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Dr. William Petit Speaks Out; Chasen Murder Mystery
Aired December 09, 2010 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: Coming up on THE JOY BEHAR SHOW, Dr. William Petit, the man who survived a brutal home invasion that left his wife and two daughters dead, sat down with Oprah while one of the men responsible sits on death row. But could this become a case of justice denied?
Then contrary to earlier reports, the gun used to kill a glamorous Hollywood publicist is allegedly the same gun a suspect used to take his own life. But is this really case closed?
Plus, after a two-year battle, Wesley Snipes reports to federal prison for failing to file his taxes.
That and more starting right now.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HLN GUEST HOST: Welcome, everyone, to THE JOY BEHAR SHOW. I`m Ashleigh Banfield, filling in for Joy.
And we begin tonight with the story of Dr. William Petit, the Connecticut doctor who lost his wife and two daughters in one of the most brutal and cold-blooded murders imaginable. Earlier today he sat down with Oprah Winfrey and he spoke candidly about the men responsible for the nightmare that he has been forced to endure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. WILLIAM PETIT, HOME INVASION SURVIVOR: I don`t think you can forgive ultimate evil. You can forgive somebody who stole your car. You can forgive somebody who slapped you in the face. You can forgive somebody who insulted you. You can forgive somebody who caused an accident. I think forgiving the essence of evil is not appropriate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: With one defendant, Steven Hayes, already convicted and sentenced to death, jury selection in the trial of the second defendant Joshua Komisarjevsky is set to begin early next year but with a new governor in charge of Connecticut some are wondering if either of them is ever going to have to pay that ultimate price with their lives.
Here now to discuss it, Brian McDonald is the author of "In the Middle of the Night: The shocking true story of a family killed in cold blood"; Dr. Gail Saltz, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at New York Presbyterian Hospital; and Stacey Honowitz, a Florida prosecutor. Welcome to you all.
And Dr. Saltz, I want to just start with you. The overall feeling I get when I watched this interview is, is this healthy for him to be talking about this? Albeit, Oprah Winfrey is probably the best in the business, but my God, this has got to be hell.
DR. GAIL SALTZ, PSYCHIATRIST: Yes. But it depends on the person. So for some people talking about an event, talking through an event is really cathartic. I mean that`s what talk therapy is often about, particularly when there`s been trauma. For some people it`s terrible, it`s the worst.
So it depends on what the motivation is and how he views the process. If this is "I need to confess because somehow I feel guilty that I survived", well then, that`s probably not necessary healthy.
BANFIELD: And I can just only imagine that he`s going through therapy and if he is not, I really hope he is.
DR. SALTZ: You hope so but I have to say that he sounds -- considering the magnitude of this trauma -- I am not surprised in the way that he sounds. I don`t think he sounds more depressed, frankly, than is appropriate, if you will, for the horror that has befallen him.
BANFIELD: Do you assume, do you expect that he`d be medicated since all of this? That the only way to possibly get through every trial day that he was present for would be through medication?
DR. SALTZ: You know, medication is helpful when you are having a severe depression and that could be going on but I can`t say from just looking at him. However, it -- no medication is going to --
BANFIELD: Nothing`s going to help this.
Saltz: -- blunt or take away the trauma that has happened. So support from others probably actually is more helpful in a way than anything else. Someone to talk to is helpful and if need be in certain circumstances medication could be helpful.
BANFIELD: And then you just heard him talk about forgiveness. You can forgive someone who steals something from you or does something to you --
DR. SALTZ: Right.
BANFIELD: -- but this, do we ever expect someone to be able to forgive something like this?
DR. SALTZ: You know, when you talk about forgiveness, people use forgiveness to relieve their burden at a certain level and to re-establish a relationship. Obviously there`s no relationship being re-established here. If it were releasing a burden, that`s one thing but I think he is right.
In this case, I don`t see the benefit to him or to anyone --
BANFIELD: Really? To forgive?
DR. SALTZ: -- to forgive.
To find out how you`re going to move on, to have the retribution, to feel that you have processed and for him to work on finding some pleasure or joy in life, yes.
BANFIELD: Maybe his pastor would have a different counsel for him.
DR. SALTZ: I don`t know that it requires forgiveness for him.
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: Brian, you know, a lot of us have been talking about this being such an enormous interview and I think a lot of people have forgotten, you also had a spectacular series of interviews with defendant number two, Joshua Komisarjevsky.
What is he like?
BRIAN MCDONALD, AUTHOR, "IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT": Well, you know, it`s funny. You talk -- Dr. Petit talked a lot about evil and you know, I felt an evil component in this throughout. You know? And --
BANFIELD: Face to face with him, right?
MCDONALD: Face to face -- I had three face to face interviews in the maximum security prison where he`s being held above Hartford where he was being held. And he is -- you know, on first blush he`s -- and this will get me in trouble -- but he seems likable. He is very, very --
BANFIELD: I`ve heard the word "charming" and it`s shocking to even hear that in conjunction with this entire story.
MCDONALD: You know, I kept forgetting while I was talking to him of what he`s accused. You know, it kind of fades away.
DR. SALTZ: But would you get glimpses of it?
MCDONALD: I would get glimpses of it. In his eyes and there was a chill about it. But mostly you got this very, very cordial, very polite, young man. He called me Mr. McDonald all the time.
BANFIELD: Really, polite?
MCDONALD: He was very -- he talked about the Petit women with respect. He called Mrs. Petit --
BANFIELD: He talked about them with respect?
