Today my guest is the iconic Pia Zadora—Golden Globe winner, Grammy nominee, ShowWest winner, accomplished singer, film star, and a mom who has been living toxic free for years. I first met Pia in…I think it was 2000…when she called and asked me to fly down to her Beverly Hills home and inspect it for toxic exposures. We’ll be talking about how Pia got interested in toxics, why eliminating toxics from her home is important to her, and how she lives toxic free at home. piazadora.com
TOXIC FREE TALK RADIO
Toxic Free Superstar: Pia Zadora
Host: Debra Lynn Dadd
Guest: Pia Zadora
Date of Broadcast: December 11, 2014
DEBRA: Hi, I’m Debra Lynn Dadd and this is Toxic Free Talk Radio where we talk about how to thrive in a toxic world and live toxic-free. It is – what is the date today? It is Thursday, December 11th 2014 and it’s a nice, chilly day here in Florida, 69°. I know it’s much colder every place else.
But it’s winter time. It’s coming to be the holidays and I’m actually going to take a vacation for three weeks. But there are many, many, many shows that you can listen to. It’s in the archives. Just go to ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com, see what you might be interested in and I’m hoping that you’ll listen to lots of archives while I’m taking a little vacation.
But I’ll be back with live shows in January. In fact, I already have many guests booked for the month of January and we’ll just continue after the holiday.
My guest today is Pia Zadora, actress, singer. She’s had a long career – well, she’s been a Golden Globe winner, a Grammy nominee, an accomplished singer, film star, broadway baby. She was a child star. She has been in broadway shows.
But she’s also a mom and she’s very interested in toxics. I’ve known PIa for many years. I was trying to figure out when I met her. I think it was in the year 2000 when she called me and asked me to come down to her home in Beverly Hills and check it out for toxic exposures. So we’re going to let Pia talk about how she lives toxic-free.
Hi, Pia!
PIA ZADORA: Hi, Debra. How are you?
DEBRA: I’m great. How are you?
PIA ZADORA: I’m good. I think you’re right with the year 2000 because my youngest son had just been born. He’s 17 now. He’s about two or three at the time when I started detecting toxins in my environment for some weird reason – maybe hormonal me. I was like, “Uh-oh, something’s going on here.”
But I think the interesting thing is as time goes on, it seems more evident or more prevalent. When I started using paint for Jordan when he was born, painting the nursery and doing all that stuff and redoing the bathrooms and then trying to keep everything clean with the wrong solution like Lysol and all that other stuff, it’ll kill you before it kills the germs and I started smelling and sensing and protecting thinking, “Well, this is just not right.”
And that’s when I called you because I’ve seen some of your stuff and I said, “Wow! It’s probably a big issue and I need my guru…”—because you were my guru at that time.
DEBRA: Thank you.
PIA ZADORA: And you still are. I mean, I’m in constant touch with you to explore every new direction I go in terms of solutions and paints and pools with chlorine and all that kind of stuff.
DEBRA: That’s right. I actually get a lot of emails from Pia.
PIA ZADORA: Yes!
DEBRA: Over the years, over all these years, I continue to get emails from Pia. When she wants to do something new, she contacts me and finds out how to do something non-toxic.
PIA ZADORA: Yeah, yeah. And it’s very important. The good thing is that place are much more aware of it. I mean, when I used to – for instance, I had a house in Malibu. I think it was the time that you were with me. It was brand new and it just reeked of all these toxins and the plaster and all that, the bad baths, the coverings. I was like, “Oh, my God!” When I went into this house, I feel like I’m going to faint or something. It was overwhelming.
And so we checked it out and I was told to bake it. You bake a house!
DEBRA: That’s right. That’s exactly right.
PIA ZADORA: I know! But people thought I was nuts. I’m like, “No, we can’t go to Malibu this weekend because I’m baking the house.” “Really? Well…”
And then I had my meter, my electromagnetic meter when I would go to buy cars. I come in with the meters. I have to sit on this seat with the car on when you look at the meter how high it registers. People really thought I was nuts at the time.
