Actress Nicole Eggert

This week Alison interviews Actress Nicole Eggert

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
From Hello again. Yes, Hi, yes it did. Hi. I'm
Alison Argram and this is the AlisonIngram Show. Okay, some of you

(00:25):
may recognize me as evil Millie Olsen, but tonight, thankfully, I am
Alison Ingraham and this is the AlisonIngraham Show. And here on the Allison
Ingram Show, we talk about thingsthat make you feel good, the movies
and the TV shows that made usfeel good and the people who made them
and people we're doing things now tomake the world a better and more interesting

(00:45):
place. I have a doozy tonight. I shockingly have not met her.
We've been traveling in all the samecircles, have not met her until now.
I am so excited. You allknow her, Yes, you know
her from Baywatch, you know herfrom Charles in Charge, you know her
from like eight bazillion televisions and vies. This woman never stops working. But
she has really blown the doors offthe Internet recently because she was diagnosed with

(01:07):
grest cancer and decided to just dealwith the whole hair difficulty issue by shaving
her head on Instagram. Yes,yes, you know what I'm talking about.
She did this. She did this. She is so brave She's like
amazing, Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Nicole Eggert, Hello, Hello,
Hello, and Hi. I guessit was like her. I went,

(01:30):
wait she was she did? Andyou did you share? And then I
watched the video on Instagram and it'slike no music and everything and someone helping
just's like and now I will shavemy head. Ah. So when did
you get diagnosed? What happened?Well? I I got diagnosed last year,
the end of last year, andI felt it. I felt it

(01:53):
myself. I had my exam scheduledcoming up, but I, like a
lot of other women, have densebreast tissues, so for me that the
mammograms missed it. And yep,it had been missed. It had been
missed for a couple of years.And then I started feeling something like it

(02:14):
was pulsating. Like the best wayI can really kind of describe it,
it was like a little throb,a little pulsating and and then I did
a self exam and I felt itand it was like, you know,
get me in, get me in. And it took a while because it's
all such a waiting. That's reallythe hardest part is all the waiting.

(02:34):
Honestly, just the unknown is rough. And then when we started treatment,
you know, figured it out,got all every scan under the moon done
and then started treatment and here weare and so yes, the hair started
falling out. I first went andgot I went to my hairdresser and I
was like, get rid of thehair because I feel like that's gonna be

(02:57):
so traumatic because I had like,you know, shoulder length hair and I
was like, I mean famous thehair and you have when you send me
pictures, I said, any picturesthat I think you went, well,
here's all my looks. I don'tknow what you want to do because here's
hair, or's other hair, here'sno air. Hey, yeah, And
I would think yes, to haveit go gradually would be more like more
emotionally draining than just saying to hellwith it. Well I so that's what

(03:22):
I said, because you know,it was long, and I was like,
this is going to come out andlike what is that going to be
like? So I went to myhairdresser and I was like, shave it
off. She was like no,let's She's like I can't. I just
can't. Let's just like do acute look and she did something similar to
what you have and you know yeah, and I was like okay. I
was like and she's like, ifyou hate that, we'll just cut it

(03:43):
off. And I ended up lovingit, so you know, you know,
stranger things have happened. But Iwas like, okay, well now
I'm going to be happy when itgrows back. I'll be happy with the
short hair and you know, soI have something to look forward to.
And then it just but then itwas coming out and I just looked like
I just like an old man orsomething like. You know, once you
can start seeing the scalp through thehair, it's like time to go.

(04:05):
So it's getting around it because youcan't just say, oh, it's a
short haircut. It's like no,it's like you look like you got mange.
It's like what do you? Whatare you gonna do? There's one
hundreds people buy wigs. They triedthis, the tri No, what do
you? What do you do?It? Is it chemo? Is it
radiation? What do you I'm doingchemotherapy? Yeah, and that yeah,
that's the brutal on the hair.People lose their hearts. So but that's

(04:28):
that's very bold. Yes that nowadaysit's like all right, it was is
good. Just now the fact thatyou chose to shave your head and said,
Okay, I'm not gonna wait forit to slowly fall out and do
this. I'm gonna kire it.I'm gonna go like Instagram and shave it
in front of everybody that I recordedit. So I recorded it because I
wanted to watch it and to seeit and to have it. And I've
sort of been documenting my journey anyways. And then I was like, the

(04:50):
heck with it, let's post itbecause I kept seeing people out that are
in treatment and everybody it's like it'seighty degrees outside and they've had the big
we'll hat on, you know,and everybody's walking and everybody's hiding it.
So I'm starting to sort of understandmore why people hide it a little bit
because the stairs get a little bitold, like you know, the double

(05:13):
takes and the stairs when you're out, it does get a little bit like
okay enough, like you're a grownadult with your eyes back in your head.
But I think because I have athick skin and I'm used to maybe
people looking twice at me anyways fromacting, and maybe they recognize me,
maybe they don't that I'm more usedto it, but I can imagine that
if you're not used to people gawkingat you, it could be really sort

(05:39):
of annoying. So I'm you know, everything is like this learning process.
But I still go out bald becauseit's the most comfortable and it's just the
natural, and I don't hate it. I just don't hate being bald.
Summer is coming, and I knowthis sounds weird, but you have you
have a good shaped head. Itsounds weird. Yeah, some people's heads.
Everybody's head shaped differently. Some peoplereally nicely shaped heads and like that