MCDONALD: Yes. He did.
BANFIELD: He didn`t deal with them with respect.
MCDONALD: No. So --
BANFIELD: If he`s guilty of the crimes he`s accused of.
MCDONALD: Well, I mean I don`t think that`s even a question.
BANFIELD: But that`s -- that`s why I want to ask you. Because what he said to you reads like a word for word confession. If you follow the trial transcripts from Hayes, everything in your book follows exactly like his.
MCDONALD: He doesn`t really think he`s going to get out of this alive. He thinks he`s going to be put to death and so that gave him a license to tell me everything that`s in the book. I mean, he didn`t skip on anything. I mean, there were parts where he was blaming Hayes.
I mean, at the bottom of all of this they`re both criminals and they`re both liars. I mean, by definition, they`re both liars.
BANFIELD: But -- let me get Stacey Honowitz in on this. Stacey, in your business and in the business of the police, it is the Holy Grail to get a confession. And there`s an entire book full of a confession. How`s this going to play into his case?
STACEY HONOWITZ, FLORIDA PROSECUTOR: Well, it`s incredible, quite frankly, that the lawyer who was representing him really allowed him to go forward with this because a lawyer is going to tell you no matter how evil the person is, no matter how many times he`s confessed before to the police, that`s enough because anything you say can be used against you as you know in a court of law.
And so, anything that he said in the book relating to the crimes, his responsibility in the crimes can be used by the prosecution and I think what the author is saying is it`s not unusual.
You know, when prosecutors go in a courtroom, and we have horrific cases with evil people, it`s very interesting when everybody else is out of the courtroom and you hear that person talk to their lawyer and even sometimes try to talk to the prosecutor or talk to the judge. They take on a whole different persona so the fact that he`s charming and nice while he`s giving this interview has nothing to do with the true evil persona that he really has as evidenced by the crimes committed but --
BANFIELD: Stacey, how does his defense attorney deal with everything that Brian has unearthed from him, especially since because we know these two weren`t housed together to corroborate during the trial of Hayes, but how are they going to try to deal with his own words in his case given that it matches almost word for word what we heard in Hayes` case?
HONOWITZ: Well, actually, truly what you`re dealing with in this case is whether or not they`re live or die. I think quite frankly the responsibility, the liability, the criminality -- did they do it, it`s there. There`s overwhelming evidence.
But how do you deal with it? You just present -- I mean, you can`t stand up there and say he didn`t say it. You can`t challenge it. You can`t say he wasn`t read his right. He voluntarily gave the statement. You kind of have to go with the flow. You know that he`s going to be convicted and your only true job in this case is to try to spare his life.
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: You`re not --
HONOWITZ: That`s what you`re dealing with.
BANFIELD: You`re not given Miranda when you agree to speak to a reporter or an author and you have the right to remain silent, so he fully did this of his own volition.
HONOWITZ: Absolutely.
BANFIELD: I want to -- I want to go back to Oprah`s interview for a moment. It was really just heart-wrenching to see Dr. Petit speaking to her about these extraordinarily raw things that he`s been going through.
And she asked him a little bit about the recovery process. Have a look at what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: In the beginning, you didn`t sleep for months. I heard you didn`t sleep for months.
PETIT: No. Two or three months maybe two hours a night I was completely, completely fried. I just walked around in a daze and just intrusive thoughts banging into your brain every second, every minute. You know, you`re playing events over and over and over and over again in your mind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Gail, how on earth do you go forward when you`ve lost your past? Everything he owned was burned in the fire. Everything he loved was lost in that fire and the murders. And he`s living in his parents` home, trying to get through the holidays. It`s Christmas and the holidays and he hasn`t had a tree since 2007. How do you move forward?
DR. SALTZ: This is a high-risk time for him. I mean -- I know that he said that he`s not going to kill himself. But this is the kind of person if -- if it were my patient that I`d be very worried about that. Anybody who loses a child is at high risk for suicide, let alone their whole family.
You know, the question is, will time help him? Will he have enough other supports? Will time allow him to find some tiny measure of pleasure or joy or other relationship? And the fact that he was able to say, I imagine on good days, right, that I could find love. You know, would give you a spark of hope that, in fact, he`d be able to let himself be vulnerable enough sometime in the future to possibly have that happen.
BANFIELD: Brian, did Komisarjevsky ever say anything about Dr. Petit? Did he regret? Did he have apologies? Did he say anything about the man he left behind?
BRIAN MCDONALD: Yes. I mean --
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: Allegedly left behind.
MCDONALD: Yes. I mean he talked -- he talked a lot about it. And -- and like I said, but you can`t -- I mean, he`s a criminal and he`s a liar at -- at-- at base. And -- and everything he says has to be seen through the focus, through the screen of what he did --
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: Right.
MCDONALD: -- on -- on July 23rd, 2007.
BANFIELD: I got 30 seconds left. And Stacey I`ve got to get you to weigh in on this, and that is that there`s a lot of politicking going on in Connecticut --
(CROSSTALK)
HONOWITZ: Yes.
BANFIELD: -- the death penalty has been on the table. There`s a new Democratic governor there. He is not a fan of it and you and I know it takes up to two decades for an actual death penalty to be put through because of all the mandatory appeals. What are the chances that either of these two men if, if Komisarjevsky is convicted and sentenced to death would ever actually be executed?
