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Joy Behar Page
Interview with Larry King; Levi Johnston`s Tell-All; Interview With Molly Ringwald
Aired April 26, 2011 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOY BEHAR, HOST: 1980s icon Molly Ringwald joins me to talk about the challenges of being a teen idol. You know, I can really relate to that. Who could ever forget my breakthrough roles in the teen comedy classics "Sixteen Cannolis", "Pretty in Spanx" and of course, "The Braddiole Club".
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ve never heard of any of those movies.
BEHAR: Hello, it`s called Netflix. Look into it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming up on THE JOY BEHAR SHOW, Larry King drops by to give Joy his insider`s take on all the big stories from the royal wedding to Trump`s birther backlash to Catherine Zeta-Jones bipolar backlash.
Then Kate Middleton will be doing her own make up for the wedding. Joy wants to know, with the whole world watching, is this a good idea?
Plus 80s heartthrob, Molly Ringwald, tells Joy how she survived teenage stardom and has some pointers for fellow redheaded starlet Lindsay Lohan.
That and more starting right now.
BEHAR: Katie Couric announced today that she`s leaving "CBS Evening News" and is looking to do more multi-dimensional story-telling. I don`t know what that means but here to talk about this and other stories in the news is the one and only Larry King.
He returns to CNN on Sunday May 1st with his first special titled "UNTHINKABLE, THE ALZHEIMER`S EPIDEMIC". Hi, Larry, how are you?
LARRY KING, CNN: How are you Joy. Please, if you get a chance, I know you`re a busy lady --
BEHAR: I am.
KING: Watch the show Sunday night. It`s really.
BEHAR: I know. It must be interesting.
KING: Very interesting, sad, tough to do, but very impressive. You learn a lot about this disease. We`ll talk about that later
BEHAR: I`m going to talk to that in a little while.
I want to talk about Katie Couric for a minute. You know, the fact that she didn`t seem to have really hit the ball out of the ballpark with this show. Do you -- what do you make of that? Do you think it was because she`s a woman? Do you think it`s because her personality was too big? What do you think of it all?
KING: Well, all the above. I think first of all, network news, that`s a tough slot to be in now. If you were starting in it now, you know, the mood is downgrade on it, because of cable and so many areas to get your news from that -- how many times a week do you watch the nightly news?
BEHAR: I watch CNN.
KING: ABC, NBC, CBS?
BEHAR: Truthfully, I watch CNN.
KING: I watch CNN too. And because of that, nothing -- you know the news.
BEHAR: That`s true. And I have a crush on Wolf Blitzer anyway.
KING: You do?
BEHAR: I love him.
KING: It`s more serious than I thought. Joy, it`s more serious than I thought, then.
BEHAR: but the other point I was going to make, she was on "The Today Show" for many, many years, and she was perceived as perky and adorable. Do you think that maybe that hurt her, given the fact that that spot needs some gravitas, even though she may have it. You understand what I mean?
KING: I think you`re right.
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: By the way, she`s a wonderful girl. I`m proud to be in her new book. She has a terrific new book out about things people have taught her, what they learned along the way. I always liked Katie, knew her very well in Washington when she worked at Channel 4 in Washington.
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: She`s a terrific -- I think it was, well, she is a serious journalist, a very good interviewer, that was the wrong placing.
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: And I think if she goes to daytime syndication, she`ll do very well. But you said she`s going to do what? What does it say she`s going to do?
BEHAR: She`s doing -- let me see -- more multi-dimensional story- telling.
KING: That`s what we should do. Multi-dimensional story-telling, and you know what that means?
BEHAR: What?
KING: What the hell does it mean?
BEHAR: It means more orgasms, multi orgasmic. That`s the only thing I can come up.
KING: No. Joy, stop it.
BEHAR: Stop it.
KING: I think it may be -- I`ve got an idea.
BEHAR: What?
KING: You should be the first to do this. A talk show in 3-D. Where you lean out and throw things at your audience, done from the roof of a building, you`ll be multi-dimensional.
BEHAR: I see.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Reach out and smack Donald Trump, for example. Right.
KING: Yes.
BEHAR: What about him?
KING: What`s going on?
BEHAR: I know. You tell me what`s going on. You know him.
KING: By the way, I like him. I know him for 100 years, he`s -- we`ve always been -- he sat and he hosted my show during my final weeks, as you did.
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: He is -- he`s really a good guy, but something -- I think -- when he got on to this birth certificate thing is weird. And then the Donald Trump I knew was pro-choice.
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: He wanted a national health care plan, he supported Obama. He really annihilated President Bush every time he came on my show, and now -- you want to know my prediction?
BEHAR: Yes, please.
KING: Ok. Here it is, folks. You can record this, by the way. I`d like you to record this. This is the Donald I know.
It`s June 30th, the Donald announcement. Every network is there, right? Every network.
BEHAR: Yes. Yes.
KING: CNN, they`re all there. NBC, they`re on top of the roof, 100 cameras, he does it at Trump Tower. And he will come out and do, "I Donald Trump, have changed the way this campaign has been listened to. I caused people to listen to new issues and think about new things and try new things. But now it got too much of me. It became too much me instead of what I was standing for."
BEHAR: Are you sure you are quoting the right person?
KING: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Hold it.
BEHAR: All right.
KING: You haven`t heard the finish.
BEHAR: Ok.
KING: "So I will not run, but I am so proud of what I`ve done to American politics. And I`m proud to announce that I will support the candidate who most closely resembles what I have been standing for all of this time. I`ll be close, I will be, to quote Eliot Spitzer, in the arena." Anyway.
