The movie catapulted Taylor-Young into the A-list stratosphere. "Here I was, at 22 years, making three times as much as my father," she smiles, adding that her success gave her younger siblings the confidence they needed to also break into the creative and performing arts. "My brother is now head of DreamWorks animation, and my sister is a very successful sculptress entering into producing, and also an actress," Taylor-Young proudly reports.

Early fame and fortune exacted a surprising toll on Taylor-Young. "I never really stopped to enjoy my fame, my money or my beauty. By the time I was 25 I had achieved everything the culture told one was important to achieve, but I was shocked to discover I was not fulfilled." That lack of fulfillment left her adrift and depressed for a while. "I had a malaise that ran so deep I couldn't talk about it with anybody," she recalls. When things inside her head became unbearable, "my marriage with Ryan broke up abruptly; it was the catalyst for change. I packed up and moved to the desert in New Mexico at 25. I took my son and my dog, but I got rid of everything else — I left Ryan, my agent, my career."

Her journey eventually took her to India, a culture with which she was familiar, thanks to her grandfather, who had been a diplomat there. "I began to pursue this quest for something more meaningful. What started as one year became seven. I studied Buddhism, I studied Hinduism, I sat at the feet of real masters. I became immersed in this other life, and it became so fascinating to me. But one day I realized that I needed to go back and bring everything I'd learned into a vocation that I truly loved." When Taylor-Young returned, she found Hollywood to be very unforgiving. "I had been branded a freak, so I wasn't able to move back into the same kind of quality work I had left behind. But I began to learn that I bring the richness to it, it does not bring the richness to me. And that gives me dominion over my life. Because we don't always get what we want, so we better love what we get!"

Taylor-Young sure loves her son ("He is a remarkable man"), an L.A.-based sportscaster who has given Taylor-Young two granddaughters with his former love, actress Rebecca De Mornay. "Because I was a mother at 21, he and I grew up together in certain respects. So we're friends as much as mother and son. He's often more conservative, and I'm more of the renegade."

Unfortunately for her son, such an adventurous spirit extends to her romantic life, as well. "He made me sign a contract that I would not date his friends, because all his friends wanted to date his mother," she sighs. "He said in frustration one day, 'Mom, you have to agree that you can date them only if they're older than me. But if they're even one day younger than me, it's out of the question.'" Pause. Put quarter in. "I broke it once or twice, much to his dismay!" chortles Taylor-Young, adding, "He had interesting challenges with me as his mother."

She won't elaborate on that for all the coins in Trevi fountain, but will say her son takes her unconventional attitudes in stride. "He has learned to get a real kick out of me." So have her granddaughters, ages 3 and 7. "I have no concept of age so I'm right on the floor with them having tea parties. My grandmother had left the planet before my age today."

Today, she takes pride in imbuing her youthful spirit into her many extracurricular endeavors. She's an ordained minister who officiates at weddings and funerals, a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN on environmental issues, and most recently, has been working on her doctorate in spiritual studies.

"People say that outer space is the ultimate boundary of exploration. I say no, it's really inner space. Those are my explorations: the inner life."

Anyone got change for a dollar?