The High Life with Ricki Lake

This episode of 'Raised by Ricki' originally aired March 2, 2023. Pop culture expert Danny Pellegrino knows what TV shows are worth watching and when it’s time to change the channel. Danny, a New York Times Bestselling author and host of the Everything Iconic podcast, has seen everything from early 90s talk shows to today’s popular reality TV and he’s here to spill the tea. He tells Ricki and Kale...

This episode of 'Raised by Ricki' originally aired December 8, 2022. Twenty years before Bob the Drag Queen won the eighth season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” he would run home after school to catch The Ricki Lake Show. And today, Bob joins Ricki and Kalen to talk about the show’s significance for queer people and people of color – especially drag queens. As a certified fan of The Ricki Lake Show, Bob...

This episode of 'Raised by Ricki' originally aired November 11, 2022. The Ricki Lake Show was one of the few spaces LGBTQ+ people could see themselves on TV in the 90s, and could hear their stories told. Have things gotten better? Ricki and Kalen dig into representation in front of and behind the camera with Pose co-creator Steven Canals and past The Ricki Lake Show producer Dominick Pupa. They ta...

This episode of 'Raised by Ricki' originally aired October 20, 2022. Cameras, real people, and no script. Anything could happen. Sounds like The Ricki Lake Show – and reality TV! This week, Ricki and Kalen are joined by Andy Cohen, executive producer of “The Real Housewives” and “Watch What Happens Live!” Andy talks about his lifelong love of reality TV and talk shows, the inspiration behind “The...

This episode of 'Raised by Ricki' originally aired October 11, 2022. He’s shocking, raunchy, and can’t ever be censored. Today, Ricki talks to her lifelong friend John Waters, whose iconic film “Hairspray” has become a theater favorite. It’s also where Ricki, playing Tracy Turnblad, made her movie debut. After working on several films together, the two have become lifelong friends. They dish on th...

This episode of 'Raised by Ricki' originally aired October 6, 2022. Before Ricki Lake, Oprah Winfrey and Rosie O’Donnell were talk show hosts, there was Sally Jessy Raphael. As the first woman in the U.S. to have her own major daytime talk show, she was one of Ricki’s role models. Ricki and Kalen catch up with Sally Jessy to talk about her trailblazing legacy. She shares the truth about how her ta...

This episode of 'Raised by Ricki' originally aired September 15, 2022. You may remember her from “The Flintstones” or even the OG “A League of Their Own.” Three years after The Ricki Lake Show first aired, Rosie O’Donnell made her talk show debut. The Rosie O’Donnell Show featured the likes of Tom Cruise and Madonna, where she was known for her authenticity and quirky sense of humor. Rosie joins R...

This episode of 'Raised by Ricki' originally aired September 15, 2022. Grab a friend and some snacks – we’ll provide the tea. We’re traveling back to the 90s, when The Ricki Lake Show was the place for drama and fun unlike anywhere else on TV.  Ricki and Kalen are joined by Stuart Krasnow, former supervising producer of The Ricki Lake Show, to talk about the show’s beginnings and its lasting impac...

This episode originally aired on October 1, 2024. You may know Michael Theo as the breakout star of the reality show ‘Love on the Spectrum Australia,’ where he and other young people with autism navigated the dating scene. He didn’t come away with a girlfriend, but he captured the hearts of countless people, including Ricki herself. Michael and Ricki chat about dating advice, how Michael continues...

This episode originally aired on November 12, 2024.  What if we could significantly improve our physical health through our mind? Social psychologist Ellen Langer has seen it happen first hand in countless studies at Harvard University and beyond. Dr. Langer, known as the ‘mother of mindfulness,’ joins Ricki to discuss how reshaping our perspective day to day can help us get in better shape, stren...

Does it seem like everyone around you is microdosing, or is at least talking about it? Host Reshma Saujani had a lot of questions about psychedelics, so she called up psychiatrist and psychopharmacologist Dr. Julie Holland, one of the leading voices in the field of psychedelics and mental health. Reshma and Julie dive deep into the hard science and real data behind psychedelics and discuss how the...

This episode originally aired on October 29, 2024. Women are asking for divorce way more than men. Why is that, and shouldn’t that choice be met with celebration rather than pity? Ricki talks about her own divorces with Lyz Lenz, author of the recent memoir, “This American Ex-Wife: How I Ended my Marriage and Started my Life.” They get into finances (who keeps the house?), the perks of becoming si...

