Alexandra Paul:  EPISODE LINK

Aexandra’s podcast: SWITCH4GOOD

TRANSCRIPT:

Colleen: – Welcome back to Hot Flashes and Cool Topics. We are excited to welcome

Alexandra Paul, the actress and activist to the show. 

Alexandra Paul:  – Thank you so much.It’s so good to be here.

Colleen: – Well, we really appreciate you taking time to join us.

And, you know, it’s so interesting to go back and kind of look at your career. I

had no idea you were such an activist all these years, but I kind of wanted to

start a little earlier in the whole Stanford thing, because I think you’re the first

person I’ve ever met that got accepted to Stanford and decided, no, I don’t wanna

go there. So can we start back there? That’s just shocking to me. I’m like, okay,

can we start?

Alexandra Paul: – I think it wasn’t that I didn’t wanna go to Stanford, it was that

I felt like, so I was accepted at Stanford. I went to quite a scholastically driven

high school, a boarding school, Grotten school, and most of my, I was actually ended

up being the only person in my class who did not go to college. Everyone else

went, all 66 of them, us. So I was accepted at Stanford somewhere that I had

wanted to go since I was like 11. I ordered the catalog way, way back because I

was on a path and I thought I was going to be an environmental scientist, hence

the activism that has peppered my life, my whole life.

But I started modeling when I was 16 in New York City and that led me to acting.

I got my first job when I was 18, which flew me out to Los Angeles and it was

starring in a TV movie called Paper Dolls where I played a model so it was a very

good transition because I had taken acting classes because my modeling agency had

asked me to take acting classes so I could go on commercials but I had no

intention of modeling or doing anything else but go to college

in a year so I took when I graduated from high school I took a year off to

finish the modeling thing up go to Italy and

was a good education.

But when I went to LA and I starred in this TV movie, I really caught the acting

bug and I thought, as a lot of young people do, that I was old at 19 and that

if I didn’t, and in this I was sort of right, if I didn’t seize the moment that

when I came back from college at 21, it might be too late, and maybe it would be

too late because I hadn’t been an actress who had studied for years and years and

years. So I got a lot of work when I was 18 because I looked younger.

And so I did work a lot between 18 and 21 and I did make a good foundation.

I wrote to the school three weeks before I was supposed to start show up and the

admissions counselor, who I usually remember his name, started with an H. He

wrote back to me and said I was throwing my life away by not coming. And I

actually was very, and this was all by hand, by the way, because it was 1982.

And I was touched that he took the time to write, actually.

And which is why I

So forgive me. Anyway, so I did not go to Stanford.

My identical twin did go to Stanford. First she went to Georgetown, then she

transferred to Stanford. And I remember being really envious, talking to her on the

phone about the classes that she was taking and the interesting things that– college

is great. It’s an exciting time where you’re surrounded by people your own age.

I had been away to boarding school, so I didn’t need to be quote unquote on my

own, but I guess I was on my own anyway in LA, but yeah,

so I was sometimes envious of her for being there,

but I also knew that I wanted to be successful as an actress, and I really,

I felt, I feel that ultimately it was the right decision for me.

Bridgett:  – Yeah, you know,

I bet that that man did not get very many letters saying that they’re not going to

Stanford. That’s probably why he took the time to

write it. Like, what is this that I got?

Colleen: That’s why I had to start there, because

it was just such a unique story.

Bridgett: Right, right, it is. Yeah, yeah. So, and then,

see, I remember paper dolls when it came out. I can remember seeing it.

Alexandra Paul: Now, was I was in the TV movie, not the series, they made a series about it lately. But the TV movie was myself and Daryl Hannah, Eric Stoltz, some, you know, very, people who became very successful in their careers, and Craig T. Nelson, played my dad.

So, yeah, but then there was a series, and they offered me the series. And I said,

no, because at that time in my You know, I really was, I had started doing feature

films and you didn’t cross over easily from television to television, from television

series to movies. So I did turn it down then and didn’t do series for a while

until Baywatch actually. So eight years into my career, I decided to do a series to

actually to boost my film career. 