(06:01):
Pursi's Combatos Star Trek thing from onehundred years ago. Say, some people
can pull it off. Some peoplesay, well I had to shave a
head, and other people it's like, oh you shaved your head. Hey,
that's really like you have a wellshaped head. So I don't know.
It's now it's like a look,it's a thing. You're gonna get
away with this. They can't believeit. It's a thing. And I
think I'll have to cover it abit in the summer because I don't want

(06:21):
to then burn it or you know, think about getting skin cancer or anything
like that. Very bad on thehead nude, yes, so, and
the skin, our skin during there, during treatment is super sensitive to the
sun. So all these things I'mlearning, right, So I'm gonna.
I'm gonna. So I've been likecollecting some like nice scarves and stuff to

(06:42):
put on to cover it, toshield myself. But for now I'm enjoying
it. I'm just impress because andyou've talked about this, You're talking about
trying to normalize and make things morevisible for people who are going through cancer,
going through breast cancer, having todeal with this because so for years
people really hit it and people didn'ttalk about it and oh my god,
yeah, you'd wear a hat,you wear a wag, you wouldn't go
out. There was a time whenit was complete code of silence, so

(07:03):
nobody said anything. I mean,at least now people will say, yes,
I am battling cancer and like yo, and but what you're doing is
really good and out there. Sois this like a whole thing now educating
people? Well, I want peopleto feel comfortable too, And I don't
want people when they run into melike say I kept it quiet and then
say like I run into you andyou're like, mmm, something you know

(07:24):
something's off. I want people toknow and to be able to say,
like if they want to say anything, to feel comfortable. If they don't,
they don't have to. I justfeel like so many people are affected
by this disease, and you reallyrealize it when you're diagnosed with it.
How many every I don't think Iknow anybody that's not affected by it.

(07:44):
So it's like we've got to talkabout it, and there's no way to
fix it. There's no way tochange it. There's no way to make
people feel better about it unless we'retalking about it, right. This is
absolutely absolute, And for women it'sdifficult because we are we are judged on
our looks. Many of us spendour lives thinking about our looks, and
our looks are become part of whowe are for many women. And so

(08:07):
to have a radically something that affectsyour looks obviously breast cancer, you're talking
about the breast and then you're shoovingyour head. And these are like the
two most visible and major things forwomen's identity. And you hollo, I
mean gorgeous, gorgeous woman and knownfor such things as bay Watch and being

(08:28):
the gorgeous sexy babe. In somuch of your stuff, how jarring,
how weird for you, how weirdfor your fans? Is all of this,
I think it's probably more weird forother people. Surprisingly, it's just
not that weird for me. AndI always kind of wondered what it would
be like to shave your head.I always kind of wanted to do that
in a weird way, but Ialways thought it would be for like a

(08:50):
part or something. I never knowi'd be here, but as life feels,
yeah, so I just I'm reallynot that attached to hair anyways,
let's put it that way. I'vehad every kind of hair under the sun.
I know a lot of women havea really a lot of men too,
struggle with letting go of the hair. The hair is like a big

(09:11):
deal, and I get that,but it comes back, you know.
And this is sort of a badgeof honor in a way. And I
want people to be proud of likewhat they're going through in their fight.
It's sort of like, you know, it's I don't know, it's sort
of a badge of honor in away. I don't know how else to
say it. And man, also, you're a mom. How old are
your kids. My oldest is twentyfive and my youngest is twelve, And

(09:35):
how are they responding to all ofthis? They're great, I mean they
are They're like my rocks. They'remy best friends. I don't know what
I would do without them. We'reall real, very very positive, we're
all very you know, just reallyputting the best energy out there. And
my little one is my oldest livesin New York, so my little one's

(09:56):
with me every day, and she'sjust she's so solid. She's such a
good human. I really lucked outwith her, and you know, like
she's the one that was helping meshave it. And she's not embarrassed at
all, doesn't even flinch, doesn'teven care. And I asked her,
it was like, are you embarrassed? And she's like, of what?
Like, So I'm blessed. I'mtruly, truly blessed to have like two

(10:20):
really solid kids that are just strongin there. Again, this is so
great because back in the old days, when anybody talked about these things the
last thing people did, and thisis still really recent that anybody is talking
to their kids about this, evenpeople who are like, Okay, I'm
open to a diagnosis, but they'renot discussing it with their children. They're
terrified to do that. Well,it's a very hard conversation to have.

(10:43):
It's harder than finding out you haveit. This is the hardest conversation.
So shying away from it or avoidingit, I kind of can get it.
I kind of understand why, becauseit is truly the most difficult conversation
I've ever had to have, andso it takes. It takes, it

(11:05):
takes everything you got to have thatconversation. Well, you know it's clearly
if a nervy, seriously bullsy person, we're getting here for that. You
also started as an actress so young. I mean, as I knew you
started young, but as been readingyour brom and going, whoa, she
really started young? You started youngerand I started. You started in beauty

(11:28):
pageants stuff. It's like you neverlike a teeny death, You're like tanny
person. You started in beauty pageants? How how weird? Was that?
Very weird? Very weird? Beautypageants weren't quite the thing that they are
now, but they're still weird.And I was like the kid who was

(11:48):
a very tomboy and my mom myparents had moved here from Europe, and
my dad built this house out inHuntington Beach and my mom became this housewife
and was like, oh, there'sthese local beauty pageants and she was like,
you're going to go do these andwe're going to do this, and
I was like okay. And thenwhat attracted me is that at every venue

(12:11):
there was always like a swimming pool. They were always at these like hotels
with like swimming pools, and Iwas like, if I go and I
do this, I get to goplay in that pool. And that's sort
of like how my mom got methere. It was like, oh can
I swim? Okay? And thatwas the whole thing. I mean yeah,
I mean I absolutely a child.I was jeans and the T shirts
and the sneakers, and then youknow, you wind up playing someone who's

