Jamie Lee Curtis Comes Clean

By Andrew Eccles

Posing with her yummy lemon cake (recipe courtesy of The Cake Bible).

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GH: Good point. I notice that some containers are labeled, and some aren't. What's your approach to that?

JLC: I'm not a massive labeler. I have a friend who would label, like, [picking up a timer] "timer." I have them when I need to know what's in it. Like if it's a white powder, and you can't tell if it's flour, baking powder, or powdered sugar. But it's not like it's crazy in here. I already know there's pasta in this container, so I don't need to label it. And everything goes in plastic containers in the freezer, too, because, as you see, I hate packaging.

GH: Tell us more: Is it just that it doesn't always work as well as it should — the cereal box doesn't seal properly?

JLC: It's more than that: I understand that for advertising, packaging is so much of what is supposed to draw you in, but I feel like packaging is bringing somebody else's design into my house. And it's also because I think, "Why not pour maple syrup into a little clear glass pitcher when you're having breakfast, versus putting the big plastic tub on the table?" I'd rather put something in a little container on the table so it's pleasing to the eye. So if I use a lot of something, I take it out of the packaging and put it into these squeeze bottles, which you can buy in restaurant-supply stores for very little. Like [opening the refrigerator door] these are the things I use every day: maple syrup, vinaigrette that I make, and barbecue sauce, because my son likes barbecue sauce.

GH: Nice. Do you have any other tricks like that?

JLC: My other secret is my soup freezer file [opening freezer and pointing to a shelf filled with large resealable plastic bags of soup, frozen flat and arranged vertically, like files]. My friend Holly invented this — let's give her credit. You freeze four cups of soup flat and then put them in a file.

GH: Were you organized as a child?

JLC: I wasn't the kid who lined up her toys, although when it came to Barbies and that little traveling wardrobe with the drawers and the little shoes, my stuff was always on hangers and the shoes were always in pairs. Things had their places. I remember going away to prep school for my senior year of high school, and the rooms were very simple — wardrobe, bed, a desk, and an end table. And I remember rearranging the room almost weekly. It made me feel safe. I was very unsafe there, just in the sense of being away from home, and emotionally I was not ready for it. So I kept creating new ways to create order. I'm a tidy, neat person. But I'm not a maniac.

GH: Was your mother [actress Janet Leigh] very neat?

JLC: My mother was a lovely woman, but I can tell you that she would go wash this cup while we're talking. Do you know what I mean? I've tried to be much more present and clear and "I'm here with you now, and I'm not worrying about what's going on in there." And that's different. At 51, I've developed an internal Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, but the seal of approval is my own approval. And it's something I've worked very hard on for a long time.

GH: When did you start getting yourself together?

JLC: When I got sober. It's been 11 years, coming up on 12. That was a real moment for me of recognizing that something was askew — that all of this can be in great shape but there was a dependence on something external that was keeping me prisoner. As soon as I let go of that, I started to have balance. Because then that seal of approval became based on the self-esteem of really conquering, and working on daily, something that challenged me. That's where you build self-esteem.

One more thing: It's all fun and games and cute to have me with a feather duster, but don't just think that you can apply the externals — it's the same thing as saying, "Go buy this outfit and you can feel like Jamie." Then you buy it and put it on and go, "I don't feel like her." I'm more than my systems. If the external life is super-organized, but the internal life is a mess, then everything is completely out of balance, and your life just looks good.

Next: Jamie Lee shares her biggest organizing challenge

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