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CNN Larry King Live

Brad Pitts Has a New Movie & Looks Forward to the Future; Suzanne Somers' New Book on How She Beat Cancer.

Aired December 20, 2008 - 21:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KING: Tonight, Brad Pitt, superstar, tabloid target.
BRAD PITT, ACTOR: There's a bounty on our heads.

KING: Globetrotting dad to six.

PITT: It wears you out, are you kidding.

KING: He admits to a past.

PITT: Got away with a lot, Larry.

KING: And he's looking forward to the future.

PITT: I couldn't be any happier and more hopeful.

KING: He may hide his very handsome face for a lot of the movie...

PITT: Five hours of prosthetics every morning.

KING: But he doesn't hide his heart.

PITT: This film makes me want to hug my kids and call my folks.

KING: Plus, Suzanne Somers breaks through. A frightening diagnosis forced her to take drastic action and she put her health into her own hands. Did she cure herself of cancer? Right now, on "LARRY KING LIVE."

We now welcome to "LARRY KING LIVE," from New Orleans, Brad Pitt, the Oscar-nominated actor and producer. He stars in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." It opens wide on Christmas day. Already Oscar buzz, and deservedly so. It's one heck of a movie. We'll talk about it later. He's also the founder of Make it Right. The web site makeitrightnola -- that's New Orleans, Louisiana -- .org.

You were here a year ago. It's good to have you back. I must ask, Brad, what's the mustache for?

PITT: It's political, Larry. It's political. I'm making a stand for men with mustaches. I don't think they get treated fairly.

KING: You got a point.

PITT: I want to change that.

KING: Are you doing a movie where you're wearing a mustache? Is that it?

PITT: Yes, I am. I'm currently in Berlin right now filming a Quentin Tarantino film and I am a man with a mustache.

KING: How are the twins doing, by the way?

PITT: Everyone is healthy, so we're all happy.

KING: Do you ever feel outnumbered?

PITT: Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. But you know, our plan is that we're going to give it all to them anyway. Whenever they want to take over, we're ready.

KING: Let's talk about a couple things before we get to what you have done in New Orleans and then the movie. What are your thoughts on president-elect Obama?

PITT: Me? Oh, man, I think overnight we have redefined what America is about. I couldn't be any happier and more hopeful for America, for the upcoming years. And the team he announced, I'm so impressed with.

KING: Were you in Berlin when he won or were you stateside?

PITT: No, we were actually in Chicago, in Grant Park. It was an incredible experience.

KING: Oh. Wow!

PITT: Yeah, yeah. We ended up walking home from the night and all the main boulevards were closed, and just the jubilation in the streets was something extraordinary to see.

KING: What do you make of what happened in Mumbai?

PITT: Well, funny enough, we were actually -- we stayed in the Taj, and we saw the room -- the room we stayed in was on fire. You know, I can't even begin to make any sense of it. But I'm sure they're doing their best to uncover the base of it.

KING: That's a very special place, isn't it?

PITT: It's an incredible building. It was incredible. India itself is one of the most amazing countries I have ever been to. Everyone should be so fortunate to get to explore it. It's also suffered from inefficiency in a strange way. A great gulf between the rich and the poor there that needs to be addressed there, but it is certainly a fascinating place.

KING: It's a year later. The goal is to build 150 homes.

PITT: It's a year later. KING: How is "Make it Right" doing?

PITT: The goal is even bigger than that. The goal is to create a template for intelligent buildings. The goal is to rebuild all of New Orleans. All the people who want to come back. Yes, our initial goal is 150. And as you can see, some homes behind me that have begun to spring up. This holiday, there are families that have moved in and will be celebrating their Christmases here. We're very excited.

We're sitting in basically the same spot we talked last year, and if we sit here again in a year from now, you'll see another 100 homes behind me. And we're really happy. And I thank you and your audience who supported this and made it right. Families were having a very difficult time to come back. Through the contributions, we were able to help them meet the gap they were falling short of.

And more than that, you know, we built some homes here that are doing something really special. This home you see behind me, the meter is currently running backwards. It's a sunny day, so right now it's off the grid. It's making its own energy. And the family there is going to save 75 percent off their energy bill throughout the year. They live in a place that is comfortable with great light.

It's a real -- the homes are about dignity. That's the thing I'm most proud of. As we look into the future, we ask, how can we make that replicable? How can we standardize what we have learned on the technological front? It's all very exciting. Exciting things happening here.

