As the Senior News Correspondent at E! Online, Ken Baker has spent the last 7 years breaking celebrity news. Despite his deep involvement with Hollywood, Baker has also established himself in the literary sphere. In fact, he’s published six books so far, including a memoir about his professional hockey career, a book on the pursuit of happiness (co-authored with Olympic skater Scott Hamilton) and his most recent release, a novel, How I Got Skinny, Famous and Fell Madly in Love.
While Baker is usually the one asking the questions, we put him in the hot seat to give us the inside scoop on the most popular celebrity hangouts, the Kimye wedding and his interviews with Miley Cyrus.
What sparked your interesting in writing about celebrity news?
Celebrities are fascinating because they deal with everyday sort of issues that everyone deals with, but on top of that, they have all this attention surrounding them. They’re regular people, times a thousand because everything is more magnified. That’s also why I’m interested in writing about them from the perspective of a fiction writer as well as a journalist because they are so real. They are great characters under an intense amount of pressure in unusual circumstances and that’s really fun to write about.
Can you tell me what your new book “How I Got Skinny, Famous and Fell Madly in Love” is about?
It’s about a 16-year-old girl who’s clinically obese and whose family desperately wants to have a Kardashian-like reality show. The only way the network will give her the show is if it’s mostly about the girl trying to lose weight. They come up with a show called “50 Pounds to Freedom” and it’s about their daughter trying to lose 50 pounds in 50 days so that the family can win $1 million. It’s a hybrid of “The Biggest Loser” meets “The Kardashians” and it explores our obsession with reality television, our obsession with being skinny and what that is all about.
What is the connection between your book and your experiences in Hollywood?
I’m from Buffalo, N.Y., I went to Columbia University for graduate school and I was really an East Coast person. When I came out here, it was kind of a culture shock but I fell in love with it. It’s funny because now people associate me with LA and Hollywood, but that is not my background at all. The way I look at celebrity is the way I look at Los Angeles, which is that the root word of celebrity is to celebrate.
Referring back to my book, people always ask me why I’m writing a novel and I tell them it’s to celebrate our pop culture and the celebrity industrial complex. Celebrities are our major international export. It’s not always positive and there are dark parts to being a celebrity, but there are also fascinating and interesting things as well. I love to write about it and writing fiction allows me to do it in a purer, more honest way.
Tell me about your perspective on the Kimye wedding.
I think it’s an interesting thing to remember that this was a very small wedding, even by non-entertainment standards. When I got married, we had 125 guests. I had more guests than they did. It was certainly over the top in that they flew everyone to Paris and took a plane to Florence, Italy, but at the end of the day, it was really just the people that meant the most to them. There weren’t a lot of celebrities and the ones that were there were performing.
When you really step back, yeah they spent millions of dollars, wore top designers and wanted everyone to look their best, but really it was two people that love each other surrounded by the people they love the most. This was not some big celebrity, Hollywood blowout.
Who has been your favorite celebrity to interview?
Favorite celebrity of all time? Oh my God. I really love different interviews for different reasons. If you have a good interview with anyone, you take something away that’s interesting and makes you reflect on your own life or makes you think about something differently. But I will tell you this: I’ve interviewed Miley Cyrus many times and right before she went on her current tour, I got to talk to her.
I love interviewing Miley because she is the most authentic performers that we currently have in pop culture. She answers questions honestly, she wears her emotions on her sleeve and for that reason, I really enjoy interviewing her and I always have. She is one of my favorite celebrities at the moment.
Even after the negative reception of her performance with Robin Thicke?
Am I talking about someone I’d like to bring home to mom or someone I’d like to introduce to my grandmother? No. But from a journalist’s point of view, she is a fascinating person because she doesn’t censor herself. She’s so human and she just puts it out there. Love her or hate her, she’s authentic.
What has been the most memorable moment of your career so far?
The one that comes to mind is the day that Michael Jackson died. It was so jarring and so respected. For three weeks, it was all I covered. And it was such a shocking moment for so many people.
Where are the most popular spots for celebrity sightings?
The E! Network lobby. On any given day, you’ll see tons of celebrities coming in and out because we’re interviewing so many people all the time. But regular folks should go to the Four Seasons Beverly Hills. They do a lot of movie junkets and celebrities are constantly interviewed in there. Another good place is the Chateau Marmont. Get a cup of coffee or a drink in the evening because a lot of celebrities like to go there to hang out.
What’s one thing everyone in LA should experience once?
Everyone should walk a red carpet to experience that symbol of the ultimate glamor of Hollywood from the perspective of the celebrity. There is something so intoxicating and intense about that moment when all the cameras are on you and people are yelling and taking your picture. It’s quintessential Hollywood and it’s a great bucket list item for everyone.
