Penthouse: Your image is that of a supersexed, highly erotic seductress. Is there any relation between that image and the "real" Donna Summer?

Summer: I wouldn't say so. I think I'm undersexed, actually I am sensual and very physical. I'm very erotic. But my sexuality exists on a sort of a fantasy level.

Penthouse: What are your fantasies?

Summer: Hey, wait a minute, this ain't a free show!
- Well, I'll say I have an incredible ability to fantasize- I really do. I don't have to have things tangible to be able to see them, and therefore I enjoy so many things, because they're in my mind. I believe that most people don't realize or utilize enough of their potential for fantasizing. I think people go out looking to make their fantasies real- they can't just enjoy them for what they are. But in trying to make them real, they overextend themselves, and as a result it all becomes a nightmare for them, not a joy. There are just certain fantasies that cannot be acted out with another human being. I am talking about fantasies for the sake of fantasies- things that you could never, ever do in your lifetime.

Penthouse: What are yours?

Summer: How can I possibly give you one that I wouldn't mind seeing in print? Well, let me say it this way. Let's say that, in reality, I'm basically very shy when it comes to men. I haven't been with a lot of men in my life. Now I can get off on my thinking what it would be like if I were really like the person that people fantasize about when they think of Donna Summer. I get all kinds of letters which stimulate that fantasy. I get letters telling me about people's fantasies and dreams about me- people have sent me paintings and pictures. You can't imagine what these people say to me! One guy had this obsession with seeing Raquel Welch make it with me- oh, and Ann-Margret, too. I would have a whip or something, and they would be completely at my mercy. He went on for four or five pages, telling me how he found my album in his son's room and took it, and how he plays it when no one is home and just thinks about these things. It's amazing.

Penthouse: If a fantasy is something that is never really going to happen in one's life, what is an example of one of your fantasies?

Summer: I could imagine myself in a situation where I'm walking down a dark hallway, going to do my show, and somebody sexually overpowers me, attacks me.

Penthouse: Isn't that supposed to be the male-chauvinist version of a woman's fantasy?

Summer: Oh, I don't believe so. This secret fantasy of being raped is a part of women because we've been raised that way. I'm not saying that it's necessarily every woman's fantasy, because I can't really relate to every woman. But I like to know that someone is stronger than I am. I want to be able to know that if I get tired, somebody is there to hold up the fort. I like knowing that I can't pick up a refrigerator alone. God did not make me strong enough to do that.

Penthouse: You prefer to be physically dominated by men?

Summer: There are times I do- absolutely, 100 percent. And there are times when I don't want to be mentally dominated. When I think of aggression, I think of being aggressed upon rather than being the aggressor.

Penthouse: Have you ever had a female lover?

Summer: Never, and I don't really plan to. I must say I've been hit on by a lot of women in my life. But I found that that was not one of the things I wanted to participate in- outside the realm of fantasy.

Penthouse: Does it bother you to have a woman whom you think of as a friend attracted to you sexually?

Summer: No, it doesn't bother me as long as she doesn't touch me. It's a strange thing about me, like a tic or something, but I don't like to have people touching me at all. I find it an imposition on my person when people put their hands on me.

Penthouse: Where do you think that phobia comes from?

Summer: I just don't feel secure around women. I guess it comes from the time when I started in show business, when I was around eighteen years old. I was dancing and singing, and it put me around older women a lot- not girls, but women, around thirty, thirty-five. When I was younger, I was very physical, always moving. I was very, very thin and moved around with sort of a snakelike movement. It was obviously very alluring for women. At one point I started worrying, 'Am I putting this vibe out to women?" I talked to an analyst about it and realized that it wasn't me. It was them and what they envisioned me to be. It was my mystique.

Penthouse: Is this same kind of mystique at work in your relationship with your current boyfriend?

Summer: Well, my boyfriend is Italian. I think of him as my Italian stallion, and I'm sure I'm his sex goddess. But I don't think his feelings about me have anything to do with the myth that surrounds me. It's because our chemistry works.

Penthouse: Does the chemistry have anything to do with the fact that you're black and he's white?

Summer: I'm sure that he's been with other black women and the chemistry didn't work like it works with us. I've certainly been with other white men, and the chemistry wasn't like this.
- You know, what people consider erotic or beautiful has to do with what they've been told for twenty or thirty years. I had a problem with one of my boyfriends once. At the moment of the ultimate encounter, he became absolutely frantic and couldn't get it together, and all of a sudden I became a color to him and not a person. I stopped and said, "Wait a minute. Forget what you've learned in the past. You don't have to prove anything to me- I am me, not a myth. Look me in the eye and deal with me, not with a myth, because I'm not a myth." 8