Lights, Camera, Hope: Patricia Heaton & Anita Vogel on Persevering Through Adversity
This episode mentions suicide and depression and may not be suitable for all listeners.
Patricia Heaton: I’ve always had to let God be God because things fall apart so easily. We just have to believe that He has a plan, and He will open doors and shut doors, and that’s what’s best for us.
Lights, Camera, Hope: Patricia Heaton & Anita Vogel on Persevering Through Adversity – Episode #473
Narrator: Welcome to the Jesus Calling Podcast. This week, we’ll hear from actress and producer Patricia Heaton. Beloved for her roles in Everybody Loves Raymond and The Middle, Patricia has faced seasons of grief and depression while navigating the ups and downs of a demanding industry, and shares how she has used comedy as a way to connect on a deeper level, helping others find light and meaning even in life’s hardest moments.
Later in the episode, we’ll hear from journalist Anita Vogel. With a career spanning more than three decades, Anita has reported from small-town newsrooms to national television screens. She’s covered some of the nation’s biggest stories, but behind the headlines, it’s her interviews with everyday heroes and her experiences on the frontlines of breaking news that have shaped her deep commitment to telling meaningful, lasting stories.
Let’s begin with Patricia’s story.
Patricia Heaton: I’m Patricia Heaton. I’m a wife, a mother, an actress, and a producer.
I’m from a Catholic family in Cleveland, Ohio—a very devout family. My mother was a daily communicant, meaning she went to mass every day, and she was one of fifteen children. So I have about a hundred first cousins on my mom’s side. We were very Catholic. My oldest sister is actually a Dominican nun in Nashville at St. Cecilia’s convent.
It was a pretty happy childhood—lots of kids running around the neighborhood, playing together. [It was] a very creative group of girls that we grew up with—always putting on plays and shows—and we were all kind of entrepreneurial, making doll clothes and selling them and things like that.
Everybody had a great sense of humor in my family. I don’t know if it came from my dad, although he was a quieter guy, but my brother was really, really funny. The two of us had a lot of laughs together, and we loved watching comedies. I just think it’s something you’re kind of born with. You have an instinct for it.
A Tragic Loss, The Comfort of Faith
I had a very tragic disruption when I was twelve. My mother died from an aneurysm suddenly, and that kind of threw everything into a bit of chaos for many years. This was in the seventies, so there wasn’t a lot of grief counseling, that wasn’t a big part of anything. So, we kind of had to just soldier on after my mother died, and there was a little bit of “every man for himself” I think emotionally, of myself and my four siblings. And so that was tough.
When my mom died, I look back on it now and it was so important that we had our Catholic faith because there’s a certain foundation with that that you land on when things like that happen. You’re still dealing with grief and pain and there’s suffering, but because we knew she was with Jesus, there’s certain things you don’t have to wonder about. Where is my mom? Will I ever see her again? We know we will, so that’s a certain comfort. But in the meantime, you still have to deal with the shock and the grief.
“When my mom died, it was so important that we had our Catholic faith because there’s a certain foundation with that that you land on when things like that happen. You’re still dealing with grief and pain and there’s suffering, but because we knew she was with Jesus, there’s certain things you don’t have to wonder about.” – Patricia Heaton
I know that having my faith, when I went into depression, at some points the depression led to sort of fleeting suicidal ideation later on in my twenties and going up and down with depression. There was always a very hard line of certain things I knew I would never do because of my Catholicism—because you would never do that to yourself. You never take your own life because it’s not yours to take.
There were times when I could feel depression coming on, as if someone was taking a shade and pulling it down. I could feel it coming on, and I remember I would just be saying prayers over and over. So, it definitely gives you a solid landing place while you’re struggling with your suffering.
“There were times when I could feel depression coming on, as if someone was taking a shade and pulling it down. I could feel it coming on, and I remember I would just be saying prayers over and over. So, it definitely gives you a solid landing place while you’re struggling.” – Patricia Heaton
Jesus Calling came to me a long time ago. I got the book from somebody—I mean, I’m talking probably twenty years ago or more. [I’ve] had it for a while, and I moved a couple times and don’t know where the book went. A friend recently gave my husband and I a copy where you can make notes in it, like a study book, for Christmas and we’ve been reading it mostly every day. It’s really popping out at me how it’s really connecting to things I’m going through—the expectations, the busyness of the day, trying to quiet your mind, trusting in God.
Holding Things Loosely: The Entertainment Industry As A Metaphor For Faith
Here’s the thing: the entertainment industry is really a difficult industry—there are no guarantees and there is zero security. It’s actually a really good place to be, because in life, there’s zero security except our relationship with Jesus. That’s the only guarantee. This is not to say you can’t rely on anyone else or that you should be nervous all the time. [You] just have to hold onto things very loosely because we can’t have our security in anything else.
