SPIN: You were married when you started in the Pixies, and you were credited as Mrs. John Murphy. Do you ever regret not having that simple, domestic suburban life?
Kim Deal: Why do you torture me? [Pretends to weep] Yes, I'm lonely. Yes, I'm single. And yes, I'm childless. What more do you want? Yeah, of course. But I can't do anything about it. I was married briefly to a nice guy, but he wouldn't quit dating. Awkward.
S:But you bounced back — you were in relationships after that.
KD: Not a whole lot. I was busy. I read this article on a plane, in, like, Newsweek, about women breaking through the glass ceiling in business. It was an editorial where she was saying, "I have regrets, and one is that I waited so long and I'm now childless." It reminds me of a Roy Lichtenstein shirt: "Oh my God, I forgot to have a baby!" Well, I was in my early 30s when I read this, and I thought, "Note to self: Got it. Won't let that happen." And here I am.
S: Was it hard to slow down?
KD: No, I felt like I was available. I don't know. Maybe it's because I look like a guy — it's true! You know, they like girly-girl people, for real, and I can't — I'm just like, whatever, friend zone is cool.
S: Does that bother you? Looking back, would you have done anything different?
KD: It used to. Now it's just too damn late. But in the late '90s, it was really bothering me. I was using a lot of drugs. You know, I think I was available, but maybe I wasn't. Obviously. But I'm really jealous that guys making the same career decisions I made find themselves with children running around their house and a woman making them dinner: "Honey, no, you go work. You're an artist, that's what you do. You're a poet." Sometimes I think I need a wife.