The Drew Barrymore Show: “Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair” Star Bryan Cranston “Laguna Beach” Star Lauren Conrad

"Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair" Star Bryan Cranston

"Laguna Beach" Star Lauren Conrad

Air Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2026

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Photo Credit: The Drew Barrymore Show/Ash Bean

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Videos:

Bryan Cranston on Proposing to His Wife in the Bathtub

https://app.cimediacloud.com/r/qddRh69pU5Gv
Drew: When you guys got engaged, can you please tell me that story because I love it so much.

Bryan: OK, so I had a cabin in the mountains at the time and, and I said, OK, I'm going to, make a bubble bath and I'm going to light a candle and have champagne and have some light music. But the reason I chose a bubble bath is because I get very emotional. And I, when I'm thinking about proposing to her and telling her how much I love her, I knew that I would start choking up, so I thought I would get in first, and then I'd welcome her in and sit in front of me. We're both facing one direction, so I can just focus on looking at the back of her head and get out what I need to get out and tell her what I want and, and do it. OK, so in this bathtub, there was no place to hide her ring. She goes, OK, I'm coming. I went and I lifted up my foot and I put my ring on my baby toe. And then quickly popped it into the, and I was in the tub in the bubble bath and she couldn't see it. And she gets in and we're sitting there and, and we're talking and we're drinking champagne and it was, it was really beautiful. But then we're there like an hour and she goes, OK, I'm gonna get out and I go, no, no, no, no, no. No, don't, don't, don't get out, don't get out. And I'm thinking, OK, I gotta do it now, do it now, do it now, do it now. And I was like, you know, Robin, I love you so much. I really hope that we can spend the rest of our lives together, you know, and she starts hearing these words and she starts turning to look at me and I just go like. She's like, no, I keep turning. I knew that if she would look directly at me, I would just start choking up and I wouldn't be able to finish. So she finally goes, what are you asking me? And I go, would you, would you marry me? And she goes, no, no, I'm not. She said, she said yes, and we kissed and I, oh, what a relief that was. And then she said, do, do you have a ring for me? And I went, oh, yeah, the ring. But now she's in front of me, I couldn't get to it, so I went, here. And she had to take the ring off.

Bryan on His Daughter Starring on "The Pitt" and Her Guest Role on "Breaking Bad"

https://app.cimediacloud.com/r/xkawvk8zYNex

Drew: Oh my goodness your daughter Taylor Dearden who is on 'The Pitt.'

Bryan: Yeah that's my kid.

Drew: Did she exhibit signs of wanting to do this and at what age and how did you handle it?

Bryan: Very young of course like you, you were around it all your life as was I. I'm a third generation actor and she's now fourth so she was around it from the beginning but there's a very big distinction between performing and performing professionally so we exposed her to the summer music theater classes and she was in all her plays at school and things like that.

Drew: And did she want to do that?

Bryan: Oh yeah she wanted to be in it. She had it and then when I was on 'Breaking Bad' I was directing one of the episodes and it called for a sixteen-year-old sad faced girl. Taylor was sixteen and I went to her mom and I said babe what do we do here. It's an opportunity for her to stretch and see if she wants to try to audition for this, there's no way, there's no free pass you have to audition for it. I told Sony and AMC if she's not the best we are not hiring her. That's just it.

Behind-The-Scenes: Bryan on Working With Ben Affleck on "Argo"

https://app.cimediacloud.com/r/UywIu5Sg6E4M

Drew: What was it like filming that movie?

Bryan: The one thing I remember about doing this is he loves nutter butters. He's a nutter butter nutter. I would place a little nutter butter on his video village for him. But he's also really gifted at the crossword puzzle.

Drew: Is he one of those New York Times on a Sunday no problem?

Bryan: Yes it drives you crazy. There was one time we were shooting in the actual CIA building in Washington, DC and we had to turn in all our phones. Everyone had to turn in a phone they don't have any of that going on and all of a sudden we see these armed guys come along and he's looking at something and goes someone has a phone on them and it was a guy pulling cable going I forgot I had a phone. They had him arrested, took him away.