But now, people are accepting and understanding in a much different, more progressive way because I think that a lot of people are getting sick and they’re realizing that they’re getting sick because of the stuff in their environment.
DEBRA: Yes, that definitely is happening that I really see in the last few years that major television shows are talking about this. Whereas when I started back in 1982, I self-published my first book. And then in 1984, my first book was published. At that time, they didn’t know where to put it on the shelf on the bookstores. Nobody had ever heard about any of these things before.
But now, there’s all these organizations. They’re working on toxics. There’s legislation, there’s all these businesses. I have more than 500 websites on Debra’s list at DebrasList.com that are selling toxic-free products and it’s just all changed from where it was even it’s changed since the year 2000 when you and I first met. There’s so much more awareness than there ever was before. And I think that’s great.
PIA ZADORA: Yeah, true. Yeah, it’s a relief.
DEBRA: It is a relief. It is a relief.
PIA ZADORA: Yeah.
DEBRA: So why is this important to you? Why is it important to you to live toxic-free.
PIA ZADORA: I think it’s important because it’s healthy and it keeps you feeling confident and upbeat and the whole vibe of it, you just feel difference. When you stop eating organic and you’ve stopped using VSD paint and you use all-natural vitamins and all these, you just feel the difference.
And it’s important on many levels. It’s important spiritually, it’s important physically and you know that you’re doing what’s best for yourself and for your kid (as you’ve said, I’m a mother). So it’s really important for me to be there as long as I can and to be as healthy as I can.
And my daughter, which is amazing, she’s 27 or 28 now. She is more, almost more aware. She sends me new stuff every time, “Oh, Mom, try this. Put butter in your coffee in the morning. And it has to be pasteurized butter. Go on this website and get all these cheese.” She cooks organic food for her little Pomeranian with vegetables in it and all kinds of stuff. I’m very proud of her, that she’s so aware. She’s completely gluten-free and all that.
So I think I brought that awareness to her and she kind of ran with it. She’s the next generation, which is great because that means her kid will be healthier and she will take better care of them in so many ways.
And then there’s medication and all that other stuff that we do now to keep ourselves the way we want to keep ourselves – peaceful, tranquil, healthy, happy, more positive, all those things that we do.
DEBRA: Well, are there specific chemicals that you’re concerned about more than others?
PIA ZADORA: Well, I’m concerned obviously with the dust bed. The thing that’s hardest for me because I’m performing now is make-up. It’s really hard to find a make-up that will be – you know, you’ll go on a set or you’ll go on stage and will look right and is not going to bleed if you know what it mean.
There’s so many preservatives and parabens and [inaudible 00:09:16], all that crap that you know is not good for you. I’m concerned about those.
And I’m also concerned about eating out because my lifestyle is eating out a lot especially since I’ve had my accident, I can’t really get around and cook that much. And I enjoy going out and relaxing. It’s hard to know – well, obviously, you know that not everything is healthy and organic, that you’re eating in a restaurant. You don’t know what they’re cleaning the dishes with. You don’t know all the other stuff that you’re ingesting and the pesticides that they’re using in the kitchen.
It’s kind of scary. But I guess you just have to protect your own environment and not be overly conscious because then you’ll be a recluse, you become a hermit.
DEBRA: Well, I found over the years that if I can do it more than fifty percent – I think I probably am more conscious and take more actions than most people, but if you can do something more than 50%, then you actually can make some progress.
So we need to go to break, but we’ll be right back and talk more with Pia Zadora about living toxic-free.
DEBRA: Okay, this is Debra Lynn Dadd. I think you can hear me. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio. Sorry, I have a little microphone thing going on there. So you’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. My guest today is Pia Zadora, accomplished singer/actress. She’s been in the entertainment business since she was in a child. She was on Broadway. And now, she’s still an entertainer, but also a mom and she’s been living toxic-free as I’ve said, as we’ve both said since the year 2000. So she has a lot of experience with this subject that we cover on this radio show.
