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Joy Behar Page
Miracle in a Chilean Mine; Extreme Eating Disorders
Aired October 13, 2010 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOY BEHAR, HOST: You know David Arquette went on Howard Stern to talk about his sex life with Courtney Cox. If Steve and I ever split, I`d have to do that on the History Channel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming up on THE JOY BEHAR SHOW, the miracle of the mine. After being trapped for over two months, how will the Chilean miners recover from their ordeal and cope with a swarm of global media?
Then voters ditch "The Sitch", kicking "The Situation" off "Dancing with the Stars". But was he situation the right choice?
Plus, rock icon Rick Springfield talks about the highs and lows of creating smash `80s hits like "Jesse`s Girl" and being TV`s original hot doctor.
That and more starting right now.
BEHAR: Tonight the excitement, jubilation and relief continue in Chile and all over the world. But after being trapped underground for 69 days, the hardest work for the miracle miners may have just begun.
After the celebration subsides, what`s next? Will they have any lasting health issues? Will they suffer post-traumatic stress disorder and how will they deal with their new celebrity?
Here with me to discuss it are Dr. Gail Saltz, associate professor of psychiatry at the New York Presbyterian Hospital; Ben Sherwood, author of "The Survivors` Club"; Joe Sbaffoni, director of the Bureau of Mine Safety in Pennsylvania, he was involved in the 2002 rescue of the nine Quecreek miners; and by phone from Chile, CNN`s Gary Tuchman.
Ok. Gary, I want to start with you. I was shocked to see how healthy these guys all looked. Are they actually in that good shape? Their hair is clean and they looked healthy. Tell me about that a little bit Gary?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, it`s amazing Joy that we didn`t know what to expect when these gentlemen were rescued. And we`ve been watching first hand -- we`re on a perch about 200 yards away. And it`s just absolutely amazing that some of these guy may have been healthier than when they went in the mine because they`ve been -- their physical and mental conditions have been watched from afar, from above, a half-mile above. Making make sure they`ve been eating well, making sure they`ve been exercising.
All in all, it`s a very pleasant surprise the good shape these guys are in.
BEHAR: And they`re so clean looking. I expected their hair to be dirty or something. They were not. Joe now you helped -- sorry, go ahead.
TUCHMAN: It`s ok. Bad connection as you can imagine with the cell phone. There are so many members of the press using them.
But they really wanted to look good when they came out of their hole. I can tell you that, they`d actually over the last few weeks installed a primitive shower of sorts. They have piping that runs down there and water that`s warmed by solar power. So they`ve been able to take some good showers and they brought down some new clothes in tubes. Everyone looks pretty scrubbed up.
BEHAR: That`s great. Joe, you helped to rescue the miners stuck in Quecreek in 2002. What physical problems do you think these miners may have to deal with now?
JOE SBAFFONI, DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF MINE SAFETY, PA: Well, there`s no question, they went through a lot of trauma initially. There were 17 days they didn`t know if they were going to be rescued and I`m sure that`s going to have its toll.
Also, coming out into the public now, they are going to be put in the limelight. The press and the media is going to be all over them and they are going to be looked at as heroes.
BEHAR: Yes.
SBAFFONI: And it`s going to put them in a different realm. You know, these are common people, hard working people and now they are into a whole different area.
BEHAR: Well, that will be interesting, Gail, to see that. But before we get to the media attention, Joe just said that they really didn`t know that they would survive the first 17 days they were down there. That has got to take its toll mentally on these guys.
DR. GAIL SALTZ, PSYCHIATRIST, NY PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL: It certainly can. And that will be the question. Do they develop over time post- traumatic stress disorder? There could be nightmares of flashbacks, avoiding small spaces because there was a time when they thought they could have died and there was a time when they thought they were going to die by not being rescued.
But the fact that ultimately they were communicated with, they did essentially have counselors available for some mental health care during that acute period.
BEHAR: After the 17 days.
DR. SALTZ: After the 17 days. That bodes well. Some of them, you know who will develop it is the people who are at high risk. And those are people who had trauma early in their life who don`t have a support system or who potentially have problems with abusing substances.
BEHAR: So this would have triggered something off again.
DR. SALTZ: For those people, they are more vulnerable to developing it. But a lot of them will do actually quite well because they had the care, because they had the support of family while they were down there, because they had the support of the nation while they were down there, they felt supported.
BEHAR: The idea that you would be buried alive, Gail, and starve to death or suffocate. I think it`s just -- to live with that, to be awake. It`s like being in a grave when you are alive.
DR. SALTZ: Exactly.
BEHAR: I think that is just a -- it`s a horrendous, horrendous thing.
DR. SALTZ: It`s a very terrifying idea -- it`s very anxiety- producing. The question is, you know, were they able to resolve that anxiety during the time that they need? They would be ok or likely to be ok.
The only thing is something good can come out of this story, believe it or not. When you think you are going to die and then you actually end up being ok, a lot these people --
BEHAR: It changes them.
DR. SALTZ: These men will be changed -- they will be changed forever.
BEHAR: Changed for the better, I hope.
DR. SALTZ: And it could be change for the better in that they may appreciate every day, every moment, their lives and they may re-evaluate what matters to them. And we prioritize in a good way.
