Rosie O’Donnell, We Want to Know…What Really Happened On Your Old Show

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You may remember her from “The Flintstones” or even the OG 1992 movie “A League of Their Own,” but three years after The Ricki Lake Show first aired, Rosie O’Donnell also made her talk show debut. The Rosie O’Donnell Show featured huge guests like Tom Cruise and Madonna, and Rosie quickly became known for her authenticity and quirky sense of humor. It was also a time when she became friends with her fellow talk-show host, Ricki. This week, Rosie reunites with Ricki to talk with her and Kalen about Rosie’s old show, witnessing 9/11, motherhood, and Rosie’s experience coming out after leaving the daytime circuit.

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Transcript: 

SPEAKERS

Ricki Lake, Kalen Allen, Rosie O’Donnell

Ricki Lake  00:01

Hi everyone, welcome to Raised by Ricky. I’m here with the late, oh, I said late. Oh my god. Sorry. You’re very much alive. Hi, I’m Ricki Lake. Welcome to Raised by Ricky with Kalen Allen.

Kalen Allen  00:16

How are you doing, baby? 

Ricki Lake  00:19

How am I doing? I’m good. I’m good. I’m so excited.

Kalen Allen  00:23

I know you’re always excited.

Ricki Lake  00:25

I am, I am.

Kalen Allen  00:27

Any special reason today?

Ricki Lake  00:28

I don’t know. It’s a beautiful day in Malibu, and we’re having Rosie O’Donnell on the show. I’m so, so excited.

Kalen Allen  00:42

To be honest, I have had butterflies in my stomach, because Rosie O’Donnell is an icon and I’ve said this and I’m gonna say it again. I know Rosie from the Flintstones, which I was obsessed with as a kid.

Ricki Lake  00:56

Okay, that’s what you know her from. So you don’t do know her from her talk show?

Kalen Allen  01:01

Yes, well, okay. So the reason why I know her from the talk show is because everybody always talks about Janet Jackson’s performance on her show of, I get so lonely.

Ricki Lake  01:12

So that’s so funny what you know, like people, but you know, it’s just funny to me.

Kalen Allen  01:17

She also did an interview with Whitney Houston. That was iconic too.

Ricki Lake  01:21

I have no recollection of either of those things happening.

Kalen Allen  01:23

Well, I remember the Whitney Houston one because if I’m correct. I remember she tried to like mimic Whitney Houston. Like while Whitney Houston was like performing or something like that. But I mean, anything we need I mean to have Whitney Houston on your  talk show.

Ricki Lake  01:40

Anyway, yeah, but I did not. I did not remember I remember Rosie of course having Tom Cruise on […] Streisand, our shows were on at the same time her show lasted I think six years. Mine went on for 11. But it was groundbreaking what she was doing back then, you know?

Kalen Allen  01:56

We’ll also saw I was doing my research and Rosie O’Donnell Show actually debuted in 1996. So same year, I was born.

Ricki Lake  02:03

Oh, and when’s your birthday? Is January 4th. I know.

Kalen Allen  02:08

Correct. Now I will say since this year, I was born. I already told you we’re gonna do the almanac. So you ready for the almanac? A little time warp or something. Love it. So the producers gave us this June 1996 cover of Vanity Fair to look at. Okay, so we got Tom Cruise. He is in the fire. He actually like a ballet dancer. There’s fire all behind them. And it looks like he doing ballet. And it says Tom Cruise’s ultimate mission.

Ricki Lake  02:42

Oh, so he’s promoting Mission Impossible.

Kalen Allen  02:44

Me either, but okay. Now this is very big for me. So you know, I’m part of the lambily. Do you know who the lambily is?

Ricki Lake  02:59

I have no idea. What is the lambily?

Kalen Allen  03:01

That’s last Mariah Carey stay-in group.

Ricki Lake  03:03

What’s it called? The lambily?

Kalen Allen  03:05

Yep, the lambily. We are all lamb.

