December 12, 2023 • 42 mins
Amy and T.J. relive the ups and downs and roller coaster ride of the past week.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
All right, hey, then everybody, welcome to Amy and TJ.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
TJ.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hol Heer, Amy Rebrox sitting next to me as we
give you episode two of our new podcast. Were very
excited if you listen to episode one, and many of
you did, and we thank you for that. But you'll
notice at the top of that Robes started by saying
she was nervous. So episode two, how you feeling still nervous?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I think it's very much mixed with excitement and gratitude
as well. But I still have those butterflies, and I
think it's just one of those things when you put
yourself out there. When we were broadcaster as journalists, you're
reading whatepy, you are okay, right, But when we were
on the air and we had a microphone on us,
(00:55):
we were talking about other people and we want to
get to that place. So when you're putting yourself out there,
your live's out there, your heart out there. Yes, there's
more at stake, and I think you and I both
realized just what was at stake for that episode, last
week's episode, but also this week's episode. Everything's at stake
(01:20):
and it's terrifying.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
You know, you kept using the word terrifying. We talk
about what's at stake, and what it's sake is a
I mean, these are twenty five generally twenty five year careers,
broadcasting careers, and it was it's terrifying to think like
everything is on the line. If we don't nail, they
don't get it right, we make a misstep. I think
finally we can exhale a little bit that we've got
that one under our belt. And we had expectations of it, right,
(01:45):
We had expectations of maybe how we were going to feel,
expectations of how the podcast would do. We'd had some
expectations in fear consternation about how people might respond, and
on every single one of those notes at exceed are exs.
So it's a huge thank you to a lot of
people who you use the phrase suspend it judgment. We
(02:08):
know we have fans, but there's been a lot out there,
but we were able to finally speak and the response
from you all exceeded all of our expectations, and we
are incredibly grateful.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
We are so grateful. And we did not read the comments,
I think to preserve our own sanity, and we had
some of them given to us by our producers, and
we were told ninety five percent were good. You got
five percent that weren't. And that's, you know, I think
a pretty good ratio. I thought it might be a
little bit.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Oh my god, gat rotten tomato score right. He will
kill for that.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Yes, So we were very much just my fears were calmed.
I felt better about being able to tell the story
the way it actually happened versus how it was written
for us, and so we were just really grateful. So
thank you every one of you all who left comments,
good and bad, because that's part of what this is
(03:06):
is hearing you and your thoughts and what you think
and what you'd like to hear more of or less of.
We're open to all of that. This is a relationship
that we want to build with you as our listener.
We want to hopefully have some fun with you, but
also talk about things that need to be talked about.
So anyway, we appreciate any and all feedback. We are
(03:28):
getting it.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I don't mean that from appreciate all feedback. Okay, you
speak for yourself. I'm feedback. I don't want I don't
want to hear it. Now I get what you're saying.
You are right, and we do appreciate it. But there
is a respect you don't have to agree with or
you don't have to agree with what we say, but
you also don't have to believe it. Yep, you actually
(03:50):
don't have to believe us to still be able to
respectfully have a conversation with us. And that is where
we are so and going into it, we had no
freaking idea what a successful podcast looks like. And they
were telling us, well, look, if you get to this point,
it'll be great. If you get to this, it'll be great.
And we ended up we landed, and this is no
small thing, and we thank you, thank you, thank you
for because of your interest and your listening and your comments,
(04:12):
we launched a podcast that landed in the top five
of all podcasts on the charts and stayed there for
the majority of last week. And you should see robots
smile right now. It's that wide smile yours.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
And I just got chills. Do you remember? Do you
know how many times I would get chills when we
were on this at together. I was like, I just
got chills. I genuinely just did, because after this year,
I am so grateful to be able to get chills
about something positive, and I think that's just where we are.
We are appreciative of positivity, and we hear those of
you all who weren't as positive. But you know, hopefully
(04:47):
we can keep this going and we can keep talking
about other things and move the needle on other subjects.
That is our goal ultimately. But still I think we
just also want to say that we were overwhelmed by
just the personal emails and texts and dms that we
got from our friends, our family, a lot of our
former co workers, friends who I hadn't heard from, co
(05:08):
workers who I hadn't heard from in a while, and
they mostly consisted of that they were proud of us.
They all acknowledged it must have been hard to say
what we said and to put ourselves and our reputations
out there for everyone coming from us and our own words.
And we heard a lot of sorry, I didn't check
in on you more.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
That was And I feel almost that I need to
apologize to people who are apologizing to me, because in
the previous episode we did talk about that and that
people don't know what to say to you when you're
going through that, and some I think we've probably been
the position with friends and people we know before where
you don't know what to say, so you don't want
to reach out because you feel like you're bothering or
they are there in the middle of some right now,
(05:47):
so I don't want to disturb. And those messages mean everything,
even though you might not get a response back. We
read the messages that friends and family send us and
just getting something that says I'm here for you, I
care about you, and there are some people who wouldn't
let up in that regard, and I got in particular.
(06:10):
Look my cousin Chardy and Nashville Love your Girl, and
my good friend JJ and Little Rock. These are folks
I haven't talked to a lot in the past couple
of years and got closer to I was so close
to for so long. Both of them sent messages Betsy
as well in Arkansas that were saying, I'm so sorry
(06:30):
after listening, I'm sorry I didn't reach out more.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
I didn't know. I didn't really didn't know what you were.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Going through, and so we didn't want. We don't want
to make anybody feel bad. That wasn't the point, but
it's the truth of the matter. But don't feel bad
about doing that and if there's anything we want to
I absolutely say to folks and a ton of colleagues,
former colleagues who reached out and some of them for
the first time in all this. We want to say
(06:57):
to those folks and everybody, not for a moment. And
if you're hearing my voice right now, as soon as
you get done listening to this podcast, you pick up
that damn phone and you reach out to the person
you've been putting off reaching out to, because it means everything.
And we've had situations where we have people in our
lives have passed away and we go back and go, Damn,
(07:17):
I meant to invite them to lunch. Damn I meant
to reach out to ask this. Damn please, folks, we
are begging you do not have I'm serious literally today,
when you in this episode pick up the phone.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
And reach out, you're never bothering someone. I think someone
even said I didn't want to add to the noise.
Oh please, I'd like to drown out some of the
bad noise with some good noise. So just one line,
that's all it takes. And one of my favorite things
to do, having walked this a couple of times with
bad things happening and people not knowing what to say,
whether it's cancer or being let go from your job
(07:50):
in a very public way. It's just one line, and
I always like to preface it with this. You don't
have to respond, you don't need to text me back.
Just know I am thinking of you, I am praying
for you, I am here for you. That's it, that's
all it takes.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
And look, I didn't plan all. You and I talked
about where we're gonna do in this episode. But this
is something that there are some people in our lives
that in Isaiah Thomas Right is a guy I've known
for many, many years, and I always remember I was
coming from your place in West Village and he called
me and I didn't. I didn't answer the call, but
(08:27):
I messaged him a short time later, and he's he
hit me back on text and said that's not good enough.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
I need to hear your voice.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
He wouldn't let me avoid him and all seriously, And
there are some that are built like that and people
we are closer to who did that. But that's a
very good example, and he's one of the folks. He
does not We haven't been that closed. We don't stay
in touch every month, every couple of months, but.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Over the years of knowing it.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
But he is one who would not let it go.
He would not let me sit and not respond and
that was that means ever to me, and I know
you had folks like that as well.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
It just it means everything.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
Well. Speaking of someone, we mentioned her in the last podcast,
Sarah Haynes, and we joked, we hope she doesn't get fired.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Yeah, they we just found out she's they're not renewing her.
I'm sorry, Okay, keep listening.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
We just wanted to make it clear Sarah Hanes did
not get fired from the view and she actually we're
going to lunch on Wednesday, so it's it's all good.
And it is funny how people pick up those things
and make something out of it. But those are the
people who just wouldn't take no for an answer and
we appreciate it and we continue to appreciate any goodwill.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
And who's another one we mentioned it last and he's
absolutely great.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Byron Byron Allen out out in LA and a lot
of people know that name.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Look, he is an absolute medium ogul and he and
I have.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Known each other for years.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
But just in passing, and he was one starting a
year ago in December. He might be the person I
talk to most. He wouldn't let up I certainly every week,
but every couple days we'd hear from Byron, how are
you doing, what's going on? What do you need? Getting
on the phone with him, constant conversations, and so we
finally were able to as we now tell you all
(10:18):
about what we've been doing the past week, past week
and a half, really getting ready for the launch. But
it started Thursday, November thirtieth in.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
La on that infamous day, November thirty at the day
where a certain paper put out a certain set of
pictures that set this whole thing into motion. So it
was pretty cool, exactly one year later to reclaim that day.
So really, yeah, we flew out to La proudly, didn't
have to duck paparazzi, walked right off that plane, holding hands.
