Contributing Editor David Rensin met with Stevie Nicks (whose album Bella Donna has sold more than 3,000,000 copies) just after the last show of her successful solo tour. Rensin reports: "We talked in the bathroom of her West Los Angeles hotel suite while her make-up was being applied for a television appearance. She looked great before. She looked great afterward. And she does her own lipstick."

Q 1

PLAYBOY: You're part of the hugely popular Fleetwood Mac, as well as the proud mother of a number-one solo album. Do you still find you've had to work twice as hard because you're a woman trying to win at a man's game?

Stevie Nicks: I never tried to beat men; that's why I managed to do it. I tried to learn from them and be their friend and stuff. I didn't want to be too pushy--no one likes pushy people, least of all guys who are in famous bands. It's much easier to worm your way in with kindness.

Q 2

PLAYBOY: Magazine articles have mentioned your belief in ghosts and reincarnation; your being in a "magic kingdom"--the whole Rhiannon Welsh-witch thing. Have people had difficulty taking you seriously?

Stevie Nicks: At this point, people believe it's me. I just couldn't go on making this trip up if it weren't true. I love Halloween and fairy tales. I get wonderful letters: Kids say they love the songs and "Go right ahead and live in your fairy-princess castle, because we need somebody to live there and make us happy, to take away some of the everyday horribleness that goes on."

Q 3

PLAYBOY: What were some of your past lives?

Stevie Nicks: : I think I spent a lot of time in old churches, like a monk. I'm very comfortable around that kind of music, with that kind of creeping around, with being very quiet. My ballet teacher believes that my head was cut off in another life too. I totally give with my body except for my neck. Even it I go to the beauty salon, I can't put my head back. They have to hold it or it will drop. The same thing happens when I dance or get a massage. It's very weird.

Q 4

PLAYBOY: How do you maintain your cosmic connection considering the pressures of fame and wealth? And how do you handle the abusive lifestyle--the drugs, the drinking, the long hours--of being the reigning queen of rock 'n' roll?

Stevie Nicks: It's not easy. But I can't do what I do if I don't retain some innocence and spirituality. You'd see a definite change in my lyrics if I became hardened. I'm not interested in existing on that critical level most people live on.

As I get older, the abusive side is coming to a close. I'm slowing down. Besides, I have bronchial, spasmodic asthma now. And everything that I do is wrapped up in my lungs. I'm scared now. This sure is the fast lane, but I don't particularly want to die in the fast lane. I want to get there gracefully.

I need rest real bad. I also need some exercise. I don't want to be this romantically fragile character everyone thinks I am. The image is fine for an image, but it's not too fine if you have to go to the hospital for it. For my asthma, I have to take these miserable pills that make you feel like someone put something weird in your Perrier.

Q 5

PLAYBOY: Do you want to marry eventually and have a family?

Stevie Nicks: If I had a family, I'd probably love it. Right now, I have my dog Sarah, two cats and a baby Doberman. But I wish I had a little girl. Even a little boy. Getting married would, of course, depend on the man; also on whether I cared enough. If I fell that deeply in love with someone, I'd have no idea of what to do. But I'd be willing to make whatever compromises were necessary.