BEHAR: Ok. Ben, now you have interviewed survivors of every imaginable situation. So what`s your take on what happened and how the miners will move forward? What do you think?
BEN SHERWOOD, AUTHOR, "THE SURVIVORS` CLUB": This is one of the most unbelievable and unusual survivor stories that I have ever encountered and I`ve been looking at the last 100 years of survivor stories around the world.
I mean think about it. These guys had 17 terrifying days followed by 52 days in which they eventually had hot showers. They had -- one of them was running six miles a day underground. One of them -- they all had media training last week, one hour per day to deal with the onslaught. As Gail just mentioned, they had psychological counseling. They had access to medicine and food.
This is a survival story like no other because these guys, while they had those 17 days of terror and they`ve also had terror in the last 52 days as well. Would there be earthquakes, would there be another cave-in?
But still, it`s unlike anything we have never seen because as they come up, they have had weeks of communication with their family. They`ve been talking to friends. They sent letters up and down. They even had a telephone and they had movies and live soccer to watch while they were down underground. So, most of the examples that we can compare this too --
BEHAR: How did they get that -- how did they get that down there?
SHERWOOD: They had a live feed of television and live soccer games underground.
BEHAR: You know, people trash technology. Look at what it can do.
DR. SALTZ: Exactly.
BEHAR: Gary, there were 33 men down there. Do you think they will miss the other men? What was their relationship like down there and where did they go to the bathroom? Everyone wants to know that question.
And also, some of the wives found out that these guys had mistresses. This was unbeknownst to them before this cave-in occurred.
TUCHMAN: Well, that`s a lot of questions, but I can tackle all of them.
First of all, there`s a great camaraderie between these men but I think none of them will miss living with each other a half-mile underground. They`ll be happy to do that back with their families as I`m sure they`ll have some wonderful reunions.
Regarding bathroom, there`s a special part of the underground area, it`s an isolated area and they used that area to go to the bathroom. There`s also a smoking area not too far away from there and that`s in the most far reaching parts of the area they had to live in.
Regarding mistresses, listen, there`s probably no question that some of these guys, they had mistresses. And there`s also no question that there are some women who are coming forward who are saying they are mistresses. And we will see how that plays out.
DR. SALTZ: You know, (INAUDIBLE) to your support system or to your family is actually going to be a hard issue. When you have been gone three and a half months you have certain expectations about how they people will re-embrace you, which may or may not happen and maybe disappointing or complicated as the case may be.
But also, those people have expectations of the miners. The spouse has been gone. You have been floundering, you`ve been and scared. You want him to be a certain way. Now he comes back, maybe he`s that way, maybe he isn`t. Maybe he`s scared. Maybe he`s having a difficult time.
So that`s another aspect that may be difficult from a psychological --
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: It`s almost like when guys come home from war. Hello.
DR. SALTZ: Exactly.
SHERWOOD: No, Joy, there`s an interesting parallel. The 1972 airplane crash in the Andes involving that Uruguayan Rugby team.
BEHAR: Oh yes.
SHERWOOD: Sixteen guys survived and they came down from that mountain and they were -- and this is 1972, it was a long time ago. They were global superstars. The media, around the world paid attention to them. Back in 1972, they had a Christmas sort of re-birthday party to celebrate this occasion of their survival against the odd.
Now, all these years later, they still get together every single Christmas time, December 22nd to celebrate their re-birth. And this coming December, there will be more than 100; the original survivors, their wives, their children, their grandchildren. There`s incredible cohesion to this group, those 16. And I predict the same thing is going to happen with these 33.
BEHAR: Right. But let`s talk about the media attention for a little bit. Ben or rather Joe, do you think that that will make their recovery worse, all the attention they`re going to get? They`re going to get book deals. They`re going to be on television. They`re going to get a lot of attention. It`s going to be like Paris Hilton every day. What do you think is going to happen? I`m worried about that.
SBAFFONI: I think that each person has a different outlook, different personality. So it`s going to affect each of them different. But they`re definitely going to be put into a realm that they have never been in before. And then some day down the road, it will cease.
So it`s going to be a real high for awhile, then they might miss all the attention and so forth.
BEHAR: Yes. The withdrawal from the attention might be harder than the attention.
DR. SALTZ: I think so. I think the peace will be the problem. And for some of them handling a lot of tension it will be difficult but they`ll probably manage and will be sort of protected.
But I think, that we are, as you may have gathered, short attention span world. And so, we`re going to be over it soon.
BEHAR: We`ll be over on to the next tragedy.
DR. SALTZ: On to the next thing and I think that will be difficult. Because they may anticipate --
BEHAR: Yes.
DR. SALTZ: -- that they`ll have this attention for a lot longer.
SHERWOOD: When you look at stories like this -- when you look at stories like this across the last ten to 5 years whenever a group of people survive something remarkable, it`s not like all 33 are about to just get on jets and fly all over the world to do media. There are going to be some of them were going to want to participate and tell their stories.
BEHAR: Right.
SHERWOOD: There`s going to be a large percentage of them quite frankly, were just going to want to go back to their families, they going on what to do with their lives and by the way, there are reports that they`ve all signed an agreement underground to share equally in the proceeds of telling their story.