(12:31):
all ruffles and it's like wait,what what just now? Okay. It's
so weird because I was just talkingabout this last night with my husband about
the Flipper that when you're really littlebut you're cute and you're an actor and
you lose your kikets. We alllose in. Every human loses their teeth
and they grow in. This iswhat happens to children. And nowadays it's
a little more normalized. You'll seelittle children and commercials like with the little

(12:54):
gap and it's cute, but therewas a face and certainly when I was
a kid where oh if you wereespecially beauty pageant kids, you had to
have a replacement thing. I wasjust doing. I mean, I want
to say commercials, but it's reallymore like commercial I mean, there wasn't
some huge jugger not of a careerhappening yet, but by god, they
took me out and got made thething to cover where I lost my front

(13:16):
teeth. Oh yeah, and diddo that thing. Oh tons of them
every time the tooth fell out.I mean I even think that I had
one one time that went in frontof a loose tooth because they knew it
was coming out, so they madeit for when Tive cosmetic flipper pre out
of cosmetic coverage in case, yes, it was coming, we just didn't

(13:39):
know when, and God forbid.Yeah, it's so I know, because
kids now you see kids with bracesand crooked teeth and missing teeth, and
you're like, finally, you know, on TV, you finally see people
that look like people, and it'sconsidered adorable and rural. How cute they
embraced, how cute they But ohyeah, yeah, when I was kidding,
I had that, I had thefake thing. I was the kid

(14:01):
who then would come into the auditionand go, look they're not yeah,
flip it, yeah, take itout immediately. I was like, and
then I had the braces. Andwhen I had the braces, but I
was on little house, we wouldcover them up. We would we'd start
shooting. I'd go to the orthodoxy, would remove my braces from here to
her and leave them on the lowerand leave them all the way back on

(14:24):
the sides, but the very front, like five sixty. They would take
everything off, and then they puteverything back when we went on hiatus.
And then in between a lot ofwas it people have braces, know,
things like power chain night gear.They would just crank it up and then
you'd have like the Orthodonis wax tocover, which worked in the seventies.

(14:45):
Now, of course everyone watches showson high Deff and everyone is commenting on
mine, Melissa Giberth's braces because theycleatly see them now. But it was
such a big deal. I mean, we were eighteen hundreds to cover your
brain to have perfect teeth, tothen not let anyone see how you were
planning on getting those perfect teeth tobe perfect in long anyone see how you
made yourself perfect. It was boggerson all the movie magic No you start

(15:11):
you So you were a child actor, super super young, and then you
kept going and as we know,that is rare. It's like there's the
people who work like from EADYBDH tolike around ten and like that's the whole
show, or you know, theystop as cheap because teenager is hard because
you look older, and they'll justget somebody eighteen to go do that.
And I got lucky and had asteady job from twelve to nineteen, so

(15:33):
I was like covered. But youyou muddled on through. You went from
being a little beauty pageant, tinytiny girl, and then you were in
feature films and you getting movies andtelevision shows as a very small child all
the way through your teens and thenstraight on at eighteen. How the heck
did you do that? You know? I don't know, I don't know,

(15:56):
And I feel like, weirdly,I feel like Baywatch kind of put
an end to that. I wassort of like it was like okay,
because yeah, it's you just neverknow, you never know what's going to
be that project that just then sortof pigeonholes you. But you know,
I think I just loved doing itand I always had such a good time,
and I got to work on someamazing projects with great casts, and

(16:19):
it just was always so fun.So we just, I don't know,
just kept doing it. And Idon't think that I ever was on anything
that was so big that I wasthat recognizable. So I was able to
like go from this show to thatshow and and kind of keep working because
there wasn't anything that was like thatone project that was so big that was

(16:41):
you were the friend or the sister. She could like squeak by and get
on the other have time like welove. But I mean, I'm glad
to hear that because a lot ofpeople have massive back to back child groups.
They they didn't like it, theydidn't want to be there, they
were not thrilled at all to bedoing this. You generally seem to enjoy.
Yeah I really did. Yeah,yeah, I really had a blast.

(17:03):
And you know, not to saythat my mom wasn't sort of the
cat, you know, the personrunning the ship and pushing the ship.
But I really did truly enjoy it, and and I think she could see
that, and she always said,if this is not fun, you know,
we can quit. But it didn'tbecome not fun till much later.
As a kid, I had ablast excellent excellent because yeah, because you

(17:26):
oh beauty pageant that Nethandea. ButI know that's such a relief that you
had enjoyable experience. I mean Iwas like, I didn't get like famous,
famous till twelve, thirteen years old. I don't know what it'd have
done if I'd been famous at eight, like totally confusing. But then I
enjoyed what I was doing, andI saw a lot of people who didn't
and so that so I was like, yeah, yeah, I saw a

(17:48):
lot of people that didn't like ittoo. Yeah same, But did you
did you love it? Was thatsomething you loved doing? I got lucky
when I was really little and wearinga flipper. I did like the short
thing. I remember, I dida thing called juvenile jury that was kind
of like a kid say the darnedestthings. I liked that that seemed amusing.
And then there were some things whowere like sort of boring and then

(18:11):
of course, and then I gota little house that it was the Villains.
I was like, yeah, itwas a whole other show. I'll
do that. And then then Ihad a great time because it was really
fun because I was doing something funand there were cool people. But I
can see where it could just bebe a grind for a small child.
Now then yeah, hello bay Watch. And I went through that phase.
And for me it was the earlyeighties when I was suddenly like eighteen,