HONOWITZ: Well, listen I mean, that`s -- it`s such a touchy subject but I know we don`t have time. If that law is repealed and they are sitting on death row for a long time, there is a shot that they will never be put to death.
I mean, you do know appeals take a very long time 15 to 20 years. If this governor is successful in repealing the death penalty, then they might just be sitting there for their lives and not be put to death. So I`m sure this is weighing heavy.
He hears this, Dr. Petit. He knows this is all going around and the trauma of one trial coupled with the trauma of this second trial and now this on the table --
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: Right.
HONOWITZ: -- it`s -- it`s just heart-wrenching.
BANFIELD: Well, God bless Dr. Petit and his surrounding family. And thank you to all of my guests tonight.
Coming up everybody, a glamorous publicist shot dead in a random act of violence by a man on a bicycle. Case closed? You`re going to find out when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming up a little later on THE JOY BEHAR SHOW, Wesley Snipes begins his three-year prison sentence for failing to pay his taxes.
And time to update your iPods. Katy Perry is taking her husband`s name. But could it hurt her brand?
Now back to the show.
BANFIELD: You know it`s been a true Hollywood murder mystery. Much loved publicist Ronni Chasen brutally gunned down on her way home from a movie premier over three weeks ago but as recently as last night the already-bizarre case took another surprising turn.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF DAVID SNOWDEN, BEVERLY HILLS PD: The weapon used by our person of interest, Harold Martin Smith, to commit suicide does preliminarily match the evidence from the Chasen homicide. This is a preliminary match.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Well, that is contrary to what the reports earlier in the week said that there was no match and that it was back to square one. And while police won`t definitively say that Smith killed Chasen, they are saying that he probably acted alone in a random robbery gone bad.
And here now to discuss this further, our guests are former prosecutor Robin Sax; John Nazarian, a Beverly Hills-based private investigator; and Steve Katz, who`s the co-executive producer of "America`s Most Wanted."
Robin, I want to start with you on the -- the legal end of this. How on earth do we go from the beginning of the week hearing that we are back to square one, the ballistics don`t match the weapon, that this -- well, I`m going to say alleged even though he`s dead -- but alleged assailant used and the weapon that he used to kill himself and yet a couple of days later we now say the ballistics are a match. What`s going on?
ROBIN SAX, FORMER PROSECUTOR: What is going on in Beverly Hills? It is really the big question of the day. No one feels very satiated with the amount of information we`ve been getting nor the quality of the information but what needs to be pointed out is that the reports of the non-match did not come from Beverly Hills Police Department. Those were rumors, reports and from my understanding that actually came from a former LAPD officer who was an expert on one of the local shows who made that statement and got picked up and that was where we got the non-match.
Obviously, change of story yesterday when Sergeant Snowden came into the press release.
BANFIELD: Ok, note to self and all other folks in the media, we really botched this thing. Is that what this comes down to?
SAX: Well, that -- that`s one of the things. I mean, it actually in some ways we have botched this in the media in terms of relying on erroneous reports but we also have to go back to where the erroneous reports have begun.
Really, there was very early interviews with the mayor of Beverly Hills. He himself was the one who said it looked like an SUV. It looked like that there was someone from a higher vantage point then there was also the report of three gunshots. We don`t know if that`s erroneous, we don`t know if there was actually three gunshots and the problem with yesterday`s press conference, is none of the erroneous errors were cleared up.
So we don`t know what`s right or what`s not right --
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: Oh I`m glad you mentioned that.
BANFIELD: -- and therefore this is what`s confusing.
BANFIELD: I`m glad you mentioned that. I want to play for our audience a little moment actually from that press conference you`re referring to and the erroneous reports. Have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SNOWDEN: This is exactly what happens when our quasi-experts that go on the radio and TV that don`t know what the heck they`re talking about draw conclusions based upon erroneous information. That was wrong. That was a preliminary look and somebody making a guess that it might have been.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So that did -- somebody did look at that?
SNOWDEN: Somebody looked at it. But we don`t -- we don`t know -- we don`t know anything further except that it was erroneous information.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: All right. So now we`re supposed to go with the existing information that we have that this ballistics are a match.
Steve Katz, I want to jump over to you about this. Do you think we should be trusting this information now?
STEVE KATZ, CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "AMERICA`S MOST WANTED": I absolutely do think we should be trusting the information. I think that the cops of Beverly Hills did a really good job of keeping the facts close to the vest which police should do in an investigation. Hollywood is a place where people make their living and telling good stories and -- and while the police were doing their job investigating the case, people were making up good stories and going with them.
So I think that the police waited until they had something important to say and they said it and they did a good job of ignoring all the other noise that was going on.
BANFIELD: When all the while, the tip came in from your show "America`s Most Wanted"; heard the tip about this person bragging that he`d been paid $10,000 or something for this hit to his neighbors?
KATZ: No. that -- that -- no. No, no. That wasn`t our tip at all. That was something that somebody who lived in that apartment had said to some reporter somewhere and then that became part of the lore that this guy was bragging about getting paid. That never happened as far as we can tell and that`s not what our tipster told us.
The reason why the tipster called us was -- let me say, for all the right reasons. It had nothing to do with the stuff that you were hearing in the media. Our tipster called us because he thought this was somebody that the police ought to be looking at.
BANFIELD: Interesting.
John Nazarian I want you to jump in on this because one of the bits of information that`s come out about this investigation is that the assailant was riding a bike. Ronni Chasen was in a Mercedes. How on earth does someone perpetrate a crime like this with -- as I remember -- five very accurately-placed gunshot wounds to a woman who had a Mercedes and could get away very quickly?