Bridgett: And so, yeah, yeah,like you were in Christine, you were you were in, you know, some of these movies like that. What was that like, like working on a scary horror movie like that?

Alexandra Paul: Christine was my first feature film. It’s a John Carpenter film directed by John Carpenter based on a Stephen King book. And it was a great experience. I I’m not a

horror film person. I don’t I don’t go to them. I really, really like the fans.

And I have to say that so I shot that film in 1983. So 41 years ago,

I still get more residuals from that film than any other project. And the fans are

the most, the horror fans are the most loyal and excited,

excited about your project. So I’m really proud of doing that feature film. It’s

really held up.

Bridgett: Yeah, yeah, it’s like, it’s so funny how many, my husband is a huge

Stephen King fan, so yeah, so I said well, she was in Christine remember she was

the girl in the car and he’s like yeah, I remember I remember that.

Alexandra Paul: Oh, and you tell your husband hi and thank you.

Bridgett:  I will.

Colleen: So you’ve done over 100 between feature

films and television. Do you have one that you like better, movies or TV or really

interchangeable?

Alexandra Paul:  – You know what’s funny? And this is just such a lesson for me who

at very young had very firm ideas and beliefs

that I, you know, as I said, I wanted to do feature films. So I didn’t want to

do television series, but when I did do my first television series, Baywatch, that

is by far the most fun I have had. And also really creative because you get to

stay with a character for a long time. You get to work with the same people for a

long time and develop relationships on and off screen. The crew gets very comfortable

together. It’s like going to a family to work every day. And I loved, I love doing

that. And what I love about television, especially then, when we were shooting in

film, which was took a long time, like I remember doing, I remember doing a film

with Jeff Bridges and Andy Garcia and the, they’d say, okay, go to,

they shoot the wide shot and then they’d say, go to your trailer and we’ll, we’ll

call you in for your close up. And it would be two hours that they’d be sending

up the camera to get the key light in your eye and all this. And it would be, it

would be so exhausting and kind of draining to have to wait, but in television, you

don’t wait. And certainly Baywatch, you did not wait. We were a low budget show

that shot outside, so we didn’t have to move lights around. And we didn’t move

locations a lot. So I love shooting so quickly. It was really exciting.

Bridgett: Yeah, you know, I read somewhere that someone said you were the one lifeguard on Baywatch that they thought could really save their lives.

But You were a lifeguard, weren’t you? You’re an EMT, or certified EMT.

Alexandra Paul: – At the time, yes, I was a junior lifeguard, and I was an emergency medical

technician for 23 years. My sister, my twin, that twin who went to Stanford, she

ended up becoming a firefighter at one of the first female firefighters in the San

Francisco Fire Department, and she called me up one day and said, “You know,

Alexandra, I think you’d want to get your EMT.” We all have a hero complex,

me and my brother and sister. We all want to save people. My brother is now a

firefighter. So, I took the course and recertified for another 22 years.

And never used it, but I have saved people. I did save my boyfriend when I was 18

from choking and I took a Red Cross CPR class in high school, and then I have saved people in the ocean. So I have, I am actually able to save people.

Yes.

But yeah, but on the show, of course, it was nice to have that not have to think

about trying to be a good swimmer when you already have a lot of swimming

background

Colleen:  Yeah. So there are a bunch of stories that I’ve heard from Baywatch. I

wanted to start with the fact that if am I correct that the producer went to the

same swim arena  and he saw you swimming one day and that’s how you got

connected?

Alexandra: Yes, we swam at the same pool in Pacific Palisades, California. He swam

at like six a .m. and I came in at like nine.  I never met him but I heard that  he heard I was a good swimmer so he brought me into audition. Which is

– Great.

Bridgett: – And you’ve done Ironman, you’ve done Ironman competitions and how

was it, did you  like  an11 mile swim or something like that?

Alexandra Paul:  – I just wanna thank you all for doing research.

Bridgett & Colleen:  – Research, yeah. We did do research.

