Ricki Lake on the Kelly Kopp Show! -With Ricki Lake

On this Episode, Kelly is joined by the one and only: Ricki Lake! She is a TV and film actress, producer, and television show host. You can see her star in Hairspray, or host her Ricki Lake talk show, which ran for 12 seasons and aired over 2,000 episodes!

Kelly starts by asking Ricki where she was born. Ricki tells him about growing up and going to school in Westchester and the city. She talks about taking the train in to Manhattan to go to a performing arts school. She and Kelly try to figure out if they share a mutual connection from her high school. Ricki talks about her parents' family business and how she was a true New Yorker.

Ricki then talks about how 9/11 affected her life trajectory. She talks about living in the West Village at the time and witnessing the plane fly down the Hudson River. She talks about how her home birth was such a powerful experience for her, and that mixed with the events and her contract ending influenced her to move to LA.

Ricki then talks about how she ended up moving back to New York 20+ years later, when her house burned down in the Malibu fires. She talks about her house and what she was doing when the fires started. She tells us how she and her husband stayed to try to fight the fire and save their home, but ultimately decided to leave everything behind. She talks about how difficult it was to rebuild, and she talks about all of the things that she's lost in the process.

Kelly then asks her about her move back to New York. Ricki talks about how she had a feeling that she didn't want to stay in LA anymore. She talks about how she got the opportunity to spend a few months living in Chelsea at a friend's apartment and how she was able to rediscover the city that way. Kelly asks her about her necklace, and Ricki talks about how she was able to obtain some of the ashes from her house and create a diamond from it, symbolizing her rebirth.

Kelly talks with Ricki about Hairspray! Ricki talks about her casting process and how she went from auditioning for a movie because of a flyer up at her school to getting the lead role in the movie musical. She talks about working with John Waters and Divine, and how the whole cast became a family. Kelly then asks her about her Ricki Lake Talk show, and she gives him the inside scoop on how she got the role.

Kelly then asks her about some of her other work in documentary film, dancing with the stars, and her second TV show, The Ricki Lake Show. She talks about how documentary filmmaking