Summary: At 43, the co-star of The Geena Davis Show enjoys balancing work on a TV series and raising a 6-year-old. This is quite a good interview.

Mimi Rogers's Neighborhood

US Weekly, 21 February 2001 pp 54-55.

Transcribed by Deslea


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At 43, the co-star of The Geena Davis Show enjoys balancing work on a TV series and raising a 6-year-old: "I have a normal life."

Wearing a leotard and light-blue tights that showcase all five feet nine of her curves, Mimi Rogers is stretched out on her yoga mat at the Maha Yoga studio in Brentwood, California, waiting for the 9 A.M. Saturday class to begin. It's taught by Steve Ross, a droll and wildly popular instructor with a celebrity following that includes Meg Ryan and Denis Quaid (who once came together, now separately). "This is too early for most of the celebrities," says Rogers. "They prefer the eleven o'clock class." Still, former model Janice Dickinson stands in the front row, and there's actor Illeana Douglas across the room. Rogers's old flame and friend Bobby Shriver (a producer and the brother of Maria) hurries in and unrolls his mat, then greets her warmly with a hug.

Rogers is a regular at Maha Yoga, partly because it's convenient for her jam-packed life. She lives just minutes away in a "sort of New Englandy, Cape Coddish" house with her boyfriend and producing partner, Chris Ciaffa, and their 6-year-old daughter, Lucy. An athlete who loves running tennis and skiing, Rogers has pursued yoga for five years for its stretching, de-stressing and healing benefits. It has become even more important to her now that she's costarring in ABC's The Geena Davis Show. "If you need a pick-me-up or an energy boost, yoga can be really fun," she says. "And I think it keeps you younger."

At age 43, Rogers enjoys a life well balanced between work and family, having built a career that is a model of versatility for mature Hollywood actors. Besides the TV show, she continues to get roles in films (the upcoming black comedy Ginger Snaps) and has also successfully branched out into producing (Showtime's Annus Horribilis, Eric Stoltz's directing debut). Even so, she says, "it's an old, boring tale, but it's true. For older actresses, the opportunities become limited. But there are so many women who are amazing. You could do a whole Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue with the over-40 gals in Hollywood."

Of course, to some she is still best known as the ex-Mrs Tom Cruise, to whom she was married from 1987 to 1990 but has hardly seen in the last 10 years. "I can count on one hand the number of times we've been in the same place at the same time," she says. "But when we do run into each other, it's very friendly." She and Cruise have never discussed their relationship publicly and, she says, they never will. "It's just not an issue."

Born in Coral Gables, Florida, Rogers was raised by her father, Phil, a divorced civil engineer and Scientologist who perpetually moved his young daughter and son around as he pursued jobs in Virginia, England, and the San FRancisco Bay area. A bookish student, Rogers graduated from high school in Los Angeles at 14. She married Jim Rogers, a Scientology counselor, at 21 and became a social worker amd drug counselor; today, she says that her Scientology background imparted a habit of positive thinking and discipline that has served her well. "I was brought up in it, and so I never tried any drugs," she says. "I still have never smoked pot. It's like being the world's oldest virgin or something." The marriage lasted three years, after which she began acting, including a memorable stint on the TV series Hill Street Blues in 1981.

Like many other over-40 Hollywood actors with young children, Rogers finds that doing series television is great for her family. "I get up, and Lucy and I have our breakfast, and I walk her to school every morning," she says. "And then, except for taping night, I'm always home in time for dinner. What's ideal about this schedule is that I can have a normal life."

After her hour-long yoga class, Rogers stops in at the Starbucks a few doors away for a caffiene hit - a guilty treat for many West Coast yogis after detoxing in a strenuous class. She steps up to the counter. "I'll have a half-caf, double-short, nonfat, no-whip mocha," she says and laughs, because she knows just how funny she sounds.

-- by Nancy Griffin. Photograph by Isabel Snyder.