BEHAR: Oh, that`s a good one. You know what, Larry?
KING: So my opinion is, my opinion is, this is the Donald I know. He won`t run because I don`t think he could leave the other horizon and just do politics, nor could he stand losing. I think it would be very hard for Donald to accept the loss of any kind.
BEHAR: Or the scrutiny. I don`t think he could stand the scrutiny, either.
KING: Well, he`s a good guy. I like him very much. And I just -- he`s going on this birth certificate, I don`t know what happened to him.
BEHAR: He won`t listen --
KING: Is he saying that Hawaii is lying? Is that what he`s saying? Hawaii is lying to us? The state of Hawaii.
BEHAR: What he`s saying is nobody in Hawaii could ever run for president, according to him. They all have the same live birth certificate.
But you know, you were part of his Comedy Roast Central, recently. Let`s watch --
KING: I had a lot of fun. He was a great sport that night.
BEHAR: Ok. Let me show people what you did.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Donald Trump is not only one of my oldest, dearest friends, he`s also an American success story. When he graduated college he put his shoulder to the wheel, nose to the grindstone, borrowed $6 billion from his father and started a career.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: You know, that`s usually the kind of joke that gets his dander up and gets his hair in a knot, and I don`t think that -- but he laughed at that because that`s the kind of thing he`ll turn on you for.
KING: Yes, but he didn`t. He was very a good sport that night, and then when he got up to reply at the end he was very good. It was a wonderful night, they apparently raised a lot of money for his charity, and by the way, that comedy, have you done that roast?
BEHAR: No.
KING: They really do it first class. I mean, it gets --
BEHAR: They`re so mean and nasty.
KING: -- really weird.
BEHAR: Too nasty.
KING: Yes, I know. But the way Comedy Central treats you is very nice. I mean, they have champagne back there.
BEHAR: Bagels, cream cheese.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: If they have a Jewish -- how could you have roast without Jewish comedy.
BEHAR: You can`t. You can`t. It`s impossible.
Let`s talk about the royal wedding that`s coming up a little bit.
KING: Oh, I am so excited.
BEHAR: Go ahead.
KING: I am so thrilled for this wedding.
BEHAR: Why?
KING: I want to ask you something. Is Japan still having a problem from the nuclear thing?
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: How about Haiti? Have they rebuilt Haiti? Haiti`s all rebuilt?
BEHAR: Nothing.
KING: And the Gulf thing, that`s all gone, the waters are clear, right?
BEHAR: No, it`s still a mess. Gadhafi --
KING: Now, Mubarak is back as -- he`s president of Egypt again, right? What happened to him? No. No.
BEHAR: Syria, Tunisia.
KING: No, the prince is getting married. The prince is getting married. I can`t figure it.
BEHAR: Well, so you`re in the news business, what do you make of that? It`s all about the media, isn`t it? Covering it.
KING: I think it`s snow balling. I`m not sure how many -- I haven`t had anyone come over to me and said, what do you think about the wedding? I haven`t had one -- you`re the first person to ask me.
BEHAR: Really?
KING: What do I think about the wedding? And I love our promos. I love CNN, the promo.
Thursday morning, Friday morning, 4:00 a.m., let`s all get up at 4:00 a.m. to watch the prince get married. CNN does a great job. They`ve got great coverage. They sent all these top crews. It costs a ton of money.
I think the reason is there`s so much down in the country, there`s so much sadness going on and a mood --
BEHAR: In the world. In the world.
KING: -- a mood -- you have the sense, it`s not a happy time. This is a happy time.
BEHAR: That`s right.
KING: A prince is marrying a commoner, it`s a story out of fairy tales.
BEHAR: Exactly.
KING: But I thought we were born as a country to fight that.
BEHAR: I know. But we`re over that. We can`t hold a grudge for 400 years, you know. I mean we have to move in.
KING: Well, yes. But you know what John Kennedy said once. You know what the public really wants?
BEHAR: What?
KING: A kind king.
BEHAR: A kind king? I think that`s an oxymoron.
KING: Yes. Take care of everything and leave me alone.
BEHAR: Yes. But you know we are --
KING: Yes, it could be an oxymoron.
BEHAR: You and I were not invited. Don`t you think we`d be more fun than the sultan of Swaziland, what`s his name, the king of Swaziland, who has like all these wives, he spends all the money on his wives and his people are poor and they have HIV. He was invited to the wedding. What`s -- what`s that about?
KING: And no one from Libya was invited.
BEHAR: Well, I could see that.
KING: No, no official of Libya. Well, I know, I would have invited Gadhafi, I don`t think they`ve invited him.
BEHAR: Why?
KING: He would have to -- well, a brother leader he would caused -- no, if they invited you and me, Joy, we could -- oh. No, they wouldn`t invite you and me.
BEHAR: Why? Do you do a good --
(CROSSTALK)
KING: It`s not our cup of tea.
BEHAR: Do you cha cha? Hello, I do a good cha cha.
KING: Do you cha cha?
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Yes we could cha cha around the Buck -- where is it going to be, Buckingham -- whatever?
KING: One of the palaces.
BEHAR: All right, all right. Stay there.
KING: Send flowers.
BEHAR: Ok. Don`t move out of that seat, Larry. I`m warning you. We`re coming back with more.
KING: Ok.