Ricki Lake  03:12

And okay, like baby lamb.

Kalen Allen  03:15

Exactly. And this is my favorite Mariah Carey song. It came out this year. Always be my baby.

Ricki Lake  03:23

I think that’s my favorite Mariah Carey song, too. I do.

Kalen Allen  03:27

Okay, you said you don’t remember when you met Rosie, right?

Ricki Lake  03:30

I think I remember seeing her she was on a show with Nell Carter. I forgot the name of it. I’m blanking on it. It was it was a sitcom that she was on. I remember going to a taping when I was young. She’s a few years older than me. And then we became friends somehow. And we went to the movies together. And we both lived in the valley. And then I visited on Broadway when she did Greece on Broadway. I went and saw her there. And we just became friends. And then you know, and now I mean, we live less than a mile from each other. I see her pretty often. And our kids are all grown up and yeah, she’s someone I really admire. I really respect and has stayed true to herself throughout this crazy ride of this business.

Kalen Allen  04:10

I love that. Well, I think what’s also a parallel between both of you is that you both have an extensive film catalog, you know, you know with like Rosie doing Sleepless in Seattle and the league of their own and doing Flintstones, and, and doing all those other shows, like iconic.

Ricki Lake  04:27

Absolutely. And she kind of started her show and she was 34. And our formats were different. You know, she was more she was the precursor to Ellen. So I think Ellen certainly that content in the way they did the show the games and the stuff. You know, I think it all kind of stemmed from Rosie paving the way.

Kalen Allen  04:44

I love that.

Ricki Lake  04:45

I’m super excited to have Rosie on the show. She and I went through so much. We were both working moms as we did the talk show. You know she has five kids. She has Parker, Chelsea, Vivian Dakota, and I forgot one of them. Blake. That’s right Blake.  I’ve met all her kids. I just can’t remember. You know, I can’t remember a thing. And, you know, we both were working doing our show on 911. And I really want to talk to her about that, you know, it’s such a, like, unique, terrifying experience. And I’m just excited to like, I’ve never actually dropped in with her about her experience hosting a show like mine in New York City at that time.

Kalen Allen  05:31

Well, I guess we better just go ahead and get to a ring that doorbell honey. Come on, Rosie O’Donnell.

Ricki Lake  05:36

Yay. Come in. Rosie, thank you so much for doing this. I’ve so appreciate it.

Rosie O’Donnell  05:43

Hi, Rick. I love you.

Ricki Lake  05:44

Do you remember calling me before you decided to do the show? 

Rosie O’Donnell  05:49

Yes, I totally do. I called you I wanted to know what the workload was. And you were delightful as always, and you know. 

Ricki Lake  05:58

I convinced you didn’t I? 

Rosie O’Donnell  05:59

You did convince me it’s all you. Well, it’s funny when we were having lunch when you were living in the garage apartment and in the valley, and we went to see that movie, and we will we walked out don’t say which one. And anyway, back then, you told me you were going to do a talk show. And I thought, oh my god, that’s so hard. How would you even do that?

Ricki Lake  06:24

And what did I say? I probably was like, I don’t know. I’ll just figure it out.

Rosie O’Donnell  06:27

Yeah. You said I don’t know. I’m gonna do it. You know. And you had Oprah as a role model, like we all did in so many ways. She taught people how to have heart in their conversation in a way that wasn’t really on television yet, and to be real. And so you know, I look to her I look to Johnny Carson, I look to Merv Griffin, I look to Mike Douglas. All these shows I was an aficionado. But I was following all the stories. Joshua Gabor, I was right in there. Charles Nelson Reilly was making me […]. 

Ricki Lake  06:58

Your aging yourself right here. 

Rosie O’Donnell  06:59

That’s okay. I’m 60. And I’m proud of it. It’s crazy. You know?

Ricki Lake  07:03

Kalen, by the way is 26 years old. Just so you know. 

