Carrie Ann Inaba says 'The Talk' has helped her personal relationships
When Carrie Ann Inaba became a permanent co-host of The Talk in January, she was used to working short-term jobs. As a dancer, she toured with Madonna and appeared in movies such as Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Showgirls. You get in, you do the work and you move on.
Not so on The Talk, where she spends five days a week sitting alongside her co-hosts, Sheryl Underwood, Sharon Osbourne, Eve and Marie Osmond. Even if they say something they regret on Monday, they still have to come back on Tuesday. And every other day.
“It’s taught me how to interact with others in a much more compassionate and patient way that has really helped my personal life expand,” Inaba tells Yahoo Entertainment. “[Because] you interact with these people, things happen and you just kind of have to keep moving through it, and that means behind the scenes, too... there’s producing meetings. It’s just endless, endless stuff coming at you. It’s made me have healthier relationships in my personal life.”
Inaba, who had sat at the table as a guest co-host since 2017, said she wasn’t expecting The Talk to affect her in that way.
“I have now a band of really smart women that are very successful and very compassionate to ask questions of, and I get really great advice,” Inaba says.
Inaba’s other current show, Dancing With the Stars, is also short-term. She sits on three-person panel of judges, alongside Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli, for each cycle, but each season only lasts about 10 weeks, one couple wins and they start all over with a new crop of contestants.
Inaba says the current group of celebs has surprised her more than anything else this season.
“The level of the competitors is higher,” Inaba explains.
As for individual contestants, she points to actress Kate Flannery, known for her role as Meredith on The Office, and Flannery’s pro partner, Pasha Pashkov.
“Pasha’s one of our new dancers, and he’s really focused on the technique,” Inaba notes, “and I kind of love this, because you can really see how, when you learn the technique, how fast you grow as a dancer. If you watch Kate, she’s been doing really, really well.”
Besides her two TV shows, Inaba works with Japanese pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo to promote awareness of Iron Deficiency Anemia. It’s what happens when someone doesn’t have the iron to produce enough hemoglobin in their red blood cells, and can’t transport the right amount of oxygen throughout the body.
Inaba herself was diagnosed with the condition six years ago after having major fatigue and brain fog. She’s since been able to work with her doctor to find the right treatment, and she obviously has much more energy today.
“That really changed my life, just from being diagnosed, because then we were able to find the right ways to restore my levels of iron in my body and bring me back to wellness,” Inaba says.
She’s encouraging others to visit GetIronInformed.com to learn more.
Inaba will return to the The Talk for the Halloween episode, when the women will dress as some of music’s biggest stars for the fifth annual “Rocktober Lip Sync War.”
Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
'Dancing With the Stars': Peta Murgatroyd reveals that she's really rooting for this contestant
Jada Pinkett Smith says narcissism 'can be very painful and dangerous' on 'Red Table Talk'
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