Alexandra Paul:  – You know, I’m not a great athlete by any means. And I consider myself sort of okay at a lot of things. I was a very well -rounded student, which is probably why I got into Stanford. They were looking for well -rounded students back then. So I’m not great at

anything, but I have to tell you that I’m actually kind of feel good about that

because it made me work hard to get slightly good.

And athletics is one of them. I just stuck with it. And I did do the Hawaii

Ironman, which there’s a two and a half mile swim, 125, 20,

26 mile. Oh gosh, I like it. – Remember the run or the bike? – It’s over 120 mile

bike and a marathon, which is 26 miles. And then after that, when I injured my

knee, I couldn’t run anymore. So I started doing long swims. And the longest swim

competition I did was 14 miles.

Bridgett:  – Oh, okay, wow, that’s – Wow,

that’s crazy. – And then slow, I mean, I’m slow. I wanna say that I did a 10 mile

swim from Lanai to Maui and I was the last swimmer in by a lot. In fact, I came

in and some guy who’d come in, It took me nine hours, he’d come in at like five

or four hours and he looked at me and everyone had taken down all the fancy signs

and all that. No one was there but my beloved husband

And this guy who I think was maybe getting in the water for a dip after he’d had

a nap. And he looked at me like, did you just finish? And I’m like, yes,

I did. – I did it. – You know, there’s certain criteria that the world has and

being fast is sort of one of them. But I consider being in the water a long time,

also a criteria to be proud of. So anyway.

Bridgett: – Yeah, I mean, I grew up swimming on

a swim team, you know, like a summer swim team, not like all year round

competitive. But that’s, that’s hard. I mean, you know, just trying to do even the

stamina, just keep going. That is really an accomplishment.

So congratulations, gosh, slow and steady.

Colleen: Yeah, kind of the undertone that you have is that you have a extremely strong work ethic. And that kind of shows in the fact that, okay, you’re not in the race to finish

first, but you’re in the race. Like you’re gonna work hard to finish it. And has

that carried through as you’ve gotten older that that work ethic is still as strong

as it was when you were younger?

Alexandra Paul: – Well, you know, I’ve been fortunate in that my

work as an actress has allowed me to have breaks where I can become be activists

too. So, um, but whenever I get a job, there’s no doubt that because I’ve never

felt myself to be incredible at anything, I’ve always believed that I have to

control my controllables, meaning if you’re an actress and you don’t feel like you’re

the best actress in the world, at least you’ll show up on time, know your lines,

be kind to people and have a good attitude. So that is worth so much.

I mean talent. I’ve seen so many people who are quote unquote extremely talented,

but they’re not just If you just follow what is basically asked of you, you’re already ahead of the game because so many people don’t so many people don’t show up and just do what they’re asked. And so because I think that is something that I’ve always felt is important

is that is to be reliable and follow through and do what you say you’re going to

do or hired to do. – Yeah, so does that answer your question, Colleen?

Colleen: – No, it absolutely does. And I think I wanted to go back to Baywatch because it’s

so interesting to me that back when you were filming and I was watching something

on the documentary that came out recently that you guys kind of not got,

I don’t want to say teased, but it wasn’t looked at in the best light in Hollywood

that you were on Baywatch at the time. But now it wouldn’t make any difference.

Now it’s still watched all over the world and a billion views back in the day.

What was it like to be on Baywatch when the other actors were like, oh, Baywatch,

you know what I mean? Like there wasn’t that, there was kind of a connotation of

being, oh, it’s Baywatch.

Alexandra Paul: – A billion viewers a week, by the way. And it was hard to be sort of laughed at for being on that show. I did take it a little personally. I think a lot of

people, fans, people don’t know you think that it’s okay to insult your work because

you’re quote unquote famous and maybe rich and you’ve got it all. So it’s okay if

they can make a snarky remark about being on Baywatch. But it did hurt my feelings.

