October 26, 2021 • 47 mins
Michelle, Kristin and Christine have a much needed conversation. In the spirit of Breast Cancer Awareness month, the ladies talk about healthy boobs in all aspects! They discuss Breast Implant Illness (B.I.I), the importance of doing your own research and accepting yourself without enhancements. CHECK IN to this episode to learn some new things and get a couple laughs along the way!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Checking In with Michelle Williams, a production of
My Heart Radio and The Black Effect. All right, Yah,
go grab your mom, actually, grab anybody with a chest.
(00:22):
And I don't mean a chest as in a D cup,
double D or a ittie biddies are welcome. Itty biddies
matter as well, all right, So come on in. We
are about to have what could possibly be a life
saving conversation coming up next on checking Again, everybody, I
(00:45):
need you guys to please welcome Christin Nobles and Christine
Tours from the popular podcast Close to the Chest. And
we're gonna talk all things close to the chest, big
little itty bitty in between. And the great thing about
this month of October it is Breast cancer Awareness month,
(01:07):
and um, I'm happy to have you, ladies. Welcome and
thank you for checking in. Oh my gosh, thank you
for having us. First and formous. You're surrounded by pink,
which is incredible, right, it's my favorite color. And apparently
when you love the color pink, they say you're ready
to nest. Well, you are glowing. Thank you so much
(01:27):
for having us, Michelle, this is really amazing. Thank you, Christine.
I'm just blowing because maybe it's the foundation and the lighting.
But I ain't nesting yet, no one to nest with.
We'll go out together and find us someone. I mean,
you guys already know the importance of having y'all. Today
we will talk about everything breast cancer awareness and everything
(01:49):
as it relates to implants. And first, I'm gonna share
that my mother is a breast cancer survivor. And if
it wasn't for those Mamma grams, you know, she found
it very early, Chris Stein, She very found it very
early Christian And so I'm definitely a fan of everyone
doing mammograms. And about one in eight U S women
will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.
(02:11):
And in one and estimated two hundred and eighty one thousand,
almost two hundred and eighty two thousand new cases of
invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women
in the US and and women under forty five. Breast
cancer is more common in Black women than white women. Overall,
Black women are more likely to die of breast cancer,
(02:34):
and so I thought it was wise to share those statistics.
What are your thoughts about what I just shared? Kristen
Um First and foremost, it's ridiculous, Michelle. I think unfortunately
the women's health movement and what you brought up as
a statistic with Black women's especially breast health, and knowing
our bodies and how we feel about our bodies as people.
(02:57):
With what you do and checking in the emotional, all financial,
physical impact and fear a lot of us live with
that it could happen to us and really some you know,
not wanting to know. This is a big area where
knowledge is power and being able to have uncomfortable conversations
is key. And having people like your mother around you
(03:19):
that we're diligent about their health that encourage you to
do so. And also to be able to have the
access to care, because I think it's not also a
lack of desire to get tested, it's really having that
ability to have access. It's expensive, you know, and we
live in a world where we're sold that it's about
how we look and how we feel. And I think
(03:39):
that for all women this, you know, not just October,
but any month is a good time to have that
conversation and get comfortable talking about your breasts because and
everybody else is doing it right, we should too, and
we should do it in a way where we honor
them and we realize the importance of them in relationship
to the rest of our body. Right, everybody's got them, Yeah,
(04:01):
Freddy has men and women. You know, my former manager,
Matthew knows Um, manager of Destiny's Child and Beyonce's father.
In the past two years, he disclosed that they found
cancer in his breast. He's a man as a man,
and so, um, we just want to also acknowledge that,
like you said, Christine, we have them, you know. And
(04:23):
so Christine give us the origin of how the podcast
Close to the Chest started. Well, it was really birthed
from inside of Kristen's brain. I consume so many podcasts
and I love them and have loved them for so
long because I drived a lot wanted. Um, you know,
I commute to work. It's like an hour each way,
(04:46):
and what better to do than like, you know, I
get tired of listening to talk radio, so I listened
to podcasts and and they're so informative. So I was
telling Kristen, Um, we were at the Nantucket Film Festival,
had a movie in contention, and she was there selling
a movie a documentary and Um, the person whose house
(05:08):
we were staying at actually has his own podcast and
he interviewed both of us for the podcast, and so
we just had a moment where we looked at each
other and the idea was born because Kristen, you know,
has been suffering from breaston plant illness for so long now,
and it was it was that that faithful moment that, um,
(05:32):
I think we decided that we could do something and
help other people. And that's really what we want to
do is bring attention and help other people and know
that they're not alone. Wow. So Christine and Kristen, how
did job meet? She's very modest about how this was
born because we met in Nantucket. I was doing creating Woodstock,
(05:53):
which was an amazing project in the music industry. Actually,
but I want some of my symptoms are very severe,
and one of them is I had seizures. So I
literally like my second interaction with Christine as I'm on
the floor having a seizure and she literally rolls me over,
puts you know, my will in her mouth and her
while at my mouth. Sorry, because she is also like
(06:15):
a from a prosecutor, she's an attorney, she's a filmmaker,
and she's an amazing woman, you know, just helping. It
was a lifeguard and she saved my She saved me.
And then we ended up talking the entire time, and
as a former prosecutor, I kept asking her legally, how
does this happen? And I had so many questions and
she we did one past free council, free council totally,
(06:39):
and then we did not legally binding. I love, she's yeah,
she's got to give us these disclaimers. Even now she
covers my ass and my boo, excuse my friend. But
she was so open and I went to her as
a filmmaker and we were looking at a movie and
a documentary and was take a long time and to
(07:01):
be open with all your listeners. One day I was
on another app. I saw someone I knew from my
heart speaking and I shot him an email that said,
want to help me save two million women's lives? And
he wrote back in seven minutes. And then all of
the decisions came behind it. And we've learned and grown,
I think as storytellers, as producers, but also it's Chris shared.
(07:23):
We really wanted this to be if you get that
moment where oh my god, I might have this, where
do you go. And that was for me the most
challenging part. And then my heart has been so supportive.
But it was really talking to her and the irony
is never once to quote money come up, you know.
It was all about the intention of the media and
the message, and I knew if somebody could deliver it
with credibility, honesty and integrity and was a great director,
(07:47):
producer in any format, it would be her. And thank
god she said, yes, Wow, that is amazing. We just
have fun together. We have fun together, we laugh and
you know, it's it's important that you know when you well,
you know, you know, it's like when you collaborate with
other people. It's very important that, um, the humor is there.
(08:09):
And the thing that I love about Kristen is that
as serious as her illness is, she never misses an
opportunity to make fun of it. So take yeah, yeah, wow,
who's the funny year? Then? Is it Kristen or Christine?
(08:30):
Kristen's infinitely funnier than I am. I'm not funny at all, Christine.
I have a feeling that yours is like the humor
where you have to be really smart. I don't know.
