Debi Mazar's extensive film and TV credits include Goodfellas, Jungle Fever, The Insider, Ugly Betty and Entourage. She and her husband, Gabriele Corcos, celebrate Italy, entertaining and great food on their website, underthetuscangun.
October 7 -- My Final Performance
I sort of knew all day long that we'd be eliminated, because I didn't feel that happy about my performance Monday night. My dress rehearsal onstage with the band had been seamless. And once the crowd started screaming for my butt shakes I was like, "yeah!"— I felt fabulous. Then I made the mistake of doing the one thing I'm not supposed to do, which was to look down. Or actually, I looked back at Maks instead of looking forward, and I lost my bearings. I tried to catch up but it looked really sloppy.
Also, I wish we had had some show-stopping moves in our choreography, like when Chuck Liddell rips his sleeves off or Mya bends backwards or wraps her legs around her partner. I can't do splits but my legs are limber enough to do everything else and make nice lines, and I never felt that we had the choreography where I could show that stuff off. I think America wants to see chemistry and sexiness, and I don't think we looked like we were having any chemistry except on the tango, which was brilliant the way Maks choreographed it. I spoke to somebody and their take on it was that Maks is very purist in ballroom. He doesn't want to do all the cutesy things that people throw into a routine because the crowd likes it.
Bringing Mel B. into this week's video package—I never understood why they bothered. My kids and my dog had come in to rehearsal, and that was hysterical. I had a 17-year-old poodle trying to samba and follow me on the dance floor. Maks danced with my 3-year-old daughter, Giulia, and she was able to follow his directions perfectly. My 7-year-old, Evelina, is a lot like me; I held her hand and said, "One, two, three," and she would go left while I would go right. It was the exact replication of what Maks had to deal with with me. It was the most beautiful, happy footage, but they didn't use it. It was lovely to meet Mel B., she's really fun, but I didn't see how that was going to represent me or help my case.
After we were eliminated, Maks was very supportive. He came over to me and said, "Deb, listen, I wouldn't trade spending time with you through this period of my life over getting any disco-ball trophy." What people don't realize is that we were together for 10 weeks, 6 hours a day. A lot of that time, he was going through a very hard personal time. It made things complicated, but I was happy to be an objective person in the picture and try to be supportive of him. I think we both came out of it with something, and you can't ask for more than that.
At the end of the day, I got to wear fun costumes—it was a big beauty pageant, more or less. I learned new dance moves and met great people and I got to put my voice out there and get people to come to my cooking website. I never thought I was going to be the best dancer because I know I'm a little uncoordinated. I'm not going to lie—I never felt comfortable when I went to the dance floor, like I could own it, and I wanted to so badly. I couldn't hide my nerves or the fact that I screwed up, like Louie Vito does with that great smile. Maybe my problem was that I always felt like a fly on the wall, observing a world that I didn't really belong to.
I've lost six pounds, which on me is a lot, even though I've been eating like crazy. But my legs look great and I was like, how do I keep these legs up now that I'm not going to see Maks? And he said, "Deb, if you want I'll give you private lessons." He and I, we're all good. I just hope I didn't let him down because I think he expected to get a partner who could dance. It was very difficult training, and hey, what can I say?
I did have a blast. I've had emails and texts from people all over the U.S.; the amount of support and love has been overwhelming. My friends and fans were like, "You did great; now go back to your day job!"
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September 30 --"Oh, No, We're in the Red!"
On results night, I wasn’t nervous initially because I felt really good about our tango. There was a lot of passion and fire and pushing away and coming back, and Maksim and I have that as people in our personalities — mercurial and strong but still really liking each other — and I think that served us. We scored highest of all the tangos, and I know I’m not the best dancer but I’m definitely not the worst. All of a sudden, though, Maksim goes, "Oh no, we’re in the red" (there’s a red light they put on you or something; it’s lingo I’m still not familiar with), and I’m like, what is he talking about? Then it dawned on me: Omigod, it’s between me and Kathy Ireland! I’m still on stage and I’m about to be eliminated!
Last week was probably the worst week on the show for me. Between the muscle tear in my neck and the press and my partner — we really were fighting. I didn’t think that the behind-the-scenes video package reflected how deep it really got. Even Maksim said, "This is bad, you’re crying," and I thought, well, then, don’t make me cry. I’m not stupid; it’s not coming naturally to me.
