Celebrity News April 10, 2020
How Howie Mandel Is Overcoming His Anxiety Over COVID-19
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Comedian Howie Mandel is dealing with the coronavirus outbreak in his own way.
With the help of Zoom, “Extra's” Billy Bush chatted with Mandel, who revealed how he is doing. Along with feeling “nothing positive,” he elaborated, “I have my own mental health issues with anxiety and OCD and part of that was being a germaphobe, so I am much more medicated than you've talked to me in the past.”
Letting his funny side shine through, Howie joked, “You call it a pandemic, I call it TOLD YA!”
During the crisis, Howie is using “distraction” as a coping mechanism. He explained, “And in this time of lockdown distraction is harder, so if you look at my TikTok, I'm dancing more.” Billy commenting he has seen Howie dancing, “I watched, Howie I've never laughed harder than when I saw you salsa dancing in the mirror.”
Howie responded, “The one thing that I've always practiced, before there was even an app. I loved dancing in 15-second spurts.”
As for the status of “America's Got Talent,” Howie shared, “We're in production this week… We're doing some mobile stuff. The auditions are still open at AGTAuditions.com… Ya know, it's a realty show — this is our reality, this will be part of the new season.”
Howie gushed about working with new judge Sofía Vergara, saying, “Sofía Vergara is a new friend… What an amazing addition to our show… In the 15 years of this show, it has never been as hot and exciting and fun as it is right now.”
Aside from “America's Got Talent” Howie is also trying to help small businesses like the Hungry Monkey Baking Company during this trying time with Talk Shop Live's Save Small Business America. As for how businesses can get involved, Howie said, “Well, if you want to be next… go to TalkShop.live and click on my channel and submit a 60-second video of yourself and your product and we'll pick.”
He went on, “Small business is the lifeblood of what America is — that's who's watching your show, that's who buys tickets, that's who pays taxes. This country is built on the American dream of small business, and that's what I come from, I come from retail... so my heart goes out to each and every person who can't do what they built right now because of what's going on.”