I'm very very very serious. None of that dry like
Larry David type humor. I love that show Larry David
(08:54):
every time because that's like he married, he's married. I
wonder is he married? I would? I think I've to
date him, you know, and girl me too. He's funny
and he's direct where we need that a man. It's
like Kristen, let's take him out, you know, let's let's
let's take him out. Let's take him. Christine, I know,
(09:16):
miss filmmaker and an attorney. You know him? I don't.
I don't wish I did. Well. I know him from
his HBO show, obviously, I know him from Seinfeld. He
spent many, many, many hours in my living room. But
the question is does he know me? This will be
the sound by nothing about really why we're talking, why
(09:38):
we're here to date? This to meet uh, Larry David.
I'm Christine. I know you've thrown it back to Christen
a few times about some things that she has been
dealing with. Christine's I knew that there were some thioid
situations then, but I didn't know was it brought on
by the complications due to your breast implants? Do you
(09:59):
mind share what happened? Absolutely? So I originally got implants
in my twenties and I was very sick for years,
you know, feeding tubes. I was kind of known as
the girl, and you know, running around in all these
industries that would work during anything, and spend thousands of
days in the hospital literally, And at that point they
did diagnose me with lymphoma. I went into remission, but
(10:22):
I continued to be very ill, and after having seizures
and all sorts of surgeries and hospitalizations, a cardiac arrest.
I was actually in I See you and a doctor
came in. Yeah, and she was like an intensivist, and
I had a brain infection and sidebar that day, I
found a gun and I see you. Was so very strange,
(10:42):
these crazy hospital experiences, and I think I looked back
that was like a sign that makes sense, like you know,
you need to pay attention. And when she told me
she thought it was my implants, I did an initial removal,
but unfortunately I replaced them and so and the time
I swapped out the sailing textorized ones for these silicon
(11:04):
awful things, I ended up having just immediately debilitating health
from bones, breaking, my seizure's mind up, my nausea and
digestion went down, but I was also gaining weight. My
hair was falling out, and I was exhausted and I
just wasn't me, like I couldn't tolerate certain things. And
then I reached out to a support group. They said
(11:24):
to me that these had been recalled, and we had
some conversations, and it was another woman, not a doctor,
who said, they don't do this when you have b
I I they take them out for good. And I
met a surgeon. She told me, unfortunately, the time of
healing from the first surgery to now had cost me
both my hips. As you brought out my thyroid, I
(11:45):
went into a full on thyroid storm and then I
went into an ender constorm with my adrenal glance. And
so depression is something that mentally and the emotional toil
this takes throughout the disease is unbearable and it comes
with a lot of shame. And so yeah, I'm so sorry,
and it's heavy, right, and you want to be peppy,
(12:05):
and you know, you know, I listened to so much
of the work you've done, and I joked that I
kept covering up with glitter. I would be you know,
a really just embraced the suck and I have a
twenty three year old daughter, and it was so expensive
to do the surgery. It took a while to find
another surgeon who would take them out that actually believed
in the disease. Because it's unfortunate that even though the
(12:26):
FDA acknowledges this and doctors treat it, it was still
they call a diagnosis of exclusion. So a lot of
women were diagnosed with Graves disease, hashimotos MS and other diseases.
But like for me, I'm two weeks post x plant.
Thank god they removed them. Boopers are out. They're out.
(12:46):
And what's crazy is I'm single, Michelle right, I was
really afraid of so many different levels, and with the
thyroid issue and the emotional connection too, I I went
through a crash. I'm not going to pretend I've cried
a lot. You know, I do make of this issue
and have these jokes. But the coping mechanism of chasing
the symptoms and the damage versus the root cause. And
(13:09):
then I had a lymphno test positive for a gene
that indicates the cancer, and so I immediately went into
some you know, treatment et cetera to go back in
what I want to share with all of your listeners
and any woman out there at that please please share whatever. Please.
I thought it was crazy, you know, the worst part
of this was going to doctors who didn't acknowledge the disease.
(13:32):
I was sent home from a surgeon three times who
was literally told by oncology take them out. And it
was Christine and friends that gave me the mental health
space to consistently check it. And they would push through
my armor if it's a joke. I'm all sparkled up,
I'm fine, I'm producing up, I'm doing this that, And
they would say like, how are you doing? You know,
(13:54):
And I really can't share that enough that you checking
in with people and saying how are you doing? Because
me looking fine doesn't mean crap. And feeling fine, you know,
that's a whole new movement, right, Like feeling fine this
my new thing, right And I find myself like getting
up and I don't feel like I'm gonna break in half,
and I'm like, whoa, this is fine, Like this is healthy.
(14:16):
Christ is the kind of person who goes like a
thousand miles an hour for twenty four hours, all right,
maybe like twenty three hours and fifty nine minutes and
gets one minute of sleep and then starts all over
the next day. So, like, I don't know how she
does it. She does this while feeling horrible. I mean,
(14:37):
she's on all kinds of medication just to like, you know,
be able to get through the day because, like her implants,
we're killing her and in spite of that, in spite
of that, And I think that this is true for
many women, not just women who have murderous boobs. But
you know, we get up in the morning and you know,
(14:59):
we shake off whatever doesn't feel right and we don't
pay attention to it because we have stuff to do.
We have to get things done. Um. And so I
think that that's like something that that we really do
fight through all the time. UM. So it's important, like
Kristen said, to check in and say, hey, you know,
there's a lot going on. How are you doing. How
are you doing? Wow? Christine, thank you for being that
(15:22):
support for kristin y'all. We literally it's Christine and Kris Sten. So, Chris,
what would be your relation to anything as it relates
to anything close to the chest, anyone and in your
family you personally, well, I I do not have breasting
plants all me. She said, it's all, it's all. I
(15:45):
think it's all my grandmother. Actually she had like I
think they came from her. But um, because my mom
is like normal size. But like my grandmother was like, now,
what's considered normal? Chris, I don't know. That's a really
good question. I think it might be is it c
(16:05):
is normal? B I don't know. They're at and ladies
and gentlemen, did y'all know that boobs are like two
different sizes one it could be a whole cup bigger
than that, thank you, And they don't always look the same. Like.
There's so much to learn. There's many, many, many, many
reasons why women get implants. I have learned through my research,
(16:27):
and that is a very actually that's a pretty high
on the list. Yeah, Kristen, if you don't mind me asking, um,
why did you get implants in the first place? And
I don't mean that from a because I feel like
I want implants to even up my boobs. That's my reason.
What no, christ it don't do it, Kristen, Um, if
(16:49):
you don't mind sharing, because some people have what they
feel a legitimate reasons. They feel like maybe they've been
breastfeeding and their boobs are down south, but they want
them up, Like, what was your reason? But what you
just touched on is interesting is that, right, there's you know,
all different demographics of women that have different reasons. And
what's important for all of the listeners to hear is that,
(17:12):
you know, implants aren't our only option to get symmetry
volume those things. And we've learned a lot about quote
natural things. But when I was twenty three, for me,
I'll be really open, I was a single I was
twenty five. Sorry, I was a single mom. I just
left not a great relationships. I'd come out of the
entertainment industry. Was in Silicon Valley and my friend was
a model and she looked great and got a hot guy.