I think I used to get a little defensive about it, which probably wasn’t the best

way to go about it, but we were teased. And I think, I love being on the show

because I knew that it was an underdog and who knew, and because it was a great

experience. Just the people were great. Saving people was just right in my wheelhouse

and you get to go to the beach every day and not have to wear high heels and

lots of up. I mean, it was great.

But it wasn’t easy to be laughed at by Hollywood. And, you know, I didn’t get a

lot of the, you know, A list opportunities that someone might have been on if they

were on ER, for example, another television series that was on in the 90s. So,

but you know what? I am so grateful because I had such a great experience and now

it’s true. You Now, Baywatch has had a movie done about it. It had a spinoff.

It went for 12 years if you include Baywatch Hawaii. It had several TV movie

spinoffs and it’s played all over the world still on Pluto and it’s on Amazon.

I mean, you, and now there’s a documentary. You can’t, I don’t know any other

television show that has had so much attention. And now you’re right, it’s been 35

years since I’ve been on the show, or 30 years at least. And people kind of think

it’s cool that I was on the show. So you hang in there, it’s kind of like the

turtle, right?

Bridgett: Yeah, you know, when you, when you said 30 years, I was like, Oh,

my gosh, it has been, it has been, that’s the 90s. To me, when you say 30 years,

I’m thinking, Oh, the 50s. No, that’s the 90s. (laughing) – Yeah, and you know,

the red bathing suit, I cannot think of another show where you look at one clothing

item and you think you know exactly what that is. – Oh, that’s interesting. Yes,

you’re just right. – Yeah.

Alexandra Paul: – I learned to, I learned that certainly at least one very important life lesson

from being on that show. So I was cast and I am built very athletic. I have a

size less than an A cup. I am very straight. I have not big hips.

I’m tall and I’m slender. I did not fit at all the Baywatch mold. And I went on

that show the first year and I had hair about my length right now. And the second

year, I think I realized, you know what? I can’t be what they want me to be,

which is this sexy thing. That’s just not me. And so I cut my hair and I started

lifting weights and I got more athletic looking and differentiated myself from the

other women by being more myself. And it was such a huge lesson because what it

does is that a lot of people would get a lot of the blonde women confused, but

they never confused me. I was always, actually, even though it was probably only,

you know, maybe two thirds of the time on the show, did I have short hair? They

always say, oh, the woman was short hair. Yeah, I know who she is, or the woman that does not have a boob job. You know, and so being myself was so,

it taught me like, wow, I can be myself and it works out. I don’t have to be

what people want me to be, especially when I’m not going to be as good at it. I

mean, you could give me breast implants and long blonde hair, and I would never be

able to have that kind of sexuality that they wanted me to have. My sexuality and

sensuality is completely different. And I just really grew up sort of honoring that

and being authentic. And it was also part of actually my journey of getting over an

eating disorder,  it was becoming more authentically myself.

Bridgett: – Right. And I think that would

have shown through in your character and your role, whatever you were trying to do,

it would have come through that this is inauthentic

Alexandra Paul – That’s  inauthentic, you’re

right.

Bridgett: – Yeah, but you’re authentic in that role because you were more of you.

That’s really, that’s interesting. And I’m curious about your activism. I’m curious,

you know, you talked about how you kind of always were one that really cared about

the other person kind of it kind of like empathy. When did this start and how did the paths that you chose for your activism how did that come about?

Alexandra Paul: My mother was somebody who she just she voted she volunteered we recycled you know we just we turned off lights when we left the r room we just had a consciousness about others and the world and maybe because she’s British and she grew up during the war for her it was a sensibility about having not having had you know a lack

during the war where they had to be careful about what they you know spending

energy and all that stuff so but for me I took it as an environmental it was

like we did it for the environment it was the 70s. And so I became really just

conscious of the environment and also conscious of giving back. It was something that

was always done in our household. And so I was really surprised actually when I got

out in the real world that people didn’t volunteer in their free time. Now I

realize that of course they didn’t volunteer in their free time. A lot of them have

no free time and that’s why. But You know, my mother was not a working mom.