It was amazing. It's funny how the smallest things suddenly
(10:50):
feel so great, and that was one of them.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Okay, well, here's the funny thing about that. We have
been avoiding Lax for the past year. We have righty
because every time we fly in there, I can't remember
his name. I'd love to give him credit to my
man from TMZ. He's the nicest guy with long hair.
He's always right in our face. All right, we haven't
flown to Lax for a year.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
This time we're.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
Proud stepping off the plane, take our picture. Didn't see
his asst all. We were like, well that was elect
Like what are we going to say? What are we
going to Nope, not even an opportunity. They were not there.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
But still we were ready and we were smiling, just
in case he wanted to know.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
We were out there for the jingle Ball for the
Ihar Jingle Bawl in La, and we had an iHeart
party to go to the day after that. But the
first night we got to sit down, why do we
have a four or five hour dinner with wait Byron?
Speaker 3 (11:39):
I think we thought we just might be able to
catch them for an hour Byron and his wife Jennifer,
and we thought this is going to be amazing. I
finally got to meet him and his incredible wife. We
walked away saying the nicest things about her. She was phenomenal.
But it did. It turned into a four hour dinner.
I think we were the last people at the restaurant.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
But Byron is one love you brother. But he's here,
he's hearing and to us talk about the story and
how we come out of it and where you need
to go now, and he's telling us, well, this is
what you should have done, this is what I would
have done. You shouldn't let anybody, and he's given us
this whole scenario. I'm like, bro, I'm I'm not a
billionaire mogul. I can't go in and talk like that.
(12:17):
So but he is one that we absolutely want to
give so much credit to and for how he supported us.
And now we were able to finally sit down. And
that was on Thursdaursday thirtieth, So Friday we go to
the Jingle Ball in La And this was no small
thing for us.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
No, it was the first time we ever stepped out
officially as a couple in front of cameras that we
actually knew were going to be there. I did mine
and did mine and smiled and we had fun and
we were just being us. Apparently that's handsy and a
lot of PDA. But you know what, we're in love.
We're happy. I don't know how else.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
To act when you say handsy and a lot of PDA.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Well that's what they wrote. I don't think it was
that bad. We just held hands and laughed. Okay, maybe
I did give you a pack on the cheek.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Okay, that wasn't that. That's not that much PDA.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Apparently that's PDA.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Okay, this is my bad. This is I have a
bad bad.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Now you're gonna go there.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Okay, if you like that, go ahead, but never mind. No,
you did not didn't like the way you looked at me.
You saw that, right, Andrew? Okay, yeah, she didn't. She
didn't look at me, right, Sidney, do.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
You say that? Right? Would how would you vote? All right?
Give given her reaction and you would say no though?
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Okay, well you shaking his head.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Yes, we got two of our star Okay, we got
two of our star producers in the room who are
helping us with Look, I'm still I'm stalling because I'm
not sure.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Green light, green light.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Okay. Look, it's a bad habit.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
I suppose it could be sweet, but it could be sexualized.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Or viewed as such. But I have a bad habit.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Of when I put my arm around you, my hand
ends up lower than the.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Waist, and it's crazy way to put it and it's not.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
It's just that, it's just it's a bad habit and
I'm trying to break the habit.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
You kept trying to break the habit while we were
on the carver. Oh I did it again. Oh I
did it again. You had to stop yourself five times.
But it was I think it's cute. It's I know,
it's sweet. It's not what they say.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
It is okay, but I don't even know where it was.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
It was a fun night. We had a FUSI. Yes,
we got to really actually step out officially as a
couple and actually smile at cameras and welcome the attention
and welcome the focus on the podcast. It just felt
good to be able to be free of hiding and
running and just avoiding.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
And then the day after that, so we're building up
now to Saturday. We get to spend a lot of
time with a lot of the iHeart folks. Had a
nice party out there, and really be grateful everybody out
there and the folks we met and gave some encouraging worries,
folks who were clearly know the podcast world better than
we do, who were giving us tips on how to
handle it and what's going to be coming, and.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
We were getting tips and this is great Tamra Judge housewives.
These are folks who spend their lives in front of
the camera actually and then also have had incredible successive podcasts.
So we were taking notes. You know, we were like,
what is this thing called unwanted publicity? And how do
we navigate this in a podcasting world where we are
(15:18):
actually putting our lives out there, our hearts out there
in a way we haven't before.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
That is it's so funny to think we were talking,
you know, a real housewife over there. We could use
some career advice, and that was.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
A legitimate conversation that was happening. We were taking notes.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
We leave La, we come back here on Sunday, and
then Monday is the day before the launch. Monday was
a crazy day. We got prepared and hunkered down like
there was a storm coming. We did, yeah, like that
was about to be the apocalypse.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
You made some healthy salads, I mean healthy salads.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
We got battles of waters, some sardines, We got a
bunch of prosecco.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
We hunkered down, we really did.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
And then we don't usually stay up that late. I
mean by nine pm. Oftentimes we are asleep on a
lot of it is because we're early risers. You're a
little bit earlier than me. But when you get up
that early nine o'clock is your bedtime. So to stay
up until midnight, we needed a strategy, and we decided
to land on watching episodes of Wipeout.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Yes, Okay, when you say it out loud, it sounds.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Ridiculous, but it's I think it's become one of our
absolute favorite shows because you know what, you need.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
An escape, right.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Some people have reality shows and escapism, but we had
something we just knew was going to make us laugh.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
It's just people falling in the water and getting banged
by the big balls and whatever.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
You see the show, right, because he knows it was
like it was so sure enough we have become now
and I'm worried about this. It was like watching election
returns and all we were doing was refreshing the apple.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Right, the jury, where are we yes? And you start
to get obsessed with it. So if you can take
your mind off of it with people and then caris Hell,
et cetera, you know, it got us to midnight. I'll
put it like that.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
So sure enough, twelve, twelve oh one, twelve oh two,
twelve o three. It wasn't up yet, right, so it
takes a minute. I don't know, it takes a minute
to get it loaded or whatever it is. But we
kept refreshing and refreshing.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
It wasn't there was a video of us. We would
have lookedlious, I don't have it yet. Do you have
it yet? It's not loading, it's not loading.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
So finally it shows up. We go, Holy hell. And
even though we knew exactly what we said, and we
had listened to it several times, we asked, we put
the thing on the on our soundbar and blasted the
entire episode in the house that night and listened to
the forty five minutes of it.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yes, we did, and we listened to it alongside Amy Sugarman,
who was in La so it was a little bit
earlier for her. But we were getting, you know, texting
back and forth throughout the entire episode.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
People know who Amy Sugarman is. We just said it,
but people know who she is. I don't know they
should Sugar Sugar is.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
I think she can? We can we call her boss lady.
What do y'all call her? Boss?
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Lady words. Okay, she's she is the head of all.
She is the creative mind and the person who's been
so great to us at iHeart and wanting to help
us get a podcast off the ground in large, so
she has been great and so she was up with
us until this thing.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
With me until about two am. Yeah, that's when I
finally could take no more and fell asleep. And it's
funny because we went back and looked at the text
and TJ and Sugar were going on until I don't
even know three something and I was out. You don't
see one more text for me until seven am the
next day. But I looked at all the things I
missed when I woke up. It was it was encourage.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
You missed a lot, You missed a phone call. I
had a full conversation. My oldest daughter calls me in
the middle at three fourteen. Is when it was because
she listened to it and deddeh, good job. And she
was almost apologetic as well, like I'm sorry, didn't know
you were going through because that stuff I had not shared.
So I got that phone call. You still sleep and
I just stay up. I couldn't sleep, And then we're
(19:04):
starting to see it rise and rise and rise, and
we're number one in our category, and then we crack
the top five of all podcasts, and we just felt great.
The next day, on Tuesday, December fifth, a day that
a year ago was such a difficult one, and this
time around it was one of the best days and
(19:24):
best feelings we could ever imagine.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
So by the time we get to Wednesday, we really
felt like we could sigh some relief and be excited
and celebrate, and so it was pretty cool. One of
my best friends, Nikki Spina, sent over a bottle of
I never know how to say it, vuvkliko vev cliko,
I don't know what it is, but that really fancy champagne,
(20:00):
and we thought, let's do it. So we decided to
really take this day to celebrate, and that we did,
and we went out to lunch Trinity Place, right.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
My friends, you're sending friends and give my friends sent
me some booms farm.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Is anybody outside the South?