BEHAR: Oh that --
SHERWOOD: So some of them may just take that -- take that money and run and not have anything to do with any of the media and anybody who wants to tell their story. And some of them will decide they want to fly all over the world.
BEHAR: That`s a lovely piece of the story, I think.
DR. SALTZ: It is.
BEHAR: Thank you guys very much for the updates.
We`ll be back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming up a little later on THE JOY BEHAR SHOW, "The Situation" gets voted off "Dancing with the Stars." But was the "Jersey Shore" star`s dancing really that bad?
And in a prime time exclusive, rocker, Rick Springfield comes clean about his suicide attempt and his life-long bout with depression.
Now back to Joy.
BEHAR: Remember Americans suffering from eating disorders are on rise. There are disturbing variations of this illness, everything from anorexia and believe me it`s the binge eating and cravings but non-food items like paper and chalk. That`s right. And it`s chronicled on Eve`s new show "What`s Eating You."
With me now are three women featured on the show: Mona who is a binge eater despite having had a lap band that reduced her stomach`s capacity and Jennifer who has been a -- a binge, a binger purger for 20 years and Keri Glassman, a registered dietitian and Jennifer`s nutritionist.
Ok, Mona, let me start with you, because we`re going to show a clip of you. You had lap band surgery in 2007. And -- but -- you found a very creative way to get around that. I saw it.
MONA, "WHAT`S EATING YOU": Yes.
BEHAR: Let`s watch it, what happens in the show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MONA: I usually start with creamy chicken soup. Anything that would easily slide through the band is called slider foods. And that`s what I live on. Round two -- mashed potatoes and gravy. This is round three for tonight. I can`t stop. I can`t stop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Now, first of all, I have to ask you about lap banding. Do you have insurance for it?
MONA: No, I paid cash for it.
BEHAR: You paid, how much did it cost you?
MONA: About $14,000.
BEHAR: $14,000 dollars so now you gain from -- you gain a lot a weight back, right?
MONA: Well, I lost 150 and I gained 50 back. Since the therapy with the reality show, "What`s Eating You" I`ve lost 23 pounds with that back then.
BEHAR: Oh, so you`ve really only gained 25 pounds back.
MONA: Yes.
BEHAR: Ok, well, so that`s interesting that you -- television put you back on some kind of diet or what?
MONA: Well, I think it was the -- I think it was the -- therapy. I started realizing that I was bingeing. The only thing I have changed is I stopped bingeing. And I`ve lost the 23 pounds in about -- around two months without bingeing. So the difference is, I`m -- I`m still eating probably the wrong foods, so I`m just not bingeing on them.
BEHAR: What -- so you had therapy to stop you from bingeing?
MONA: Yes.
BEHAR: What was the trigger? I`m curious.
MONA: I was emotionally eating, eating for emotional reasons.
BEHAR: And now you are not?
MONA: No. Not -- I mean, I still am, but not as much. I`m not bingeing, I had a ritual that I did every night that I do not do anymore.
BEHAR: I see. So they broke you of that habit?
MONA: They did.
BEHAR: Good for you.
MONA: I mean I still have a long way to go. But I think that with this therapy that I`m getting now, it`s something I should have had way before I had the lap band. And if I would have had that, I probably wouldn`t need the lap band.
BEHAR: Right, right. You want to jump in?
KERI GLASSMAN, NUTRITIONIST, "WHAT`S EATING YOU": I want to make a comment about that. I did not work with Mona, she worked with -- she`s in another state, and -- but I talked to her therapist. And one thing we discussed was how Mona was not even aware of the fact that she was emotionally eating. And then, it`s a really serious issue with obviously millions of people out there but especially when you have lap band surgery.
If you have that surgery, you reduce the size of your stomach --
BEHAR: Yes.
GLASSMAN: -- but if you don`t deal with the emotional issues, you`re going to gain that weight back.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: But --
GLASSMAN: And that`s what happened with Mona. She was still eating emotionally which caused her to be a bulimic, she was overeating and then was -- purging.
BEHAR: But -- and what -- what did you think you were just hungry? You weren`t just hungry, you must have known there was some another reason you were eating.
MONA: Well, you know, once I started eating, it was like something clicked in my head I just went on autopilot. And I just --
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: You kept eating.
MONA: -- by the end of the night, I was like holy crap, look how much I ate.
BEHAR: Yes.
MONA: And I didn`t even realized that --
BEHAR: Compulsive.
MONA: And it`s compulsive, yes.
BEHAR: Ok, Jennifer, let me talk to you. Now, you`ve been bingeing and purging for 20 years. They called that bulimia, am I right?
JENNIFER, "WHAT`S EATING YOU": Yes, it`s -- well, I don`t fit into a box, I think. I do a variety of things.
BEHAR: Let`s -- let`s look at the -- the clip before you talk, ok let`s look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER: I can`t do through the day without every minute thinking of food, body, calories, you are fat, you are never going to get skinny, if you don`t stop doing this or that, feeling awful about what I ate, wanting things and not letting myself have them. It`s just nonstop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: When you look in the mirror, do you see yourself as overweight?
JENNIFER: Oh yes.
BEHAR: You do.
JENNIFER: Like, like, it`s hideous. I disgust myself.