She was able to raise us. So she had time to volunteer But that was how my ethic

came about

Colleen: And you’ve been consistent throughout your whole career and your life

being very passionate about your activism and being arrested and but in peaceful

protests is that do you know kind of going into these peaceful protests,

which one could end up with you being arrested? Or is it just your risk you take

every time?

Alexandra Paul: No, I was trained in civil disobedience,

peaceful. Thank you for that. No, absolutely peaceful civil disobedience. And it is

usually a conscious decision to get arrested, you either cross the line that

you know that a cop is going to ask you not to cross, or you do a sit -in when

you know that you’re being asked to leave. So it has always been, oh no,

there was one that I didn’t realize I was going to get arrested and that was when

I was just going, this was in the 90s during the AIDS epidemic and gay and

transgender, which wasn’t very common then, people were hit extra hard,

certainly at the beginning in the United States. And they were asking for the drugs

to be fast tracked, that please don’t take years and years to get us these drugs,

we’re dying anyway. So we want compound Q, I think it was called, and there was

other drugs. And so I went, my friend asked me to go to a small gathering,

I think on the courthouse steps, asking for the government to fast -track these

drugs. And all of a sudden, the police asked us to leave, but we had a right to

be there. You know, you can walk on a street. If you keep walking, you have a

right to be there. And they came and they started to arrest us and they put gloves

on so that they, before they touched us, because AIDS was, Everyone was so afraid

of AIDS back then. They didn’t really know. Well, I knew, so they should have

known. But anyway, I don’t know why they did that,

but I’ve never been arrested where people put gloves on before they arrest me. But

then, yes, I was arrested then because we did refuse to leave.

Bridgett: – I was gonna ask, how do you know? Because so you said, if you’re moving, if

you’re walking, They can’t, because you’re not blocking, how do they decide when

they’re gonna say, you gotta leave or do you know how they make that decision if

they’re gonna arrest a group that’s peacefully protesting?

Alexandra Paul: – Well, it’s usually,

for example, well, my, so if you’re just holding a sign and you’re walking,

that means you’re not loitering. And so you’re allowed to do that. It’s freedom of

speech, all that. But if you, for example, at the Nevada test site, which is where

they test nuclear weapons, where I have been arrested over a dozen times at least,

there is a line that you can’t cross ’cause you would be trespassing on federal

property. And so when you cross that line, they arrest you. It’s very civil,

you stand there, there’s a line of cops. One cop says, if you step over this line,

you will be arrested. I say, “Sir, I need to protest the development of nuclear

weapons because I worry about the state of the world, and then I step over and

then I’m arrested. So it’s very civil. I have a lot of respect for the police.

And as a white woman, I of course have been treated much better than a lot of

people and different ethnic groups and things. Even men, it’s tougher in jail,

of course, than a woman. So, you know, I feel as a privileged white woman,

especially now that I’m over 60, I have even more sort of privilege, because I

don’t seem threatening to cops in these, in these protests that I, it’s a way I

can protest. Everyone needs to protest in the way that is most, that they feel most

comfortable with. I feel it’s something I can do. And that so I have been to

jail been the longest I’ve spent in jails five and a half days and you know as a

woman it’s a much better situation because women just are they’re less violent less

vile I mean women are I frankly I am a heterosexual I love my husband but I have

to say women are the higher species you’re better you’re better than And when I

look at the news or when I look at, you know, war and stuff, I’m like, you know

what? This is all men. Look at them. All men.

Bridgett: Yeah. Yeah. It’s so interesting.

You said that I, I went to Malcolm Gladwell had a book talk here in Nashville and

I went to it a few weeks ago and he talked about boards, publicly held boards.

He said, I will not join a board that doesn’t have at least three women. And there

was something in the tipping point, the revenge of the tipping point about some

boards that have too many men, just too much testosterone in that room. And he

said, there’s been just studies about having at least three women on a board, just

things seem to get done. So you know, I have a husband too, I’m heterosexual,

I love him dearly, but I do, I have to agree.