The other thing I would like to add is that the homes are all Lead Platinum, which is the green certification. That's the highest standard you can get. Probably a year from now, this will be the greenest neighborhood in the United States, I think so. Coming from a place that suffered such injustice, that has been marginalized and almost forgotten in the sense of really helping people get back, has now become a place that can be in the forefront of American communities. So we're excited on so many fronts.

KING: By the way, if you want to help, it's makeitrightnola.org. That's all one word, makeitrightnola.org.

We'll be right back with Brad Pitt. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with Brad Pitt. He's in New Orleans. We're here in Los Angeles.

Hurricane Katrina slammed New Orleans in late summer of August 2005. You describe the storm victims as being caught in limbo. How are they doing now? Is that hope still there?

PITT: Well, the hope is definitely here. And it's more exciting to be here now because we see things like what's happening in this neighborhood happening all over the city and even outside the city. So the money that was promised is starting to flow. The multiple ground efforts, many different programs, people helping out, that are really starting to come to fruition. There's a lot of great movement, a lot of great things happening down here. It's really nice to see.

KING: These are, of course, Brad, tough economic times. How is that affecting your ability to raise money?

PITT: Well, you know, we have met our goal or at least it's been promised to meet the 150 homes. My hope is to take it much, much further than that. I believe there's a real template here to build upon. But I don't think we can keep asking American people to help with this gap or myself or other communities. I really think it's got to come from the government at all levels. So we're trying to -- now that the case has been proven here, we're trying to see if we qualify for any of the money that's been earmarked for this area to help with the rebuilding.

KING: Do you think Obama will help?

PITT: Man, he's certainly not going to hurt. Yes, I think he'll -- I think he'll be helping this country in many, many different ways.

KING: By the way, is New Orleans now your home?

PITT: We call it a base camp. As you know, we're nomadic as a family. So it's certainly -- yeah, it's one of our bases. It's our water well.

KING: It's also the key aspect of your new film. By the way, as I told you before, it's a terrific movie. I saw it a couple days ago. This is one hell of a movie. This was filmed mainly in New Orleans. Wasn't it originally set in Baltimore?

PITT: It was originally set in Baltimore. We decided to come here before the storm, even. And I got to tell you, it defined the movie in such a beautiful way, a perfect match. You can feel the pulse of the city. And being that it's a bit of a fantastic story of a man who's grown old and grows backwards, New Orleans almost makes it believable, that it could almost happen here. We're happy to be here and come in after the storm. And I think it won for all of us for so many reasons.

KING: They bring this idea to you. I'm trying to picture this as funny, Brad. They come to you with this idea -- Brad, how would you like to do a movie where you're born at 98 years old and you get younger until the end of the movie where you're a couple months old. What sold you on it?

PITT: All I heard was five hours of prosthetics every morning. I didn't think I was a guy who was up to the task. Ultimately, it -- the man spearheading it, who had been working on it for a good five years diligently -- we filmed this two years ago. So every day since then, he's been on it. And that's David Fincher, our director. We have done two films together before, "Seven" and "Fight Club." And Mr. Eric Roth, who is our writer and also the godfather of my son, Pax, meaning he's a dear, close friend, and Kate was in very early. So it really became about the company I'm keeping. And you know, as I get older, it's become something more and more important to me, who I'm going to spend my time with. Much more important than anything else really.

KING: We'll be right back with Brad Pitt. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: I'm thinking you were born in 1918, 49 years ago. I'm 43. We are almost the same age.

Meeting in the middle.

PITT: Finally caught up with you, huh? Wait. I want to remember us just as we are now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: When people see this movie, do you think that in addition to talking about the stars and the story there will be a lot of talk about aging?

PITT: I think so. I mean, you know, it's certainly something we tend to run from as a society -- with good reason. It scares me to death. But, yeah, why not? Why not? It certainly makes me conscious of how much time do I have left? Is this my day? Do I have 40 years left? What do I want to do in that time? How do I want to use it? And who do I want to spend it with? This film just makes me want to hug my kids and call my folks. It's really special. And I'm not a salesman. I find this one quite authentic and something really special.

KING: Help me with a little technical secret. When you're old- young, you're 2 years old, that's your face in a shriveled up old man who is also 2 years old. How did they do that?

