[Applause]
producer pilot computer scientist when
we say Justine Bateman has done it all
we really mean it and now she has a new
provocative project we're gonna speak
with her in a moment first a quick look
back at where it all began watch in the
1980's the show
family ties brought the Keaton family
into living rooms everywhere the liberal
parents we're going out to demonstrate
against nuclear arms there's nothing
foolish about that the quirky siblings
including conservative hi how you doing
I'm Alex Keaton played by Michael J Fox
and who could forget Justine Bateman as
fashion-obsessed Mallory there are no
silly stores there are only silly
shoppers the rule would earn her
nominations for two Emmy Awards and a
Golden Globe we are on a higher psychic
plane than we were
Arjen is in perfect alignment with our
yang the show was a ratings blockbuster
and is considered one of the most iconic
sitcoms in television history bateman's
success launched her career that
includes more than 50 roles on TV and in
film including some of televisions
biggest comedy shows like Arrested
Development opposite her brother actor
Jason Bateman oh you're bad she also
visited Wisteria Lane on Desperate
Housewives
in recent years she wrote and directed
the short films five minutes and push in
2016 this wife and mother of two
graduated from UCLA with a degree in
computer science
now Bateman is speaking out about her
years in front of the cameras and the
pitfalls of Fame and what she has to say
will likely surprise you and joining us
now to discuss her new book Fame the
hijacking of reality is Justine Bateman
hi
this is so fascinating to me because you
rightly point out that our society is
Fame obsessed obsessed and you've lived
it full cycle for the full circle so you
you talk about rising to fame quickly as
a teenager you you didn't have any
designs on becoming famous back then no
it really just was this byproduct of me
getting into acting and you know it was
on a lark and yeah really shot up and
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yes it was sort of overwhelming and then
and I've done the complete lifecycle the
where I qualified is the the love the
hate the equilibrium then the slide
where maybe only you notice it's sliding
and then the descent where it's sand
through the fingers and then the without
or are you ever really without fam can
you ever not be famous again so the book
goes through the whole lifestyle
lifecycle but within a very raw
emotional style of writing
it's very unsparing I mean it's it's you
put it all out there your brother is
jason bateman he was on Little House on
the Prairie with my friend Melissa
Francis actually they were the next
generation of Ingalls kids you you know
I'm obsessed with that show and so your
parents are like Justine would you like
to do it you got cast on family ties
next thing you know I mean top of the
you know yeah hottest thing on the red
carpet the whole bit do you remember
that feeling I mean was it heady was it
did it did it fill you up it was more
like ho you're walking along the side of
the river and then suddenly you're in a
raft and you're going down the roaring
rapids and you just like wait what's
happening just trying to like keep your
head above water so that's what that was
like and for the viewers to give some
perspective to the how concentrated
their audiences were back then at our
height we had about 55 million people
watching every week now and on average
we had like 26 million people watching
over the course of seven years and so
putting in perspective top shows now may
get 9 million viewers and even some of
the some of the shows that are hot or
maybe have around 2 million right
so because we didn't have the internet
we didn't have you know the the
consumer-facing internet like we have
now
yeah and even cable wasn't anywhere near
is they have cable they were with three
top networks and still had the cable box
in my house that was connected by a wire
to the TV and you had it like the ABC
remember those days no but we all
watched we all watched that show and and
loved you but you're very honest about
how when you become famous they put like
a sheath over you people put a sheath
over you and what does that do well then
you're you're inside watching them react
to how they feel about you based on
either what they've read or which is
akin to being in a small town maybe
somebody spreads a rumor around about
you and there's nothing you can do to
change that rumor so when you're famous
maybe it's a sort of a good rumor or a
bad rumor you know in that sense but
they're coming at you with something
that some prepared idea about you but
then also there's sort of a frenzy about
it there's a sometimes people come up
and they would say oh I like your work
but other times people come up and just
say oh my god you're her you're her
you're that girl that girl yeah yeah I
take a picture with me take it you know
and it's and it's like this so it's not
necessarily about your work per se and
it's it's really not about you but it's
about this thing it's like this glitter
cloud this sort of hovers over people
for a while like I am the still this I'm
still as good a performer as I ever was
even though I don't act anymore but so
nothing changed in what I was the
quality of work I was doing Joanne I'm
saying like that's maintained itself but
the fame then at the same time you have
these two lines it goes up like this and
then it comes down you still have this
thing here but the thing the frenzy was
caused by the fame not necessarily by
you know now your work is the best it's
ever been and that's why people are