Colleen:  in peacefully protesting, what is the hope that that well, obviously,

it’s not going to solve the solution, you know, it’s not going to be a solution

instantaneously. But what is the hope in doing so that you will be a step closer

to opening a conversation to what is the what is your reasoning for doing it?

Alexandra Paul: It depends on the situation. A lot of times, it brings more media attention to an issue because you’re not you’re taking a step that a lot of people wouldn’t take so

and just by bringing media attention you also show people like I was um I protested

the Iraq War before it started and on the first day that we bombed and most of my

friends were for the Iraq War most of America was for the Iraq War because the um

the Why what was being told was that Saddam Hussein was the one behind the bombings

on 9 /11. Now I had been to some talks, so I understood that Saddam Hussein was

not connected. But it got very, very messy because Bush, the president,

had his own agenda and wanted to go into Iraq anyway. So I was protesting the

bombing of Iraq because I knew and I was later found to be correct,

but most people didn’t know that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with it. So just

being able to, just other people seeing that, oh, people are getting arrested and

protesting the war makes them think, oh, I don’t have, maybe I don’t have to just

follow the line that I hear. So it just shows that there’s other people that might

not agree with the general consensus.

When I was arrested for trying to stop the crushing of the electric cars,

it was definitely for media because people didn’t realize what was happening to

electric cars in the early 2000s that companies were crushing very well -functioning no pollution emitting cars, and by the hundreds.

So that was another reason. At the test site, after we protested so much,

I did go to jail once for protesting at the test site, but then it became too

bothersome. It was too expensive for the government to incarcerate us and to give us

a trial, etc. So they stopped, they didn’t change their ways,

but they heard us and they had to change how they dealt with people who didn’t

agree with them. Yeah, so in all my activism though Colleen,

I have to say over the years that the only one that I’ve actually seen any big

change and my focus has been on environmental issues, peace issues and animal rights

is that the only one that I’ve seen changes the electric car and I was a pioneer

in that and that I first started driving electric cars in 1990 and when I was

trying to get the positive aspects of the electric car out into the public, people thought I was just a tree hugger, crazy tree hugger. And so I, but I have seen the evolution of that

activism. And I’m proud to have been a part of that.

Bridgett: Yeah, I think bringing awareness, because like you said, there’s a lot of people like you said also earlier, just in other situations, we don’t have time. A lot of people don’t have

the time to volunteer or to do things, but when they come home or they watch the

news or they see things in the media and they say, “I didn’t know that was

happening. I didn’t know that this would happen as a result.” And I think back to

when I was a child, like in the 70s, and now you see so much in the environment,

you think about, “Oh my gosh, global warming is a scary thing. these are things

that are happening. That wasn’t really, I heard a little bit in the ’70s about

energy crisis and I remember gas prices or something like that,

but now the whole global warming and the whole taking care of the earth has really

evolved. So I think just bringing awareness like that has done something.

Alexandra Paul:- Well, thank you. And I agree that everyone, any Any one person who speaks out, even if they touch just one person, that is valuable.

But I want to say that you don’t have to get arrested. You don’t have to be in

the streets. There’s so many ways to be an activist by writing letters. I just

wrote two letters today to my senators by donating money, by helping raise money,

there’s so many ways of being an activist. And you don’t even have to be an

adversarial activist against something. You can be, “I now walk dogs at my local

shelter for four hours a week.” I mean, there’s things that you can do that just

help in  your own backyard, which is super important.

Colleen: That’s so true. And I hope people hear that because sometimes they think it has to be some grandiose thing that they do. and it really can be just small steps that turn into bigger steps

that help so much more. So thank you for all that you’re doing with that.

Alexandra Paul:

– That is right.

Colleen:  – Think, act locally, think globally, act locally.

Alexandra Paul:  – Yeah,

I think that’s what it is. – And it’s true, it’s like voting for example, people

often don’t vote in the local elections, but oh my gosh, those, not only those the

people that then ascend to higher offices, but also that affects so much,

so important.

Bridget:  – Oh yeah, we’re, we know. (laughing)

Colleen: – We live in Tennessee, we’re

acutely aware of a lot.