Rosie O’Donnell  07:07

I could be your mom; I have a son who’s 27. So I could be your mom, what do you need some cash? Are you okay? Are you waiting? How everything is going?

Ricki Lake  07:18

And in that time of doing the show, I mean, did you know at the time, because I know I’m doing this now with this project. And this show and reflecting on my old show, I haven’t really spent a lot of time thinking about it. I just lived it. You know, it was like 11 years of my life during a very, you know, before cellphones really, you know, with this was the mid-90s. Right? I mean, did you know how special it was when you were in it like? Or was it just the next gig to come along?

Rosie O’Donnell  07:42

No, I knew it. I knew the change in sort of my life was instantaneous, you know, my ability to go walk in the world was over. And I remember when I did league of their own, being so close to Madonna’s fame, I realized like what a prison it could be. And not that I’m ever saying I was ever as famous as this once a generation, Elvis female that she is, you know, but within my own world of going to the mall, and being a mom, everything changed. And it changed quickly. And it was like being shot into the stratosphere. That’s what it feels like in retrospect. And I knew it was a once in a lifetime thing. And I also knew that it was going to take a lot out of me. It took so much out of me personally, that I couldn’t do it for more than I did it. You know?

Rosie O’Donnell  08:34

What was it that took it out of you? Was it the grind of doing live TV every day?

Rosie O’Donnell  08:39

No, I love that part. I love the performing that one hour on TV was fantastic. Give me a crowd and a microphone. And one hour. I’m a happy woman, you know, and it wasn’t about that it was about sort of what it did to my home life with my kids and trying to be like normal, you know, as vivvy says, it wasn’t normal.

Ricki Lake  09:03

I know, I’ve actually came out and said that. That’s so funny.

Rosie O’Donnell  09:08

You know, she has her point of view as the child of a celebrity that I think would be an interesting voice if she could understand how to present it, but she’s only 19 and she doesn’t know where it sits or lives in her life. Right? So she wants to be an influencer and she loves TikTok like every kid and you know, and she wants to have her voice and finding your voice now is a difficult thing to do. Most artists get to do it in private. They get to go in a comedy club where there’s only 200 people and no such thing as cell phones and grind it out night after night after night for years.

Ricki Lake  09:47

Can you relate to this Kalen, because..

Kalen Allen  09:49

I absolutely can you know, for instance, like I was telling Rosie when we first got on here, it’s like I was thrown into it immediately. You know, like Ellen picked me up and then I was just In the industry, and it has been really tough, living in a space where people have so much access to you that people want me to be perfect from the jump. And I’m like, I’m still figuring it out. I’m still learning, you know, especially because the same week that I started at Ellen, I had acting grant school auditions at Juilliard that I cancelled, because I was going to be an actor. That’s what I wanted to do, you know, and now all of a sudden, I was making tic TOCs about tick tock didn’t exist yet. But I was making, you know, social media videos that were doing numbers, you know, they were hitting 1 million views in just a couple of days and stuff like that. But I think you’re absolutely right, Rosie is it’s a lot harder to cultivate talent nowadays, because it’s so easily accessible. And there’s so many critics from the jump, that you don’t get to make mistakes. You don’t get to learn. You don’t get to really polish yourself. And people think that they see these great people, they see the Ricki Lake, they see the Rosie O’Donnell, they see the Oprah Winfrey’s and they don’t understand the time that it took for you to become that person that they see on the TV.

Rosie O’Donnell  11:05

Of course, you know, I was 16 years old when I started doing stand-up. And my high school yearbook is full of little scribble pen marker from your friend saying, say hi to Johnny Carson. I’ll see you on TV. Have a great time in Hollywood from 1980, in my eyes, I was so sure my whole life that this was going to be my life that I work to get it.

Ricki Lake  11:31

Okay, folks, got to take a quick break, but we’re going to be right back in a jiffy. Where did you get that belief in yourself? 

Rosie O’Donnell  11:42

I think it’s from the death of my mother. I don’t know. But I think that it’s that.