Bryan Cranston on "The Studio" Season 2 & Shooting a Fake Biopic with Madonna and Julia Garner

https://app.cimediacloud.com/r/TOzJc2KfVidc
Drew: It's the best 50th birthday of my life. We got sent the entire season of 'The Studio' and I just thought, like, what was your inspiration for playing this bananas town guy?

Bryan: He's a bananas guy. Well, we just finished shooting two episodes in Venice, Italy of 'The Studio' 2.

Drew: Oh my God, I'm so excited. It's the best show.

Bryan: Well, as, and you can even see, I, I dyed my hair. I dyed my hair and I have this little shock of, of white because I, because I, we just finished and so I still have it. It makes me look about 10 years younger, but actually I have gray hair. But, yeah, and we were, you know who we were shooting with? Madonna.

Drew: What was she like to work with?

Bryan: Madonna was excellent. Oh, she worked hard. She was on the set for in the wee hours of the morning, just pumping it out. She was great.

Drew: And then Julia Garner was in the scene with her and is she set to do her biopic?

Bryan: I think so.

Drew: That's the rumor.

Bryan: It has been for a while.

Drew: She's got the teeth, the look, she's Madonna.

Bryan: So, Julia went through Madonna boot camp. There was a boot camp. I don't know, but I don't think I'd succeed in it. But, but she could do. So she went, she was handpicked. Madonna said, yes, I think you're the perfect person. And Julia is a beautiful actor and she's really good at this. And so she was in the show too. So what Seth Rogen did was contact Netflix who owned the rights to the Madonna story that this has been brewing for a while and said, can we take it and kind of play with it? And they did. So we made this movie, the biopic of Madonna, starring Julia Garner.

Drew: OK, so at the very least we're getting the movie in 'The Studio.'

Bryan: We're getting the plan of the movie.

Bryan on Asking Repeatedly for a "Malcolm in the Middle" Reboot

https://app.cimediacloud.com/r/LMDVO0Y2L0ub
Drew: What I loved hearing is that you were a big proprietor and like pusher of this happening.

Bryan: Oh yeah, well 10 or about, this is about 12 years ago, I would have fans come up and say, well, what happened on 'Malcolm in the Middle?' Did Malcolm graduate from college and what is he doing now? And you and Lois, the characters, Hal and Lois, you were pregnant. Did you have the girl you were hoping for or what? And I said, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. And so I went to Lynnwood Boomer. Tracy Katzky's husband, who, who is a producer on our show, and I said, hey, you know, I'm getting all these questions and I think it's valid, what happened to this family 10 years later, you know, and he's, and he said, absolutely not. I'm retired. I'm done.

we did 151 episodes. I can't do anymore. I can't even think about it. I can't wrap my head around it.

Drew: There's such a fan base and they wanted to know how things are going.

Bryan: So a year after that I proposed again. I said. I don't know Lynnwood, there seems to be a lot of talk about it. Frankie, who plays Malcolm, right? He was over and we had dinner and I told him about, he, he sent a text, a tweet out, and he got millions of responses. And it was like, wow. So finally, Tracy said to Lynwood, 'Would you at least do your friend a favor and think about it?' And he said, and he did. He came up with a terrific idea that the parents are celebrating the 40th anniversary and everybody has to gather. We have all the returning guest stars who are on the show. Everyone it was, and it was so much fun, not just fun doing the show and telling the story, but around it too, just to reunite.

Lauren Conrad on Being a Boy Mom

https://app.cimediacloud.com/r/HCX9W2OIEy80
Drew: What is it like?

Lauren: It's really messy, and chaotic. It's a lot of energy….It's fun. I love chaos, so I'm okay with it. And I really wanted boys. I always said, 'I really want two boys,' and I feel so lucky that I got them.