So Pia, before the break, you were talking about eating out. One of the things that I find is that there are certain restaurants that you just can’t find out any information, but if you go to better restaurants, then a lot of restaurants are now serving organic ingredients. At least they’ll tell you what’s in it and that they have some knowledge about the ingredients. Other restaurants, they’re just taking some frozen thing that was prepared at some other place and putting it in a microwave and it’s not fresh food at all.
But what do you find when you go to a restaurant? Do you find that it’s easier or difficult to get organic and to find things out?
PIA ZADORA: Well, there’s just a few restaurants that I go to because I know that they will disclose and I know that their standards are higher than your average restaurant. If they’ll have wild fish, they’ll tell you what’s wild, what isn’t. They’ll have some organic vegetables or salad or green. They’ll have free range if not organic, but usually like in [inaudible 00:17:09] Ranch, they cook something like that.
You just have to trust and know that you’re going to go to is going to be honest and then you’re okay! If I’m traveling, driving from Vegas to L.A. or something and get hungry and you have to go into one of the chain restaurants…
DEBRA: I know!
PIA ZADORA: Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! You can just taste the difference and the sugar that they put in and everything. It’s just mind-boggling. And if you’re hungry, you’re hungry. Either take something in the car or have something that you know is not okay.
DEBRA: I know that that really is – I’ve done a fair amount of driving myself especially on highways like that. It’s just the food is so few and far between.
I remember when I was moving from California to Florida, my husband and I, we would decide that we would stop along the way and have breakfast. When we left in the morning, we didn’t eat at the hotel or some place just so that we’d have like a goal for, “Let’s have a rest and have breakfast.”
And when we got to Florida, we stayed in [inaudible 00:18:33]. I can’t even remember how to say that. And then we have to drive down to the Tampa area where I live in Clearwater. We drove and drove and drove and drove through the Florida jungle and drove and drove and drove. The only food that there was for miles and miles was boiled peanuts and I was never so happy in my life to say Denny’s.
PIA ZADORA: Oh, I know, I know.
DEBRA: But I don’t want this to sound like I eat at Denny’s all the time because I don’t. But if you are in a situation like that and that’s all the food there is, really, your choice is are you going to eat it or you’re just not going to eat.
PIA ZADORA: Exactly!
DEBRA: And so I know that for myself, as much as I love to enjoy some small, locally-owned restaurant, they’re not always there.
PIA ZADORA: Right!
DEBRA: I know for myself if I go on a trip, I’ve always got snacks on the car, so that I can choose if I’m going to eat at Denny’s or not, that I have a choice. That I think is an important thing to do.
I used to eat in places like that and now, it’s just like I don’t want to even eat them, eat those things. I’ll tell you that one thing that I read about on my food blog recently was that I started being able to get just pork belly, which is what bacon is made out of. I love bacon. I think everybody loves bacon. Even a lot of diets like the Paleo diet, they recommend eating bacon – and low carbs diet. Everybody is eating bacon.
But the thing about bacon is that in addition to the fact that virtually all bacon has sugar on it of one sort or another, it’s also smoked. And so all those chemicals, those combustion byproduct chemicals from the smoke actually get into the meat. And so that’s a reason that I stopped eating bacon a long time ago because of that.
But recently now, I’ve been getting pork bellies and they don’t have any of that stuff on it. It’s just the meat. It’s just the meat and it’s really good quality pork too. It tastes so delicious.
And then the other day, there was some bacon and I thought, “Well, you know, I’ll just eat this little bit of bacon” and it actually didn’t taste good to me anymore because I’m so accustomed to not eating smoked and sugar and all those things and just have the raw meat. It was a really interesting experience.
PIA ZADORA: Yeah. But to get back to the Denny’s thing and traveling on the road, the scary part is that 90% of America just eats that stuff and thinks it’s okay on a regular basis.
DEBRA: Yeah, we’re on the next break already. That went quick. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, my guest today is Pia Zadora and we’ll be right back.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Pia Zadora, Golden Globe winner, Grammy nominee, film star, singer. She’s been around a long time, since she was a child. She was a child star and has been around as long as I can remember.
So Pia, did you find that your children, being raised in a toxic-free way, did you find that they had less health problems than other children?