PITT: Again, this is part of the genius of David Fincher. He loves to take whatever the latest technology is out there. This case, it was a technology we used to blow up the world and get eaten by monsters -- and subvert t revert it to do just that, to put my face through a filter, and then put it on another actor's body, as he's walking through the scene. That's the simple version of it all. It's quite complicated. We started filming two years ago. He's just putting the final touches -- he's just is finishing all the C.G. (ph) on it.

KING: Was the actor a child or a small little guy?

PITT: No, these were actually -- there's three different actors for the first 20, 30 minutes of the film, to follow Benjamin at different stages of growth.

KING: I applaud you and everyone associated with it. It's a great movie. Do you think having kids, as you have so many, keeps you young?

PITT: Thank you, Larry.

KING: Do you think it keeps you young?

PITT: I have so many? No, man. It wears you out. Are you kidding? I'm aging fast.

KING: But there's nothing better in the world, right?

PITT: It's worth every second.

KING: There's nothing better in the world than being a father.

PITT: Not for me, there's not. Not for me. I would agree with that. Of course, I got to spend a few decades being idiotic and hell- bent and everything else. I got time to get all of that out of my system. I'm sorry, you were saying?

KING: Wait a minute, you mean there was a wild Brad Pitt?

PITT: I mean, wild in my book, yeah. Sure.

KING: You have said that part of...

PITT: I got away with a lot, Larry.

KING: I'll bet. You said part of the appeal of New Orleans is you and your family can have a sense of normalcy, if there is such a thing. How do you define normal?

PITT: It's a place where we can actually walk on the streets. The community here, the people here, it's very kind. But they also, for some reason, do not feel like they have ownership in some way or something. They're really respectful. Nothing more than of a wave, they're glad you're here, and let us go on our way. We've made some good friends here, just some really nice -- I don't know how to describe it better than that. Just the place for us to be.

KING: I noticed that when I was there with you. People don't mob after you there.

PITT: No, they have their own thing going, man. They have their own thing going here. I'm just another guy, another color to it.

KING: Another guy. Why do you think the public is fascinated with the personal lives of people who are well-known? You must have thought about that.

PITT: I have stopped thinking about it, really. I don't know. There's certainly people I'm interested in. It's quite complimentary. But you know -- and I think it is an interesting family. It's not your usual family. I'm quite interested in my family, actually. I certainly don't see it anything less than a compliment.

KING: You want more children? PITT: I can't find a reason why, not just yet.

KING: You're on the January issue of the cover of "Architectural Digest" talking about Making it Right, and you shoot some amazing photos of Angelina for "W," exclusive photos of you and the twins were sold to "People" for charity. You like privacy, but you like exposure. How do you balance the two?

PITT: The pictures for "W," it's a really strange feeling. It's something Angie and I had to talk a lot about, especially with the birth of Shiloh. You know, these pictures were going to come out -- these pictures are -- I'm talking about the pictures of the kids. There's a bounty on our heads. These pictures are going to come out at some point and they're going to be chasing us and they're going to the ends of the earth to get these photos. And we just thought, well, maybe we could -- since there's such a bounty and that bounty is so obnoxious, we could take the money and funnel it to something good. That's what we have decided to do. It's still a bit uncomfortable to do such a thing, but I know it's right in the end. That was the decision we made.

The "W" photos, we just didn't want to leave the house. We just figured we'd do it ourselves, and I had a good time doing it.

KING: Good idea. Couple of other things. Christmas is coming. You said the last time you were with us that you wanted -- hoped to build a multi-ceremonial family with regards to the holidays. Is that working out?

PITT: Yeah. Yeah, well, we're working on it. We're still working on it. You know, we tried a little something last year. The kids were so young. It didn't mean much, really. We're getting there. And you know, as they get older, they'll start to understand more. Right now, it's still presents.

KING: When do you go back to Berlin?

PITT: I go back next week for more shooting. Me, and my mustache.

KING: See you next year, Brad. Thanks so much, baby.

PITT: Hey, Larry. Thanks a lot. Thanks again, and thanks for the support. Really appreciate it.

KING: If you want to help, it's makeitrightnola.org. And the movie, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" opens in theaters Christmas day.

The guest, Brad Pitt.

Thanks again, Brad.

PITT: Thank you, Larry.