Ricki Lake  11:48

And your mother was what you were 9 when your mom passed away?

Rosie O’Donnell  11:52

10, and you know, if you would come home from school, when you’re in second, third grade, your seventh eighth and Streisand’s on you know, it’s going to be a good night. Sometimes if the sound of silence Paul Simon was on in the vacuum was going you knew was going to be a rough night. I think she had some issues with sadness and depression like I do. And yeah, you know, like so many in my family do and you know, I don’t know, I see her now as a full person to realize that she died at 39. And I am now 60 is very trippy. And she was very active. She was in the PTA. She was in the you know, and I remember her coming into school and all the other teachers running out to gather around her and she would do like little comedy shit like she was I was very much like her set her friends when my show came on.

Ricki Lake  12:48

How old were you when you did the show when you started the show?

Rosie O’Donnell  12:51

I was 33 or 34. Just had Parker and I didn’t know if I could do it. I remember Jeff Foxworthy very nicely, came to be one of my first test shows. And I interviewed him and it went well. And I was like, okay, maybe I can do this. I had never really interviewed anyone. You know?

Ricki Lake  13:10

You had never interviewed anybody before, because you came off like you. You were so comfortable in that role. And you were so curious. And so starstruck. You’re so starstruck.

Rosie O’Donnell  13:20

Yes. All of it was real. And that’s why I think it worked. And it touched so many people. I think it’s why people respond to me the way that they do and it’s very, very moving, very touching.

Ricki Lake  13:33

Was it hard for you? Did you feel like you could be totally yourself? Because you were not out at that time, right?

Rosie O’Donnell  13:39

But no one was Ellen wasn’t out. Will & Grace wasn’t on. Everybody who knew me knew I was gay. You knew I was gay, everybody. I wasn’t hiding it. I had girlfriends. They came with me to the Emmys. I had a wife, but so what was I out-out in the way that people are now or that youngsters, you know, 26 years old can feel free to be fluid and not have to claim a title or an ownership and they think where the gay community has come and where gay people have been able to be visible and seen in my lifetime is absolutely shocking.

Ricki Lake  14:20

And so do you feel like it would have been easier for you back then?

Rosie O’Donnell  14:24

No, I mean, do you remember what happened when Elon came out? Our TV show got cancelled and it was harmful for her career. She said it we’ve seen it hurt people’s career. We’ve seen people do it at different stages, you know, you can’t scream at a flower bloom. You have to wait until it opens up by the sun and the minerals and it’s ready and it’s able to stand the breezes and all the things that come you know the vulnerability,

Ricki Lake  14:52

But you were so vulnerable in that show. So did you feel like was it was it Warner Brothers or like it was just society that you couldn’t come kind of be completely who you are.

Rosie O’Donnell  15:02

Well, it wasn’t really a viable thing at the time. Like, they I remember they said, Oh, you’re gonna have this guy, Sean Hayes on. He’s on this new show where it’s a gay guy and Debra Messing. And Eric, I was like what? You think that’s going to air in the United States of America? Like, it wasn’t even a concept that it would work. So in my lifetime, it’s come from, you know, being gay is a danger and a detriment to your career and just be invisible. It’s the right way. And me thinking, being gay wasn’t all that hard. Getting through my childhood was a lot harder. If I’m going to use my voice for anything, it’s going to be for kids.

Ricki Lake  15:42

We’ve gone through a lot together. You know, you were on the air during 9/11. I wanted to talk about that experience for you, you were live that morning are supposed to be live?