BEHAR: Really?
JENNIFER: You know, I was -- I was trying to get ready for this and I`m just looking and I was like oh, my face is so fat. I was like, I wish, I wish I had just gotten in better shape, you know. It`s just -- it`s everywhere.
BEHAR: Ok. Now, Mona says that she got some therapy and she understood that it was emotional and she makes some connections. Have you have been able to make any connections with this distorted view you have of yourself because it is distorted.
JENNIFER: I have come to, I guess, accept that there`s a distortion. But I struggle with accepting that in a way of -- actually believing it here and here.
BEHAR: Was there some kind of trauma that you two suffered as children or something to cause you to have such a distortion of reality?
MONA: Yes, I suffered from a lot of bullying in school from as long as I can remember.
BEHAR: How about you?
JENNIFER: There was sexual abuse and later emotional and verbal abuse.
BEHAR: Ok, are you in therapy to find out about that and the connection that it has to this bulimia that you have?
JENNIFER: Yes, the -- the funny thing is -- is I have been in therapy for -- since I was about 14. I was actually diagnosed bulimic then. And I kept asking for help targeted toward the eating disorder and everybody`s kind of swept it under the rug. Maybe they thought if some of the other things were taken care of, it would go away. And it hasn`t.
BEHAR: You can`t sweep these things under the rug. I think people are beginning to understand that.
Ok. We are going to continue this after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: I`m back with my panel from the new show, "What`s Eating You" talking about extreme eating disorders. You know, they are on the rise eating disorders. Ten million Americans suffer from eating disorders. And a British study is showing the number of children admitted to a hospital due to eating disorders has risen by 11 percent in the past year.
And everybody knows that this country, we have issues with food that are just getting out of control. I mean Keri, why do you think that is? How much is society to blame? We were talking during the break about bullying. What is your take on that?
GLASSMAN: Well, one thing I do want to say -- 10 million women and one million men have eating disorders and then millions others with other forms of disorders eating. So the facts are even more than that.
BEHAR: Ten million women and only one million men. So it`s really a woman`s issue, more.
GLASSMAN: Well, it`s more, but we can`t forget that what we need to show is that it does affect a variety of people, genders, different ages from all different types of backgrounds.
We can look at society of course. I mean models are thinner than 98 percent of the population. But also you have to look at genetics and your environment. All of those factors play a role and it doesn`t have to just be a traumatic event.
In Mona and Jennifer`s case, they did have trauma in their past that may have helped them or encouraged their eating disorder to come on but it doesn`t have to be. You don`t have necessarily to suffer trauma. Again, it can be environment, society, your genes.
BEHAR: Well, Jennifer, you were saying during the break that your parents, your family used to say you were fat.
JENNIFER: Yes, my brothers and my cousins.
BEHAR: I mean that`s not helpful. It makes you think that you`d look in the mirror and you say maybe they`re right.
GLASSMAN: One thing I want to say about Jennifer also though, she is not a classic bulimic or a classic anorexic. We actually -- Jennifer and I worked together. And this is also I think where people often think of people as let`s say, that skeletal person or teenager they see as a someone with an eating disorder.
There are millions of other people out there with eating disorders like Jennifer which is called EDNOS, eating disorder not otherwise specified. Jennifer has symptoms such as chewing and spitting, hoarding, saving little bits of food. And these affect millions of people out there. There are a variety of types of disorders out there.
BEHAR: What goes on through your mind in these desperate kinds of moments? When you`re eating what your roommate is throwing down the garbage disposal -- that was in the show -- and then you purge it. What`s happening in your head when it`s happening?
JENNIFER: Sheer panic.
BEHAR: Panic?
JENNIFER: I don`t understand it. I just know it`s panic. The food is going away and I have to have it. And a lot of times it`ll -- I`ll just be putting it in but it`s coming out at the same time, you know, chewing and spitting.
BEHAR: How can Mona keep on the same track she`s on? Because she seems to be doing better?
GLASSMAN: She`s doing great. Jen, I have to say too, is also making amazing strides. When I was speaking with Mona`s therapist, we were talking about the fact that she`s really started to connect with her emotions. By connecting to her emotions and dealing with her emotions, not through food, she`s been able to reduce the binges. And I think she`s actually gone a month -- a month without bingeing right now?
MONA: Almost two months.
GLASSMAN: So she`s making amazing strides there.
BEHAR: That whole business in the piece that I saw where you were eating like gravy so it would go down smoothly.
MONA: Right because the band stops food from going down so I would use slider foods so I can eat more.
BEHAR: The band sounds like it`s a helpful instrument, no procedure.
GLASSMAN: It can be absolutely, if you also deal with the emotional issues.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Obviously, you can gain the weight right back if you don`t watch it.
MONA: On any surgery, I could sew my mouth shut and start milk shakes just to get well.
BEHAR: I know somebody who`s -- a friend of mine told me about a woman he know who had her jaw wired shut and she sucks linguini through it.
Thank you ladies.
"What`s Eating You?" premiers tonight at 10:00 p.m. on --
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Coming up later on THE JOY BEHAR SHOW. After 11 years of marriage, Courtney Cox and David Arquette call it quits. We`ll have all the latest. And Rick Spingfield drops by to talk about his journey from a 17 year old on a verge of suicide join international rock superstar. Now, back to joy.