KING: Hey, don't go away. Suzanne Somers will be here when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Now welcome to "LARRY KING LIVE," another visit with one of our favorite people, Suzanne Somers, the actress and best-selling author of 17 books. Her latest break-through "Eight Steps to Wellness." There you see its cover. We'll talk about those steps. What is "breakthrough medicine"?

SUZANNE SOMERS, ACTRESS & AUTHOR: If you've noticed, nobody's well. Nobody's well. Think about the people you know. People are on so much medication. People can't sleep. People have cancer, people have heart disease. People have gut problems. Everybody's bloated. Everybody's got gas. Everybody's constipated. That's not well. And so I found 20 doctors in this book, all from all over the world, who have stepped back from conventional medicine, and said, what we are doing is not working. We are over-using pharmaceutical drugs. We're undergoing the greatest environmental assault in the history of mankind, and the connection between chemicals and cancer is very, very clear.

KING: You mentioned cancer. Back in 2001, you, on this program, announced that you had been battling cancer. Most people would just go to the doctor and get chemo. You went a different route. How are you now?

SOMERS: Well, that's why I wrote these "Eight Steps to Wellness." I mean I just had my killer cells tested, naturally. That's your immune system. I've been injecting ispador now for eight years. My doctor said, whoa, you're at 43. I said I have no frame of reference. He said, most adults your age, your immune system is around two or three. So I haven't had a cold. I haven't had anything. And what really I learned writing this book was it's what we're eating. It's what we're eating.

KING: You don't have cancer?

SOMERS: I don't have cancer anymore.

KING: Let's discuss step one, get bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. What the heck is that?

SOMERS: This is where I always get so controversial. On "Nightline" the other night they said you're promoting these things that aren't FDA approved and they cut out my answer. They are FDA approved. They are FDA approved and there are a lot of studies in this book, in "Breakthrough." I put all the studies in the back of the book. For instance, it's all about synthetic hormones versus biologically identical...

KING: What is that?

SOMERS: Biological is natural, real, biologically identical to the human hormones, an exact replica. So as we...

KING: You're telling people to go get that replacement therapy now?

SOMERS: It is -- as we reach middle age, we decline in hormones, but we are living longer than ever before because of MRI's and CAT scans. Nobody has thought about quality of life, so when you put back, when you restore, you get to feel great.

KING: How do you know your hormones? How do you know?

SOMERS: That old joke -- "Don't pay her."

(LAUGHTER)

You -- you...

(LAUGHTER)

KING: That's funny.

SOMERS: You get a blood test, and the blood test -- now, here is the thing. People go to a doctor who does not understand replacing hormones. I swear to God, it is like going to a plumber for a heart bypass. That is how out of their realm it is.

You have to -- look it, I've got about 300 doctors in the back of this book. So you get a blood test -- what -- I don't want hormones for a 61-year-old-woman. I want hormones for me at my optimal prime -- whatever that was -- my healthiest self.

So that's where I restore them to, and I attribute these hormones to my health and to my ability to think at this age.

KING: You must also favor stem cell.

SOMERS: I had my stem cells collected about three weeks ago -- three months ago actually. I have 10 vials of stem cells on both coasts -- "little Suzannes" on both coasts.

KING: But that's not the baby stem cell.

SOMERS: No. See, that point is mute now -- and not even our president or our presidential candidates really understand this. They have now found fetal cells -- they're called V cells -- very small embryonic cells in the bone marrow of the adult body.

So what I did, I lay on a table for four hours. It's a long time -- that's the maximum -- but that's once in your life that you lay on this table.

They remove your stem cells and put your blood back in. If I were to get congenital heart failure or valve failure, right now they could take my stem cells, inject them into my heart, right now, and re-grow my heart, or re-grow my valves.

For me with breast cancer, in the future -- there are a lot of successful trials that have gone on in Japan, and they've got several going on in this country right now -- but one of the things I want to do with my stem cells is re-grow the breast that they took, which they can.

They can inject my stem cells into my breast and re-grow this. They can grow -- re-grow hips and knees. And it cost about $7,500 that you can pay over four or five years, and this, to me, like, if -- for enlisted people --and if one of our enlisted people got hit by an IED, instead of years of torturous grafting, if their stem cells were banked, they could take their stem cells right now and grow new skin.

KING: Our guest is Suzanne Somers. The book is "Breakthrough: Eight Steps to Wellness." We've looked at step one; let's try step two after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Step two in Suzanne Somers' new book is "Avoiding Chemicals and Detoxifying Your Body." Can you avoid chemicals?

