Ricki Lake > Quotes

“It had been seven years since I’d watch my parents banish Joe from our home, but my cheeks lit on fire whenever a newscaster uttered the words child abuse.”
― Ricki Lake, Never Say Never: Finding A Life That Fits

“Most 7-year-olds in 1975 were busy cruising around town on their Big Wheels, watching Wonder Woman, minding their Pet Rocks and Wombles, doing the hustle to “Lady Marmalade”, cooking up treats in their Easy-Bake Ovens, begging to stay up late enough to watch Saturday Night Live. In most ways, I was the same as every other ordinary 7-year-old in 1975, except for the way in which I wasn’t ordinary at all.”
― Ricki Lake, Never Say Never: Finding A Life That Fits

“I was humiliated by what had happened, ashamed of what I had been through. Nobody had explained to me that it hadn’t been my fault. Nobody had told me that sometimes confused people do terrible things to children and that it takes a long time to recover from such a trauma. Nobody told me how sorry they were.”
― Ricki Lake, Never Say Never: Finding A Life That Fits

“My friends often tease me that I see the world through the eyes of a Disney princess, that I open my curtains each morning to savor the sweet smell of citrus trees and the music of songbirds. They’re right, I kind of do.”
― Ricki Lake, Never Say Never: Finding A Life That Fits

“Grandma Sylvia was nothing short of a movie star to me. She looked like a cross between Patricia Neal and Gena Rowlands: all rosy cheeks and lipstick and glasses, the ultimate glamorous matriarch.”
― Ricki Lake, Never Say Never: Finding A Life That Fits

“My parents thought that such a wall would project an image of strength and containment and keep our family safe. This wall would never be more than symbolic since it was so low to the ground that even a preschool-age child could climb over it. But even before it was finished, I realized it would never grow tall enough to hide or shield me, our wall taught me that even the mightiest rocks offer little protection from pain.”
― Ricki Lake, Never Say Never: Finding A Life That Fits

“I grew up in a middle-class Jewish family in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, a small town in Westchester County not far from Manhattan, but far enough away from the city that Manhattan always seemed like an exotic and magical place.”
― Ricki Lake, Never Say Never: Finding A Life That Fits

“The fact that my parents refused to address what had happened to me filled me with shame and self-doubt. Was it possible that nothing had really happened to me? Had I gotten Joe punished for nothing?”
― Ricki Lake, Never Say Never: Finding A Life That Fits

“I wasn’t one of those socially withdrawn fat kids, though. I was the girl who always wanted to get in the game, even if I played it really, really poorly. I was more than happy to sweat my life away on athletic teams: volleyball, track, if that meant having lots of friends. I was even willing to brave the swim team in a Speedo. I wish I had that kind of body confidence now.”
― Ricki Lake, Never Say Never: Finding A Life That Fits

“Birth equals create.”
― Ricki Lake, Your Best Birth: Know All Your Options, Discover the Natural Choices, and Take Back the Birth Experience