The High Life with Ricki Lake

Please note: This episode was recorded before the devastating fires hit Los Angeles and destroyed thousands of homes, including Ricki’s. As a new year reset, Ricki is joined by functional medicine doctor, Dr. Will Cole, to answer all her pressing health questions. The two get to the bottom of seed oils, peptides and orthorexia, and talk through all the wellness trends you're curious about.  You ca...

Ricki is rocking her grey hair and embracing the changes in her body, like entering perimenopause. So let’s talk about it! Journalist Tamsen Fadal is among a powerful group of women demanding that the mainstream medical community takes menopause more seriously with new studies and treatments. Ricki and Tamsen discuss hormone therapy, hot flashes, libido, and how to enter this stage of your life wi...

This episode originally aired on July 30, 2024. In this throwback episode, Ricki speaks with writer Virginia Sole-Smith. Virginia was a skinny teenager who became a fat adult. She now writes about anti-fat bias, from finding clothes to accessing medical care. On this episode, hear Ricki open up about her own weight journey as she and Virginia talk about how weight discrimination shows up across th...

Season’s greetings! Ricki’s former co-host Kalen Allen stops by to spread holiday cheer and boy does he deliver. Not only is Kalen making his Broadway debut in ‘Elf,’ but he has a new Netflix movie and Christmas album out! Kalen and Ricki talk about his favorite holiday traditions, how it feels to be on Broadway, and why he’ll be hitting on the Secret Service men at the White House this Christmas....

Therapy is more popular than ever thanks to social media! Dr. Nicole LePera is one of the psychologists at the forefront of this trend. She has been making content on IG and TikTok that makes terms like attachment styles, narcissism, trauma, and intuition accessible to millions. She joins Ricki in today’s episode to talk about listening to our bodies and how our past traumas affect our relationshi...

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, ‘Live From The Other Side.’ Tyler and Ricki talk about her guest appearance on his show, and what it was like to read for Tyler's...

Evelyn Tribole is a dietitian who hates diets! For the last 30 years, she has been championing the idea of "intuitive eating,” a practice where you trust your gut to choose the foods that make you feel your best. In this episode, Evelyn explains why nothing is off limits and how exactly this practice works. You'll also hear Ricki get her mind blown. Ditch guilt this Thanksgiving and try out some o...

What if we could significantly improve our physical health through our mind? Social psychologist Dr. 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, strengthen our decision making, and even improve chron...

This election week, Ricki decides to destress by taking a weed gummy and talking about gardening alongside two pros – TikTok gardener Brian Brigantti and landscaper John Bonny. They chat about what’s growing in their gardens, how to create a sanctuary in your backyard, and what taking care of plants can teach you about taking care of yourself. This episode is the perfect antidote to election cover...

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 single again (wine and murder podcasts!), and how to...

For the first time ever, Ricki tells her hair loss story in detail alongside her friend and mentor Y, the founder of The Women’s Hair Loss Project. After Ricki began losing her hair in 1995, Y helped her explore treatment options, shop for wigs, and deal with the emotional turmoil. Y and Ricki swap stories of what it felt like to shave their heads, discuss drugs they took that didn’t work, and tal...

You may notice that your body thrives off some types of foods but feels awful after eating others. Why not experiment to figure out what’s working in your favor and what’s not? Ricki chats with Melissa Urban, the co-founder and CEO of The Whole30 Program, about how to optimize your meal choices and some of her favorite recipes in The New Whole30 book. Follow Ricki Lake @rickilake on Instagram. And...

‘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 loves cemeteries. Head over to Jennie's I Choose M...

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 to advocate for the neurodivergent community worl...

Chances are, you know someone with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 1 in 40 people will develop OCD at some point in their life. But what is it, and why does it show up so differently in each person? Ricki speaks with Dr. Patrick McGrath from NOCD, the world's leading provider of OCD treatment, about ways to support people with OCD, how mindfulne...

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 neighborhood and spills the tea on his own daddy drama, 'Th...

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 prosthetics, and competition at the highest level. The...

Moms have done all sorts of hard things. It’s no surprise they’re leading the fight against global warming, too. Ricki speaks with wildfire expert Dr. Emily Fischer about the ways in which moms with science backgrounds are demystifying climate change in order to change our future for the better. This episode was sponsored by Science Moms. You can learn about them at sciencemoms.com. Follow Ricki L...

Ricki first met actress Rachael Harris ("The Hangover," "Suits," "Lucifer," "Mother of the Bride") while filming a Lifetime movie together in 2007. From that point on, the two became forever friends. Join Ricki and Rachael as they gab about botox, dating with hot flashes, surrogacy, menopause, and hair extensions gone wrong. No topic is off limits. Plus, Ricki reminds Rachael of some much needed a...

The sex doctor will see you, now! Dr. Emily Morse is the host of the "Sex with Emily" podcast, a MasterClass instructor on sex and communication and best-selling author of “Smart Sex: How to Boost Your Sex IQ & Own Your Pleasure.” This week, Ricki opens up about her own sex life as she gets tips from Emily on what to do if you’re stuck in a rut, why polyamory is on the rise, and how to inject more...

Your body is giving you information all the time. Are you listening? Ricki is trying to, and you can too. In this episode, registered psychologist and embodiment expert Hillary McBride teaches us how to trust and find meaning in the cues our body is sending our mind for both everyday living and emotional well-being. Hillary describes the aha moment that led to her life's work and offers practical...

Death doula Alua Arthur never thought about death until two back-to-back experiences changed her life. A serendipitous encounter with a woman on a bus dying of uterine cancer and the terminal diagnosis of Burkitt lymphoma by her brother-in-law opened her eyes to what happens when we don’t plan for death. From those moments on, Alua realized the power in guiding people through the dying process, an...

Writer Virginia Sole-Smith was a skinny teenager who became a fat adult. She now writes about and personally experiences anti-fat bias on a daily basis, from finding clothes to accessing medical care. On this episode, hear Ricki open up about her own weight journey as she and Virginia talk about how weight discrimination shows up across the fat spectrum, how to let your kids make their own decisio...

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 that he says unfolded as a result of his first tr...

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 battle with her mental health.  Follow Ricki Lake @ri...