Words by Michael Kaplan
If Jennifer Tilly gets up from the Las Vegas poker table and makes it to F1 this week, she will be easy to spot. Her closet is loaded with elegantly splashy threads from the likes of Gucci, Balmain and Chanel – and she wears them all gorgeously. During a recent spin through Paris, she was photographed exiting the Valentino boutique loaded down with the designer’s shopping bags. Whatever she dresses in, though, it always looks good against the stacks of chips she manages to accrue while indulging her passion for high-stakes poker, a game at which she’s taken down more than $1 million in tournament winnings.
Most widely known for her portrayal of Tiffany Valentine, a serial killer in the Chucky horror-movie franchise – a new one is on deck for release between 2026 and 2027, and she’s featured in Doc of Chucky, a documentary about the slasher flicks, which has been scheduled to drop this month – Tilly will also turn heads on season 14 of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Considering Tilly’s highly developed sense of fashion – she’s particularly mad for Dolce & Gabbana – there’s little doubt that she will fit in with the couture-loving ladies of Bravo.
Last month, fresh off the plane from Paris, still brimming with excitement over the fashion shows in Europe, Tilly sat down to dish about life in the fab lane.
GRAZIA: We know you are super into poker, jewelry, and, of course, Chucky. Is there ever a time when all three merge?
JENNIFER TILLY: There was a game where I brought my blinged-out Chucky doll. I had him sitting on top of my chip stack with a $25,000 chip in his hand. Then I’d do a little thing where I would make like I was trying to pull it away, but he wouldn’t let me.
GRAZIA: Sounds fun. Well, since this is our Las Vegas issue, and since you obviously like to gamble for high stakes, I have to ask: What is the coolest thing you’ve bought there after taking down a big score at poker?
TILLY: With poker winnings? I once wanted a Gucci necklace. It was so sparkly with opals and semi-precious stones and little diamonds mounted en tremblant. I really wanted it, and they gave me a special price. So I got it. But I really try to keep my poker winnings separate.
GAZIA: How come?
TILLY: If you’re going to play high-stakes poker, it doesn’t help to think of a pot as a Chanel purse that you want. Instead, you have to think of the chips as things that you get to play with. I think of them as Monopoly money. One good thing about keeping it all separate is that my business manager doesn’t have to feel sad for me when I lose.
GRAZIA: Any great Vegas meals after a big poker win?
TILLY: I remember winning the $5K buy-in Bellagio Cup [which paid her $124,455]. I went to Petrosian in the Bellagio, sat down and ordered the caviar. Then I thought, I just won a big poker tournament. I’m a winning gambler … And I ordered a second container of caviar. I remember, sitting there, eating the caviar, and being, like, ‘Me fancy!’
GRAZIA: Speaking of fancy, you’re appearing on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills this season. How did that happen?
TILLY: Sutton Stracke, one of the Housewives, is literally my bestie. So, I am making guest appearances as a friend of hers. Some of the girls have a beef with Sutton. So, understandably, they’re a little wary of me. It’s, like, Here’s Sutton with her wingman.
I’m a supporting character. So, I go to all the parties and go on all the trips, but they don’t dig into my personal life. I prefer that. I don’t want them filming in my house with Phil [her boyfriend Phil Laak, a professional poker player] wandering around in his pajamas, saying Phil-isms.
GRAZIA: Was the show fun for you?
TILLY: It was sort of fun. I had a good time. And I didn’t feel really pummeled. They seem to like me. But who knows? It’s still stressful …
GRAZIA: … because you never know when things will turn. Nevertheless, it can’t be more stressful than playing poker for thousands of dollars.
TILLY: It is way more stressful than poker. At least with poker, you have some modicum of control over what will happen. But I will say that, as a fashionista, my favorite part was being able to wear all my outfits. I buy all this ridiculous stuff – I call them my costumes – and I usually wonder where I will be able to wear them.
GRAZIA: What about at the poker table?