PIA ZADORA: Yes, my first two were not really raised in a toxic-free world because I wasn’t aware of it. I first became aware of it 15 years ago when you and I hooked up. But I still think that each year increases.
Everything, it worsens in terms of chemicals and additives and foods and paints and everything.
So I think it’s more important to do it now more than ever. But I do think my younger, my baby is better. He’s clearer, he’s calmer, his skin is better. You know, they go out once they turn teenagers. You can’t stop them from having soda or eating Dorito’s with the other kids when they go out, but I think the important time is when you’re younger and they’re eating, when they’re babies, when they’re three, four, five years old. There’s more neuroplasticity and they’re more vulnerable. And I think at that time, if you feed them organically and you surround them with healthy things –
And toys, these pleasant toys! When he was a baby, there were all kinds of Lego stuff going on and people were being that plastic and Legos and from China. It’s horrible when you really think that kids, small kids, innocent, vulnerable kids are being poisoned by their toys.
DEBRA: I just think that that’s unbelievable. We should be able to live in a pure world where the environment isn’t attacking us all the time. Fortunately, we can create our own homes to be that way. But still, when we go out on the world, we’re still being exposed to those toxic chemicals in places like pesticides on public lawns and when kids go to school.
Even schools now, there’s some movement towards removing most toxic chemicals from schools. But most schools still are toxic and children go into toxic schools and they’re fed non-organic lunches.
There’s been so much progress over the last 30 years since I’ve been doing this, but there’s still much more to be done. Still so much more.
PIA ZADORA: Yeah, there’s not enough. There’s not enough progress.
DEBRA: Yeah. It needs to go faster and there needs to be more. I think about this every day, how can I get more information faster and change more lives because we really now need to be considering about everybody in the world and be looking at the regulations and why isn’t everybody aware of this and why isn’t everybody making the choices that you and I are making because it just is common sense, wouldn’t you think?
PIA ZADORA: Yeah, absolutely. But the awareness is just not enough right now – it’s better, but it’s not enough.
DEBRA: I agree. Well, we’re contributing to that today. We’re bringing more awareness to more people. We’ll just keep pushing it forward because we need to have a toxic-free world for everyone.
So what is the most difficult thing you found in order to change?
PIA ZADORA: Well, the more and more you get into it, the more you look at under microscope, you realize that – first, thing it’s just like a food, it’s just a cleaning solution, then you realize it’s the varnishes on the furniture. I’m like, “Oh, my God! What am I going to do? I’m just decorating a new house?” “Oh, no. You can’t use any of that.” At first, it’s scary.
And then I got all organic furniture. And at that time, there weren’t that many choices in terms of colors, so I have to use the all-natural fabric. Now, there are more choices and prints and all that good stuff coming that you can find through certain websites. But who would’ve thought that your furniture is poisoning you or your rug? I mean, you think, “Okay, maybe the carpet painter,” but you don’t think that. That was very hard for me in the beginning.
DEBRA: Especially at that time. I remember in 2000 when we were working on your house, I remember working with your interior decorator to get your furniture to be non-toxic.
PIA ZADORA: Yes, Michael Smith. And he actually decorated the White House after that.
DEBRA: Really?
PIA ZADORA: Yeah, he’s an amazing decorator. There’s wonderful stuff that he didn’t understand, I mean what we were talking about. He thought I was off the wall.
DEBRA: Yeah, but we did end up with some pretty nice pieces for you, but it was very limiting what we had to choose from at the time. Whereas now today, there’s many more places to get furniture. But still, I would say that one of the things that’s so different now is that we have more awareness than we’ve ever had before in terms of I can produce more studies about what’s toxic than I could years ago.
When I first started, there were no studies that said that carpet was toxic. I could just smell it and I knew that people were getting sick. But now, they’ve measured it and studied the chemicals in it. And you can get studies that show all the list of chemicals in carpets. It’s in the Chicago Tribute about fire retardants in sofas. There’s all these people with fire retardant sofas that now understand that they’re being exposed to fire retardants every time they sit on their sofa.
PIA ZADORA: And how about fire retardants in babies’ pajamas.
