Ryan Faces Catsuit Memories On 'Letterman'

It's been nearly a year since Jeri Ryan last donned Seven of Nine's signature catsuit on Star Trek: Voyager, but audiences are still fascinated by the slinky number.

During an appearance on The Late Show last Thursday, host David Letterman asked if Ryan wore a special suit on the series. "Sort of," she said, laughing. "It might as well have been body paint, it was rather snug."

Letterman then produced a portrait photo of Ryan wearing the season four silver spandex version, which the actress regarded with amusement. "The entertaining part was that the writers kept trying to make up reasons for why the costume was so tight," she said. "Their reasoning was that it was skin-regenerative fabric. But then by season two [season five], my costume's a different colour. So I'm like 'why am I now changing clothes?' And they're like 'oh well, it's a different type.'"

But the catsuit paled in comparison to the rigors of the Borg costume. "The original costume when I was a Borg - I had a bigger rubber suit and a big rubber bald cap that went down my neck. It was a pretty look, it was really nice," Ryan quipped. "But that costume was really tight around the neck and if I did anything other than look straight ahead it would press on my carotid artery. Which is a bad thing, so I would sort of black out.

"I would get faint, but I never actually fainted. But they did call oxygen to the set for me. But it was funny, because I was trying to be a martyr, I didn't want to make waves. And then finally the producer came up to me and said 'You're not really doing us any favours if we have to call oxygen to the set.' Then they realised it was a problem and they cut the neck and it was okay."

To download the 7-minute 4.2 MB Real Media interview, in which Ryan also talked about Valentine's Day and the Miss American contest, head over to Voyager's Delights.

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