Mayim Bialik talks about her podcast, executive producing a new documentary, and ‘Jeopardy’

Mayim Bialik. Photo Credit: Jai Lennard.

Emmy-nominated actress and TV host Mayim Bialik (“The Big Bang Theory” and “Jeopardy”) chatted about her latest endeavors, which include a new documentary that she executive produced and her “Bialik Breakdown” podcast.

New documentary

She serves as an executive producer on the new documentary “Mom & Dad’s Nipple Factory.” “The title alone was pretty startling when I first heard about it,” she said with a sweet laugh. “I am very excited about it.”

The synopsis is: After his wife’s breast cancer diagnosis, a conservative family man’s journey to boost her morale turns into a secret homespun prosthetic nipple business, flying under the radar of their friends, their church, and their five children.

When asked what drew her to this project, she remarked, “I have a production company, and we get a lot of projects all the time. We’ve never produced a documentary before.”

“I’m a lactation educator counselor — I got my certification after my second son was born — so I’ve always been interested in the situations around breastfeeding, but I never thought about this aspect of women’s health,” she said.

“It felt like a way to expand my understand about a family impacted by breast cancer and also the ingenuity of a family rallying around this woman (their mom) and her husband starting a secret nipple factory, which is both outrageous and awesome,” she elaborated.

“It is also just a great documentary. There is a lot of footage that they have from childhood that they were able to utilize, and it is also a really cool story of this whole family’s journey,” she added.

Future plans

On her future plans, she shared, “We are excited to be producing this documentary, and my podcast, ‘Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown,’ which has had over 50 million downloads now.”

“We have a YouTube channel, if you want to watch us, and we are everywhere podcasts are. We’ve had some incredible guests, and we get to talk about mental health and wellness. That’s where I’ve been spending a lot of my time,” she said.

“I also have a few other projects in development, which I can’t talk about yet,” she noted.

Importance of mental health in the digital age

On the significance of mental health in the digital age, she said, “We started our podcast during COVID, at a time when people were dealing with anxiety and wondering what was going to happen, and not knowing who to trust. It felt like a really scary time.”

“On top of that, the fact that we have so much information coming at us in so many different ways, and constantly, and also a lot of misinformation,” she observed.

“The mental health world has seen that one person’s experience is not everyone’s experience, but a lot of times people will learn about mental wellness from digital content so what our podcast seeks to do is to try to dispel some myths that might exist, and also to democratize mental wellness, which I think is something that the Internet and social media have a real ability to do,” she elaborated.

5^th career Primetime Emmy nomination

Bialik opened up about her career fifth Primetime Emmy nomination, which was for hosting “Jeopardy.” “That felt really exciting,” she admitted.

“I was obviously on ‘The Big Bang Theory’ for so many years, and I was so excited to get nominations for that. I never expected that my stint on ‘Jeopardy’ would produce a nomination so that was very exciting,” she said.

“I was very happy to share that honor with Ken Jennings, who also got nominated. So, it was very nice,” she said.

“Also, I think it’s cool that it is a category for a nomination. For me, I was reading the words of our wonderful writers on ‘Jeopardy,’ and I was really just doing my best to communicate their information… so it was kind of funny that you get a nomination for that,” she elaborated.

Experience hosting ‘Jeopardy’

On her experience hosting America’s top quiz show (“Jeopardy”), she said, “It was great. I loved my time on ‘Jeopardy.’  For me, that was the best job I’ve ever had. I definitely miss it and the intellectual environment.”

“I really enjoyed our writers, and the environment of always learning,” she said. “I went to grad school and then I returned to acting. Working on ‘Jeopardy’ felt like going back to school, which was great. I was learning all the time. So, it was really a great point in my life, for sure.”

Best advice that she has ever been given

Bialik revealed the best advice that she has ever been given.

“Drink the good wine because you never know when things might not be good, so go ahead and drink the good wine,” she said. “I actually don’t drink wine, but I think that notion of trying to enjoy what is, without worrying about what is going to be, is really good advice.”

Career-defining moments

Regarding her career-defining moments, she shared, “Being in Beaches, which came out when I was 13, and I played the young Bette Midler character. I think that started my career because I had only started acting a year before that. That is what led to ‘Blossom’.”

Stage of her life

On the title of the current chapter of her life, she revealed, “Let’s see what’s next.”

“I have my older son going to college in a few weeks, and my younger one starting high school, so a lot of ‘let’s see what’s next’.”

Superpower of choice

If she were to have any superpower, she responded, “I would like to be invisible.”

“As someone who is recognizable and who has been recognized for most of my life, I think it would be fun to be invisible,” she said with a sweet laugh.

Best thing about being her age

On the best thing about being her age, Bialik said, “A lot of years of experience behind me, and hopefully, a lot of years still ahead of me. I guess that middle age means.”

Favorite motto to live by

On her favorite motto to live by, she shared, “I’ve heard a lot of people say that ‘everything is going to be okay’ and I like that, especially if things are hard and challenging.”

Bialik’s message for her fans and supporters

For her fans and supporters, Bialik said, “Thank you. I obviously wouldn’t be here without the people who have not only watched the programs that I am on but also the people behind the scenes, such as my publicist Heather Besignano, and all the people that have rallied for me and have been protective of me, especially when I was younger. I appreciate that greatly.”

“It is neat that people have followed all my work, and they have grown up with me; that is really special and a fun aspect of having a career that keeps going,” she said.

Success

On her definition of the word success, Bialik said, “Success can be personal… such as my children spending time with me; that feels like a success.”

“Careerwise, being able to do further projects that I really believe in… with this documentary and my podcast being examples of that. That feels like a certain amount of success,” she explained.

Closing thoughts on ‘Mom & Dad’s Nipple Factory’

For viewers, she remarked, “There is a certain amount of open-mindedness that comes, especially from something with a title that might be shocking to some, but this is really a story about unity.”

“It’s a journey of a woman getting breast cancer and learning that a man is engineering prosthetic nipples, and they started a business because of that, and that brings the family back together,” she said.

“I think that’s a really beautiful message, especially for the times that we are living in right now,” she concluded.

To learn more about Emmy-nominated actress and TV host Mayim Bialik, follow her on Instagram, and check out her Linktree page.