JOHN NAZARIAN, BEVERLY HILLS PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: It is fascinating from the standpoint of the bike, and my question was, my thought patterns were, ok, great. He is in Beverly Hills on a bicycle. He pedaled all the way from his apartment complex, managed to go across town, he commits this murder. And then, somehow with police, paramedics, fire responding, he somehow got away pedaling his bike.
It`s confusing. And I agree with everything people have said so far except the --
BANFIELD: Bike makes it very confusing. I`ll give you that. I`m going to ask you a little bit about the forensics on the bike in just a moment. And we have a whole lot more on this story when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: We`re back talking about the most recent twists and turns in the Ronni Chasen murder investigation. And my guests are back with me.
John Nazarian, I want to just push a little further on this bicycle because I think it`s kind of a weird element to this crime. If there`s a bike and the LAPD has the bike and I guess the Beverly Hills Police Department is trying to get that bike now if they don`t already have it, might there be some good forensics that we could get off that bike? Like maybe gunshot residue on the handlebars or maybe something in the treads, maybe some dirt from the location of the shooting? I mean it`s a pretty significant little piece of evidence, isn`t it?
NAZARIAN: I agree with you. And that is a good question and often with the police conference -- press conference of that nature, you get answers and you feel good about what was said.
I think that their release yesterday left more questions unanswered and I was surprised I didn`t see Rip Taylor walking through throwing confetti. That`s how confusing it seemed to me.
BANFIELD: It seemed like a bit of a circus.
Robin, you know, a lot of people like conspiracy theorists, some folk who are always suspect of the process would say, well, it`s awfully convenient to blame a dead guy because you don`t have to go through, I don`t know, the million or so dollars it takes to prosecute somebody. You don`t have to carry on with the investigation. Case closed.
Is that unfair?
SAX: Well, certainly, that conspirator theorists people would actually agree with that statement. And no doubt, Beverly Hills PD want this case solved and closed. They don`t like the media. They haven`t been quiet about that but it does leave law enforcement with a very empty feeling.
As a former prosecutor working with law enforcement, there is a joy and sense of closure when you can put someone on the stand, when you can get the answers to the questions and when you can actually make sure justice is served.
BANFIELD: All right. Steve Katz, this morning on "Good Morning America" there was a report that the police are going to be scanning a lot of the video surveillance from the area where this happened to try to corroborate this whole issue with the bicycle but, look, this is three weeks ago.
Isn`t that sort of crime fighting 101? Don`t you do that first to see if there`s any suspect? You don`t wait for a tip from your venerable show. Aren`t you supposed to look at those things from the get-go?
KATZ: Yes, but I got to say they weren`t just waiting around waiting for a tip from our show. They were actively investigating the case. When I hear and I`m not talking about John and Robin but when I hear a lot of people talking about the case, was it this, was it that, one thing that we have learned here at "America`s Most Wanted", we`ve been doing the show for almost a quarter century, is it`s an awful fact that sometimes bad things happen to good people. I know that sounds trite but it`s true.
The fact that the police are saying this was a robbery gone bad doesn`t mean it wasn`t a robbery gone bad. It could be just that simple. They obviously have more to do to lock everything down 100 percent. They said yesterday they still have some testing to do.
But, and you got to know and I don`t know this for a fact but I have to believe that they have more than just our tip and I`m sure they do. So sometimes crimes don`t make sense; sometimes people try to fill in the blanks but if it points to it, the head detective in the case said it points to a robbery gone bad, he has his reasons for saying that.
And I know people are going to read whatever they want into it but he said what he said for a reason.
BANFIELD: All right. Steve Katz and John Nazarian and Robin Sax, thank you all for talking about this. I have a feeling it is not the last we`re going to be talking about it.
Thanks, guys.
And coming up next, Wesley Snipes` long legal battle is over. Looks like even an appearance on Larry King could not save him from the big house. Find out what happened today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Welcome back to the JOY BEHAR SHOW. I`m Ashleigh Banfield filling in for Joy.
Actor, Wesley Snipes since denied a last minute reprieve, and today, earlier, he made his dreaded debut as inmate number 43355-018. Say that three times fast, at McKean Central Correctional Institution in Lewis Run, Pennsylvania. He`s going to be serving a three-year sentence for failing to file tax returns.
And with me now to talk about this and other stories that are making the pop news, Michelle Collins is a comedian and managing editor of bestweekever.tv, Noah Levy is the senior editor of In Touch Weekly, and James Braly is a writer and performer of "Life in a Marital Institution." You and I have to talk later about this, by the way.
(LAUGHTER)
BANFIELD: Just in case you have a spare few minutes. I need some help. All right. Look --
JAMES BRALY, WRITER: Why wait?
BANFIELD: Why wait? We can`t air this here.
BRALY: I`m only here for eight to ten minutes.
BANFIELD: I`m all about Wesley right now. OK. Michelle, he wanted to actually delay his jail time so he can spend the holidays with his wife and four kids. I get it.
(CROSSTALK)
MICHELLE COLLINS, MANAGING EDITOR OF BESTWEEKEVER.TV: He can delay it to make "Blade 4." It`s the only way I would allow him to delay it because I adore Wesley Snipes.
BANFIELD: Yes, me, too because anybody ever get to say, you know, I`m not really available in the next two weeks to serve, but I will come after the holidays.