SOMERS: You can't -- you can limit your exposure now. You can go for organic food or growing your own food, which I have been doing for the last year.

Or, if you can't afford organic food, wash it really good and know that things like grapes and apples are sprayed with a poison called cricen (ph), and that goes through the skin into the fruit, so I wouldn't eat that.

One neuroscientist I interviewed -- his name is Dr. Russell Blaylock -- he said avoid things in bags and boxes. Avoid diet soda. He said one diet soda so over-stimulates the neurons of the brain, it literally excites them to death within six to eight hours.

He said, "That's one diet soda." He said, "But it's so addictive that the cumulative effect of diet soda is why we are seeing an epidemic of brain tumors in younger and younger people," and he said to me, "You know, Suzanne, you and I are baby boomers. We grew up on real food. Halfway through our lives we were introduced to poisonous chemicals."

And he said we're sick. He said the younger people have been exposed to chemicals for -- most of them -- starting in the womb by well- meaning mothers -- because we didn't know what we didn't know -- drinking diet soda thinking you are doing something good for your kid.

And he said, "In the next 20 years I fear we will have to have total care for 30-year-olds with dementia."

KING: Step three, you say, "Take nutrition seriously."

SOMERS: Yes.

KING: Don't most people take nutrition seriously?

SOMERS: No.

KING: They don't?

SOMERS: No. Most people don't ever think -- you know what the biggest thing I learned? Omega 6 oils...

KING: Take it every day.

SOMERS: ... Sunflower -- no, you take Omega 3. You take Omega 3. Thank God you are taking Omega 3.

But most people were getting Omega 6 in restaurants. If you eat at home, you eat a lot of olive oil, and some people are adding flax oil to their smoothies, and coconut oil is a great one to cook with, but sunflower, corn oil, safflower, canola oil, some vegetable oils are Omega 6.

Now here is why it is really important. I did not know that it is the Omega 6 that oxidizes the cholesterol. That is what gives you your bad cholesterol. So if you eliminate those oils and just stay with the Omega 3 oils, most of the cholesterol problems would resolve themselves. But most people are eating cheap food.

There is another doctor who said -- I said, "Do we have to -- my mom was blind -- do we have to lose our sight? Do we have to lose our hearing as we get older? He said, "Well, you'll be interested to know where macular degeneration starts."

I said, "What, a lutein deficiency -- we didn't wear sunglasses, or whatever?

And he said, "No. In the gut."

I said, "In the gut?"

He said, "Macular degeneration is a lack of hydrochloric acid in the stomach," and he said, "Around age 40 we all stop making hydrochloric acid." He said, "So that is why people have gas and bloating and acid reflux and clearing the throat and all that."

He said, "When you put back the hydrochloric acid, by an over-the- counter supplement that you can get at a health food store, which -- and also, if you have had radiation like I have had, where it wipes out all the hydrochloric acid in your gut -- you just take it the way your body would have made it three times a day.

KING: Do you buy it as hydrochloric acid?

SOMERS: You just -- it's called Betaine HCL. You can go to my Web site, suzannesomers.com, just to learn information about it.

But I thought that was so interesting. And then the other thing -- hearing. I said, "Do you have to lose your hearing?" He said -- this is Jonathan Wright up in Seattle -- incredible doctor, Harvard twin major, first guy who ever wrote the prescription for bioidentical hormones -- he said, "Every time I come -- a patient comes in who is starting to lose their hearing, I do a hormone panel on them, and inevitably, they are all low in the hormone aldosterone. When I replace the aldosterone, their hearing comes back." He said, "including a 91-year-old patient. I restored his hearing by 93 decibels." KING: It is all in the book. Suzanne Somers, and the book is "Breakthrough." It is "Eight Steps to Wellness." Suzanne is our guest. We will look at step four right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We are back with Suzanne Somers. Step four is "Create a Healthy GI tract." You know, most people want a health GI tract.

SOMERS: Yes, but nobody has one. Everybody is making these noises -- women especially are holding their stomachs -- "Oh, I'm so bloated."

The big thing about the healthy GI tract is so simple: Chew your food. And I said to -- this is Brenda Watson told me about this -- she knows more about the GI tract than anybody I have ever talked to in my life.

