My 15 Minutes of Fame with Tavis Smiley...and a Few More Surprises

Yesterday I was in Los Angeles to tape an interview with Tavis Smiley for his late night show on PBS. To be perfectly honest, I had never heard of him until my publicist sent me a VERY excited email a couple of months ago letting me know they wanted to book me to talk about Border Insecurity. It took me a while to start doing my homework, but even though his show is on PBS and very late at night, it started looking more and more like he had a pretty huge audience. He has interviewed the likes of Jamie Lee Curtis, Ian Somerhalder, Salman Rushdie, and Jackie Collins, just to name a few.

So needless to say, I was a nervous wreck in the days leading up to my trip. I got a decent night's sleep on Monday night, had an OK breakfast and a small rushed lunch because that's all that time and the butterflies in my stomach would allow, and then I was off to the studio. I was feeling a bit more calm about the interview itself, but more nervous about my legs. I slept okay, but not great, and my left leg was really stiffening up on me that morning. My drop foot is almost completely on my right side and I have my WalkAide to help with that, but I'm starting to notice it creeping up on me on the left side. I was thinking, wouldn't it be just craptacular if I did a face plant in the studio right before my interview?

Anyway, when I arrived the studio was a flurry of activity. I was hoping to see Harry Hamlin, with whom I'd be sharing Thursday night's episode and whom I aDORE as Perseus from the original Clash of the Titans film. Yeah, yeah, he's on Mad Men, whatever. That movie is a classic! It turns out he wasn't showing up until later in the afternoon, but you can imagine my surprise when I realized they were filming nine segments in that one day--meaning I'd be seeing a lot of stars in my short time there!

I was ushered into my little private "green room" with a TV, water, and snacks. A lot of people came and went in the hallway, and I started to gather that Hugh Dancy from the new TV show Hannibal (based on the book/movie) was in the room next door. The only reason I know who he is is because he's married to Clare Danes, whom I LOVE in Homeland! I figured it would be rude to say something to him about his wife and not his show, so I kept to myself :). Over the next half hour, several extremely nice staffers checked on me to make sure I was okay; I can't tell you enough how nice everyone there was. I chatted with the producer about questions Tavis might ask me, and the makeup lady just tamed down some flyaway hairs. Then I was on!

The interview was only fifteen minutes long, and the time flew quickly. Tavis asked good, meaty questions and I think I gave meaningful answers. We covered many of the main points of my book, so I was happy we were able to touch on so much in such a short period of time. The chair was comfortable, and the perfect height so I could try my best to have good posture; I slouch way too much! After we finished, Tavis had me sign his copy of my book, then write in the show's guest book. After I stepped off the platform and headed out of the studio, the executive producer stopped what she was doing to introduce herself and tell me she thought I did a great job. I don't know if she says that to everyone (I always assume TV people get paid to coddle celebrities and show guests, so I always worry they don't always mean it and are just being nice), but it was really nice of her to do that. In the hallway I also had several staffers tell me they thought it went great, so I was happy. You can actually now watch the video of the interview HERE!

But the most interesting part of the afternoon hadn't even happened yet. After the interview, I changed my clothes since I was heading straight to the airport, then went to use the bathroom. It was a unisex bathroom and the only one available, since Tavis Smiley gets his own the next door over. As I was finishing up, I heard someone jiggle the handle (which I remembered to lock, fortunately). I washed my hands quickly so as not to make anyone wait too long, and as I opened the door to walk out, I see...Larry King standing there. It took my brain a bit to process this surreal piece of information, and what do I do? I said something stupid along the lines of, "Funny meeting you here!" Oh, brother. The poor guy just wanted to get in and do his business, and he's met with a flustered woman trying to navigate a bright orange walker around him, his escorts, and a narrow hallway.

It was finally time to go, so I headed down the hallway to the door. That was when I happened to say hello to Cheech Marin as he walked down the hallway towards me to his little green room. Like it was no big deal and I say hi to him all the time. Yep. Right before I walked out the door, one of the staffers came with a little white bag and said it was a thank you gift for being on the show. They had printed out three 5x7 photos of Tavis and me during the interview that I imagine they got off a screen grab, and they were great! They even put one in a plastic frame for me, which I thought was so nice. Then I was off to LAX to head home to my beautiful boys and my "normal" military mommy life ;). If you'd like to tune in and watch the show, it'll air this Thursday night (May 1) on PBS! Please check your local listings for the time, as it varies from city to city!