Ruby Wax on the ‘curse’ of fame, ‘toxic’ Donald Trump and her rival Louis Theroux
Long before Louis Theroux went on his first Weird Weekend, Ruby Wax was chipping away at the shiny coalface of celebrity culture and documenting offbeat US tribes to the delight of the viewing public.
Now the comedian, actress, writer and mental health campaigner says she “can’t get a job on television” and was forced to “reinvent” when her TV career took a nosedive after she turned 50.
Louis Theroux
Wax, who is about to embark on her first tour in four years, told Sky News: “I’m grateful I got to do those shows. It’s a job everybody wants. But after 25 years, you think, What else?”
She goes on: “It’s over when it’s over. It was over early for me”.
Open about her mental health battles over the years, and an ambassador for mental health charities MIND and SANE, Wax admits that the pursuit of fame was an addiction of sorts: “I was so interested in fame… Studying what’s the effect of fame on people. Because it’s fabulous to get in a restaurant using your own name, but it’s also a curse because when they take it from you, it’s like coming off a drug.”
Throughout the 90s and early 2000s Wax grilled A-listers, future world leaders and public figures – holding a mirror up to celebrity culture of the decade.
She captured the zeitgeist with her fearless celebrity interviews, chatting to stars including Pamela Anderson, Madonna, Tom Hanks and the Spice Girls.
And she didn’t just do softball interviews.
More tricky interviewees included Donald Trump (he called Wax obnoxious and kicked her off his private plane, she went on to label it the worst interview she’d ever done); OJ Simpson (Wax had hoped he would confess to the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson on the show; He didn’t, but later called her on April Fool’s day to tell her “I did it” before adding, “April Fool”); Bill Cosby (he play-acted taking a phone call during their interview, comparing chatting with Wax to “talking to an answering machine you can’t fix”, while she later branded his behaviour “psychotic”) and former first lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos too.
Shining a spotlight on the now much talked about topics of celebrity culture and fame, Wax was the first women to front gonzo style documentary interviews and make them a hit in a primetime slot to boot.
Wax on Trump: ‘I hated speaking to him. I found him toxic’
She also did a series looking at American subculture – Ruby’s American Pie – in the late 90s, investigating themes including the Klu Klux Klan (KKK), offbeat religion and porn. Again, all themes in Louis Theroux’s wheelhouse, at around the same time.
But unlike with Theroux, there was no faux-naif front with Wax, she went in full throttle with her brash American approach – which sometimes worked a treat, and other times less so.
On her infamous interview with future president Donald Trump (who was then just a billionaire real estate magnate and presidential hopeful) Wax told Sky News: “I hated speaking to him. I found him toxic.
“I didn’t think I was going to learn anything. I just thought this is a terrible experience, just horrible. And so was Bill Cosby. I didn’t think, ‘I’m going to show the world something’. I just found him repellent, and he frightened me because he is so toxic, and he hated me. So that doesn’t help an interview.”
Trump went on to throw her off his private plane – complete with a gold sink and cushioned bidet. Wax says: “I think I could have handled it better. You don’t see the fear in my eyes, but it doesn’t feel good.”
‘I had to re-invent. I can’t get a job on television’
Despite her own harsh review of some of her interviews, the audience lapped up her no-nonsense approach, and her shows were a hit.
A stalwart of BBC output through the nineties – The Full Wax was followed by Ruby Wax meets…and after a gap of a year or two The Ruby Wax Show followed suit in the early 2000s.
But while Theroux’s shows are on constant re-run, and he’s given this year’s prestigious MacTaggart lecture to industry big wigs at the Edinburgh Television Festival, Wax is largely a stranger to today’s TV schedule.
Her rivalry with the fellow celebrity documentary maker has been well documented, with the pair finally forging a truce of sorts after he interviewed her at end of 2020 as part of his Grounded COVID podcast series.
As for his flourishing career, she says: “I sort of see why Louis carried on, because he played himself and I was playing kind of a character… I turned 50, and that’s against the law. You can only play people who have a terminal disease or are dead when you’re that age. So, I had to re-invent. I can’t get a job on television.”
