PAT BENATAR: TROPICO DANCER

Asked what the most important thing in her life is in the autumn of her fifth year of stardom, Pat(ricia Andrzejwski) Benatar (Geraldo) rapturously replies, “Neil [Geraldo, her husband, lead guitarist, and producer] and the little family that we have, our two dogs and the bambino [that is, the child they expect in March, 1985]. That’s the best thing, and the most important. It makes me real happy to keep that together.”

Actually, “real happy” doesn’t begin to describe wee Pat’s state of mind in the autumn of 1984. In fact, “I’m delirious. I’m trying not to be that happy, because people just sort of go, ‘Whaaaat?’ Maybe it’s that my hormones are all balanced because of the baby. Getting pregnant’s the best thing that ever happened to me, the most female thing.” Which isn’t to imply that she’s all goose-pimply with delight at the thought of childbirth’s exquisite agony. “I can’t take pain,” she admits. “But I tell myself, ‘People have been having babies for thousands of years, so quit being an asshole.’