To top it off I was also PMS-ing. I have two days out of the month where if you’re really nasty to me, I’m confrontational, I’m going to snap, give it back to you, and probably start crying. I warned Maks about that when we first started working: "If we make it any further, I just want to warn you that every three weeks there are going to be a couple days in there that are a little bit bitched out." And that was last week. So thank god that’s over with.
Maks's way of teaching is very difficult, and although I thought it would be good for me I don’t know if it is. Because I get insulted, and I’m trying not to take it personally but when someone’s that impatient with you, no good comes out of it really. It's difficult for me to be open to hearing him, or for my brain to accept it.
So I kicked the camera crew out and we had a sit-down behind closed doors. I think he got where I was coming from. We really like each other as people, and I feel like I’ve been put into his life to inspire him in some strange way, him being a younger artist and a person who's growing. I’m older than he is and I’ve lived through many things. In the mix of it all, we were able to have a conversation and get our points across. I think he had an epiphany finally, as did I: Try to smile, be quiet, focus more, be a better student.
He was worried, as was I, about our video package. Because he’s known as sort of the bad boy, and he doesn’t want to look like an asshole; and I’m known as an actress – and I was called a drama queen the other night on the floor – and the thing is, I’m not even being dramatic. If America’s going to like me, they have to see the humor in some of my mistakes, as opposed to seeing me fall apart. Some of the people at Dancing With the Stars have said, "It’ll hurt you if you guys aren’t getting along, in terms of what you’re learning or people not liking you or not liking him." I felt like the package was sort of a downer. But the good news was it did show growth and progression.
Because of my neck, I was working extra hard to hold my "frame" during our performance. When you break frame, the balance falls off; the feet follow the head as opposed to flowing with your partner’s. At one point I almost screwed up but my foot magically went with his legs; I managed to keep our bodies together, which is a testament to the hard work. Once you separate, you’ve blown it.
At one point in our tango rehearsals I pulled him towards me, and he said, "When you pull me what happens is I come into you — but I weigh 190 pounds and I’m big, so the minute we connect you are going to fall backwards and be off balance. In a show, you make the illusion that you’re pushing me; if you really push me, you’re going to fall forward, because I’m heavy. And if I push into you you’re going to fall backward." So it’s like physics, basically, and a lot of it has to do with showmanship.
This workout with the samba, it’s like a Jack LaLanne class: I’m holding my legs in squat position and gyrating my hips and my arms are flying through the air. It's very, very aerobic. My metabolism is burning so hard that I'm losing a pound a week. My thighs are reducing and my ribs are starting to stick out. And I really like to have a presence — I find that the bigger you are in a dance show, the sexier it looks; you really look like a woman. When you’re skinny it looks kind of hard. For my next outfit I’m trying to create hips, because I don’t have them, and I’m trying to make it soft and pretty.
As far as the other competitors go, it's like a big love-fest. We all are discovering each other, learning about each other’s families and work things and problems and fears. Everyone is very stripped-down. Even watching Chuck Liddell look nervous has been highly interesting. To see someone like Tom DeLay, who has a stress fracture in his foot and is in a lot of pain — he and I are polar opposites in terms of what we believe in politically, and I realized I could probably get into it with him. But he's very self-deprecating in a really dark, very cool way, because he's been a politican for so long, and it's sort of fascinating. I don’t dig too deep; we also don’t have that much time.
Kathy Ireland was sweet as could be and super-supportive. Mya is really lovely, quiet and contained – and when she performs she just opens up and gives it to you. I find that so captivating and beautiful; I wish I had her poise on an everyday basis. And Joanna Krupa is a lot of fun and really generous.
My partner's breakup put a lot of stress on our rehearsals over the past six weeks, but he’s in a much better place now, and I really think that this week is going to be great for us. We’re both happy, and we have a really happy, sexy, fun dance. So I’m excited.
September 24 -- The Premiere, and After
Saturday before the three-night season premiere was our first time rehearsing on the stage, which has steps. The floor was slippery, as some pro dancers like to use castor oil. I use water on the bottom of my shoes so as not to slide, per Maksim's instructions, but I slid anyway. My shoe fell off during the foxtrot and Maksim made me continue because there is no stopping, no matter what happens. He seemed happy with me, and I went on to a costume fitting.
I was stunned to find that I had gone down a size, from a 4 to a 2, though the scale doesn't say I've lost weight. I am getting too defined on my upper body and losing fat on my chest. I needed to shove in extra bra pads to make my boobs look like something.
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