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<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=97 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B><IMG SRC="a854e6b0.jpg" border=0 width="78" height="107" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B>MENU</B></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ricki Online"><U><B>What's New?</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id8.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Transcripts"><U><B>Transcripts</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biography"><U><B>Biography</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Filmography"><U><B>Filmography</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id9.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Image Gallery"><U><B>Photo Gallery</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Ricki Lake Image Index"><U><B>Ricki Lake Show Image Archives</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ricki Online"><U><B>Ricki Reviews</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="TV Schedule"><U><B>TV Schedule</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About the Site"><U><B>About Ricki Online</B></U></A><A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About the Site"><U><B> Site</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id10.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Quiz"><U><B>Quiz</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id7.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Copyright Terms of Use"><U><B>Terms of Use</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.rickiworld.com/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.rickiworld.com/"><U><B>Ricki World</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>  </div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="1" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="697" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#FFFFFF" BORDERCOLORDARK="#FFFFFF" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 1395 WIDTH="525"><div> 17 Questions: Ricki lake!</div> <bR> <div> To say that love was in the air at Ricki Lake's photo shoot would be putting it mildly. The first time I see the talk show host/actress, she's just coming up for air from a passionate kiss from her twenty seven year old boyfriend, Rob Sussman. She looks at me with a twinkle in her eye and asks, "Isn't he handsome?" Hey, what can I say? Rob's a looker.  Not that Ricki's any  slouch. With her perfect skin, shiny hair, and a personality one could only call  perky, I'd have to say Rob's pretty lucky himself. Throughout the interview, Ricki would glance over at him and say, "Hi, honey." Every time we'd get around to talking about her numerous movies, like her first, Hairspray, or latest, Serial Mom, he'd distract her. Even though Ricki and Rob (Even though their names are adorable) have known each other for only four months, it's obviously true love, . If i weren't in love myself, I'd be jealous.  The are just so cute.  </div> <bR> <div> <B>1. First you're an actress, now you're a talk show hostess. What is your job these days?</B></div> <div> I don't like to label myslef as one or the other.  Right now, my fulltime occupation is hosting the show, but I get thirteen weeks a year off to make movies.</div> <bR> <div> <B>2. This month your new mvoie, Serial Mom, comes out.  What's your role?</B></div> <div> It's so good.  I play Kathleen Turner and Sam Waterston's daughter.  I'm like eighteen.</div> <bR> <div> <B>3. You're twenty five now.  How do you play a teenager?</B></div> <div> I pretty much played it like myself. [Director] John [Waters] wrote the part with me in mind.  All the characterisitics were already there from my personality.</div> <bR> <div> <B>4. John Waters was the guy who discovered you, right?</B></div> <div> Yes, John saw me at an audition and he  picked me for hairspray.  I fit the role  physically [she weighed two hundred  pounds] and emotionally as well.  I was very comfortable with my body and very extroverted.</div> <bR> <div> <B>5. You've always been really pretty, but you've lost a lot of weight recently. How much?</B></div> <div> About 120  pounds.  It took over three years.  I lost almost one of me.  It was as much weight off my head as it was weight off my body, though.  There's a whole issue with food and how people treat you and how you're discrimintated against.  Living my life as a fat person and then not liveing my life as a fat person is a totally different experience.  I'm really glad to be living my life as I am now.  It's a lot more fun.</div> <bR> <div> <B>6. Do you worry about gaining the weight back again?</B></div> <div> Yeah, like what if something tragic happens and I turn to food and gain weight, will Rob still love me? When I look at old photos, I can't believe I loved myself, let alone anyone else loving me.</div> <bR> <div> <B>7. How did you two meet?</B></div> <div> We met at a Halloween party last year.  A mutual friend of ours got married and we were at the reception.  It was a costume party.  But I didn't dress up and neither did he. And neither of us had dates.  It was one of those I-saw-him-from-across-the-room things.  It was instantaneous. It was just like, "Wow."</div> <bR> <div> <B>8. Did he recognize you?</B></div> <div> No, he didn't know ho I was, which made it even cooler.  He's an artist, not an actor.  I always wanted to dat someone who had other interests besides how his audition went.</div> <bR> <div> <B>9. When you go out, do people pay a lot of attention to you and ignore him?</B></div> <div> Rob isn't used to the visibility and stuff. And sometimes he gets a little, "You're mine, I don't want to share you with people." But we deal with it.  People just want to say, "I like your show, it's nice to meet  you." It goeas with the territory.</div> <bR> <div> <B>10. Do you still want to be doing the show in ten years? </B></div> <div> If my worst-case scenario is that I'm still hosting the show in ten years, I'm going to be a very rich lady and I could retire and do whatever I want. But I have other aspirations.  Now that I've met the man I want to spend the rest of my life with, I want a family. I want to have a life. And we want to work on projects together.</div> <bR> <div> <B>11. What kind of projects?</B></div> <div> We want to do a children's book together.  he'd do the illustrations and I would write the story.  People have been after me to write the story of how I turned my weight--what may consider a handicap--into an asset.  I don't know if I'm ready to do an autobiography. But a children's book about that would be good.</div> <bR> <div> <B>12. Who's your favorite talk show host?</B></div> <div> Who do you think? Oprah, of course.  I watched her all the time when I was young.  I could relate to her because we were both heavy.  I got to meet her after I did the movie Hairspray.</div> <bR> <div> <B>13. Who's your least favorite host?</B></div> <div> I don't like to name names, but I don't like the ones who are sleazy and just put people on the stage to make fun of them.</div> <bR> <div> <B>14. What is a normal day like for you?</B></div> <div> When I get home at night there's a package waiting for me that has scripts of the next day's shows.  If it's an "issue" show, there will be articles from The New Yorker or whaterver on that issue, and I'll read those.  Then I go to bed.  I wake up, go to therapy at 8:30, go to the gym at 9:30, work out till 11:00.  Then a car picks me up, takes me to work.  I do voice-over work from 11:30 to 12:00--those are the segments that gok "Hi, if you are blah blah blah, you can be a guest on The Ricki Lake Show."  Then I have my meetings from noon to 1:30 to discuss the shows, who the guests are, what the producers want to get out of each story.  Between 2:00 and 5:00 I have hair and makeup and whatever else I need to do.  Then we tape on show at 5:00 and then another at 7:00.  I get home by 9:00. It's a lot.   I love my job, but when you're in love all you want to do is be with that person.</div> <bR> <div> <B>15. Are you and Rob getting married?</B></div> <div> Yeah, we don't want to advertise it, but it's in November, John Waters is going to marry us.</div> <bR> <div> <B>16. That's right, he's a minister of something.  Congratulations! What's you favorite band?</B></div> <div> They aren't together anymore but i lvoed 10,000 Maniacs.</div> <bR> <div> <B>17. Do you have a favorite designer?</B></div> <div> Right now it's Todd Oldham.  He's a freind and he's offered to design my wedding gown.</div> <bR> <div> <B>That's so cool.  John will do the ceremony, Todd will design the dress, now if only you can get Natalie Merchant to sing the song...</B></div> <bR> <div> I think I want to sing the song.  But we don't want it to be a big thing.  We might just elope and have a party afterward. And really celebrate.</div> <bR> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="0fa68960.jpg" border=0 width="104" height="150" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0fb6d960.jpg" border=0 width="109" height="150" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>