BEHAR: As news spread of a trial separation between Hollywood couple David Arquette and Courtney Cox, David apparently needed to share his feelings with three million strangers on the "HOWARD STERN SHOW." Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID ARQUETTE, ACTOR: "We got a trial separation awhile ago, oh, like after 11, not a full on separation but after our 11th year anniversary, she gave me the motorcycle and she said I don`t want to be your mother anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Here now to discuss this and other topics and other news are comedian Maureen Langan, rapper and host, of the "VANILLA ICE" project, Vanilla Ice. And executive editor of "US Weekly" Caroline Schaefer. Greetings guys.
Doesn`t that make him look like a baby, she says, I`m not your mother. Has anyone said that to you?
VANILLA ICE, RAPPER: I say it to my wife. I like to call her mommy.
BEHAR: Do you really.
VANILLA ICE: Oh yes, why not?
BEHAR: Why does she treat you like a baby?
VANILLA ICE: Sometimes if I like it.
BEHAR: Really?
VANILLA ICE: Some girls like that.
BEHAR: Does she nurse you?
VANILLA ICE: Sometimes, if I like it, depends on the mood. Thirteen years.
BEHAR: I mean I would find that annoying, to have a husband who wanted me to be his mommy. Wouldn`t you, ew?
MAUREEN LANGAN, COMEDIAN: Well the thing is, there is pogo sticks and skateboards all around the house.
BEHAR: It`s annoying.
LANGAN: The thing that you are drawn to it first, it can get you 25 to life down the road.
BEHAR: That`s true.
By the way, I`m not going to call you Vanilla anymore. What should I call you.
VANILLA ICE: Rob. Simple as a pimple. Rob.
BEHAR: OK, now, Caroline, they said this was a trial separation. Does that ever work? A trial separation?
CAROLINE SCHAEFER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, US WEEKLY: I mean there has been a precedent set right, you know, David Duchovny and Tea Leone were separated when he went to sex rehab and now they are back together.
BEHAR: They are.
SHAEFER: Yes but for the most part, it doesn`t work. I mean after this, I mean after over sharing and after so many people, I think it`s hard for Courtney to take him back.
LANGAN: I mean you turn to Howard Stern in your moment of vulnerability.
BEHAR: Yes as great therapist.
VANILLA ICE: Yes. How about that, Howard.
LANGAN: I mean couldn`t he just stop at we had a passionate sex life.
BEHAR: No, let`s watch it. I mean listen to it. He talked to Stern about their sex lives. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARQUETTE: I mean we go to do "Scream 4" --
HOWARD STERN: Right.
ARQUETTE: I`m feeling distance, obviously, from my wife. We have not had sex in quite a -- like at that time, a month or so. Since then, it`s been like four months or so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: How does that sound to you Rob?
VANILLA ICE: He`s trying to justify what he`s doing, you know. Which, I can understand, you know, but it makes him look more like a donkey.
BEHAR: And it`s TMI.
SCHAEFER: It is. This is also a couple that`s been candid. They had a deal is a deal on their wedding rings. They talked about how they`ve been through marital therapy. They are very open. They are open about their infertility. This is a couple that likes to share, you know.
LANGAN: She`s sitting home saying I can`t believe he`s telling Howard Stern our sex life was methodical and scheduled.
(CROSSTALK)
SHAEFER: Well he apologized too.
BEHAR: That David tweeted her shared too much on the Stern show. But he and Courtney before he --
VANILLA ICE: Why air your laundry like that?
SHAEFER: It`s not the first time Howard Stern --
BEHAR: They live in the public. They don`t live in the privacy -- look at Ashton and Demi, they tweeted everything. I mean this is what people are doing these days.
SHAEFER: Right.
VANILLA ICE: Do you think it`s a set-up?
BEHAR: No, and then they say yet we`re not intimate. Hello, you`re sharing with the world. You`re not going to have intimacy that way.
SHAEFER: David was on Howard Stern a couple of months ago before talking about it. It`s not like - he`s done this before. Yes, I mean he loves Howard Stern.
BEHAR: Yes, go ahead.
LANGAN: I just want to say that it`s scheduled and methodical, like what, after he gets up from his nap?
BEHAR: OK let`s move on to the "DANCING WITH THE STARS." It`s a sad day for the "The Situation" was booted from the show last night. Now, he has to go back to doing what he does. What does he do?
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Twenty something - aren`t they voting from in jail? Don`t they get at least one phone call?
VANILLA ICE: They are out of night.
LANGAN: They are focused on Snooki because she has a book deal. I thought you had to be able to read in order to write. But apparently not.
BEHAR: Well Caroline, was it his time to go?
SCHAEFER: Well yes. I mean the fact that he got this far is kind of is surprising. He never, you know, he never he showed up very, very late to rehearsals, started like the day before. He never really went in 100 percent I don`t think.
BEHAR: Well he was acting like he did, he really worked hard and he was sincere. Yes well it`s probably how he acted in school.
SCHAEFER: Well I think he really wants to be a star. So now his time is off.
BEHAR: Well he`s the smartest one of all of them. It`s not saying much.
SCHAEFER: It`s a shame.
