>> from our studios in new york city, this is "charlie rose." charlie: bill nighy is here. the british tabloids have dubbed him the thinking woman's crumpet. his acting career has spanned several decades in television, film, and theatre. he is currently on broadway alongside kerry mulligan in david hare's play "skylight." he also stars in "the second best exotic marigold hotel." here is the trailer for that film. >> the marigold hotel has been going properly for 8 months now. people come and go but there has been a corps of regulars from the beginning. sonny takes the roll call every morning. >> a most valuable precaution. to ensure nobody has died in the night. mrs. evelyn greenslate? >> here. >> douglas insley? >> yeah. i'm here. >> mrs. madge hardcastle? >> here. >> norman cousins and miss carol park? >> both here. >> mrs. murel donnely? >> what's left. >> ladies, and gentlmen, this is the great guy chambers. >> lord have mercy on my ovaries. >> first time in india? >> it was pretty much a dream until now. >> any other dreams i could help you with? >> you should marry that girl. >> i want to. >> sometimes it seems to me that the difference between what we want and what we fear is the width of an eyelash. >> i'm so sorry, were you talking to me? >> i don't know why i tell you anything. >> because i'm older and wiser. >> 19 days older. >> that's the entire lifespan of a wasp. >> "the second best exotic marigold hotel." charlie: i am pleased to have bill nighy back at this table. i was just asking who wrote that line. bill: park. he is a brilliant man. charlie: let me ask about three relationships. the first is michael. what is your relationship with him? bill: when i was young, michael used to creep up behind me in the canteen of the national theatre. he would say something so profane that i cannot possibly repeat it. it was encouraging. he would say something good. he had seen me in a play and would say something good. that would get me through the next 18 months. he was the one i responded to. he was a modern actor, a contemporary actor. charlie: what does that mean? bill: it means he was not, somehow, confined by any of the conventions of performing that we are around all of the time. he was kind of radical in a way. apart from the fact that -- he is touched by genius. i know that is the cliché but i feel it to be true. he has thrilled me. when i first saw "skylight," i swordfenced all the way home. you know, like when you were a kid? it was exactly like that. i was thrilled and i remember feeling obscurely proud to have the same job as those people. i wrote to michael and i said -- i have never written to anybody. i wrote to david beckham once. i wrote to michael and i said i'd now consider you to be the leader of my profession. he wrote back and said something like "pull yourself together." [laughter] also surrounded by lots of profanity. [laughter] but i am deeply, deeply -- i admire him but i'm also deeply fond of him. i recently did a movie with him and because i knew michael would make me laugh every morning and he did. we sat on a beach in the freezing cold and he made me laugh all day long. charlie: didn't he also tell david hare that he ought to get you for the role? bill: i didn't know that at the time but i believe somebody said that. charlie: he said, there is a young guy. bill: he has been instrumental in my career and he has been very encouraging. he is one of the few people who really gets your attention if they say something encouraging to you. i do believe he was instrumental in getting me this role the first time around. i had worked with david before. so he was not unaware of me. charlie: my next person is david hare. what is it about the two of you? bill: it is the great good fortune of my career, my association with david hare, which started when i was 30 and i did a television film with him. when i read the first thing i'd ever read by david hare, it kind of rang in me in a way great writing or great art often does. it was almost as if it were familiar to me. as if, if you would have given me time, i would have gotten around to saying those things. in terms of its attitude toward the world were things that i was already thinking. the elegance and beauty and wit. he writes the best jokes in town. it was something that was very kind of familiar to me. it was the first time i had read a contemporary script where it really blew me away. that -- david counted recently and i think it is 10 things we have done together now. i treasure that. charlie: theater, film, and television. bill: yes. i did "the dreams of leaving" on the television and i went and did a play called "the map of the world." i came here to new york many years later in the vertical hour when we first met. i have done "skylight" twice. i have done four television films with him. i also did with anthony hopkins, we did a big comedy. it was the first comedy ever produced at the national theater, rather the first contemporary comedy. david wrote it howard brenton and it was