(18:33):
nineteen twenty and blonde and we knowwhat that means. And I auditioned for
all of the I used to saythey wanted to meet me to be either
a cheerleader, naked, or dead, or a combination of all three.
And it all seemed to be thesort of bib way that the cheerleader sexy
bay thing, and I didn't getany of it. They were like,

(18:56):
yeah, no, no, no. The closest I got was playing a
prostitute on Fantasy Island. Well,who oh, that was pretty good.
It did very good jump, Butthe hooker on Fantasy Island was the closest
I got to the sexy pants role. You were on Baywatch, so the
ultimate sex bomb thing to do.Yeah, but we didn't know that that's

(19:18):
what it was going to be becauseit was the beginning and it was before
the show was so huge, andyou know, I was coming in as
this teen. I was nineteen yearsold. I didn't know, you know,
and it was like and I wasstill in high school on the show
and I was this rookie lifeguard.So I got to you'll love this because
they hired me and I went awayto Canada. I shot some movies and

(19:41):
I was like, oh, I'mgoing to go do this show. And
I was like, she wants tobe a lifeguard. She's an athlete.
And I cut all my hair off. I had the long blandage girl swimming
swimming. They're swimming, you likeswimming, I'll cut my hair, right,
And I cut all my hair off. And I showed up on set
and they're like, wait what.But it was a choice I made for
the character, and you know what, it worked, and it was like

(20:04):
it worked, and it made melook like the kid compared to these women.
And I don't know, I feltbetter about it. I just felt
better about it. But yes,it did turn into the show of you
know, we were the bay Watchbimbos, and then the bay Watch babes,
and then finally it's like Baywatch iconsand it's like it only took thirty

(20:25):
years, right, But yeah,it definitely definitely was a thing. I
mean, yeah, because now becausethe show was so popular and there's been
movies and parodies and everything else,people go, oh, bad Watch,
and there's some kind of love andattachment and even respect for the people who
worked on Baywatches, Like, Okay, this was a good thing. We

(20:45):
were entertained, it was good andgod they had to run around on the
beach and swim and all the stuffthey had to do. But yes,
at the time, everyone was justlike uber super sexualized and it was just
chicken a swimsuit. Yeah, itwas like a music vide you right,
it was like an hour long musicvideo. It's what I always thought.
But yeah, now there's a differentrespect for it and so and people are

(21:07):
realizing, you know, that theselifeguards are heroes and the women get paid
as much as the men. Thewomen do the same job as the men.
So there's a whole other you know, layer to bay Watch, and
these women lifeguards in real life arehot, Like there's just so are the
men. That they're just gorgeous lookingpeople, so every athletic and and fabulous

(21:29):
shape. So they're out in thesun, right. Yeah, So now
you've talked about that it was weirdlycoming off of bay Watch was a huge
thing and made you very famous,should have been super easy to get work,
but you've talked about that it wasweirder because of the whole bay Watch
stereotype. Yeah, it was weird. It was like the same casting directors

(21:51):
weren't calling anymore, you know,that the echelon of people that I was
working with prior that those doors didn'tseem to be so open anymore. And
I also got to a place inmy life where I kind of felt like,
Okay, this show is not thedirection that I thought that this show
was going to go because I hadonly seen the NBC version, which was
very clean and very family and ofcourse got canceled right away because there you

(22:19):
go, you know, but that'swhat I had seen, and that's all
I knew about it. So thisis what I thought I was getting into,
and so I left the show.Who you know, I left the
number one show in the world whenit was at its peak. But I
just didn't know what else to do. I just was like, I can't
relate to this. I don't knowwhere to put this. I don't know

(22:40):
what this is doing in my career. And I kind of just decided then
to just take a break. AndI was like, you know what I'm
going to do. I'm going tojust not work for a while. I'm
going to sleep in. I've beenworking my whole life. I've been up
and you can take a break,jeez, Luis. Yep, So I
took, you know, I decidedto take a little break and just to

(23:00):
see what it was going to belike when the dust settled. And then
how did that work? Though?Well, then I ended up when I
ended up being a mother and thenwanting to stay home with my child,
and you know, life just startedhappening. So and that's that's a weird
thing if he forgets that. Youknow, everybody wants to be famous,
and especially young people go, Iwant to be a teen store, I

(23:22):
want to be a child star.But the that it's like all like life
often gets put on hold all theother stuff that everybody else is doing.
We don't necessarily do too much laterbecause we're busy. So then you hear
a bouch of them and goes,oh, well, they just their thirst
stay at home mom now and theydo this. If they do that,
are they right, Yes, becausethey didn't do any of that back when
you were That's that's exactly right.And people don't understand that. And what

(23:48):
also people don't understand is that whenyou step away and you do try something
else, that it's not because youfailed necessarily at acting or you can't get
work at acting. That's the otherthing. It's like a lot of and
I see a lot of people doit. They just want to try something
different, And I think that peopledon't have a lot of grace with actors
as far as allowed any other career. You you tell somebody I'm going to

(24:11):
switch careers. I have I've hadthis epiphany. I want to I have
a passion for something else. I'mgonna switch it up. And everybody's like,
good for you. Go for it. You're an actor and you decide
you want to do anything else,They're like, oh, has been can't
get work? You know people wholeft the business to go to like med
school. I know people who likebecame doctors and lawyers and have their own