COLLINS: He has a very busy schedule, Wesley. He has, you know, what does Wesley do on a Saturday, you guys? He goes probably to the market, Trader Joe`s.
BANFIELD: Not to file 2011 tax. I don`t know. I don`t know --
COLLINS: He counts his remaining $8 over and over again.
NOAH LEVY, SENIOR EDITOR OF IN TOUCH WEEKLY: Yes. He is busy, but the thing is we just -- actually late-breaking news. We found out what actual the punishment is going to be in the jail. Yes, it`s bad. So, he`s going to have to dress up in drag exactly as he did in "To Wong Foo."
(LAUGHTER)
LEVY: No, no, no. It gets worse. While (ph) playing basketball with only white men.
BANFIELD: Yes, that`s not going to happen.
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: This is a news network. Be careful. Somebody might take that literally.
BRALY: He`s a black belt, you know.
BANFIELD: Didn`t know that.
BRALY: So, in case, some ordinary inmates get the wrong idea --
BANFIELD: Look out. He got his own sense of justice
COLLINS: I would love to be in jail with Wesley Snipes. You can`t put bars over that smile.
BANFIELD: You be careful because you, too, could isolate what you just said. I would love to be in jail.
(LAUGHTER)
COLLINS: I beg people to just take that sound bite.
BANFIELD: OK. Speaking of sound bites. I want to say something from Larry King. He did a big interview with Larry King as all people do, and he talks about the fact that he thinks he`s being unfairly singled out. Have a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WESLEY SNIPES, ACTOR: It does seem to be rather unusual and rather bizarre when you had a prosecutor come into the sentencing and make the statement that this was the biggest tax trial in the history of the IRS. He also made the statement that judge and a plea to the judge asking him not to offer community service because Mr. Snipes has too many fans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Well, that isn`t fair. That doesn`t sound fair, does it? Do you think they`re trying to make an example out of him?
LEVY: It`s a rough deal, but I got to be honest, when I was listening, the only thing I could think off is he`s never been on Larry King before. This is the best career move he`s ever had.
COLLINS: That and the turtleneck. That`s great.
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: Is he going to get a career back after this?
BRALY: I have actually never seen him films. I`m interested in his films, all of a sudden.
BANFIELD: There you go.
COLLINS: "Passenger 57."
BRALY: And Martha Stewart after she get out of jail.
BANFIELD: All right. Good answer then.
BRALY: And I want to know who his dentist is because he has awesome polymers.
(LAUGHTER)
BANFIELD: Who is this guest? You`re a comedian.
BRALY: They`re awesome.
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: All right. Moving on. Pop star, Katy Perry, love her, recently wed comedian, Russell Brand, and is announced on the Ellen`s show that she is currently in the process of taking her husband`s name. Have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELLEN DEGENERES, HOST: Do you go by Mrs. Brand ever?
KATY PERRY, SINGER: I do. Actually, sometimes, when people try to get my attention like if I`m at an event or something like that and they want special attention, they go Mrs. Brand. I`m like --
DEGENERES: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
DEGENERES: No. Are you thinking of changing your name at all or no?
PERRY: Yes. I am, actually.
DEGENERES: Yes?
PERRY: I`m in the process.
DEGENERES: That`s good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Adorable. She is just adorable any way you slice her. Look, there`s a million puns here with the whole brand thing.
(LAUGHTER)
BANFIELD: Am I right? OK, look, it`s really important to have a brand in this business, right?
COLLINS: Right. And a rack. As we have learned.
BANFIELD: Rack is a good thing.
(LAUGHTER)
COLLINS: From Katy, right?
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: I was going to say gun rack. OK. But listen, is it a stupid thing to change your name when you`re sort of at the pinnacle of your career, Michelle?
COLLINS: I think so, but not even because of her career. I just feel sorry for the government workers that have to do the paperwork when you know in a year these two are getting divorced.
BANFIELD: That hurts.
COLLINS: She is taking that government time, the taxpayer money to have her name changed. That`s what gets me, the people.
BANFIELD: Well, you know, the fact is he is a celebrity, as well. He`s got the brand name, and it`s not such a bad deal, you know, because she actually will benefit from it.
LEVY: I think she should wait because the sequel to "Arthur" is coming out that he`s starring him, and she (INAUDIBLE) because she may not even want to be seen in public with him let alone take his last name. Give it a couple of months, Katy.
BANFIELD: OK. Any less --
BRALY: He`s already been through his heroin addiction and his sex addiction, as well.
BANFIELD: He`s got a couple of things on the rack, doesn`t he?
BRALY: Which bodes well. And I tell you, my wife did not take my last name, and we went to 13 marriage counselors. So, I --
BANFIELD: So, why would you cancel that meeting that I set up with you?
(LAUGHTER)
BRALY: I`m here to tell you --
BANFIELD: What are you doing here?
BRALY: I`m here to tell you what I`ve learned that this is a vote for love.
BANFIELD: Like Eva Longoria-Parker`s vote for love? And that be kind of is fine, maybe that`s not (oh)
COLLINS: I don`t like the hyphen. I`m not a hyphen fan.
(CROSSTALK)
LEVY: Jada Picket-Smith.
BANFIELD: Well, there`s plenty -- well, I`m not going to say plenty of good marriage
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: Honestly, I hope the best for that little cutie because she is really sweet. She`s 26, though. Holy Shmoly. I mean, that`s awfully early to make such huge changes.
LEVY: She`s actually over the hill. She should have gotten a divorce about five years ago.
