Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Academy Award-winning actress and producer, now educational philanthropist and best-selling parenting author.
On the island
Eight records
It reminds me of a time in my life that I was just full of concert going and I remember the night that I was backstage with them and we had such a great time. It's one of those pieces of music that I just lift my hands up and just have the best time.
I played this every night in the dressing room, and I remember after the show was over my father came up to me. And he said, Hey Go. How did you learn to do that?
Fly Me to the MoonFavourite
Uh well, first of all, I love Frank. And secondly, Fly Me to the Moon is such a wonderful concept, and it's got a great beat to it. And the idea that you would take someone to the moon, it's so romantic.
Let it be. Allow things to happen. Try not to push too hard. And then you'll be able to see the light. So I like its message.
Main Title (I Had a Farm in Africa)
One of my favorite pieces from a movie theme out of Africa. I love this piece, and I think this is one of the most extraordinary success stories of putting the right sound the right melody the right instrumentation. To the images of the vast and beautiful Africa.
I was actually in Majorca, was with my girlfriends. I said, Well, let's go down to this bar and as we opened the door, it was like a movie. There were the Gypsy Kings singing Volare. I thought I would lose my mind. … I swear to God we danced all night long.
Imagine is what I probably would be doing on the desert island looking up at the sky and all the things that are unseen.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:36That must all have been very hard work, has it?
It it's been an intention. I don't know that it's hard work, but it really is what I wanted out of life. A good relationship, uh, a healthy family of mind and body. And I am very I feel very honored that this has happened. And yes, it's ti you put your time in. Definitely, yeah.
Presenter asks
2:38So you head up an educational foundation and you also write these books now. You know, you work hard still. I'm wondering why you don't just nestle down in Malibu and stare at the waves for ten years.
It's not my nature. I'm I'm a worker. I'm a worker bee. I'm a productive person. I'm always thinking of new things.
Presenter asks
19:28And yet, while you were being this upbeat, giggly, goofy TV blonde that all of America fell in love with, you have written that you suffered anxiety attacks, depression, and an overwhelming nausea. They were my constant companions. What was the problem?
I was pulled out of the chorus line too soon. I didn't want to do anything else. I was so excited to be there. I was away from home. … I started being asked for autographs and nobody really knew me because I was doing this T V show. So clearly people were trying to get an autograph before they even had seen me on the show. I was very confused. And I started to get down. It wasn't the world that I wanted. It was fearful. I was fearful. I didn't know what was going to happen. So not something I ever aspired to is to become well known or to be a star, ever.
The keepsakes
The book
Erich Fromm
One of my favorite books by Eric Frome, and it was one of the books that I read when I was feeling sad and down and depressed, and I realized that love is really where everything comes from. and that um when I would be feeling sad or lonely on the island, that I would be able to take a book like that and it would remind me of the depth of my spirit and soul.
Presenter asks
20:45Right. So what did you do? How did you tackle that?
I saw a doctor. I I I went immediately when I had these sort of panic attacks. I went, What is this? Why is my heart racing? Why am I feeling like this? Why I just felt so frightened and I didn't know what was going on with me. And so I saw a psychologist. He was Freudian. … I learned that actually the core of my being and my joy and happiness, which I thought I had lost, actually was there, always there, and will always be there for the taking. I learned that it was me in the driver's seat.
Presenter asks
23:46You were in There's a Girl in My Soup with Peter Sellers, and notoriously people say he's tricky to work with. How did you find him?
He was tricky, he was very temperamental, he was nervous, he was also a joy. I remember one time we went to see the baboons in his wonderful car, I think it was a Rolls or something, and it was at the park and a zoo park. … And he just had the best time watching the boons jump on the hood of his car. And it was so amazing for me and and so wonderful and yet so crazy.
Presenter asks
28:20Where is acting in your life now? Is it important to you?
I'm not looking to do this. I mean, I've spent 10 years of my life producing and working with neuroscientists and positive psychologists and educators and political people who are out there trying to change things. I've found this the most stimulating, interesting time of my life. … I don't say that if a great role came up and it would be really be fun that I wouldn't want to do it. But frankly, there aren't that many good roles that come up that I would say I would love to do.
“I think that I think what we're missing is in in our world is a little bit more of that. I think we should embrace that part of us, all of us, that that abandonment, that fun, that joy.”
“It was wild. I had just met them at that time. I'm sure there must have been lots of drugs going on, which I did not see at that time, I have to say. I felt one of the innocents, you know, when they all came out and ready to go, you know, and all that pumped up with all that energy. I just can remember thinking, this is so cool. I mean, how did I get here?”
“Dancing, it's the highest I could ever … I just can't even express to you the the the joy that you feel when you're in that place right there.”
“I learned that actually the core of my being and my joy and happiness, which I thought I had lost, actually was there, always there, and will always be there for the taking. I learned that it was me in the driver's seat.”
“Alone is good. We shouldn't be afraid of being alone. When we're alone, we really can hear our own heartbeat.”