Bridgett:  – We know, yeah, yeah.

Colleen:  – So you recently, like you said,

you’re 61 and you recently entered your 60s. We have talked to so many women who

have found this stage of life to be kind of a fresh, open -eyed,

I can kind of create my reality. Have you found that in your 60s?

Alexandra Paul: – The best thing about getting older, one of the best, you know, yes. (laughing)

Yes, I have. And what I like getting older,

my sister, my twin, who I have referred to before, is now a writer, and she just

wrote a book called “Tough Broad” about how she interviewed women from 50 to 93

about aging and being outside and active and aging well that way.

And what she found in her research, not just by talking to real women, but by

researching stats and things, is that women find that the 60s decade is their

happiest. If you’re happy. Yeah.

so I don’t consider myself retired, but what I feel is that that invisibility that

comes with getting older for women can be great. If you,

once the pain of not being invisible has, you’ve gotten used to it,

you can go, wow, this is like a superpower.

Bridgett: That’s what we say. Because Colleen

says that all the time. It’s like a superpower. super power.

Alexandra Paul:  Yeah. Yeah. Nobody really cares that they’re not looking at you. So you can do whatever you want and

you don’t have to worry and you stop worrying about what they care about anyway,

what they are thinking anyway. So yes, as long as you can stay healthy, I think

that’s important. And I’m really lucky that I have an amazing, amazing partner of 29

years that we’re still very much in love. And so it’s really lovely to age

together. We kind of, you know, we just love being together. And so,

yeah, I don’t know how it is on the market. If I was out there looking for a new

partner, I don’t know how that would be.

Colleen: – Yeah, we’ve been married 32 and 33

years.

Bridgett: – 33 years, yeah, I get it. – Yeah, – Yeah, we get it. –

Alexandra Paul:  And that’s just,

and it’s a beautiful thing to see your face just light up when you talk about it.

– Light up when you talk about it. Yes, it totally did. So we can tell. –

Colleen:  What would you, I know you’re right now taking care of your mom, which a lot of us are going through. And so we can definitely understand. But what is your hope for your

career going forward? Do you find that you still want to continue acting or maybe

even take on like producing or something like that. What do you see the future for

you?

Alexandra Paul: Yeah, I would definitely like to continue acting.

I think I have dabbled in producing. It’s not my favorite thing.

I really like acting. And so that’s what I would like to do when I still audition.

But I really can’t go on a lot of auditions because I need to be here with my

mom. She’s at a stage where she needs my husband and I to go in four times a

day. And she still lives in her home. We’re trying to keep her in her house. And

soon that will be even more. And so I don’t feel good leaving it to my husband or

even my sister, we are planning a vacation and my sister’s gonna come up and We’ve

hired somebody, so it’s very planned, but it takes a lot to leave. And so since

I’m fortunate enough not to need to work, I am choosing for the most part not to.

Colleen: – You know, I know that you struggled with bulimia for a long time and you’re

healthy now. What would you say to that young version of you that was struggling

and really in kind of that dark place, what would you say now to her about your

health and your wellness?

Alexandra Paul: Yeah. I became anorexic when I was 16 and then that

transformed into bulimia, which is binging and purging because it was easier to hide

and I just had an insatiable desire to eat and then to binge,

not just to eat, but to binge. And then at 28, so from 16 to 28,

I struggled with that. And by the way, I would not have taken Baywatch if I had

still been bulimic because it would have been too stressful to be in a bathing suit

and having to deal with, you know, when you’re bulimic or any kind of addiction. It

starts off as something you, you’re using it to try and solve a problem, usually an

emotional one, and then it becomes the problem, right? So I no longer solve my

emotional problems. I thought it did, but it really was just became this habit that

I, yeah, it became a habit that was bigger than anything I was trying to solve in

the first place. And as I discovered, and I mentioned earlier, was But one of the

big issues for me was that I was trying to please everybody else and not myself.

So I used food to treat myself emotionally and to fill that hole. I literally felt

a pain in my chest, an irritation in my chest that I needed to smother with food.

