Ruby Wax’s candid confession about her ‘fifth act’ at 72 – exclusive

In an elegant corner of west London, the atmosphere is busy with tourists and would-be influencers taking selfies. HELLO!, however, is about to escape the hustle and bustle, courtesy of Ruby Wax. She welcomes us into her beautiful home with a warm smile and plenty of wisecracks, while sipping from a mug bearing the phrase ‘Crazy Cat Lady’.

The multi-talented American, 72, is difficult to pigeonhole. She will always be one of Britain’s most treasured comedians, but she is also a writer and actress, holds a Master’s degree in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy from the University of Oxford and is a devotee of meditation, teaching classes on the discipline and running retreats – all while preparing for a forthcoming UK tour and dreaming up her own podcast and YouTube channel.

In short, Ruby embodies HELLO!’s Second Act community, which celebrates women who are living their best lives in their later years. Indeed, she says: “I’m the poster girl for Second Act. I feel like I’m in my fifth act, because I’ve already reinvented myself a few times and I will do it again. I’m going to keep up the meditation, but I also want to do something else, although I’m not sure what it is.

What she is doing now is embarking on a new UK tour, Ruby Wax: Absolutely Famous, which will take her up and down the UK from March until July. In the show, she will look back on the sometimes wild interviews she conducted as part of her hit 1990s TV series Ruby Wax Meets…, which featured a diverse cast of interviewees including Donald Trump, OJ Simpson and Carrie Fisher, before welcoming questions from the audience. 

During that series, she experienced a spine‑chilling moment with OJ Simpson when, in relation to the murders of the retired American footballer’s former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, she asked bluntly: “Did you do it?” He replied: “Nope.” And before he became US President, there was a feisty clash with Donald Trump, who threw her off his plane. “I didn’t mind OJ,” Ruby recalls. “That was fascinating. It was like a Rubik’s Cube, and you’re trying to figure out how to put it together. I couldn’t put him together, but that was because he didn’t even know himself.

“Trump was intimidating. He wasn’t interested in me at all and let me know it. He did throw me off the plane and I was [expletive] myself, because that was the end of my interview.” 

There were more positive encounters, though, including with the late Carrie Fisher. “I liked interviewing her because it was like playing tennis with a verbal pro. We fell in love while we talked.” The show ended in 1998, but she doesn’t miss it. “I’ve moved on. I went to Oxford and that was more dignified. I miss talking to people, but not celebrities, necessarily. I do it anyway, in my real life. If there’s somebody who’s a manicurist by day and a trucker by night, I’m going to be fascinated.” 

Each time she has done something new, Ruby has found new fans. Her appearance in the most recent series of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! introduced her to a fresh generation. “I think I have a younger audience now; I’ve been recognised a little bit more when I’ve been out,” she says.

Meditation helped her to cope with the challenging environment. “It means I can stay focused for longer than most people and, like in the jungle, I can get my fear levels down intentionally. Whereas other people are pulled apart, nothing really bothers me. And I think that is meditation. When the going gets tough, you can go underneath the fear.”

The star has always been open about her struggles with bipolar disorder and depression, even at the height of her fame, when many of her contemporaries were reluctant to discuss the subject. In 2017, she set up the website Frazzled (now The Frazzled Cafe), a community-based safe space where people can talk about their struggles. 

“It’s a place where people can speak from their hearts rather than their minds,” she says. “This is about the weather condition inside you. People say it feels as though it’s getting air out of a tyre; they feel relieved because others are nodding their heads and going: ‘Yes, me too!’ “People come up and thank me [for talking about mental health]. It makes me feel really good. It’s better than somebody saying, ‘That was really funny.’ They say, ‘You saved my brother’s life,’ or something like that. That’s so complimentary.”