Celebrities Get Down and Dirty on Lifetime's The Conversation

When a TV interviewer sits across from a celebrity, she knows what the audience wants to hear. The juicy stuff! The success of the interview -- almost any celebrity interview -- depends on how far the star will open up about body-image issues, or a recent divorce, or the pain of infidelity, or the death of a family member, or, best of all, a personal disclosure she's making for the first time.

Lifetime's new talk show, The Conversation with Amanda de Cadenet (premiering Thursday, April 26, at 11 p.m. ET), zeroes right in on said juicy parts. The viewer doesn't have to sit through warm-up questions, like how an actress prepared for her latest role, or how a musician's songwriting process works. De Cadenet goes straight for the jugular, asking exactly what people at home would ask. Check out the sneak peek here:

De Cadenet, a British TV presenter and actress, used to be best known for her rock star marriages -- first to Duran Duran's John Taylor and currently to The Strokes' Nick Valensi. But her earthy personality and skill with a camera has recently made her an in-demand celebrity photographer, and that's granted her access to many stars. She asks them questions like "What are you scared of?" and "What's your favorite sex position?" 

She gets Gwyneth Paltrow talking about her post- partum depression, and even dishes with Eva Longoria about her ex-husband, Tony Parker's, infidelity -- admitting that it made her doubt her own sexiness and that she would tell her 14-year-old self not to marry "that basketball player!" The clip also shows de Cadenet chatting with Alicia Keys about motherhood and her fear of failure, as well as as spot with Portia De Rossi where they discuss the star's eating disorder and her early resistance to being gay.

"The media is so jam-packed [with a] certain kind of woman and a certain kind of role model... and nobody can live up to the expectations that are being set for women today," de Cadenet tells TV Guide.

"Everyone is comparing themselves to these role models and saying 'Oh my God, I'm failing miserably.' But it's not real. The [celebrities] themselves are portrayed in a certain way, and even they can't live up to the public perception of themselves. We need to say, 'Look, we're all dealing with some similar stuff here.'" 

Of course, famous people participate in maintaining unrealistic perceptions. They have to keep up their slim bodies, smooth faces and sunny dispositions, because that's what all the other stars are doing. If you air your dirty laundry, you risk losing your glorified status in the Hollywood constellation. That's why most interviewers start with the softball questions, and gradually ease the celebrity into more personal ones. And it's why so many celebrities resist answering, or learn to give vague answers.

So it's worth noting that de Cadenet's premise -- let's just talk about it! -- is more than a little disingenuous. Does she really think the ladies of The View, when questioning a high-profile actress, aren't trying to pry out as many intimate details as they possibly can? Every celebrity interviewer under the sun already tries to extract the answers to personal questions.

But de Cadenet's advantage is that she and the show's producer, Demi Moore, have something that most straightforward interviewers don't have: friendships with celebrities. De Cadenet's triumph is that she's figured out how to use those friendships to get celebrities to spill the beans -- and we're happy to sit back and watch what they have to say!

Take a look at a clip from the show's first episode, featuring Avatar's Zoe Saldana.   While sitting barefoot with her feet on de Cadenet's big, white, fluffy couch, Saldana comes across like a close friend who is confiding her deepest distresses -- and we can't help feel like we're in on the moment. Watch here:

We're hoping that de Cadenet and Moore are able to continue to coax their friends into these intimate conversations. While we think they'll have a hit on their hands, we don't want the girl talk to end.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/celebrities-get-down-and-dirty-lifetimes-conversation/1-a-448557

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