BEHAR: We`ll be right back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming up a little later on THE JOY BEHAR SHOW, from "Sixteen Candles" and "Pretty in Pink," actress Molly Ringwald.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: Larry King is back with me, his Alzheimer`s special airs this Sunday. Let`s take a look at the special, a clip from the special.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING: So what was life like when you would visit?
RON REAGAN, RONALD REAGAN`S SON: Well, fortunately, I have to say that my father, you know, the disease does what it does. But he did escape a lot of the -- the worst symptoms.
KING: Didn`t get angry?
REAGAN: Didn`t get angry, didn`t, you know, didn`t get paranoid and things like that. Some -- you know, the disease attacks the brain. And it`s not the patient`s fault, if they begin behaving in odd ways because you can`t predict how the disease will affect any specific brain.
But he escaped most of that and his -- his personality remained really, until the end.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Ron Reagan has famously said that he thought that his father had Alzheimer`s while he was in office. What do you think about that?
KING: Well, he says that again in the interview.
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: He thought until the end he was showing -- he was showing signs of it. He was -- I had -- after they left office -- about a year after they left office, I had lunch with the -- with the Reagans and he was slowing down. I wouldn`t say -- I wouldn`t call it Alzheimer`s, but there was obviously -- he wasn`t as sharp as he was five years prior.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: When was that? When was that again? What was he in the middle of at that time?
KING: That was about `89, `90. His book had come out. A very good book by the way. One of the better presidential books.
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: And that`s where he described to be what it was like to be shot, it was very interesting television. He was a fun guy to be around. But I -- he -- he went gracefully into the night. This special deals with the aspect of this disease that`s incredible.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Do you think -- yes, do you think, though, that Ronald, that they covered it up? That he had Alzheimer`s at the time?
KING: Oh, I don`t think they knew it was Alzheimer`s. I think they must have known that he was slowing down a little.
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: He was tending to repeat stories. But Nancy was very strong with him, but I -- there was no diagnosis of Alzheimer`s while he was President.
BEHAR: No, but possibly --
(CROSSTALK)
KING: That would have been -- you couldn`t have covered that up.
BEHAR: I understand that, but possibly Nancy saw that he was slipping and maybe covering his tracks at that time, she might have been. But --
(CROSSTALK)
KING: She will might have, which -- which I would applaud her for.
BEHAR: It`s what -- but you know, in this special you were tested for Alzheimer`s -- for the gene. What -- tell me what happened. What did you find out?
KING: Well, we`re -- we`re not announcing who was tested, it was either me or Ron Reagan.
BEHAR: Oh.
KING: And it`s very dramatic. But that -- this is a hook, he may have been tested and not me. One of us is tested. But you`ll see the full test. How they test.
BEHAR: Oh.
KING: This is an amazing place. You go to Vegas at all?
BEHAR: I do once in a while. Why?
KING: Ok because this brain center, the Lou Ruvo Brain Center, it`s part of a Cleveland clinic.
BEHAR: Uh-uh.
KING: It was designed by Frank Gehry.
BEHAR: Oh.
KING: And when you drive up to it, it`s the shape of a brain. The building is the shape of a brain. It`s probably the number one Alzheimer`s clinic in the world.
They do research, they treat patients, it`s -- it`s an extraordinary place. We take you through it.
BEHAR: The thing about it, though, the test, Larry, is since they don`t have a cure for it and you find out, would you -- do you want to know, really, if you`re going to get it?
KING: That`s -- that`s the big question.
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: And we ask, though, would you want to know, Joy, would you want to know?
BEHAR: I don`t think so. It`s like, if I get Alzheimer`s, it`s everybody else`s problem.
KING: No but -- yes, well, it`s --
BEHAR: Really I don`t even know. I won`t --
KING: That`s the Joy Behar we know. That`s the Joy Behar we know and love.
BEHAR: Listen, I just bought long-term health care insurance. I`m covered. Do you have it?
KING: No. What I mean -- yes, but you know, the problem is you won`t know you have it.
BEHAR: Exactly.
KING: I -- there`s two sides of the -- the other side is --
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: -- if you know you`re going to get it, you can make plans.
BEHAR: Right. What kind of plans can you make?
KING: Well, you could change your will.
BEHAR: I did that already.
KING: You --
BEHAR: Go ahead.
KING: Really? I`m out -- I`m out of it?
BEHAR: I have -- I left some suspenders for you.
KING: Remember --
BEHAR: What else am I going to do?
KING: You remember the old -- do you remember the old Henny Youngman joke about wills?
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: They`re reading the will and this guy, and he`s reading the will. And to my brother, Irving, who said he would not be mentioned in my will -- hello, Irving.
BEHAR: That`s funny.
KING: Henny Youngman.
BEHAR: I -- I tell you, you know what, even if you get Alzheimer`s I think you`ll still be funny. That`s what I`m saying for you.
KING: Oh, that would be hard, Joy.
BEHAR: It`s a rot -- that is a terrible thing.
KING: Oh yes.
Imagine, all we have, all we have is our memory. That`s all we have. We`re a collection of everything that`s ever happened to us and if you lose that --
BEHAR: Yes.
KING: I mean think about -- and I would understand why you`d get angry, you`re meeting people who you should know and I`m trying to go inside that curious thing that is the brain.
BEHAR: Yes it`s rough.
You know, before we go, let me ask you one more question about Catherine Zeta-Jones. You know, that whole thing with Michael, he was very angry the other day on -- and she has bipolar 2.
KING: Yes.
