'Reinvented' Jane Pauley to speak in Topeka

Former 'Today' host talks of life after bipolar disease, show cancellation

Posted: October 9, 2011 - 4:17pm

COURTESY JANE PAULEY COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER

Former "Today" and "Dateline NBC" host Jane Pauley will speak in Topeka on Oct. 18 as the keynote speaker of the three-day "Power Up" convention at the Capitol Plaza Hotel.

HOW TO GET TICKETS
Jane Pauley's keynote address to the three-day "Power Up" convention, scheduled for Oct. 18-21 at Topeka's Capital Plaza Hotel, is open to the public. Convention host Interhab has a website, where $10 tickets can be purchased.

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By Rick Dean 

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Her network TV appearances today are limited to a monthly segment — “Your Life Calling” — on NBC’s “Today” show, which she once hosted daily (with Tom Brokaw and later Bryant Gumbel) for 13 years.

Jane Pauley can’t predict how much longer her work will air on the network that was her professional home from 1976 through 2003. She doesn't know if television is in her future at age 61.

There is one aspect of her life, however, of which Pauley is certain.

“When 'The Today Show' and (sponsor) AARP decide that 'Your Life Calling' has gone about as far as it can, I'll reinvent myself all over again,” Pauley said in a telephone interview. “It may not be easy, but I expect to stay productive and engaged.”

That is the message of her “Your Life Calling” segments, which are aimed at the age 50-plus audience looking for new directions in their lives. It is a message she will bring to Topeka on Oct. 18 as the keynote speaker of the three-day “Power Up” Conference sponsored by Interhab, an association of developmental disability service providers, and Kansas First News.

“I think I have some insight into people successfully reinventing themselves,” said the network personality turned motivational speaker. “What I've found is that people with a history of volunteerism seem to have an easier time when, by choice or necessity, they have to answer the question, 'What do I do next? How do I continue to make a difference?' Volunteering is an outstanding way of developing new skill sets, or figuring out what you want to do next.”

Pauley serves as a template for reinvention, something she had to do after her last prolonged TV assignment, the syndicated “Jane Pauley Show,” was canceled in 2005 after only a year — one of the toughest years of her life.

“My hair was on fire every day that year,” she said. “That I survived is a testimony to resilience. I not only had to rebound from an illness, I had to rebound from a failed talk show.

“Frankly, I didn't handle it all that well. I assumed my television career was over, and I was still in my 50s. It took me three years to fight my way out of that paper bag.”

It was in 2004, a year after her 11-year stint as co-host of “Dateline NBC” ended, that Pauley wrote a book — “Skywriting” — and began the the talk show in which she openly discussed her ongoing battle with bipolar disease, the mental disorder that produces mood swings of tremendous bursts of energy followed by debilitating lows of depression.

“It produces a bungee-cord effect,” Pauley wrote. “From the depths of depression, a person can be flung to the heights of mania and, inevitably, to the depths again “

While Pauley initially viewed her 0-to-60 bursts as creative, productive energy, husband Garry Trudeau — the “Doonesbury” cartoon creator — and NBC colleagues noticed something else happening around 2000. Eventually, even Pauley knew something wrong.

“It seemed harder and harder to prepare for an interview. I either procrastinated or I wasn’t able to concentrate,” she wrote. “On the one hand I was impressed with my new creative energy, but on the other hand I was suspicious that I didn’t have it completely under control.”

With the cancellation of “The Jane Pauley Show” in 2005, Pauley threw herself into volunteer projects and foundations dealing with mental health and children’s issues. Addresses such as the ones she will give Oct. 18 at the Capitol Plaza Hotel’s Sunflower Ballroom are a part of her own personal therapy as well as being informative and inspirational for her audience.

“That was never my motivation,” she said of the benefit she receives from talking about her own situation. “But, there is research showing that giving support is as therapeutic as getting it. To stand at a podium and be applauded is certainly a serotonin booster, but it's also a great responsibility.

“When I come to Topeka, it won't be Jane Pauley talking about the time she was so sick, though I'll reference it as a way of having something in common with the clients Interhab serves.”

Today, Pauley has learned to handle the mood swings that remain a part of her life.

“I'm doing great,” she said. “I don't check my mood state as often as I check my email, but I do have to be aware of it. If I start off going too fast or feeling too good, I take note and back off.”