Drew: Why do you think you wanted two boys?

Lauren: I felt like I would be a good boy mom. My husband would have been an excellent father to a daughter, very sensitive. But I also am like, but you're going to make two men just like you, which I think is amazing….

Drew: Please, can you manufacture that?

Lauren: They'll be little gentlemen.

Drew: What is a way that he demonstrates sensitivity to the boys. Is it even just by the way he treats you in front of them?

Lauren: Yes, of course, very important. We're very big on emotional education at our house - we name feelings, we talk about it.

Drew: How do you think you knew how to do that? Did you grow up that way, or was that something you were like, 'You know what? I want it to be this way.'

Lauren: The latter. I think a lot of people in our generation didn't grow up with that. It's something now that I look back on, and I'm like, 'Oh, I would have really benefited from that.' And I think we all do that - we take lessons from our childhood and say, 'I love that my parents did this. Maybe I do this differently.' They were working with what they had, just like I am.

Lauren on How She Got Cast in "Laguna Beach"

https://app.cimediacloud.com/r/EDP9UpXci3pM

Lauren: This opportunity for television sort of fell into my lap. They showed up to our high school. So it wasn't something I seeked out.

Drew: Where were you when they found you?

Lauren: They came to our high school, and they set up a table in our quad and people would come up and sign up.

Drew: What were they asking for? What did the signup sheet look like? What did they what information did they give you?

Lauren: It was a really thick packet, and it was like, what do you do on weekends? Who do you like? Who do you not like? Who are you friends with?

Drew: A questionnaire, trying to get to know you..

Lauren: Yeah.

Drew: Okay.

Lauren: I met my producer when my girlfriend Lo, who was also on the show, and I were cutting class, and we set off a car alarm, and we were both screaming at each other because we didn't want to get caught. And then he walked up, and he introduced himself.

Drew: Did you know when you met him that the lights were going to get flicked on and your whole life was going to change?

Lauen: No, I don't think anyone knew until it happened, and it was sort of a wild experience.

Drew: What was it like? Because again, you were also at the forefront of reality TV. This was a very new genre. It was you guys and the Osborne…

Lauen: And they had The Real World. We thought that's what we were doing.

Drew: What was that like?

Lauren: I think in the beginning it was just bizarre. None of us thought it was going to get picked up. So, we thought we were just making a little cash, and it was a cultural phenomenon. It was a wild experience. We all left for college, and then a week later, it aired.

Lauren on Why She Left Reality TV

https://app.cimediacloud.com/r/3RDhDwF7DBU2

Drew: What do you think of the genre now with all of the portals and levers that can be pulled around the shows?

Lauren: I think that people approach it really differently today, which they should. They look at it as a business opportunity and they go and then they say like I'm gonna launch my brand this way and that, and I think it's, it's a great, it's a great way to launch a business.

Drew: And like mental health wise, like it, I mean, how does that function?

Lauren: It's wild. I think, I mean, I've always been pretty self-aware and it's the reason I left reality TV is that I was like this is my, this is as much as I can take. I knew I couldn't do anymore. I was ready to leave and, and I wanted to get back to my real life and I really wanted to design. I wanted to work in the fashion industry, and so, and I had the opportunity, so I was like, I can go, I can do it now. Like I, I knew it's not worth it anymore. I was, I was, yeah, I was struggling. I was, it wasn't fun anymore. Like when I first got into it, I mean, I was, you know, 20, 21, I was having a blast. And it stopped being fun. I didn't wanna go out every night anymore. I didn't wanna do these things, they started feeling like unhealthy and not fun, and so I just wanted to live my life for me and I wasn't really allowed to do that. I think at the time I had a boyfriend who wasn't on camera and I had to kind of, you know, they were like, we need you to date, we need you to do this, and I was like, well, I have a whole life that's not on, on television. So I just, I was just ready to live my life for myself and you know, if I made a mistake, it was OK that only I knew about that and learned a lesson and moved on.