‘I’m not like Graham Norton’
However, she admits the modern-day celebrity interview is less attractive than in days gone by.
“I wouldn’t really like to do any more interview shows because you can’t get celebrities the way I could. Now, there’s too much PR and they’re too careful.
“In my day, I could interview them for a week, and that was pleasurable. I’m not like Graham Norton, where you can chew ’em out in 15 minutes. I wouldn’t be good at that.”
But Wax says she would have liked a shot at more cerebral shows too, adding: “I would have liked to do Newsnight. I’m really smart.”
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A woman of many talents, Wax is also a classically trained actor (she spent five years with the Royal Shakespeare Company) and was awarded an OBE for her services to mental health in 2015.
Now with a tour about to start – documenting a search for the meaning of life which ended up in a psychiatric ward – a reinvented Wax admits: “I’m always running.”
Unlike many performers who dread a tour, Wax says: “I like living out of a suitcase and I like meeting new people. I think it’s because my parents were refugees and they knew how to decamp within three minutes. And so, I have that in my DNA. I love it.
Wax’s tour – I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was – kicks off on 14 September in Brighton, and runs until late November. The book is out now.
Despite The Who’s Quadrophenia being set over 60 years ago, Pete Townshend’s themes of identity, mental health, and modern masculinity are just as relevant today.
The album is having a renaissance as Pete Townshend’s Quadrophenia A Mod ballet is being brought to life via dance at Sadler’s Wells East, and Sky News has an exclusive first look.
As Townshend puts it, the album he wrote is “perfect” for the stage.
Pete Townshend
“My wife Rachel did the orchestration for me, and as soon as I heard it I said to her it would make a fabulous ballet and we never really let that go,” he tells Sky News.
“Heavy percussion, concussive sequences. They’re explosive moments. They’re also romantic movement moments.”
If you identify with the demographics of Millennial, Gen Y or Gen Z, you might not be familiar with The Who and Mod culture.
But in post-war Britain the Mods were a cultural phenomenon characterised by fashion, music, and of course, scooters. The young rebels were seen as a counter-culture to the establishment and The Who, with Roger Daltry’s lead vocals and Pete Townshend’s writing, were the soundtrack.
Quadrophenia the album is widely regarded as an essay on the British adolescent experience at the time, focusing on the life of fictional protagonist Jimmy – a young Mod struggling with his sanity, self-doubt, and alienation.
Townshend sets the rock opera in 1965 but thinks its themes of identity, mental health, and modern masculinity are just as relevant today.
He says: “The phobias and the restrictions and the unwritten laws about how young men should behave. The ground that they broke, that we broke because I was a part of it.
“Men were letting go of [the] wartime-related, uniform-related stance that if I wear this kind of outfit it makes me look like a man.”
Paris Fitzpatrick and Pete Townshend. Pic: Johan Persson
This struggle of modern masculinity and identity appears to be echoing today as manosphere influencers like Andrew Tate, incel culture, and Netflix’s Adolescence make headlines.
For dancer Paris Fitzpatrick, who takes on the lead role of Jimmy, the story resonates.
Paris Fitzpatrick, who takes on the lead role of Jimmy in the ballet
“I think there’s a connection massively and I think there may even be a little more revival in some way,” he tells Sky News.
“I love that myself. I love non-conforming to gender norms and typical masculinity; I think it’s great to challenge things.”
Despite the album being written before he was born, the dancer says he was familiar with the genre already.
“I actually did an art GCSE project about Mods and rockers and Quadrophenia,” he says.
“I think we’ll be able to bring it to new audiences and hopefully, maybe people will be inspired to to learn more about their music and the whole cultural movement of the early 60s.”
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In 1979, the album was adapted into a film directed by Franc Roddam starring Ray Winstone and Sting but Townshend admits because the film missed key points he is “not a big fan”.