BEHAR: And Michael was very angry on the "Oprah" show the other day saying that the tabloids were going to out it. The tabloids are very aggressive. Do you think that`s fair that they would go and follow her to an institution that she was going to cure a mental disorder?
KING: Very little of what they do is fair. And the only time I ever, ever tend to believe them is when they write about an illness.
BEHAR: Uh-uh.
KING: Because generally they pay off people in hospitals, I mean I think it`s a terrible business -- but what they do, is they pay, so they -- if the nurse calls and says, hey, you know who just checked in here, and he`s got such-and-such disease. They`re usually right.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Why aren`t those people fired?
KING: If they have the headline, they usually right. They should be --
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: But those people should be fired who call tabloids to tell people what disease you have in a hospital. That`s outrageous.
KING: Of course, how do you find them?
BEHAR: I know. They`re sneaky.
KING: You know?
BEHAR: All right. Larry, it`s always a pleasure to talk to you.
KING: Joy, I love you, Joy.
BEHAR: I love you back. And be sure to watch Larry`s CNN special "UNTHINKABLE, THE ALZHEIMER`S EPIDEMIC" Sunday at 8:00 p.m. on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: Levi Johnston, "Playgirl" model and Bristol Palin`s baby daddy is writing a tell-all called "Deer in the Headlights, My Life in Sarah Palin`s Crosshairs". I hope it`s more revealing than his "Playgirl" spread -- did you ever see that -- which turned out to be a no-show. Hello.
Here to talk about this and other stories in the news are Nick Di Paolo, comedian and radio show host; Paulina Porizkova, former supermodel and blogger for the Huffington Post; and Joe Levy.
Ok guys.
Levi has written -- already written an article for "Vanity Fair" and he spoke at length about the Palins. All right. Hasn`t he used up all his words already?
PAULINA PORIZKOVA, BLOGGER, HUFFINGTON POST: I was going to say, what can he possibly tell us we haven`t heard? Really?
BEHAR: Well, I would wonder what you think he`s going to say, Nick. What do you think?
NICK DI PAOLO, COMEDIAN: Well, it`s not -- you know it`s not. This isn`t his idea, this is some -- his PR guy or his agent or whatever. They`re just milking his 15 minutes. You have to make those bucks while you`re still hot and he`s got a little left. But once you pose nude and nobody cares, forget about it. Your career is over.
BEHAR: Well, they cared. Some of the gay magazines cared.
DI PAOLO: Did they really? I don`t read those anymore, Joy.
BEHAR: Oh no, but those days are over, huh?
But, Joe, he said I`m doing this for me, my boy Tripp and for the country -- what -- the country. He`s doing it for the country.
JOE LEVY, MAXIM MAGAZINE: Well, he is. He does it for the country. Sometimes apparently without a condom but he does it for the country. And that`s great. I`m really happy for him.
BEHAR: What do you think he`s going to say?
LEVY: I think he`s going to tell us whether he actually left the condom off or the condom broke. This is the burning question that he can finally answer.
BEHAR: Is that -- you really think so?
LEVY: His main qualification for us knowing him is that he had unprotected sex as a teenager. He`s barely 20 years old, is he 21 already? Can he legally drink? Because --
PORIZKOVA: Wasn`t he running for mayor?
BEHAR: Yes.
LEVY: He ran for mayor.
BEHAR: He`s running for mayor of Wasilla.
PORIZKOVA: He does everything he could do to stay in the spotlight. He reminds me of an old aging supermodel just hanging on for dear life.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Isn`t it disconcerting at all that Mayor Bloomberg and Levi Johnston will have the same job title? Does that annoy anybody at all?
DI PAOLO: I`d rather Levi Johnston than mayor, how many trans fats, get off my back, silly.
BEHAR: But I still don`t know what he`s going to say.
DI PAOLO: I`m going to have a cigarette. I hope he`s not a whining (EXPLETIVE DELETED) like Mayor Bloomberg.
BEHAR: Oh my God.
DI PAOLO: Wow.
(CROSSTALK)
LEVY: If there`s any hope for Levi`s book he`s going to tell us sordid tales about the Palins that he hasn`t told us already. I mean he`s already dished about them in public so there can`t be that much left to say.
PORIZKOVA: Exactly. Like what brand of Tampax did they use because this is like -- there`s like nothing left.
DI PAOLO: They don`t. They use acorns up there.
BEHAR: Wait a minute. Moose horns. There are rumors about Sarah Palin floating around. You know, conspiracy rumors about Trig and everything. Maybe he`s going to tell us something about that. Maybe he`ll tell us something about the relationship between Sarah and Todd. It could be juicy.
PORIZKOVA: He already has. There wasn`t much there.
BEHAR: When he says, I`m doing it for the country, do you think that he`s saying, this is for America so Sarah Palin will not become president?
LEVY: I think he needs Alaska. He`s very confused. He doesn`t understand that Alaska is not the entire country.
BEHAR: We`ll be back with more in just a minute.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDY COHEN, HOST, BRAVO TV: That was really fun. Joy`s hair was really high today, which I really appreciate. And -- but I do not buy it. I think there`s as much fighting on "The View as there is on the "Real Housewives". I`m telling you, I watch a lot of "The View".
Now, I`ve got to go find Anderson Cooper. Thanks for having me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: I`m back with my pop culture panel. Now, some mafia guy got whacked the other day or whatever because he`s become religious, he became a born-again Christian. And they found him in a dump or something--
LEVY: The mob situation --
BEHAR: They just found him.
LEVY: Yeah.
BEHAR: But why would they do that? Why would they whack the guy because he became religious?