BANFIELD: Rare. Look at you. Oh! All right. Up next, somebody who may not be over the hill, but is -- I don`t know. Are we over -- I`m not sure, Snooky. She`s taking the plunge, the "Jersey Shore" star. She`s agreed to be encased in a ball. I`m not kidding. She`s really --
(LAUGHTER)
BANFIELD: She really agreed to be encased in a ball and dropped from the MTV roof top in Times Square on New Year`s Eve. That`s the way she wants to ring in 2011 as to the folks at MTV. I`m just going to open it up to the panel. What do you think?
LEVY: You go first.
COLLINS: No, you take it.
LEVY: I mean, the puns seem (ph) endless, but what people don`t know it`s actually in the full of peppermint schnapps and she`s never drink her way out.
(LAUGHTER)
COLLINS: Well, get the music (ph) like 15 minutes early.
LEVY: Sip her way out of there.
BANFIELD: Who else could have done this? Who else could actually pull this off?
BRALY: "The Situation."
BANFIELD: Good point. Apparently, he`s going to be there, too. The whole cast is going to do some fist-pumping contest. OK. First of all, is there a world`s record already for the fist pump?
COLLINS: I`m sure.
LEVY: I`m not sure.
BANFIELD: Or trying to make or break one.
LEVY: It`s kind of like the Macarena of 2010, I think.
COLLINS: I say like why are they putting her in the ball? The best way for me, personally, to start out 2011 is if someone just pushed her off the roof.
(LAUGHTER)
BANFIELD: Push her off a roof.
COLLINS: That`s honestly, think about it. That would be genius. You know, this is one of the biggest, you know, balls she`s probably ever seen. She loves Roid heads as we know --
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: And she (INAUDIBLE) like men that like steroids. Can I not do that, actually? I`m so sorry.
BANFIELD: You know what, we won`t talk anymore about balls. OK? That`s just going to happen. Not on this show. I`m a guest, too!
(LAUGHTER)
COLLINS: Did I do -- I didn`t glare. I`m getting glared.
LEVY: You had to.
BRALY: The birthday party was sponsored by lifestyle condoms.
BANFIELD: Fifteen minutes of fame. For some reason, this has gone on for how many seasons now?
COLLINS: Three. It`s the third one that`s started.
BANFIELD: Why do I love it?
COLLINS: It`s really good.
BANFIELD: It is. I mean, should I say that? Am I allowed to say? Is it OK? I really like the show.
COLLINS: Makes you feel like a classier lady.
BANFIELD: Oh, damn, does it? I`m telling you! I`m telling you. I am so classy after I watch it.
LEVY: I was going to say.
BANFIELD: Oh, don`t you go Sarah Palin`g me, I had it first.
LEVY: I was going to say, it`s a legit -- Snooki`s copying you.
BANFIELD: Oh, I see. I thought we were all copying Sarah Palin.
(LAUGHTER)
BRALY: We didn`t even bring up Sarah Palin.
BANFIELD: Yes, there`s a theme, the gun rack, the Sarah Palin, the poof. Let me move on to something else that`s crazy. Lindsay Lohan. It`s weird. Even as a serious news person, I`m a former war correspondent. I still report all the time about Lindsay Lohan, and it turns out there`s more. She might actually be a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars." That`s the latest report, anyway. God, I mean, it`s not a bad idea if you think about the come back factor, right, Michelle?
COLLINS: I agree fully. They should call it stumbling with the stars because I have a feeling that this girl, she, you know, it is like "Weekend at Bernie`s" with her. They need a proper op (ph) and dance her like a science class skeleton across the stage. She`s way too skinny to be on the show.
BANFIELD: No, they`re all skinny, aren`t they?
(CROSSTALK)
LEVY: They`re all skinny.
BANFIELD: Are they?
BRALY: And the dancing costumes add ten pounds. So, they`ll be --
BANFIELD: And don`t they get skinnier and skinnier part of the lure? You know, people want to watch to see how skinny -- and Marie Osmond was losing a bunch of weight on the show, too, right?
LEVY: She won`t feel to do the foxtrot with that scram bracelet on her ankle. That`s so heavy.
(LAUGHTER)
BRALY: How can you dance with that.
BANFIELD: For those who aren`t so well-versed in this, that`s the anklet or bracelet that you wear that monitoring your blood alcohol level. But don`t you, guys, think this is actually pretty good, to be a regular schedule? She`d be working really hard. She`s has had focus and commitment. It would be a good thing coming out of rehab, right?
BRALY: I think that she should -- well, it`s the right person but the wrong show. She really should be on "Celebrity Rehab," actually. And if they allowed cameras in Betty Ford, she would probably be on TV. I happen to like her.
BANFIELD: There`s so much (INAUDIBLE) with this poor girl. She`s a young kid. She did a great job in "Mean Girls." I loved her from the get- go.
BRALY: I loved her, too.
BANFIELD: And now, it just seems like it`s constant pile-on. Here I am including that -- I feel really bad. I really hope she does well. I hope she comes out of rehab and actually pulls it together and sort of makes a second go at it.
COLLINS: Yes, you`ve got a really big heart, Ashleigh.
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: No, you really do. It`s nice. I think it`s nice.
LEVY: That`s wishful thinking. That is very hopeful.
COLLINS: She is very, deeply disturbed. Not really to her fault like her family.
BRALY: She`s (INAUDIBLE) since she was 3 years old.
BANFIELD: I know. But can`t I have the holiday moment here?