(17:33):
And I was like, well, I want to look great
and get a hot guy. So I went to her
surgeon and I thought I looked great, and frankly never
got that guy who you know was the one in
the ad, because right, But it was a self esteem. Um.
I was always small chested, and I felt in my
mind that sexy, beautiful women that were intelligent and while
(17:55):
received looked a certain way. And I can share with
all the listeners that that's not true. And I do
look back at how I changed ayesthetically and it didn't
make me more confident. It didn't help me fall in love,
It didn't lead me down that path of financial success.
It was so expensive and also it was impulsive. So
(18:15):
I didn't do research, you know, I didn't know the risks,
and that really at twenty five, I made a permanent
life decision on a temporary feeling. And as you talk about,
like I didn't check in with myself. I just went
with the crowd in the expectations of you know, this
is a Hollywood dime, you know teth Well, then it
really disclose all the received there, so to be fair, yeah,
(18:38):
I mean do they do they disclose the risks now?
Because you know how pharmaceutical ads they have to disclose
every side effect that happened during trial, the drug trial
with implants. Are they telling people risks? We interviewed a
great woman on the podcast about gold rich and thirty
years ago. She went in and found out that the
(19:02):
risks were in a list in a box and a
piece of paper that was never given to the patient
and the doctor or the doctor and what is important
to share with the listeners is there are now known risks.
There's a lot of movements by incredible advocates out there
to get what we call full disclosure, because no one's
here to tell anybody what to do with their body.
(19:23):
But if we told you the true financial impact it
would have throughout a lifetime, the physical impact it could
have on your body, from losing your heir to gaining
weight to getting cancer. And then you look at a
subset of women which are cancer patients, which are directed
into the sales cycle because it is sales. The most
important thing is that with the current issue with implants,
(19:43):
that they not only know what they've recalled them because
they are associated to a form of blood cancer, not
breast cancer. So imagining a breast cancer and you get
blood cancer on top of it, you've seen what people
go through. And so the lobbying right now is for
full disclosure. And then also what we call pure reviewed studies.
And what's fascinating to me through this investigative part. And
(20:05):
I joked that Chris delivers justice, right, I was gonna say, like, Chris, legally,
what is going through your mind with all of this? Well,
you know, I think or advice I think Congress needs
to pass the Medical Device Safety Act. It's been hold
(20:27):
up there for several years now, and I know it's
not a priority with like everything that's going on in
the world today, but it is a priory. It should
be a priority because women's health is never a priority
for anybody. And it's about time that women's health really
does take the forefront because you know, breast cancer. I mean,
(20:48):
we're in October, it's Breast cancer Awareness Month. So many women,
like you're staying at the top of the show, so
many women suffer from breast cancer. They either they're they're
battling it right now or they are finding out about it.
We just need to really take women's health seriously, and
this is a big part of it. You know, you
(21:08):
can't just like throw something in somebody's body and say, yeah,
this is gonna make you look sexy and give me
like and not pay the consequences. M and I and
I did go to an attorney in full disclosure, and
there is currently a class action lawsuit, which the real
issue for women in the full disclosure is that what
(21:29):
are the risks? And then also innovation on women's health
right because if this is the standard that you can
put something in their body. Never do a peer reviewed
study be getting millions of claim complaints? And how do
I even know if what I have has been recalled?
And then what could still be recalled as the data
comes in. And so for women out there, I encourage
you to really think about the sources where we get
our information, right, Michelle, that's so important. And the f
(21:52):
d A is publishing data, they are commanding peer reviewed studies,
but each person having the ability to report what they
call an adverse event. I don't know if you know
how to go to the FDA and tell them that
your device didn't work, because for me, I couldn't figure
it out. Do you make it very very complicated, more
complicated than it needs to be? Of course, I'm so
(22:13):
glad we're having this conversation because there is a friend
of mine whose mother right now has been having pain
in her breast and she's had implants. She's older, actually,
she's probably close to seventy, she's had three kids, you know,
but has been filling the pain in her breast, you know,
(22:35):
And so I will actually will check in, well what
I could share I learned my show. That's really important
to my surgeon's kind of weird. I look at him,
I like, you just had your hands inside me, bro,
Like this is creepy what you can do. But he's like, Kristen,
you had this bundle of nerves. And so you know,
if we think about the physical you know, act of
putting an implant and then that chakra and being still
(22:57):
close to your heart, your lungs, like, the symptoms women
experience range from exhaustion to pain. I remember I had
major swelling and the doctor was like, girl, don't be mad.
You've got more than you paid for. And I was like, whoa,
these things are huge and this and the swelling and
the pain. Just to have this quote off my chest
and to be able to lay down and take a
(23:18):
deep breath and to not feel that all the time
my hands were going numb's swelling, my hair was smalling out.
And you know, you talked to so many women, so
you know, checking in with your friends because also it's
not easy, you know, to copy your friend and say hey,
your implants may be killing you right. There needs to
be a sensitivity around it that we do this in
a way where we honor them, because it's a we're
(23:40):
it's a personal choice, and we're not here to judge people,
but definitely to educate and say you don't have to
suffer for beauty. Thank you for sharing. Not everybody who
has breast implants experiences breast implant illness, but the symptoms
are so common, like fatigue and anxiety. They could be
indicative of just about anything, just like I didn't get
(24:03):
enough sleep this week or whatever. We're so used to
just working through it and not. You don't let this
slow me down. I have things to do to be
sick today. Christian, you are you said two weeks post
I am of getting everything removed? Two weeks later, how
(24:26):
you feeling? I feel like wonder woman, you know, I
wonder every day what happened? Why I didn't do this? Um.
It's emotional because it took me two years to find
the right surgeon, the financial resources because a lot of
time this wasn't covered, and the messages in the community
that have reached out to support me through this journey,
and the women who shared their stories or the heroes,
(24:48):
because it was seeing how great they were that made
me believe in the potential of healing and being okay.
Not being okay because I don't look great, but boy
feel good. Oh wow, Well I'm excit had it for
you and I'm so once again thank you for your
friend Chris for being there to support you and Christine.
I know you guys share a lot of information on
(25:09):
your podcast from navigating disease, from diagnosis to treatment and detox.
How many stories from women or men do you get
that tell you that both of you you save someone's
life by helping them spot certain signs. I got one
this morning from a young girl which really touched me
(25:30):
because I have a twenty three year old daughter and
she made the decision to not get implants and do
other things. And ironically she's in the music industry and
she was feeling a lot of pressure to be you
know that image, and she's about to write about it
and share her feelings through it. And I think that
those stories are where I know this is not only
so worth it, but just again checking in and women
(25:54):
communicating with other women and getting to meet on a
foundational platform of purpose for this, you know, judgment and
gossip and all that has been an incredible you know
care for me and the stories are incredible. We also,
um we've lost women to this to suicide. So you know,
mental health and b I I go hand in hand.
