Watching The View

This is part two of a four part series. To read part one of the interview, visit Part One: The Early Years.

What is your most memorable role and what makes it memorable?

My most memorable role… hmmm… I had to play Jenny McCarthy’s best friend on a pilot of hers. They’d (the producers) fired an actress and had me audition to take her place. I booked the role, but the rehearsals for the show had been going on for a week before I’d gotten there. I came down to the set and learned that I’d be doing a choreographed karate dance with Jenny to the song “Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting”. Needless to say I was so very nervous… I think I pulled a muscle from all the times I jumped in the air screaming “Ha!” This role was also memorable because at the time I was in my 30’s. On Jenny’s show, I was playing her 25-year old roommate. The week before I’d auditioned to play a 25 year old on another sitcom. I kept getting callbacks, but the producers of the show called my agent and were concerned that I “looked” the part of a 25 year old. They got me so stressed out. I ended up putting my hair in ponytails… someone told me to wear pink lipgloss… I went to Abercrombie & Fitch and bought out their selection of cargo pants (cuz’ that’s what I thought a 25-year old would wear). I ended up not getting the part, because they said I was too old. That didn’t bother me - what bothered me- was how I let Hollywood turn me into a raggedy mess… how I let them dictate who Sherri should be, and the fact that I jumped through such hoops. It was a vindication to me, when I booked that next week, the Jenny McCarthy pilot playing the very age which the other producers thought that I was too old.

How were you first approached to do a guest spot on The View?

I actually have my publicist to thank for The View. She beat down The View’s doors for about 3 years. She wasn’t even trying to get me a co-host spot. We were trying to get me on the show to promote the sitcom I was doing at the time, “Less Than Perfect”. The producers at The View said no, and continued to say no, because they didn’t know who I was. They also didn’t think I’d be able to sit on the couch and go back and forth with the ladies. Even though my publicist told them that I was funny, quick on my feet, etc., the producers continued to turn my requests down. But the persistence paid off. One day Star Jones had to go out of town on something last minute, and the producers couldn’t find anyone to fill in. We’d just happen to call that day, and they said that if I could co-host the show that next day… at the time I had just gotten off bed rest because I was 5 months pregnant. Against my doctor’s wishes, I got in a wheelchair and hubby rolled me on that plane. I prayed for the next 5 hours that I wouldn’t go into labor in the air. I co-hosted the show, flew back home, got back on the couch, and then Johnny Cochran died, so Star had to leave again. The producers called me back, and I flew out 3 days later… the rest is history. I think I’ve co-hosted maybe 10-12 times.

How has having a child changed you?

My priorities have definitely changed. Before I had Jeffrey, I was a hustler (which is why I flew to co-host The View knowing I should’ve been laying on a couch). I lived, ate and breathed my career. I was always chasing the next job. I was flying out of town every weekend to do standup. Once I had Jeffrey and almost lost him, I had to put Sherri, the actress, on the shelf and be a mom. I watched my son fight for his life for 3 months in the NICU ( he was born prematurely at 25 weeks, weighing 1lb 10oz). I went through a lot of guilt for not taking care of myself. When I was put on bed rest, I didn’t realize how serious my pregnancy was. I thank God all the time that He allowed my son to live. I love what I do, but it’s not the most important thing. The most important thing to me now is what I leave my son - teaching him character, integrity, a belief in the power of God, compassion, laughter… I didn’t have Jeffrey in my 20’s, I waited late to have him, so my little window for “imparting things” is closing!

Part Three of the interview is now available here, where you can read some behind-the-scenes gossip from The View and hear her response to the rumors of a more permanent role at The View.

Be sure to visit Sherri’s website, where Jeffrey will convince you to purchase his mother’s comedy DVD!

Sherri Shepherd, Jenny McCarthy, The View, Star Jones