Do you want to take a more natural approach to beauty? Do you like saving money? Do you like to laugh? Then stop whatever else you are doing now because I have a book that will not only entertain you with fun celebrity stories and amazing beauty tips, but also inspire you to change your outlook and truly live a more blissful life! Bliss Happens is like a manual on how to improve your happiness in all aspects of your life. I was lucky enough to sit down with the author of this amazing book, Kym Douglas, whom I decided to give the title “the most genuine person in Hollywood.”
AKAMom: I am so excited to speak with you! I am just finishing your book, Bliss Happens and I am obsessed! I can’t wait to pick you brain about it!
Kym: Oh great! I hope you found lots of fun tips and tricks in it to make your life more blissful! And these days, who couldn’t use more bliss in their lives these days? I think right now we are all looking to bring the positive since there is so much negativity all around us.
AKAMom: Well, to get started I know that you have a background in reporting and now you are a beauty-lifestyle guru and frequent guest on popular talk shows like the Ellen Show and Doctors. How did you make that transition?
Kym: Well, how I started my career is that when I was 12 years old I was in Detroit, Michigan, my Dad was a carpenter and my Mom was a homemaker, we were watching the news. Well a female reporter came on and I said to my mother, “Mom, I want to do that when I grow up” and my Mom turned around to look at me from the kitchen and said “well, then you will” then she turn back around and kept stirring the stew. So I never thought in my head that I couldn’t do it, even though what she probably should have said is that “First off, your 12. Secondly, you live in Detroit. Thirdly, your Dad is a carpenter and the odds of you getting to New York to be a Diane Sawyer are slim to none, so be quite, do your homework and you will probably work at Ford Motor Company in the assembly line” and there is nothing wrong with that, it is just that wasn’t what I wanted to do and my mom had just validated for me my bliss. I never veered from it my entire life, from the time I was 12 until this day, I just always wanted to be reporting on TV and that’s what I did.
AKAMom: I know that you were a reporter at the E Network for a while and you had to make some tough decisions about the type of reporter that you wanted to be. Can you tell us about that?
Kym: Sure, you know listen, I am just like the next girl I mean I love a good gossip story! So I am not trying to say that “oh, I am so holier than thou” or that I have never gossiped or anything, but I do believe that what you talk about, what you put in your mind, you attract. So I was trying to attract good and trying to do good. So when I was doing the gossip show for E, they said I could be more famous and get a lot more attention and be the next Cindy Adams, and I don’t blame them, that’s what they wanted for their ratings. It just didn’t ring true in my spirit to go and talk about Jane Doe having an affair with Fred Flintstone or whatever. So I tried to find a way to keep doing what I wanted to do, which was reporting on entertainment and celebrities and be on E, but to do it in a more positive way. So I found that after I would interview these people about their movie or whatever, JLo was one of my first and I was interviewing her about her movie Gigli, and when the cameras shut down what I, Kym Douglas, was really interested in how in the world Jenifer Lopez got that glow! Was it a $500 million dollar cream? I had to know! When I asked her she said, “oh my god, I have to tell you, I go to Ralph’s and I get brown sugar and I mix it with my body wash and yes I do use other products, and have a make-up team, there are all sorts of add-ons, but the base is regular brown sugar mixed with my body wash!” So I came back and instead of talking about the movie or any gossip about her, I talked about this great skin care tip! Then I found that all of my girlfriends were interested in that too, so I pitch to the new director at E, how about instead of me doing gossip, I talk about great inexpensive, accessible beauty tips that make the stars look so fabulous and he was like, OK great. So it was win-win, it was bliss. I was able to do something that was true to my heart, and something that I was truly interested in, it’s not like I was saying “let me go do charity work” I am not Mother Teresa, not even close, but it ended up being a positive thing.
AKAMom: That’s perfect! So let’s move on to the book, can you tell us a little about the idea behind Bliss Happens?
Kym: Oh absolutely! I was very blessed and fortunate to get on the Ellen DeGeneres show about six and a half years ago and I had written my first book, the Black Book of Hollywood Beauty Secrets, it wasn’t a funny book but there were funny things in there, and my husband knew one of the segment producers at the Ellen Show. They were talking at an event and he was like “I think Kym would be really great with Ellen doing beauty stuff.” The producer looked at my husband and said “you know that Ellen doesn’t wear make-up and has no interest in beauty stuff,” so my husband pitched and the producer said no. So cut to the next scene about how bliss works in your life, or god, or whatever you want to label this bliss, but then sure enough a week later, Ellen gets the word that she has been named the host of the Oscars, so the producer calls up my husband and says “Jerry, remember that talk we had about bringing Kym on the show to talk about beauty and how to get ready for red carpet events? Can we book Kym for tomorrow to come on with beauty tips to get Ellen ready for the Oscars?” So it was a one-time thing, since Ellen was going to host the Oscars and I threw up the whole night before the segment.
