INTERVIEW: Tony winner Annaleigh Ashford on food, fun, family, fulfillment
Photo: Annaleigh Ashford returns to Feinstein’s / 54 Below for a New Year’s Eve concert. Photo courtesy of Nella Vera / Provided by The PR Canes with permission.
Annaleigh Ashford, the accomplished performer who has left a mark on Broadway, television and film, has added a new bullet point to her résumé: she is now a celebrity ambassador for WW — Weigh Watchers Reimagined. In addition to her advocacy work on behalf of people living lives of wellness, she is also staying busy with many creative projects. On New Year’s Eve, she’ll be singing and dancing the night away at Feinstein’s / 54 Below in New York City, which is something of a tradition for the singer. In 2020, in London’s West End, she’s planning to revive her performance in Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park With George alongside Jake Gyllenhaal, and she’ll be appearing in TV’s American Crime Story: Impeachment as Paula Jones.
Ashford has been a member of WW for more than 11 years, according to press notes, and now she wants to share her tried-and-true techniques with her fans and other members of the WW community. In an extensive interview with Hollywood Soapbox, the actor opened up about her eating habits, her struggle with Celiac disease and what food choices she recommends.
The Tony winner has been a mainstay on Broadway for several years, having appeared in Kinky Boots, You Can’t Take It With You (this one got her the Tony), Sylvia, Hair, Wicked and Legally Blonde. On TV, she has appeared in everything from Younger to Masters of Sex, and her film work includes roles in Late Night, Second Act and Bad Education, among others.
Here’s what Ashford had to say about food, fun, family and fulfillment …
On how she became a WW ambassador …
“I have been a lifetime member for just over 11 years now, so I’ve obviously been a fan of the program. But I’ve also been with the program as it has evolved throughout the years. It’s been really exciting to see how it’s changed. … You know, every time there’s an update in the world of science in terms of food and development in nutrition, WW updates their formula, but also it’s been really exciting to see how it’s changed in the last couple of years in their attempt to really help people explore what a full picture of wellness looks like. And so that includes your physical wellness with your physical activity and then also the mental component of it.
“I’ve always been a big attender of meetings, which are now called workshops, but I always thought that that was such an essential component of WW. And so it’s really been a helpful tool for me, not just physically, but psychologically all these years. So I’ve been a huge fan, and it seems like a natural coming together. I’m the poster child for a lifetime member. I’ve been on it for years and years and years through so many different seasons of my life.”
On what is required in her new role as an ambassador …
“It’s not [only] sharing recipes and sharing your day-to-day and sharing your goals, but it’s I think sharing that you’re on WW. You’re on the journey. It’s one of those amazing things, when I first came out as an ambassador, so many people in my life reached out to me and said, hey, I remember that you counted points. I forgot to tell you I had a great year on WW, or this is my third year on WW. Someone that I’m close to reached out and said, I lost 65 pounds this year and got off my medications, and I’m running again for the first time. I feel fantastic. So that was a great reminder that it’s something to be proud of that you’re committing to your wellness journey and your health.”
On her personal WW strategy each day …
“I am a big believer in low points in the morning so I can save them for later in the day because I never know where my day is going to take me, and I never know where my spirit is going to take me. I may want a cookie at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. If I had too big of a breakfast or too high points of a meal earlier in the day, then it leaves you with fewer options as the day goes on. That’s always been a trick for me is that I start the day off with low-points protein that keeps me filled up and makes me feel good.
“And I never skip breakfast. That’s another thing I learned at WW over the years since going to workshops is to always invest in my breakfast, invest time, invest the energy and invest some points into your breakfast because it’s the most important meal of the day. My favorite thing to have is I like two fried eggs, super low points, and then I have greens with a squeeze of lime juice, a little dab of olive oil and fresh crushed sea salt. It’s such a yummy, delicious, healthy option, like protein in a pinch, awesome. It’s one of my favorites.
On her struggles with Celiac disease …
“I have Celiac disease, so I’m gluten free for real. And there are some incredible gluten-free recipes on the WW app, and there’s specifically a really good flourless chocolate cake. That’s fantastic, so that’s another one I like a lot. …
“When I first found out I had Celiac disease, it was one of those times that I found myself back in the meeting room back then — now it’s called the studio. I found myself checking in with the support from the coaches and having a conversation about how different the point system was for gluten-free foods. …
“Certain gluten-free breads were 4 points, and certain gluten-free breads were 1 point. They were all not made equally, and the same thing went for muffins and cake and pastries. It was a whole new learning curve, but it was another one of those moments in my life where I went back to WW for a resource to kind of relearn the point values of gluten-free foods. And one of the staples of the program is that if you go back to the basics, if you just always connect to protein and vegetables and fruits, then you’re going to know what’s going on with your points, and those are just healthy choices in general. It was another great reminder that I didn’t need bread and cookies and cakes to have a healthful day.”
On managing her WW points while working on set …
“I find that I eat so much healthier when I’m really focusing on my WW app when I’m working on sets, and I have a better day. There’s so much food on a film set. … There’s no good food; there’s no bad food. Food is food. That’s one of the great things about WW. …
“I can go up to a craft services table and tell you what the point value is on everything on the table. I’ve been doing it for that many years, and it’s amazing how many people around me are like, oh, cool, you do WW. Really? I’m like, for years and years and years, and they see how much more energy I have at the end of the day. And there have been people over the years who totally join because they’ve seen how healthful it has been in a challenging work environment, not just challenging in terms of hours but also the food that’s around you. I mean, it would be the equivalent of Friday Treat Day at another office job every day all the time.”