DI PAOLO: It`s a war on Christianity.
BEHAR: Is that what it is? Or maybe they thought he would be a snitch.
DI PAOLO: I`ll tell you right now, the guys that probably whacked him, how much you want to bet they all had giant crucifixes around their neck? That`s what we wear. The Italians -- I love that, they--
BEHAR: Don`t say Italians, it`s the mob. It`s not Italians.
DI PAOLO: Oh, no, you`re right. That`s like terrorists and Muslims I shouldn`t say together.
BEHAR: That`s right.
DI PAOLO: What are we talking about, the Swedish mob?
BEHAR: No, we`re talking about--
DI PAOLO: Staten Island they found him? It wasn`t the Irish.
LEVY: This meeting of the Italian Defamation League over, or we -- can we move on?
BEHAR: OK, let`s talk about Lady Gaga. OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s Italian.
BEHAR: She is. Now, Lady Gaga happens to be Italian. She`s not in the mob. Let`s just point that out.
LEVY: Not that we know. Not that we know.
DI PAOLO: But we know she hates Christianity.
BEHAR: Well, despite tens of millions of albums sold and five Grammys to her name, Lady Gaga reveals in a new HBO special that she`s still insecure. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LADY GAGA, SINGER: I just sometimes feel like a loser, still. You know? It`s crazy, because it`s like we`re at the Garden, but I still sometimes feel like a loser kid in high school. And I just got to pick my [EXPLETIVE DELETED] up. I`ve got to pick myself up and I have to tell myself I`m a superstar every morning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: If she wants to feel better about herself, maybe she should stop wearing chuck steak and wear filet mignon?
PORIZKOVA: Well, I have to stick up for her here, because I have had my own brush with fame at one point in my life, and I have to say that I think that fame is much like a drug addiction, in that you -- you -- it kind of sneaks up on you. And then by the time you get used to it, it`s gone. You don`t really know what hit you until it`s gone.
BEHAR: What is she whining about?
PORIZKOVA: Oh, that.
LEVY: Here`s the genius thing about that clip. She`s back stage at Madison Square Garden. At that time--
DI PAOLO: Making how much?
LEVY: Making a lot. Making a lot of money that night, and she`s taking off the makeup and weeping and saying, sometimes I feel like a loser in high school. I still feel insecure. So she`s a superstar, but she`s still one of the people. She`s still one of the people. It`s very -- it`s very convincing.
BEHAR: Yeah. You understand.
PORIZKOVA: I understand we are just one of the people, no matter how beautiful and glamorous we are.
DI PAOLO: Tell that to the family -- tell it to the family in Tripoli hiding behind a picnic table with people shooting at them.
BEHAR: Huh? OK. You know--
(CROSSTALK)
DI PAOLO: Did I walk into -- am I being punked? What`s going on here?
BEHAR: Bill Murray famously said that every famous person -- the first two years of their fame they act like [EXPLETIVE DELETED]. Is this what she`s going through right now?
PORIZKOVA: Do you really think she`s acting like an [EXPLETIVE DELETED]?
LEVY: No, I didn`t think -- I was watching that clip--
DI PAOLO: I do.
BEHAR: Come on.
DI PAOLO: I do.
BEHAR: Oh, come on, every day I have to wake up and remind myself I`m a superstar? Come on.
PORIZKOVA: Well, it`s a little self-important, perhaps, but I mean, but that`s what fame does to you. I mean, everybody`s swarming around you.
(CROSSTALK)
LEVY: I just want to say, we`re talking about Lady Gaga here, who comes like out in public dressed in meat, arrives at the Grammys in an egg. Exaggeration is part of her shtick. If you`re going to sign up for Gaga, you`re going to get something --
BEHAR: So that was an insincere moment?
PORIZKOVA: Inside she`s just a tender-hearted little girl.
BEHAR: She`s in her first two years of being an [EXPLETIVE DELETED]. What`s your excuse? You`ve been in the business 12 years.
DI PAOLO: Why am I an [EXPLETIVE DELETED]? What did I do? I show up in a giant egg at the Funny Bone in Denver, nobody says boo.
(LAUGHTER)
PORIZKOVA: Kind of like Levi Johnston.
DI PAOLO: I thought I did that first. She stole my album title, "Born This Way," by the way. That`s my first CD.
BEHAR: She did? Oh, really?
DI PAOLO: Maybe I`ll sue that, give her something else to cry about.
BEHAR: OK. Now, listen to this.
DI PAOLO: Look at the puss (ph) on her.
BEHAR: OK. Kate Middleton, the bride to be this Friday, she is apparently going to do her own makeup for her wedding.
DI PAOLO: You don`t say?
BEHAR: I know. It`s shocking. Paulina, come on.
PORIZKOVA: Excuse me, Joy, I don`t know how --
BEHAR: It`s supposed to rain that day, by the way. She`s going to look like Alice Cooper by the end of the day.
PORIZKOVA: I do my own makeup for this show. How many millions -- how many thousands of people watch this? I did my own makeup.
(LAUGHTER)
DI PAOLO: Atta baby, Paulina. Give her the zinger.
BEHAR: OK, we`ll certainly invite you back some day, Paulina, with or without makeup. All righty. Go ahead.
(CROSSTALK)
LEVY: Nick just wants to know if she`s doing her own waxing. The real question we have, is she doing her own waxing as well?
PORIZKOVA: I need no waxing.
