Erika Jayne is ready to hit the stage. Whether the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star is rehearsing for her Los Vegas residency or reprising her role as Roxie Hart in Broadway’s “Chicago” on Jan. 20, getting performance-ready works up a sweat, and with that, she says, her weight fluctuates.
When you’re in the spotlight, she says appearance is as important as keeping up with the music. “Stamina and strength (are) really the goal, and you’ve got to look good in your costume,” Jayne tells TODAY.com. “I’m a born and trained dancer from the time I was a kid. So, it’s something that I kick back in and kick back out, and my weight will come up and down.”
Still, Jayne’s fans and cast mates suspected she’d turned to weight loss drugs when, ahead of the Bravo show’s 13th season, Jayne’s physique changed.
Jayne shut those rumors down. When Andy Cohen told Jayne she looked like a “whisper of herself” during an appearance on “Watch What Happens Live,” Jayne said it was menopause, not Ozempic, a diabetes medication, that caused her weight loss. “Yes, I did come down in weight, and I did it hormonally,” she said. “I was going through menopause.”
A year later, Jayne tells TODAY.com that her health habits haven’t changed and there’s no speculation surrounding her weight loss that she’d like to clear up. “I’ve taken care of myself as best as possible with the resources that I have,” Jayne says.
As showtime approaches, Jayne reveals exactly what those resources are and details the workout routine and foods she eats to feel her best.
She works out with a trainer and takes Pilates classes
Jayne reveals she works out at HVY Industry in Los Angeles with trainer David Scott. During a typical week, she’ll head to the gym twice for strength training.
Lifting weights, Jayne says, is all about preserving her muscle and bone density, which has changed due to menopause. “That’s why I strength train. Because when I was younger, and before hormonal changes, you used to try to get all your cardio in because that was what would keep you leaner. Now it’s actually reversed.”
Working Pilates into her routine, too, makes all the difference. “It’s good to go and lift and do strength training, of course. But when you back it up with Pilates, like, once a week, it gives you a certain — I don’t know why — but it gives you a certain type of fitness and strength. It’s a nice combination,” Jayne says.
“I love to go to Pilates at Motivate in Los Angeles,” Jayne says. She’s been a fan of the exercise style “for years.”
Dance rehearsals take up most of her energy
When it comes to working out in addition to her Broadway rehearsals, Jayne says, “forget it.”
“Nobody’s training during that,” she says. Rehearsals for “Chicago” are intense enough without bringing more exercise into the mix. So, for now, her regular weekly routine is on hold.
“When you rehearse for Broadway, I’m not going to the gym,” Jayne says. “I have to recover because that show ‘Chicago,’ you dance around. They expect me to do the choreography, and I’ve got to give it to them. And you know how it is, they’re not going to let you slide.”
Learning the stage direction, music and choreography to play Roxie Hart, or, in Jayne’s case replay Roxie Hart — her last run in 2020 was cut short to mitigate COVID spread — has been all-consuming. “(Rehearsals) are about six hours a day. You’ll go to vocals, you’ll meet with a music director for a couple hours, and then you’ll dance for a few hours, and then you put it together.”
She admits she’s nervous. “I want to give the people that are coming a good show. That is my job. I love being on stage because, for me, it is the best place in the whole world to be. I feel present. I love to perform. I love to make people happy,” she says.
“I want people to come to the show whether it’s an Erika Jayne show, or whether it’s ‘Chicago.’ Come and just forget your life for two hours. Let’s just have a good time.”
Protein is priority
When it comes to fueling her body, Jayne says it’s simple: “A lot of protein. Heavy on the protein because you don’t want to lose any more muscle than you already (have).”
At 53, recent changes in her body dictate how Jayne eats, too. “It’s hard to keep muscle on post-menopause,” she says, and protein is an essential macronutrient that builds and repairs muscle TODAY.com previously reported.
Her favorite protein-forward meals always include chicken or steak. “I have to have it to get me through,” she says.
She’s a big pasta fan too, especially when she’s pushing her body for hours on end. “When you are rehearsing for a show like this, you can eat anything, but on days that I’m not (rehearsing) like that, I’ll eat lighter.”
Work out in the morning or bust
Exercise is an essential part of Jayne’s mornings and she’s strict about it. “I just feel better,” she says about an a.m. sweat. “Oh my god, when I was really a machine, I’d be in the gym at 5. Now if I get in there at 7, it’s a good thing.”
If she can’t fit a morning workout in, she’ll try and squeeze it into her evening plans, but Jayne admits she doesn’t like to. “I hate it. Nine times out of 10, I won’t. Yeah, I’ll just wait until tomorrow morning,” she says. “There’s just something about going late. I don’t know. I can’t. It makes me freak out.”
She’s always looking out for her knees
During strength training, Pilates and dance rehearsals, Jayne always pays special attention to her knees — one in particular which she’s injured three times since she was 16.
“I’ve had three knee surgeries throughout my whole dance career, and so the trick is remaining strong. And you have to maintain stability in the legs, quads, calves so that you don’t get hurt,” she says.
The first time Jayne injured her knee, she chipped her kneecap, and she’s had trouble with it ever since. “My patella does not glide,” she explains, which she says leaves her unstable. Her last surgery was four years ago, and since then, she’s focused on strengthening the muscles around her knee to better support it.
Her costumes keep her motivated
Whether she’s preparing for a televised appearance or the stage, Jaynes says the clothes and costumes she wears are the driving force behind her workout routine and diet. She’s just completed fittings for her “Chicago” costume and recalls thinking to herself, “What kind of silhouette am I going to have? What kind of lines am I going create?” These are the thoughts “that keep me the most focused,” she says.
Jayne says she’s always thought this way about her body and her clothes. “I hate feeling tight in something that I have to wear on stage or on camera. … It will just ruin my entire performance.”
She’s tuned into her health
Despite the rumors surrounding her weight loss, Jayne maintains she’s healthy. “I’m healthy at 130 pounds. At 53 years old, I work out, I have a great (blood pressure),” she says. “I think that’s why I still am putting on shoes and kicking my legs. That’s why I’m still putting on a costume and razzle-dazzling.”
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