Rita Wilson

And our business was paying really well back then.

And I would take the jobs, but I knew I wanted to stay in college because it was so important to my parents.

They didn't have really high school or college education.

But I knew that it was so important to them because they impressed upon us that if you have a college degree, then you would have a much better chance at having a better job.

My dad was a bartender.

And my sister was the first person in our family to actually get a college degree.

So I felt like an utter, complete disappointment when I had that conversation with my parents, which was...

i don't think i should stay in college because i think acting is my real job and it was also back then if you were an actor and you were a woman and believe me i was only a teenager back then

it had a little bit of a taint to it.

Like, oh, you're like a loose lady or something.

It wasn't a respectable job.

And so that was also like a little scary to me because my mom used to say to me, your reputation is very important.

Once you lose that, it's very hard to get it back.

And so I had these old school ideas of like,

Am I going to lose my reputation by being, you know, in this business?

But I went for it and I have to credit my parents for never telling me I couldn't do something.

They never put their foot down and said, absolutely not.

So I really credit my parents for not shutting that down for me.

What was Hollywood like in the 1970s?

Fantastic.