BEHAR: He actually had a fit over the low scores.
LANGAN: He had a fit.
BEHAR: He got 28 out of 60 points. Do you think the judges are a little too hard on them over there?
VANILLA ICE: No, come on, the guy was like, did you see him like pick her up? It was like carrying an air conditioner up his back. It looked like Frankenstein - I can`t carry this, I partied too hard last night.
LANGAN: Yes, you got to be on that show.
VANILLA ICE: No come on, me?
LANGAN: Yes why not?
VANILLA ICE: At least I got rhythm.
BEHAR: But his pecs were dancing. They dance better than he did.
VANILLA ICE: Yes but it`s called dancing. You have to dance. The rhythm wasn`t there. I like the guy.
LANGAN: The thing I get stuck on Brook Burke. She`s beautiful but every week she says vote for these guys if you want to see them next week. I never know if she`s talking about the couples or her boobs.
(LAUGHTER)
VANILLA ICE: Vote on them.
BEHAR: It`s not like you`re going to hit them if you want to see them. Oh my god, Vanilla, you have done some dancing in your videos.
VANILLA ICE: Yes, that`s what I`m saying, it takes rhythm. It`s called dancing.
BEHAR: Could you pull off the tango.
VANILLA ICE: I could do the tango. It just takes rhythm. It`s called dancing
BEHAR: OK well, there was another dance performance on television, that you guys need to way in and take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right Laura, come on. Stop, collaborate, listen something grabs a hold of me tightly will it ever stop yo, I don`t know, turn of the lights and -
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: There`s nothing like a Conservative white women trying to dance. They will turn the whole world into Democrats.
VANILLA ICE: The greatest thing -- maybe democrats have rhythm. Listen that is like Glee.
BEHAR: That`s you.
VANILLA ICE: That`s them watching glee.
BEHAR: That`s your my music isn`t it?
VANILLA ICE: Yes that`s my music. But it was great. I think it`s awesome.
BEHAR: But how do you think they did?
VANILLA ICE: A perfect score of 100 for me. Everybody is "GLEE" right now. That`s them having a great time to a great song.
BEHAR: "GLEE" is a great show.
OK now 77 year old Joan Collins says Angelina Jolie is the only beautiful actress working today. Really, what about moi? Maybe Joans is just getting sensitive about her age. I heard she told a guy she was on "DYNASTY" and he said which one. Which one the mink?
(LAUGHTER)
VANILLA ICE: Wait a minute.
BEHAR: She also said when she was young, everybody on screen was gorgeous. Is that true?
LANGAN: Betty Davis was so hot?
BEHAR: She was pretty when she was young. She was pretty when she turned into Baby Jane, I know but. But she was very pretty when she was young.
LANGAN: Yes but you know, the last unattractive woman I have seen in a movie is in "Misery."
BEHAR: Oh you mean Kate - Cathy -
LANGAN: Yes they get all the - cute or -
BEHAR: Well she says Jennifer Aniston is just cute.
VANILLA ICE: No. No, I got to say no to that. She`s cute and beautiful. And I found a list here. Jessica Alba, you got Megan Fox, OK? Kate Beckenson, right? Reese Witherspoon. Halle Berry, Charlize Theron- Demi Moore even.
BEHAR: No Charlize Theron is the one in that group that is stupendously beautiful.
LANGAN: Is she really?
BEHAR: The others are pretty. There`s a difference.
VANILLA ICE: Rooney Mora (ph).
BEHAR: Who is that? I`ve never heard of her. Who is Rooney Mora?
SCHAEFER: She`s going to be on "The Girl With The Dragon."
BEHAR: Is she like Lopez De Vega, who is Rooney Mora?
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: I mean Gwyneth Paltrow, beautiful. Halle Berry beautiful. Naomi Watts.
SCHAEFER: Gorgeous.
BEHAR: Julia Roberts.
SCHAEFER: Gorgeous.
BEHAR: She`s not beautiful, she`s pretty.
VANILLA ICE: I don`t know. Yes, she`s pretty.
BEHAR: Do you think Joan is a little like, what`s the matter with Joan. Why is she making a statement like this?
VANILLA ICE: Her eyesight isn`t that great.
SCHAEFER: Well honestly, why back you know when "DYNASTY" was on. She was sort of the Angelina character, you know, Crystal was the Jen Anderson, the good girl. I mean she was always the bad girl. She`s always been working Angelina. It`s kind of obvious, you know, dark hair.
BEHAR: Yes Angelina is a beautiful woman. She`s gorgeous.
SCHAEFER: Absolutely she`s like -- nobody is questioning that.
BEHAR: She`s like the Ingrid -- very European.
LANGAN: She`s a voluptuous, and most of these women look like girls. You know really like Chinese boys.
BEHAR: Boy, Angelina`s very skinny too.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: I take pictures of her in all those tabloids. And she is too skinny.
LANGAN: Maybe her lips are so big it`s distracting.
BEHAR: And I want to ask you, Vanilla -- Rob.
VANILLA ICE: Rob.
BEHAR: Yes I know, it`s my favorite -
VANILLA ICE: It`s - in the world. You said you weren`t going to call me that anymore.
