Posts Tagged ‘Gone Country’

Taylor Dayne Opens Up About Botox

March 6th, 2009

Taylor Dayne turns 47 Saturday, but unlike most celebrities she isn’t shy about revealing how she keeps her look youthful. (This time, it’s not just water and being happy.)

In this interview, the ‘80s pop star-turned-Gone Country 3 crooner talks frankly about her cosmetic procedures, the impact a superficial world has on her as a parent to twins Astaria and Levi, 7, and how she maintains her shape. Plus, she opens up about her friendship with Paula Abdul.

What’s your secret to looking young?  
Listen, a little Botox here and there doesn’t hurt. That’s one thing. But people don’t talk about skincare. Laser treatments are remarkable for your skin and sun damage. And a great product routine on your face – whatever works. I think that’s really key. That’s helped a lot for me. And I’m telling you – exercise, exercise, exercise. Staying in a great frame of mind over the years.

As a woman, as you get older, you get challenged by that all the time because your body works against you a lot because we are hormonally challenged so much.

Your emotional state really reflects your outer beauty on a lot of levels. Emotionally, I’ve always been challenged that way. I always had a lot of anxiety in my body, you know, so working out helps with that, and I believe in a lot of hormone replacement therapy. It’s worked for me successfully.

You mentioned Botox, but a lot of people say they can’t move their face after getting treatments…
[Laughs] Well, is that such a bad thing? [laughs] I don’t know that that’s such a bad thing. I have no idea what they’re referring to.

Brows? Anything excessive, you’re going to have problems with it. I can promise you, if I have too many martinis, I’m going to have problems the next day. Everything in moderation.  

But the whole idea of starting Botox and fillers when you’re 60 or 70, that’s when you get that stuff? I don’t think so. It’s preventative. It stops your face from getting lines. I have a different theory on it, from creasing, from starting the process.

The most beautiful women I’ve seen – there are ways to go about the process looking like a beautiful woman. I don’t look 20 years old, I don’t look 25 years old. Come on.

What would you recommend for someone in finding a good plastic surgeon?
Well, Botox is hardly plastic surgery. It’s dermatology now. That’s not surgery. There are so many people who are doing it now. There are estheticians and clinics that have that. I just say look into it, make sure it’s a good source and decide if it’s for you.

As a parent, do you think there’s too much emphasis on looks these days?
I think there always has been, but I think we’re looking at a younger generation, and that’s the part that I struggle with just looking at my own daughter and my son because children today are influenced by a lot of things we weren’t. We didn’t have videos and stuff like that. It’s a hardcore world out there. The girls are growing up real young, and thinking they can be all sassy and sexy.

When I think of when I was 15 and how I was dressing for the boys, you know, and I look at the 15-year-olds now and the 13-year-olds now, and how they’re dressing for the boys … it’s tough. It’s real hard to rope it in.

Any budget beauty tips you can share?
Everybody does a Vitamin C mix. A, E, and C. You can take a Vitamin C in the morning or in the evening, and crush it up like Ester C and use it in a wash when you do your face at night. You can do that with Vitamin K, too – you can crush up the tablets and put that in a wash. You might leave that on – it helps with sun damage.

There’s a lot of stuff like that. A, E, and C are in stuff like Ester C when they say they put Vitamin C on their face. You usually do that during the day, to be honest, before you put your sunblock on. It’s really good for the skin. It’s really, really good.

Otherwise, I always have an A and D ointment I’ll put on my hands or I’ll put it on my chapped lips. An A and D ointment is really good stuff. I always have a Kiehl’s lip balm. Even MAC has this great Dazzle gloss. I always have to have something on my lips.

Do you believe in dieting? How do you stay thin?
I hate dieting, but what am I going to do? With this body, I have to. I don’t naturally have Angelina Jolie’s body, let me tell you. I’m a curvaceous girl.

It’s a day-to-day thing. It sucks. It’s awful. High protein, low carbs. I’m not a big sugar mama, so that’s OK, but the usual high protein, good food. Try to stay away from processed foods, because at the end of the day, that always kills you.

How do you stay in shape?
I like to mix it up. I do anything from hiking, running, I do something called Barry’s Boot Camp a couple times of week if I can do it, and just straight-up go to the gym.