Rosie O’Donnell  15:51

When it was quarter to 10 that it started and we were live at 10. So the Ray Romano cast of Everybody Loves Raymond was waiting to do a whole episode with us. I was in hair and makeup at 30 rock, right. And John McDaniel came in crying, saying that Glenn, his husband had witnessed the 747 fly and they lived right there. And I said, John, stop crying, stop crying, honey, look, it’s not on TV. If it was on TV, Katie Couric would and Katie Couric said a plane has just hit. And we are under attack. The second one was, you know, was hit, and we were under attack. Now I’ve had panic attacks in my life, my whole life, and they are very detrimental. To me, I have a tremendous anxiety and my heart, as you call it is too open sometimes that I get wounded by world events and things that people would say, are not your business. Right? Is that your business? Like, you know, to me, it’s my business.

Ricki Lake  16:59

So on 9/11 like, how did you manage navigating that day with your entire staff? 

Rosie O’Donnell  17:04

I got at all the pregnant women in the limo. I said, and a women pregnant like there were three women who were pregnant. I think Casey was one of them. And I remember and anyone who can’t get out of New York or whatever, come to my brownstone. So we had a lot of people at our house. And I went home and I felt, you know, what everyone felt. And thought I will never work again.

Ricki Lake  17:41

I did too. Did it make you want to continue the show or end the show? You wanted to end the show after 9/11?

Rosie O’Donnell  17:52

3Yes, it was a few months. I was done. And a few months after 9/11, which I was very happy because we were starting to go to war and there was talk of going to war. And then right around my birthday, we did go to war. And I knew that I wouldn’t survive the Bush years. And all of the repercussions of that.

Ricki Lake  18:14

Going back to this year old. So is there any part of you that wishes you had that platform right now?

Rosie O’Donnell  18:18

No. Because I think I’d be getting in trouble. You know, I don’t want to be on a political discourse show because there never really is any. And, you know, I don’t want to, I wouldn’t be good now. Because the truth is that when I was there and just had one baby and started having more and living my life in my early 30s I was a different person than I am now. I was genuinely excited to meet Erika Slezak from one life to live. I was you know; I was I was genuinely excited to know Bob Barker. I you know, these were things that I revered as a young woman.

Ricki Lake  18:58

As a child, I totally relate to that. And I agree with you. I also you know, I think back like my show, I could have been Maury Povich and done that show until now. You could have been doing you know, Koosh balls for frickin ever and who I am now I really like to think that I’ve evolved to a place where I am more than my show even though that show is what put me on the map. You know, I have a lot of reverence for the experience for you know, being..

Rosie O’Donnell  19:24

Yeah, you were a baby too Rick, you were so young, and you did it for 11 years. I only did six.

Kalen Allen  19:31

You were both so young. And as both of your shows, you know gain popularity and you both gain fame. Did you even like understand your own power at that time?

Rosie O’Donnell  19:45

Well, I recognized it with the power of the purchase when I held up Tickle Me Elmo and then nobody could get it. And you know the I remember Tori spelling’s dad Aaron Spelling called me and asked if I had to Tickle Me Elmo is around Christmas star, Aaron Spelling the richest man in the world who could get anything he wanted?

Kalen Allen  20:06

Oh my gosh.

Rosie O’Donnell  20:08

I don’t think Ricky or I could ever put ourselves in the category of people like Oprah Winfrey. Like, even though you may think that and you know Madonna, right, you may think that, Oh, they’re all kind of icons and they’re equal but the ones who came before you and you grew up molded by their artistry, you’ll never consider yourself equal to.

Ricki Lake  20:40

It’s true. There’s a piece of me that still like starstruck by people that paved the way. Yeah, I mean, having Barbra Streisand on and Tom Cruise, like those people on your show? Did you ever get used to that?

Rosie O’Donnell  20:53

I got used to it. But I knew it was for a temporary amount of time. And, you know, I never thought oh, I’m going to be like Johnny Carson, and do this bus for 65 years, or, you know what I mean, I never thought that I knew that I wanted to leave when my children were young enough for me to still look go to their school plays, and participate in their lives and be home with them and, and get to live the years that my mother didn’t get to live. You know, I left the show when I was 40. Right, a few months after I turned 40 a year that my mother never lived to. And I was going to live this life for both of us right what she didn’t get to do and so I left I was always like on to the next thing that inspired me or interested me or the next challenge.