DEBRA: I know! I mean, that’s just ridiculous. I’m sorry, it’s just not a good thing. Fire retardants, babies? I mean, there’s all these attention on fire retardants so that there’s not a fire, but babies are not smoking cigarettes. Maybe they have to be protected from their parents or visitors who are smoking cigarettes that might draw the ashes on their bed. It’s so toxic and babies are so vulnerable.
It just boggles my mind that the people who are making these decisions don’t understand this and that we as consumers need to be watching for it.
So we need to go to break again. We’ll listen more of Pia singing. We’ll be right back. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Pia Zadora. We’re talking about her toxic-free life. Pia, I know that one of the things that I noticed about living in a toxic-free way is that the products themselves are so much more enjoyable to use.
One of the first things I noticed was that it was so much more comfortable to wear cotton than polyester and there was one Christmas when I ate an organic orange for the first time and I was stunned that it didn’t taste like what I thought an orange tested like (like fungicide) and that it actually tasted like an orange. I gave everybody oranges for Christmas because I was so excited that I wanted them to taste a real orange.
So my question is what are some of your favorite products that are toxic-free?
PIA ZADORA: I’m very much into aromatherapy. I love home sprayed with lavender and I love creams, body lotions with essential oils. It just feels so good and it’s such a difference. When I was traveling and I ran out of my cream and I had used something that was in the hotel, I mean it smelled awful and it felt awful. I just couldn’t use it. You get used to this stuff and it becomes a part of you. It just feels so pure. You feel happy, your body feels happy. it really, really sound silly, but it’s true.
DEBRA: Well, I think our bodies feel happy when we use something like aromatherapy – and these are real, honest to goodness natural essential oils from plants. The difference is because the natural plant essences are actually alive and healing and compatible with our bodies whereas those other fragrances that aren’t are made from petrochemicals and they’re just artificial and there’s nothing there that actually heals your body.
And so many times, when we’re not using these natural produces and are instead using these synthetic ones, our bodies aren’t being nourished. It’s like taking a drug for symptoms. A prescription drug for symptoms might alleviate your symptom, but taking something like a natural, homeopathic remedy will actually heal your body. And so when we’re using these products, there’s actual healing nature to them.
PIA ZADORA: Right, right. And you don’t feel invaded. I mean, with toxic stuff, you feel like there’s an invasive element going on. It doesn’t feel, smell and taste right.
DEBRA: That’s exactly right. And yeah, there is like a right-ness to it. Yeah, I feel that too. So what other natural products do you like?
PIA ZADORA: I like everything! The interesting this is we had a leak in the house and I had these sustainable, beautiful wooden floors put in, all-natural and all that, it just came with a little vinegar and a little warm water and it just – I love baking soda and I like to clean vegetables, wash my vegetables with vinegars. You can just see all the grind and the dirt coming out from them. It’s like the really natural things are fun.
Tea tree oil as a cleanser. I’m a little bit of a germophobe, so I carry my wipes and my tea tree and everything. Because I live in Vegas and I work in Vegas, I’m always opening a door or doing gas and all that. That’s a great way to just carry germs and get sick and get cold and all kinds of stuff.
So I actually have these little plastic food handling gloves that I keep in my purse. I dispose of them when I open a door or something. A gazillion people in every hotel I go to opens those doors and they have colds, they sneeze or whatever, so I use my tea tree wipes when I sit down to eat and after eating or touching something or on a plane. I’m wiping the arm rest or the tray table with the tea tree wipes. So that’s a fun thing for me too.
DEBRA: That’s a really good idea. A lot of people use – I forgot what that’s called, those products that you wipe your hands on to kill the germs. There’s a word for this, I’m just not thinking of it.
PIA ZADORA: You mean Purell?
DEBRA: Stuff like that. And those are alcohol-based. That alcohol is just made from crude oil. There’s nothing natural about it. It’s just alcohol-based. So to use something like tea tree oil actually has natural anti-bacterial properties to it, so you’re using exactly the right thing. And I think that for somebody like you who’s out there in public spaces all the time, that’s a really wise thing to do to protect yourself from germs. Somebody like me who’s in my house all the time, that’s probably not as necessary.