And that’s why the binging and then the purging came because it’s sort of a relief

from it. So it was, it was a very destructive habit, but I was able to have a

career with it. So it’s a functioning habit.

And so I had stopped by going, I’d been in therapy the whole time, but I stopped

by really going to a 12 step program. And within a month, I stopped the behavior.

And by doing the 12 steps, and along with the therapy, I was able to grow and

change my mindset.

I really credit the 12 step program though for really getting me into action to

stop whereas therapy got me to know myself and why I was doing it. It didn’t

actually get galvanize me to actually take steps to stop the behavior.

And I guess I would have

I don’t know. It’s so hard for me to know because it was so much a part of me

that, well, for one thing, it doesn’t keep your weight down. So that was the reason

I thought I was doing it, but it, it doesn’t. And so if I, if I only could have

dealt with the feelings and really dealt with the feelings, then I wouldn’t have had

to exhibit that behavior. So it’s really not what you’re eating, but what’s eating

you. And that’s what I should have really paid attention to. I remember telling my

therapist, no, no, no, I’m fine. It’s just that I eat too much. I can’t help it.

I really want to binge. So help me stop binging. And she’d be like, well, let’s

look deeper. And I had a lot of resistance to that.

Bridgett: – Right. Yeah. And again,

I was believing it as well. I was not as long as you were, but I was from like

16 to probably like 20.

And it was weird how I stopped. It was just like kind of a weird, almost a cold

turkey thing. I think I saw my grandfather not bulimic, but dying and suffering.

And I thought, what am I doing? And so, you know, why am I doing this to myself?

And so I stopped. But it was like you said, it doesn’t help. No, it does not help you

lose weight. I was all over the place when that was happening. But it is, it’s an

odd time. And like you said, feeling the, trying to fulfill some expect external

expectation of you. And yeah, that, that just didn’t cut it.

But it is a, it’s a tough thing. And I think probably, especially you were a model

and you were in acting, and those expectations had to be really a lot of pressure

on you.

Alexandra Paul:  You know, it’s funny because going from modeling to acting, acting felt like

a weight off my shoulders in terms of my, my body because I am not a heavy

person. And back then being thin was really in, you know, not, not the bodies of

today, which are more diverse and also more accepting of roundness and actually

celebrate roundness. That was not at all what was going on in the 80s and 70s.

I would like to blame it on the pressures of acting,

but it really was the fact that I wasn’t being authentic. And so many girls who

aren’t in acting get bulimic, right, Bridgett? So it’s really that I wanted to be to

please everybody. And as soon as I started saying no, no,

thank you. I don’t want to do that and realizing that people really didn’t care

what I said, you know, I wasn’t gonna, I wasn’t that important to them that they

would like their life would end when I didn’t want to do what they want it, they

asked me to do that I stopped. I was able to stop throwing up.

And most importantly, not necessarily stop, but I stopped having that feeling in

myself that I had to, That caused me to binge so I because I so it was really

Yeah, that’s a long answer. Sorry

Colleen: But I know but it’s yeah, and I think so many women I mean I have I have a daughter who went through it and watching her go through the journey It’s there’s just so much pressure especially with social media now. There’s just So I can’t even imagine yeah, I’m really good.

Alexandra Paul: That’s another good reason to be 61, is that we grew up in a time where I feel was more fun. No. Like we got to, we hung out with people and went,

you know, and just didn’t have time that we spent. I mean, television was considered

the big evil thing back then. I didn’t want, I never had a television, so I didn’t

even really watch so just a lot of yeah, I just I’m glad that I didn’t have that

those the pressures that kids have today It’s hard. It’s that instant gratification.

That’s just so hard for them.

Colleen:  And yeah, gosh Thank you so much for coming on this

conversation has been wonderful and we appreciate we will make sure to have the link

to your podcast in the Show notes. So Alexandra, thank you so much for coming on

Alexandra: Thank you for having me. I’m so pleased to talk to you and best of luck to you

both.