C.J.: In pursuit of good, Pauley pulls back on privacy

"Fame is a pretty useless commodity," said Jane Pauley, unless you "leverage it to some public good."

The former host of NBC's "Today" and "Dateline" and now "Your Life Calling" segments on the national morning show, Pauley has been using her renown for good by sharing the chapter of her life that began with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. On June 14, Pauley will be keynote speaker at the People Incorporated Mental Health Services' annual fundraiser in St. Paul at Crowne Plaza.

"They are the largest nonprofit working exclusively in the mental health field," she said last week during our phone interview. "I think coming to speak, as I am, and stating my message, is probably a booster shot that keeps me mindful.

"If I want to stay productive, if I want to stay happily married -- my husband and I are celebrating our 32nd wedding anniversary very soon" -- Pauley must take care of herself. That means taking her medicine -- "I'm a good patient" -- getting her rest and watching her moods.

A more irritable Pauley, first observed by her husband, cartoonist Garry Trudeau, was the clue that something was happening.

"He'd come home to Cruella De Vil sometimes," she said.

Pauley was 50 when she had her first attack, triggered by exposure to steroids she had been given for hives.

"If I had had a known history of a mood disorder ... I probably would have been given steroids with great caution, if at all. But I had no family history that I knew of -- underscore that I knew of -- and no personal history the doctors knew anything about," she said. "Over a period of 10 months, I was -- this is a medical term -- switched -- into this hypomania, not hyper, that progressed over a period of a couple of months before the symptoms became very evident to a doctor.

"As a doctor described it to me, I'll quote him, Bipolar can be an opportunistic disease. It will find a target, like an angry swarm of bees. In my case my target was my husband. I was ugly, I was mean. He didn't recognize that wasn't me, that was a brain disease -- but he saw it first."

Throughout her career, Pauley has been so private that I was surprised she was disclosing anything about her health.

"I didn't live in denial of a private life. I just didn't make my private life, kids and family, a part of my public persona at all," she said. "So writing a memoir ["Skywriting: A Life Out of the Blue"] disclosing a health problem I had when I was 50 was definitely a departure, but that's why I did it. I had had a reputation for 25 years before that for being normal. I can show you the newspaper clippings to attest to my public reputation as normal, quote unquote.

"I do think in some parts of the country, Midwestern and normal are used interchangeably, but seriously ..." said the girl from Indiana.

Seriously, I could have talked to Pauley for hours, and I wished there was a way to bottle her laugh, which escalates up the scales as though her voice is a musical instrument.

I heard it best when I asked who's neater at the office she shares with Trudeau.

"There's no contest there," she said. "Would you care to guess?"

To me Pauley's just about perfect, so she's the systematic one, right?

"Oh, no, no, no. When I was in college and living in a sorority house, my sorority sisters gave me the Good Housekeeping Award, but they were kidding," she said. "My husband is well-organized; he accepts me as I am. I was in Denver for my next 'Your Life Calling' story and visited the Denver Post. How do I describe how creative the place looked? ... There were dozens of desks, and it was like they were decorated by the same Bad Elf. I totally related."

Somewhere in my files organized by a Bad Elf is proof of Pauley's great manners. A long time ago something she did on "Today" inspired me to write her a note, to which she responded with a thank-you note, which I can't lay my hands on right now.

"I did?" she said.

How many of those did you send?

"Not many," Pauley said with that laugh.

"It was not a habit. Not regular practice. But what a lovely thing for me to have done. I'm going to have to tell this story to my children."

Forget YOU! CrazyAlthough there is no indication of it on Twitter, I have confirmation that Cee Lo Green was at Supervalu HQ in Eden Prairie.

The multi-Grammy winner and coach on NBC's "The Voice" was doing business related to his recent entry into the spirits world, as an owner of Ty Ku Sake. So far, there has been no Purrfect sighting.

C.J. is at 612.332.TIPS or cj@startribune.com. E-mailers, please state a subject -- "Hello" doesn't count. Attachments are not opened, so don't even try. More of her attitude can be heard on Fox 9's "Buzz," Thursday mornings.