Speaker 3 (20:18):
I'm going to get that, oh my strawberry wine. Yes,
when you're eighteen.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Fifteen.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Was going to say fifteen, but then I thought I
might get some shade for that. Did you see I
almost said fifteen? It's more like fifteen. Yes, okay. So
we had the fancy stuff and it started the day
off right, and we continued the celebrations, and it just
so happened we did party that day. My parents come
in on the most on the craziest weeks, I feel
(20:52):
they are there. And so it worked out. They weren't
coming to celebrate our podcast. They were coming to celebrate
my oldest thought Eva. She got a lead in the
NYU play Medisoul and she played the role of June,
so they were coming to support her. And it just
so happened that this was podcasting week. I mean, we
didn't plan any of this. It just all kind of aligned.
(21:15):
So they came in and the four of us went
out to celebrate.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Boy, do we.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Make clear the last time they came here or last year,
they just happened to be coming right, and that they
were in the plane the exact day or the exact moment, yes,
the that our private romance was revealed, yes, And so
now they're on the way on this big day. So
they're supposed to be coming back later this month, and
(21:41):
we were like, oh, what's gonna happen.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
They're coming back in two weeks everybody, buckle up. I
don't know what's gonna happen. I'm terrified something is.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
It's always.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
But Wednesday we had the great dinner with them. It
was Celibra, just so night. And I've known your parents
for a long time.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
So it's always.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
I love hanging out with them. By the way, they're
just as well. Go to the dinner that night, had
a good one.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
And you know, you know my dad well enough to
know his tricks. He has this thing, so it's always
who's going to pay the bill at the end of
the night. And we had we ordered a lot of food,
a lot of wine, a lot of booze I don't know.
And I got him and he got him, got him.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
I got to pay the sick and it.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Was fun because this was our first So we formed
a corporation and we decided to name our company Banana Bean.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
My youngest daughter's name is Anna, I might call her
Anna banana, Annalise banana. And TJ's Daughter's name is to Bean.
He calls her bean. And you came up with the idea,
I think to call our company banana Bean. And it's great.
So we got to pull out the is it an
actual official expense. We felt like it was a business dinner.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Okay, we are saying, we need to say that for
irs purposes right now. It was a business had a
business dinner with your parents that night, of course.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
I mean it was absolutely tied to the podcast, so
we were able to I don't even know if my
dad knows we were expensing that dinner. But Dad, don't
worry about it. We're expensing it. It was on the
business card. So that was fun. It was, it was fun.
My dad was, I mean, he was he was mad.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
He likes to pay the bill.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Well he was, he liked. He wasn't mad. He was
just like he got me.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Okay, tell him he can venmo me if he wants
to the balance.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
But no, I don't want him mad. But then the
next day we got to.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Lunch with him, a lunch that was supposed to be
twelve thirty to what.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
We had, yeah, like maybe an hour. My mom and
I had plans to go shopping and soho. That never happened.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
So we ended up having this long, April sprits filled lunch.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
I think again we were the last people because it
was like in between servings and so looking between lunch
and dinner.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
It was that uncomfortable time where the whole wait staff
is looking at you saying, when are they leaving?
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Right, we would like to prepare for the next shift. Yes, so,
but we were still there.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yeah, but that was funny. That day we were leaving,
I went to the waiter. I said, hey, man, we
need to square up. He said, no, the gentleman already.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Took care of it, so he got your back.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
It's okay, So our next meal is gonna be fine.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
It's a ruined competition that I hope never stops. It's fun.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
But then so that takes us now to Friday, the
next day, which is jingle Ball New York, huge, huge event.
And we were so excited about this because Sabine was
so excited. I've been talking to my daughter, a ten
year old Sabine, the little one, about this for weeks
and we have been.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Planning her outfit.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
She got to pick everything out, She got new shoes,
she got some new designer.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
What was it called a triple T.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
I think I wish I could give the designer credit
right now. But the church she was wearing had Elvis
and Memphis on it, and we were so excited about
the jingle ball.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
She had her motorcycle boots.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Oh yes, we were very excited about that.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Did her hair with the braids on the.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Side, mohawk all thereby home.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
It continues, But that was another great, great night to
be able to go there, and you had to only
be there for a short time, or we're only able
to because you had mommy duty and you had to
go see another show.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
I had to go see Medisol for the second time.
There was a change in the cast and so she
wanted to have me see her play roles with different people.
So it was great. But it's just one of those
things that any mom knows what it's like. You know,
you have a business. It was again, this is business,
but it was fun. A business obligation that is fun.
And also you've got you got mommy duty. So we
(25:19):
figured it out and did both and had a rush
across town. But I made it, and it was fun
to be able to celebrate her and what she's been
able to accomplish there at NYU, And that was a
fun moment.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
I was able to do both because my work event
happened to be the fun event exactly. So we go
out and you and I didn't see a lot of
the concert in LA because we were shaking hands and
doing that thing. But Sabine wanted to stay in the
arena and watch everybody perform, So I had to go
out there and fake like I knew the lyrics to
some of those songs.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Actually, didn't you post something where I was laughing so hard?
You were trying to pretend like you knew the words,
but it was so obvious as you did it.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
It's good for you, It's that's all I got.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Yeah. Meantimes, Tabe knows every word, every word, So.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
That on Friday, that was another late night, and then
Saturday we get together.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
We have We just happened to have a wedding too.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
We just happened to have a wedding. This is one
of my oldest and dearest friends. And I don't mean
to say she's old, it's just we go way back.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
At NBC.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
She's gonna love that. She is so young and beautiful.
You wouldn't believe it, but no, she was. I was
so excited for her getting married for the first time
at fifty one. She found love and we were there
to celebrate with her, and it was fun to see
all my old colleagues from NBC. I was there for
nine years so and it had been a long time
since I had seen a lot of them. So it
(26:50):
was an amazing way to end a very incredible week
that had so many highs. And it was just the
perfect way, I think, to button it up to celebrate love,
and that's what we were doing. And it was a
it was a unique experience for you.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Which part the dress you were wearing would tell you about,
I'd say, I can't.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Even believe I'm on this thing now. About where my
hand goes?
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Oh right, because it had it had a lot of sequence,
and it wasn't comfortable for you to have your hand
it was.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
This was a very difficult dress to do PDA in
because we say sequence, and it was the larger one.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
It was big sequence. Yeah, they like coin and they
would flip up and down.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Yeah, yeah, it was so I mean we found a
way to keep my hands to myself. You wear that
dress often enough, it's like.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
A training dress for you.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
What does that mean?
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Meaning after enough times if I wear it, you'll know
not to put your hand there anymore.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Like you train a dog to do something.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Husbands need to be trained and so so to boyfriends.
I guess, I mean, I think most women would agree.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
But the wedding that night, I well, I we bring
it up now because we have a I got a
note this morning as we were preparing for this podcast,
note from our producer Hanna, who we love, that was
giving us suggestions about what to put in things we
could talk about. And one of the notes she had said,
you want to talk about the wedding you all went
(28:20):
to and that you all were reportedly dirty dancing. So
that's the note she sends. You were still asleep at
the time. That's the time I came.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
That's a trend. I'm sleeping and wait working.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
But that is when I came.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Into the room and said, hey, baby, you're a waking.
I did not know I've said this in the previous podcast.
You absolutely know this. I do not read headlines. I
do not google my name. I stay away from it.
And so I had to ask, what is she talking about?
Speaker 3 (28:53):
And I said, oh, I did see that yesterday. There
was Yeah. I mean, sometimes ignorance is bliss, and that
is part of your reasoning behind not reading all the headlines.
But I got a kick out of it because I
read it, and I thought, wait, it didn't just say
that we were dirty dancing. It said that it was
(29:14):
a very in front of it. It was like an
extra emphasis on the dirty dancing. And I found it
to be hilarious and probably not even worth me bringing
it up to you, because you and I know, and
everyone at the wedding knows. You didn't even get on
the dance floor. You stood at the corner of it
and watched me do my thing with some of my
girlfriends and the bride. But you were like, eh, no thanks.
(29:37):
And there's a reason why.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
It's hilarious, the idea that we were dirt Okay, stay
with me here.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
We were dirty dancing.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
At a wedding reception where the band and the genre
of music.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Was yacht rock.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
In fact, everyone on the dance floor at the end
of the night had Sai caps on that they hand
it out to everyone who was there to celebrate because
it was a yacht rock party. And so there are
some songs that I could tell you every word too,
that you've never even heard before. Like there was one
(30:17):
in particular, and it's one of my favorite songs by
Christopher Cross Sailing. Everyone was like sailing and we run
on the dance floor and he's like, how do you
dance to that song? And then you watched how we
danced that song, and you were like, I'm gonna stay.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
In my see no, but it was It's just funnier.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Hannah's note is funnier because the theme of our night
really was as soon as I hear a song by
a black artist, baby, we're gonna be in there.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
And I was waiting for a song I knew, or.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
How okay, can you everybody right now close your eyes
hear that song in your head and imagine me and
Robot dirty dancing to it.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
What do you even do?
