Producer (31 page)

Remember when our love was in its infancy? Because of work commitments we lived in two separate cities. We wrote letters expressing
our desire to one day be together. You later reminded me that you saved each letter as a treasured keepsake… so I write you
my last letter.

My darling Sid,

I can’t remember the very moment that I fell in love with you. It was as though it had always been. From the start, I knew
it was God’s plan for us to share a life… and what a life he had designed for us. Whether at business, watching our horses
cross the finish line or dancing to our favorite songs… each day was like a trip to the Winner’s Circle. Was it your flashing
smile, your sparkling eyes, your intelligent wit or the kindness in your heart that made me know from the start that it was
you I wanted to spend the rest of my life with? How do I begin to thank you for the happiness you brought to each day… each
hour… each moment that we were together? How do I begin to summarize the many celebrations of achievement as each year brought
us more and more blessings from God? Sid, together we created a
family and lifestyle that most people only dream about. How soon you were taken away from me. Was that all part of God’s master
plan? If so… then he must have needed another angel in heaven. I will always cherish our years together… the midnight talks…
the love-filled moments when I thought I heard God whisper, “Until death do you part” and now the time has come… the time
when we must say good-bye. I will be with you again in heaven one day and until that time… rest in the knowledge that my love
for you is undying and will grow stronger with each day until we’re together for all eternity.

Rest in peace, my love… and once in a while wink at me from Heaven… I promise I’ll be watching.

With all my love forever,

Jenny

I remember when my father died, my mother said life was like drinking champagne without the bubbles. I was lucky to have had
parents who were so in love with each other.

And so, with the help of some really great friends, like Char, Mary, George, Ken, John, Michelle, Cindy, Jenny, Katie, and
so many more, I realized that I
could
rise above it, but it was a process rather than something you did and then it was over. I needed to find forgiveness newly,
every day. And then the next day and the day after that. Blame only made the pain hurt more and I needed to find a way to
release it and move on. When it was gone, I’d have a chance to see the higher purpose for the pain in the first place.

During this challenging period, I consulted my friend, spiritualist Deepak Chopra, who asked me an intriguing question. “What
do you really want for yourself?”

I thought for a few minutes. Then I said, “I want good
health. I want to enjoy my life and my children and I want to live for the future, not the past. I want to find someone who
truly loves me and it would feel so good to be a family again.”

He listened carefully and said, “Here’s how you get what you want. You need to be ruthless, cunning, patient, and sweet.”

That was some food for thought. I had so much to consider, but the turning point came for me when I finally realized that
I had loved my husband completely, as much as I possibly could. When I finally realized that, I started to heal. I found some
peace in that recognition and enough personal forgiveness to move forward and embrace my new life as a single woman, once
again.

Another turning point came when I took a good long look at my friends. Being in crisis really shows you who your friends are,
what they believe, and how much they care about you. Char says, “I got to watch Wendy transform into the person she always
was. I could see traces of her emotional scars fading through time and she became herself again and found some new and wonderful
friends. Life is a school and we are here to learn lessons.”

Char taught me that our lives unfold according to the choices we make. And there is a reason why things happen. She told me
that she uses her psychic work to prevent problems and achieve goals. “When we combine logic, common sense, and intuition,
we get our best answers.”

I recall a night during my divorce when Char and two new friends of mine, John Assaraf and Ian, were at my house for dinner.
We were just finishing our main course when John said, “Let’s go around the table and say one thing we’re grateful for.”

While the others were talking, I thought about my divorce, the children, the upheaval in our lives, and the loss of a dream
of a tightly knit family who were there for one another. I thought about our menagerie of animals—our three dogs, the cat,
nine fish, and a bearded dragon. When Walker wanted yet another pet, I recalled telling him I would get him anything he wanted—as
long as it didn’t breathe. I thought of gorgeous, successful women like Halle Berry and Reese Witherspoon who were disappointed
when their relationships fell apart. And they had found the strength to move on. It was true that I had lost the fairy tale
of happily ever after, but I had gained the people who were smiling at me and making me feel loved. And I had gained myself.
That was a good enough reason for anyone.

When my turn came, I said, “I’m grateful for having met each one of you. I can see why this happened. If I hadn’t divorced,
none of you would be sitting at this table.”

I have come to realize that in order to forgive, I can say, “Thank you for giving me this experience.” I also understand that
when I relinquish my desire to impose my will on the future, the path to happiness becomes clear.

EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON

This might be the most important and most difficult lesson of all. Life is full of both wonder and excitement. In an attempt
to see the glass half full, let’s list our accomplishments for the year. There are plenty, and the list keeps getting longer,
the more you think about it.

Now, list your disappointments that have happened throughout your life. Put them all down and take a look. When I did this,
I was amazed to find that the things
that had most upset me in life had all been gateways to something better.
Oh, now I understand
, I thought to myself,
it’s all in the perception.

My list included my father dying early in my life as a terrible disappointment. As a young woman, I had no male figure on
whom to lean and who would take care of me. But now I can see that the loss of my father was a pivotal reason for my success.
Since I had no one to fall back on and no one to make my decisions for me, I had to do it all myself.

Then there was my divorce, during which I opened myself up to a spiritual part of life that I never fully understood. I began
a search for the light and positive energy in people and in situations that I had previously overlooked. And I found what
I was looking for.