AKAMom: Oh no! That’s awful!
Kym: I got up the next morning, did the show and now I am her only regular. I have been on for six and a half years and I love every second of it! So that was the beginning of Ellen, but I started seeing and feeling this bliss that Ellen gives off to people and that the audience gives back to Ellen. Even just opening up your computer and look at the taglines of the news, you see that there is a lot of non-bliss going on, I think people are hungry for a little bit happiness and positivity. I think that Ellen brings that with her dancing and I really tapped into that by seeing and feeling how contagious it is to give positivity to people. I would get renewed in my spirit, I get renewed in my happiness. That’s when I knew I had to do something about bliss. I knew that there was a lot going on when I was righting the book about people saying “well shit happens” you know; I got in a car accident, it’s raining, I tripped, my boss doesn’t want to give me a raise. Life sucks, shit happens. It really builds on itself and when you believe that you really start to attract it. So my team that published my book, we all got together to have a pow-wow and we were like well if shit happens, then bliss happens and if you start looking for bliss you will find it. In your most difficult situations you can look back and see that they were joyful.
AKAMom: Absolutely. So, it is really about looking at your experiences in a different light?
Kym: Exactly.
AKAMom: I think that is something that we could all use. Another idea from your book that really stood out is doing more, with less.
Kym: Oh my gosh, yes. First off, it makes you feel really good! My girlfriends out here that have more money than god, they are the first ones in line for a “swag bag” or the free 1 oz. give-away at the Niemen Marcus counter. It is hilarious, everybody loves to do more with less or get something for free. So I was just able to find that when you can look your best with things that you already have, it really makes you feel and look good. It’s a win-win all around. One example is that I use coconut oil for a myriad of things in my life. What I do is look for raw, organic because I think that that is the best quality. I happen to love the brand Edible Heaven, they have a website, www.ediblehaven.com. But here is what I do with coconut oil: at night before bed I put it on my cuticles; in the morning if I am running out the door for a shoot or something I put it on my split ends for fly-aways; I put it on my knees, elbows and feet; I put it on my breasts, it is excellent for breast health; you can put it on your nipples as a new or nursing mom; I put one teaspoon in my smoothies because it speeds up your metabolism; I use it in mask sometimes instead of olive oil if I want to put it in my hair to make it shiny. This is just one aspect of doing more with less because I go and get this big jar for less than $10-$20 bucks and it can last you an entire year. It is so much better than going out there and getting all of the moisturizers and the nail bed creams, and the foot creams and the elbow creams, you do it all with one thing. Or the Rise and Shine Minty Lime [recipe in Bliss Happens], everybody gets all of these green juices that are $8.99 for 16oz and instead you can have a Rise and Shine Minty Lime just by getting some fresh mint, I grow mine in my garden, you get a lime and lemon at the farmers market, it increases you metabolism, it gives you a little boost, it has vitamin C and citric acid for your skin, and it makes you feel good. My other tips are things like when you get out of bed in the morning, the first thing you should do is turn around and make your bed, because: messy bed, messy head.
AKAMom: Haha that’s great!
Kym: It’s easy, it’s free, it doesn’t take a lot to do! Epson salt is another thing! I just go wherever I can, CVS or whatever, and I get a big bag of Epson salt for $3.99 and it lasts me for 3-4 week. I pour that in my bath to help with muscle tension, sore muscles, and water retention. I talk about that thing I did on Ellen when I was in a designer dress in the bathtub with the seasoning packet from Ramen Noodles, which has collagen pepper in it, which has been shown in research to pull toxins and reduce water retention in the body. So if you are feeding your kids Ramen and you have an extra seasoning packet, pour the whole packet in your tub and soak in it! It is just some spices and herbs that will help pull water out!
AKAMom: I love it! So how did you come up with all of these great tips and tricks? I am guessing that you didn’t just trip and fall into a bathtub full of Ramen then discovered it’s great properties!
