Chelsea Handler Gets Deep in Parade's Exclusive Cover Story: 'I'm a Woman Now'
As she approaches her 50th birthday, the outspoken comedian talks personal growth, feeling sexy and where she stands with ex Jo Koy
Parade, the premium legacy entertainment and lifestyle brand, released its latest cover story, featuring an exclusive interview with comedian, podcaster and author Chelsea Handler.
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As Chelsea Handler approaches her 50th birthday, the outspoken comedian talks personal growth, feeling sexy and where she stands with ex Jo Koy. (Photo: Business Wire)
In this candid interview, Handler addresses her feelings about aging as she approaches turning 50 this year, her relationship with fellow comedian Jo Koy and coming to grips with anxiety and the death of her older brother, Chet, when she was age 9.
Her upcoming collection of essays, I'll Have What She's Having–her seventh book since 2005's My Horizontal Life–is due out on her birthday, February 25.
Read the full interview here. Video link here. Notable quotes are below.
On her breakup with Jo Koy:
"It's not nice to him to give away the details. I loved him at one point in my life, and I don't want to hurt him. And also, I'm at a different place in my life where I don't have to give away the dish. My breakup with Jo Koy was the first mature ending to a relationship that I was in. My behavior was mature and graceful. I honored the relationship by never actually divulging what happened, and I liked that version of myself."
"I've ended so many relationships where I lacked dignity and I lacked grace, and I was immature and vindictive. And I don't want to be that way. I want to be better than that. I'm a woman now, I'm not a little girl."
"I haven't spoken to him. I don't think I've spoken to Jo Koy since we broke up. No, I haven't."
On taking a swipe at Jo Koy at Critics' Choice Awards:
"Listen, I would've done that had anybody thrown their writers under a bus. I know more than anybody how valuable writers are. My whole life and my whole career is because I have great writers."
On getting reprimanded by Jane Fonda at a party:
"I went to the bathroom mirror at her house and looked at myself, and I was like, ‘O.K, you have two choices in how you're going to handle this. You could be defensive, and that just means she's right. Or you can take it in and realize that she did not have to sit down and take the time to tell you this.' She could have just avoided me for the rest of our lives and never hung out with me again and just been like, ‘O.K, Chelsea's badly behaved, I don't want anything to do with her.' But she set an example for me that day. That was an act of love."
On brother Chet's death:
"[That] was a huge thing that I didn't ever want to talk about or acknowledge until I was 40. And that coincided with [Donald] Trump being elected for the first time. That coincided with my new talk show on Netflix. It was a perfect storm of instability, and I had never felt unstable before in my life, in that way."
On her upcoming 50th birthday (February 25, 2025):
"I am pretty into myself right now. It is true as you age, you become more confident, and I had a lot of confidence to begin with. …But as far as being sexy, you free up as a woman. There is a sexual awakening that happens, where you do not give a sh-- about how you look or how you are being seen or the cellulite you have on the backs of your legs. You don't care about any of that because you are into feeling good and having great sexual experiences."
On her mother's death at age 66:
"She just never had this kind of freedom that I have. She had six children and she had my dad, and she was very dependent on him, which was one of the models that I looked at growing up that made me think, ‘I don't want that. I don't want anyone to make my decisions for me, financial or otherwise.' I wanted to be a free spirit. And I wanted to have my own ideas."
On dating:
"I've got lots of little things going on, so hopefully none of them see this!"
To read this story, or any of previous Parade cover stories, click here.
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