Ricki Lake  21:41

We need to take a quick break but we’re going to be right back. What was the next thing, what was the first thing you did after you ended the show?

Rosie O’Donnell  21:51

I did one night for $1 million at a casino in Connecticut. A brand new casino was opening.

Ricki Lake  22:04

Mohegan Sun, I was just gonna say Mohegan Sun.

Kalen Allen  22:06

I did a show there on last month,

Rosie O’Donnell  22:08

It could have been Mohegan Sun. And the whole cast of Saturday Night Live was there. Madonna and Cher, Aretha Franklin, all these people and they wanted me to go do stand-up. And I was like, I haven’t done stand up in a long time. And it was 2002 when I had the very bad haircut. And you know, the press was not really being nice to me. And they offered me a million dollars. They fly me from Florida to Connecticut, I would do one night of the show. And I’d fly back. And you know how they say there’s no such thing as free money. Well, it ended up to be like a really bad thing for my career and myself. And it was horrible. I bombed. Like, I’ve never bombed before in front of people that I admired their talent. And, you know, I talked about Bill Clinton, who was there. And Monica Lewinsky was out at the time, the whole thing was, you know, and they said, he wants to talk to you. And I said, I don’t want to talk to him. And they said, but he wanted to speak to you could you come over and I was secret service. And I said, You know what? You have to tell him he broke my heart and I don’t want to cry in front of him. So I don’t want to come over there. So I get a note from the hotel owner saying this is Bill Clinton’s private number. Can you call him? I pick up the phone the next day. I go, it’s Rosie O’Donnell calling for Bill Clinton. I’m sorry, who’s this? Rosie O’Donnell. I got the number from so and so. I don’t know. They said to call Bill Clinton. Well, hello, Rosie. How are you? This is Bill Clinton. I was like, wow, hi, how are you? And he’s like, I understand that you were upset with me and that you’ve been upset with me. And, you know, I said, you know what, here’s the thing, Bill, my mother loved Kennedy, like I loved you. And I never really, men have been unkind to me on the whole. And you broke my heart. And he said, well, you know what I understand. And I’m sorry. And I want to apologize to you and apologize to you know, and it was like, I start crying at the end of it. I start crying and I’m like, okay, all right. Well, thank you for calling me it was very, actually very sweet to me. And I hang up. Are you doing you’re crying to the President of the United States, you know, so that was a time where I was like, it took me about three or four years to descend back to Earth level. You know, and I wrote a book about it called celebrity detox where you know, when you choose to jump out of the celebrity game and you pull the chute, you know, you get back to your house, but you may have been battered on the way down and people don’t quite understand why would you do it when it’s supposed to be the be all in the end all of existence in America to be a famous person, you know, and you’re saying it’s not all it’s cracked up to be that’s a big challenge to most people’s idea of.

Kalen Allen  25:04

Well, they because they just see it as you know what you’re rich, you got money, which is, you know, the source of a lot of issues within the general American public. So I think that’s why people have that perspective. 

Ricki Lake  25:17

You don’t have any regrets? I can’t imagine you have any regrets?

Rosie O’Donnell  25:20

No, some with my children. I have regrets with Chelsea. I mean, that’s been a hard relationship. You know, she has three babies now. And we’re talking and I’m trying to help her make right decisions. As a mother, you’re never really okay. Because that’s always there. You know?

Ricki Lake  25:38

Right. Right. But as far as your career and the life you live now, I mean, I, you know, I’m so glad I have you in my life. I’m closer to you now than many, many years, we spend more time we see more of each other now than we think we ever have.

Rosie O’Donnell  25:49

That’s right. And we’re both dating former Mormons.

25:53

We are and I’ve never been happier.