You just have to let go. If you can take your list of disappointments and understand the good that came out of them and how
they helped you change for the better, that will help you deal with future disappointments. For each difficulty along the
path, there is a really good reason that it happened, whether you get to see it now, a year from now, three years from now,
or even thirty. You just need to keep your faith, believe in yourself, cultivate patience and goodwill, and surround yourself
with positive people. Then the rest will take care of itself.

M
arlon Brando had been on our
Larry King Live
wish list forever, but we didn’t have a lot of hope. We’d tried many times, but rumor and conventional wisdom told us that
legendary Marlon Brando had become a recluse. Few people ever saw him, and although we knew he lived in Los Angeles, he reputedly
was hugely overweight and rarely left his home.

During the OJ Simpson trial in 1994, I was booking a show featuring some of the principals when I heard an overhead page in
the CNN newsroom in Los Angeles. “Wendy,” a voice called out, “you have a call on line one.”

I picked up the closest phone to talk to one of my bookers who could hardly contain her excitement. “Wendy,” she said, “are
you sitting down? You’re not going to believe this. We just got one of the top people we really wanted. They called us. Guess
who it is.”

“Is it Michael Jackson?” I asked hopefully. Larry had once interviewed him when he was twelve but never as an adult. He had
been on our wish list for a long time.

“Nope,” she said, “better. It’s Marlon Brando.”

“You’re kidding me, right?” I said.

“No, I’m not,” she assured me.

I could hardly believe our luck. Generally, with someone as legendary as Marlon Brando, it takes forever to do the negotiations,
to come to terms, and to finalize the interview, if it ever happens at all. You see, no matter who it is, we never offer to
pay for an interview. While other news shows find ways around this by perhaps paying large sums for photos, we make no exceptions
to this rule. Not even for the Marlon Brandos of the world, the people who are not only uninterested in publicity but generally
run from it like the plague. So why was he offering to come on the show? I wanted to know.

Apparently, someone had written a kiss-and-tell biography about Brando that had really made him angry. He had decided to write
his own book and tell his own story but he hadn’t read the small print in his contract with Random House, stating that he
was required to do one publicity appearance to promote his book—any one he chose. While he preferred to do nothing, rather
than breach his contract, he had decided to appear on
Larry King Live
. So instead of our having to work with his people to try to nail this rare interview, his rep had picked up a phone and offered
him as a guest—with one caveat. He wanted to meet Larry in person first. Right away.

I’ve seldom heard Larry sound more excited than when I told him Marlon Brando wanted to appear on the show. “But he wants
to meet you beforehand,” I told Larry.

“When?” Larry asked.

“Actually,” I said, “he’s in his car right now on his way to our hotel. He wants to pick you up and take you for a drive.”

We were staying at our usual LA spot, the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, and in less than ten minutes, Larry and
I were standing in the hotel breezeway as this larger than life man came driving up in a great big white Chevy. He waved,
so did we, Larry jumped into the passenger seat, and they zoomed off. I stood there, dumbstruck. He was bigger than life.
I mean huge, so I had expected someone else to be driving. But it was Marlon himself at the wheel of the car. What kind of
trouble would these two men get into?

I had no idea where they were going or how long they’d be gone. Neither did Larry. But in a couple of hours I got a call from
Larry that they were returning. When I headed back down to the breezeway to greet them, they were sitting as close as they
could manage in the front seat of Marlon’s car, their arms around each other, hugging, singing songs, and having a great time.
Clearly, the interview was on.

As I saw them reluctant to leave each other, I had an idea that this kind of intimacy would thrive in a more homey atmosphere
than the CNN studio. Larry and I were of one mind about this when he happily told me, “He’ll do it but he wants to do it at
his house on Mulholland Drive.”

That was where Marlon felt the most comfortable, so I called Atlanta to speak to Tom Johnson, then president. “You’re not
going to believe this,” I said, “but we have an interview booked for a few days from now with Marlon Brando. We have him for
the whole hour and he wants to do it at his house. I’d like ninety minutes. What do you say?”

It was an unequivocal yes. In fact, it was all systems go as I kicked into high gear and gathered the production team to head
up to Marlon Brando’s house for a site survey. When I walked through the front door, I thought I had entered a time warp.
Everything in this bachelor pad–type bungalow felt like it was straight out of the sixties and relatively small compared to
what I had expected.

A few days later, I arrived at the house around midafternoon once again, this time to prepare for the upcoming live interview.
But time was going by and as our crew was setting up, I wondered when the great man himself would come out and show his face.
As we approached 6 p.m., the start of the show, I wondered if Mr. Brando intended on coming out at all. But just when we had
less than fifteen minutes to airtime and we were all in terror that he might have changed his mind, he wandered out from a
back room, barefoot, with a coffee cup in his hand. But there had to be more in that cup than just coffee! Still, I have to
say, I have rarely seen a man act more graciously before a show. He was determined to show no favorites as he stood at the
entryway of the room.

After a quick look around, the legendary Mr. Brando did not greet Larry first, which surprised everyone. He also did not greet
me. Instead, he went around the entire room, shaking hands with every technician, truck operator, soundman, camera operator—anyone
doing anything of a technical nature. He personally introduced himself to each person, saying, “Hi, I’m Marlon. Welcome to
my home.”