“The entertainment industry is really a difficult industry—there are no guarantees and there is zero security. It’s actually a really good place to be, because in life, there’s zero security except our relationship with Jesus. That’s the only guarantee.” – Patricia Heaton
Every day in show business, I know that even if I’m on a hit show, it’s going to end. It might end in two years, five years, or nine years. More than likely, you’re not going to have that hit show, and you’re gonna be going from job to job always having to think of, Where is my next job coming from? And prepping for the job you’re currently in to end, because you know that’s what it’s going to be.
You want to still get joy out of everything, even though you know it’s going to go. So the balance to try and strike is to be in the moment as much as possible—present to what God wants you to do and present to the people that you’re in the room with. Why has He brought you with this person? Can they see Christ in you? So that no event is ever wasted. There’s no real failures. There’s disappointment because you do have to work hard and prepare and act as if you’re going to have something created, but you have to know that it’s possible that it is not. But that can’t deter you from your commitment.
“The balance to try and strike is to be in the moment as much as possible—present to what God wants you to do and present to the people that you’re in the room with so that no event is ever wasted.” – Patricia Heaton
You can work on something for years and put all your heart and soul into it, and then it just never comes to fruition. And you have to be able to let go of those things. So in that way, I feel like it’s a really great business to be in to develop that part of you. It’s not like you never commit to anything. You do commit, but you have to know that you’re not in charge of the result. So in that sense, I’ve always had to let God be God because things fall apart so easily. We just have to believe that He has a plan, and that He will open doors and shut doors, and that’s what’s best for us.
“You do commit, but you have to know that you’re not in charge of the result. So in that sense, I’ve always had to let God be God because things fall apart so easily. We just have to believe that He has a plan, and that He will open doors and shut doors, and that’s what’s best for us.” – Patricia Heaton
Comedy as Connection
Comedy, to me, is such a great way to reach people because when you can connect through comedy and humor, your body physically responds to it. When you’re laughing, you’re oxygenating your bloodstream, right? You feel relaxed and you feel sort of connected. You can hear more messages coming through.
That’s why this movie that we have out now on Amazon Prime called Unexpected—it’s about a tough subject. It is about infertility. It is about a couple’s struggle in their marriage with adoption, wanting to or not wanting to. It is not an easy subject, but we approach it with comedy, and that helps people who are going through it see themselves in that comedic light and find the humor in relationship. [This is] what comedy does in general. With Everybody Loves Raymond and The Middle, you see the family’s problems and you find ways to laugh at that. And you find that your family and your relationships and each other are the most important things, and God has you in His hands through all of it.
“Your family and your relationships and each other are the most important things, and God has you in His hands through all of it.” – Patricia Heaton
I’m always talking to God, though, for my whole life. All my conversation is with the Lord. You just have to live in the love that God has for you and remind yourself constantly of that love that He has for you. You only have the moment that you’re in, and that’s true for anybody in your life. What is it that God wants you to be doing in that moment and how can you just be authentically present to someone—be loving, be open, do your work, but also be open to whatever else God has you in that moment for?
God is much bigger than our problems. He’s much bigger than our sins. He’s bigger than our failings, so we just need to learn to rest and relax in Him and trust and have faith in His love for us.
“God is much bigger than our problems. He’s much bigger than our sins. He’s bigger than our failings, so we just need to learn to rest and relax in Him and trust and have faith in His love for us.” – Patricia Heaton
Narrator: To learn more about Patricia, visit: www.patriciaheatonofficial.com, and be sure to follow her on social media to keep up with her latest projects.
Stay tuned to Anita Vogel’s story after a brief message.
JESUS CALLING: STORIES OF FAITH Returns for Season 4!
Hey everyone, this is Faith Broussard Cade, your host for the fourth season of Jesus Calling: Stories of Faith on UPTV. We’re so excited to bring you inspiring stories of people from all walks of life, who have turned to their faith in times of struggle, and in times of joy. We’re going to hear from some extraordinary guests this season, including Julie Chen Moonves, who you might know as the host of Big Brother. We’ll also be joined by NFL Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw and Light Heavyweight Champion boxer Andre Ward, GRAMMY award winning gospel singer BeBe Winans, the world renowned Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, and actress Taraji P. Henson, in addition to many others. And of course, you’ll get to hear more about me and my story, too. I can’t wait to see you there. Stay tuned for the new season coming soon on UPTV!
Our next guest is Anita Vogel, a veteran journalist with over two decades at Fox News Channel, reporting on everything from national headlines to everyday heroes. Anita shares about the aftermath of an early tragedy in her family’s life that took them to a new location and what sparked her first interest in being a reporter.