What’s Barry’s Boot Camp all about?
Oh, it’s high-impact cardio and free weights, just mixing it up. It’s thirty minutes in a row. It’s high-impact aerobics, running and inclines and all that crap, and then thirty minutes of free weights and military positions if you will.

Do you keep in touch with other stars from your heyday? I know Paula Abdul was around during your time.
Well, I’ve built friendships over the years. I was just at Paula’s house sitting on her bed looking at her new perfume. She was showing me the new pocketbook line. Sure, I’ve built relationships over the years, that’s just funny that you said her, but sure we’re friends. I was over with another friend of hers, Jimmy, who she’s very close with, and we were looking at the new line. She was handing me off one of her perfume scents. I like one of them very much. It’s very sexy. It’s pretty hot.

Paula’s a sweetheart, but we’re not super tight. She’s friends with my other friend.

What’s something that might surprise us about you?
I’m a feisty New York girl that’s still going strong. A lot of women relate to me. I’m not a shoulda-coulda-woulda person. I go for it, whatever “it” means. And I try.

Catch the finale of Gone Country 3, which airs on CMT Saturday at 2pm, 8pm and 10pm.

Taylor Dayne Talks Surrogacy, Singlehood

February 16th, 2009

Taylor Dayne had a major influence on pop culture when she hit the big time in 1987 with a string of hits that included Tell It To My Heart, Prove Your Love, I’ll Always Love You, Don’t Rush Me, With Every Beat of My Heart, Love Will Lead You Back and I’ll Be Your Shelter.

By 1993, the name Taylor hit its peak in popularity of baby names.  

“You wonder where they generated from, right?” she yuks. “It was a very uncommon name in 1987, that’s for sure, but it’s a compliment.”    

Perhaps she even inspired the name of country’s latest sensation, Taylor Swift, who was born in 1989. She laughs off the suggestion. “I would say that her mother was a fan.”

Even though Taylor – who was born Leslie Wunderman – has had a remarkable career, she confesses her proudest moment was the surrogate birth of her twins Astaria and Levi, 6.  

“I went for it, and I did it as a single mom,” the star of Gone Country, which airs Saturdays on CMT,  tells me. “I’m very proud of this achievement, and I’m very proud they chose me and I’m their mom.”

In this interview, Taylor, 46, opens up about her fertility choice and finding the right man.

Tell me about your surrogacy experience, and why you chose to take this route to conceive.
I did it quite differently than a lot of people. I had a surrogate carry it, and it was my egg. I went for one, and I got two. This is in 2001 right before 9/11 when she was pregnant with the twins, and I was on Broadway. She called me up and they told me.

I’m very proud of the achievement.

I didn’t want to lose the window of opportunity. I’d been through enough relationships where nothing stuck, and somebody mentioned a surrogate when I was thinking adoption.

I said ‘a surrogate? What is that?’ and they go ‘rent a womb.’ I’m like ‘rent a womb?’ And they’re like ‘it’s yours, they look like you.’ It was mind-blowing at the time. This was in the year 2000.

Here in L.A. it was legal, but in New York it wasn’t. I was in New York at the time, and I went back and forth, and then I started doing Broadway. I found an agency in Los Angeles, and it was a real process.

Who is the father? Is he involved in their lives?
[Laughs] The father will remain a mystery, but he is a dear friend. They know who he is, but as an involved parent, he doesn’t live here or near, so he’s not involved in that respect.

I imagine as a single mom, you go on dates. How does being a mom influence the men you choose?
Yes, I do. That’s part of the day-to-day challenge. I’m still Taylor Dayne, I’m still me, I’m still a kid in a candy store, and I think you have to take care of the children that are on board. Sometimes you meet quality people and sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you come up short. Interesting, interesting times.

Do you have someone special now?
I’m currently dating. Let’s just put it that way. That’s basically where I am.

What qualities do you look for?
I wish I could say I have a specific thing like the tall, dark and handsome. But that’s not true. I just think a man’s qualities will shine through rather immediately for me.

I like smooth operators who have a sense of humor, certainly a real sense of themselves, a man who knows who they are. I think it’s important that they admire women and like the challenges opposed to saying they like the challenge and at the end of the day, they run away from the challenge of a woman that is intelligent, that can actually speak with them.

