People: By playing it cool, Ice is keeping it real
Vanilla Ice has gone from multiplatinum rapper to serial reality show participant – and he’s very, very happy about it.
In the early 1990s, Rob Van Winkle brought his Vanilla Ice persona to the masses. His razored hair and blowsy trousers were seemingly everywhere as “Ice Ice Baby” ruled the pop chart for 21 weeks in 1990 and 1991.
But before long he was more a punchline than a superstar. By 1994, he was a drug abuser and tried to commit suicide.
Since then, he’s brightened his outlook, expanded his music into hardcore punk realms, spoken out against the image-centered music industry and appeared on a slew of reality shows.
He’s boxed against the dude who played Willis on “Diff’rent Strokes,” lived in a house with porn star Ron Jeremy and Chips veteran Erik Estrada, and ridden (and fallen off) bulls in his latest, “Ty Murray’s Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge” (CMT, Fridays at 9 p.m.)
“It’s an adventure, man. You never know what to expect,” he says. “It’s an adventure where they pay you.”
Q: Is there much reality to these reality shows?
A: A lot of it is staged, man. I ain’t gonna lie. This one is real, for sure. You can’t fake riding a bull. But, like on “The Surreal Life,” we were like sitting around playing “Go Fish” and it was getting boring. Somebody said, “Can you guys do something more exciting?” I told them I was going to tear up the set. They encouraged me
Q: Please tell me the boxing match (with Todd Bridges of “Diff’rent Strokes”) wasn’t staged.
A; Man, they told me it was just an exhibition, just for fun. I got drunk at the bar the night before. I thought we were just gonna get out there and mess around, but Todd came out swinging at me. I was like, “Oh, man.”
Q: I remember a skit where Jim Carrey impersonated you. Was that stuff funny to you at the time?
A: Hilarious. It’s Jim Carrey, bro. Anything he does is going to be funny, even when he’s doing me.
Q: Do you cringe now when you look back at the outfits you wore and all of that?
A: I hated on myself for a while, but I went to therapy and I’m good with everything now. We are who we are because of who we were. But I won’t be a puppet for the industry again. … I don’t do anything artificial anymore, and I play 100 shows a year, and people embrace me because of what I stand for now.
The birthday bunch
Actress Jill St. John is 67. Actor Jonathan Frakes (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”) is 55. Actor Peter Gallagher is 52. Actor Adam Arkin is 51. Actor John Stamos is 44. Actress Kyra Sedgwick is 42. Actor Kevin Dillon is 42. Country singer Lee Ann Womack is 41. Actor Matthew Perry is 38. Rapper Romeo is 18.