PIA ZADORA: Yeah, because you’re not vulnerable.
DEBRA: But you, you’re doing exactly the right thing. You’re doing exactly the right thing, yeah.
PIA ZADORA: And I’mshaking hands with people all the time. You just have to keep yourself clean.
DEBRA: Yes, yes. Good idea, good idea. So let’s see, things like clothing. Do you wear natural fiber clothing?
PIA ZADORA: I have all my pajamas made from organic cotton. I buy them from different websites like[inaudible 00:45:10] or I have them made from stuff that I order from Genesis and all that stuff. But you know, my every day stuff, I can’t because I just need it to be – or the sweats, I do organic and natural. But my show clothing and all that other stuff, I can’t. But I do send them to organic cleaners, to non-toxic cleaners. I use non-toxic cleaning. I switched to them and all that. And I always wash or clean them after I buy them to get that initial chemical stuff. You can just smell it off of them.
DEBRA: Yes, yes.
PIA ZADORA: But it’s important to use non-toxic cleaners. My God, I mean that’s very…
DEBRA: So how do you clean your house? What kind of cleaners would you use to clean your house?
PIA ZADORA: Well, I use Planet Solution from Whole Food for different things. I use natural, organic vodka and I use vinegar as I told you and the organic Dr. Bronner’s soaps and all that stuff and just all-natural products. You can smell them. Some of the natural products aren’t that natural. You smell them right away and it’s like, “Uh-uh, this is not the best,” so you switch to the next.
It’s pretty much at Whole Foods and those places because that’s really the only resource that we have for that kind of stuff. I’m not as evolved as you, which is why I call you and email you and ask you about all the different products and things like about the – what was it about the glass that they said that there was – what was it in the glass?
DEBRA: Oh, lead in the glass?
PIA ZADORA: Lead in the glass – I mean, at the craziest places. They’re like, “Well, these glasses have lead” but crystal glasses actually have some lead. You’re, “How do you get lead-free glass?” It’s like, “Oh, God! I got to call Debra or email Debra.”
DEBRA: Well, that’s why I’m here. That’s why I’m here. But I think you’re doing a pretty good job from what I know, from the questions that you’re asking, that you’re looking to see at every turn, that you’re wanting to make sure that if there’s a toxic exposure that you’re aware of it. And as you become aware of it, you try to find out the answer and try to do the best you can. I think that that’s a really, really good thing to do.
Over time, all these different things come up and we all just make changes and we become less and less toxic.
PIA ZADORA: Yup,yup.
DEBRA: Well, thank you so much for being on, Pia. It was a pleasure. We’re at the end of the show. I wish you very well in continuing to have a toxic-free home. I know you have a question to me about swimming pools that I need to answer. I will do that and I’ll also put it on my website so everybody can see what the answer is.
Swimming pools, there’s a lot of new things out and I want to take time to explain what the differences are because I went through all that with my pool as well.
So thank you so much. Have a wonderful holiday!
PIA ZADORA: Thank you, Debra. You too. Have fun! And I’ll talk to you soon.
DEBRA: Okay, thanks. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. I’m going to be taking a break for the next three weeks and I’ll be on Tuesday, January 6th. And so during the interim, please go to ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com and listen to as many of the past archive shows as you’d like. There are so many interesting shows.
And I’m also now working on transcribing all the shows, which is really important to me because there’s so much information in these shows. I know that it’s a lot easier to just scan through a transcript and find that nugget that you’re looking for especially if you’re listening to something and you hear something that you’re really interested in. You can go to the transcript and look. I’m trying to get all the links to different websites that we’ve mentioned in the transcripts so they’re really ending up being a valuable resource on into the future.
There’s so much to learn and what I’m working on is getting as many knowledgeable experts on as I can and people who are making toxic-free products. We’ll just continue on 2015 after the holiday.
Thank you so much for listening. Again, you can go to ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com and listen to the archives during the holiday. We’ll be back in 2015. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio. Be well.