Somebody I talked to the other day who was quite beautiful, actually, it was interesting to hear her perspective. She said ‘listen, I don’t want to be their trophy.’ And she’s clear about that. She says ‘I’m looking for the heart. I’m shooting for the heart.’ I know what that means. A lot of people prefer to be the trophy. You vacillate. You still want to maintain your beauty and your grace, you know, but at the same time to be in a relationship in very difficult. There’s a lot of compromise. I’m learning.

I’m not necessarily looking for man who has such-and-such amount of money in their bank and this, that and stuff. A real connection is always key and chemistry and essence has to happen.

What are your kids into these days?
My children are pretty divine. They’re young. They’re blessings, and they always are. They’re precocious, alive, fantastic, thoughtful and every day they’re bringing home something new and different. They’re into hiphop, dance, skateboarding and dance.

What are your hopes for them?
My biggest hope for them is to make sure they are happy, content, peaceful and satisfied and successful people in this world. Give back, and learn how to live fulfilling lives. Feel fulfilled. I like knowing that in their hearts they feel safe, and yet they challenge themselves. That’s what I hope for.

Would you encourage them to go into showbiz?
I would follow their lead because for me, by this time in my life, at age 6, my destiny was mapped out for me. I was doing solos in school already, and I knew. There’s inner dialogue that you have with yourself. I had my destiny, I knew what I wanted. You have to watch, and so if they desire it – and they show interest in it – I’m talking a real interest – sure, I would encourage it.

What advice do you have for Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O’Connell, who also have twins?
Oh, Rebecca and Jerry, they’re going to be just fine. They’re going to have a good old time. There’s a lot of love over there. Good nanny, little sleep and they have each other, so it’s a beautiful thing.
 
Gone Country airs Saturdays at 8/7c on CMT.

How Stars Spend Super Bowl Sunday

February 1st, 2009

Celebrities love the Super Bowl.

Inkheart star Brendan Fraser tells me he can’t get enough “buffalo wings and suds” while Gossip Girl’s Blake Lively calls out “nachos and hot dogs” as her favorite indulgences during the big game.

This will be Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel’s first Super Bowl. Will he watch? “I guess I will, if you want me to,” he tells me. What will he eat? “I love my popcorn, and a good hot dog,” he tells me. “A big, fat, juicy hot dog because I’m a slumdog. Oh, that was bad.”

How will Mr. and Mrs. Howard Stern spend the big day?

“I will get out my Terrible Towel, and that’s something a Pittsburgher would know,” Beth Ostrosky Stern tells me. “It’s a Pittsburgh thing. It’s towel that has the Pittsburgh Steelers on it. In 1981, we were all waving our Terrible Towels. Howard and I will be watching it up on the big TV, and I’ll probably make turkey chili.”

America’s Next Top Model judge Nigel Barker won’t be tuning in to watch the big game. “I don’t watch the Super Bowl,” he tells me. “I’m an Englishman. I’m a soccer fan.”

However, Gone Country star Justin Guarini will be watching. “My favorite Super Bowl snack is either a Philly cheese steak, if I can get my hands on one, or a nice Philly pretzel with mustard – French’s mustard,” the season one American Idol runner-up tells me. “It’s a little piece of home because I travel so much. I’ll take every little piece of home I can get.”

Fellow Gone Country star Richard Grieco will order pizza. “It came from it was easy to do back when we were kids, and it’s always been my favorite since then.”

What are his Super Bowl traditions?

“Well, I usually go for one thing, but if I don’t go, I usually watch it by myself because I don’t want any outside interference when I’m concentrating on the game,” Richard says.

Of course, Super Bowl Sunday is a big day for the former 21 Jump Street star. “I watch football every Thursday night, every Saturday, every Sunday, every Monday night. Then I watch NFL Network when I go to sleep, or ESPN when I go to sleep.”

Their Gone Country costar Taylor Dayne adds, “I’ll lay out a table and make sure we have some beer in the house. There’s been everything from nachos to tons and tons.”

Ciara says, “I look forward to inviting some friends and just sitting down and watching the game.”

