SID: Hello Sid Roth your investigative reporter here with Mel and Desiree Ayers. Desiree your dad at one time wasthe top professional stunt man in Hollywood. What did he do?
DESIREE: Well the series he’s most well-known forwas the original Batman series. He doubled Adam West, played Batman,and was a stunt coordinator for that show.
SID: Now did you want to be a stunt woman your whole life?
DESIREE: No.
SID: No?
DESIREE: No, uh uh…I just liked to…I decided to be a stunt woman when, while going to collegeI started to work extra in the motion picture field.And then one day I was working on the setand the stunt was this girl being pushed into a pooland she made $600 dollars that day and I made $60.So it was the money that was a factor.
SID: Ahh, the light bulb went off.
DESIREE: I went push me in the pool today.
SID: So Desiree let’s go backyour background was pretty interesting.Your mother was a psychic?
DESIREE: Yeah she used to read cardsin my home where I grew up things would literally…I’d go to answer the phonethe receiver would pick up in the air.
SID: Really?
DESIREE: Doors would open and shut.
SID: That stuff happens in real life?
DESIREE: Yes, my favorite toy was theOuija boardand it would move without us touching it;so yeah that really took place.
SID: So it was probably fun and gamesuntil you got into this thing called astral projection.
DESIREE: Yes.
SID: What is that?
DESIREE: That’s actually where your spirit leaves your body;and it wasn’t anything I had really planned to,but I had traveled with a group of psychics;went to psychic meetingsand one day I laid down on my bedand before I knew it I was on the ceiling.And then I started to read books about astral projection.
SID: How do you know you weren’t just imagining this?
DESIREE: Oh no, you know when you leave your body;if you leave your body you know it.I was 16 years old.I had never done any drugs.I didn’t drink coffee, nothingyou know; so I was out of my body.
SID: But this was scary, why?
DESIREE: Well it didn’t terrify meuntil the time my brother saidwhy don’t you go see mom in California?Why don’t you travel to the Masters?Started to mention things like that;and before I knew it I travelled so far into space.And there were serpent, monster creaturesthat were the size of buildingsand I wrestled to get back into my body.And I tried all the different thingslike they’d say the white light;they’d say all the teaching I’d had:God is love, God is love.
SID: Because your father was a ChristianScientist.
DESIREE: Well my father was a ChristianScientistand my mom…so that’s where I got the God is love lineand from my mom the white light.And I wrestledand it was by the grace of God I got back in my body.But at that point I didn’t want anything to do with anythingas far as astral projection, psychics, any of that.I really steered away from that for quite a while.
SID: And you actually got pretty heavy,so when you wanted to be a stunt womanyou went on a diet, but not a normal diet.
DESIREE: Well what’s interesting isnow I’m not being fed spiritually,but I had that God hunger thing inside of me.And so thensince I wasn’t turning to any type of spirituality in my life,i just started eating.That was my comfort.I ate and ate and ate and I became so bigthat by the time I decided I wanted to be a stunt woman;actresses are so skinny.I was too fat to double them.So that’s when I got into anorexia bulimiawhich is excessive working out, running 70 miles a week;teaching two aerobic classes a day,throwing up my food, using diuretics, laxatives.And even though on the outside I looked healthy,I looked bubbly, but my fingernails started to fall off,my hair started to fall out.
SID: But you did get down in weight.
DESIREE: Yes.
SID: And you were very successful as a stunt woman.
DESIREE: Very successful.
SID: But you were taking an acting classand this guy was in your classand you wanted to impress him and you weren’t very successful.Tell me about that.
DESIREE: No, what was…
SID: Why?
DESIREE: Well I didn’t know that he was a Christianand was celibate for two years.So here I’m trying to get his attentionwearing low-cut outfits, leopard skins, high cut,trying to be real sexy, and he just looks away.He wants nothing to do with me.And so it was very interesting timing there,but I knew he always carried a Bibleso I found out everything about him;where he lived, where he worked.
MEL: She was stalking me.
SID: I won’t tell anyone.It’s just the three of us.
DESIREE: (Laughs) It could be considered that,but my cousin called upand he became a born-again Christian.He said Desiree do you want to go to church?The moment he said church I thought of Meland I said where is the church located?And he said Westwood; that’s where Mel lived.I said I’d love to go to church with you this Sunday.And so I went to church.
SID: Did you think you were going to marry this man?
DESIREE: Oh I knew;I had dreams.
SID: But he was rebuffing you!
DESIREE: I know.I couldn’t figure that out.
SID: Alright, so you went to that church.
DESIREE: Yeah I went to the church.I’d never been in a spirit-filled churchand what I mean by spirit-filled church;when the music was going, the presence of God was thereand I’m crying.I don’t know why I’m crying.I feel God in the place.Then I looked to the front rowand Mel is there with his hands up in the air.And I thought “why are his hands up in the air?”You know he must be a monk.I’ve fallen in love with a monk.I didn’t know what was going onbut shortly thereafter we ran off to Vegas and got married.
MEL: 21 years ago.
SID: I mean I remember my wife telling me…my wife by the way was born into a family -she was Southern Baptist -then she became an Agnostic in college.Then when she married me, she became an Orthodox Jew.And then she had an encounter with the Messiah of Israel.And when she saw my hands up;you see David said “I lift holy hands.”It’s normal.It’s natural for those that love God,but very unnatural for a religious group.Hey this really gets good.Don’t go away.You’re going to find out about some stunts.This woman didthat.It’s a miracle she’s with us.Be right back