When you don't chew your food right, when it gets right here -- between your breastbone here -- it's got to make a right turn, and then it's got to go down, and then it's got to go up, and then it's got to go over, and then it's got to go down.

If you haven't chewed your food, it is a really tough right turn right here, and then the whole trip for this piece of food is really hard, and along the way, your body reacts by bloating and gas and discomfort -- and also the other thing about the GI tract is really understand that when you have got heartburn, and you go to get an antacid, it is exactly the opposite of what your body wants.

What heartburn is, is not enough acid, of that hydrochloric acid. But we go and we get Gas-X and all this stuff, and it actually makes the problem worse.

KING: So what do you take?

SOMERS: Hydrochloric acid. Haven't you been out to dinner, and you are talking to someone, you don't even realize you swallowed your food while you're talking?

KING: I eat fast.

SOMERS: So do I.

KING: It seems tough, though. You've got heartburn -- take hydrochloric acid?

SOMERS: Yes, but once people know this and see what it does -- like, I always carry it in my purse now because this is -- if you do not have enough hydrochloric acid, you can't digest your food, and if you can't digest your food, even if you are eating organic, incredible food, you won't get the nutrients out of it.

KING: Good point.

SOMERS: So it's, like -- it's important. KING: And we will look at steps five and six from this very important book right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We are back with Suzanne Somers. The book is "Breakthrough." Step five is "Avoid Pharmaceuticals Unless Absolutely Necessary." Now, I know you are not a doctor, so...

SOMERS: I am not.

KING: ... you are quoting doctors in here.

SOMERS: Everything I am saying today is really...

KING: Was said by doctors. OK.

SOMERS: I am just the filter.

KING: Well, haven't pharmaceuticals lengthened our lives? Saved lives? Can we say yes to that question?

SOMERS: In a lot of cases. Pharmaceuticals are essential for pain, for infection...

KING: Take Lipitor. Let's take Lipitor.

SOMERS: OK, let's go to Lipitor. OK.

KING: A classic example -- No. 1 selling pharmaceutical in the world.

SOMERS: Right. OK. So, there are serious side effects with Lipitor -- memory loss, muscle wasting, sometimes total, global -- transient global amnesia, which is losing blocks of memory.

KING: That happens maybe once, and not for a long time.

SOMERS: It happened to a lot of people. Some people it is really severe. There is a doctor, Wayne Graveline, who wrote a whole book about...

KING: So you would say "Don't use Lipitor" to people with high cholesterol?

SOMERS: Because -- not me saying this -- the doctors I interviewed call Lipitor things like "evil," "worst thing that ever happened to people" (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

I know that you take CoQ10, which is really important. If you are taking Lipitor, you've got to take CoQ10, but cholesterol is not the problem they have made it out to be.

You know, to make the neurons in your brain, you need cholesterol. To make the neurons in your gut, you need cholesterol. To make testosterone, you need cholesterol. So a lot of people long-term on statins lose their sex drive, lose their ability to think, and have stomach problems.

The muscles -- when you muscle waste, the little particles of muscle go out into the bloodstream. So here is the solution -- get rid of the bad oils like I was saying later -- earlier. Get rid of the Omega 6 oils -- corn, canola, safflower, blah, blah.

If that does not solve your cholesterol problem, there is a natural statin called red yeast rice, which is where Lipitor originates. They took red yeast rice, which is from the Orient. They changed the molecular structure. Also, eight ounces of pomegranate juice daily -- there is a study in the book that has actually proven to reverse and clear out arterial plaque, and niacin...

(CROSSTALK)

SOMERS: ... really important.

KING: Step 6, you say "Supplement Your Diet," meaning?

SOMERS: Well, we are not getting the nutrients in our food, so there are a lot of supplements you can take, but I said to each doctor, "No one will take as many as I do." I take maybe 60 a day. I'm at the far end of all this.

KING: Sixty?

SOMERS: I do. I do. I am my own experiment, so we'll keep a watch on me and see how I do.

I said, "So, no one is going to take 60, or not many people, but what are the 'big three'?" I asked every single one of them, "What are the 'big three'?" Fish oil -- Omega 3 fish oil and a lot of it, like, if you can take three in the morning, three at night...

KING: I take four a day, yes.

SOMERS: Cancer prevention, heart preventative, it does -- the membranes around each cell are made by Omega 3 oils -- really really important. CoQ10 -- super, super important.

KING: So far I got two going.