Anita Vogel: My name is Anita Vogel. I am a wife, a mother, and I’m also a stepmother. I have also been a lifelong journalist, having worked in cities across the country and local TV markets for nine years. For the last twenty-four years, hard to believe, I have worked for the Fox News Channel both as a correspondent and an anchor, mostly out of the Los Angeles bureau, but recently on the East Coast out of the New York and D.C. bureaus.
I was actually born in New York City, and we lived as a family in Long Island. Tragically, when I was eleven months old, my father suddenly died, leaving my mother and my three-year-old brother. My mother decided that she really didn’t want to live the rest of her life in New York, so when I was two years old, she moved the family to California. I went to high school in the San Fernando Valley, and then I went on to the University of Southern California.
I knew from a very early age that I wanted to be in television news. We always had news on in our house, and I felt like from the get-go, I was sort of trained to pay attention to local events and what was happening in the world. I remember telling my mom, “Mom, I wanna to do what that lady’s doing on TV.” My mom said, “Oh, okay, sure,” and probably thought, “Well, you’re like five years old. I’m not sure how you’re gonna make that happen.” But as the years went by, she knew that I was very serious about it. I was involved in the school newspaper in high school, and then I chose my college based on that career. After sending out like 300 or 400 videotapes, Erie, Pennsylvania called me, and I was more than thrilled to go. In television news, you have to start out as a field reporter, and that’s what I did. I realized very quickly that I loved telling other people’s stories.
A Reporter’s Most Dangerous Assignments
As journalists, we are placed into compromising and frightening situations from time to time, especially my colleagues who must go overseas and report from war zones. They have a level of bravery that is quite exceptional, and I marvel at my colleagues all the time. But there are situations even here in the U.S. where I have found myself afraid and concerned for my safety.
I can recall one of them was when I was covering a fire—this was when I was a local reporter in Sacramento, California. This was a particularly big one, and I remember we went in—myself, my photographer, and a live truck operator—and we got so close to the fire. The fire was growing, and at some point, it began to encircle us. At that point I said, “Hey guys, we need to get out of here. We are just a little too close, and if we’re not careful, we’re gonna be stuck here.” They agreed, and we got in the car and drove away as fast as we could. But I remember feeling like if we waited another ten or twenty minutes, we would have been in serious trouble. And that was a very scary feeling.
I also remember another time also in the Sacramento market. I’ll never, ever, forget this because it happened on September 10th, 2001, so it was the day before 9/11. A suspect managed to break into some kind of armory and steal a bunch of weapons—grenades, high-powered rifles, semi-automatic guns, all kinds of things. He was moving through neighborhoods shooting people. We were able to connect with the police and go with them. All of them [had] bulletproof vests, and I thought to myself, I’m not wearing a bulletproof vest and neither is my photographer. We’re walking through neighborhoods, [and I’m thinking] What if the gunman is hiding behind a tree or behind a house? We’re an open target moving through these neighborhoods, and I got very afraid. It wasn’t like we could run away at any moment. I just started praying, God, please put a shield around us and protect us because we cannot take fire right now. This would just be a horrific situation. Fortunately, we were able to finish the night, and we made it out okay. They got the guy. And I went home to bed that night thanking God for His protection. When I woke up the next morning, it was 9/11, and the World Trade Center was on fire and burning down. And so it was just a surreal, surreal time.
For me personally, I just always have to remember that God is in control. God is in control, and as a human being, you can only do as much as you can to survive, to protect your loved ones, to protect others. At the end of the day, God is present and He is watching all of this, and we just have to have faith that things are unfolding according to His plan. That’s one of the things that I keep in my mind in order to get through some of these situations, or even talking with family members who have lost loved ones to a murder or a fire. You have to kind of detach yourself just a little bit when talking to these people because otherwise you won’t be able to report on it.
“God is in control, and as a human being, you can only do as much as you can to survive, to protect your loved ones, to protect others. At the end of the day, God is present and He is watching all of this, and we just have to have faith that things are unfolding according to His plan.” – Anita Vogel
But afterwards, I always say a prayer and I always ask God to help comfort these people to get them through this horrific time. I don’t know how God does it. He has His own special way. We just have to have faith that He does something special for these people, to bring some kind of peace and comfort back into their lives. Another thing that I do is I always try to find something positive to include in my report—whether it’s a good Samaritan who has come in to help, or in a situation where the country is at war, relief organizations come in. You try to highlight those.
“I always say a prayer and I always ask God to help comfort these people to get them through this horrific time. I don’t know how God does it. He has His own special way. We just have to have faith that He does something special for these people, to bring some kind of peace and comfort back into their lives.” – Anita Vogel
Lasting Lessons From Everyday Heroes
People always ask me, “Who have you interviewed over the course of your career that has made the biggest impact on you?” I think when people ask that they expect me to say a celebrity or big politician or someone famous, and sometimes it is, but most of the time, it’s not. Most of the time, it’s an everyday person that you’ve never heard of.
