When Ashley Judd moved to Hollywood to pursue her acting career, she found herself missing one aspect of her Southern roots. "I was homesick for that food!" she tells Rach, while showing her how to make her nana's biscuits. "I can throw down some Southern food," Ashley jokes.

After their time in the kitchen baking, Rachael invites Ashley to have a seat at the kitchen table for a chat about the star's new memoir, All That is Bitter and Sweet, which was inspired by Ashley's international travels as a humanitarian. "My first country visit was to Cambodia, and I was very earnest, I was very willing, but I was completely unprepared and had absolutely no idea what I had gotten myself into. And I started to write, because I didn't know where in my heart and my brain to put these stories," she explains. She has since talked with women and girls in 13 countries and mixes their stories of suffering with details of what she describes as her own traumatic childhood. "I became willing to put in some of my story to show why I had that empathy." Ashley says her famous family has been very supportive of the book. "My mother, in particular, has been incredibly gracious and really validating and supportive."

When she finishes the book tour, Ashley looks forward to returning to acting with a new TV series, which debuts in the fall on ABC. In Missing, she'll play a mother who heads to Europe after her son goes missing while studying abroad. "When I go to Rome to sort of find out what has happened, you realize that I'm not just an ordinary mother. I'm actually former C.I.A., as was my husband," she explains. "I think it's going to be really fun! And the entire thing is shooting in Europe, so it's going to have a really fantastic look."

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Ashley Judd's All That Is Bitter Is Sweet