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: Her mom is the funniest drunk. Have you seen Dina drunk? She is hilarious. That`s --
BANFIELD: I just thought you (ph) kind of born that way.
Michelle, Noah, and James, thank you. Awesome talking to you. And you, I`ll talk to you later.
BRALY: More advice.
BANFIELD: All right. And by the way, if you`re in the New York area, you got to catch James Braly performing "Life in a Marital Institution" at New Jersey South Orange Performing Arts Center, and it`s produced by the lovely and talented, Meredith Vieira. But that`s not (ph) the only reason to go. We`re back in a moment with Carrie Fisher.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have a plan for getting out?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sweetheart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What the hell are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somebody has to save my skins. Into the hole, fly boy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Our world fell in love with her as Princess Lea from "Star Wars," but Carrie Fisher is also a successful writer who turned her dysfunctional life story into a funny Broadway play which is now an HBO special, and we`ve got a sneak peek from "Wishful Drinking." Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARRIE FISHER, ACTRESS: I have to start by telling you that my entire life could be summed up in one phrase. And that is, if my life wasn`t funny, it would just be true.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: And with me now is Carrie Fisher. Welcome.
FISHER: Thank you.
BANFIELD: It`s really nice to have you here.
FISHER: It`s nice to be here.
BANFIELD: You know, when I watch this, I got the sneak peek preview copy. I was expecting a stand-up routine. I didn`t know that this is going to be what I think amounts to your life story, your memoir.
FISHER: Well, it`s some of my memoirs. It`s a memoirs from someone who has a really bad memory. So, it`s --
BANFIELD: But you`ve got great stories to tell. Stuff that I had forgotten about. Just really remarkable stuff and really raw. Really, really raw.
FISHER: Well, you know, it`s the time when a lot of things happened they weren`t pleasant, but, you know, after a while it is -- it better be funny. It is like what I said, if it`s not, it`s just a drag.
BANFIELD: Well, you`re creative of making it funny. I mean, you just sort of go through all of these motions, putting this sort of ting on every note, and it`s pretty dark.
FISHER: Well, some of the stuff, I mean, like my friend dying in my bed.
BANFIELD: That surprised me.
FISHER: That wasn`t funny.
BANFIELD: But you made it funny.
FISHER: It`s not funny, though.
BANFIELD: I don`t know how you made it funny.
FISHER: I made it funny by making it a Q&A.
BANFIELD: Yes.
FISHER: And letting people ask anything. And they`re so stunned that they actually -- I mean it.
BANFIELD: And they do ask you.
FISHER: Eventually, they do ask me. They always think they`re hilarious and ask me something like, was he stiff?
BANFIELD: Oh god. I didn`t hear that one. I want to ask you something about your mom and dad. For those of us -- you know, I`m sort of the 42 -- what the hell? I`m almost 43. For those of us around this age, we probably have a pretty good memory of the lore and the starlight that sort of followed your dad, Eddie Fisher and your mom, Debbie Reynolds in that glorious -- sure, they were Hollywood royalty, was huge. For those who might be younger, they might not know or remember, but they were a big ole deal. They were.
FISHER: Well, it was the Brad and Jen and Angelina of the 1950s.
BANFIELD: It became it. But at first, I kind of got this impression, I`m trying to do my today references almost and I thought they almost seem like the Justin Timberlake and Reese Witherspoon. They were so gorgeous and successful.
FISHER: They weren`t gorgeous. They were adorable.
BANFIELD: They were adorable.
FISHER: And my mother said, you know, they were sort of just put together in a funny way. They were like a publicist`s dream.
BANFIELD: Yes, they were, weren`t they?
FISHER: Not to be confused with the recent publicist. But yes, my mother said one time they went to Yankee Stadium and 30,000 people stood up and cheered.
BANFIELD: Really?
FISHER: And she said it was amazing.
BANFIELD: And you saw this.
FISHER: So, you`d be like falling in love with how you`re perceived. So, they shared this experience of together. Separately, they were famous, but together, they were like this institution --
BANFIELD: They were just --
FISHER: Beloved.
BANFIELD: Nuclear.
FISHER: Beloved, yes.
BANFIELD: Was that weird for you?
FISHER: I was 1 1/2.
BANFIELD: So, you knew nothing else?
FISHER: I came across this, you know, what do you call it, scrapbook later. Someone sent my mother a scrapbook just documenting the whole thing, and so, I came at about 14 years old. I had not realized --
BANFIELD: As a researcher.
FISHER: In a way. That`s sort of like how I feel about a lot of my life. You know, I look at it as an archaeologist.
BANFIELD: And you were so forthcoming with so much stuff about what went on. I guess a lot of people --
FISHER: But that stuff was out anyway.
BANFIELD: And those -- under 40 crowd. Let`s bring them up to speed. And that is that your mom, the hotty and your dad had a best friend pair, Elizabeth Taylor, who everybody knows and Mike Todd and they were this foursome that did everything together.
FISHER: And my brother was named after Mike Todd and then my -- and my father -- and then Mike Todd passed away.
BANFIELD: Right.
FISHER: And my father consoled Elizabeth.
BANFIELD: A lot.
FISHER: With his penis.
BANFIELD: Right. As you mentioned in the show.
FISHER: And so that one she appreciated it.
BANFIELD: And left your mom high and dry with you and your brother.
FISHER: Not so high
BANFIELD: OK. Is that later? OK.
