PARK Magazine

Wake Up to Marci
While Waking Up to Your Best Self
BY JULIE SAGOSKIN
Starting your Saturdays
watching Wake Up with Marci
might be entertaining, but
more importantly, the show is
also a wake-up call to get
people to start learning how to
live their best lives. With a new
book about to be released, Marci Hopkins is
indeed making it her mission to inspire
others to overcome whatever obstacles they
may be facing. After all, she has had to
combat many of her own.
Marci now uses her platform as host of Wake
Up with Marci to share her own journey of
healing in order to help others. Before being
welcomed into peoples’ homes every weekend,
this passionate television personality began
her career behind the camera working in on-air
promotions for FX Network in Los Angeles.
While she always had a creative side, she didn’t
know where it would lead her. “It was a dream
of mine to be on camera, but I was afraid,”
explains Marci. After taking on the next chapter
of her life as a wife and mother and moving to
New Jersey, she decided to fulfill her desire of
getting back into entertainment – this time at
40 - and in front of the camera.
While the stars started to seem like they
were aligning, success also came with a dark
side. “I had started modeling with a major
agency in New York and also went to acting
auditions. I was too insecure in front of the
camera and ended up drinking a lot during this
time. I really used wine as my liquid courage to
cope with how I felt I was doing with my
auditions. I really hit rock bottom and that’s
when I stopped drinking – and stopped my
work in front of the camera. I decided to take a
MARTA CHODUR PHOTOGRAPHY
break when I started my 12-step program.”
After getting sober and hosting Coffee with
Marci, a social media talk show, Marci realized
she had found something she was really good
at it and wanted to do it more.
In 2017, Marci made it onto television when
Wake Up with Marci officially premiered for
the first time. With a clear head and feeling
spiritually connected from her 12-step program,
Marci, who believes “we are guided and have
signs from the other side”, now welcomes a
range of influential and celebrity guests to her
show on a regular basis. Her ultimate goal? To
pull out the story that will educate or inspire
the audience. Let’s just say that when it comes
to getting guests to talk, they do. A lot.
Though she says that everyone has touched
and taught her in some way, Patricia Heaton
felt especially inspired by Marci and felt
compelled to share her own story. “Patricia
came onto set with a baseball hat on. We were
just talking like we were old girlfriends. She
was so open with me about how she had ended
up with so much time on her hands that she
noticed her drinking had started elevating. She
finally made the realization that she had so
much life left to do - and she wanted to do it.
She put down the glass, wrote a book and is
now also trying to help others.”
Marci’s own memoir, Chaos to Clarity, being
launched this May - with pre-orders beginning
February 12 th - does what Marci does best –
helps others to help themselves. Whether it’s
breaking bad habits or patterns, the book is
meant to be a guide for healing from your past
and making amends in relationships.
She also says that while sharing her story has
been difficult to relive, it has been a cathartic
experience at the same time. “When I was
growing up, you had to hide your feelings and
shame, but in reality, we are all touched with
addiction, grief and mental health issues, and if
we don’t talk about these things there is no way
to heal from them. I went to therapy for years
over sexual abuse and trauma but that didn’t
help me get to the core of my issues. I had to
heal internally, and the 12-step program helped
me to recognize that. It was only then that I
stopped living in a victim role which so many of
us do because it’s so easy.”
This busy host, who is also a mom to two
teenagers as well as a wife who is about to
celebrate 20 years of marriage, finds time for
herself by working out with a personal trainer
and eating right. She also loves traveling and
taking in a show on Broadway. The family’s
favorite outing, however, is escape rooms! She
highly recommends the scavenger hunt at
Grand Central Station.
Marci’s dedication to making a difference
even extends to helping orphans in Uganda and
is already on the road to starting her own
foundation. With her show in talks to go
national, a new book and the launch of a storage
unit for cars called Carssentials, Marci has big
plans – and with her passion, she always makes
anything possible!
Make sure to catch Wake Up with Marci
Saturday mornings at 10am
EST on the CBS owned
WLNY-TV 10/55 in the
Tri-State area and
HULU Live. P
wakeupwithmarci.com
@officialwakeupwithmarci_