Why Ruby’s so happy, living miles from her husband...
SHE has battled depression for most of her life, but Ruby Wax today reveals how she has found the recipe for domestic bliss: living miles away from her husband.
The American comedian tells You magazine that she has never been happier than living through the pandemic alone in a tiny house in the countryside while Ed Bye, her TV producer husband of 32 years, remains at the family home.
‘He’s in our house in London,’ she says. ‘I came here to write my books, but then lockdown happened and I just stayed. He visits.’
Ms Wax, 67, is even planning to extend her long-distance relationship by going travelling when coronavirus restrictions permit. She fancies a spell living among a community of eco- enthusiasts in a village outside New York – without Ed.
‘No, this is my thing,’ says the mother of three grown-up children. ‘I might stay a day, a week, a couple of years – who knows? I want to experience it.
‘Yes, it’s a bit of a shock to my kids but they appreciate I’m on this path. During lockdown, I saw how community became a bigger thing in our lives and I want to explore that for a new book.
‘But I don’t talk the talk, I walk the walk, so I have to find out for myself what it feels like.’
Wax says she doesn’t miss the fame that she once enjoyed as the host of top-rated TV chat shows, which ran for more than a decade and drew audiences of 14 million.
‘God, no. I wouldn’t want to be on television these days because the way they do shows now sucks the soul out of everything,’ she says. ‘Now chat shows are like fast-food outlets, quick soundbites.
‘ People come on to sell their products. You don’t learn anything. I have no interest.
‘And I have no interest in fame. I don’t think about it any more. It happened and it’s in my past. I am in a much better place in my life now.’ Since swapping comedy for meditation – gaining a master’s degree in mindfulness- based cognitive therapy at Oxford University – she has become one of the country’s leading campaigners for mental health awareness, and has even advised MI5 spies involved in the war against terrorism on ways to maintain a good state of mind.
Wax says she tends not to discuss her new way of life with her showbusiness friends but recalls praise from the late Alan Rickman, a great friend she made while they were both members of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
‘ I know thst when Alan was dying, he had my books and said to someone, “Have you seen what Ruby’s done? Isn’t it incredible!”,’ she says, her voice breaking.
‘Now that’s going to make me cry. But I do think I have done something good.’