How did you come up with the idea for Cho Dependent, and how did you bring that idea to fruition?

I’ve been friends with a couple of the people I collaborated with on the record for a number of years. I’ve known Ani DiFranco for a long time; I toured with her years ago. It was a natural thing for me to collaborate with the people that I knew already, like Grant Lee Phillips and Ben Lee. Some of the other people I just loved and I wanted them to be a part of it. Those are people like Andrew Bird and Tegan and Sara. I love comedy music and I always thought the music part had been short-changed. I wanted to take it beyond what I’d heard in the past and make something that, musically, had staying power.

What was the musicians’ response when you presented the idea? Was everyone into it from the get-go?

Yeah, they really wanted to be a part of it - surprising people, people that you think are pretty serious. One of my favorite collaborations is between me, Patty Griffin and Fiona Apple. We did a song together which is an imagined duet between myself and my dog, which is a really beautiful song. Fiona sings the part of my dog, which is so cute.

Your song “I’m Sorry,” which you wrote with Andrew Bird, is about an ex of yours who was a murderer. Care to elaborate?

He wasn’t even my ex; he was this guy that I liked. I really loved him. I was young; he worked on my TV show, All American Girl. He didn’t like me back, it was horrible. I never forgot about him though. I never Googled him, ‘cause I didn’t want to know that he’s super happy with a bunch of kids and living in a lighthouse or something. I was so convinced that he was gonna be super happy without me in his life.

Then I turned 40 and I thought, I still love this guy, what is wrong with me? I Googled him and his name came up on Wikipedia and it had American screenwriter, producer, worked on All American Girl with Margaret Cho and in 2007 was convicted in the murder of his wife. He bludgeoned her to death and left her body in the attic for a month until it was partially mummified. I was so upset. I don’t really have a right to be upset, it’s not me that he killed and it’s not anyone that I know. But I loved this guy forever. It was such a shattering realization.

Do you think love is blind?

Yeah, I didn’t even really know him that well. We didn’t even have a relationship; he didn’t like me like that. He made it very clear to me that was not gonna happen. I was so young; you kind of hold onto this ideal of people. I had this vision of him as this great person and he turned out to be a total monster. It’s so horrifying.

That’s insane.

Yeah, but it’s a good song and it really is a true country murder ballad, if ever there was one. It is the truest kind of Americana. It’s about a murder, a real one, one that was very close to me.

You’re in the second season of your show Drop Dead Diva. Can you tell us about the show and your character?

Drop Dead Diva is about a spokesmodel that is very thin, blond and vapid, who dies and her consciousness is transferred into the body of an attorney who is very insecure but really brilliant and really unselfish. She’s got to learn how to live in this new body where she’s not blond anymore, she’s not thin anymore, and she’s this totally new person. It’s a fantastical story but it’s very true to life. It deals with how women can really feel invisible in the world. I play the lawyer’s assistant who is helping her navigate her new life. It’s great, I love it.

Gay rights are a huge topic on our site, as many of our myYearbook members are in high school and are just coming out. Were you aware of your sexuality in high school?

I was somewhat of a late bloomer. My queerness didn’t come out until much later. I never felt it until I was well into my 20’s. I think I’ve had an easier time of it – not an easier time in high school, but I just didn’t identify it with anything so I didn’t know until later that I felt more queer. I feel like everybody’s experience is different.

So you didn’t come out until you were in your 20’s?

I think so. And to me it was it was just normal to be queer. I was in San Francisco and it was so normal. It wasn’t even a weird thing. It was weird to be straight.

You’re married. Has your husband always been cool with your bisexuality?

Always.

You recently attended an Asian History Month at the White House where you had the chance to speak with President Obama. In your blog, you say that Obama is mythological. Can you explain that?

He’s such an accomplished person, if you think about what he’s been able to do, which is reach out across a racial divide that people don’t even acknowledge. We have always thought about the office of president as being a white job. It’s the ultimate white job, it’s as white collar as it gets. That’s the highest you can go. It’s beyond what you think someone could do. I’m really impressed by that fact. That he is in office, that he’s president, that he’s doing a great job. I’m just so impressed by him and I think he’s amazing. He is almost like a mythological figure, like a superhero.

Are there any other political leaders that you’re currently supporting?

Theresa Sparks, who is running for office in San Francisco. She’s a transgendered woman who transitioned and came back to become the president of the police commission. You think of the police as being quite a conservative faction and you would never imagine someone who is transgendered to be head of the police, but she is. To me, she’s another person who is tremendously accomplished and somewhat mythological.

You have numerous tattoos, particularly on your back. When did you start getting tattooed and why?

I grew up around a lot of people who were very tattooed. I always wanted to get them but I never had any ability to do it or knowledge of what to do or where to go. So the guy I was raised by, his name is David Forbes, took me to Ed Hardy, who is someone I also grew up around. Ed did most of my back and my stomach, which was my first tattoo, which is very big piece.

Since then I’ve been going to people that I love like Kat Von D, Mike Davis, Chris O’ Donnell, they’re really the best tattoo artists in the world. I’m really lucky. I have a great tattoo artist who did the portrait for my cover of Cho Dependent, Shawn Barber. I’m always around cool people but my tattoo artists are the coolest.

Do all your tattoos have meaning?

Not really, to me they’re just decorative. I like them a lot. For me they’re symbolic just in terms of, this is my body; I can do whatever I want. That’s my statement. Other than that, they don’t have many meanings.