Speaker 3 (31:04):
It's hilarious. So I got a kick out of it.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
It's a kick.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
It's funnier because I literally did not dance a single
song that night.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
You did not because it was yacht rock, and I
didn't know how. I didn't even try because sometimes I
would be like, come on, come on, come on, dance
with me. I knew it was a moot point. It's like,
he's not getting on this dance floor. So it's very funny,
okay to see someone say something that not only isn't true,
but couldn't have been further from the truth.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
And for your information, there were two songs by black
artists that we heard them cover. One was sitting on
the dock of the Bay is Reading and the other
was a Gladys Knight in the pipsul Night Night Train.
That was the only two that we heard.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
And that was actually when we were having dinner and
no one was on the dance floor, So you even
missed that opportunity.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Well, look, we are laughing, we are cracking up. It's
hilarious that that was a funny hand line that we
can make light of. But there were Look, there were
other headlines this week with agendas, and we absolutely anticipated
but that was going to happen. There's nothing we can
do about those. But this place, this podcast, its platform,
(32:15):
is not and will never be. We are committed to
a place that this is not going to be about gossip.
This is not going to be a place where we
clap back at headlines. We are not going to get
into that back and forth games because gossip is toxic.
And so today we are here. We are happy, we
are healthy, we are grateful, we are so touched by
(32:39):
the response, and we are onward and.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Upworth We certainly are, and you know what. We also
are tired, even with all the sleep apparently I got
while you weren't sleeping. We're tired. And I say this
because it was a pretty funny moment. We get done
with the wedding, so Bean's at home home. She's actually
being Nikki, the aforementioned Nikki who got us the fancy Champagne,
(33:04):
was watching Sabine and she was excited because we told her, Hey,
as soon as we come home from that wedding, we
are going to watch a horror movie with you, and
that's kind of been our thing now. She likes watching
because we love horror movies and like what wasted for
a while, Yeah, she did, but she is in on
it now and she had a specific show. She picked
the movie right that she wanted to watch with us.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Again, we didn't get done with this wedding UNTI almost
eleven o'clock. Yeah, and she was committed. Nope, nope, I'm
gonna stay up and we're gonna watch a movie when
y'all get back.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
And she wanted to watch The Blackenning.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
So we partied. After the week that was this is
finally the last event. We can stop. We can shut
it down, We can go and go to sleep. So me,
it was like, uh uh, when y'all get home, she
was texting. She was texting Bud, when y'all get home,
the Black Inning, we gotta watch it. So sure enough,
we get in and we set it up. You make
the popcorn, you hand it out to everybody in the
individual tens, and we start the movie. Sabine is loving it,
(33:59):
and then she almost ussed me out the next morning
because she said, y'all went to sleep on me again.
We fell asleep in them halfway through them.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
They took a picture of it. It's a pretty funny photo.
We can we can give it to the producers. Yep,
it is documented. We didn't last I don't know. I
think I lasted thirty minutes maybe into the.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Movie, but if you haven't seen it, but.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
It was the third time we had seen it. We
would never fall asleep during that movie normally, yes.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
But that's the week that was. It was a wonderful one.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
There were I guess you could say highs and lows,
but there were so many highs that it almost seems
like we are doing a disservice by spending a.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Moment on the lows.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
So thank you all, we are grateful and we are
off and running, and we've gone back a little bit too,
and kind of the lead up to the podcast launch
and all the events and good time and what parties
(35:02):
and whatnot and things.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
We had to celebrate. But it is Wild Robes that
it started out.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Like as heavy as it could, but it helped us
with perspective over the past week and a half because
you lost someone near and dear to you. We found
out about it just days before launch.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Yes, and I'm going to try to do this without crying,
but I don't think that's gonna work, so I apologize
ahead of time. But this is somebody who has been
so special to me over the past eight years. And
I met this beautiful soul, Olivia Hutcherson, right after I
finished my breast cancer treatment. She had just finished hers
(35:45):
and we were both declared cancer free in remission, and
I did a story with her. She was so young
when she was diagnosed. I believe she was twenty eight,
and she had such a vibrant spirit about her and
so much positivity and so much hope and joy for
the future. And it was a way to celebrate even
(36:07):
younger women getting cancer, and so it was also explaining
to our audience that you don't have to be an
older woman to get cancer. Breast cancer can happen to anyone,
and so it's on you to take charge of your health.
So she was that woman who embodied all of those things,
and she was just incredible, so much so that we
developed a tight friendship over it and stayed close all
these years. Several years later, her cancer came back stage
(36:31):
four metastatic, and she was in the fight for her
life literally and figuratively. And I watched this beautiful woman
fight with grace, with love. She was a professional dancer
and she taught dance to students, and she had accomplished
so much in her life, but she had so much
more to do, and mostly she just wanted to give.
She wanted to give love, she wanted to give hope
(36:54):
and inspiration. And she documented her battle on Instagram in
a very real and honest way. And I know many
of you might have followed her. I hope you do now.
Her account is still up. But we lost Olivia this
Saturday after Thanksgiving, and I reflected back at the moments
(37:14):
that I still wanted to have from her. The last
text that I sent to her was just a few
weeks before she passed. I didn't know how bad off
she was. She didn't tell me, she didn't want me
to know. She told me she started her new treatment.
Let's get together, and I said, yes, I will be
thinking of you and I will be on standby for
(37:37):
a date. And that date never happened because she passed
away very quickly after that last text I sent her.
What was the Remember how old Olivia was? Thirty four
years old?
Speaker 1 (37:52):
I remember if for folks, I only got to be
around her, I think twice, but certainly once we had
her on the show even once. But this was a
young woman. If she walked into the room and on
two front here looking at her, you would never you
wouldn't even know she was dealing or fighting a battle
(38:12):
with cancer, and two talking to her, you would never
know she was struggling the way she was because her energy,
her spirit. I've been amazed by this, and I've been
I've seen it more with being around you and actually Morgan,
a good friend of yours, who will certainly be talking
about and maybe even have on the podcast at some point.
I don't understand how people who are that you described
to me going through the hell that they're going through,
(38:34):
literally in a battle for their lives. How they're picking
me up, not just because oh I feel okay, I
shouldn't complain about anything because somebody's going through word.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
No, no, no.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
They literally talk to you in such a way that
they are encouraging you and your life and concerned about you.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
I was always amazed by that.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
With Olivia to that point, going through all of this
and she's fighting for her life and she's checking in
on me. I have a couple things I just want
to share with you because I want you to know
the love that Olivia gave not just to me, but
to everyone around her. And it's just inspirational to the
point where I think we all, I know, we all
can learn something from Olivia and continue to live differently
(39:16):
because of how she lived her life. Just a few
months ago, she wrote to me and said, I had
a dream about you last night. It was so vivid,
very crazy. I felt you so strongly.
Speaker 5 (39:25):
I know I must sound crazy, but I just want
to tell you how proud I am of you for
being such a life force and choosing love so side noted,
dear friend of mine transitions last week to heaven and
I couldn't help but think of you.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
Sadly, death teaches us how to live, she says to me.
This is her quote. I am sorry I haven't checked
in on you more, but please know I think of
you often. I pray for your peace always hope you
are well, my sister. That is remarkable to me that
in what she was dealing.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
With, literally fighting to live, and she's she's.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
Worried about me, and that is just that takes a
very special person in that situation. And I also just
I really want to share with you. I know people
who are familiar with Instagram, they know that when you
have a post, you want people to check back in
on or read you pin it. I don't I'm not
(40:22):
that savvy with tech, but I do know that much.
And so I was looking back because she was a
poet as well. She has a book out there. She
gave so much and she gave so much art to
the world, not just through dance, but through her words
and of course through her love. But she had this
is almost exactly a year ago she put this post up.
And I'll truncate it slightly, but she put this post
(40:45):
up on Instagram and for anyone who wants to go
and look at it. It's still up there to read.
But this just hit me after her passing her words
of inspiration that I will keep, and I kept with
me through this week, and you know I did. I've
been wiping away tears, but they're also tears of joy
(41:06):
because I know she's not in pain anymore. I know
that she's free of her body, and I know that
her soul and her spirit live on, not just literally
but through the people who she touched. So I just
I'm hoping that her words you all can listen to them,
will also have the same impact on you. She wrote
this in December of twenty twenty two. I wanted to
(41:28):
write something super motivational as the year comes to a close.
The only thing I can truly tell you is this though,
when you see me and you see something good, the
only good thing about me is God. He has literally
lifted me off of the floor and put me back
together again time after time. She goes on to say,
(41:49):
I didn't get here overnight. It took pressure, process, tears, fears, surrender,
re surrender, an army or prayer warriors, my mother's arms,
my brother's ted talks in the living room and a
few real ones. I learned less is more and time
(42:11):
is running out every second.
Speaker 5 (42:15):
So let's love now, forgive more, and yes, pray for
those who have come against us and our families.
Speaker 3 (42:24):
The poison only makes us bitter. Life is short today
is what matters most.