(26:16):
They are one crutch in the other to your path
to success. And I can say that my emotional state
is night and day from four weeks ago where I
didn't think I was gonna make it. You've had some
really bad days, Kristen, and I UM, as a friend,
I can hear it in your voice when you're not
(26:37):
when you're not all there. You know when you're when
you're I mean, you're never all there, but you know
when when is she there today? Yeah? I mean look,
you know, like look at that smile. I mean, I
know this is your first time maybe seeing each other,
but Kristen has a very infectious smile, and she's fun
to be around, and she's like excited and excited and up.
(26:59):
But you can always hell like I mean, like you know,
whenever we check in with people that we know and
love and and hang out with and and appreciate, you
always know when something's a little bit off if you're
paying attention. So I'm really grateful that, Um, it's night
and day, Kristen. It really is night and day because UM,
when I when I saw you, a couple of weeks
(27:20):
ago in person. We actually saw each other in person,
which is crazy, but um uh, you know it was
right before surgery, and and it was really taking a
toll on her um. And there's always the second guessing,
oh do I really need the surgery? And surgery scary
whether you're putting them in or taking them out or
you know, just surgery in general is is anxiety inducing. Um.
(27:43):
But um, the fact that you're just giggling and being,
you know, yourself is really refreshing. And I'm really really
grateful that doctor gets a great job. It's those stories
from those women Michelle, like them writing in and sharing
their information and meet hundreds, if not thousands now with women.
You know, that gave me correction and it gave me confidence.
(28:06):
If that doesn't sound weird, wow, No, it's beautiful that
you are here today two weeks post opt girl. You
know we could rest if you need to be resting. Christine,
you keep um kind of touching in the area of
areas of mental health, but both of you have um.
(28:27):
October tenth was World Mental Health Day, and I think
we can include stories like this into mental health because
of so many girls making the decision to what they
feel is improving their body. So we've got breast implants.
Now you've got the bbls. Now, my baby sister, I
(28:51):
got a personal Facebook account and I just lark on
all of them. Now she's thirty, she's not quite a baby,
but I just leark on family and ends out what
to school with. And she left the comments somewhere she
said she was just joking, but she was like, I
need this money for my BBL So I had to
google what BBL was. This is before it became really popular,
(29:15):
you know, say this year. But I said, what the
world is b mel It's the whole Brazilian butt lift thing.
So when you see things like that, Lady's, even though
your show is close to the chest, what are your
thoughts about young girls flying all over the place to
get bbls. And I'm like, lunges and eating pasta makes
(29:38):
my booty swollen. I'm like, don't say know about curbs. Yeah,
I know, it's it's a as a for me. No,
I am horrify my mom first, I'm horrified. I just
want to take him home. The medical device safety is
medical device safety, and just for the young girls out there,
if going to a third world country or a second
(29:58):
world country or a first world country. To get something
done on sale is never a good idea. Yet what
you pay for, what you pay for. And you know, honestly,
I'm scared to see where these women are going to
be in a very long period of time. And you know,
first of all, I don't sit on my implants all day.
So there's the b b L, there's the implants, there's
you know, pulling fat from one place to another. We've
learned more than I care to share about that. But
(30:21):
think about like you're taking fat which is young stem
cells and putting it in places and transferring it. And
what we've learned is, you know, there's a lot to
be learned. And so to young women, I think also
just from a financial perspective, because that's my background, is
you know, EPs we care about the money and the
investment in the r O. I. Yeah, if you think
about this, what is it going to cost to maintain
that over your life? And what could you do to
(30:43):
invest in yourself and your mental, physical health and other
ways to maybe deal with the core issue. Because if
you really dig down deep and check in and ask
anybody why they want that at the end, it's not
because it's going to make them love them more. Usually,
if you're with somebody who loves you for how you look,
find somebody else. Yeah, you know, I mean it looks fade,
(31:09):
looks do fade you just just in, just little more collagen.
And it's kind of thing too. No one ever said
to me, Michelle along the way, and I've had some
amazing man in my life, but now, no never said
I love you for your boots, right. They didn't say that,
how many thought, but because some men are either are
(31:30):
boobs or booty dudes. Daughter literally came over, Michelle, my daughter, three, Mama,
don't worry. You know what's so in right now? I
saw this girl on Instagram and she had nothing up top.
She was all button. People love her and I was
looking at it like, we're trying to make mom feel
better right now? Now, Christine, how do I say it? Legally?
(31:51):
We are not here to tell people what to do.
We're not here to shame anyone opinions of the podcasters,
and I don't know, but I don't. I don't think
it's ever a good idea to tell anybody let's do
because they're either going to listen to you and do
it because they want to, or they're not gonna listen
(32:12):
to you and not do it at all. But the
fact is that we all have autonomy over our own bodies.
We um control what we eat, what we drink, how
we take care of ourselves. If you go to some
shady doctor and they inject something into your body, either
(32:39):
up top on the bottom. You know, men they get
those peck lifts, um calph lifts, and you know, I
mean this affects men as well. You think they get
testicles lifted down? The girl botox out right? You ting
too tip. They have this video. I'm gonna forward you later.
(33:02):
You won't believe it. Why would you do that, Christie?
Why would you do that? Now? I do don't that
botox is also useful. People don't sweat, is it? So
they don't have sweaty smooth smooth? But the disclaimers you
lose a few inches when you smooth things out. So
it's a choice. I am going to ignore this and
(33:24):
keep going with my conversation. Christie. We are so sorry. Amen. Amen,
you choose what to put in your body, men, women
and everybody in between. It's a personal choice and you
have to make these choices on how you treat this
(33:45):
one body that we have with love and care. It
has to last now longer than ever, like at least
you know years, Yeah, because we're people are living longer.
There's something key you said, one body, we have one.
We take that for granted, ladies. We feel like there's
another one waiting around the bid for us somewhere. It's
(34:09):
so key. Desensitized ourselves to changing our bodies, right, Like,
it's no big deal, it's elective, it's easy. And so
I think Michelle, what you touch on about this issue
is the decision comes down to why, how you feel
about yourself and what you're what's your intention? Right? I
think that's such an important thing that you always set
with these conversations checking in us what's the intention? And
(34:29):
you know, feeling better if we make beauty of feeling
business Like I love when someone looks at me right now,
like you look like you feel good. That's a great compliment, right,
you know? And I think as women it all phases
of our life. We want to be beautiful, we want
to be loved, we want to shine, we want to
be a star like this, But at the same time
that expectation and image changes. Like I'm not twenty so
(34:53):
I've seen the skinny, thin, tiny person is the ideal
human to the bodaciou. His body is the ideal right
over the last thirty years, and body positivity and mental
positivity go hand in hand. And that would be my
message that if I've learned anything from being sick for
twenty years, from one choice was I had to love
(35:14):
me more, to have more and to feel more and
to be better. M hmm. Wow. This has just been
eye opening from the rooted to the tube. Literally listen,
I'm still this is the first podcast in which I
just weep both tx down there for the men. We
(35:35):
have this amazing person who came on our podcast, Dr
tony Un, and he does videos which I encourage people
to check out, the Holistic Plastic Surgeon because he breaks
down what's real and what's perceived. And he did he
did a video about it, and I sent it to
my producer and I think I still have trauma points.