Does Saturday Night Live star – and Bride Wars writer – Casey Wilson have any traditions?

“Oh man, I don’t. Yeah, sadly. It sounds like a dumb girl – yeah, I don’t know anything about football. But the truth of that matter is I don’t.”

Keyshia Cole seconds that thought. “I am not into football. Usually I might take my dogs Lyric, Lola and Gizmo to get groomed  … or maybe clean up.”

Cassie is more traditional. “I’m usually at home with my family eating junk food,” she tells me.

Enjoy your Super Bowl Sunday, everyone!

Justin Guarini’s ‘Idol’ Dish

January 22nd, 2009

Justin Guarini is getting ready to make his Nashville debut on CMT’s Gone Country 3, which debuts Saturday at 8/7c.

The American Idol alum — who placed second to Kelly Clarkson in 2001 – will compete against Taylor Dayne, Mickey Dolenz, Richard Grieco, Sheila E., George Clinton and Tara Conner to release a single to country radio.

He got a helping hand when he met up with Diana DeGarmo, who starred with Maureen McCormick in the original Gone Country, in judge John Rich’s bar. What advice did she give him?

“I think if you can get through American Idol, you can get through anything,” the star, 30, who is planning a summer wedding, tells me. “Really. I think we both knew that.”

Although he had a great experience on Gone Country, don’t expect to catch Justin on Dancing With The Stars, even though fellow Idol Kellie Pickler has expressed interest.

“They wouldn’t let me because they don’t let Idols do Dancing With The Stars because they go up against one and other,” he tells me. “There’s an unspoken rule – at least publicly probably — about not allowing any Idols to go on.”

Ouch, that’s a heartbreaker for Miss Pickler.

While we’re at it, Justin is out to quash more dreams.  

“I think 2010 may be the last season of American Idol, so they may be doing a reunion show,” he tells me. “I believe 2010 is the last season of American Idol.”

Hurry up, hopefuls! Time is of the essence.

When Justin gets together with fellow Idols like Kelly, Carrie Underwood, David Cook, David Archuleta, Jordin Sparks, Chris Daughtry, Kellie and Clay Aiken, it’s easy to feel the love.

“You can’t help but to have a special bond because you’ve gone through something so insane together. It’s like a really cool, select club. You get to see what you experience was like compared to other people’s experiences.”

How has the show changed over the years?

“They can’t help but to grow, without a doubt, but  … it has completely expanded. It has gone to a small, postage-sized stamp stage with basically CD tracks to now a huge, revolving monolithic structure that has an orchestra and a band and all kinds of crazy explosions and lights and things going on. The production value has improved astronomically.”

 What’s his prized possession from his Idol days?

“I kept all my outfits – all those wacky things that I wore. Those are pretty much my prized possessions. I’ve got so much memorabilia – I’ve got the demo CDs that we cut at Capitol Records, I’ve got so much stuff. I plan to dedicate a room to it at some point once I can get to it.”   

He adds, “I had a pair of jeans that had splotches of paint on it – artistically done, of course. That was one of my favorite outfits. There were outfits that made me cringe, of course. There was one that was like a couch from the seventies. It was some strange couch from the seventies that I got. But I think it’s fun to look back at, and say ‘my God, I wore that?’”   

Gone Country 3 premieres Saturday at 8/7c on CMT.

*NSYNC’s Chris Kirkpatrick Has ‘Gone Country’

August 15th, 2008

*NSYNC’s Chris Kirkpatrick gets back to the music with a stint on Gone Country 2, which premieres tonight at 8/7 C on CMT.

It’s been ten years since I met Chris and JC Chasez backstage at the Odeon in Cleveland when I interviewed them for MTV just as *NSYNC’s second single, Tearin’ Up My Heart, was climbing the charts.

Today, the 36-year-old music man is driving through Cincinnati, Ohio, en route to Toronto, where he’s recording an album as the lead singer of alternative-pop band Nigels 11.

Wait, what happened to country?

“I just wanted to learn what it was like, how it’s written, because it’s a completely different style of music than what I’m used to with the rock, pop and R&B,” he tells me. “Everything about the writing style and the music is different in this genre.”

