nobody's savior.

N'DIGO: Onscreen you are, no doubt, a "woman." But after reading your autobiography, Foxy, where you chronicle many difficult experiences, such as rape, and racism growing up in Colorado, I realized that's why audiences really responded to you even in your early films, such as The Big Bird Cage. Even at a young age, you had experienced a life that faced some real challenges. It's hard to find actresses that have anything remotely like that today.

GRIER: Well they may have, but they're not revealing it. It would be presumptuous to say that I've lived more than they have. But not everyone recovers or is able to separate themselves from their lives to survive. For me, all I could do is just be present, be me. But being a great actor is a life lived and lessons learned. And I had to write my memoir to share that.

N'DIGO: Why did you decide to write your autobiography now?
GRIER: Because of so many women and inspirations like Lena Horne, Hattie McDaniel, (who went to the same high school in Denver I went to), to Gloria Steinem to Shirley Chisholm to Barbara Jordan. These women opened doors for me and helped me to navigate my life. I'm hoping this memoir will give insight and help others to navigate through their lives and to share my faults. I have such a compassion and empathy for life and people; I thought if I could share some events I went through then people could see they were not alone. As if they're talking to me and I'm talking to them, to share and to help them to make another step to feel confident and less uncertain.

N'DIGO: Was writing Foxy, cathartic for you?
GRIER: In several ways, yes. It was cathartic, yet it released some evidence of trauma, uncertainty and despair. However, many of it stays with you, but doesn't encompass me. I don't define myself by my tragedies. I don't define myself by my age. I define myself by my energy, my great love for living.

N'DIGO: How were you able to re-enact scenes like in Foxy Brown where the character gets rapedÑin front of an entire cast and crew without experiencing flashbacks or having a breakdown?
GRIER: Well you're split. I was able to split from that and to be working from almost a "third eye." Also, many times I was able to humanize the character, humanize the events, humanizing the iconic status, adding a human embodiment. I'm sure I found a protective corner in my mind where I said I may not be able to do it, I'll stop when I cannot. But if I can, I've been there and if it's not so frightening and I survived it, then let's show how harmful this can be. That's how I was able to re-enact certain events in my life. It's called maturity.

N'DIGO: Your wrote that when you were younger, you were insecure about your looks. YOU? Pam Grier? For real?
GRIER: It was not doubting; it was not recognizing that my features were more unique or more attractive than someone else. It was just "there" and there wasn't a real recognition of the aesthetic or appreciation. It was: "My eyes I can see, my jaw works, my skin is clear." (She laughs). That's basically all the recognition that I should ever have for myself. I don't compare my aesthetic comprehension of beauty with someone else.

N'DIGO: You talk about your relationships with Kareem Abdul Jabar, Freddie Prinze and Richard Pryor and none of them ended well ...
GRIER: Well, they did end well. I disagree with you wholeheartedly.

With Freddie Prinze it didn't end badly. He had not been indulging in drugs until he became very successful and I could see that he was going to embrace that world of entertainment and I was not going to have his attention. But it wasn't bad. I went on to love 'Pam' more. Same with Kareem. I moved on to love 'Pam' more, which is positive. And with Richard, he wanted to see if I had any real influence on him and if he could go cold turkey and not indulge in drugs. He wanted to know how he could act being sober. 'Will I be funny sober?' was his deepest fear.

N'DIGO: Did you view yourself as a savior? Or that you were trying to rescue him, a trap that a lot of women fall into?
GRIER: If you met someone, would you run away if they had an issue? Do you hide from everyone because they have baggage? Everyone has it. We're not perfect human beings. It would be arrogant for me to say I can save them or I won't be around anyone who has baggage. It would be a very lonely life. When someone wants to indulge in drugs or take their life they're going to do it and out of that great love and respect I had for all of them, I still chose Pam.

N'DIGO: How do you define your journey of self-awareness?
GRIER: I want to share all that I had been given, all that I had survived. I get a lot of my "foxiness", my attitude, my comprehension, from listening to people and watching how they present themselves, and it tells me a lot about how we are as a community and it's fascinating! It's been so significant for me to share and look into their eyes and to hear about their lives and they hug me. I really do adore it when people hug me and they say: "Thank You!" They feel emboldened. They feel confident to know that I would accept it graciously. It's wonderful. That's my journey.

Follow Pam Grier on Twitter: @pamgrier.