All right, hey, then everybody, welcome to Amy and TJ.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
TJ.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hol Heer, Amy Rebrox sitting next to me as we
give you episode two of our new podcast. Were very
excited if you listen to episode one, and many of
you did, and we thank you for that. But you'll
notice at the top of that Robes started by saying
she was nervous. So episode two, how you feeling still nervous?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I think it's very much mixed with excitement and gratitude
as well. But I still have those butterflies, and I
think it's just one of those things when you put
yourself out there. When we were broadcaster as journalists, you're
reading whatepy, you are okay, right, But when we were
on the air and we had a microphone on us,
(00:55):
we were talking about other people and we want to
get to that place. So when you're putting yourself out there,
your live's out there, your heart out there. Yes, there's
more at stake, and I think you and I both
realized just what was at stake for that episode, last
week's episode, but also this week's episode. Everything's at stake
(01:20):
and it's terrifying.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
You know, you kept using the word terrifying. We talk
about what's at stake, and what it's sake is a
I mean, these are twenty five generally twenty five year careers,
broadcasting careers, and it was it's terrifying to think like
everything is on the line. If we don't nail, they
don't get it right, we make a misstep. I think
finally we can exhale a little bit that we've got
that one under our belt. And we had expectations of it, right,
(01:45):
We had expectations of maybe how we were going to feel,
expectations of how the podcast would do. We'd had some
expectations in fear consternation about how people might respond, and
on every single one of those notes at exceed are exs.
So it's a huge thank you to a lot of
people who you use the phrase suspend it judgment. We
(02:08):
know we have fans, but there's been a lot out there,
but we were able to finally speak and the response
from you all exceeded all of our expectations, and we
are incredibly grateful.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
We are so grateful. And we did not read the comments,
I think to preserve our own sanity, and we had
some of them given to us by our producers, and
we were told ninety five percent were good. You got
five percent that weren't. And that's, you know, I think
a pretty good ratio. I thought it might be a
little bit.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Oh my god, gat rotten tomato score right. He will
kill for that.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Yes, So we were very much just my fears were calmed.
I felt better about being able to tell the story
the way it actually happened versus how it was written
for us, and so we were just really grateful. So
thank you every one of you all who left comments,
good and bad, because that's part of what this is
(03:06):
is hearing you and your thoughts and what you think
and what you'd like to hear more of or less of.
We're open to all of that. This is a relationship
that we want to build with you as our listener.
We want to hopefully have some fun with you, but
also talk about things that need to be talked about.
So anyway, we appreciate any and all feedback. We are
(03:28):
getting it.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I don't mean that from appreciate all feedback. Okay, you
speak for yourself. I'm feedback. I don't want I don't
want to hear it. Now I get what you're saying.
You are right, and we do appreciate it. But there
is a respect you don't have to agree with or
you don't have to agree with what we say, but
you also don't have to believe it. Yep, you actually
(03:50):
don't have to believe us to still be able to
respectfully have a conversation with us. And that is where
we are so and going into it, we had no
freaking idea what a successful podcast looks like. And they
were telling us, well, look, if you get to this point,
it'll be great. If you get to this, it'll be great.
And we ended up we landed, and this is no
small thing, and we thank you, thank you, thank you
for because of your interest and your listening and your comments,
(04:12):
we launched a podcast that landed in the top five
of all podcasts on the charts and stayed there for
the majority of last week. And you should see robots
smile right now. It's that wide smile yours.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
And I just got chills. Do you remember? Do you
know how many times I would get chills when we
were on this at together. I was like, I just
got chills. I genuinely just did, because after this year,
I am so grateful to be able to get chills
about something positive, and I think that's just where we are.
We are appreciative of positivity, and we hear those of
you all who weren't as positive. But you know, hopefully
(04:47):
we can keep this going and we can keep talking
about other things and move the needle on other subjects.
That is our goal ultimately. But still I think we
just also want to say that we were overwhelmed by
just the personal emails and texts and dms that we
got from our friends, our family, a lot of our
former co workers, friends who I hadn't heard from, co
(05:08):
workers who I hadn't heard from in a while, and
they mostly consisted of that they were proud of us.
They all acknowledged it must have been hard to say
what we said and to put ourselves and our reputations
out there for everyone coming from us and our own words.
And we heard a lot of sorry, I didn't check
in on you more.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
That was And I feel almost that I need to
apologize to people who are apologizing to me, because in
the previous episode we did talk about that and that
people don't know what to say to you when you're
going through that, and some I think we've probably been
the position with friends and people we know before where
you don't know what to say, so you don't want
to reach out because you feel like you're bothering or
they are there in the middle of some right now,
(05:47):
so I don't want to disturb. And those messages mean everything,
even though you might not get a response back. We
read the messages that friends and family send us and
just getting something that says I'm here for you, I
care about you, and there are some people who wouldn't
let up in that regard, and I got in particular.
(06:10):
Look my cousin Chardy and Nashville Love your Girl, and
my good friend JJ and Little Rock. These are folks
I haven't talked to a lot in the past couple
of years and got closer to I was so close
to for so long. Both of them sent messages Betsy
as well in Arkansas that were saying, I'm so sorry
(06:30):
after listening, I'm sorry I didn't reach out more.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
I didn't know. I didn't really didn't know what you were.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Going through, and so we didn't want. We don't want
to make anybody feel bad. That wasn't the point, but
it's the truth of the matter. But don't feel bad
about doing that and if there's anything we want to
I absolutely say to folks and a ton of colleagues,
former colleagues who reached out and some of them for
the first time in all this. We want to say
(06:57):
to those folks and everybody, not for a moment. And
if you're hearing my voice right now, as soon as
you get done listening to this podcast, you pick up
that damn phone and you reach out to the person
you've been putting off reaching out to, because it means everything.
And we've had situations where we have people in our
lives have passed away and we go back and go, Damn,
(07:17):
I meant to invite them to lunch. Damn I meant
to reach out to ask this. Damn please, folks, we
are begging you do not have I'm serious literally today,
when you in this episode pick up the phone.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
And reach out, you're never bothering someone. I think someone
even said I didn't want to add to the noise.
Oh please, I'd like to drown out some of the
bad noise with some good noise. So just one line,
that's all it takes. And one of my favorite things
to do, having walked this a couple of times with
bad things happening and people not knowing what to say,
whether it's cancer or being let go from your job
(07:50):
in a very public way. It's just one line, and
I always like to preface it with this. You don't
have to respond, you don't need to text me back.
Just know I am thinking of you, I am praying
for you, I am here for you. That's it, that's
all it takes.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
And look, I didn't plan all. You and I talked
about where we're gonna do in this episode. But this
is something that there are some people in our lives
that in Isaiah Thomas Right is a guy I've known
for many, many years, and I always remember I was
coming from your place in West Village and he called
me and I didn't. I didn't answer the call, but
(08:27):
I messaged him a short time later, and he's he
hit me back on text and said that's not good enough.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
I need to hear your voice.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
He wouldn't let me avoid him and all seriously, And
there are some that are built like that and people
we are closer to who did that. But that's a
very good example, and he's one of the folks. He
does not We haven't been that closed. We don't stay
in touch every month, every couple of months, but.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Over the years of knowing it.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
But he is one who would not let it go.
He would not let me sit and not respond and
that was that means ever to me, and I know
you had folks like that as well.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
It just it means everything.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
Well. Speaking of someone, we mentioned her in the last podcast,
Sarah Haynes, and we joked, we hope she doesn't get fired.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Yeah, they we just found out she's they're not renewing her.
I'm sorry, Okay, keep listening.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
We just wanted to make it clear Sarah Hanes did
not get fired from the view and she actually we're
going to lunch on Wednesday, so it's it's all good.
And it is funny how people pick up those things
and make something out of it. But those are the
people who just wouldn't take no for an answer and
we appreciate it and we continue to appreciate any goodwill.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
And who's another one we mentioned it last and he's
absolutely great.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Byron Byron Allen out out in LA and a lot
of people know that name.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Look, he is an absolute medium ogul and he and
I have.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Known each other for years.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
But just in passing, and he was one starting a
year ago in December. He might be the person I
talk to most. He wouldn't let up I certainly every week,
but every couple days we'd hear from Byron, how are
you doing, what's going on? What do you need? Getting
on the phone with him, constant conversations, and so we
finally were able to as we now tell you all
(10:18):
about what we've been doing the past week, past week
and a half, really getting ready for the launch. But
it started Thursday, November thirtieth in.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
La on that infamous day, November thirty at the day
where a certain paper put out a certain set of
pictures that set this whole thing into motion. So it
was pretty cool, exactly one year later to reclaim that day.
So really, yeah, we flew out to La proudly, didn't
have to duck paparazzi, walked right off that plane, holding hands.
