OnlyOnAOL: Behold the 'Crazy' side of Rachel Bloom

BY DONNA FREYDKIN

Being the recipient of Golden Globe and a Critics' Choice awards for playing deliciously delusional Rebecca Bunch on the CW's "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" (which returns tonight) has changed creator and star Rachel Bloom. And not for the better.

"People can only refer to me as the thunder from Covina," she says.

Covina, of course, being the fictional and totally generic town to which Rebecca relocated after falling in love/lust/obsession with a guy. Bloom's Globes giddy acceptance speech ranked as the standout moment of a night filled with weird barbs at Mel Gibson and other odd bits. Bloom says she had something prepared. But. "I threw it away to say what I said. I had a speech that I'd written. I wrote a bunch of jokes. I got up there knowing I wasn't going to open with a prepared joke," she says.

The appeal of Rebecca is universal because, let's face it: "Love makes us all crazy," says Bloom, who's married to comedian Dan Gregor.

So far, not much has actually changed for the comedian and actress. "It's weird. None of this has sunk in. The TV show has finally sunk in. I'm working all the time, so the work of it all has been the biggest life changer," she says, adding that to her, it feels like a "crazy dream."

Most of all, she hopes her dual prizes, plus all the critical acclaim, will allow her to tell Rebecca story's precisely how she envisions it. After all, she and co-creator Aline Brosh McKenna pitched the series to every network, and were universally rejected. Now, she wants to go out on her own terms.

"Every single show I've ever liked that's been on a network lately has had low-ish ratings. We're one of those shows. I hope this can boost ratings for the show. I hope this award will get eyes on it," says Bloom. "This story doesn't need to last ten years. When we pitched the show, we pitched the entire series. We always had an arc for the series and the idea that we'd get to complete this arc is awesome."

This writer fully admits that at one point, she was so love-struck that she sent mixed-tapes (yes, those were the days) full of emotive songs to a guy who had zero interest. Bloom can relate. "I was in a secret relationship with a guy. It was secret for dumb reasons. We found out each other's Facebook passwords and would write each other messages from the person's own Facebook profile. Like Rachel writing to Rachel. We would communicate through song lyrics over AOL Instant Messenger," she says.

Bloom sees plenty of herself in her character, who breaks out into song -- a notable one being about the perils and pain of getting sexy for a date. "Rebecca is me had I not been pursuing art. Luckily my parents always supported me in what I wanted to do. Personality-wise, there's a 75 percent overlap there."