The longtime host opened up to ET about her latest foray into talk show entertainment.
Ricki Lake is looking back on her own career journey as part of her new podcast series, and she's looking forward to the self-reflective journey alongside some famous friends.
Lake recently sat down with ET's Nischelle Turner and opened up about her new podcast series, Raised by Ricki -- which she's hosting alongside The Ellen DeGeneres Show alum Kalen Allen.
In the podcast, Lake will reexamine her show that ran for 11 seasons and cemented itself in pop culture. The show pioneered the DNA test results segments long before Maury Povich popularized it on his show, and Lake had some of daytime TV's most memorable guests.
Looking back at her time as host, Lake reflected on how she was only 24 when she was first handed the mic, and never in a million years did she think it'd blow up the way it did.
"No, I didn't think it was going to be this big huge hit. I never have anticipated any of my success, nor have I calculated the next move," she said. "Hairspray came along. Okay, I can be Tracy Turnblad. They handed me a talk show. I loved talk shows back then. I watched Oprah, Phil Donahue, Sally Jessy. I was an avid watcher. So I was like, 'Okay, I'll just channel Oprah.'"
"But I think as I stepped into the role... I'm curious about people. I love gossip, I love relationships. I love what makes people tick. And so it was that natural curiosity and being a good listener, being candid with my own triumphs and issues," he added. "I'm most comfortable being myself much more so than being an actress."
On her new show, Lake will be sitting down with a slew of special guests. Rosie O'Donnell was her first guest when the podcast kicked off last week. Andy Cohen, a friend for nearly 30 years, will join her for episode 2, which dropped Thursday.
As for her dream guest sometime in the future? Lake shared, "Oprah would be great!"
"I'm not holding my breath. But she would be great," Lake added, "I mean, why not? I think we're going to ask. Kalen has big pipe dreams. I'm like, 'She's never going to do our podcast.' But never say never. Never say never."
New episodes of Raised by Ricki stream weekly on Lemonada Media or anywhere you can get your podcasts.
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