Celebrity Parade With Jeanne Wolf
Andrews, Springer and Cattrall address fame and their on-screen personalities.
May 16, 2008 — -- Julie Andrews
Losing her beautiful voice after an operation gone bad was traumatic for Julie Andrews, but it pushed her into a new career as a writer. Now, Andrews has a new book "Home: A Memoir of My Early Years." Julie told Parade:
"Anybody who's had the bliss of singing with a big orchestra, knows what it's like not to be able to do it. So I think that the best thing for being sad is to learn something or to do something. And I think that's sort of what I did."
Andrews – who's known for a surprisingly colorful vocabulary of curse words that don't fit her Mary Poppins image – reveals that swearing around the house helped get her started as an author. "My daughter said, 'if you don't stop swearing so much you'll have to pay a forfeit,'" she remembers. "I agreed, but then I said some words I regretted. My daughter went, 'your forfeit is to write me a story.' So I did, and I enjoyed it. It was an absolute joy. I enjoyed it so much that I thought I'd like to continue." Andrews confesses that unfortunately she also continues to swear occasionally.
As for becoming a legendary star, Andrews admits the hard part is learning to cope with fame. "It absolutely knocks you sideways if it really hits you hard," she says. "Certainly like with something like 'Mary Poppins' and 'Sound of Music,' when those really hit, it was huge and it can be damaging, if one is very foolish and one is inclined to be very pompous and thinks one knows it all. I may have had my moments, but you very quickly come tumbling down into reality and then, actually, then the hard work begins."
Jerry Springer
Jerry Springer soon returns to prime-time as the host of "America's Got Talent" while continuing his always wild talk show. What's his secret for success? Jerry told Parade:
"People can relate to me probably 'cause I'm a schlub just like everybody else. Every job I've had, it's always been kind of the everyman kind of a job, whether it's as a defense attorney or my crazy show. But they're regular people involved in crazy situations. But that's, that really is America."
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