a massive hit. it was in the 1980's, i believe. charlie: the third relationship, the relationship with bill nighy. bill: ah. [laughter] yeah, i don't know how that is going. we don't get on terribly well. he doesn't think a great deal of me. charlie: oh, really? bill: especially the morning before i put the kettle on. he has a very low opinion of me. charlie: i sometimes think there are two of you. one is the person who is a rascal, who loves the challenges of light and a person who really does like to be quiet and like to be at home and like's to be alone. bill: the latter part of that is true. i do find it increasingly -- i find it thrilling to be on my own, to be honest. charlie: i treasure time alone. bill: i do, too. maybe it is the fact you have a very populated or vessel life. as do i. i go to work with 100 people. those times would be treasure herbal. there is something about it, i can control the environment. i don't necessarily have to be at home. i like to walk. charlie: it is doing things you want to do whether it is just things you want to take time to do. to see something, read something. play something. all of that. bill: absolutely. it has become more and more precious to me. i am very pleased i'm able to relish it. i feel like it is a function of being younger. you miss stuff. now, i make a point. you look at the clock and think hey, come on. charlie: do you appreciate all you have now because it did not come early? bill: i think so, yes. i am pretty sure that that is the case. charlie: i think it is true also. bill: i am very vigilant about registering my good fortune each day. the odds on it were long. when i wake up, i can wake up with a negative head and decode as i am walking towards the kettle. id code it into positivity. there is so much to be positive about. charlie: let's talk about the movie. it was so successful and everyone was surprised. it was an obvious choice for someone to say we did something right. let's try it again. bill: it didn't look like box office dynamite. i thought we would make a good film. once judy became involved, i have worked with her a great deal. if i had to go to work every day with judy, i would be perfectly happy. when she became involved come it became very easy to decide. i have known the cast most of my life. i have been married to penelope, then her doctor. charlie: you mean on the zone? bill: yes. i had letter sex with her. it was hilarious. it was as sitting across a table. charlie: it was all through the mail? bill: it was mostly us try not to look at each other so we wouldn't laugh. it was racy and funny. i have known celia since she was 16. i have known tom lukens for 25 years. it was a bit like the traveling supper club of great britain. you could sell tickets just for the stories around the dinner table. charlie: and richard gere. bill: he entered the language very easily. it -- he is a big india hand. he knew the country and was happy to be there. i would be playing music and he would say, what a great guy. you say, you know john hooker? he says, i am doubt with john a lot. i used to pump him for stories. charlie: what you ever consider being a musician? bill: no. i tried to be in a band when i was 20. we did not get out of the garage. i cannot play anything. i have bad hands. charlie: this movie, what is it that makes it successful? is it just the actors? there is such a good feeling about them? charlie: it is possible that is an element. i think parker is a brilliant man. i think a lot of it should be handed to him. john madden is a fantastic filmmaker. they extrapolated brilliantly from the first one. to give everyone a good story again and to resolve everything, to make it funny and romantic. i don't really know why it would be so successful. there is the fact it offers some alternative do the usual traditional way of looking at old age movies. it is exciting for a certain part of the audience. charlie: there is adventure for these people at their age. this is where you enter. or and wife arrive in india. >> hello, dad. >> darling. >> hello. >> darling. >> hello. it was also delightfully last-minute. >> a bit of a warning would have been nice. >> he didn't get my text? laura is giving a speech at an international conference. >> about the x potential growth of internet startups and the consequences. >> when she mentioned she would be here, i cannot resist the chance to come out and visit the old crumbling ruins and see how the hotel was doing as well. charlie: you once said to me playing off of great actors makes you up your game. bill: i believe that to be true. if you work with those actors, not even consciously but in retrospect, that is how i experience it. they have enabled you to raise your game. charlie: what does it raising your game mean? focus? bill: those things are included. i guess you are able to operate at a level in sight or intelligence or wit that might be available to you if the people you are working the opposite with. they open you up the cause they deliver something