Marissa Jaret Winokur
Marissa Jaret Winokur

Every producer I have met has asked me to change my hair. I have always said 'No.' I finally change it for me... and now everyone in the business is like, 'You have to go back to having brown hair.'

Marissa Jaret Winokur
Marissa Jaret Winokur

On Dec. 10, 2000, I learned I was free of cancer.

Marissa Jaret Winokur
Marissa Jaret Winokur

I lived in New York my whole life. Like every New Yorker, I have stories about spending summers on the Jersey shore, riding the roller coaster in Seaside that is now famous for that sickening photo of it being washed out to sea.

Marissa Jaret Winokur
Marissa Jaret Winokur

I can honestly say - not proudly, but honestly - before I had a child, I would see things on TV or hear the news, feel sad for the people and move forward with my day. Now I see everything through a mother's eyes.

Marissa Jaret Winokur
Marissa Jaret Winokur

I have no regrets. I had an amazing surrogate who carried my son for me. I am so grateful to her. I can even say I am grateful for having cancer. I was always meant to be a mom, but if I didn't have cancer, I never would have had Zev. I would have had a kid, but not Zev, and I want Zev - tantrums and all.

Marissa Jaret Winokur
Marissa Jaret Winokur

I grew up in Bedford, N.Y., and it was close enough to Jones Beach on Long Island that every summer my mother would pack the car for the day, and we would drive to the beach!

Marissa Jaret Winokur
Marissa Jaret Winokur

You would think with me living in Los Angeles I would go to the beach all the time, but we don't. It's the same as visiting the Statue of Liberty. If you don't live in N.Y.C., it's the first stop on your family vacation, but if you live there, you only go if you have relatives visiting from out of town!

Marissa Jaret Winokur
Marissa Jaret Winokur

I find that the 'moms club' is a very, very exclusive club! It's the club of mothers who wear skinny jeans and white button-down shirts and wash their hair twice a day! I do not, and mothers who do make me feel really bad. You know who I am talking about!

Marissa Jaret Winokur
Marissa Jaret Winokur

We have to support each other's tired nerves, I know that sounds so Pollyanna, but really... Mommy groups can be amazing, but haven't you ever gone to one and felt like you are back in high school, totally on the outside of the 'cool kids' club? I totally have!

Marissa Jaret Winokur
Marissa Jaret Winokur

I'm showbiz-fat. It's so funny, in all the reviews that I read, no one wants to use the word 'fat' as an adjective. So I have to deal with 'dimpled-kneed,' 'hefty,' 'plus-sized,' the most obscure words you can imagine.

Marissa Jaret Winokur
Marissa Jaret Winokur

I'm certainly not 10 pounds away from being an ingenue! Of course I would love to lose 10 pounds. I would never lie and say I don't think about it, but I don't think about it on a daily basis. I love my body. I don't like wearing clothes that hide or cover it. I love wearing costumes that show it off.