Patti LuPone on Saying a Certain Swear Word 'Way Too Much': 'I'm Just a Salty Individual'

Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

Broadway legend Patti LuPone has the voice of an angel, but she can also swear like a sailor.

In the new issue of PEOPLE, the mezzo-soprano famous for headlining musicals such as Evita, Gypsy and Sweeney Todd, explains why she's not afraid to let an F-bomb fly every now and then.

"I cut my teeth on David Mamet," she says of the playwright and screenwriter, whose work often includes profane language. "I'm just a salty individual, and he just opened up a whole other channel for me." LuPone appeared in a 1982 production of Mamet's play The Woods and several of his projects since then.

She also credits her time spent performing shows in London's West End. "In England, they use the word f--k like it's nothing," she continues. "It is an expressive word, and I probably use it way too much, but it's just part of me now."

LuPone dropped the word publicly back in May when rude theatergoers at a Broadway performance of Company flouted the theater's COVID safety protocols. One woman even put her face mask over her eyes during a post-show Q&A with LuPone and other cast members, according to LuPone.

"I have a long fuse. But when I blow, I really, really blow," explains LuPone. "This is somebody that is in a theater [where] there is a mask mandate. And she's sitting among several people that are masked. I thought, 'Don't do that.'"

What LuPone actually said, according to video captured of the incident, was "get the f–-- out."

RELATED: Patti LuPone Was Hit in the Head with Roses During Her Bow at Company — Watch the Curtain Call

"Before it even got to the point in the video, Patti had politely asked them to lift their masks several times," a source told PEOPLE at the time. "They just kept shaking their heads at her. That's when she hit a breaking point, taking the mic, stopping the panel, and demanding they follow the rules. These people were so rude." They were then escorted out.

Reflecting on the situation months later, LuPone now says, "I mean, I could have probably handled it differently, but I'm also a volcanic Sicilian. I go to Italy, and I see myself all over the place. They're not having an argument—they're just talking to each other!"

LuPone can be seen as a kindly bookshop proprietor in The School For Good and Evil, streaming now on Netflix. She doesn't utter any swear words in the movie.

For more on LuPone, pick up the new issue of PEOPLE.