Mayim Bialik: Life After 'Blossom'

Photographer

Mayim Bialik was a fan favorite as the star of the '90s sitcom, "Blossom." Now she is all grown up, the mother of two sons and holds a Ph.D in neuroscience from UCLA.

ET goes one-on-one with the former child star who is promoting the DVD release of the first and second seasons of "Blossom," which will be in stores on Tuesday, January 27 as a six-DVD collectible box set.

ET: When you look back at "Blossom," in hindsight was it a good thing for you personally?

Mayim Bialik: Yes. Every experience we have makes us the person that we are. I would be a completely different person with a completely different set of neuroses if I hadn't been on television. I think ultimately it was a very positive experience. I loved going to work. I worked with some incredible people, I got to travel all over the world doing publicity and I had a very exciting life that I definitely would not have had otherwise.

ET: So many child stars end up having problems with drugs or alcohol. Why do you think you didn't?

Mayim: Really strict parents. My parents were very down-to-earth and I think it was important to them that I still be a normal person and have chores, responsibilities, curfew and all that stuff. I came from an immigrant background, so I think it is part of how I was raised no matter what. Some kids who aren't in movies or on television get into drugs. For me, it was my family. My grandparents got on boats from Eastern Europe so we could have a better life and going to college was it -- no matter what.

ET: Do you have a favorite episode or scene from the series?

Mayim: One of the episodes that we do commentary for that we are releasing in the first season was "Rockumentary," which was a takeoff on the Madonna "Truth or Dare" documentary. It is a dream sequence where Blossom dreams that she is Madonna and her whole family is Madonna's family. It was great. We got to shoot on location and in black-and-white. It is funny. It is a weird, weird episode and pretty unusual for a sitcom to do a movie for a half hour.

ET: Are you in touch with any of the other cast members?

Mayim: Once the thing that brought us together was over, we all went our separate ways. Not in a negative way, but Jenna [von Oÿ] lives back East now. Actually, Joey [Lawrence] and I live in the same neighborhood and see each other once in a while. But for the DVD recording, you get to see us reunited. We hadn't sat around and hung out like we do on those DVDs, so that is a special thing.

ET: What are the special features for the DVD?

Mayim: We did interviews about the show, but also about our lives. There is a special section with Jenna about friendship and what it was like to portray the friendship that we did. Even the commentaries on the episodes are really funny. Joey is really funny.

ET: Are you going to work in science to follow up your degree, or are you interested in acting again?

Mayim: I finished my degree last year, and I worked with a specific syndrome of mental retardation. I have done some writing for a couple of organizations that raise funds for research, but I just had my second child [both boys] and I am actually auditioning and sticking a toe back into the industry. I am very happy I got my degree and I worked very hard on my theses, but in terms of having kids and the family life we have, academia right now is not where I can go.

• Error
• 133
• 133
• 133