LA Here We Come – The Dr. Drew Show

Finally, I bought a new device that I can transfer my photos to my blog. I bought a new little camera to take with me on my book journey. Most of the photos you see on my blog to date have been taken with my big nikon, which I love, but does not work well for travel. I  bought this little camera a couple weeks ago and I think I threw out the cord that plugs into my desktop when I threw out the box the camera came in. Oh well.

Before I get to Dr. Drew, I just have to show you the new photos that my daughter Hannah took of Cleo, my studio cat. At some point I will take you on a tour of my little painting studio oasis, but not yet. Here is a great photo of probably the Queen of our property.

You can see that she is totally unimpressed that Hannah is taking photos of her and that there is a flash going off every time Hannah takes her picture.  I never knew cat’s had such personalities! My daughter Alex brought  home Cleo as a birthday gift for me almost 3 years ago – intended to keep me company out in my new painting studio. Little did I know that she would win over everyone’s heart. Including my husband, who is highly allergic to cat hair. For some reason, he does not sneeze around her so he is ok with her being a member of our family. She taunts the dog’s, especially Duke. If I don’t pay attention to her when she wants to play, she sits on my computer key board, the morning paper, or won’t let me fold laundry. She does whatever she can to get me to play with her.

Here is the story behind the filming of 2 segments on the Dr. Drew Show. I will put the video up as soon as it is available to me.

My brother has a great college friend who has worked at CNN for years. Once my galley’s came out, he suggested I get in touch with his friend and send her a copy and see what she thought. I did that immediately. She got back to me a week or 2 later and said she loved the book and had some ideas of where she would like to pitch it. She told me that once the book was published, to send her a couple of copies, and she would personally talk to people she thought it would be a good fit for.  After she pitched my book to the Dr. Drew show she sent me an email saying she did just that, and I should be hearing from someone soon. I never in a million years thought that would be the case.  A  couple of day’s later, Monday, around noon time, I got a voice mail on my cell phone from a producer at the Dr. Drew Show, telling me that they wanted to book me for their Thursday show.   It took me a while to think this out before I even told my husband, who was sitting at the kitchen table, eating lunch.

About an hour later, I called the producer back and she said they would like to fly me out to LA to tape a segment for their Thursday show. There were many  more phone calls back and forth as she had not read the book yet – had just glanced over it, and wanted to ask me specific questions. As we talked, she started thinking that it would be interesting to have my husband on as well – as his story is about tremendous change and restoration as well. I told her that was absolutely right, that there would be a very different book out if he hadn’t been willing to do the hard work on  his own to not only change his crazy, sick behavior, but also, to try and become a husband worthy of me staying with him.

Now, my husband has been 100% behind me, from the beginning, in writing this book. He has said that anything surrounding my book is my deal – he did  not want, in any way to “rain on my parade.”  I told the producer I would call him at work and ask him and call her back. I called him at work, and at first I was met with complete silence. Then he said “no, this is your deal and I am too busy to get away.” So, I responded, “I understand what you are saying but there would be no real story if you hadn’t stayed in recovery and had the guts to change.” He said to talk to the producer again and call back. They called back a few minutes later and wanted to know what he said. My response: he is on the fence.

The show producer’s really wanted him as well so I called him right back and said so. “Ben” said “honey, what do you want?” and I said, “I want you to come with me.” And he said, “then it is done. I will do it.”

Called the producer back and said “Ben” was in. Then all the flight, hotel and car service schedules began. At some point during the Monday or Tuesday of multiple phone calls, I was asked if I would stay for the Friday show as well. Apparently, they were scheduled to do a sex topic on that day. I said yes, of course.

CNN was wonderful! They made all the arrangements and we were off to the airport on Wednesday evening. We arrived at LAX and coming down the escalator, there was our driver, holding a little sign up with my name on it – not my husband’s! A Great moment. This was the first trip, EVER, in my marriage, where we were on a trip somewhere because of  me. We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel, right off Hollywood Blvd. The CNN studio is just blocks away.  I did’t sleep much that night. We were busy trying to get a hold of family and close friends to let them know what was going on. 9 am LA time, the producer calls and tells me we  have been bumped off the Thursday show because of the Casey Anthony trial. We were now going to tape 2 segments to air on Friday night. We would still tape on Thursday, but it would be later in the day.  Back to the phones and emails as we had to tell our family we had been moved to Friday.

At the appointed hour, we were picked up at our hotel and driven a couple of blocks away to CNN. Our driver delivered me right to the steps, where this big, burly guy in a black suit with an ear piece, open’s my door, helps me out of the car, and introduces himself. I felt like a very important person, I must say. I also noticed there were a couple of people sitting on the railing right as I got out of the car. They were probably excited to see someone famous – SORRY! It was just me, a wife, mother, artist, and now unknown author, from Myrtle Beach, SC! Bummer.

Went in to the HLN Studio – HLN is part of CNN. We were told to sit in the green room until hair and makeup were ready for us. “Ben” and I sat there for a few minutes, just kind of taking this all in. Part of me just couldn’t believe this was all happening.  My nerves were off the charts. A few minutes later, I was asked to come in to the makeup room. Two young women were in charge – one did hair and one makeup.  They looked like my daughter’s so I was, for the moment at ease. My husband came in and sat next to me as they worked on me. I was spray-painted with make-up foundation – which I actually liked because I couldn’t see any sun damage or flaws. No wonder everyone on TV looks so good!

Very funny for me to see my husband get spray painted – I thought he looked like a senator or a news anchor.

Went back into the green room and got miked up for the show. The staff was really nice and told me to just keep looking at Dr. Drew. Which, I did. I was then called into the studio. The door opened and there he was, looking over index cards about me and my book. I walked in, put my purse down, and walked up onto the set. Dr. Drew stood up and shook my hand and introduced himself. He was very nice. Low key.  I sat there kind of awkwardly, I must say, as he went over his cards. He asked me a couple of questions, and then the director of the segment said some things to me and we were off and running.

The first segment was over before I knew it.  Then my husband walked in for the second segment and Dr. Drew got up and introduced himself. I immediately felt more comfortable. I didn’t know this but Dr. Drew and my husband have the exact same credentials – board certified in Internal Medicine and Addiction Medicine. I thought he was a therapist, Ph.d – something in psychology.

After the show, Dr. Drew’s director in the control room came out and said that he thought we did a great interview, one of the best since the show started. (I think just over 2 or 3 months) That made me feel a bit better. Then we were ushered right out of CNN to our car and driven back to the hotel. That was it. I am sorry to say that everything went so fast, that I forgot to take a photo of me and Dr. Drew. Oh well, next time!

Finally, I was able to relax. We went out that night and had a wonderful dinner and walked around Hollywood Blvd. I have never been there before and was a bit disappointed. I thought some parts were just as gawdy and touristy as  parts of Myrtle Beach. Crowded, junky stores. We did  have a great time though. Have to admit, it is fun acting like a tourist sometimes, especially when you live in a tourist town.

When my son was little, I bought him a Chuckie doll not knowing how scary the original movie was. (I just bought it because it was a boy doll, not thinking about the scary part)  We eventually had to take the doll away because I think he began to think that Chuckie would really come to life. Now that our beautiful son is turning 25, I hope  he appreciates these two photos.  We couldn’t resist.

Then we walked a bit on the blvd. I  thought that people that had a star cemented into the sidewalk  were serious movie stars’ that had a wonderful track record of accomplishment in movie history. I think I am wrong in this assumption.

Finally, came across one of my favorites.

Next blog: Malibu