Billed as an "Oprah Winfrey for Generation X," Ricki Lake has a career and well-publicized personal life that have run parallel to those of rival Winfrey. However, whereas Winfrey has acted in movie adaptations of Toni Morrison and Alice Walker novels, Lake has appeared most memorably in John Waters's "gross-outs," and while Winfrey's talk show is perceived as up-market, Lake's is arguably more lightweight, possibly even trashy. Nonetheless, much like Winfrey, Ricki Lake's story remains the very stuff of American popular mythology—a narrative that could easily be the subject of one of her talk shows. Her well-documented battle against obesity, her struggle to escape an abusive relationship, and her fluctuating professional fortunes all lend her credibility as a television "agony aunt," as her personal history brings her closer to both her audience and her guests.

Trained at stage school, Lake's big break came...