which is sophisticated. it is simple or true. it unlocks something and it becomes a proper extent. charlie: you once said this character you played was a man who was long-suffering but acted decently. bill: it is radical. i like the heroism of so-called ordinary people. the people who have decent, from the point of view of headlines unremarkable but decent lives who are drawn to the idea of doing the next great thing. i like the idea of playing someone who is apparently decent. there is to ambiguity about that. douglas is pretty straightforward. charlie: the text is how much of what you do on the stage or on a film? bill: off the top of my head 90%. charlie: really? bill: without that, i don't think you can begin. i'm interested in the writing and how it is expressed. that more than anything else. charlie: director's essay the casting is 75% of what they do. bill: i believe it. they cast somebody they think is in conjunction with the writing and will give the right merger. between words. bill: it must be the most difficult part of the job, getting that right, getting it straight. charlie: are you a man of ambition? bill: i have to work out here which is the pr part of my brain. to answer honestly, i suppose yes. i'm not interested in anything else either. just to try to separate. i think probably, yeah. in my own way, i am. charlie: doing what you like and doing it well appeals to your psyche. bill: i am not the end on world domination. charlie: you are not an imperialist? bill: i am not. even when i was younger, my expectations were incredibly low. charlie: why did it change? bill: i don't know it did. things got good. things were good for a long time but things got better in terms of -- charlie: i think ambition is a good thing. i think you take acting really seriously. you take the profession seriously. in a sense that you really do want to excel at doing the thing. not just being the thing. bill: i got interested in acting and i have remained fascinated by it. i am ambitious to do it as well as i can. charlie: and find out how good you can be. that is the great test. bill: i am keen for that. charlie: some actors tell me that they rarely accept a part if it scares them. bill: yeah. when i was younger, i used to drive them down. if they were scary, turn them down. in fact, it was just fun. then, i got real and started to take jobs that apparently i had invented as out of my range. thanks started to get better. charlie: what is an example? bill: "skylight" is an example. i had turned it down three times. it was one of the greatest things i had seen. traditionally, i would turn it down with my agent and david hare would call me personally and i would say, ok i am coming. where do you want me? charlie: i thought you would say if david hare called me, i would not take the call. bill: i would take it and he would say what is that about? i say i don't know, where do you want me? why do i have to be there? that is what happened with "skylight." charlie: how would you do it again? bill: i did it --this is a question to which i don't out salute we know the answer but i will speculate. i wanted to do a play and there aren't many i want to do. i wanted to do it originally in new york. then it turned out people couldn't do that. i did it in london, which was wonderful. i loved the play with all of my heart. i think it is brilliant. it had not been produced majorly for a long time. david protected it. i love it. charlie: what do you love about it? bill: i love the fact that it is funny in a way i find heartbreaking. i love the way that the broader issues perfectly and invisibly are integrated into this story of two people trying to come to terms with one another on a personal level. i love the fact it is built like a bomb, like a clock. it is beautifully put together so that it unlocks something in the audience so they go away hopefully, full of hope. and about personal relations and about things more universal. i think it is i rare occasion where those things are beautifully integrated. charlie: you didn't want to do it because of michael? did you see it differently watching a performance by him? bill: it would be different, i guess. it was a long time ago so i cannot really remember. i cannot remember my first performance. i have fond memories of the people involved and a lot of the offstage stuff. i cannot actually recall much about the performance. i'm not repressing anything. it is a brand-new production and stephen, who is a brilliant and wonderful man, has really delivered something beautiful. it is one of the most beautiful sets i have ever seen. it is a beautiful package. charlie: how did you say no? bill: everything was attractive. robert fox, one of my favorite producers. natasha kline bathed it an intelligent light. everything about it is beautiful. charlie: you said, bathed me an intelligent light. bill: she did it. carey mulligan's is utterly brilliant. i love her with all of my heart. just to get back out here so everybody is clear. [laughter] roll