(24:37):
company. It's like, oh,it's too bad, bad for you,
too bad it didn't work out foryou. What Yeah, yeah, I
was interesting. Yeah, everything thatisn't being on TV is somehow less.
It's very strange mindset. And I'veseen it. I've seen it, I
diah. Yeah, yeah, Imean it's hard to avoid and you sit
there and you're like, what whatare they talking about? Like you make

(24:59):
better money doing anything else? Doyou thing? Pretty much everything pays better
unless you're like one of the toplike eight people who's making money much everything
pays better. So yeah, peopledo not realize that. And I've seen
as a whole syndrome too. It'sso weird the way I said one is
treated and you did very well foryourself, but I see that like often

(25:22):
women in Hollywood are It's very similarto how child actors are treated. When
when child actors talk about how theywere treated, like don't think about this,
don't know anything about your money,don't do this, It's like,
oh, that's like Starlet's in thenineteen thirties. Wait what, And it's
weird. Women are treated a lotlike child actors are treated, and it's
can be very depressing. It's likeit's wearing you're like, really really just

(25:47):
going to talk to me like I'mstupid forever? It's true, I mean,
it's true. I think it's finallystarting to change. I bet I'm
definitely noticing a shift. But no, you're right, it's it's the most
insulting. It's like you're stupid andhow old are you? You know?

(26:08):
It's it's amazing, and god forbid, we'd want to do anything else?
Right? Did you want to doanything else? So that you want to
go to schools? Why do youwant to go to school? It's always
very strange and as I said,being talked to like you're dumb? Did
you as a child? Now isthe question? Did you have get your
money when you're a kid? Wasthere a trust fund? Did you at

(26:29):
least get your money? Was itall siphoned off? Did you do well
as far as the child's actor moneysituation, because that's not happy. Yes,
we did well. And I alwayshad a passion for real estate,
So I started investing in real estatevery young, and so up until just
recently, that's what I had.That's really how I lived is real estate.

(26:51):
To be honest with you, sobut you know, acting allowed me
to be able to invest and theninvesting it's been you know, allowed me
to my girls because I'm a singlemom for both of them, I've done
them both by myself, and it'sbeen a gift to be able to allow
me to do that. So veryhappy. And then that's the thing I
mean I did, I did thething. I bought the condominium at eighteen.

(27:14):
I did have the trust fund andI had access to money. And
that's that's a real problem she'd dowith you. With a lot of the
child actors, they don't get anyaccess to the money, so they don't
they people go, gee, didthey invest? No, because they never
saw it. Yeah, that's sosad. Yeah, that's that's just horrible.
That's horrifying. And as a parent, it's even more horrifying to think
about doing that to your child.But that's a whole other, that's a

(27:36):
whole other, you know, showbecause I can't imagine just taking from your
child. And that's that's good.Now your kids have any kind of show
business aspirations of any kind, No, not really. Anyone who worked as
a kid. When you say yourkids in the business, go no,
no, no, no, no, no, no the business no no,

(27:57):
Because you know she we're here now, so definitely has friends that like
are in it and do auditions andeverything, and she's sure is cute enough,
but they bold they could. Butluckily no no interests. No,
not even in school. They're noteven doing school plays. There one is
very artsy, very into photography,very like business mind oriented at the same

(28:22):
time, so she does a lotof like e commerce and marketing and stuff
like that. And then my youngone is super athletic, does like competitive
cheer and yeah, totally different.And I was saying, I read in
one of the bios there was awhole thing about an ice cream truck,
and I went, is this oneof these insane things that just gets into
somebody's bio on the internet, oris this a true Sian God, I
hope this is true that you actuallyowned an ice cream truck. But no,

(28:45):
it was like an entire food truck. It was age old thing.
Ye did have ice cream truck,though, I absolutely did. My oldest
wanted a summer job and she wasworking at a big clothing company I won't
name them, and just was likesick of working for the man, if
you know what I mean. AndI was like, what do you need
to do, and just the entrepreneurialpart of me came out and I was

(29:08):
like, let's you know. Andit was when food trucks were really big
and I always planned, you knowthem big birthday parties, and in my
mind, I was like, what'smissing on the market is a really great
looking ice cream truck that could pullup to the parties and be at the
party, because what parent likes dealingwith ice cream first of all, especially
in LA and then and just therewasn't anything out there. There was just

(29:34):
the creepy guys at the park thathad like prepackaged you know, things from
dry ice boxes. I was like, I don't want them coming over.
They're not invited. So then thistruck came to Fruition and it was you
know, scooped ice cream classic.It didn't drive around. It was definitely
for specific for events and birthday partiesand things like that. And so it

(29:55):
was a great job for my daughterand her friends. They got cash and
there was no boss. She wasthe boss. I was the boss,
but you know, while when thetruck was out, she was in charge.
And it was a lot of fun. Those trucks are fun. They're
fun to be on. It's alot of work, but it was a
good time. It really was agood time because I've been a party with
taco trucks and you're right, icecream truck, that's what you need.

