Sylvia Kristel

I believe...

In love. I split up with my son's father after of the success of 'Emanuelle', and I didn't find a stable love again until Freddy, a Belgian poet, who I was with for 14 years until he died. I've been alone for three years now, but I haven't given up.

Discipline is essential if you work as a freelancer. I'm a film actress, and have to be in shape in case I'm called for a job.

When you're younger you can party and try drugs, but not at my age. If you've had cancer, as I did in my lung and throat, you have to avoid stress and parties - in fact everything I used to like when I was younger.

Los Angeles is a tough place to live if you are European. Physically it's much easier to give up drugs than cigarettes.

Organisations like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous are necessary. I was living in Los Angeles in the 1980s and it was not unusual, if you went to a meeting with your lawyer, for them to make a line of cocaine first.

A good diet contains lots of water.

Curiosity and an eager mind are blessings. My mother had dementia before she died, so I'm very aware of the puzzles and games you can do to keep the mind active.

Culture is good for the brain. It's soothing to read books and go to museums.

Amsterdam is wonderful. I've lived here for seven years and it's like a warm bath.

Kindness is invaluable. It can make you extraordinarily happy if people in shops are kind, simply by saying "good morning".

Children should make up their own minds about religion. I am agnostic and I did not baptise my son.

Any kind of fundamentalism or radical belief is bad.

A great hairdresser is essential. When I first moved to Amsterdam I would take the train to Brussels to get my hair cut.

'Undressing Emmanuelle: A Memoir' by Sylvia Kristel is published by Fourth Estate, [pound]14.99

Copyright 2007 Independent Newspapers UK Limited. All rights owned or operated by The Independent.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.