LEVY: Not you, not you.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: She is taking makeup lessons, though. She`s going to teach herself to put on her own makeup. What is the matter with her? You have some people there who will help you to look good. If I could, I would have people come and, you know, unburp my tupperware. You know what I mean? I would have people come and help me out of my chair if I could.
PORIZKOVA: Maybe she`s just very confident in her own abilities more so than other people`s abilities. Maybe she`s a control freak.
DI PAOLO: Who`s doing his makeup, that`s the question. He`s no day at the beach.
PORIZKOVA: Who, the husband?
DI PAOLO: Yes.
PORIZKOVA: He`s gorgeous. What are you talking about?
(CROSSTALK)
DI PAOLO: What are you talking about? If this guy had 11 cents, you wouldn`t look at him twice.
BEHAR: He`s going to be the next king.
DI PAOLO: I understand that. You`re making my point for me.
BEHAR: You know what? When you`re the next king, you don`t have to be that handsome.
PORIZKOVA: We find other things handsome in men.
DI PAOLO: That was my point. That was my point, wasn`t it? Am I going too fast for these two broads?
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: No, it`s fine. Joe, these two broads can keep up with you, all right? Listen, Joe, what do you think about the fact that Americans don`t -- we don`t even like the monarchy. We fought the Revolutionary War to get away from them. Do you think we don`t care about this or we do? Because there`s a lot of coverage.
LEVY: You know, judging from the media, because you cannot turn on the television, in fact it`s happening right now, without seeing someone talking about the fricking royal wedding, we care a little too much.
But here`s the great thing, and this is the difference between America and England. In America, if you`re an idiot and in power, people have gotten behind you and voted and said, yes, we want Sarah Palin. We want her.
DI PAOLO: We want Obama.
LEVY: But in England, you can just be born an idiot and be powerful.
BEHAR: And very many of them are.
LEVY: That`s what I`m saying.
BEHAR: Yes.
PORIZKOVA: America has an obsession about princesses and princes. We don`t like kings. I like the queens, but princesses and princes are (inaudible). Disney.
BEHAR: You like them because they do your hair, Paulina. OK.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Now, Donald Trump. We were talking about people--
LEVY: Idiots in power. Sure.
BEHAR: I wouldn`t call him an idiot.
LEVY: Really? OK.
BEHAR: He can be very nasty.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: And he`s no idiot, he`s not an idiot. He`s just -- whatever he`s doing right now--
DI PAOLO: But Obama, he`s incompetent (ph).
BEHAR: Oh, is that so? OK.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: He thinks that Obama got into Harvard Law School, I guess he must be implying that he got in from affirmative action because he said he doesn`t understand. He was a poor student and wasn`t qualified to attend Harvard and Columbia. What`s the implication of that statement, that the guy got in on affirmative action?
DI PAOLO: On affirmative action. That`s the implication.
BEHAR: What do you think about that?
DI PAOLO: I think Obama`s very bright. I don`t think that`s the case. But I`d like to see somebody who went to school with him. Why--
BEHAR: Plenty of people went to school with him.
DI PAOLO: Is that right? Have one on the show. I`d like to meet him.
BEHAR: What, did you meet people who went to school with George Bush?
DI PAOLO: Are you going to tell me -- there was a guy in the paper a couple of weeks ago, going, took the same class as Obama, went to Columbia the same year, said he never saw him. So why doesn`t somebody come out of the woodwork and say I went to school with him?
LEVY: Wait, wait--
DI PAOLO: I`m asking a question. I want an answer.
LEVY: Wait a minute, is this the thing now that we think he actually doesn`t have a diploma as well as a birth certificate?
(CROSSTALK)
DI PAOLO: Did I say that?
LEVY: Are you actually --
DI PAOLO: Did I say that?
LEVY: So what you think --
DI PAOLO: What I`m saying -- you`re saying I`m being outrageous by saying somebody that went to school with him couldn`t come forward and say, yes, I sat next to him. Nobody will vouch for him. You don`t find that strange? Are you that blind?
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: The guys, the dean, should he show up?
DI PAOLO: Is that really an outrageous request on my part?
BEHAR: Yes. It is.
PORIZKOVA: It`s stupid.
DI PAOLO: Why is that? Why is it stupid?
PORIZKOVA: Well, it`s just -- I mean, there`s so -- there`s so many reasons why it`s stupid that I don`t have enough time in the show.
(LAUGHTER)
DI PAOLO: Wow, you told me.
LEVY: I still don`t understand what the question is. You`re saying because --
DI PAOLO: Let me slow it down for you lefties. He went to Harvard and he went to Columbia. Bunch of people went to school with him. It wasn`t just him sitting in a class by himself.
LEVY: Sure.
DI PAOLO: I`m sure he had friends who went to class. Let me finish. I`m sure he sat there and he had friends in class with him.
LEVY: You will finish, right?
DI PAOLO: So why doesn`t somebody vouch? Why doesn`t somebody stand (ph) up (ph)?
LEVY: But I don`t understand, is this a question that you`ve asked of any other politician, anyone who`s graduated--
DI PAOLO: What does that have to do -- we`re talking about Obama right now.
LEVY: Well, why are we talking about Obama? That`s my question to you.
(CROSSTALK)
DI PAOLO: Because he`s the president right now. You guys didn`t -- what, you didn`t think to ask it when Bush was president?
BEHAR: We asked plenty of questions when Bush was president.
DI PAOLO: I bet you can find--
BEHAR: All eight years that he destroyed the country, we asked many questions.
DI PAOLO: I know. I know. But I bet you could find guys that went to Yale with him, said, yes, he was a real dope.
