Healing herself

by by Gerri Miller

The old axiom about the curative power of laughter has proven true for actress Amy Yasbeck. A year and a half after her husband John Ritter's untimely death, she has returned to work in the Fox midseason comedy Life on a Stick. She says that the joyful environment has helped her deal with her devastating loss.

In the family-and-workplace sitcom, partly set at a mall food court, the flame-haired Cincinnati native plays Michelle, a mother in a blended family. "She's goofy and makes mistakes, but ultimately she loves her kid and her stepkids," says Yasbeck. "I love that she's so earnest. She tries to be a good mom." The same can be said of Yasbeck, whose number one priority is daughter Stella, now six.

When she was the same age, Yasbeck had her first brush with fame as the face on the Easy-Bake Oven box. Later, she segued from daytime's Days of Our Lives to Wings and Alright Already and movies like The Mask, Pretty Woman and Problem Child, where she met Ritter. Making people laugh, as he did, gives her comfort. "Sitcoms were his joy," she says. "I kind of commune with John by being on a sitcom." Here's what she has to say in her own words.

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