Ruby Wax has revealed the "cruel" jokes that helped cement her nearly 40-year friendship with the late Alan Rickman, as she reflected on cancel culture and the changing celebrity landscape in a new interview with the Daily Mail.
Wax and Rickman were friends for almost four decades, having met during their time at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and briefly lived together. Rickman died of pancreatic cancer in 2016.
"I used to send Alan Rickman photos of people that were... let's just say they were horizontally challenged," Wax said. "Rickman and I would laugh. That was cruel. I once showed it to an American, and they looked at me in horror."
She added that the photo in question showed the person dressed as a cat, saying: "So strange people, bizarre people, was our humor. And now you would really get in trouble for that. They'd say, 'we have a right to wear that...'"
Ruby Wax on cancel culture
Wax, who is known for being outspoken, said she is not worried about being cancelled herself. "I think that I speak directly to people who don't feel so comfortable in their skin, and that's compassion for them. I don't think anybody's ever been ridiculed for that," she said.
"I will say at first, before they have to say it. And I love when people tell me their truth," she continued. She noted that celebrities have faced backlash over their positions on the Israel-Gaza conflict, but said it does not affect her. "I don't get any of that, or I don't read it. I might get it, but nobody tells me!"
Wax became known in the 1990s for groundbreaking, provocative television shows that redefined celebrity interviews.
Her bond with Carrie Fisher
Of the hundreds of celebrities she has interviewed, Wax said the late Carrie Fisher stands out the most. The two became instant friends and stayed in touch until Fisher's death from cardiac arrest in December 2016, eleven months after Rickman died.
"When Carrie spoke, it was perfect for a novel," Wax said. "She didn't have to do any editing, language just flowed out of her. We became best friends for 35 years. At the end of the interview, she said, 'let's go shopping,' and we stayed friends all that time. I used the interview to flirt and to get her number!"
The 'horror show' Trump interview
Wax also recalled her 2000 interview with Donald Trump, which she has previously described as a "horror show." The interview reportedly lasted only five minutes after she laughed when Trump declared his ambition to become president, which led him to call her the "most obnoxious person" he had ever met.
Asked about her dream interview, Wax named Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. "I wonder how much PR has come down on them to say, keep your mouth shut," she said. Wax, who has interviewed Sarah Ferguson and was friendly with Princess Diana, added: "I would have had a great interview with Harry. I don't know her [Meghan]. But I knew him when he was a little boy, so I think he'd feel comfortable with me. Though Oprah did a really great job, she got a lot out of them!"
Why she won't revive her chat show
Wax said she has no plans to bring back her chat show format, explaining that today's tightly managed publicity schedules would make it impossible. "I don't think you could, because we could stay weeks with the guests, sometimes I'd move in with them," she said.
"I was told I had five minutes, but if you keep flirting, and you keep your mouth moving, and you entertain them, then sometimes they'll say, 'can she come home with me?' And so it took off," she said. "You couldn't do that anymore. You have PR people watching and they're skeptical and they'd be afraid that I'd expose something. I always said you can cut out anything you want in the interviews. We always said that, but they never did."
Wax also said she could never adapt to a more traditional chat show format like The Graham Norton Show or The Jonathan Ross Show. "I couldn't do that. That's not my forte. I can't do small talk. What I loved [with my shows] is you saw a relationship born, and sometimes die!"
Touring and the Big Retreat festival
Wax is currently touring with her show Absolutely Famous, an unscripted retrospective looking back at her celebrity interviews. She is also set to appear at The Big Retreat Cambridgeshire this weekend, an adult-only wellbeing festival, where she will give a talk about her life, career and mental health.
Wax, who holds a master's degree in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy from Oxford, has spoken openly about her struggles with bipolar disorder and depression and is a vocal mental health advocate. She has appeared at the festival before. "It's great. There's yoga tents, there's different kind of recipe tents, there's activities going on that are sensational. And then there's me! I think people are interested in the fact that I do retreats, and that I've taken what I learned at Oxford and put it into practice," she said.
Being open about mental health
Wax said she has no issue being vulnerable on stage. "If I open my mouth, they'll open their mouth. It's like if I strip off, they'll strip off. So I think by being really direct they get the idea that there's no shame in anything," she said.
She also described how she manages her mental health alongside an unpredictable career. "Sometimes I can't deal with it," she said. "So I have RTMS (Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, a treatment that sends brief magnetic waves to specific areas of the brain) and I'm on antidepressants. I do find it a struggle, but my happy place is in front of people. It's ironic, I don't like being alone at home, but put me in front of a thousand people, and I'm at home."
The Big Retreat Cambridgeshire is being held in the parklands of Abbot's Ripton Estate from September 11 to 13. The event combines music, wellbeing activities and food, with guests able to take part in yoga, Pilates, wild swimming, breathwork, meditation, creative workshops and cookery demonstrations alongside talks and live music. Weekend tickets start from £269, with day tickets from £79, and Daily Mail readers can get a 20 per cent discount using the code MAIL20.
