Women’s Health Mag – May 2009 – Extract from Robin Tunney interview

Robin Tunney, the candid star of TV's The Mentalist, doesn't mince words. She talks to WH about her "cougar meat" costar and the importance of staying true to yourself.

Robin's bluntness hasn't hurt her career. In fact, the 36-year-old currently has a big hit on her hands, battling bad guys with Simon Baker on The Mentalist, the CBS show about a fake psychic turned police investigator and a tough and tender female cop. It's a match made in flatscreen heaven. "Simon is Australian, and so is my fiance [Andrew Dominik, director of 2007's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford]. The way they show fondness is to tease you," she says.

"But I do the same thing to him. I'll tease Simon about being cougar meat, because older women just can't get enough of him. We'll be doing a scene and I'll tell him, 'We're counting on you to bring the heat. Are you gonna smolder?'" Robin opened up to WH—and reminded us she's pretty hot stuff herself.

You and Simon Baker have amazing chemistry.

It's like [the 1980s show] Moonlighting—two people who are wired differently but there's a camaraderie. Sometimes [my character] admires him and thinks, "God, he's attractive." Other times he's like a naughty brother. I really love television relationships that keep people guessing. Our executive producer, Bruno [Heller], once said something like, "You saw what happened on Moonlighting" As soon as [the Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis characters] hooked up, they had all the sexual tension of the Clintons."

 

Is he as appealing off-screen?

Simon's a special guy. His wife, Rebecca, did [a guest appearance] and the way he took care of her was something. They've been together since he was, like, 22, and that's what makes him a great man to work with. He's spent so much of his adult life with a woman he respects. It's like he's been housebroken by the best.

Full interview: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/speak-your-mind