Hot Topics With Star Jones

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Editor's Note: In the Fall Movie Preview issue of Entertainment Weekly, we caught up with Star Jones over lunch to talk about her eponymous new Court TV show (debuting Aug. 20, with guest Isaiah Washington), her many ''a-ha!'' moments since being fired from The View, and the hot topics on her mind. Here's more of that conversation...

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let's talk about your new show. What's the backstory? How did it come to be, and what's it going to be about?
STAR JONES: When I left The View I said to myself, ''This is a unique opportunity to re-create yourself in the image that you want to be.'' And so I thought I wanted to spend some time getting to know myself first, doing some of the things that I really wanted to do in terms of charity work, spending some time with family and with my husband, doing some projects that I wanted to do.

Then I said, ''If you take that time, it will come to you what you really want to make the next phase of your career.'' And I kept coming back to the thing that I love the most, which is the law. And I remember having conversations with people and them laughing at me because we would talk about my career in television — we would talk about the interviews that I had done, the people I've met — and then something would come up that had to do with criminal law, and you would see animation immediately. You would immediately see me say, ''Well, let me tell you what happens when you are picking the jury…'' It would just be passion. And I discovered, if that's your passion, why not work in that area?

And around December, I got a phone call from some executives at Court TV. Once we started to talk about the kind of moves I wanted to make in my career and where they were going for their network, it was about as clear as a bell.

Will the show cover all of the high-profile celebrity legal battles making headlines, from Britney and Lindsay to Paris and Nicole, etc.?
Anything you wanna do, sure. But in a way that applies to other people's lives. I think what we have to do is to figure out a way to make these interesting, intriguing, fascinating personalities interesting, intriguing, and fascinating to you in your life at home.

[Let's take] Britney Spears—if there's any issue that makes me berserk is to hear people talk about ''She should lose her kids!'' It makes me crazy because none of these same talking head people on television, be they the TV lawyers, TV commentators, or what have you, are out there advocating for the crackhead prostitute who burned her baby last night and put her out for the garbage to lose their kids. They don't even know they exist [but are] worried about Britney Spears and her two little rich kids who are not going to miss a meal, not going to not to go the doctor, their nanny is not going to not pick them up, they're going to be in their stroller like they're supposed to every single day. I mean, talk about having priorities skewed! This girl is a twentysomething trying to find her way, just like every other 26-year-old mother. She may have had the kids earlier than she wanted. She may have had them before she was mature enough to handle them. But every other twentysomething finding themselves in that position is thrown right into it and they have to sink or swim also. So back off the little girl and give her a minute! Let her find her way. She's acting out and being silly. And trust and believe she's going to get herself together. She is.

But how would I do that story? It's an entertainment and pop culture story. It has to do with the law. So it's the perfect subject for our show, right? What I would do on that is talk about the other twentysomething women and how do they manage a new marriage or no marriage, being a single mother or being with somebody who quite frankly they can't depend on constantly. How do you manage when your man has children by another woman?

Backtracking a bit: When everything happened with you leaving The View, it was like you were everywhere, kind of like J. Lo mania back in the day—
You know what? Please! [Cracks up laughing] J. Lo mania!

Well, you were everywhere for a moment. Did you ever feel like, ''I need to go away because I am overexposed, overextended, and overly vulnerable''?
One hundred percent. But you know what I ended up doing? I realized—and you have to take responsibility for your own behavior—that the first thing I should do is apologize for putting myself in a position that I could be everywhere. Sometimes you have to cut to grow [laughs], and I needed to cut out those things that I guess I got enamored with. You know, when you invite people into your house, don't be surprised if they sit down, take their shoes off, and put their feet up on your chair. And that's pretty much what the media did. They came in the house, sat down, put their feet up on the chair, went in the refrigerator, got a glass of orange juice—you know what I mean? They made themselves at home! And the only way for me to say you're not welcome in this private part of my life is to stop exposing my private part. That really came more from just some regular sisters, and I'm talking white women, black women, Latin women, just regular women that I would see at TJ Maxx or at the Target or at the Rite Aid, getting my glasses fixed at the Lens Crafters. These women who would say, ''Girl, don't let these people sweat you! That's your life. That's your business.'' But what they were really telegraphing is, ''Shut up, okay?! If you don't want us in your business, don't tell your business.''

In the immediate aftermath of your departure from The View, did a lot of people come to your side, or did you feel abandoned by people you expected to stick by you?
I did something that I was not familiar with doing but clearly it was the best thing I could do. I spoke to some major mentors in the entertainment business, in the business community, and African-American leaders that I respect.

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