tape. >> used to tell me you had this great thing. you called at your man management skills and you still treat people. >> he is a driver. that is what he does. you know that a driver drives. they spend their lives waiting. that is what they expect. frank is very well paid. >> have you seen the weather? the snow about to come down. >> frank is better off sitting in a warm mercedes than he would in your house. this ridiculous self-righteousness. you always had it. it will not get any better. it will get worse once you decide. >> it has nothing to do with my teaching. it is a way of respecting people. >> frank isn't people. frank is a man doing a job. these steep adjusters. nothing to do with what people might want. they want to be treated, respected, not look down on as if they were chronically disabled, as if they needed help all the time. you look down always on the way we did rings come on the way things are done. you could never accept the nature of business. >> well, i must say i never knew that was the reason. >> i am sorry. >> i never knew that was the reason i had to leave. >> i feel badly. >> i thought i left because your wife i discovered i had been sleeping with you for over six years. >> that as well. [laughter] charlie: you want to shoot me now? bill: i want to shoot you now. that is absolutely bizarre. charlie: you looked away because you did not realize. then you said, i think -- bill: there was one bit where he got a laugh. he was corpsing. it means laughing when you are not supposed to laugh. charlie: when you came back on -- do you watch yourself? bill: i don't like to risk it. it is a risk assessment. what is that phrase? i feel that, why risk it? i don't watch movies i am in. charlie: never? bill: not if i can help it. i never watch movies on planes anyway because i read on plants. i don't watch myself if i can help it. why risk it? charlie: why risk it? bill: i don't like the sight of me. i have never fancied it. it is not that so much. you see all the compromises, thanks i did not quite pull off. i'm not the audience for it. then come i have to recover from it and go back to work. it is best if i am left in the dark. charlie: this is what michael said. the only thing i am jealous of is bill nighy. [laughter] bill: well, there you go. what do you know? i spent decades thinking i just want to be michael. charlie: and he is jealous of you. bill: i don't know what that is about. charlie: are you comfortable with that? bill: i am. here is what ben brantley said. i think that was very flattering, don't you? bill: deeply. charlie: are you comfortable at long last? this is like john joseph welsh. are you comfortable at long last, sir, with the that people love you? love you. bill: no, you can see i am squirming in the chair. it is against my upbringing. i crave it like everyone house but i guess it just goes against the one man cult i have invented in my head. you can tell i'm struggling. i love to hear it. thank you very much. charlie: you have never played shakespeare. bill: not really. once, i was in "the taming of the shrew." i have played twice. i only did the second one because it was david. i think i turned it down and he phoned me personally. [laughter] charlie: you said, ok, what do you want? bill: he said something like it is made. i said, ok. he meant, trust me. he was right. charlie: what does it mean to trust a director or writer? bill: it is a big deal. it takes time, i think. i'm very fortunate. i work with you same people over and over again. i am grateful. even i have to accept they will probably take care of me. charlie: here is another clip from "skylight." take a look. bill: you take a look. i'm just going to listen. >> misses it. >> i realized i have to go one step further. i have to really let them know who i am. that is when they respect you. now, no problems with discipline. i have to say, my grades are amazing. i took on the job and i bloody well did it. >> it sounds like a challenge. [laughter] >> i have seen the way things are now in this country. for 30 years, i lived in a dream. i don't mean that on kindly. everything you gave me i treasured but you go out now and open your eyes and you see this country as it really is. charlie: what is the magic between these two? bill: the magic is they love each other quite simply. they are -- charlie: there is an age difference, political difference. that wouldn't bother me at all. bill: doesn't bother me at all. love it's wherever it does. it hits and the most unlikely places. i don't think this is the most unlikely place. they had six years of very happy times which happen to coincide with his marriage. [laughter] bill: he was married, so. it survived that and it survived the intervening years you get to see over the evening. charlie: how would you characterize her performance? bill: masterful. charlie: masterful. bill: yes. she is -- the more i work with her and in this play and having to come back after a six-month break and having a renewed view of it, she is absolutely