On her many successes on stage and in TV/film …
“I’m absolutely living the dream. It’s totally outrageous that we are coming to the end of this decade, and I get to look back at the last 10 years. And I had so many dreams come true. It’s such a miracle that I get to not only do what I love for a living, but get to do it at such a lovely level with so many incredibly talented people. It’s an honor to get be on the Great White Way. I’ve just been so lucky, and I’ve also been so lucky in the land of TV and film. I’m just happy that I’m a working actor.”
On what her fans can expect on New Year’s Eve in NYC …
“We’re going to have so much fun. We’re going to play bingo. We’re going to sing lots of funk. We’re going to have some singalong moments, and we’re going to look back on 2019, the year of the pig. Miss Porky will be making an appearance. She’s Miss Piggy’s cousin from Alabama. That’s exciting. … It’s going to be a really fun, silly night where we look forward to what’s next, but also look lovingly about what’s happened in this last decade.”
On when she learned to be funny …
“I love comedy, and I love the art of it. I remember as a little, little girl going to parties and standing up and doing impressions of all the Saturday Night Live characters — I mean, when I was 4 years old. I remember how much I loved getting a laugh. It has grown throughout the years. When you’re a little kid, getting a laugh is fun because it’s a way to make people feel joy. As I’ve gotten older, I realize that comedy is not just bringing people joy, but it’s helping them escape. It’s also helping them think. Comedy has been such an invaluable tool throughout mankind’s history to relieve the pressure and to help us navigate the world, and so I’m honored that people think I can tell a joke.”
On revisiting her role of Dot in Sunday in the Park With George …
“We’re going to be going to the West End this summer. We’re thrilled. This show is a masterpiece. It’s one of the best pieces of theater ever, and so it’ll be such an honor to re-explore the material again and share it with some London audiences. And I’m just excited to hear that score every night again. It’s one of my favorite shows. We’re in Chicago this weekend for the holidays to see family, and I finally got to go see the painting [by Georges Seurat, which inspired the musical] at the Chicago Art Institute. It felt super-overwhelming, but, yes, we’re thrilled to be getting to reinvestigate the show and share it with a new audience.”
On what she looks for in a new project before signing on the dotted line …
“I’m so happy to be a working actress. I’m like, hey, thank you for the job, first of all, and then I think the characters that are always the most thrilling are the characters that have the biggest change. In Sunday in the Park With George, in the first act I play a woman who is pregnant who makes this giant choice for her and her baby, this incredible choice that she makes to leave and move to a new place and start a new life. In the second act, I get to play a 98-year-old woman who shares her legacy, which is quite the stretch, so that’s thrilling and exciting such a challenge.
“Then, also, other characters, the story that they’re telling is always the most exciting, so the next thing I’m going to be working on and filming is the American Crime Story. It’s called American Crime Story: Impeachment, and I’ll be playing Paula Jones. It’s about the impeachment of Bill Clinton, so that will be an incredibly compelling character to work on because not only is she a real person, but I have to navigate making a real person that we all know and and know what she looks like and know what she sounds like and still be me and not have it be an impression — but also validate what story she was trying to tell. What did she want? What was in her way? So I’m really excited for this next year, these two characters I get to tackle.”
On the differences between acting on stage and acting in TV/film …
“When you’re working on stage, they can’t see the back of your eyes, but they can feel it. When you’re working on camera, you can see the back of your eyes. You can’t lie. You can’t lie on stage though, so I always say it’s the same technique. All of the foundations are the same, but the physicality is a little bit different. The vocal quality is a little bit different, and those are just technical differences that exist between the two. But I always say that the craft is still the same, the foundation is still the same, and I come at characters from the same place in both mediums.”
On the difficulties of sticking to her WW points during the holiday season …
“First of all, this time of the year is hard for anybody no matter what because it’s so indulgent, and it’s supposed to be indulgent. So I always say on WW there’s never any cheating. There’s just making choices. There’s no bad choices; there’s no good choices. There’s just choices, and as long as you account for those choices and write them down, and you can look at them and make … different choices the next day.
“So, for instance, we bought a dozen donuts for my family to bring home. Unfortunately they all have gluten in them. I can’t have them, but I smelled them. And that was so fulfilling. I’ll tell you what, a nice whiff of a box of donuts sometimes will do you up. The other thing is a couple bites goes a long way. I still will track those couple bites, but yesterday I had three bites of a gluten-free donut. And that was all I needed. I didn’t need the whole donut, and you know what, if I wanted to have the whole donut, great. I could totally have the whole donut. I just make sure I track it. …
“That’s the thing I love about WW. There’s always tomorrow, and there’s always the next meal. It doesn’t have to be tomorrow. If you decide to eat a plate of cookies, enjoy that plate of cookies, but maybe for dinner, pick some veggies and fruits and some fewer-point options that are super-filling and tasty and healthy.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Annaleigh Ashford, a new WW ambassador, will perform Dec. 31 at 11 p.m. at Feinstein’s / 54 Below in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