This episode originally aired on October 8, 2024. ‘90210’ star Jennie Garth rose to fame seemingly overnight in the 1990s, just like Ricki. After successful careers, kids at young ages, and multiple marriages, Ricki and Jennie chat about their latest era of choosing themselves. Jennie also shares stories from her ‘90210’ days, including hiding her pregnancy and nearly getting fired. Plus, why she...

This episode originally aired on September 17, 2024. Little Karamo grew up watching Ricki Lake and dreaming of one day being on TV. Decades later, he gives Ricki her flowers for inspiring so many career decisions he’s made, like starting his own talk show, 'Karamo,' and competing in ‘Dancing With the Stars.’ He tells Ricki how much her show meant to him as a queer, Black boy in a poor Texas neighb...

This episode originally aired on September 10, 2024. As the Paralympics come to a close, Ricki speaks with snowboarder and Paralympian Amy Purdy, who at age 19 was placed on life support and underwent a double amputation after getting diagnosed with meningococcal meningitis. Amy tells her story and explains to Ricki how she was able to remain positive and grateful through terrible prognoses, new p...

We’re thrilled to invite you to The Dylan Hour, a weekly cocktail party hosted by Dylan Mulvaney, from Lemonada Media. In this fun weekly video podcast, Dylan sips and spills with some of her favorite girls, gays, and theys — featuring pop stars, Broadway belters, actors, authors, like Glennon Doyle, Margaret Cho and even her own dad!  The Dylan Hour is a delightful, 1960s-inspired, pink confectio...

This episode originally aired on July 23, 2024. Ricki talks with Ernesto Londoño, NYT national correspondent and writer of the book, Trippy: The Peril and Promise of Medicinal Psychedelics, about his reporting on Ayahuasca retreats in Brazil and some of the dangers posed by the unregulated drug market. They also dig into Ernesto's personal experience taking the drug, and the mental health journey...

This episode originally aired on July 16, 2024. Olympian Alexi Pappas may have won gold during the 2016 Summer Games representing Greece, but she wasn’t prepared for the debilitating depression she faced after the glory. Join Ricki in conversation with Alexi as they talk about losing loved ones to suicide, opting into life, and how Alexi regained her footing after her Olympic win and ensuing battl...

In this special, wind down episode of The High Life, Ricki is joined by a very special guest - documentarian and Ricki's bestie, Abby Epstein. Hear how Abby and Ricki built their creative partnership, starting with ‘The Vagina Monologues’ in the early aughts followed by several documentary films including, ‘The Business of Being Born’ and ‘Weed the People.’ Join them both in the studio as they rem...

When explorer Colin O’Brady was in his early twenties, he sustained a severe burn and was told by doctors he would never walk normally again. Eighteen months later, he won the Chicago Triathlon. Join Ricki as she is regaled by the countless adventures Colin has under his belt - from summiting Everest to crossing Antarctica on-foot alone to rowing the treacherous Drake Passage, the convergence poin...

Dr. Amanda Hanson didn’t always feel great about getting old. It was only when she began taking care of Alzheimer's patients that she realized there was an innate wisdom to aging. Fast forward to the present day. Dr. Hanson, who works as a clinical psychologist and is known on instagram as the Midlife Muse, is fully committed to helping women through all chapters of their life. In this far reachin...

This episode is a rerun of an episode we aired back in December, before Ricki was displaced due to the wildfires in Los Angeles.  Some people have a knack for painting, singing, or sports. But a select few, like Tyler Henry, can communicate with the dead. Tyler is a medium, acting as an intermediary between the living and the departed through one-on-one sessions as well as his latest Netflix show,...

When journalist Lucy Jones had her first baby, she noticed remarkable changes taking place -  not only was her body changing, but so too was her own psychology. By her third child, Lucy went searching for answers to her questions. What she discovered was "matrescence," a term coined by psychiatrist Alexandra Sacks that put into words the enormity of her own transformation. So she wrote a book abou...

If you like personality tests you'll love this episode! This week Ricki unpacks the Enneagram with expert Stephanie Barron Hall. Together they show how the Enneagram can help us understand the motivations, core beliefs, and unconscious patterns that drive our behavior. Stephanie is the author of the book 'Enneagram In Real Life,' in which she offers readers a step-by-step guide to using the Enneag...

When Ricki interviewed wildfire expert Dr. Emily Fischer last fall, she had no idea that her own Malibu home would burn down from the Palisades Fire just four months later. In this throwback episode with newfound meaning, Dr. Fischer explains why wildfires are becoming more destructive and the ways that moms can demystify climate change in order to change our future for the better. You can learn a...