BEHAR: But anyway, Eminem said on "60 MINUTES" the other day, that - because he`s a rapper. I`m just asking.
VANILLA ICE: Sure.
BEHAR: He said in "60 MINUTES" the other day that, his lyrics which are obscene, the anti-female, which the homophobic in there that his children are not allowed to hear those lyrics. What do you think about that?
VANILLA ICE: Well I think he`s right. He`s not making it for his children. He`s not Justin Bieber. I got to get his back on this. And it does say on the front explicit lyrics.
BEHAR: But isn`t it a little annoying that he`s protecting his children but not mine?
VANILLA ICE: Yes but Madonna did it with the sex book. Look at her children.
BEHAR: Well she`s another bargain.
VANILLA ICE: OK.
BEHAR: Are you saying she`s like Mother Teresa?
VANILLA ICE: No I`m not correcting any of it, I agree with you, I have two children.
BEHAR: Are your lyrics obscene? I have never read --
VANILLA ICE: Some of them are, some them aren`t. So my new record by the way, WTF, it is called, Wisdom Tenacity Focus.
BEHAR: Oh very tricky.
VANILLA ICE: No explicit lyrics.
BEHAR: Yes, I mean what do you girls think of that?
LANGAN: I think it`s a little annoying. I think it`s great.
SCHAEFER: It`s hypercritical.
BEHAR: It`s hypocritical.
LANGAN: You protect your kids from who you want to protect them from.
BEHAR: You know what, they recall strollers to protect children -
LANGAN: Go to David Arquettes house because he doesn`t make the music for the kids.
SCHAEFER: Yes but it`s on the radio -
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Even if you protect your kids from it, they go to school and listen to it.
VANILLA ICE: I understand. You are not allowed to get tattoos. And you`re not allowed listen to certain music until you are 18.
BEHAR: You can see everybody turns Conservative when it comes to their own children. All right guys, thank you. Catch Maureen Langan at Caroline`s in New York on October 19th. And you can see the "VANILLA ICE PROJECT" on the DIY network on Thursday night. Up next, Rick Springfield tells me how rock `n` roll saved his life.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was watching with beautiful eyes. When she`s - kissing. I wish that I had Jessie`s girl. I wish that I was Jessie`s girl.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: That was Rick Springfield`s 1981 smash hit "Jessie`s Girl" was the anthem for a generation of teens that helped launch the Grammy winning singer, into America`s hearts. He is also TVs original hot doc on ABC`s "GENERAL HOSPITAL." His memoir, "Late, Late At Night" reveals the highs and lows of fame in his lifelong battle with depression. With me now is Rick Springfield. Welcome to the show Rick.
RICK SPRINGFIELD, MUSICIAN: Thanks.
BEHAR: You are a rock star, a soap star and quite a ladies man, according to this book as well. A lot of sex in this book. How many women are we talking in this book? On a scale of one to Warren Bate.
SPRINGFIELD: I don`t know how many Warren Bate has had.
BEHAR: A lot.
SPRINGFIELD: It`s been a lot.
BEHAR: A lot. Yes you`ve been married for 25 years.
SPRINGFIELD: Yes because I`m married to the right -- I mean, I exist by her good grace. She`s an amazing woman. She didn`t, you know, sweep things under the rug and say we won`t talk about that. She met the issues head on with me. We went to therapy.
BEHAR: You worked it out.
SPRINGFIELD: We thought let`s break up. We know that we are better together than we are apart. That`s the heart of it.
BEHAR: That`s nice. What does she do? Is she in the biz?
SPRINGFIELD: She runs the house. She`s the rock. I mean, she`s not a professional woman, but has all these doctors, women doctors and women lawyer that is flock around her because she has this thing.
BEHAR: She`s a mover and a shaker?
SPRINGFIELD: Absolutely.
BEHAR: Children. You have children?
SPRINGFIELD: Two boys, 21 and 24. Liam and josh.
BEHAR: That`s nice. So you dated Linda blare from the "Exorcist."
SPRINGFIELD: That`s a lie.
BEHAR: It`s not true? It is?
SPRINGFIELD: No.
BEHAR: Well because you were 25 and she was 15. That could make your head spin.
SPRINGFIELD: Well, yes.
BEHAR: So isn`t that illegal then?
SPRINGFIELD: It was the `70s. It was not considered that big of a deal. I mean people raised eyebrows like what the hell is going on. But now, I`m sure with everybody, you know, there would be some issue about it. Honestly, I have friends who have daughters who date, 16, one was dating a 30-year-old. You know it`s not -- I`m not advocating -- if I had a daughter -
BEHAR: See.
SPRINGFIELD: I would be there first with a shotgun, but I`m saying there are relationships and there are -- that aren`t predatory. My relationship with Linda was not predatory.
BEHAR: It was mutual?
SPRINGFIELD: She was older than me up here. I have always been a perpetual adolescent. Her mom -- I loved her mom. Her mom liked me. We are friends to this day.
BEHAR: I know but not to be rude, but isn`t that statutory rape?
SPRINGFIELD: Mm-hmm. Can we move on now?
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: Now, I mean you could go to jail for that.
SPRINGFIELD: Yes. I think, I mean, there`s a difference between, you know, it was a real relationship. I mean -- they saved me, really. It was a thing about her family. I loved connecting with her family. I was a family person. I was from Australia and was missing my family deeply. And I had nothing happened with me. I was a struggling musician.
