Diane Ladd wanted Laura Dern to quit acting to become a lawyer years before she won an Oscar for playing one

Hollywood legend Diane Ladd says she adamantly opposed her daughter Laura Dern's aspirations to become an actress, revealing in a new interview that she wanted her child to become a lawyer years before Dern went on to win an Oscar for playing a lawyer in Noah Baumbach's 2019 drama Marriage Story.

Ahead of the release of their new book Honey, Baby, Mine, the mother-daughter duo reflected on Dern's decision to follow in the footsteps of her famous parents, Ladd and Bruce Dern, after she got her first taste of performing while playing an extra in her mother's Martin Scorsese-directed drama Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.

"I fell in love with it," Dern told Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos on Tuesday's episode of ABC's Live With Kelly & Mark. "Scorsese let me be an extra, sitting at the counter watching these amazing artists work together."

Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images; Everett Collection Diane Ladd and Laura Dern; Laura Dern in 'Marriage Story'

Shortly afterward, Ladd recalled Dern telling her that she wanted to be an actress.

"I said no," Ladd said. "I dissuaded her. I said, 'No, honey, no, no, no.' Look, be a lawyer, be a doctor. I said, 'If you're going to save somebody's life as a doctor, nobody's going to care if your chin points when you cry or your butt is too big.' She fooled me. She said, 'Oh, mommy, you encourage everybody, you say [to] use the gifts God gave you,' and she said, 'If God gave me a gift, let me use it now, I'll be so bored with it later I won't even want to do that.'"

Ladd chuckled at the reality of the situation, as Dern went on to become one of the most celebrated actors of her generation, racking up three Oscar nominations — and winning one in 2020 for playing, funnily enough, a divorce attorney in Baumbach's marital drama also starring Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver.

"Some people say, 'Never meet your heroes,'" Dern said during her Oscars acceptance speech. "But sometimes if you're blessed, you get them as your parents."

Dern also told a story about Ladd's recent health issues, which were precipitated by the death of her beloved dog, Ginger, whom Ladd adopted after working with Dern and the canine star on their short-lived HBO series Enlightened.

"Mom was not notified that neighboring farms were spraying radical amounts of pesticides that she was exposed to, and, after her beloved dog, Ginger, died in her arms from the exposure, she saved mom's life by letting us know what was happening to Mom," Dern explained of the three-year ordeal that led to Ladd's "lung disease from environmental illness."

Ladd was reportedly given a grim prognosis, but she defied the odds. Dern wanted to preserve their history together, so, on a doctor's recommendation, they began taking long walks to increase the 87-year-old's lung capacity, which led to Dern recording the conversations they had and eventually printing them in their new book.

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