Fran Weinstein talks about 30 years in Hollywood’s inner circle.
ALBANY, N.Y. (WNYT)- Author Fran Weinstein says her new memoir mixes celebrity stories with her own life after three decades in entertainment television.
Weinstein spoke about the book in an interview, saying she grew up in New York City as the daughter of Polish immigrants and now lives six months of the year in Washington County.
She said she and her husband came to the area looking for a quieter life after years in New York City and entertainment work.
“As you know, New York City is crazy and hectic, especially if you’re working in the entertainment business and you have no particular schedule,” Weinstein said. “You can wake up one day at 3 a.m. and then go to bed, you know, maybe 5 a.m. the next morning.”
“So my husband and I wanted peace and quiet. And so we came up to, we just started exploring Washington County,” Weinstein said. “I love it.”
Weinstein said she decided to write the memoir after retiring and taking time to look back on her life and career.
“Well, when I finally retired, I actually had the chance to exhale and reflect a little bit about what it was that I actually did and survived,” Weinstein said.
And people found them entertaining.
Career and memoir
The memoir is titled Tortured Souls, High Heels, Low Expectations, and the Hollywood Gossip Mill. In the interview, Weinstein discussed her time working behind the scenes on Entertainment Tonight, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and Regis and Kathie Lee.
She also shared a story about advice from longtime boss Regis Philbin about her personal life.
“Well, first of all, he told me not to marry my ex-husband,” Weinstein said. “He just said he’s not for you.”
“And of course I didn’t listen,” Weinstein said.
Weinstein said she later ran into Philbin again and told him he had been right.
“But you know what’s interesting is that years later I ran into him and I said, Regis, you were right. I shouldn’t have married him,” Weinstein said.
“And he said, I’m sorry, honey. I’m sorry. I was right,” Weinstein said.
What comes next?
Weinstein said she is now retired and is thinking about writing another book. She said the next project may focus on long marriages and what keeps people together.
“Well, actually, that’s a great question because I’ve been thinking that maybe, well, first of all, as I said, I lived six months up here and then six months down in St. Croix in the Virgin Islands,” Weinstein said.
“So I thought that my next book would be an exploration into long marriages,” Weinstein said.
She said readers can find the memoir on Amazon, bookshop.org and in local stores, including Battenkill Books in Cambridge and Undercover Books in St. Croix.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source wnyt.com ’