SOMERS: Two going -- in fact, one doctor said to me, "If you're not going to take anything at all, take CoQ10."

KING: One doctor said, though, in the "American Journal of Medicine," if you are going to take one, take Omega 3.

SOMERS: Yes, and that went back and forth.

KING: What is the third one?

SOMERS: And the third one are antioxidants. Just understand that antioxidants will help you live in this chemical world, so...

KING: Give me an example of an antioxidant. SOMERS: C -- Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, or you can get a really good quality multi-antioxidant that does a full course because different antioxidants respond to different chemicals.

KING: How about dark chocolate?

SOMERS: Great, great for your serotonin. I love dark chocolate.

KING: It is an antioxidant, too.

SOMERS: And it is antioxidant. See, the thing is, you can eat...

KING: See, I know something.

SOMERS: You do, you do, and the thing is about all this that you can eat really great. Real food is great -- we grew up on it.

Butter is great. Butter is not the enemy. It is the bad oils. With drugs -- I mean, so many women who really need hormones are being given antidepressants, sleeping pills, anti-anxiety, joint and painkillers, when hormones...

KING: We are a nation of pills, aren't we?

SOMERS: We are a nation of pills, and again, it's -- look what is going on. Over here, chemicals in the food, chemicals in the water. We've got fluoride in our water here in L.A., which, according to these doctors --again, not me -- highly carcinogenic.

They put aluminum in the water here in L.A. to clear the water. If I was not so busy with this, I would take it on, but I can't -- but somebody else will.

So, you've got all these chemicals in the food -- Doritos chips, 40 percent excitotoxins -- diet soda -- the sweetener packets are 40 percent chemicals. I actually make 100 percent natural SomerSweet, if you are interested.

KING: I know I'd eat your chocolates.

SOMERS: Right. It's real good. It is made from all natural ingredients. So you take all these chemicals in the environment, and then you take all the drugs that maybe we don't need -- like, instead of Nexium or Provacal, maybe you need hydrochloric acid.

If you start eliminating this drug, that drug, this drug and save the drugs for the last ditch in the practitioner's back pocket, it makes sense.

KING: Can you give me a pharmaceutical drug you like?

SOMERS: If I were mentally ill, I would definitely take whatever was --I have a girlfriend whose daughter is schizophrenic. She cannot survive without drugs, but we were talking last week. She said, "My daughter can't survive without her drugs for mental illness." She said, "But what has happened" -- and her daughter was a Vassar graduate -- "what has happened is cognitive decline from the chemicals."

And so, you have got to understand with the pharmaceuticals that you are loading on on top of all the toxins chemicals, chemicals, chemicals, and if you notice, the template right now in the United States is, middle age on, we get on more and more and more drugs, and if you look at it, we are ending up in nursing homes. So if you do not want to end up in a nursing home, I think you have got to take it seriously now.

KING: And we will be back with our remaining moments with Suzanne Somers. Her new book is "Breakthrough: Eight Steps to Wellness." Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Steps seven and eight -- they seem logical. Step seven: "Exercise Regularly..."

SOMERS: Whatever you want.

KING: ... and step eight: "Get Proper Sleep."

SOMERS: Right.

KING: What is proper sleep?

SOMERS: Eight, nine hours, which I get every night. Now, a lot of people can't sleep; especially as you get older, you can't sleep. A sleeping pill is not sleep. It is a suspended state, but none of the healing work that happens with hormones and everything happens with a sleeping pill.

Melatonin, an over-the-counter health food store supplement, I take 25 milligrams every night. If I still can't sleep, because I can't turn off the noise -- and sometimes that is because I -- like, I have been on the book tour for a month, and my cortisol goes high -- I put on a nanotechnology patch on my toe.

Nanotechnology -- this guy, David Schmidt -- he's a scientist, and he was hired by the U.S. Navy Seals to create something that would be able to keep their submariners up for two or three days without taking any drugs. So he created these nano patches, which don't go into the skin...

KING: But you want to go to sleep.

SOMERS: Right, right, so he's got them for sleep, for pain...

KING: OK, one for sleeping?

SOMERS: ... for energy, and the most important one, which I wear everyday -- I can't show you because it's on, right below my bellybutton here -- a detox patch called a glutathion patch which...

KING: You're a walking lab.

(LAUGHTER)

SOMERS: I'll be the last one here all alone.

KING: Is it true you won't walk for breast cancer?