(30:18):
That's what you need. Now Isee them a little bit more, but
back then there wasn't anything like it, and people would be so excited to
see the truck. They were like, what is this and those smiling faces
running up to the truck. Itjust was fun. So it was like
good customer service too. It wasn'tlike it wasn't like some jobs where you
know, people are miserable. Peoplewere always really happy at the ice cream

(30:40):
truck. So that's a little bit. She's had customer service, like to
liblows, because everyone's like terrible toyou. Right. So now I was
asking before he started, because Iwent, oh my god, I can't
has she has she written a book? Has he written the book? And
or do you intend to write abook? Because damn, you know,
I haven't. I do get askedthis all the time, but I'm always

(31:00):
like, geez, I hope thebest chapters haven't happened yet, you know.
So I just don't know that Ihave a full story to tell,
and then with my diagnosis, Idefinitely don't have a full story to tell
yet. So it's not something I'mdoing right now. But I mean I
I should. I like to write. But you know, I think it's

(31:26):
funny. A lot of times youlook at yourself and you're like, but
what it's so boring, so boring? What if people want to know?
And you know you have to Ijust have to be a little bit in
the mood to be a little bitmore objective than that and or subjective than
that. And I don't know,maybe maybe one day I will. I
don't think anyone would look at anypart of her life and go, gee,

(31:48):
that was boring, you know.I just I do you're boring?
But no, because people always havea million questions. But I mean,
maybe I will one day, Maybemaybe I will. I think I gotta
I gotta battle this, this fightfirst, and then you have a lot
on your plate right now. Iguess yes, there would be that.

(32:12):
Yeah, And how at this point, how long has it been? I
mean, how would you say itis going? Well? I respond,
Well, when I say, Irespond, well, that's not good.
That's I shouldn't say that. Ido okay on the treatment going as well
as I can be expected as Yes, I really braced myself for like the

(32:32):
worst thing in the world, andit's not been. So I'm very appreciative
that the anti nausea, all themedication they give me, my body responds
to and I don't, so Ifeel okay, it's definitely manageable. I
will be having my fourth treatment andit will be the final one of this
protocol of chemo that I'm doing.It's the strongest one available. And then

(32:57):
I will be scanned sometime in lateMay see where we're at, and hopefully
it's in a place where they canmaybe go in and surgically remove it,
because that would be that would beideal. They're starting with chemo and then
talking about surgery after that. Wehear a lot about surgery and then chemo.
But right I was just a littlebit. I was a little bit

(33:17):
more advanced than that. It wasa little much to just go in at
first. That's what they thought.At first. They were like, well,
imp thankto me, We're going togo in and take it out.
Maybe you'll have some chemo, andthen as you go and you do these
scans and then they're like, well, ah, actually not so so.
Yeah. My hope is just thatit's it's contained enough that they can go

(33:40):
in and just remove it. Wow. Are you talking to a lot of
other women in your position, alot of other women with cancer? Yes,
it's it's really kind of amazing.You can't turn a corner without somebody
going I went through that. It'sjust it's mind blowing. And especially since
I walk around like this, peopleknow, so you know, I get

(34:02):
a lot of people that will comeup and just start talking to me or
want to hug me, or andpeople reaching out online, through email,
through phone calls. Just the outpouringof love and support. It's wild.
It's this community is super supportive oftheir fellow warriors. It is It's unbelievable,

(34:25):
And I don't know what I woulddo without it, because you just
you hear so many different and everybody'sexperience is so different, so you know,
you kind of like cling to somebodythat you feel like yours is similar
to at least that's what I did. I was like, if they can
get through it without all of this, and then then I have a shot
at it, you know, AndI just wanted, what did you do
tell me everything you did, andand just you know, educating yourself and

(34:51):
meeting people and asking for the helpand asking for the resources and it just
people really surround you and lift youup. And it's been it's been fantastic
because it seems that the support iswhat works. I mean, my friend
Charlotte Stewart, who is our misspeledLittle House on the Prairie, who is
still absolutely amazing and traveling all overthe country, is still at eighty two,
is a breast cancer survivor and thesupport group she was in was so

(35:15):
amazing that she worked with that shestill raises money for them and still does
events for them because she said,that's that's the thing to support. And
she reaches out to women in similarsituations as well. And it seems to
be that that support from other peoplegoing through the same thing does seem to
be the key element in survival.It is, it really really is,

(35:37):
because you all of a sudden,because you get this news right and you're
so scared, and you feel soalone because it's just you alone and I
can't think of anything more lonely feeling. And then all of a sudden,
when you tell people and then theystart lifting you up and surrounding you and
just sending you things that you're gonnaneed and advice. The whole thing.

(35:58):
It just was, Ah, itwas my blowing. I had never had
that kind of love around me ever, you know, besides my kids,
but I mean by people just andyes, it's what gets you through,
It's what it helps you to relax, to educate yourself, because like I
was scared to even look it uponline or even dig into what was going
on, right, I didn't wantto hear it. I wouldn't even look

(36:21):
at the paperwork. I was like, I'm nothing to do with it.
Yeah, so it really got meto a place where I could get a
handle on things and really sort oflike roll up my sleeves and learn and
learn and listen you know from everybody. You hadn't had anyone in your family
with cancer or really both of myparents have had cancer. I lost my

(36:43):
father to cancer, My God,So then how terrifying way to hella was
Yeah, really terrifying, so reallyreally really horrible. And and and for
me watching my dad, the treatmentwas what was so awful. And so
you know it's and you hear itabout the treatment being so awful, and

(37:06):
you know it's not fun. Butso there's that fear, there's a whole
other fear. There's the fear thatyou have it, and then the fear
of what you have to do toget rid of it. You know,
it's just it's a big, bigpackage. And we hear a lot of
the horror stories, but what weoften forget as many of the worst stories
are from how many years ago,From ten years ago, from twenty years
ago, And there's been such leapsand bounds scientifically and medically, thank god,

(37:31):
in the last you've got to thelast five years, all of the
last ten years, that there's somuch more. It's it's better now,
as bad as it can be,it's sure better now. And it was
ten years ago or twenty years ago. Is there stuff you're encountering that's very
new that people didn't just have theadvantage of years ago. Well, like
I said, I think that themeds, all the stuff they give you