extraordinary and exemplary and has a much harder evening than i do. she has to start and end the play. she has -- she is lethal. she is forever truthful but she operates with a total absence of careerism, any kind of undesirable sentiment. she is pristine. charlie: david hare said, who could succeed bill nighy? the answer -- bill nighy. bill: that is very good. charlie: tell me who tom sargent is. bill: he is a self-made man. he has built every successful restaurant empire. he also owns hotels. he is extraordinarily successful. he was married to a woman he saw modeling in a magazine. they had a family. he met and fell in love with the carey mulligan character. his wife then dies. he is someone who has not survived his success totally intact. his success is being corrosive. it sometimes is with people who have been very lucky. he has made the mistake of imagining that it is something he did. it is more than luck. it confirms for him something which is not altogether true which is that he is in some way unique and therefore is at liberty to pontificate that is not altogether attractive. charlie: but it is not all luck. bill: no, he has worked hard. charlie: but there is always chance and opportunity and timing. bill: he is not a terrible man. it is a sophisticated play. they both talk rationally at times and they both talk sensibly. it is like watching a tennis match. the audiences do swing quite vigorously between the characters. charlie: did you change anything about the way you saw him and portrayed him in between? bill: that is difficult to monitor. i think i probably have. i think, i hope i have a little more compassion. i don't have to defend my character or anything. i don't bother. i am happy to present the part. i have probably opened in a touch to make him less hopefully more sophisticated of a character. he is not the villain of the piece. i'm not out to get him. charlie: did you like page eight? bill: i adored it. it was my ideals and tuition. -- ideal situation. i cannot believe it when david rang me and said he had 40 pages of a screenplay which would have involved me but he cannot work out what to do with page 41. i said, what are you saying? he said, it'll probably never exist. should we have breakfast? i said, you cannot call me -- he also wanted a director. -- he wanted to direct it. he had not directed anything for a long time. my fondest memories of being directed by david with a young man. the fact you would direct a film for television was the ideal situation. charlie: are you intrigued by stories about intelligence and the world of intrigue? bill: what i do lately after the show is i go home and read ben mcintyre's book. about kim philby. i.e. that stuff up. i am crazy about it. i have read all of them. charlie: the stories about him and what he might have done, this book being a good example. they keep unfolding. bill: he was the most extraordinary figure. it is like bob dylan. you think, how much more deep need to know? -- how much more do you need to know about bob dylan. bob dylan probably doesn't want me to read these books but i cannot help myself. there may be one thing i don't know. [laughter] how many times do we need to be told this stuff? i know everything. charlie: you might find a kernel, though. something might explain everything. thank you for coming. bill: it was really good to see you. charlie: i cannot wait to see the play and the film as well. bill nighy. back in a moment. stay with us. charlie: tim gunn is here. he began teaching in 1978 at the corcoran college of art and design where you studied sculpture. he was a faculty member and associate dean and chairman of the department of fashion design at parsons. he cohosts and mentors for "project runway." he has emerged as a popular figure. he shares his thoughts on teaching and mentorship in his new book called “tim gunn: the natty professor." i am pleased to have been here at this table. tim: it is a profound honor. charlie: tell me what project runway did for you. tim: it is what it did for the -- it is not only what it did for me, but what it did for the fashion industry. it demystified it. it took this veil of mystery and intrigue and ripped it off and said, look at this industry. it is not very glamorous looking. for me, when i first became involved with the show, i was a consultant. i was never supposed to be on a camera. it all happened at the last minute. charlie: what happened? tim: i believe the producers were afraid the designers would receive their marching orders from heidi klum and go into the work room to create their work and no one would talk. by sending me in to probe, they would at least be assured of dialogue. charlie: because he would know something different. tim: i would be doing what i did in my classrooms. charlie: raise questions? tim: to probe. to critique. to give them feedback about their work. i never dreamed there'd be a season two. charlie: did you fill -- did you feel comfortable instantly? tim: not even remotely. i was most nervous standing