The show also features judge/host John Rich, and competitors Lorenzo Lamas, Irene Cara, Jackson 5’s Jermaine Jackson, Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach, American Idol’s Mikalah Gordon and actress Sean Young living and working together. They follow in the footsteps of those on the original Gone Country, such as Maureen McCormick and American Idol’s Diana DeGarmo.  
 
The winner will record and release a single on country radio.

“Lorenzo and I had to room together, so he was giving me vitamins everyday and telling me workout stuff,” Chris says.

Who is this dating bachelor’s country crush?
 
“Gretchen Wilson,” he tells me. “She’s cool, she’s ballsy, she says what’s on her mind and she doesn’t beat around the bush. She says ‘this is the way I am, I’m a country girl, and either like me or don’t.’ I like the honesty.”  

What was his wildest memory from the *NSYNC days?

“We took our motorcycles on tour one year and went riding in every city. That’s what was cool about riding through Cincinnati just now. I was looking around and remembering places where I’d ridden my bike. I got to ride all across the country.”

Chris tells me his prized possession from their heyday is the mechanical bull from the tour that he now keeps in his garage. “I don’t want to ride it because if you fall off once, you’ll break something.”

I once interviewed Britney Spears backstage when she was opening for *NSYNC. What is his fondest memory of her?

“After shows when she was dating Justin [Timberlake], she’d come on the bus, hang out and talk. She was a really cool chick. She was a real down-to-earth girl. It was cool to get her take as well as our take about everything that was happening at the time — like the huge explosion and how big we’d get. We were all a part of it. She’s a smart girl.”

These days, Chris has no plans to move to Nashville, but he’s been back twice since taping Gone Country 2 – and his uncle lives there.

What’s his favorite thing to do in Nashville?

“I like the Wildhorse Saloon, the place we performed,” he says. “It’s a cool atmosphere, it has a cool vibe. There’s people line-dancing, there’s plenty to eat and drink, you just sit around and listen to music and watch people dance. People are dancing to hip-hop music, line-dancing. That’s cool.”       

Chris hopes to work behind-the-scenes writing and producing country songs. He’s already gotten a headstart with his production company, Working Class Industries, and he’s hosted Kenny Chesney and Dave Matthews in his home studio. “I haven’t worked with the Dixie Chicks, but I’m not opposed to it.”

He nixes any more reality shows like Dancing With The Stars with the firm “definitely not.”

“This is it for me,” he says. “I’m a musician first; I love music. I did this show because I wanted to learn about a genre of music I didn’t know about. I love being around music no matter whether I’m behind the console or in front of the crowd.”

Catch Chris on Gone Country 2, which airs tonight at 8/7 C on CMT.

Sean Young Discusses Rehab Stint

July 10th, 2008 / Author: OK! Staff

Sean Young will show off her singing chops on the new season of Gone Country, but the actress says people are still saying that she had gone crazy.

An intoxicated Sean unleashed a flurry of expletives at January’s Directors Guild of America Awards and checked into rehab the next day.

"When I got drunk at the DGAs, I guess I finally went, ‘I’ve had enough,’" Sean tells OK! at the Television Critics Association gathering. "My social anxiety has turned into social hostility. I woke up this morning and thought, ‘I have been in show business 29 years and I didn’t want to get up and talk to the press.’ My interest — it’s waned a lot. I’m much more interested in raising my kids."

The Blade Runner star, whose relationship with James Woods once caused a commotion, now says her life today is pretty normal.

"I’m feeling pretty happy," she says. "I do yoga three times a week. I raise my kids. I don’t pursue work really aggressively."

But now Sean is inexplicably trying to be a country singer on the second season of the CMT reality show! Look out!

No Wedding Date Yet for Bachelor’s Matt & Shayne

July 10th, 2008

So far, no Bachelor coupling has made it to the altar yet — though Bachelorette Trista Sutter has — and the show’s latest lovebirds are determined to be the first.

Matt Grant proposed to Shayne Lamas, daughter of Lorenzo Lamas, on the season finale of The Bachelor: London Calling, and Lorenzo says the two are still on track for a wedding.

"They’re together and they love each other," Lorenzo, who will compete on the new season of Gone Country, tells OK!. "They haven’t set a date yet."

