A PRESTIGE HONG KONG EXCLUSIVE
BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT
by Mariel Rittenhouse

You’re working on a new book that chronicles your struggle with weight?
It’s not necessarily about yo-yo dieting, it’s coming from my soul. It has been tough at times – even when I was younger – so it talks about those times and what triggered me to come out of it. Also it gives little nutrition tips in the back on how I did it. It’s not strictly about nutrition . . . it talks about the struggle that I had.

Do you watch what you eat every day?
I watch what I eat, but I still have my moments as I’ve gotten older. I never had a sweet tooth before, never did, but now – I mean I’ve always loved strawberries and whipped cream but that’s healthy – I’ve got this thing for caramel apples, and I used to love caramel apples when I was younger but now it’s bad. There’s a spot in Atlanta that sells them all year around – I find a way to find them [laughs]. They want me to have them!

When will the book be out?
Hopefully sometime in 2008. So many people have asked me, ”How did you do it? What caused it [the weight fluctuations]?” So I thought, let me just write about this to let them know. This is what worked for me. I don’t know if it will work for them, but this is how I went about it.

How do you spend the holidays?
I normally go away for the holidays, by the water. This year I’m going snowboarding. I enjoy snowboarding even though I haven’t done it in forever. When you wake up the next morning and everything hurts – your toes from gripping, all the way up – you can’t move anything, everything hurts. I snowboard in Colorado.

What makes you nervous?
I don’t like speaking in public. I’m more of a listener. I don’t mind going to functions but I like to stay quiet and listen and be more of an observer. But to get up in front of a sea of faces, and everyone’s quiet and you have to speak, to give a speech because you received an honour – I get embarrassed. People say, ”I think you picked the wrong profession if you don’t like people staring at you.” But if I’m moving around on a stage, like a moving target, it doesn’t bother me. But the minute I’m still, I really don’t like to . . . I get so embarrassed.

What are your New Year resolutions for 2008?
This is awful, but I’m going to try and stop cursing as much. I know that sounds crazy. I didn’t used to curse, but when I did Poetic Justice I had to curse so I was practicing my cursing and I haven’t stopped. It’s bad, I do it too much. It’s a bad habit. That and to become more environmentally friendly. I’ve already started with my little energy-saving light bulbs; I’ve been testing them out. And I was thinking about getting a hybrid but I love these big cars, I love trucks and stuff. I’m awful. Slowly but surely I’m getting there, slowly but surely so that it’s not too drastic. But yet [laughs] I try to do it fast enough so that I won’t be the cause of the end of the world! They’ll say, ”If she moved just a little quicker, this wouldn’t be happening right now!”