(37:52):
to help fight against the side effectsof the treatment, to me that they're
they're really working. I know thatfor some people they have bad reactions to
that, they have to they haveto try different kinds. I just whatever
they gave me. I lucked outand it worked for me. So yeah,

(38:14):
because you know, like I wasexpecting like what you see in movies
or what you see on TV,or what what happened years ago when people
were just so like yeah, butyou know, and I not everybody has
this great experience. There are somepeople that still have that horrible time from
treatment. So it's but you havean opportunity now to maybe sort of shield

(38:38):
yourself from some of the side effects, which you know, and the numbers,
the survival rate is just so muchhigher and so much better, and
like it's getting better every day,and you know which is Yeah, I
know from friends who've gone that thedrugs even now that they're using when they
say chemo, it's a completely differentset of drugs. They're not giving you

(39:00):
what they gave somebody twenty years agoin a chema. It's a whole other
world of treatment. It's crazy.Yeah, yeah, And I mean I
didn't even realize how many different typesof chemo there is. Like it is
such a world and I don't thinkI'll ever grasp it. I don't really
want to. But yeah, there'sjust there's a lot to it. It's
and you know, I just haveto have the faith. Everybody just keeps

(39:22):
saying it worked for me, it'sgonna work for you, you know,
and you just hold on to that. You're like, okay, let's go
and are you. I mean,obviously you look great. I know it's
a term of saying, oh youlook great, but you do you look
you look obviously very happy and aliveand marvelous, but you look you look
terribly healthy. To just a casualobserver on a zoom call, well you

(39:43):
do, you know, thank you, thank you. I got really healthy
really fast. Yeah. Yeah,as your cat climbs practically onto your shoulders
to be seen, we have tointroduce the cat because the cat has totally
gone into like the Frankie, she'soff to eat now. Yeah. I
mean I just got really healthy reallyquick. And I've never been healthy,

(40:05):
you know, in my life.So I I think that that's what it
is. That's really kind of whatyou put in your body. It's yeah,
because I did all of a sudden, I was like, oh you,
irony, is you look and feelgreat and you're sick. That's like
that great and Hollywood, it's allabout the visuals. People go, I

(40:27):
look great. I loved the newlook with the hair. Was that such
people should is it for a part? If people said, oh, it's
just a new look, like theydon't know, well, I did have
a friend. I believe this ornot, it's actually a friend he said,
why did you cut your hair?Well? This thing? You know?

(40:49):
So I don't know. I don'tknow what people say and I don't
know. I can tell some peoplelook at me and they wonder like is
that on purpose or what is that? But I don't care. I can't.
I can't care. It's just howI I am right now. This
is me for the next year.I guess. So this is what it
is. Incredible, incredible Now asI said, God, not writing book?

(41:09):
Are you doing a speaking tour?Are you doing videos? It's it's
just like, should we go toyour Instagram? I mean, yeah,
definitely my Instagram. I'm doing videos. I'm doing updated videos. I'm going
to shoot one tomorrow too before Igo into my fourth treatment. And I'm
not doing speaking tours. I justdidn't know what my future was good.

(41:29):
I didn't know what my life wasgoing to look like. I didn't I
didn't know if I was going tobe like getting out of bed. I
had like my room setup where thingswere like in arms reach, you know,
like I have a big inspiration boardon the wall that me and my
daughter made. It's like, keepgoing, you can do it. And
I mean I really prepared to likebe laying there like a zombie sick.
So I didn't know anything. Sothis is every day and still with each

(41:53):
treatment, some people will be like, oh, but by your third treatment,
you're gonna really it's gonna really hityou. And then my third when
came around and I was like I'mokay, I'm okay, and then you
know, and then they're like withthat fourth one, you know, and
it's like one coming up, andI'm I'm for me. I'm like,
no, I think I think Iknow what to expect now. I think
I think I my body's got this. I think my body is handling it

(42:15):
the way it's going to handle it. So I didn't plan anything. Back
to your point is that I didn'tplan anything because I didn't know what the
hell I was gonna are you totake to the bed. You had the
badly at the pillows, you hadthe cat, you had the drink on
the counter. Yeah, yeah,I had the barf bags. I had
it all like set up, soI didn't you know, I didn't know.

(42:38):
So as we go along, nowI'm starting to go, oh,
I can do this. I canput things on the calendar, I can
get out and go. So it'sall a new day every day. Nice.
Nice, No, the support areyou in a like a regularly scheduled
support group? Do you do itby zoom? Do do it a person
I don't go to. You know, I don't go to a cancer support

(42:58):
group because I get sick and tiredof talking about it. I really get
sick of it. Daniel Be talkingto people, Well, it's like it's
so much of your life and yourbrain is at least my brain is so
so overwhelmed with it and constantly thinkingabout it, just never shutting down that

(43:22):
I finally was like, I needto do things that take me away from
cancer talk. So, you know, after I talk to all my friends
who love me and family that checkin, I'm talking about cancer all day,
then you know the people that support, and you know, making a
video and still talking about cancer allday. So by the end of it,

(43:43):
it's sort of like I think thatmaking the videos is my therapy and
talking to people, And that's howI'm getting my therapy because the last thing
I want to do is go toa group and sit there and talk about
cancer. Again. It's just it'sjust at the end of the day,
I'm like, let's go out,let's get outside, let's go do things,
Let's get away from this. Sothis is like a good time to
take up a new hobby, youget a new job, what do you

