02:19 AM EDT 10/15/2009
Ricki Lake
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Childbirth Healed Ricki Lake of Pain of Sexual Abuse
Originally posted 04/28/2009 03:35PM
Women use many different words to describe childbirth: amazing, painful, miraculous.
For Ricki Lake, it was also healing.
In her new book for expectant moms, Your Best Birth, the actress, 40, reveals that having her own children – Milo, 12, and Owen, 7 – helped her overcome a traumatic childhood experience. "I was sexually abused [around] age six or seven," she tells PEOPLE.
Giving birth helped her overcome the shame she carried around for years. "I was able to look at my body and see what it was able to do and embrace it," says Lake. "Sort of let go of all the body image issues."
She hopes other survivors who become moms can do the same. "There's a potential healing process that can take place for women," she says, "if they're just in touch with it."
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Ricki Lake: 'I Can't Believe I Was Fat'
Originally posted 11/30/2008 11:50PM
Ricki Lake has trimmed 140 lbs. from her all-time top weight
of 270 lbs. – and says she is holding steady.
"I can't believe I was a fat person for most of my life," the former talk show host, rocking a sexy black Herve Leger dress (size small), told PEOPLE at a recent benefit for the New Space for
Women's Health, a New York City birthing center slated to open in 2010.
"I didn't have surgery and I worked hard. There's no secret. I'm active. I watch what I eat," Lake, 40, adds.
But she's certainly not immune to the pressure to stay thin. "According to Hollywood standards, I'm not a thin girl. I’m a normal girl," says the mom of two boys, Milo, 11, and Owen, 7. "I don't want to perpetuate that obsession but yet
I am also guilty of wanting ... to lose weight."
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Ricki Lake Fires Back at Doctor Groups Over Home Births
Originally posted 06/18/2008 01:50AM
Ricki Lake and doctor groups are embroiled in a heated new feud over the safety of having babies at home.
"Home birth was around long before hospitals were taking over – and I just think women need to know (the information) so that they can make the best choice for them," Lake, 39, tells the Associated Press.
Lake, whose documentary The Business of Being Born features footage of her home birth of son Owen, now 7, is accusing doctors' groups of targeting her strong views on the benefits of midwifery and home births.
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Ricki Lake Gives Birth – to A Movie About Birth
Originally posted 01/10/2008 02:20PM
Having given birth to her second son Owen, now 6, at home, Ricki Lake has now given birth to a long-gestating project: a documentary on child birth, The Business of Being Born.
At its benefit screening Wednesday night in New York, the former talk-show host, 39, joked with PEOPLE after the graphic scenes in which she is actually shown delivering Owen: "I'm afraid it's going to be on 'Mr. Skin' tomorrow."
Permalink | Filed Under: Movie News, Ricki Lake
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Ricki Lake Sets the Record Straight on John Mayer
Originally posted 12/13/2007 01:40PM
Yes, John Mayer recently admitted to having a "crush" on her. But Ricki Lake insists their relationship hasn't moved beyond casual cocktail party chit-chat.
"I swear to God, there is no story," she told PEOPLE Wednesday during a photoshoot for the magazine. "I met him at a party. He admitted he had a crush and I admitted, hey, vice versa. That was it. I wish there was actually something to tell. There was nothing."
Permalink | Filed Under: John Mayer, Ricki Lake
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Ricki Lake's Weight Loss and Confidence Gain
Originally posted 10/26/2007 12:55PM
Ricki Lake showed off a newly trim figure at a charity event in Los Angeles on Thursday, and credits a strict exercise regimen for the transformation.
"I think I had [that muscle] under all that fat all those years. I think it was just there," Lake told PEOPLE at the Choose Your Cause Launch Party and Charity Benefit at Fred Segal Fun in Santa Monica.
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Ricki Lake's New Man, New Life
Originally posted 06/02/2006 09:50AM
2004 was a year of changes for Ricki Lake – she decided to end her self-titled talk show after more than a decade and separated from husband Rob Sussman after nine years of marriage.
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A New Era for Ricki Lake
Originally posted 07/16/2002 01:00PM
The "Ricki" show will celebrate its tenth anniversary in September and, like its host, will try to start to acting its age.
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Lake's Water Baby
Originally posted 08/22/1997 12:00AM
Ricki gives birth in a tub.
Permalink | Filed Under: Ricki Lake
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