Marc Malkin

Nancy Kaszerman/WireImage.com,Roussel/Images Distribution/ZUMApress.com

John Waters has a good reason why you should stay single. 

"When you fall in love, you always risk being murdered—or you murdering them," Waters says. "If you stay single, you will never get murdered by your boyfriend or girlfriend."

While Waters' theory may be a bit wacky, you may feel the same way after watching Court TV's 'Til Death Do Us Part, a new series premiering tonight about marriages that end in murder. Waters stars as the shows' narrator, the Groom Reaper.  

I met up with Waters on Friday afternoon at Chateau Marmont, where he has a coveted suite overlooking the hotel's garden. "They gave me an upgrade because I stay here so often," he says. 

'Til Death Do Us Part isn't Waters' first experience with violent crime. He used to be a popular teacher at a prison near his native Baltimore. The same couldn't be said for some of his coworkers. "One time, they took a teacher hostage and cut off her ear," Waters says. 

Sounds like a storyline to one of Waters movies, doesn't it? It was 35 years ago when Waters first made a name for himself with the outrageous Pink Flamingos, starring his legendary cross-dressing muse, the late Divine. While his other movies, like Serial Mom and Crybaby, were hits, it's the musical adaptation of his 1988 flick Hairspray that has brought him mainstream recognition like never before. 

But if for some reason he decides to call it quits in Hollywood, Waters has crime to fall back on. He says a "major person in corrections" wanted to open up the John Waters Reform School. "I'm not making this up," he says. "I can show you the whole proposal. They said they could raise the money and all I had to do was give my input...I want to do it still. But when am I just going to give up everything? It's a full-time job." 

He no longer teaches in prisons (he blames the current conservative political climate for cutting such programs), but he does keep in touch with some of his former pupils. "I even saw one of my students recently, and he told me he was doing great," Waters says. "He's a successful coke dealer. What could I say? He has a job. He seems to be doing all right. You have to have realistic hopes for these individuals." 

Not enough Waters for you? Check back here tomorrow to find out what he has to say about John Travolta starring in Hairspray, the upcoming Crybaby musical and his take on Isaiah Washington's rehab for making a homophobic remark.