NEW YORK -- Heather Graham will admit to being realistic and even cautious, but draws the line at any suggestion she's being coy.

Graham refuses to give her age and has asked her Hollywood high school not to reveal the year of her graduation.

"I couldn't care less if the public knows my age, but I do care if studio executives do.

"This is a cruel business for women. You're meant to be eternally in your 20s," explains Graham, adding she is indeed twentysomething.

Later in the interview, she trips herself up when she recalls she was just 16 when she filmed the teen comedy License to Drive with Corey Haim and Corey Feldman. The film was shot 10 years ago.

Then there was the controversy back in September about her reported relationship with director Stephen Hopkins, 39, who was directing her in Lost in Space. Graham denied reports they were a couple. Now she confirms them.

"When I flew to Los Angeles (from London) to do the interviews for Boogie Nights, Stephen and I had begun dating.

"I still wasn't certain it was a good idea, so I didn't want to make our relationship public. There is always the fear that when you start dating someone you're working with, it will turn into a disaster or that it will just be one of those short-term film romances.

"In the worst scenario, they can turn out to be a real jerk and make the rest of the film experience a nightmare."

Graham insists this was anything but the case with Hopkins, who she says "has given me the best relationship I've ever been in."

Two years ago, Graham had a brief relationship with actor James Woods, an affair she refuses to discuss.

Graham is amused so much has been written about her nude scenes as Roller Girl in Boogie Nights.

"Until Boogie Nights, I had this really pristine image. I was always getting cast as the naive, virginal girl-next-door.

"That's one reason I chose to do Boogie Nights. I needed to change my image."

Her plan worked.

Boogie Nights led to Two Girls and a Guy, a threesome drama with Robert Downey Jr. as the lucky man. The film has received a restricted rating.

"I'll never understand censorship in America. They made us cut out 30 seconds so we could get a restricted rating and the movie is nowhere near as explicit as Boogie Nights.

Graham says Downey is "a really talented, charismatic, lovable guy. He was sober the whole time we filmed Two Girls.

"He had to have drug tests every day and there was a sponsor with him at all times, especially when he went to his trailer.

"I think anyone in Hollywood who turns to drugs must hate their lives. As actors, we're so privileged yet they're willing to throw it all way."

Graham insists she never saw any evidence of Lost In Space co-star Matt LeBlanc's reported party life.

"Matt didn't have time to party. He was filming Friends in Los Angeles at the same time he was filming Lost in Space with us in England.

"Matt's a practical joker on a set. He and Gary Oldman have a similar sense of humor. They were always pulling jokes on each other and the rest of us."


More Artists