I gotta pay back him for me because what what
(35:56):
was the name, Dr tony Un? Y o u n
okay okay, Holistic plastic Surgeon And I think to like
word of mouth, it's crazy how you hear about these
things right, and there's acronyms, and then they get desensitized.
And then people are posting on social media or on
TV shows that they've had, you know, ten procedures in
one day. And I think it's really important to know
(36:18):
that as humans, you know, new and improved doesn't mean
you reconstruct your structure like you talk about is what
about working on the insight and so you know, you
think about if guys are willing to do that. Guys
suffer too. You know, we all feel like we're supposed
to be some idea of that. And I think you
really have brought this mental health conversation, especially with us women,
(36:40):
to light, because not being okay isn't okay. And thank
you guys for bringing the conversation around our chest breast
to light that it's okay to talk about it. Yes,
I can't wait to continue to listen and thank you
all for for coming on and sharing. Um. Are there
any projects that we can look forward to next Christine
(37:03):
tours that you can share well? Chris and I are
collaborating on on on several projects, so I'll love Kristen.
I'll throw that one to Kristen we're actually working through
the podcast. I have a background in finance, and I
found there's a really big hole for women to be
able to get treated. And I think it's a holistic approach,
(37:24):
like you talk about the mental side of things, meeting
other survivors, getting access to the right doctors, getting the
real Okay, you know, there's a lot of fake news
about fake boobs, and we want to give people the
real facts. So expanding sick Titties dot Com into a community,
which really started out as a lifestyle company to raise
money for me to do surgery, and it's now become
a website with resources and we want to help people
(37:46):
get the right care and access to the experts. And
then we're working on a film about this issue and
what fifty years of this industry has looked like. So
people can actually see beauty as an industry. Breast implants,
it's a business. And what you talked about medical to
bake safety and raise a mariness. So we have not
only focusclosure, but the ability to get information on anything,
(38:09):
be it your new butt, your new hip, your hurt,
your pacemaker, et cetera. Absolutely, and um to the listeners,
I definitely kind of pivoted. I know this month is
Breast cancer Awareness month, but I wanted to make sure
that I was like, let's talk about a topic that
kind of goes under the radar as it relates to
what can happen should we make the choice to alter
(38:32):
parts of our body. Once again, this was not too
shame or to tell anybody what they should or should
not do, but it was to just raise the awareness
and just have the conversation as it relates to implants
and people are dying and literally getting sick from this,
and Kristen, Um, y'all, she's two weeks post out of
(38:53):
getting her breast implants removed. And I'm just thankful that
you were able to gather up some strength today to
talk to us, and Chris for being that friend to
Kristen checking it on her, and um, prayerfully you've got
people checking in on you. To Christie, I'm very blessed.
So I just I'm I'm grateful to be here and
(39:14):
to be a part of this and to help women
and hopefully save lives, because that's really what it's all about.
Women need to to take care of themselves and to
be taken care of in in a in a healthful
way so that we can live long and productive and
vibrant lives. Absolutely, and on that note, I just want
(39:38):
to say thank you all for checking and we all
come back again. This was awesome. Oh my god. Absolutely
you are a blessing. And I think I posted today
just to you. I said, listen, if there's anybody who
can take this chorus of a conversation and add some
harmony and make it a concert, everybody will hear it
was Michelle, and thank you for you, because thank you.
(40:00):
It's not easy to talk about, but like you said,
we're it's about knowing that together we're not alone and
empowering other women. Listen. I'm excited about the brand host
to the Chest and the possibilities for merchandise wise, books, wise,
docuseries wise. Keep us posted, you know, and let me
know if there's anything that I can do voice wise,
(40:21):
Like you said, to continue amplifying the message, we should
do it. You got me as a friend for sure. Well,
thank you for you and I would love to do
you know, there's so many ways to reach people in
music is an amazing force, and if we do a single,
you know these young girls are going to hear it.
And we'll come up with an acronym doe touch your boot,
Doe touch your boot, you lose, Doe touch your chest,
(40:51):
Doe touch your ches. They're already the best. You are
my hero. Copyrighted. That was the Broadway version. We'll get
an R and B version of Gospel version somewhere up
to the Hey, the one thing all those women have, Michelle,
is faith, and I think that's I read it on
your shirt. We always say, you know you have these conversations.
(41:14):
Faith moves, Yes, faith have faith in your body. So
let's give these girls faith, and you know, let's keep
moving this along because you are a blessing and you're
so courageous. Thank you for what you do. Yes, what
are you talking about? Y'all are courageous to you are
an inspiration to all. Michelle, thank you, stop it stop
it stops. It's true, y'all are the best. We must
(41:38):
link up in person one day, I feel, I feel
it would be a great time. So absolutely, I'm in Atlanta.
You know, I have no idea where you'all. I just
told our producer today that I believe my soulmates there,
So I'm coming to see a girl more going out
I'm in Los Angeles. I will be right over. I
need come on. A friend of my David Imo Nitzi,
a founder of Believing A, and he calls me one
(42:01):
day and says, oh my god, Michelle, I just realized
what the definition of the word future is. So you've
done me. You're almost forty years old and you're just
now knowing what the word future is. Does future means tomorrow?
It means something to come. It means the next minute,
next second. He said, no, he said that's that too,
(42:22):
and he said, but the other definition, it's in the dictionary.
It means the moment following speaking or writing. So if
you believe your soul mate is here in Atlanta, we
speak that, we write that. That's beautiful and I think
the rapper future should run with that. Man, Oh my gosh,
wait a minute, hold up, because I'm I'm like, come on,
(42:43):
get a ticket to Atlanta, Christine, where you want to go?
What do you want in New York right now? So
I'm I'm just I'm up the road from you. Yeah,
she said, her boo is lingering up there somewhere you
in Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, Boston. I mean whatever, Well, I
(43:04):
am all that I need. This is part two, y'all.
Come on, I am all that I need. Oh, let
me put it this way, and I'm probably all that
I can handle. Oh, got it, got it, got it?
All right, ladies, I'm not gonna hold you guys, because
this was about to start the second half of of
(43:25):
of another episode of checking him about being all that
we need or I'm too much to handle for myself
and for you. So listen again. I love y'all already,
thanks for joining me. We'll see you soon. That was
(43:47):
a ton of fun. Um. I love when when I
talk to people and I feel freedom to be funny
and goofy, even though we were talking about a very
serious topic with the ladies Christine and Kristen of the
popular podcast Close to the Chest. I know this is
(44:08):
different than what you guys normally hear from my podcast weekly,
but this needed to be said. So make sure you
you call up your mom, cousins, your girlfriends, your grandma.
You know. And once again, this show is not to
tell anybody what to do with their bodies. It's not
even to shame anybody, but um the young lady Um.
