EARTH PRIME TIME: BABYLON CONFIDENTIAL WITH CLAUDIA CHRISTIAN (PART TWO)

 

Actress Claudia Christian (Babylon 5, The Hidden, Clean and Sober) joins us to talk about her tell-all book about Hollywood, a new way of coping with an alcohol addiction, and more in Babylon Confidential: A Memoir of Love, Sex, and Addiction. Part two of our unabridged interview deals with her discovery of The Sinclair Method to treat alcoholism as well as her upcoming projects. (Part 1 HERE)

DIGBOSTON: To go back a bit and to change tone. Throughout the whole book, you talk about your struggles with alcohol, something you deem to call a monster that a lot of people struggle with, including myself. A lot of people go about their recovery in different ways. At the apex of the book you talk about your absolute bottom and your recovery. Mind talking about that a bit?
Claudia Christian: Not at all! My alcoholism struck when I was 37/38. I realized that I had a problem so I became sober. I tried everything. I went to AA meetings, which did nothing for me, I tried hypnotism, I tried psychotherapy. You name it. What happened to me, I was one of those people who would stay sober for six months and fall off the wagon. [I would] stay sober for 9 months and fall off the wagon. The problem with that is, there is a state of alcohol deprivation if you are an alcoholic. This is a scientific term.

The brain is in constant craving, even if you don’t realize it.

When I was sober. Every single day, all I could think of was the fact that I was sober, and I hated it. I just wanted to be normal again.

I wanted to be the Claudia that had one drink and could walk away.
I wanted to be the Claudia that had a dinner party, [could] have a couple of glasses of wine and be fine. It confused me that something changed in my brain.

I come from a family of scientists and doctors. I kept thinking there must be some sort of way to change the brain. There has to be. I ended up in a detox center with my absolute last, worst binge. It was a nightmare. It was the only time I had to have a medical detox. I was sober for 10 months and fell of spectacularly. Because that is what happens, the binges get worse!

As we tend to do.
And that’s how people die. You hear about these famous people who drink a bottle of vodka, and they die. You overdo it and you poison yourself.

I went to the detox center, they treated me horrifically, inhumanely. Most of the time that’s what it is, treating addicts with degradation, which is so not fair. I checked myself out in 24 hours. On the way out, I saw this flyer, for Vivitrol” “Get Rid of the Cravings.” It was a shot, $1000 a month. I called and no one ever called me back so I did my own research. I found out the key ingredient is called Naltrexone.

That lead me to the book by Dr. Roy Eskapa, The Cure for Alcoholism: The Medically Proven Way to Eliminate Alcohol Addiction.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.com]

EARTH PRIME TIME: BABYLON CONFIDENTIAL WITH CLAUDIA CHRISTIAN (PART ONE)

Actress Claudia Christian (Babylon 5, The Hidden, Clean and Sober) joins us to talk about her tell-all book about Hollywood, a new way of coping with an alcohol addiction, and more in Babylon Confidential: A Memoir of Love, Sex, and Addiction. Part one of our interview deals with her illustrious start in Hollywood and inspiring people as Commander Susan Ivanova in Babylon 5.

DIGBOSTON: Thanks for joining us to talk about Babylon Confidential.
Claudia Christian: Thank you for having me.

What I expected was a Hollywood tell-all book and what I got was much more than that! An inspiring story of recovery, as well as stories about Hollywood and your relationships. Can you tell me about the interesting things that happened when you first moved to Hollywood?
Back in the ’80s, it was a much easier profession, I think. Nowadays with the advent of reality shows and so forth it is difficult for actors or actresses to get a job. My beginning is almost a joke. I met an actor in Laguna Beach when I was 16 working in a coffee shop, he gave me the name of a manager. I met her, she signed me, I booked a series! It was so easy.

There was much less competition, you didn’t have families moving out for pilot season with children in tow.

That was really exciting, I worked all the time, it was a new environment. I wanted to be on my own since I was a little kid. I loved being independent. I moved to LA when I was 17.

The beginning was fun. When I look back now, I didn’t understand I was working with people like Faye Dunaway and Bob Hope, George Clooney … at the time, they were just people. I wasn’t really inundated with star-struckness. It was just work.

Unfortunately you had some negative experiences with some famous actors you talk about in the book, such as Cliff Robertson and William Shatner.
The Cliff Robertson thing was kind of shocking because I had never been treated like that, it was a silly incident and he pulled a very dramatic, sort of violent gesture toward me and I thought, “Wow, is this what Hollywood is like?”

I only had one real classic “casting couch” incident but that was with Bob Evans.

I’m sure every actress in town has one of those with him! That didn’t make the book.

The other incidences were men making passes or just being inappropriate or lascivious or whatever. I think I got a pretty good deal compared to some actresses I’ve talked to.

 [READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

EARTH PRIME TIME: COMIC FAN INVADES ANIME BOSTON 2013

Comic book fans and enthusiasts of any niche pop culture genre can be secular at times, closed minded, and exclusionary. It is the nature of the thing, I suppose, to be deeply invested and engaged by taking ownership of what appeals to you and what may become the building blocks of your identity. I’ve ignored the last ten Anime Boston conventions on this narrow-minded reasoning. After the Marathon bombings postponing Boston Comic Con this year, I put on my black costume karate gi to embrace the sense of pride and engagement with the nerd fan community that one can only get at a large convention in your hometown. This is how I, as a superhero comic fan, learned to stop worrying and love Anime Boston 2013. 

My photographer Stacey and I headed for our passes early in the day, eager to take in the wonders of Anime Boston on Saturday. Lines were manageable with bag checks and plenty of volunteers to assist directing traffic. In light of the terrorist attacks, no weapons were allowed at the con this year.

There were plenty of foam swords, accessories, and larger than life costumes this year, so the restriction was certainly not affecting anyone’s creativity.

It should be noted, cosplay at Anime Boston is intricate and omnipresent. Well over 80 percent of the crowd is dressed up or decorated in some way.

Iron Man takes a load off - Photo By Stacey Rizoli

Nerds of all fashions are here, Doctor Who fans, Vorlons (Babylon 5), superheroes, kitty cats with mechanical ears, all manner of tails and white masks swarm around you in a sea of paper mache, facepaint, leather, and vinyl. Cosplayers range in age from young to old and costume materials range from $2 to $2,000.

Cosplay at Comic Con is huge, don’t get me wrong, but as Stacey pointed out, “You’d be out of place if you didn’t dress up here.”

My thirst for nerd knowledge makes me a panel junkie. Anime Boston uses Guidebook, a live updating smartphone app that makes it easy to look at a complicated schedule such as this that includes screenings, martial arts demos, panels, kid’s activities, signings, and contests. We had set up our schedule in advance the night before and backed this up with the hard copy on the convention floor. Getting the lay of the land took some getting used to, Anime Boston uses most spaces in the gigantic Hynes Convention Center.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]