Marilu Henner remembers everything. With prompting, the former sitcom star even started recalling a semi-public 1995 disagreement with a now ex-husband who was in Minnesota directing "D3: The Mighty Ducks." Henner didn't have time to completely rewind her brain's hard drive to relive that exchange -- although I thought I heard her mind whirring -- when we met at Mall of America ahead of an autograph session for her latest book, "Total Memory Makeover." The New York Times bestselling author is one of 12 people in the world documented to have what's known as highly superior autobiographical memory. She is a consultant on the CBS show "Unforgettable," starring Poppy Montgomery, who plays Carrie Wells, a detective with total recall. On my startribune.com/video you'll see that Henner's also got an unforgettably sexy walk reminiscent of her dance background. It's evocative of how Linda Gray (of "Dallas" fame) and Lisa Rinna (famous for her Depends ad) both roll -- and probably Marilyn Monroe before them, but I never saw her.
Q I've been watching your TV interviews as you promote this book. Aren't you about due for a meltdown prompted by interviewers trying to stump you by asking: What happened on this date?
A [Laughter] That's so funny. Well, what's been interesting about this whole thing is sometimes they ask me the same date, out of nowhere, and I have to say, "So-in-So asked me that." I don't want [viewers] to think my publicist said, Only ask her this date. What's been very interesting about talking about memory so much is that when they give me a date and I tell them in the moment, "This is when this happened" or whatever, later on I'm still thinking about that date, so the time traveling continues [for me]. Yesterday in Chicago someone picked a date that was kind of a disturbing day for me. Turned out it was her wedding day. So I don't know if it was disturbing for her or not, but for me it was kind of like, "Whoa!" It stayed with me the rest of the day.
Q This looks like a self-imposed burden to me.
A Oh, no, not at all. Burden? Are you kidding? I know you five minutes and I could tell you've lived a fabulous life. And I'm sure if you did some of the exercises, so many of your memories would come back, and why wouldn't you want to remember every little detail in your life so it was available for you to draw on at a moment's notice? It's such a great gift I feel, not a burden at all. It informs so many of my decisions. It's a great way to keep everything in my life very present and available to me. And let's face it, everything's on your hard drive anyway.
Q You know, "I don't recall" is not an available excuse when you're giving a deposition or testifying in court.
A Oh, no, not at all. In fact, two major cases were thrown out because of my depositions. Because they said, OK, she's not on our side. There's no way we're going to fight this memory of hers because it's so detailed.
Q Tell me more.
A Well, I don't want to go into the details. But you can be sure that next year on "Unforgettable," Poppy's character Carrie Wells will [do something] and therefore we'll see this kind of memory at work.
Q Do you ever misplace your keys around the house?
A Yes. I'll be like, "Where are my keys?" And then I'll go [she made noises as though rotating through a card index file]. I just kind of retrace my steps and there it is.
Q What can't you remember?
A I don't know that there's anything I can't remember. I haven't been asked and quizzed on every single day of my life. There's never been a day that I've been asked [about] that I couldn't [recall]. Some days are so immediately there, it's like boom, and some days I might have to back into the memory a little bit because it's a little fuzzier, or sometimes it takes a little bit longer. But it's usually almost instantaneous.
Q My mother recalls phone numbers she dials just once. And you?