'Red Carpet Confidential'
With the Golden Globe and Oscar awards just around the corner, Hollywood is bracing for yet another fashion showdown on the red carpet.
The producers at "Entertainment Tonight" have put together a special that takes a look at all the beauty and fashion preparations stars have to go through before they step out of their limos. It's called "Red Carpet Confidential."
Lara Spencer, anchor of TV's "The Insider" is the special's co-host with Steven "Cojo" Cojocaru and she stopped by The Early Show to tell co-anchor Hannah Storm the highlights and give a preview of an "Insider" exclusive: The first-ever video footage of Martha Stewart in prison. The footage was recently shot and shows Stewart and her daughter Alexis walking the prison grounds. That footage will air on "The Insider" on Tuesday night.
"Red Carpet Confidential" airs on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. on CBS.
Celebrities interviewed for the special include: Oprah Winfrey, Debra Messing, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, Beyoncé Knowles, Paris Hilton, Tom Hanks, Denise Richards and Halle Berry.
If you ever wonder how stars manage to look amazing, even just months after having babies, Spencer says just remember that stars are different. "They pull into a pit stop and they have 20 people around them. It's not normal. The great thing is what we discovered in the special is that they're relatable and people and do not wake up looking that way."
Queen Latifah, for example, shares a beauty secret her grandma told her: use baking soda as an exfoliant. From body shimmer, to goat's milk facials, to avocado face masks and more, celebs share the little-known secrets they use to whittle the middle and keep their faces fabulous.
"We got dozens of beauty secrets like that," Spencer says, pointing out when it comes to the red carpet, the pressure is on to make sure they look great from head to toe.
"What this special does is rip back the curtain," Spencer says. "We get rid of the smoke and mirrors and show you, step-by-step, how some of the biggest stars do it."
They got unlimited access with Oprah Winfrey, Emily Procter ("CSI: Miami") and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
"Emily told me yesterday she's terrified by the decisions she makes like what to wear because it gets dissected," Spencer says. "We met her in the morning. She brought her two dress choices in a duffel bag - not even on hangers - and rips out a Valentino and she put on press-on nails from the drug store. It was out of control."
The studio pays for all this, but Spencer notes stars do pay for their stylists and manicurists. The good news is that they can write it all off. It is, after all, part of the job to look great.
As for the burning question of what stars carry in their little handbags, Spencer says they have a whole segment on that.
"The answer is in the case of one big story you'll have to watch, she carries fake tears in case there is a tribute in the show," Spencer says.
As for Martha Stewart who is serving a 5-month prison term at a minimum-security federal women's prison in Alderson, W. Va., she appears in a video poking herself and apparently talking about her weight. She's reportedly lost a lot of weight in prison. It is the very first video of Stewart behind bars ever shown on TV.
"People inside the prison say she looks great," Spencer says. "By all accounts, she is a model prisoner. She has a lot of friends and she is happy, according to our inside sources, although not very happy that she lost the decorating contest, which is funny to me."
Teams were given $25 worth of construction paper and glitter, and Stewart, Spencer says, "chose to have paper cranes hanging from the ceiling as a symbolic Christian nativity scene and perhaps it was a little esoteric for the prison judges. We're not talking about 'Bob the Builder' here. We're talking about cranes, the birds."
Stewart reported to the prison to begin her five-month sentence on Oct. 8, 2004. Her release in the beginning of March is to be followed by an additional sentence of 5 months of home confinement.
After her prison time and home confinement, Martha has a deal with NBC to start a new TV show.