SheKnows Girl Crush and Alpha Woman Jenny McCarthy tells us all about her new show and how she’s balancing love and motherhood.
Our Girl Crush: the ultimate alpha Woman
Jenny McCarthy isn’t just a pretty face… or a hot bod for that matter (although both are also true). She’s also a mother, an author, a career woman and an activist, all qualities that make her the perfect inspiration for our Alpha Woman issue.
We got to know the vivacious McCarthy when we met up with her at Greenhouse nightclub in New York City recently for cocktails and girl talk. The first thing we noticed, in typical eye-catching McCarthy fashion, were her Statue of Liberty tights.
“I thought they made sense since we’re here,” she laughed. They definitely did. And although a nightclub might seem like a strange location for an interview with the mother of a 10-year-old, it made perfect sense, considering McCarthy’s upcoming venture.
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Starting in February, Jenny is adding another responsibility to her roster: late-night talk show host. The Jenny McCarthy Show is a project the host has been working on for years now, which will bring McCarthy back to her comedic roots. She describes the show as being “very open, kind of dirty, raw and real.”
“I was excited that late-night, especially cable, is going to let me have that free reign,” she told SheKnows. “It will be a little bit more tame and not as vile [as her MTV show Singled Out] but I think that the honesty will still be there, and the fun will still be there.”
McCarthy said she plans to maintain a loose format for the show; think Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live meets a Hollywood after-party.
“It’s much like a party,” said McCarthy. “We will be having drinking games. I’m sure I’ll have a hangover every day at work.”
And Jenny already has her celebrity guest wish list set.
“I would love nothing more than Bradley Cooper,” she told us. “He is such a babe. And I really want to have people on the show that are interesting. I don’t care if someone is promoting the biggest movie, if they’re the most boring person in the world I kind of don’t want them at my party. I don’t want to hear about their cat that lost its fingernail and those kinds of stories. I want real people, real fun.”
Single life
If the show is anything like hanging out with Jenny in person, then we think she’ll achieve that goal. McCarthy said that even though she’s a mom, she still likes to go out with her girlfriends and have a good time.
“I have been definitely enjoying my ‘singledomness,’” McCarthy laughed. “I enjoy hitting the clubs with my girlfriends. We laugh because when we were in college together, we would be dancing and going, ‘You know someday we’re going to have kids, and we’re not going to be clubbing anymore.’ Now we’re 40 going, ‘Oh my god, our kids are grown up, and we’re still clubbing.’”
Even though she’s single, Jenny said the club is not a place she looks to pick up guys. McCarthy relies on close friends for that job.
“I ask for people’s opinions,” she told us. “I ask everyone I know, ‘Do you know a really nice guy?’ Because most of the time, that’s the only way you’re going to figure out how a guy really is, through another girl’s opinion.”
The guy that Jenny is looking for needs to be adventurous, humorous, and most important, good with kids. When we asked her what she thinks the best pick-up line is, McCarthy told us, “I love kids.”
“Being a single mom, it’s really important to have guys be into children,” said McCarthy. “Not that I want to introduce them to Evan immediately. I have a six-month rule where I don’t want anyone to meet Evan until they’ve made it past that, but I did go on a few dates where the guys have said to me, ‘I hate kids.’ And that’s when I say, ‘Check please!’ That’s an important thing.”
Being a mom
Even with her thriving career and healthy social life, Jenny’s 10-year-old son Evan is her main priority.
“He’s the light of my life,” she told SheKnows. In 2007, McCarthy announced Evan had autism, and she’s been an outspoken advocate for autism research ever since, serving on the Board of Directors for Generation Rescue.
Despite his diagnosis, Evan clearly isn’t letting anything keep him from having a normal childhood. Jenny told us he recently entered a very common phase for adolescent boys: dating.
“He’s got a girlfriend,” she told us. “She’s in one grade higher. He likes them older… smart boy.”
Me time
When she’s not chaperoning Evan’s dates, taping her new show or looking for love, McCarthy fits in her essential “me time,” doing hot yoga and online shopping.
“I hate going to the store, but I love laying down and shopping,” said Jenny. “I noticed my ‘me time’ usually happens between 1 and 2 a.m. It’s when everyone else is asleep and no one can text me. It’s important. My favorite shopping website is net-a-porter.com.”
And finally, she also finds time to squeeze in a little beauty maintenance. Jenny is currently the spokeswoman for Tria, a home lazer hair removal system that keeps her from ever having to say she was too busy to shave her legs.***
“You use it once a week on unwanted hair, ladies know what I’m talking about,” Jenny winked. “And you’ll have it gone, and touchups available. Now that I have Tria, it’s going to be Brazilian all the way. It just makes it so much easier.”
The future
With the New Year beginning, McCarthy shared her hopes for the future with us, looking forward to all the possibilities 2013 might hold.
“I’ve been waiting a long time to get back on TV doing a talk show, so I’m hoping that my show’s a success and people enjoy it and that I continue writing because I love doing that,” she told SheKnows. “And I’d really like to see my son bloom into the little boy that I dream he can be.”
After sharing those goals, Jenny realized that a relationship wasn’t among her goals.
“I’m just OK right now being single, having a relationship with me, myself and I,” she said in a moment of self-realization. “I’ve preached a lot about that. Love yourself before you love anybody else. I’m realizing I actually have to walk the talk. So that’s what I’m in the process of doing, just kind of worrying about me.”
And we wish her, and all of you alpha females out there, luck in achieving that goal!
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