It was amazing. It's funny how the smallest things suddenly
(10:50):
feel so great, and that was one of them.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Okay, well, here's the funny thing about that. We have
been avoiding Lax for the past year. We have righty
because every time we fly in there, I can't remember
his name. I'd love to give him credit to my
man from TMZ. He's the nicest guy with long hair.
He's always right in our face. All right, we haven't
flown to Lax for a year.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
This time we're.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
Proud stepping off the plane, take our picture. Didn't see
his asst all. We were like, well that was elect
Like what are we going to say? What are we
going to Nope, not even an opportunity. They were not there.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
But still we were ready and we were smiling, just
in case he wanted to know.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
We were out there for the jingle Ball for the
Ihar Jingle Bawl in La, and we had an iHeart
party to go to the day after that. But the
first night we got to sit down, why do we
have a four or five hour dinner with wait Byron?
Speaker 3 (11:39):
I think we thought we just might be able to
catch them for an hour Byron and his wife Jennifer,
and we thought this is going to be amazing. I
finally got to meet him and his incredible wife. We
walked away saying the nicest things about her. She was phenomenal.
But it did. It turned into a four hour dinner.
I think we were the last people at the restaurant.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
But Byron is one love you brother. But he's here,
he's hearing and to us talk about the story and
how we come out of it and where you need
to go now, and he's telling us, well, this is
what you should have done, this is what I would
have done. You shouldn't let anybody, and he's given us
this whole scenario. I'm like, bro, I'm I'm not a
billionaire mogul. I can't go in and talk like that.
(12:17):
So but he is one that we absolutely want to
give so much credit to and for how he supported us.
And now we were able to finally sit down. And
that was on Thursdaursday thirtieth, So Friday we go to
the Jingle Ball in La And this was no small
thing for us.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
No, it was the first time we ever stepped out
officially as a couple in front of cameras that we
actually knew were going to be there. I did mine
and did mine and smiled and we had fun and
we were just being us. Apparently that's handsy and a
lot of PDA. But you know what, we're in love.
We're happy. I don't know how else.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
To act when you say handsy and a lot of PDA.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Well that's what they wrote. I don't think it was
that bad. We just held hands and laughed. Okay, maybe
I did give you a pack on the cheek.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Okay, that wasn't that. That's not that much PDA.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Apparently that's PDA.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Okay, this is my bad. This is I have a
bad bad.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Now you're gonna go there.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Okay, if you like that, go ahead, but never mind. No,
you did not didn't like the way you looked at me.
You saw that, right, Andrew? Okay, yeah, she didn't. She
didn't look at me, right, Sidney, do.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
You say that? Right? Would how would you vote? All right?
Give given her reaction and you would say no though?
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Okay, well you shaking his head.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Yes, we got two of our star Okay, we got
two of our star producers in the room who are
helping us with Look, I'm still I'm stalling because I'm
not sure.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Green light, green light.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Okay. Look, it's a bad habit.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
I suppose it could be sweet, but it could be sexualized.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Or viewed as such. But I have a bad habit.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Of when I put my arm around you, my hand
ends up lower than the.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Waist, and it's crazy way to put it and it's not.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
It's just that, it's just it's a bad habit and
I'm trying to break the habit.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
You kept trying to break the habit while we were
on the carver. Oh I did it again. Oh I
did it again. You had to stop yourself five times.
But it was I think it's cute. It's I know,
it's sweet. It's not what they say.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
It is okay, but I don't even know where it was.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
It was a fun night. We had a FUSI. Yes,
we got to really actually step out officially as a
couple and actually smile at cameras and welcome the attention
and welcome the focus on the podcast. It just felt
good to be able to be free of hiding and
running and just avoiding.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
And then the day after that, so we're building up
now to Saturday. We get to spend a lot of
time with a lot of the iHeart folks. Had a
nice party out there, and really be grateful everybody out
there and the folks we met and gave some encouraging worries,
folks who were clearly know the podcast world better than
we do, who were giving us tips on how to
handle it and what's going to be coming, and.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
We were getting tips and this is great Tamra Judge housewives.
These are folks who spend their lives in front of
the camera actually and then also have had incredible successive podcasts.
So we were taking notes. You know, we were like,
what is this thing called unwanted publicity? And how do
we navigate this in a podcasting world where we are
(15:18):
actually putting our lives out there, our hearts out there
in a way we haven't before.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
That is it's so funny to think we were talking,
you know, a real housewife over there. We could use
some career advice, and that was.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
A legitimate conversation that was happening. We were taking notes.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
We leave La, we come back here on Sunday, and
then Monday is the day before the launch. Monday was
a crazy day. We got prepared and hunkered down like
there was a storm coming. We did, yeah, like that
was about to be the apocalypse.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
You made some healthy salads, I mean healthy salads.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
We got battles of waters, some sardines, We got a
bunch of prosecco.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
We hunkered down, we really did.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
And then we don't usually stay up that late. I
mean by nine pm. Oftentimes we are asleep on a
lot of it is because we're early risers. You're a
little bit earlier than me. But when you get up
that early nine o'clock is your bedtime. So to stay
up until midnight, we needed a strategy, and we decided
to land on watching episodes of Wipeout.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Yes, Okay, when you say it out loud, it sounds.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Ridiculous, but it's I think it's become one of our
absolute favorite shows because you know what, you need.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
An escape, right.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Some people have reality shows and escapism, but we had
something we just knew was going to make us laugh.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
It's just people falling in the water and getting banged
by the big balls and whatever.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
You see the show, right, because he knows it was
like it was so sure enough we have become now
and I'm worried about this. It was like watching election
returns and all we were doing was refreshing the apple.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Right, the jury, where are we yes? And you start
to get obsessed with it. So if you can take
your mind off of it with people and then caris Hell,
et cetera, you know, it got us to midnight. I'll
put it like that.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
So sure enough, twelve, twelve oh one, twelve oh two,
twelve o three. It wasn't up yet, right, so it
takes a minute. I don't know, it takes a minute
to get it loaded or whatever it is. But we
kept refreshing and refreshing.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
It wasn't there was a video of us. We would
have lookedlious, I don't have it yet. Do you have
it yet? It's not loading, it's not loading.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
So finally it shows up. We go, Holy hell. And
even though we knew exactly what we said, and we
had listened to it several times, we asked, we put
the thing on the on our soundbar and blasted the
entire episode in the house that night and listened to
the forty five minutes of it.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yes, we did, and we listened to it alongside Amy Sugarman,
who was in La so it was a little bit
earlier for her. But we were getting, you know, texting
back and forth throughout the entire episode.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
People know who Amy Sugarman is. We just said it,
but people know who she is. I don't know they
should Sugar Sugar is.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
I think she can? We can we call her boss lady.
What do y'all call her? Boss?
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Lady words. Okay, she's she is the head of all.
She is the creative mind and the person who's been
so great to us at iHeart and wanting to help
us get a podcast off the ground in large, so
she has been great and so she was up with
us until this thing.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
With me until about two am. Yeah, that's when I
finally could take no more and fell asleep. And it's
funny because we went back and looked at the text
and TJ and Sugar were going on until I don't
even know three something and I was out. You don't
see one more text for me until seven am the
next day. But I looked at all the things I
missed when I woke up. It was it was encourage.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
You missed a lot, You missed a phone call. I
had a full conversation. My oldest daughter calls me in
the middle at three fourteen. Is when it was because
she listened to it and deddeh, good job. And she
was almost apologetic as well, like I'm sorry, didn't know
you were going through because that stuff I had not shared.
So I got that phone call. You still sleep and
I just stay up. I couldn't sleep, And then we're
(19:04):
starting to see it rise and rise and rise, and
we're number one in our category, and then we crack
the top five of all podcasts, and we just felt great.
The next day, on Tuesday, December fifth, a day that
a year ago was such a difficult one, and this
time around it was one of the best days and
(19:24):
best feelings we could ever imagine.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
So by the time we get to Wednesday, we really
felt like we could sigh some relief and be excited
and celebrate, and so it was pretty cool. One of
my best friends, Nikki Spina, sent over a bottle of
I never know how to say it, vuvkliko vev cliko,
I don't know what it is, but that really fancy champagne,
(20:00):
and we thought, let's do it. So we decided to
really take this day to celebrate, and that we did,
and we went out to lunch Trinity Place, right.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
My friends, you're sending friends and give my friends sent
me some booms farm.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Is anybody outside the South?
Speaker 3 (20:18):
I'm going to get that, oh my strawberry wine. Yes,
when you're eighteen.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Fifteen.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Was going to say fifteen, but then I thought I
might get some shade for that. Did you see I
almost said fifteen? It's more like fifteen. Yes, okay. So
we had the fancy stuff and it started the day
off right, and we continued the celebrations, and it just
so happened we did party that day. My parents come
in on the most on the craziest weeks, I feel
(20:52):
they are there. And so it worked out. They weren't
coming to celebrate our podcast. They were coming to celebrate
my oldest thought Eva. She got a lead in the
NYU play Medisoul and she played the role of June,
so they were coming to support her. And it just
so happened that this was podcasting week. I mean, we
didn't plan any of this. It just all kind of aligned.