(44:29):
Kristen is literally two weeks post out of getting her
breast implants removed. And so I still believe in um,
you know, talking to your doctors and you know, making
the best decision um for you. But I forgot to
ask her what were some of the alternative ways to
do breast slips. I know she said there were um
(44:51):
alternative ways. So so anyway, I guess I was just
kind of lett y'all know what I've been thinking about
what I want to do because how many of us
this is a vulnerable a moment where you look in
the mirror and you're like, oh, I should do this,
I should do that, I should get both ox, I
should get feelers, I should you know, get my boobs done. Now.
I love my booty, so it does what it needs
(45:12):
to do. So I have no problems down there, but
I do look in the mirror sometimes I'm like, man,
I want my boobs to be perfect. Wow. Um. My
heart goes out to folks out there. You know you're confused,
you don't know what to do, or you feel like
in order to be in a relationship you have to
do something to your body in order to date this
(45:35):
hot chick or this hot guy that you feel like
you have to do something to your body now. I
don't believe. If there are areas that you want to
improve by, I would say working out and eating right,
I would say, let's start there, but making sure that
you're doing it for you and for your literal health right.
(45:56):
So this was an amazing, amazing, much needed conversation. Thanks
for checking in with me, especially during this month of
Breast cancer Awareness Month. I'm sending love to survivors of
breast cancer, those who have been caregivers of someone that's
had breast cancer. And if you are of age and
(46:17):
if breast cancer runs in your family, go ahead and
get your Mamma grahams. Okay, I love you, and there
is nothing, absolutely nothing you can do about it. Checking
(46:50):
In with Michelle Williams is a production of I Heart
Radio and The Black Effect. For more podcasts from I
Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Checking In with Michelle Williams, a production of
My Heart Radio and The Black Effect. All right, Yah,
go grab your mom, actually, grab anybody with a chest.
(00:22):
And I don't mean a chest as in a D cup,
double D or a ittie biddies are welcome. Itty biddies
matter as well, all right, So come on in. We
are about to have what could possibly be a life
saving conversation coming up next on checking Again, everybody, I
(00:45):
need you guys to please welcome Christin Nobles and Christine
Tours from the popular podcast Close to the Chest. And
we're gonna talk all things close to the chest, big
little itty bitty in between. And the great thing about
this month of October it is Breast cancer Awareness month,
(01:07):
and um, I'm happy to have you, ladies. Welcome and
thank you for checking in. Oh my gosh, thank you
for having us. First and formous. You're surrounded by pink,
which is incredible, right, it's my favorite color. And apparently
when you love the color pink, they say you're ready
to nest. Well, you are glowing. Thank you so much
(01:27):
for having us, Michelle, this is really amazing. Thank you, Christine.
I'm just blowing because maybe it's the foundation and the lighting.
But I ain't nesting yet, no one to nest with.
We'll go out together and find us someone. I mean,
you guys already know the importance of having y'all. Today
we will talk about everything breast cancer awareness and everything
(01:49):
as it relates to implants. And first, I'm gonna share
that my mother is a breast cancer survivor. And if
it wasn't for those Mamma grams, you know, she found
it very early, Chris Stein, She very found it very
early Christian And so I'm definitely a fan of everyone
doing mammograms. And about one in eight U S women
will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.
(02:11):
And in one and estimated two hundred and eighty one thousand,
almost two hundred and eighty two thousand new cases of
invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women
in the US and and women under forty five. Breast
cancer is more common in Black women than white women. Overall,
Black women are more likely to die of breast cancer,
(02:34):
and so I thought it was wise to share those statistics.
What are your thoughts about what I just shared? Kristen
Um First and foremost, it's ridiculous, Michelle. I think unfortunately
the women's health movement and what you brought up as
a statistic with Black women's especially breast health, and knowing
our bodies and how we feel about our bodies as people.
(02:57):
With what you do and checking in the emotional, all financial,
physical impact and fear a lot of us live with
that it could happen to us and really some you know,
not wanting to know. This is a big area where
knowledge is power and being able to have uncomfortable conversations
is key. And having people like your mother around you
(03:19):
that we're diligent about their health that encourage you to
do so. And also to be able to have the
access to care, because I think it's not also a
lack of desire to get tested, it's really having that
ability to have access. It's expensive, you know, and we
live in a world where we're sold that it's about
how we look and how we feel. And I think
(03:39):
that for all women this, you know, not just October,
but any month is a good time to have that
conversation and get comfortable talking about your breasts because and
everybody else is doing it right, we should too, and
we should do it in a way where we honor
them and we realize the importance of them in relationship
to the rest of our body. Right, everybody's got them, Yeah,
(04:01):
Freddy has men and women. You know, my former manager,
Matthew knows Um, manager of Destiny's Child and Beyonce's father.
In the past two years, he disclosed that they found
cancer in his breast. He's a man as a man,
and so, um, we just want to also acknowledge that,
like you said, Christine, we have them, you know. And
(04:23):
so Christine give us the origin of how the podcast
Close to the Chest started. Well, it was really birthed
from inside of Kristen's brain. I consume so many podcasts
and I love them and have loved them for so
long because I drived a lot wanted. Um, you know,
I commute to work. It's like an hour each way,
(04:46):
and what better to do than like, you know, I
get tired of listening to talk radio, so I listened
to podcasts and and they're so informative. So I was
telling Kristen, Um, we were at the Nantucket Film Festival,
had a movie in contention, and she was there selling
a movie a documentary and Um, the person whose house
(05:08):
we were staying at actually has his own podcast and
he interviewed both of us for the podcast, and so
we just had a moment where we looked at each
other and the idea was born because Kristen, you know,
has been suffering from breaston plant illness for so long now,
and it was it was that that faithful moment that, um,
(05:32):
I think we decided that we could do something and
help other people. And that's really what we want to
do is bring attention and help other people and know
that they're not alone. Wow. So Christine and Kristen, how
did job meet? She's very modest about how this was
born because we met in Nantucket. I was doing creating Woodstock,
(05:53):
which was an amazing project in the music industry. Actually,
but I want some of my symptoms are very severe,
and one of them is I had seizures. So I
literally like my second interaction with Christine as I'm on
the floor having a seizure and she literally rolls me over,
puts you know, my will in her mouth and her
while at my mouth. Sorry, because she is also like
(06:15):
a from a prosecutor, she's an attorney, she's a filmmaker,
and she's an amazing woman, you know, just helping. It
was a lifeguard and she saved my She saved me.
And then we ended up talking the entire time, and
as a former prosecutor, I kept asking her legally, how
does this happen? And I had so many questions and
she we did one past free council, free council totally,
(06:39):
and then we did not legally binding. I love, she's yeah,
she's got to give us these disclaimers. Even now she
covers my ass and my boo, excuse my friend. But
she was so open and I went to her as
a filmmaker and we were looking at a movie and
a documentary and was take a long time and to
(07:01):
be open with all your listeners. One day I was
on another app. I saw someone I knew from my
heart speaking and I shot him an email that said,
want to help me save two million women's lives? And
he wrote back in seven minutes. And then all of
the decisions came behind it. And we've learned and grown,
I think as storytellers, as producers, but also it's Chris shared.
