I stayed in adolescence until I was 50. I consider 50 when I got over adolescence.

I never wanted to get married and have kids and yet, I’ve been with the same man since I was 23. We always had a flexible relationship, we let each other grow and move on in life. We had such a deep, spiritual bond, right from the beginning, there was something really deep between us. I don’t like to put this into words, but we both kind of knew that there was something there and we could stand each other on a day-to-day basis.

It’s very unusual. The whole thing is very unusual.

I still like living with Robert very much. We have a big house; we don’t see each other that much. He stays up until 5 in the morning, I get up at 7 in the morning. We have about two hours in bed together, so it doesn’t give us much time to do much. And you know, I come home from teaching yoga and have giant salad and some squid and some weird thing and he’s having bread and butter and jam. He sleeps in the morning and he stays up late. We’re like ships passing.

Do you think that’s what makes it work so well?

For me, yeah—I couldn’t be in traditional marriage at all. Not at all. I thought being a mother was very difficult, very painful. I had some postpartum problems, that’s when I went into deep therapy because of the pain caused by being a mother and loving this child so much that instead of being happy it felt painful. I thought, why can’t I just feel happy? And that propelled me to really work on myself some more.

It’s very complicated. Having grandchildren is totally fun because you don’t have that neurotic aspect. I get along with my daughter really well now; she’s this great person that I admire. She admires me, too. You know, we don’t have a cultural gap like I do with my mother. We like a lot of the same things, although taste-wise she’s completely understated and doesn’t like color. She likes simple environments and I live in the kitsch palace. Look at me! I’m like a Christmas tree.

You’re in such good shape, and super health-conscious. How do I square that with your work, which is not about being perfect?

I was a wild, out-of-control person, but I gradually got it together. I gradually got healthier, partially from expressing my anger and pain in my work and partially from therapy and partially from yoga. All of those things, and having kids, and being loved by one man for almost 50 years—all those things make you get better and make you get it together. All of that. I started out as such an out-of-control, self-destructive human being.

When I look back at pictures, when I thought I was ugly—I was beautiful! It’s so sad that I didn’t appreciate it then. I was gorgeous and I felt so ugly and I think that is such a sad thing, you know. I actually feel more attractive now at my age than I did then.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.