Actress Ricki Lake got her breakout role in “Hairspray” at just 18 years old, and despite experiencing rising fame, she found herself homeless in her early 20s.
“It was only when my career stopped when I was about 21, 22, and I didn’t get this big part that I wanted,” she said.
Lake revealed she lost somewhere between $200,000 and $300,000 dollars during that time, but going through that experience ultimately taught her the value of a dollar.
“I was really devastated. I went from like making all this money to making nothing and had to give up my house. And I was homeless for a short time. I had to move, but it was the most humbling experience that I’m so grateful for ... and thankfully, I didn’t have a family to support at that time.”
Lake believes her weight was another contributing factor to not landing a number of roles she was auditioning for. As a result, she decided to go on a “crash crazy diet” and lost 100 pounds.
“One of the reasons I wasn’t getting parts anymore—wasn’t getting cast in anything—was because the novelty of being the fat girl had kind of worn off, and I felt like, OK, the only thing I can control in my life is my physicality and how I take care of myself,” she explained.
The actress says she was lifted out of poverty in the 1990s when she landed a hosting gig for her popular daytime talk show “Ricki Lake,” which ended up running for 11 years and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award.
In 2012, she launched her syndicated talk show “The Ricki Lake Show” and won her first Daytime Emmy Award for “outstanding talk show host.”
Lake has since held other hosting roles including several reality and game shows and movie credits such as “Cry-Baby,” “Serial Mom,” and many others.
Currently, Lake says she is in the best place in her life both physically and emotionally. She married husband Ross Burningham in 2022, after the couple dated for two years, meeting through a mutual friend.
Together, the two embarked on a weight-loss journey, incorporating intermittent fasting, a keto diet, and joint exercises like Pilates.
Having already struggled with her weight in the past, Lake was hesitant about relying on medications like Ozempic after her doctor suggested that she go on it. Instead, she decided to make overall lifestyle changes that helped her drop 35 pounds.
“The doctor was pushing it for people who were overweight, and he was saying you weren’t going to be successful without it, is what he said to me, really. And I like a challenge. And I like proving people wrong. ... I just was reluctant, and I wanted to give it a go on my own.”
She continued, “This is a lifestyle change, I’ve made this my job, and it’s become my joy. Like, I just, I love it. I think it’s safe to say I’m in the best shape of my life.”