I remember specifically when I was a reporter for the NBC station in Jacksonville, Florida back in the late nineties. It was Veterans Day, and they sent me out to do a Veterans Day story. They sent me to the home of a man named Everett Pope, and he was one of 100 or so living survivors who had earned the Congressional Medal of Honor. It is the highest award that can be given to a member of the military. What I learned was that Everett Pope received that award because during World War II, he was fighting on the island of Peleliu. He went in with a company of dozens of men and left with twelve men. He had saved them all. He was personally responsible for saving every person who made it out of that battle. Mr. Pope was so humble and talked about the love that he had with his wife. It wasn’t what I expected. He just was so modest. He went through the story of how he went in and saved his fellow troops. It was so riveting and compelling, and I thought, Well, that’s why he earned the Congressional Medal of Honor. And I never forgot that.
Another person who has really made an impact on me is someone that you’ve never heard of. His name is John Maceri, and he runs a group called The People Concern in Los Angeles. They take homeless people off of the streets, and they take care of them, they give them job training, and they get them back on their feet and they give them a place to live. This is not a glamorous job, and John Maceri could probably be doing something else, but he does that job because he truly cares. I’ve been out to interview him a couple of times, and every time I go, I’m just amazed.
I feel fortunate and so blessed to be in a position where I had the opportunity to meet people like Everett Pope and John Maceri. That’s one of the highlights of my career—that I do get to meet people from all walks of life and people who helped shape my life.
“That’s one of the highlights of my career—that I do get to meet people from all walks of life and people who helped shape my life.” – Anita Vogel
A Tragedy Hits Close to Home: Surviving the Pacific Palisades Fire
We’re a bi-coastal family, and it was on January 7th that those wildfires broke out. My husband was home at the time with his sister, and I actually got the news on the east coast first. I was able to call them, and I said, “You guys need to pack up and get out because this looks like a bad fire.” There are fires all the time in our area, but I just had a sixth sense that this one was different.
Fortunately, we didn’t lose our house, however, the house right next door burned down. That caused so much smoke and debris and ash and broken glass and everything in our house is literally covered in ash and soot. The Pacific Palisades was somewhere we had lived for many years, and all of the memories, all of these little stores and restaurants and places that we would take our daughter, all of that is burned down now. And so we have to be thankful for the fact that our friends and our colleagues and our neighbors survived. That’s the most important thing—you can rebuild a home, but you can never get back a life.
When we were finally able to go back to our house—about ten days after the fire—I had a list of things written on my phone that I wanted to get out of the house, things that I could salvage. One of the things that was at the top of my list were my Jesus Calling books. I have Jesus Calling and Jesus Always. It’s amazing the things that you think of that are special to you when you don’t have a lot of time or you want to salvage things from your house. Of course, you need your passport, you need your important documents, but I’m telling you, those books are so important to me because they help set the tone for the day. I either read them in the morning or at night because it helps me go to bed feeling a sense of peace.
The writer, Sarah Young, has a way of making you feel like she is writing that page just for you. Whatever is going on in your life, it’s constantly surprising me that when I go to read the entry for the day, I find that she’s addressing whatever is going on in my life. It doesn’t solve all of my problems, but it gives me another way of looking at whatever problem I’m going through or whatever turmoil is in my path that day—to remember that God is always there.
This is from the book Jesus Listens by Sarah Young, and this entry is from August 4th:
Jesus, my good Shepherd,
I want You to be my primary Focus. You are all around me—constantly aware of me—taking note of every thought and prayer. Many, many things vie for my attention, but I must not let them crowd You out. Directing my mind toward You requires very little energy, yet it blesses me immensely. The more I focus on You, the more fully You live in me and work through me.
Help me remember that You are with me each moment of my life, watching over me with perfect Love. Your Word teaches that Your unfailing Love surrounds the one who trusts in You. You’ve been training me to be increasingly aware of Your loving Presence, even when other things demand my attention.
Lord, You are the constant in my life that provides stability and direction in an unpredictable environment. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. So You’re the perfect fixed point for me to focus on while making my way through this ever- changing world. As I keep redirecting my thoughts to You, please show me the way forward— and give me Your Peace.
In Your steadfast Name,
Amen
Narrator: To learn more about Anita Vogel, follow her on social media and on the Fox News Channel.
If you’d like to hear more stories about the heart behind the camera, check out our interview with Nika King.
Next week: Steve Wohlberg
Next time on the Jesus Calling Podcast, we’ll hear from author and speaker Steve Wohlberg, who explores the bond between humans and animals and how it can point toward a deeper relationship with our Creator—helping us speculate the answer to the question, “Will my pet go to heaven?”
Steve Wohlberg: When people are hurting, when they need a touch of love, animals can be a big part of God revealing to us that He cares about us.