(LAUGHTER)
FISHER: No, yes. They were 26, though. I mean, to have this be like a -- what? they -- it was human being.
BANFIELD: But that`s why you say Brad and Jen and Angelina because it does seem crazily similar.
FISHER: Well, it does, but it is how human beings behave. When my parents, they were in their 20s, and I one time was taking a -- here in New York taking a cooking class and this woman says to me, I always hated your father after what he did to your mother.
BANFIELD: Oh, ow. What do you say that to that?
FISHER: Thank you? I don`t know. I mean, nothing. It`s as though they belonged to everyone else in this other way.
BANFIELD: Right.
FISHER: So take `em. No. No. And it was just this other version of them.
BANFIELD: Yes. So, your dad just recently died in September.
FISHER: Yes. That was bad. That was too bad because we were having a really good time, my father and I. Lately. You know? I`d been getting him strippers.
BANFIELD: You said that in your show and you also said he was smoking five joints a day.
FISHER: He did.
BANFIELD: Does her father hate her right now?
FISHER: My father didn`t --
BANFIELD: He was cool with it?
FISHER: Cool with it. Yes. My father -- I used to say it to my dad when I was about -- hey, dad, show everyone your tracks. My dad used to speed (ph). My father was never really -- I don`t know.
BANFIELD: Shy about --
FISHER: He couldn`t be. Look at his life. I was telling him what I was doing and he said -- this is fairly recently. He said, man, I wish I had your life. I said, you did. That`s why you`re in bed.
(LAUGHTER)
BANFIELD: I know you probably are sick to death for all your years of having to talking about "Star Wars." You see it in the intro. You see it in all the dolls, the replicas, the soap, the shampoo, the sex toys, everything that`s made in your likeness, but I do want to ask you about something you said in the show and that is that George Lucas ruined my life, but I want to make people wait for it. That`s few seconds. Can you wait?
FISHER: Yes.
BANFIELD: More with Carrie Fisher in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: And I`m back now with Carrie Fisher, and like I said going into the break, I`m sure you`re sick to death of "Star Wars," but the whole world knows you and loves you and still watches that franchise and it is just the juggernaut that it is. I want to play a comment from you in your show where you talk about George Lucas being the creator and the man behind all of these different products that came out in your likeness after "Star Wars." Have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FISHER: George Lucas, he was the man who made me into a little doll. A little doll that my first husband would stick pins in me when he was annoyed with me. Then, I was a shampoo where you could twist off my head.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Can I tell you how much I laughed when I saw you pulling that wig. You must get that reaction every night.
FISHER: Pathetic that I put it on, but --
BANFIELD: It`s funny.
FISHER: Because what`s important as you age, as I say, is dignity. You know? And so, I think that the new post menopausal look for 2011 will be --
BANFIELD: That wig.
FISHER: Post menopausal women wearing --
(CROSSTALK)
FISHER: Be good for anyone back east. It would be great.
BANFIELD: So, you did say a little bit after that that part we just ran, George Lucas ruined my life. And then you said, I mean that in the nicest way.
FISHER: No, no, he didn`t. He certainly shaped it, but he did not ruin it.
BANFIELD: Did you love or hate how enormous your life became?
FISHER: It would have been so dumb to hate it. No, I had -- I got to travel. These -- like nose bleed high class problems. Actually, the thing that I get sick of is people going, do you get sick of being asked about -- then it is like --
BANFIELD: You`ve --
FISHER: Because --
BANFIELD: It all sort of jumbled together.
FISHER: It`s part of it, you know. It would be almost -- it would be the same as saying you get sick of talking about, you know, your parent`s marriage or -- it`s a part of my life, you know? And I -- it`s a goofy part. But it is a part of my life.
BANFIELD: You have stalkers still?
FISHER: I had a little tiny one in Australia recently.
BANFIELD: Like physically small or just not a big, big stalking?
FISHER: I try not to look. He brought his daughter with him, and I thought, that`s not -- you know, training your kid --
BANFIELD: For this lifestyle?
FISHER: For future stalking --
BANFIELD: Not recommended?
FISHER: No.
BANFIELD: Talk about -- you were at the vanguard of people who came out publicly. I remember your interview with Diane Sawyer, I think, it was in 2000 when you sort of admitted now to the world, I`m bipolar. I suffered with mental illness. You know, at that time, not many people were doing that. That had to take a lot of courage.
FISHER: Well, hmm. No. I mean, it was already out. That was the thing that was annoying. It had come out in one of the, you know, one of those rag papers. Under the heading Carrie Fisher`s tragic life. And so, I thought, well, that`s not really how I feel about it. So, if it`s going to be out there --
BANFIELD: I`ll harness this thing.
FISHER: Then, I am going to, you know, talk about myself behind my back.
BANFIELD: And a lot of people have done -- have found it easier to do the same thing because of the road that you paved. One quick question about doing the show, night after night, night after night, going out and telling all of these strangers, all of these extraordinarily difficult times in your life, is that like therapy or where there times and you just thought, I don`t want to do show tonight?
FISHER: You know, therapy is like therapy. There`s a little bit of it that if some -- it`s very rare but sometimes, you just feel like, I do not want to do this.
BANFIELD: And speaking of the show, "Wishful Drinking" is this Sunday night 9:00 p.m. on HBO. Very good time slot. Carrie Fisher, it`s a real pleasure to talk to you.
FISHER: Nice to talk to you, too.
BANFIELD: Thanks for coming in. Thanks for watching, everybody. Have a great night.
END
