Ricki Lake knows her kids will be stars. “My older son”—that’s Milo, age 10—“is going to be a musician,” she said at the Women’s Expressive Theater benefit on February 11. “They call him mini-Jimi, because he’s like a little Jimi Hendrix. And my younger one”—Owen, 6—“is a little comedian.” Lake says she’s not a stage mom. “Part of me wants to shove him out there,” she said of Milo, “but I battle that and want him to have a normal childhood.” The former talk-show host knows the perils of fame. “I don’t want him to be famous,” she said. “But he’s that good that he could be.”

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Related:

• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Articles by Tim Murphy
• Table of Contents: Feb 25, 2008 issue of New York | Subscribe!