with heidi. my knees would shake. in the work room itself, i was fairly comfortable because i was in my own domain, including being in a room i actually taught at. -- at parsons. i was aware of the camera placements. i thought, it is obvious to me that no one will need to hear me or see my face as long as they have the designers responding to my questions. i'm just going to go away. charlie: the designers know what they're talking about. you can always pictures of fashion. tim: precisely. charlie: what do you like about fashion? tim: i like the evolution, the fact it happens in the context. a cultural, societal historical, economic, political. there is a very real difference between fashion and clothes. we need clothes. when i talk about clothes, the l.l. bean catalog has been the same and we are grateful for them. we just need a cave. we like fashion because it is constantly changing. we like to feel that we are part of this experiment. charlie: and it is a reflection of the moment. tim: the close we wear send a -- the clothes we wear send a message about how the world perceives us. that is a tall order. charlie: i'm interested in the mentoring. tell me about that. i think all of us owe mentoring to someone who can benefit. tim: i completely agree. i had mentors in my life and they continue to be important to me. it was interesting for me because i spent so many years as a teacher and transitioning from teacher to mentor was frankly, difficult. as a teacher, that classroom is my domain. i am in charge of, i can do whatever i want to do, tell people what to do. as a mentor, you are an advisor. i will break it down to what i do with teach in the book. i take teach and turn it into an ackerman -- an acronym. truth telling, empathy, asking cheerleading, and hoping for the best. i love the role of mentor then the role of teacher. i find it to be more challenging and therefore, more rewarding. charlie: it's part of it because it is often 1-1? tim: most definitely. teaching can be intimate as well. mentoring is so specific to that individual. charlie: about his or her life. tim: exactly. and the context with which the work is being made. charlie: have you had mentors? tim: wonderful once. -- wonderful ones. i am lucky to say. charlie: you have never wanted to be a designer? tim: i am by education and artist. -- by education on artistan artist. i created work interest only up until the time i taught. charlie: on tv? tim: never in a million years. i am in awe of those designers. they execute that work in 10 hours. they conceived, shop, draft, cut, sew, fit in, style the model. i am in constant awe. charlie: robert said to me, i could never be an actor. robert altman. i have such admiration for what it is they do. i would never want to do it, i would never think i could do it. i am totally in awe of it. because i respect what they have to do, it is within me. i'm a better director. tim: i agree. i have to say, not being a fashion designer, i am never projecting myself into the designers worked and asking what would i do. first of all, what i would do is totally irrelevant. in this case, it is moot because i would not be doing anything. charlie: is there anything you would like to do that you are not doing? tim: i have to tell you, there's not a single day where i don't talk about how lucky i am. i believe to wish for anything else would be so hubris i would be struck by lightning. charlie: somehow, i found the rainbow. tim: most definitely. charlie: television has given you something that just teaching would not have done? it has to do with fame. tim: which is something that still -- i don't feel famous. i never assume anyone knows who i am. as i said earlier, i count my blessings and thank my lucky stars every day. as chairman of the fashion department at parsons, it does not get any better than that in fashion education. i am proud of it. i was really at the top of the heap. i was prepared to retire there. then, this phenomenon happened and it overlapped with parsons for 3.5 years. it was an entire new threshold that provided this new dimension to my life and i still have trouble wrapping my brain around it. when i am doing red carpet at the oscars and i'm standing next to meryl streep, i have an out of body experience. i think, i cannot believe i and -- i am standing here with these people. charlie: i wonder, was it always within you and you are just one of the lucky ones? what ever it is that makes you good you had? i think a lot of people have a lot of talent who never get a chance. larry david talked about some of the people that are really good and no one knows their names. tim: there are people in fashion like that. a lot of them. when i talk about counting my blessings, the fact i can be on television and just be me and have people respond positively how fantastic? i don't have to get into character, think -- charlie: what is it you bring, your curiosity? tim: i believe it is critical for the enjoyment and betterment of one's life. otherwise, what makes