(44:06):
want to do, What do youwant to do? You're talking about cancer.
But on the other hand, withyour position, your fame, and
how well spoken you are and howyou look and how you talk act and
that you're funny, my god,you talking to people about cancer out there
who have no one to talk to. This is going to be really good
for people. Oh yeah, well, I'm learning that. I'm just learning

(44:28):
that as they go along, becauseI you know, I'm new to it.
You know, I'm new to tocancer. And it's like I didn't
know that people would respond so welland feel so good by seeing me to
throw myself out there like that,and so anything I can do to give
back, that's exactly what I wantto do because so much was given to
me and still and just like somuch so much love and support. It's

(44:52):
hard to even put into words.You know what I felt and what I
received. So it's like anything Ican do to give back, that's where
I That's where I'm going to go. And what are you doing when you're
when you're not having chemo or talkingendlessly about cancer? What do you do
when you're off time? I meanreally, I hang out with my kids,
We listen to music, We goout, and my little one loves

(45:13):
to go thrifting, so we spendhours in like drift shops and ride bikes
and go on long walks and stufflike that. Go to the beach.
This is what we do. Weare we get outside. If we get
outside and we're like with nature andjust very mellow. I don't know,

(45:34):
this sounds pretty good. This soundslike you're I mean, you're living a
very positive, very you know,healthy mentally healthy existence here. I am
that to you and people they tellpeople all the time when they're feeling bad
about anything physically or mentally, haveyou been outside. It's amazing. It's
amazing. Like my doctor had saidto me, I don't know how you're

(45:58):
gonna feel if you're just sick orwhatever. Still make sure all the windows
are open. And I was like, that's such a good point. Make
sure all the wind that of courseI have, like all my windows.
I'm like everybody, make sure mywindows are open, make sure my music
is playing. And it's it's sotrue to just get up and go outside,
just to be in nature. Whetherit's on a on a hike,

(46:19):
or on a walk or just downthe street. I don't care what it
is. It just to get outof your own body, your own self,
your own head, your own space. It's just it's so life changing.
And listen, this is up anddown. I have down days too.
I had a couple down days theother day. It's not always so
positive. But I have to remember, you know, it's it's a survival
technique too. You've got to workon being positive. You have got to

(46:44):
enjoy every moment right now. It'syou know, what do you if you
sit there and you're you're worried andyou're worrying about it and worrying and worrying
where you're just gonna make yourself moresick and you're not enjoying what time you
have right Because listen, just becauseof cancer doesn't mean I mean I could
get like hit by some weird trucktomorrow, you know what I mean,

(47:05):
Like you just don't know. Really, My father used to say, you
could be hit by a bus tomorrow. Yeah, literally, raise me all.
You can be hit by a bustomorrow. But it's true. It's
so true, and it just ringsso true for me now in this moment.
So I'm like, you know,we just gotta just just have fun.
Well, then I would say,what would you say to women out

(47:29):
there who perhaps have not recently hada mammogram, who are not doing self
exam? What would you say,Well, it's very important. Mammograms are
very important. Women with breast dense, with dense breast tissue really need to
do self exams. You really needto go to the gynecologist and have your

(47:52):
exam and they will also do aself they will do a hand touch exam.
Those are very important, very veryvery important when you have dense breast
tissue. So everybody needs a mammogram. They really don't hurt. Put your
big girl pants on, go getit done. You're gonna you know,
if they find something, that's greatbecause you found it and you can work

(48:13):
on it. This is the thing, right, So you have to.
You have to not be afraid ofthat. And as long as you keep
going, they're not gonna find it. You know, you're gonna You're gonna
be okay. You just have tokeep doing the test. Where I made
the mistake is I wasn't doing theself exams. I didn't do it,
and I forget that because we getso you say, oh, I'm having
a mammogram, do I need todo that? And you're right, You're

(48:34):
right, you know it's that's thething and the mammograms, which I'm like,
hey, but you know they're fasternow, they're faster now they have
the automatic switch that makes it popopen instead of the hack crank. It's
now though, there is there's somerelief in that, but yeah, you're
right, it's it's with the densebreast stitch to the mamogram doesn't see everything,
doesn't don't think about this. AndI know that there's technology coming out

(48:58):
and hopefully some of it will beout very soon that's going to be able
to help with that. But inthe interim, definitely do the self exams.
Just get to know your boobs,get to know them, what they
feel like, what's right what's wrong, and and just stay on top of
it because catching it early, earlydetection is everything. All right. Well,

(49:19):
you're just you know, again blowingmy mind here. You're into inspiring,
you really do. Just the wavesof positivity coming off of you,
and you do. And it's crazy, right, you look great. I
know it sounds great, but youdo. And I'm so glad I had
you on and I'm just so ableto talk to you. And this is
just wonderful. And I have somany friends who are going to watch this

(49:40):
and a whole lot of people aregoing to make appointments at their doctor and
they're going to be in the showerdoing this tonight. Because and and fill
yourself up. Fill yourself up,girls, because it's the only right and
true. Do the line of Tshirts, Nicole says, feel yourself up
girls, This is it. Thisis how we're going to do this,

(50:02):
starting the national tour where you willtell people to fill the film feel yourself
up. Thank you, Thank youso much. And I'm doing your show
what next week? Right, yes, yes, for your show and this
will be bananas and I'll have filledmyself up between now and then. All
right, thank you so much,Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, Nicole

(50:22):
Laker. This is the Alison AringhamShow and I'm Alison arm Yay. Thank you,