(21:15):
So they came in and the four of us went
out to celebrate.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Boy, do we.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Make clear the last time they came here or last year,
they just happened to be coming right, and that they
were in the plane the exact day or the exact moment, yes,
the that our private romance was revealed, yes, And so
now they're on the way on this big day. So
they're supposed to be coming back later this month, and
(21:41):
we were like, oh, what's gonna happen.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
They're coming back in two weeks everybody, buckle up. I
don't know what's gonna happen. I'm terrified something is.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
It's always.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
But Wednesday we had the great dinner with them. It
was Celibra, just so night. And I've known your parents
for a long time.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
So it's always.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
I love hanging out with them. By the way, they're
just as well. Go to the dinner that night, had
a good one.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
And you know, you know my dad well enough to
know his tricks. He has this thing, so it's always
who's going to pay the bill at the end of
the night. And we had we ordered a lot of food,
a lot of wine, a lot of booze I don't know.
And I got him and he got him, got him.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
I got to pay the sick and it.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Was fun because this was our first So we formed
a corporation and we decided to name our company Banana Bean.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
My youngest daughter's name is Anna, I might call her
Anna banana, Annalise banana. And TJ's Daughter's name is to Bean.
He calls her bean. And you came up with the idea,
I think to call our company banana Bean. And it's great.
So we got to pull out the is it an
actual official expense. We felt like it was a business dinner.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Okay, we are saying, we need to say that for
irs purposes right now. It was a business had a
business dinner with your parents that night, of course.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
I mean it was absolutely tied to the podcast, so
we were able to I don't even know if my
dad knows we were expensing that dinner. But Dad, don't
worry about it. We're expensing it. It was on the
business card. So that was fun. It was, it was fun.
My dad was, I mean, he was he was mad.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
He likes to pay the bill.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Well he was, he liked. He wasn't mad. He was
just like he got me.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Okay, tell him he can venmo me if he wants
to the balance.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
But no, I don't want him mad. But then the
next day we got to.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Lunch with him, a lunch that was supposed to be
twelve thirty to what.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
We had, yeah, like maybe an hour. My mom and
I had plans to go shopping and soho. That never happened.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
So we ended up having this long, April sprits filled lunch.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
I think again we were the last people because it
was like in between servings and so looking between lunch
and dinner.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
It was that uncomfortable time where the whole wait staff
is looking at you saying, when are they leaving?
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Right, we would like to prepare for the next shift. Yes, so,
but we were still there.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yeah, but that was funny. That day we were leaving,
I went to the waiter. I said, hey, man, we
need to square up. He said, no, the gentleman already.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Took care of it, so he got your back.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
It's okay, So our next meal is gonna be fine.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
It's a ruined competition that I hope never stops. It's fun.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
But then so that takes us now to Friday, the
next day, which is jingle Ball New York, huge, huge event.
And we were so excited about this because Sabine was
so excited. I've been talking to my daughter, a ten
year old Sabine, the little one, about this for weeks
and we have been.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Planning her outfit.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
She got to pick everything out, She got new shoes,
she got some new designer.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
What was it called a triple T.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
I think I wish I could give the designer credit
right now. But the church she was wearing had Elvis
and Memphis on it, and we were so excited about
the jingle ball.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
She had her motorcycle boots.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Oh yes, we were very excited about that.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Did her hair with the braids on the.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Side, mohawk all thereby home.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
It continues, But that was another great, great night to
be able to go there, and you had to only
be there for a short time, or we're only able
to because you had mommy duty and you had to
go see another show.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
I had to go see Medisol for the second time.
There was a change in the cast and so she
wanted to have me see her play roles with different people.
So it was great. But it's just one of those
things that any mom knows what it's like. You know,
you have a business. It was again, this is business,
but it was fun. A business obligation that is fun.
And also you've got you got mommy duty. So we
(25:19):
figured it out and did both and had a rush
across town. But I made it, and it was fun
to be able to celebrate her and what she's been
able to accomplish there at NYU, And that was a
fun moment.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
I was able to do both because my work event
happened to be the fun event exactly. So we go
out and you and I didn't see a lot of
the concert in LA because we were shaking hands and
doing that thing. But Sabine wanted to stay in the
arena and watch everybody perform, So I had to go
out there and fake like I knew the lyrics to
some of those songs.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Actually, didn't you post something where I was laughing so hard?
You were trying to pretend like you knew the words,
but it was so obvious as you did it.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
It's good for you, It's that's all I got.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Yeah. Meantimes, Tabe knows every word, every word, So.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
That on Friday, that was another late night, and then
Saturday we get together.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
We have We just happened to have a wedding too.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
We just happened to have a wedding. This is one
of my oldest and dearest friends. And I don't mean
to say she's old, it's just we go way back.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
At NBC.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
She's gonna love that. She is so young and beautiful.
You wouldn't believe it, but no, she was. I was
so excited for her getting married for the first time
at fifty one. She found love and we were there
to celebrate with her, and it was fun to see
all my old colleagues from NBC. I was there for
nine years so and it had been a long time
since I had seen a lot of them. So it
(26:50):
was an amazing way to end a very incredible week
that had so many highs. And it was just the
perfect way, I think, to button it up to celebrate love,
and that's what we were doing. And it was a
it was a unique experience for you.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Which part the dress you were wearing would tell you about,
I'd say, I can't.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Even believe I'm on this thing now. About where my
hand goes?
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Oh right, because it had it had a lot of sequence,
and it wasn't comfortable for you to have your hand
it was.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
This was a very difficult dress to do PDA in
because we say sequence, and it was the larger one.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
It was big sequence. Yeah, they like coin and they
would flip up and down.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Yeah, yeah, it was so I mean we found a
way to keep my hands to myself. You wear that
dress often enough, it's like.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
A training dress for you.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
What does that mean?
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Meaning after enough times if I wear it, you'll know
not to put your hand there anymore.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Like you train a dog to do something.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Husbands need to be trained and so so to boyfriends.
I guess, I mean, I think most women would agree.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
But the wedding that night, I well, I we bring
it up now because we have a I got a
note this morning as we were preparing for this podcast,
note from our producer Hanna, who we love, that was
giving us suggestions about what to put in things we
could talk about. And one of the notes she had said,
you want to talk about the wedding you all went
(28:20):
to and that you all were reportedly dirty dancing. So
that's the note she sends. You were still asleep at
the time. That's the time I came.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
That's a trend. I'm sleeping and wait working.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
But that is when I came.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Into the room and said, hey, baby, you're a waking.
I did not know I've said this in the previous podcast.
You absolutely know this. I do not read headlines. I
do not google my name. I stay away from it.
And so I had to ask, what is she talking about?
Speaker 3 (28:53):
And I said, oh, I did see that yesterday. There
was Yeah. I mean, sometimes ignorance is bliss, and that
is part of your reasoning behind not reading all the headlines.
But I got a kick out of it because I
read it, and I thought, wait, it didn't just say
that we were dirty dancing. It said that it was
(29:14):
a very in front of it. It was like an
extra emphasis on the dirty dancing. And I found it
to be hilarious and probably not even worth me bringing
it up to you, because you and I know, and
everyone at the wedding knows. You didn't even get on
the dance floor. You stood at the corner of it
and watched me do my thing with some of my
girlfriends and the bride. But you were like, eh, no thanks.
(29:37):
And there's a reason why.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
It's hilarious, the idea that we were dirt Okay, stay
with me here.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
We were dirty dancing.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
At a wedding reception where the band and the genre
of music.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Was yacht rock.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
In fact, everyone on the dance floor at the end
of the night had Sai caps on that they hand
it out to everyone who was there to celebrate because
it was a yacht rock party. And so there are
some songs that I could tell you every word too,
that you've never even heard before. Like there was one
(30:17):
in particular, and it's one of my favorite songs by
Christopher Cross Sailing. Everyone was like sailing and we run
on the dance floor and he's like, how do you
dance to that song? And then you watched how we
danced that song, and you were like, I'm gonna stay.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
In my see no, but it was It's just funnier.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Hannah's note is funnier because the theme of our night
really was as soon as I hear a song by
a black artist, baby, we're gonna be in there.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
And I was waiting for a song I knew, or.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
How okay, can you everybody right now close your eyes
hear that song in your head and imagine me and
Robot dirty dancing to it.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
What do you even do?