BEHAR: Thank you guys very much. Nick Di Paolo, "Raw Nerve" premieres on Showtime this Saturday at 9:00 p.m. And the album will be released on May 2nd. We`ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: My next guest will forever be known to millions as the teenage star of "Sixteen Candles." Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOLLY RINGWALD, AUTHOR "GETTING THE PRETTY BACK": Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi.
RINGWALD. What are you doing here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard you were here.
RINGWALD: You came here for me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that OK?
RINGWALD: Yes, OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Here with me now is the lovely actress Molly Ringwald. She`s also the author of "Getting the Pretty Back: Friendship, Family and Finding the Perfect Lipstick." Hi, Molly.
RINGWALD: Hi, Joy.
BEHAR: You`re so cute.
RINGWALD: So are you.
BEHAR: Your movies -- thank you -- your movies are running all the time, "Pretty in Pink," "16 Candles", "The Breakfast Club," they`re always running on television.
RINGWALD: All the time.
BEHAR: Residuals, can we talk residuals?
RINGWALD: You know, I think unfortunately my contracts were negotiated before there was cable, before there was Internet ...
BEHAR: Oh, boy.
RINGWALD: ... before any of that stuff.
BEHAR: Well, that`s too bad.
RINGWALD: Yes. Yes, it is.
BEHAR: Well, you know, what -- you know, what comes to mind when you see yourself as -- what do you think about when you see yourself there?
RINGWALD: It`s kind of like looking at baby pictures in a way. You know?
BEHAR: Yeah.
RINGWALD: I have to say, I think I see my daughter more in me then than I see myself.
BEHAR: Oh, really?
RINGWALD: Yes.
BEHAR: You have one daughter and a set of twins?
RINGWALD: I have a seven-year-old daughter and I have 21-month-old twins, a boy and a girl. Roman and Adelle.
BEHAR: Really? That`s so cute. Those names are so cute.
RINGWALD: Thank you.
BEHAR: Roman and Adelle. I mean, you know, what`s in a name -- Gwyneth Paltrow, her kids are named Moses and Apple.
RINGWALD: Yes.
BEHAR: So, I draw the line at fruits and vegetables in names, but that`s me. But isn`t that nice, though, that you`re a mom and you are married and every -- you have like a wonderful life.
RINGWALD: Yes, I do.
BEHAR: How did you turn out so well? Some of these child stars, they are all crazy and drug addicts.
RINGWALD: Yes, I know. I think -- I think I was lucky, and I have a great family and I think, you know, I didn`t have parents that really wanted to get anything from me. They weren`t looking to get a reality show out of my career. They just wanted what was best for me and they could see that I was really driven to act and to sing and perform and they supported me. But they also gave me shelter, you know, emotional shelter.
BEHAR: You have to have that.
RINGWALD: Yes.
BEHAR: When I was a kid I was driven to perform a lot, too, but I was really scared. You even -- you weren`t scared?
RINGWALD: No, no, I wasn`t scared performing at all. I was scared talking one-on-one like -- I was very shy, but I think a lot of performers are shy. But now performing, I was just a natural ham.
BEHAR: I like this quote, everyone else can turn 40, but you`re not allowed to get older.
RINGWALD: Yes.
BEHAR: You`re not allowed to get older.
RINGWALD: No.
BEHAR: People don`t accept that you`re a grown woman with children? Is that it?
RINGWALD: I think they do now because I think that I`ve been around long enough, and I think people have really sort of grown up with me. It`s one of the reasons actually why I wanted to write this book, because I was turning 40 years old and I thought, how can I turn 40 years old? And ...
BEHAR: Wisdom.
RINGWALD: Yes. I`ve always turned to books for solace, and I felt like there were no books out there that I wanted to read about this time in a woman`s life. So I really wanted to write something fun and stylish and, you know, I got my favorite illustrator Ruben Toledo to illustrate it.
BEHAR: That`s nice. It`s a very cute book.
RINGWALD: Yeah.
BEHAR: And it`s got a cute title. What do you think about like -- what do you think about Lindsay Lohan and this type of the girls now -- Miley Cyrus, they seem to -- they seem to be having a rough time.
RINGWALD: Miley Cyrus is OK, isn`t she?
BEHAR: Well, she had that, you know, that thing where she was on salvia, remember that, where she is like, talking crazy.
RINGWALD: No, no. I feel -- my heart goes out to them. I know how difficult it is to be in the public eye at a young age, and I wish that they had what I had, which is a really great family. And I think if you don`t have that, that background, some shelter, some ...
BEHAR: Yeah.
RINGWALD: ... somebody to lean on, I think it`s really hard. It`s a really hard business.
BEHAR: A lot of kids that I talked to who are now grown up say that the ones who survive it say they all say the same thing, I had good parents. So it`s not the work, it`s not the fact that your childhood is spent on a lot, it`s basically your parents.
RINGWALD: I think so. I think, you know, families, parenting, I think is the basis for any -- anybody`s success.
BEHAR: Yes.
RINGWALD: And I really liked the books. I have to say. I have to credit books, because from a very young age I -- I -- you know, I read -- my father is blind and I always read aloud to him every script, tons of books, and everybody in my family is a voracious reader, and I feel like when you really love books as much as I did, you get too curious about life, and you don`t want to waste it in a bar. You don`t want to waste it by, you know, by doing drugs, really.
BEHAR: That`s interesting -- the way to put it.
RINGWALD: Yes.