(07:23):
We really wanted this to be if you get that
moment where oh my god, I might have this, where
do you go. And that was for me the most
challenging part. And then my heart has been so supportive.
But it was really talking to her and the irony
is never once to quote money come up, you know.
It was all about the intention of the media and
the message, and I knew if somebody could deliver it
with credibility, honesty and integrity and was a great director,
(07:47):
producer in any format, it would be her. And thank
god she said, yes, Wow, that is amazing. We just
have fun together. We have fun together, we laugh and
you know, it's it's important that you know when you well,
you know, you know, it's like when you collaborate with
other people. It's very important that, um, the humor is there.
(08:09):
And the thing that I love about Kristen is that
as serious as her illness is, she never misses an
opportunity to make fun of it. So take yeah, yeah, wow,
who's the funny year? Then? Is it Kristen or Christine?
(08:30):
Kristen's infinitely funnier than I am. I'm not funny at all, Christine.
I have a feeling that yours is like the humor
where you have to be really smart. I don't know.
I'm very very very serious. None of that dry like
Larry David type humor. I love that show Larry David
(08:54):
every time because that's like he married, he's married. I
wonder is he married? I would? I think I've to
date him, you know, and girl me too. He's funny
and he's direct where we need that a man. It's
like Kristen, let's take him out, you know, let's let's
let's take him out. Let's take him. Christine, I know,
(09:16):
miss filmmaker and an attorney. You know him? I don't.
I don't wish I did. Well. I know him from
his HBO show, obviously, I know him from Seinfeld. He
spent many, many, many hours in my living room. But
the question is does he know me? This will be
the sound by nothing about really why we're talking, why
(09:38):
we're here to date? This to meet uh, Larry David.
I'm Christine. I know you've thrown it back to Christen
a few times about some things that she has been
dealing with. Christine's I knew that there were some thioid
situations then, but I didn't know was it brought on
by the complications due to your breast implants? Do you
(09:59):
mind share what happened? Absolutely? So I originally got implants
in my twenties and I was very sick for years,
you know, feeding tubes. I was kind of known as
the girl, and you know, running around in all these
industries that would work during anything, and spend thousands of
days in the hospital literally, And at that point they
did diagnose me with lymphoma. I went into remission, but
(10:22):
I continued to be very ill, and after having seizures
and all sorts of surgeries and hospitalizations, a cardiac arrest.
I was actually in I See you and a doctor
came in. Yeah, and she was like an intensivist, and
I had a brain infection and sidebar that day, I
found a gun and I see you. Was so very strange,
(10:42):
these crazy hospital experiences, and I think I looked back
that was like a sign that makes sense, like you know,
you need to pay attention. And when she told me
she thought it was my implants, I did an initial removal,
but unfortunately I replaced them and so and the time
I swapped out the sailing textorized ones for these silicon
(11:04):
awful things, I ended up having just immediately debilitating health
from bones, breaking, my seizure's mind up, my nausea and
digestion went down, but I was also gaining weight. My
hair was falling out, and I was exhausted and I
just wasn't me, like I couldn't tolerate certain things. And
then I reached out to a support group. They said
(11:24):
to me that these had been recalled, and we had
some conversations, and it was another woman, not a doctor,
who said, they don't do this when you have b
I I they take them out for good. And I
met a surgeon. She told me, unfortunately, the time of
healing from the first surgery to now had cost me
both my hips. As you brought out my thyroid, I
(11:45):
went into a full on thyroid storm and then I
went into an ender constorm with my adrenal glance. And
so depression is something that mentally and the emotional toil
this takes throughout the disease is unbearable and it comes
with a lot of shame. And so yeah, I'm so sorry,
and it's heavy, right, and you want to be peppy,
(12:05):
and you know, you know, I listened to so much
of the work you've done, and I joked that I
kept covering up with glitter. I would be you know,
a really just embraced the suck and I have a
twenty three year old daughter, and it was so expensive
to do the surgery. It took a while to find
another surgeon who would take them out that actually believed
in the disease. Because it's unfortunate that even though the
(12:26):
FDA acknowledges this and doctors treat it, it was still
they call a diagnosis of exclusion. So a lot of
women were diagnosed with Graves disease, hashimotos MS and other diseases.
But like for me, I'm two weeks post x plant.
Thank god they removed them. Boopers are out. They're out.
(12:46):
And what's crazy is I'm single, Michelle right, I was
really afraid of so many different levels, and with the
thyroid issue and the emotional connection too, I I went
through a crash. I'm not going to pretend I've cried
a lot. You know, I do make of this issue
and have these jokes. But the coping mechanism of chasing
the symptoms and the damage versus the root cause. And
(13:09):
then I had a lymphno test positive for a gene
that indicates the cancer, and so I immediately went into
some you know, treatment et cetera to go back in
what I want to share with all of your listeners
and any woman out there at that please please share whatever. Please.
I thought it was crazy, you know, the worst part
of this was going to doctors who didn't acknowledge the disease.
(13:32):
I was sent home from a surgeon three times who
was literally told by oncology take them out. And it
was Christine and friends that gave me the mental health
space to consistently check it. And they would push through
my armor if it's a joke. I'm all sparkled up,
I'm fine, I'm producing up, I'm doing this that, And
they would say like, how are you doing? You know,
(13:54):
And I really can't share that enough that you checking
in with people and saying how are you doing? Because
me looking fine doesn't mean crap. And feeling fine, you know,
that's a whole new movement, right, Like feeling fine this
my new thing, right And I find myself like getting
up and I don't feel like I'm gonna break in half,
and I'm like, whoa, this is fine, Like this is healthy.
(14:16):
Christ is the kind of person who goes like a
thousand miles an hour for twenty four hours, all right,
maybe like twenty three hours and fifty nine minutes and
gets one minute of sleep and then starts all over
the next day. So, like, I don't know how she
does it. She does this while feeling horrible. I mean,
(14:37):
she's on all kinds of medication just to like, you know,
be able to get through the day because, like her implants,
we're killing her and in spite of that, in spite
of that, And I think that this is true for
many women, not just women who have murderous boobs. But
you know, we get up in the morning and you know,
(14:59):
we shake off whatever doesn't feel right and we don't
pay attention to it because we have stuff to do.
We have to get things done. Um. And so I
think that that's like something that that we really do
fight through all the time. UM. So it's important, like
Kristen said, to check in and say, hey, you know,
there's a lot going on. How are you doing. How
are you doing? Wow? Christine, thank you for being that
(15:22):
support for kristin y'all. We literally it's Christine and Kris Sten. So, Chris,
what would be your relation to anything as it relates
to anything close to the chest, anyone and in your
family you personally, well, I I do not have breasting
plants all me. She said, it's all, it's all. I
(15:45):
think it's all my grandmother. Actually she had like I
think they came from her. But um, because my mom
is like normal size. But like my grandmother was like, now,
what's considered normal? Chris, I don't know. That's a really
good question. I think it might be is it c
(16:05):
is normal? B I don't know. They're at and ladies
and gentlemen, did y'all know that boobs are like two
different sizes one it could be a whole cup bigger
than that, thank you, And they don't always look the same. Like.