“What it turned out to be in the movie was a story about culture, about social scenario and less about really the specifics of mental illness and how that affects young people,” he adds, also complimenting Roddam’s writing for the film.
Perhaps a testament to Pete Townshend’s creativity, Quadrophenia started as an album, was successfully adapted to film and now it will hit the stage as a contemporary ballet.
It appears that over six decades later Mod culture is still cool and their issues still relatable.
Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet will tour to Plymouth Theatre Royal from 28 May to 1 June 2025, Edinburgh Festival Theatre from 10 to 14 June 2025 and the Mayflower, Southampton from 18 to 21 June 2025 before having its official opening at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London on 24 June running to 13 July 2025 and then visiting The Lowry, Salford from 15 to 19 July 2025.
Russell Brand has been charged with rape and two counts of sexual assault between 1999 and 2005.
The Metropolitan Police say the 50-year-old comedian, actor and author has also been charged with one count of oral rape and one count of indecent assault.
The charges relate to four women.
He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday 2 May.
Police have said Brand is accused of raping a woman in the Bournemouth area in 1999 and indecently assaulting a woman in the Westminster area of London in 2001.
He is also accused of orally raping and sexually assaulting a woman in Westminster in 2004.
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Ashna Hurynag discusses Russell Brand’s charges
The fourth charge alleges that a woman was sexually assaulted in Westminster between 2004 and 2005.
Police began investigating Brand, from Oxfordshire, in September 2023 after receiving a number of allegations.
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The comedian has denied the accusations and said he has “never engaged in non-consensual activity”.
He added in a video on X: “Of course, I am now going to have the opportunity to defend these charges in court, and I’m incredibly grateful for that.”
Metropolitan Police Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy, who is leading the investigation, said: “The women who have made reports continue to receive support from specially trained officers.
“The Met’s investigation remains open and detectives ask anyone who has been affected by this case, or anyone who has any information, to come forward and speak with police.”
Tom Cruise has paid tribute to Val Kilmer, wishing his Top Gun co-star “well on the next journey”.
Cruise, speaking at the CinemaCon film event in Las Vegas on Thursday, asked for a moment’s silence to reflect on the “wonderful” times shared with the star, whom he called a “dear friend”.
Kilmer, who died of pneumonia on Tuesday aged 65, rocketed to fame starring alongside Cruise in the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun, playing Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky, a rival fighter pilot to Cruise’s character Maverick.
Tom Cruise said ‘I wish you well on the next journey’. Pic: AP
Val Kilmer in 2017. Pic: AP
His last part was a cameo role in the 2022 blockbuster sequel Top Gun: Maverick.
Cruise, on stage at Caesars Palace on Thursday, said: “I’d like to honour a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer. I can’t tell you how much I admire his work, how grateful and honoured I was when he joined Top Gun and came back later for Top Gun: Maverick.
“I think it would be really nice if we could have a moment together because he loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us. Just kind of think about all the wonderful times that we had with him.
“I wish you well on the next journey.”
The moment of silence followed a string of tributes from Hollywood figures including Cher, Francis Ford Coppola, Antonio Banderas and Michelle Monaghan.
Kilmer’s daughter Mercedes told the New York Times on Wednesday that the actor had died from pneumonia.
Tom Cruise at Caesars Palace on Thursday. Pic: AP
Diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, Kilmer discussed his illness and recovery in his 2020 memoir Your Huckleberry and Amazon Prime documentary Val.
He underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatments for the disease and also had a tracheostomy which damaged his vocal cords and permanently gave him a raspy speaking voice.
Kilmer played Batman in the 1995 film Batman Forever and received critical acclaim for his portrayal of rock singer Jim Morrison in the 1991 movie The Doors.
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He also starred in True Romance and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, as well as playing criminal Chris Shiherlis in Michael Mann’s 1995 movie Heat and Doc Holliday in the 1993 film Tombstone.
In 1988 he married British actress Joanne Whalley, whom he met while working on fantasy adventure Willow.
The couple had two children before divorcing in 1996.
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