Rosie O’Donnell  25:57

You know, I’m happy for you, Rick, I think you’re doing better than you ever have. And you’ve made some pretty amazing choices for yourself since you left that show. And it doesn’t define you it was part of your portfolio from when you were young. But you know, it’s not who you are now. And you know, the work that you’ve done to help women understand about birthing in America is so extraordinary. And you should, you know, feel proud of yourself every day. I’m proud of you.

Ricki Lake  26:26

I’m proud of you. And I just, I love you, you’re someone I really look up to, and I always will. And I thank you so much for coming and talking to us. And going back in time and talking about our old shows, you know, they were gifts, they were certainly a gift and you are a gift I love you so, so much. Thank you,

Rosie O’Donnell  26:42

I love you too, Rick, and it’s so nice to meet you. 

Kalen Allen  26:45

Nice to meet you as well. 

Rosie O’Donnell  26:46

I hope that you guys have fun doing this and that it’s everything you dreamed of.

Rosie O’Donnell  26:54

Isn’t she amazing, Kalen?

Kalen Allen  26:56

You know, I didn’t do much talking because I honestly just wanted to, first I wanted you to just have this experience of being able to talk to each other in this way. You know, um, but it was so I felt myself getting emotional. And especially when she talked about her daughter because I had seen her daughter talking about, you know, growing up, but when she talked about the influencer world and stuff like that, and you know, to be honest with you, Ricky, it’s like, it’s been tough for me after Ellen ended. Yeah, I wanted more, I saw more, you know?

Ricki Lake  27:35

Well, let Rosie and myself be an example to you. Because honestly, she’s someone that’s reinvented herself through her career, you know, and I think I’ve done the same and don’t ever let yourself get pigeonholed because of what other people say.

Kalen Allen  27:50

Well, I think what’s also great about YouTube, specifically, that I noticed the commonality was that for you, it was a job. Everything was just a job, you went in, you did your job, you went home to your families, that seem to be the common thread, you know, and for me, it’s me and my dogs. So my dream isn’t necessarily family. I think my dream is I want to continue to climb, I want to continue to break, you know, glass ceilings, because for people that are like me that are more on the feminine Black gay side, there is no space for us. You know, I didn’t have anybody to look at growing up. And I didn’t believe that we couldn’t be superstars to, you know, and so everything that I do is for the purpose of being able to open that up. And I think both of you did that for so many people without even noticing, you know, so like, even when I talked about like, because I’ve been in Oprah’s presence, you know, twice now. And it’s been the most amazing experience, you know, like even meeting her I’m like, this woman is a masterclass at how to work a room how to just be you know, and it’s like, and that’s why I tried to give you both your flowers in that. Because it’s like, even though that may not have been your intention or that may not have been what you want it to do or to leave an impact in this world. You did. You know, like your authenticity and just being who you are opened the floodgates for so many other people to be able to come and have a different life.

Ricki Lake  29:38

You’re very sweet. I do look to Rosie like someone who has definitely broken those glass ceilings and been just a game changer. And she stayed true to herself. You know, she’s someone I’ve known for over 30 years. She’s very much the same person she has not you know, she’s evolved. Of course we all do, but like really, her heart is the same and she’s been through a lot. You know, she’s someone who has really, really struggled publicly and persevered and triumphed. And it was great to talk to her today. I’m so glad you got to meet her. And we’ll all have to come over and have a pool party at my house sometime soon.

Kalen Allen  30:14

Deal. Okay, well, everybody, that’s a wrap. Thanks for joining us here. 

CREDITS  30:19

Raised by Ricki with Ricki Lake and Kalen Allen is a Lemonada Media Original. This show is produced by Claire Jones and Nancy Rosenbaum. Our associate producer is Tiffany Buoy. Our senior director of new content is Rachel Neill, VP of weekly production is Steve Nelson and our executive producers Stephanie Wittels Wachs, Jessica Cordova Kramer and DeRay Mckesson, and the show is mixed by Johnny Vince Evans. Music is written and produced by Jellybean Benitez, Jason Peralta and Jay Coos for Jelly Bean Productions.

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