BEHAR: So you -- are your children going to be allowed to watch television?
RINGWALD: You know, I didn`t have a television for the first four years of Matilda`s life, mostly for convenience because we lived in a walk- up in New York and the TV room became her bedroom. So we got rid of the TV and we didn`t get it back until she was four. And she has no interest in television.
BEHAR: Really?
RINGWALD: None. No. She likes the Internet, though. We`re going to have to be careful about that. She just built her own Website called "How To Take Care of the World."
BEHAR: Isn`t she cute?
RINGWALD: Her own idea.
BEHAR: This is Matilda?
RINGWALD: This is Matilda. Yes. But the twins already, you know, they walk past a television and they`re pointing at it. And I -- you know, both my husband and I think, oh, we should just get rid of this thing.
BEHAR: Tell me about the brat pack. Do you were -- besides being in the movies together, did you hang out with them?
RINGWALD: You mean, did we have picnics and ...
BEHAR: I don`t know. Did you go out with them to dinner, anything like that?
RINGWALD: You know, I was friends with them because I was doing movies with a lot of the same actors that were allegedly part of the brat pack.
BEHAR: Mostly male, I see. I don`t see any women on the list. Demi Moore.
RINGWALD: Demi Moore. Yeah. We never did a movie together, but she was considered to be a part of the brat pack.
BEHAR: Every one of you has become famous. Rob Lowe, Demi, Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Andrew McCarthy, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy -- there is another woman -- and Molly Ringwald. All of you became famous from that period. What do you attribute that to?
RINGWALD: Well, I think a lot of the movies that we were doing were really good and interesting and have actually resonated with subsequent generations. And a lot of us have gone on to do really interesting stuff. And Demi, I mean, god, she looks better now than she did back then.
BEHAR: Would you ever pose naked on the cover of "Vanity Fair" when you were pregnant? Like she did?
RINGWALD: No. No.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: You wouldn`t do it?
RINGWALD: Well, maybe if I looked like Demi Moore when I was pregnant I would have, but I did not.
BEHAR: Airbrushing, baby. We`ll have more with Molly Ringwald in just a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RINGWALD: You know, you`re talking (ph) like that just because I`m going out with Blaine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Blaine? His name is Blaine? Oh! That`s a major appliance, that`s not a name!
RINGWALD: Just because I`m going out with Blaine doesn`t mean I can be friends with you. And it doesn`t change the way I feel about you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: That was a look back at Molly Ringwald and Jon Cryer in the `80s classic "Pretty in Pink." And I`m back with Molly Ringwald.
You know, I read that you turned down the leads in "Ghost" and "Pretty Woman." Is that true?
RINGWALD: Where did you read that?
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Wherever. It`s not true?
RINGWALD: It`s -- you know, I really don`t know. I think those were scripts that were floating around. And you know, I don`t know if it was a firm offer or not, but there were different elements attached or not attached. And you know, I think they`re great movies.
BEHAR: They are, both of them were good.
RINGWALD: Yeah, really good. But I think part of the reason why they`re good is because of the people that were in them. I think that role was meant for Julia Roberts.
BEHAR: I see. It was right for her probably.
RINGWALD: I think so.
BEHAR: Yes. She played a hooker, right? I don`t see you as a hooker.
RINGWALD: I could play a hooker, but she was wonderful in that. I mean, that was her part. I can`t imagine that movie without her.
BEHAR: I see you because you`ve been in France for a lot of your years, I could see you as one of these posh dancers or some little floozy on the --
(CROSSTALK)
RINGWALD: Irma le Douce.
BEHAR: Yeah, Irma le Douce, I see you as. Tell me about that. You went to France when you were a young girl. You dropped out of the business?
RINGWALD: Well, I left -- I had been working doing movies from the time that I was in 13. And I worked all through my teen years, and I got to my early 20s and I really felt like I needed to get out of the public eye a little bit. And I wanted to sort of experience things not around photographers. And I just kind of put my career on the back burner a little bit.
BEHAR: Good for you. Did it work out or did it hurt your career?
RINGWALD: I don`t know. I`m sort of a little bit fatalistic about everything. I don`t really have a lot of regrets. It`s made me the person that I am, and I think I`m a really strong, interesting person, and it`s sort of like I`m just entering the second act of my life.
BEHAR: Good for you. You sound like a very centered person, I`ll tell you. The book is really cute. I mean, it`s a lot of fun. You talk about your hair, and hair coloring, and what to carry, and how to tie a Air Miss (ph) scarf, that kind of -- in praise of the beret, very French also.
RINGWALD: Yes.
BEHAR: I mean, what made you decide to do this?
RINGWALD: Well, like I said, it was really when I was turning 40 years old and I felt like every book was just so -- such a downer. And I really wanted to write something that was very inspired and uplifting and fun and colorful, and, you know, I wanted to write a book about being an it woman rather than an it girl. Because it really bothers me, you know, these fashion magazines that we`re all supposed to get, you know, and all the clothes are modeled by 14-year-olds. You know, and I don`t know why women -- why we`re told to buy these magazines that make us feel bad about ourselves.
BEHAR: Exactly.
RINGWALD: You know, it really bothers me. So I wanted to write a book that was reclaiming the word pretty, which is very much associated with the youth.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Yeah, I see. You`re right. I mean, Anna Wintour from "Vogue" magazine, she`s a war criminal. She needs to be in Guantanamo.
Molly`s book, "Getting the Pretty Back," is now in paperback. Good night, everybody.
(LAUGHTER)
END
