This interview was conducted at the UK Convention in large part by our good friend, Tracey Watson, tbsaver, just a few weeks before her death.

L-word.com would like to thank Rachel for making Tracey so happy by sitting for this interview. We'd also like to thank Rachel again for her condolences.

L-WORD.COM: How is the convention experience for you? RACHEL: It is my first convention. We have done Q&As in LA but nothing like this when we get this close to people and really feel like you know the same faces. You feel you get to know people. I have been quite really overwhelmed by it. Like that opening ceremony. It blew me away when people were cheering because I haven't seen that. I don't spend a lot of time in LA where I think they get more attention like that. I am not here that often. I'm quite low key when I am here anyway. I haven't really seen that kind of response, and I think it's incredible. I know from talking to Laurel that people relate to her a lot, and people were saying that in the Q&A sessions. A lot of people really wanted to say to her, "you changed my life and the show changed my life." L-WORD.COM: Laurel actually wanted to hear that though.

RACHEL: Yes, we know she does, but this is why it's so weird because it is so overwhelming. She was only here yesterday and she had to get through 600 autographs. So if everyone does that… they can't, otherwise, half of them are not going to get their autographs. She was saying that compared to the science fiction one [conference], it is a lot more emotional; it is a lot more personal.

L-WORD.COM: We were supposed to have a 20-minute interview with her, and every time they (Convention organizers) came to get her, she just got annoyed.

RACHEL: I think the thing for us with the web site is … we were talking to Laurel about it… is how many people post who live in countries where their life could actually be a waste if people know that you're gay. And all of a sudden through the site (L-word.com), they have a voice, and that is what it does. The site is great for being just about the L-Word, being about a massive community of people that are there helping each other. It's fantastic!

You kind of get the feeling when you're filming that there are all these special people, I mean not just mainstream TV, but also from the community.

[Cobie Smulders who played Leigh Osten in Season 2 walks up to the desk and signs something.]

RACHEL: That's Cobie, who looks like me. That was so weird. When we were shooting, I would look at her and say, "You look like me. You are like ten years younger than me."

L-WORD.COM: Do you think you were cast as Helena because you actually look like Jennifer?

RACHEL: Yeah. When we tested and we got down to the last three girls, I was definitely the one that looked the most like Jennifer, more than any of the others. So I don't know if that was a conscious thing. I think it works well, makes it interesting.

L-WORD.COM: Do you think the character of Tina fell for Helena because she looked like Bette?

RACHEL: I don't know. You know, Laurel was saying yesterday in the Q&A that Helena is another strong woman. She kind of falls for that, I guess. I would like to think that she fell for Helena because not only is Helena powerful in that way and she obviously likes powerful strong women, but also, she was more sensitive to her and did notice the things that maybe Bette should have noticed. It is interesting because there was one shot that friends of mine watched (and actually, my manager watched), where we were in a gallery and Bette walks through. It is quite a wide shot and she is just walking through, and they were all watching and saying, "Oh well. I like what they did with Rachel's hair." And it was only when they came close up that they all realized it was actually Jennifer. Obviously, that is quite an interesting thing. It works well.

L-WORD.COM: Helena just appeared out of nowhere with no hint that Peggy had a daughter. Have you developed any kind of backstory?

RACHEL: Yeah. I mean, personally, I have. I have no one to develop it with. I have talked to Holland Taylor and I have my own version. My version is that my dad is English and I imagined that they were married for a while and then they broke up, and they are very rich families. I imagined that I was sent to an English boarding school, a very sort of privileged, high-class boarding school in England. Peggy probably went back to the States after she broke up, and it was a bit like, "I don't really care about my child."

L-WORD.COM: And it is bound to have been an all girls' school.

RACHEL: Actually, I think she had a great time at this school. That is how I have always seen her. I see my dad as being someone who has this very absolute, upper middle class thing where no one really talks about having failed but everyone is quite ruthless in their own way, and everyone starts drinking far too early in the day, and it's that kind of thing.

L-WORD.COM: Do you think she has any siblings?

RACHEL: I would love for there to be a sibling or two. I think there is probably a brother, maybe an older brother. Again, I don't think I have an awful lot to do with it but I think the family is quite a dysfunctional family.

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