Speaker 3 (31:04):
It's hilarious. So I got a kick out of it.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
It's a kick.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
It's funnier because I literally did not dance a single
song that night.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
You did not because it was yacht rock, and I
didn't know how. I didn't even try because sometimes I
would be like, come on, come on, come on, dance
with me. I knew it was a moot point. It's like,
he's not getting on this dance floor. So it's very funny,
okay to see someone say something that not only isn't true,
but couldn't have been further from the truth.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
And for your information, there were two songs by black
artists that we heard them cover. One was sitting on
the dock of the Bay is Reading and the other
was a Gladys Knight in the pipsul Night Night Train.
That was the only two that we heard.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
And that was actually when we were having dinner and
no one was on the dance floor, So you even
missed that opportunity.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Well, look, we are laughing, we are cracking up. It's
hilarious that that was a funny hand line that we
can make light of. But there were Look, there were
other headlines this week with agendas, and we absolutely anticipated
but that was going to happen. There's nothing we can
do about those. But this place, this podcast, its platform,
(32:15):
is not and will never be. We are committed to
a place that this is not going to be about gossip.
This is not going to be a place where we
clap back at headlines. We are not going to get
into that back and forth games because gossip is toxic.
And so today we are here. We are happy, we
are healthy, we are grateful, we are so touched by
(32:39):
the response, and we are onward and.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Upworth We certainly are, and you know what. We also
are tired, even with all the sleep apparently I got
while you weren't sleeping. We're tired. And I say this
because it was a pretty funny moment. We get done
with the wedding, so Bean's at home home. She's actually
being Nikki, the aforementioned Nikki who got us the fancy Champagne,
(33:04):
was watching Sabine and she was excited because we told her, Hey,
as soon as we come home from that wedding, we
are going to watch a horror movie with you, and
that's kind of been our thing now. She likes watching
because we love horror movies and like what wasted for
a while, Yeah, she did, but she is in on
it now and she had a specific show. She picked
the movie right that she wanted to watch with us.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Again, we didn't get done with this wedding UNTI almost
eleven o'clock. Yeah, and she was committed. Nope, nope, I'm
gonna stay up and we're gonna watch a movie when
y'all get back.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
And she wanted to watch The Blackenning.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
So we partied. After the week that was this is
finally the last event. We can stop. We can shut
it down, We can go and go to sleep. So me,
it was like, uh uh, when y'all get home, she
was texting. She was texting Bud, when y'all get home,
the Black Inning, we gotta watch it. So sure enough,
we get in and we set it up. You make
the popcorn, you hand it out to everybody in the
individual tens, and we start the movie. Sabine is loving it,
(33:59):
and then she almost ussed me out the next morning
because she said, y'all went to sleep on me again.
We fell asleep in them halfway through them.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
They took a picture of it. It's a pretty funny photo.
We can we can give it to the producers. Yep,
it is documented. We didn't last I don't know. I
think I lasted thirty minutes maybe into the.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Movie, but if you haven't seen it, but.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
It was the third time we had seen it. We
would never fall asleep during that movie normally, yes.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
But that's the week that was. It was a wonderful one.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
There were I guess you could say highs and lows,
but there were so many highs that it almost seems
like we are doing a disservice by spending a.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Moment on the lows.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
So thank you all, we are grateful and we are
off and running, and we've gone back a little bit too,
and kind of the lead up to the podcast launch
and all the events and good time and what parties
(35:02):
and whatnot and things.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
We had to celebrate. But it is Wild Robes that
it started out.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Like as heavy as it could, but it helped us
with perspective over the past week and a half because
you lost someone near and dear to you. We found
out about it just days before launch.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Yes, and I'm going to try to do this without crying,
but I don't think that's gonna work, so I apologize
ahead of time. But this is somebody who has been
so special to me over the past eight years. And
I met this beautiful soul, Olivia Hutcherson, right after I
finished my breast cancer treatment. She had just finished hers
(35:45):
and we were both declared cancer free in remission, and
I did a story with her. She was so young
when she was diagnosed. I believe she was twenty eight,
and she had such a vibrant spirit about her and
so much positivity and so much hope and joy for
the future. And it was a way to celebrate even
(36:07):
younger women getting cancer, and so it was also explaining
to our audience that you don't have to be an
older woman to get cancer. Breast cancer can happen to anyone,
and so it's on you to take charge of your health.
So she was that woman who embodied all of those things,
and she was just incredible, so much so that we
developed a tight friendship over it and stayed close all
these years. Several years later, her cancer came back stage
(36:31):
four metastatic, and she was in the fight for her
life literally and figuratively. And I watched this beautiful woman
fight with grace, with love. She was a professional dancer
and she taught dance to students, and she had accomplished
so much in her life, but she had so much
more to do, and mostly she just wanted to give.
She wanted to give love, she wanted to give hope
(36:54):
and inspiration. And she documented her battle on Instagram in
a very real and honest way. And I know many
of you might have followed her. I hope you do now.
Her account is still up. But we lost Olivia this
Saturday after Thanksgiving, and I reflected back at the moments
(37:14):
that I still wanted to have from her. The last
text that I sent to her was just a few
weeks before she passed. I didn't know how bad off
she was. She didn't tell me, she didn't want me
to know. She told me she started her new treatment.
Let's get together, and I said, yes, I will be
thinking of you and I will be on standby for
(37:37):
a date. And that date never happened because she passed
away very quickly after that last text I sent her.
What was the Remember how old Olivia was? Thirty four
years old?
Speaker 1 (37:52):
I remember if for folks, I only got to be
around her, I think twice, but certainly once we had
her on the show even once. But this was a
young woman. If she walked into the room and on
two front here looking at her, you would never you
wouldn't even know she was dealing or fighting a battle
(38:12):
with cancer, and two talking to her, you would never
know she was struggling the way she was because her energy,
her spirit. I've been amazed by this, and I've been
I've seen it more with being around you and actually Morgan,
a good friend of yours, who will certainly be talking
about and maybe even have on the podcast at some point.
I don't understand how people who are that you described
to me going through the hell that they're going through,
(38:34):
literally in a battle for their lives. How they're picking
me up, not just because oh I feel okay, I
shouldn't complain about anything because somebody's going through word.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
No, no, no.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
They literally talk to you in such a way that
they are encouraging you and your life and concerned about you.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
I was always amazed by that.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
With Olivia to that point, going through all of this
and she's fighting for her life and she's checking in
on me. I have a couple things I just want
to share with you because I want you to know
the love that Olivia gave not just to me, but
to everyone around her. And it's just inspirational to the
point where I think we all, I know, we all
can learn something from Olivia and continue to live differently
(39:16):
because of how she lived her life. Just a few
months ago, she wrote to me and said, I had
a dream about you last night. It was so vivid,
very crazy. I felt you so strongly.
Speaker 5 (39:25):
I know I must sound crazy, but I just want
to tell you how proud I am of you for
being such a life force and choosing love so side noted,
dear friend of mine transitions last week to heaven and
I couldn't help but think of you.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
Sadly, death teaches us how to live, she says to me.
This is her quote. I am sorry I haven't checked
in on you more, but please know I think of
you often. I pray for your peace always hope you
are well, my sister. That is remarkable to me that
in what she was dealing.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
With, literally fighting to live, and she's she's.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
Worried about me, and that is just that takes a
very special person in that situation. And I also just
I really want to share with you. I know people
who are familiar with Instagram, they know that when you
have a post, you want people to check back in
on or read you pin it. I don't I'm not
(40:22):
that savvy with tech, but I do know that much.
And so I was looking back because she was a
poet as well. She has a book out there. She
gave so much and she gave so much art to
the world, not just through dance, but through her words
and of course through her love. But she had this
is almost exactly a year ago she put this post up.
And I'll truncate it slightly, but she put this post
(40:45):
up on Instagram and for anyone who wants to go
and look at it. It's still up there to read.
But this just hit me after her passing her words
of inspiration that I will keep, and I kept with
me through this week, and you know I did. I've
been wiping away tears, but they're also tears of joy
(41:06):
because I know she's not in pain anymore. I know
that she's free of her body, and I know that
her soul and her spirit live on, not just literally
but through the people who she touched. So I just
I'm hoping that her words you all can listen to them,
will also have the same impact on you. She wrote
this in December of twenty twenty two. I wanted to
(41:28):
write something super motivational as the year comes to a close.
The only thing I can truly tell you is this though,
when you see me and you see something good, the
only good thing about me is God. He has literally
lifted me off of the floor and put me back
together again time after time. She goes on to say,
(41:49):
I didn't get here overnight. It took pressure, process, tears, fears, surrender,
re surrender, an army or prayer warriors, my mother's arms,
my brother's ted talks in the living room and a
few real ones. I learned less is more and time
(42:11):
is running out every second.
Speaker 5 (42:15):
So let's love now, forgive more, and yes, pray for
those who have come against us and our families.
Speaker 3 (42:24):
The poison only makes us bitter. Life is short today
is what matters most.
Hosts And Creators
Amy Robach
T.J. Holmes
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