BEHAR: And you were immature and she was mature.
SPRINGFIELD: Yes I mean, it was, honestly, she came on to me.
BEHAR: Ah-ha.
SPRINGFIELD: But she was an amazing person. I, like for my birthday, instead of buying me presents, we sent money to her dog rescue. We have that in common, we are passionate about dogs.
BEHAR: OK, all right. All right. You`re off the hook. You attempted suicide when you were 17 years old. That is astounding, I mean you tried to hang yourself.
SPRINGFIELD: I did hang myself it just didn`t -- the rope came undone. I was in the hold. I was a very, very odd teenager, puberty was not kind to me. I was -- I was very adept at making nooses. I was lonely and just hit a point where I wasn`t good at school, I wasn`t popular at school. I was failing my first public thing, which was school, being in school. And I had incredible self-loathing. One day, I wanted it to end. I went out, put a rope around my neck, tied it around the beam of the shed. I kicked away the box I was standing on and hung there for 15 or 20 seconds and the rope came undone. The rope that I tied came undone.
BEHAR: So then what did you do? You just decided to change your mind. You changed your mind?
SPRINGFIELD: Yes. I mean I went out, put a rope around my neck and felt, truly felt that something had changed in me. And I`m not you know with all the teenage suicides now, what I -- my view is, you know, give it, if you are feeling that, give it a day or give it a week or give it another year.
BEHAR: Right.
SPRINGFIELD: Because things will change. I mean, look what I would have missed out on, my life.
BEHAR: Your career.
SPRINGFIELD: Your career.
BEHAR: All those women loving you. General hospital --
SPRINGFIELD: Sex with Linda Blare.
BEHAR: All the sex you had. Rock and roll.
SPRINGFIELD: I`m going to hell.
BEHAR: And then, this is interesting, too. At 17, we`ll take a break quickly, but we`ll come back. I want to hit on a couple other things.
SPRINGFIELD: I bet you do.
BEHAR: I do. At 17 you tried to kill yourself. At 23 you do something odd. More with Rick Springfield on the way.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You haven`t figured it out? You were lying next to her in your bed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you talking about.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I called your apartment and Stacy answered the phone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don`t worry about it Noah, I hung up before I said anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Yes. That`s "GENERAL HOSPITAL`S" doctor Noah Drake played by my guest Rick Springfield. We`ll talk about that in a second. But I wanted to ask you. At 23 you had some plastic surgery. At 17 you tried to kill yourself, and then at 23 you wanted to look better and feel better. So what happen between that?
SPRINGFIELD: No it was, first of all, after hanging myself, I realized that I was here for a reason. That reason, to me, then, was that I had something to offer, you know, to share. I think it was music. I went to America and got into a band, had success, had hits in American, had hits in Australia. Then went to America and had a hit in America. But got caught.
BEHAR: Basically became a pop super star.
SPRINGFIELD: Well a teen idol. You know, which honestly, I had one hit in the `70s. 1970 over here. Then teen magazines started putting me in there because I was cute.
BEHAR: Yes, cute.
SPRINGFIELD: I was the first Paris Hilton. I mean I was in a famous for nothing. Really, I would go to Disneyland and you know all these young girls asked me to sign an autograph for them. And I`m sure they had no idea what I did.
BEHAR: Yes.
SPRINGFIELD: They just recognized me from the magazine. So I started, you know, my depression started talking to me. I refer to him in the second person, as Mr. D.
BEHAR: Mr. D.
SPRINGFIELD: He, you know, was saying, I was quite a bit older. I was 23 or 24 by this time. And all the kids, all the other guys Donny Osmond was 16 and 17. I started worrying I don`t look young.
BEHAR: Oh you got to look young.
SPRINGFIELD: To look young enough, so I stupidly went to Australia and looked at this you know, plastic Australian plastic surgeon. Which I had no idea, I had no bags or lines. 23-year-old puffy young face. I said can you help me? He said I think I can fix those lines and bags.
BEHAR: Oh boy.
SPRINGFIELD: So it was a great big mistake.
BEHAR: Now, you are still touring at your age. I think you say it in here, don`t you?
SPRINGFIELD: Yes.
BEHAR: You`re 61 now.
SPRINGFIELD: Yes, I am.
BEHAR: And I always find it interesting that rockers and pop stars in their 60s are going strong. Ringo Starr just turned 70. And Rolling Stones, I just saw them in a concert last year, they were fantastic. They are up there now too. I mean, how long do you think you`ll go? And do women still throw their underwear at you?
SPRINGFIELD: They do, actually. There`s not a lot of training bras anymore. It`s a good sign. Good sign. Life is good. Yes, it`s great. Our show is energetic. I have an amazing, powerful band. And we play the songs -- it`s a rock and roll show. People that haven`t been before are usually very surprised by the energy and the audience reacts to that.
BEHAR: Hey just keep going.
SPRINGFIELD: Well I`ll keep going until --
BEHAR: Keep going. You are actually so charming and lovely. It is really nice and fun. Thanks for doing this. OK, his book is "Late, Late At Night." Good night everybody.
END