reacting right it's because this is this
odd thing that's happening what I think
is brave about your book is you you
dissect and openly honestly analyze what
happens when the glitter cloud goes away
yeah the
what I call post Fame but inside of it
it's it's not what you might think we're
gonna pick it up there when we come back
with Justine in America we're back there
talking with Justine Bateman about her
new book Fame the hijacking of reality
and so you in reading this book
obviously you know a lot of famous
people you're Michael J Fox and you on
the show together and your brother did
you talk to them at all I'm putting this
together yeah when I first started this
I I just graduated from UCLA in 2016 and
so I was I was in the mindset of writing
you know college papers and so my first
effort at this was an academic version
which I I think is pretty good still but
then I went I was halfway through that I
realized that I needed to do the version
that that you have that we have now you
know the style of that and so for that
first version I did interview like 18
different famous people sports you know
athletes actors like that and and had
some great quotes to put in all of it
but now there's only a few in this new
style yeah
so you talked about when the glitter
cloud fades and you recognize at some
point that your your fame if it hasn't
gone away entirely as you say it does it
does it ever it's it's different it's
diminished then what is that like well
the trouble with and I and look I know
this this affects like a very small
subset of people but the reason I
subtitle the book the the hijacking of
reality is that for a very small subset
of people Fame becomes a component in
your in the foundation of your reality
just like where you live what language
you speak what job you have things like
that right now for us for anybody if any
of those elements that are foundational
to our reality change like a spouse dies
god forbid or you have to you lose your
job or you have to move city suddenly
it's extremely traumatic and so for this
tiny group of people Fame disintegrating
is is traumatic as well in the sense
that it's come in like water into like a
flower bed and it's gone into everything
so you might have a lot of things
attached to it you can't help it it's
become your reality your self-esteem
your ego where you sit
in society everything and then it's also
tied into you know you work
opportunities which is a whole separate
thing you know to do with career so when
it starts pulling away it starts pulling
away those things to like your
self-esteem so you have to start almost
unhooking from when the cloud starts
moving on because they start unhooking
from the cloud your self-esteem your you
have to and hooking to something else I
mean that's yeah you have to lower to
the book is that it's the real Justine
not that not the one we saw in family
ties desperate how's that the real
Justine actually in a way came to life
once you unhooked well it's funny it's
like if you if you live your whole life
not that fames a crush but a crutch but
I'm trying to draw just a analogy if you
if you have a crutch always on your
right side and then and then one day
they say well you're not gonna use that
crutch anymore your right leg is not as
strong so you have your like oh now this
needs to be developed you know so it's
it's not a bad thing it's just it's sort
of startling and you're like oh I had no
idea that I have to it's like if someone
always laughs at your jokes you don't
get an opportunity to really develop a
good comedy bit yeah you know so what I
mean knowing all this now having the
benefit of this wisdom would you would
you let your kids become famous would
you want that for them no I think power
is good my name is good you can do a lot
of good things with those two things but
fame it's I think also when it's
introduced later in life it's it's you
have a better sense of yourself and you
don't you don't feel so much like you're
just you know trying to live through the
the roaring rapid ride you know you're
actually you're actually you have a
better sense of yourself so it's not
becoming as foundational to your sense
of yourself and you can have a little
bit you can be objective a little better
you know and I would say just being on
television for a while if if Fame comes
in in my view it's a it's an almost an
unfortunate byproduct of delivering the
news on television you know you want to
deliver the news and you want to tell
people stories and you want to connect
with an audience but that that sort of
Fame that
false adoration that can come is not
fulfilling and I do think too many
people chase it and we live in this
selfie obsessed world where we have
these reality stars who are famous for
nothing other than being famous there's
there's a sort of a bat bit nature to it
that is fleeting and I think unhealthy
I'll give you the last word well and and
in some cases incredibly unhealthy when
they fall off cliffs when they die
trying to take oh yeah a picture to gain
more followers and and I think what's
happened one of the things I hope people
can take away within the book from the
book is this this obsession with Fame
and attaining Fame and sort of ignoring
you know the skills and talents that
each one of us has I feel like we then
we devalue ourselves we devalue the work
that we all do you know no matter what
it was and there are other things you
can put in your be putting your energy
into that will you trust me be much more
fulfilling in the long run check out the
book again it's worth your time Justine
is great to see you thank you
[Applause]
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