Kym: It is so true, let me tell you because of my husband, who is Jerry Douglas from the Young and the Restless, I was always surrounded by these beautiful soap starlets since he and I were first married and I would watch them and think “oh my gosh I want to look beautiful like that, I want to feel like that!” I started asking questions, I would research things, I would travel with [Jerry] and we would go to spas, we would go to Asia and I would see these Asian women doing these baths for $900 that has basically this collagen pepper and I researched it and found out that there is collagen pepper in the Ramen packets! Also I am a mad scientist, you would never want to walk in to our bathroom, it is like a war zone! I am always mixing and concocting. My son who is 15 year old, his guy friends all come over, they’re all on the football team and they are the biggest, burliest, beefiest guys and they are like “Mrs. Douglas, can you give us masks? We want a kiwi mask because we are really dry, or can I have an oatmeal mask?” It’s hilarious, but people just started connecting with it and it became fun!
AKAMom: That’s great! So other than coconut oil, do you have a favorite product or a go-to tip?
Kym: Baking soda. You might have some in your refrigerator, grab a pinch of baking soda and mix it with your face wash or even just water, and it will help exfoliate all of those dead skin cells and it’s very, very mild because it crystallizes, so it won’t tear or cause those red capillaries around your nose, AND it balances out the Ph balance of your skin!
AKAMom: All of that from baking soda? Wow! So Bliss Happens is a guide on how to live and feel better. How does the idea of bliss translate from lifestyle into beauty and fitness?
Kym: Well, not to sound too cliché, but if you are not blissful inside and you don’t feel blissful about your life and you can’t see the positive side, I really don’t think that you can’t truly be a beautiful person. We have all seen it and I won’t name any names but I have interviewed some of the most gorgeous models in the world and you know what? Some of them just weren’t very happy and they weren’t very nice people. And after the interview people would come up to me and say “oh my god wasn’t so-and-so gorgeous?” and I would say “she was very pretty, tall and thin but I don’t know if she was that gorgeous,” I mean for some reason it doesn’t translate if you don’t have that bliss factor inside and you don’t find the bliss in this world. I think if you look for the positives, you find the positives and you attract the positives, and when you attract the positives all of that radiates from you. I think if you are saving money and doing things that are natural, not chemical laden, that you can re-use, I just think that it is the more natural way of improving your beauty, rather than that you must have that $500 cream every week, weather you can pay for it or not.
AKAMom: I think we could all learn from that! Another section of the book that I was especially interested in was where you talk about how people are often their own “frenemies,” would you speak a little bit about that idea?
Kym: Well here is the thing, I think in many women’s lives I think that we as moms, wives, girlfriends, daughters, cousins, nieces, with all the different hats that we wear, I think that often times we hear that we are supposed to put ourselves last. We don’t take that time to prioritize ourselves. When I first got the Ellen Show thing, and my husband said “well, they want to book you tomorrow” my first thought was “oh my gosh, I am not worthy, I can’t do it, I can’t stand next to Ellen and be funny.” I automatically belittled myself and raised Ellen to this height, and she is! She is amazing and accomplished so much and we look to Oprah who is also amazing and accomplished but in doing so we deplete ourselves in order to do that. I think that we become our own frenemy, when we look at other women as competition, and we make ourselves lesser, when you don’t have to sabotage yourself. [The night before Ellen] I started throwing up because I was so nervous! What in the world was that all about? Heck, I had worked my whole life for this, I had started at 12 for god’s sake, I can go on stage and talk to Ellen! What’s the problem here? I could have had that conversation with myself, rather than telling myself “you’re not enough, you’re not funny enough, you’re not pretty enough.” Whatever it is, whatever your frenemy is, shut her down! Shut her right down because you don’t need to believe it, and you don’t have to buy in to it.
AKAMom: That’s is great advice! Now, my last question is about someone who is looking to increase their bliss now, what should their first few action steps be?
Kym: I would say that my biggest and most important first step would be a bliss jar. When something really good happens I will take a little slip of paper and I will write it down. “Today it felt so good when this happened” or whatever that really made me feel blissful and I drop it in to this jar and days when I am really feeling overwhelmed or like there is so much going on and it all is going badly, I can grab the bliss jar and pull out a few and from their words let them take you back to that day when you got the biggest writing assignment of your life, or when George Clooney walked in to your office, or whatever it is! The other thing that I do when I am trying to get in to that bliss mode, again it sounds so cliché, but doing something nice for someone else. Buying that coffee for the soldier that is three behind you in line at the coffee house. Or writing that Thank You note that you have been meaning to do for week and weeks but you haven’t gotten it out. Or putting that $0.20 in the meter for the guy who’s going to get a ticket. I swear to you it does so much to increase your bliss, it’s just those little things.
Bliss Happens is out now so do yourself a favor and pick up a copy! You can also catch Kym frequently on show like the Ellen Show, the Doctors and soon to be on Kris Jenner’s new talk show.