SOMERS: I -- Allen and I are starting a foundation which we have not done yet because I think -- we've got to think about preventing it...

KING: So walking...

SOMERS: ... so walking to me is like looking for a cure, which -- I know you have to have a cure, but I am into let's start teaching kids in grammar school about antioxidants and free radicals. Put free radicals with sad faces and antioxidants with happy faces, teach them about the consequences of eating chemicals.

You know, teach women about when we have mammograms every year, we get an amount of radiation, which is not good for us. But if you are taking a spice called tumeric -- tumeric -- you can get it at the grocery store for a buck -- it protects you against radiation damage.

KING: Would you ever create a wellness center?

SOMERS: I am talking with some people now. I think that -- I have 500 acres outside of Palm Springs, and I would like to put there what I -- my dream is all these incredible doctors, you come stay in a cool place, and they will do all your blood work for hormones, and they will do all the latest tests and collect your stem cells, and that to me is a dream.

ING: Do you get checked for a recurrence of cancer?

SOMERS: I go twice a year, and I -- you know, you can't be cocky.

If I ever get cancer again, I am doing every single thing that I can not to get it, and I think that everyone should want me to not get it again so that you can see that these things that I am doing actually work. Eating the right food, not overusing drugs, sleeping, thinking good thoughts and sex...

KING: You realize, of course, I mean -- and what?

(LAUGHTER)

SOMERS: It's always there.

KING: Sex?

SOMERS: Yes.

KING: Is sex healthy?

SOMERS: You know, healthy people have sex. Unhealthy people don't have sex.

KING: And that means? SOMERS: Well, sexuality requires great health. It requires that your hormones are all working, especially for women. Do you know when we women lose our hormones around -- now earlier, 10 years earlier than before because of all the chemicals...

KING: That's what, that's...

SOMERS: We used to be 45 -- now around 35 it is starting to happen.

KING: Really?

SOMERS: Yes. When we lose our hormones, we can't feel sex. I mean, we can partake, but frankly we would rather have a smoothie. But when you put the hormones back...

KING: Ah ha.

SOMERS: You go, "Whoa. Hi there, sailor."

(LAUGHTER)

KING: Do you feel -- do you know -- well, you have been on this show debating doctors. You know that you are very controversial in the medical community. Aside from the doctors that you have corralled and put in this book, generally, in the AMA sanctions, you are sanctioned.

SOMERS: I guess I am a contrarian, but don't you want me out there? Shouldn't there be somebody out there? I don't have an agenda. I don't sell hormones.

What I sell is how great I feel, how great I feel -- the best I've ever felt in my life. Every day is a good one, really.

KING: Well, you're the best commercial.

SOMERS: I think I am.

(CROSSTALK)

KING: You're how old?

SOMERS: Sixty-one. I'll be 62 in a week or so.

KING: You're a great commercial for...

SOMERS: I think that this is the new model of aging. I don't think that the decrepit, falling apart older person that we see on the street now is what we have to expect.

But you've got to start now, and you've got to know that food choice that you make on a regular basis will either build you up or do you in.

KING: So, you have a -- your whole outlook is helped by this, right, psychologically as well?

SOMERS: Everything.

KING: Do you get less upset?

SOMERS: I am so even.

KING: You had a house burn down.

SOMERS: Yes. Now, if you think about when my house burned down, I, you know, I mean, it was certainly devastating. One of the great lessons of my life -- it so taught me to let go.

I just -- letting go is easy now, except for the people that I love. But I think the reason I was able to look at that and be of sound mind was because I am hormonally balanced. I think if I wasn't, I would -- you know, the sky would be falling.

But I looked at it, and I thought, "There are other people who are experiencing worse things than this, than a house burning down." Although I haven't been able to rebuild it yet.

KING: You were able to do that?

SOMERS: I was able to do that. I mean, you saw it. You saw me. That was the first time I...

KING: How do the psychiatrists say, the healthy person -- it's not the house burning down, it's how you react to the house burning down.

SOMERS: Yes, and in therapy they say it is not the problems in your life that define you, but how you respond to the problems in your life that define who you are.

KING: Thank you, doll.

SOMERS: I love you, Larry King.

KING: As always, head to CNN.com/LarryKing. You can email upcoming guests, sign up for our newsletter. We've got a great Podcast and a Quick Vote, too, so stay tuned for more news around the clock on CNN.