Shayne is Lorenzo’s daughter with Michele Smith and beat out Chelsea Wanstrath for Matt’s heart. And Shayne isn’t only one who’s enamored with Matt. Lorenzo adds that he approves of his future son-in-law!

Maureen ‘Marcia Brady’ McCormick Made For Country Music?

January 25th, 2008

Maureen McCormick is the surprise hit featured on Gone Country, CMT’s reality series about celebs who want to become country singers.

Host John Rich, 34, of Big & Rich fame, called to chat from his Nashville pad.

“What surprised me about her is she’s an emotional roller coaster all the time,” he tells me. “She’s either laughing at the top of her lungs or bawling her eyes out every ten minutes. She’s unpredictable. Once you get to know her, you know that she wears her heart on her sleeve, which is a positive if you’re going to make country music. You’ve gotta be able to tap into that stuff. I was shocked. She was able to get serious when it was time to get serious.”

John calls her ditty The Price I’ve Gotta Pay For Being Me the best song written in the competition that includes Bobby Brown, American Idol’s Diana DeGarmo, Julio Iglesias Jr., Sisqo, Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider and Carnie Wilson. The winner will record a country single produced by John.

“It’s about her life,” he says. “Somebody that’s been typecast like that her entire life … she’s like ‘I’m Marcia Brady, but I’m not Marcia Brady. I’m Maureen McCormick.’ Everybody’s like ‘no you’re Marcia Brady.’ You can imagine that being your life. That would drive you nuts after awhile. You’d have to learn to deal with that.”

Does the former Marcia Brady, now 51, have what it takes to become Nashville’s next big star?

“Maureen proved to be a real surprise on that show because out of all the singers, she’s the weakest singer but wrote the strongest song,” he tells me. “In music, a lot of times the greatest song wins. Some of the greatest songs of all time were sung by people who were not the greatest singers. Kris Kristofferson is a great example of somebody who’s an OK singer but an absolute genius songwriter, and had a great career.”

Catch Gone Country, which begins tonight at 8pm ET/PT on CMT.

TV RECAP: Weekly Adventures in a TV World: Gone Country, Celeb Meltdowns and Miss America!

January 24th, 2008

It’s a good weekend to stay home and watch TV!

Tonight, six celebrities from different music genres try their luck in Nashville on the new reality series Gone Country, airing 8 p.m. on CMT. Not only will these singers take on the music, but they’ll also try to live the country lifestyle, yee haw! In the first episode we meet the brave sextet: Sisqo, whose already halfway there since he sings about clothing; Carnie Wilson, who’s got a mouth that can rival any trucker’s; Dee Snider of the awesome 80s hair metal band Twisted Sister, whomust have realized realized that Bret Michaels has already sealed up the dating an aging rock star scene; American Idol runner-up, Diana DeGarmo (well, it worked for Carrie Underwood!); Julio Iglesias Jr. – yep, I didn’t know he had another son who could sing either; Maureen McCormick of The Brady Bunch fame, who missed out on her singing career because of her parents (read about it here); and the infamous Bobby Brown, and we know what happens when he stars in a reality show! They all shack up together in a pimped-out farmhouse and learn how to twang and drawl from Big & Rich’s John Rich. “Imagine Dee Snider from Twisted Sister and Bobby Brown sharing a room together for two weeks. Just imagine that,” John Rich says. “Anything that could’ve happen pretty much did.” Yep, like Maureen and Bobby discovering they’re BFFs, eew… Gone Country premieres Fri., Jan 25 at 8 p.m. on CMT.

 

Saturday, the line-up gets even hotter!

E! counts down the juiciest celebrity freak-outs in 25 Most Sensational Celebrity Meltdowns, which includes such gems like Anne Heche, Mel Gibson and Alec Baldwin. E! won’t reveal who’s got the top slot, but here’s my guess: hello Britney!! The two-hour countdown premieres Sat. Jan. 26 at 5 p.m. on E!

I’ll finish out the night watching our brilliant editor-in-chief, Sarah Ivens, help crown the new Miss America Live! from the judging panel. The competition begins Sat., Jan, 26 at 8 p.m. on TLC.

Let the cold come! I’ll stay warm with my remote control!

AD FPO