us get out in the morning? there is an authenticity to me that i'm willing to acknowledge. i am so eager to help our designers as i was my students. i know that certain methods of communication don't work and through trial and error and experience, i have learned what works better if not best. charlie: you have distilled teaching through telling empathy, asking questions, cheerleading, and helping for the best. tell me about truth telling. tim: truth telling is about what i see and in the context of also asking and empathy, of understanding where you're coming from. the truth telling is for me is a matter of what you can do something about. it may also be this is fabulous but that is generally not the case. things are good and things can be improved. but with truth telling them i draw a pronounced line between what can be fixed and what cannot be. if it cannot be fixed, i don't talk about it. charlie: how about empathy? tim: empathy is rehearsing in my head what i want to say to an individual and asking myself how would i respond? it may require some rethinking recalibration. it is very helpful. how would i respond? charlie: asking questions we talked about. cheerleading. tim: accentuating the positive. charlie: encouragement. tim: it is important. i make the assumption and i believe i'm correct that in the circumstances in which i have been so blessed to be in him a -- two bn, a -- to be in, a highly selected design school, a hip reality show that is very selective. i make the assumption these are motivated people with a high aptitude and a desire to ascend, to be better. that is the point of departure i use. charlie: of all the people on project runway, how many have risen to have significant achievement? tim: it depends on how you define significant. for me, a matter of what are the goals and ambitions of the individual and how are they the fulfilling those? i will cite our season two winner. she did not want to leave houston. she is one of six sisters. she wanted to expand her business, which she has incrementally. she has a wonderful family of her own. she is very happy. she had no desire to be in new york or los angeles, cities where you expected you would end up as a fashion designer. we have kristin from season five who has done phenomenally well. i'm thinking of emmett mccarthy from season three and what he has achieved. also, think about the economic downturn and the calamity that corresponded to a number of those seasons. i'm happy to have designers still working at all. it is a tough industry. charlie: talk a bit about the personal life. the idea of coming to terms with sexuality. where do you put that? in terms of becoming tim? tim: are sexuality is as inextricable as a gender. it is an important part of who we are and something i turned my back on for a long time. i would say to myself, i don't know who i am sexually but i know who i am not. even that was very helpful. i am proud to be a gay man. it is inextricable from who i am. it is a something i would never dream of changing. whenever anyone asks -- i will say, i had a very troublesome adolescents in particular. charlie: you attempted suicide. tim: i did. i was hospitalized for a long time. there was a young men in that hospital with me who was there because he was gay. this is in the late 60's. it was thought that this was something you should fix. i said, good heavens, i know what i am not but i don't know who i am. i can't possibly even dream of wanting to be like this other young man. look at how tormented he is and what he is going through trying to change all of this. thankfully, we are in a different place now. i am grateful for it. charlie: the tim cook statements have been eloquent and remarkable. tim: i agree. charlie: to come forward as he did -- all of us would hope we live in a society where normal people will feel the way you did and the way intended. -- the way tim did. tim: i hope so. charlie: are we making that progress? tim: i hope so. i am pleased about the number of states acknowledging same-sex marriage. at the same time, i know through the human rights campaign which i have worked closely, there are still 36 states and this nation where you can be fired for being gay. i don't believe people act on it very often but those laws need to be amended. charlie: absolutely. tim: there's a lot of work to do. charlie: the book is called “tim gunn: the natty professor. mentoring motivating and making it work, you can do to shape your own way." thank you. ♪ >> he has been called tech's boy genius, a nonconformist, perhaps the only ceo who has refused to keep a schedule. david karp started tumblr before he was 20. he sold it to to yahoo! for about $1 billion before he was 30. it is now one of the most creative and social blogging platforms, all from a guy who dropped out of high school lives in a loft, and drives a vespa. joining me today on "studio 1.0," tumblr founder and ceo david karp. thank you for joining us. thank you for having this on the schedule. >> i do have a schedul