TILLY: I have two ways that I dress at the poker table. For TV [on televised poker tournaments and shows like High Stakes Poker], I bring on the full Jennifer. We’re making a show, after all. I wear a look that I like to call Lady Gambler. Big diamond rings, push-up bras, fake eyelashes…
GRAZIA: Which designers?
TILLY: Well, Dolce & Gabbana. I try to look like a very successful movie star, wearing red-carpet stuff. In terms of jewelry, every stone has a meaning. Jade is money. I bring it for TV, give ‘em the old razzle dazzle. I have four-leaf clovers and horseshoes – all made of gold – things to attract money and repel jealousy. I have a necklace that is an evil-eye repeller.
“THERE WAS A GAME WHERE I BROUGHT MY BLINGED-OUT CHUCKY DOLL. I HAD HIM SITTING ON TOP OF MY CHIP STACK WITH A $25,000 CHIP IN HIS HAND.”
GRAZIA: What’s the second way of dressing?
TILLY: In real life, not on TV, I try to look like the guys. I wear stretched-out T-shirts, baseball caps, and jeans. I don’t want to be noticed.
GRAZIA: How about the guys? Do they go out of their way to look cool at the poker table?
TILLY: What most of the guys do is wear normal, ratty outfits, and then they have on $300,000 wristwatches.
GRAZIA: Stuff like Richard Mille and A.P.s., I know what you mean.
TILLY: Then, when they’re thinking, they put their hands up to their faces, so you can admire their watches. They’re sort of saying, ‘Yeah, I’m such a badass that I can afford to buy this watch and wear it with my ratty old sweatshirt.’
GRAZIA: Did you consider getting any of the Real Housewives into a poker game?
TILLY: No. A few years ago Eileen Davidson was on the show and her husband is Vince Van Patten [a commentator on World Poker Tour], and he tried teaching the Housewives to play poker. They were very obstreperous in the way they approached poker, which is a complicated game. It was quite terrible to watch, as a professional poker player and as a Housewives fan.
GRAZIA: I’m surprised it didn’t come up for you to host a game.
TILLY: When the producers asked me to have a poker party, I said that I didn’t think it would be very interesting visually. I said, ‘How about if I have a kaftan and caviar party?’ They went for it!
GRAZIA: You own a piece of The Simpsons, and you received it from the late Sam Simon, one of the show’s creators. What is the deal with that?
TILLY: I was Sam’s wife, and I believe that he was largely responsible for the template of the show. He was one of the three creators. But he was unhappy there and after a year, he negotiated a deal to get out. They gave him the greatest golden parachute.
GRAZIA: They gave him a piece of the show.
TILLY: At the same time, Sam and I were getting divorced. My lawyer told me that I was entitled to half of [Sam Simon’s cut of The Simpsons]. I settled for a smallish piece – but a smallish piece of The Simpsons is actually a very large amount of money. [At the time of their divorce], I thought it would be worth $20,000 or $30,000. It was just a cartoon. But then it turned out to be the most fantastic thing.
GRAZIA: You must be incredibly grateful.
TILLY: I loved Sam very much, and I still do. He was my friend for 30 years. We were actually better as friends than we were as married people. I remember Sam came to my house, where I still live, which I bought with the Simpsons money. He looked around and said, ‘Jennifer, I’m really glad that you got a lawyer and that you got a piece of the Simpsons money.’ It was like a benediction. I feel like Sam blessed this house and I’ll always be safe here. It’s a starter home but I feel that I’ll never move out.
GRAZIA: Any tips for people who are in Vegas for F1 and might want to do some cool jewelry shopping or dine out at one of your favorite places?
TILLY: There’s Neil Lane, which specializes in estate jewelry, and you can always negotiate. But you can’t go into Van Cleef & Arpels and ask for 20 percent off. You won’t get it in the big places. For food, I like Carbone in Aria and Lotus of Siam, which is great Thai food, off the Strip.
GRAZIA: Have you been to F1?
TILLY: I’ve been to Monaco. I saw the F1 cars come through town right after the Monte Carlo Millions [a major poker tournament held there]. That was very exciting. So, yeah, I might come to F1. I’m always open to new experiences. And everything is more exciting if you can put money on it.