There's so much to learn. There's many, many, many, many
reasons why women get implants. I have learned through my research,
(16:27):
and that is a very actually that's a pretty high
on the list. Yeah, Kristen, if you don't mind me asking, um,
why did you get implants in the first place? And
I don't mean that from a because I feel like
I want implants to even up my boobs. That's my reason.
What no, christ it don't do it, Kristen, Um, if
(16:49):
you don't mind sharing, because some people have what they
feel a legitimate reasons. They feel like maybe they've been
breastfeeding and their boobs are down south, but they want
them up, Like, what was your reason? But what you
just touched on is interesting is that, right, there's you know,
all different demographics of women that have different reasons. And
what's important for all of the listeners to hear is that,
(17:12):
you know, implants aren't our only option to get symmetry
volume those things. And we've learned a lot about quote
natural things. But when I was twenty three, for me,
I'll be really open, I was a single I was
twenty five. Sorry, I was a single mom. I just
left not a great relationships. I'd come out of the
entertainment industry. Was in Silicon Valley and my friend was
a model and she looked great and got a hot guy.
(17:33):
And I was like, well, I want to look great
and get a hot guy. So I went to her
surgeon and I thought I looked great, and frankly never
got that guy who you know was the one in
the ad, because right, But it was a self esteem. Um.
I was always small chested, and I felt in my
mind that sexy, beautiful women that were intelligent and while
(17:55):
received looked a certain way. And I can share with
all the listeners that that's not true. And I do
look back at how I changed ayesthetically and it didn't
make me more confident. It didn't help me fall in love,
It didn't lead me down that path of financial success.
It was so expensive and also it was impulsive. So
(18:15):
I didn't do research, you know, I didn't know the risks,
and that really at twenty five, I made a permanent
life decision on a temporary feeling. And as you talk about,
like I didn't check in with myself. I just went
with the crowd in the expectations of you know, this
is a Hollywood dime, you know teth Well, then it
really disclose all the received there, so to be fair, yeah,
(18:38):
I mean do they do they disclose the risks now?
Because you know how pharmaceutical ads they have to disclose
every side effect that happened during trial, the drug trial
with implants. Are they telling people risks? We interviewed a
great woman on the podcast about gold rich and thirty
years ago. She went in and found out that the
(19:02):
risks were in a list in a box and a
piece of paper that was never given to the patient
and the doctor or the doctor and what is important
to share with the listeners is there are now known risks.
There's a lot of movements by incredible advocates out there
to get what we call full disclosure, because no one's
here to tell anybody what to do with their body.
(19:23):
But if we told you the true financial impact it
would have throughout a lifetime, the physical impact it could
have on your body, from losing your heir to gaining
weight to getting cancer. And then you look at a
subset of women which are cancer patients, which are directed
into the sales cycle because it is sales. The most
important thing is that with the current issue with implants,
(19:43):
that they not only know what they've recalled them because
they are associated to a form of blood cancer, not
breast cancer. So imagining a breast cancer and you get
blood cancer on top of it, you've seen what people
go through. And so the lobbying right now is for
full disclosure. And then also what we call pure reviewed studies.
And what's fascinating to me through this investigative part. And
(20:05):
I joked that Chris delivers justice, right, I was gonna say, like, Chris, legally,
what is going through your mind with all of this? Well,
you know, I think or advice I think Congress needs
to pass the Medical Device Safety Act. It's been hold
(20:27):
up there for several years now, and I know it's
not a priority with like everything that's going on in
the world today, but it is a priory. It should
be a priority because women's health is never a priority
for anybody. And it's about time that women's health really
does take the forefront because you know, breast cancer. I mean,
(20:48):
we're in October, it's Breast cancer Awareness Month. So many women,
like you're staying at the top of the show, so
many women suffer from breast cancer. They either they're they're
battling it right now or they are finding out about it.
We just need to really take women's health seriously, and
this is a big part of it. You know, you
(21:08):
can't just like throw something in somebody's body and say, yeah,
this is gonna make you look sexy and give me
like and not pay the consequences. M and I and
I did go to an attorney in full disclosure, and
there is currently a class action lawsuit, which the real
issue for women in the full disclosure is that what
(21:29):
are the risks? And then also innovation on women's health
right because if this is the standard that you can
put something in their body. Never do a peer reviewed
study be getting millions of claim complaints? And how do
I even know if what I have has been recalled?
And then what could still be recalled as the data
comes in. And so for women out there, I encourage
you to really think about the sources where we get
our information, right, Michelle, that's so important. And the f
(21:52):
d A is publishing data, they are commanding peer reviewed studies,
but each person having the ability to report what they
call an adverse event. I don't know if you know
how to go to the FDA and tell them that
your device didn't work, because for me, I couldn't figure
it out. Do you make it very very complicated, more
complicated than it needs to be? Of course, I'm so
(22:13):
glad we're having this conversation because there is a friend
of mine whose mother right now has been having pain
in her breast and she's had implants. She's older, actually,
she's probably close to seventy, she's had three kids, you know,
but has been filling the pain in her breast, you know,
(22:35):
And so I will actually will check in, well what
I could share I learned my show. That's really important
to my surgeon's kind of weird. I look at him,
I like, you just had your hands inside me, bro,
Like this is creepy what you can do. But he's like, Kristen,
you had this bundle of nerves. And so you know,
if we think about the physical you know, act of
putting an implant and then that chakra and being still
(22:57):
close to your heart, your lungs, like, the symptoms women
experience range from exhaustion to pain. I remember I had
major swelling and the doctor was like, girl, don't be mad.
You've got more than you paid for. And I was like, whoa,
these things are huge and this and the swelling and
the pain. Just to have this quote off my chest
and to be able to lay down and take a
(23:18):
deep breath and to not feel that all the time
my hands were going numb's swelling, my hair was smalling out.
And you know, you talked to so many women, so
you know, checking in with your friends because also it's
not easy, you know, to copy your friend and say hey,
your implants may be killing you right. There needs to
be a sensitivity around it that we do this in
a way where we honor them, because it's a we're
(23:40):
it's a personal choice, and we're not here to judge people,
but definitely to educate and say you don't have to
suffer for beauty. Thank you for sharing. Not everybody who
has breast implants experiences breast implant illness, but the symptoms
are so common, like fatigue and anxiety. They could be
indicative of just about anything, just like I didn't get
(24:03):
enough sleep this week or whatever. We're so used to
just working through it and not. You don't let this
slow me down. I have things to do to be
sick today. Christian, you are you said two weeks post
I am of getting everything removed? Two weeks later, how
(24:26):
you feeling? I feel like wonder woman, you know, I
wonder every day what happened? Why I didn't do this? Um.
It's emotional because it took me two years to find
the right surgeon, the financial resources because a lot of
time this wasn't covered, and the messages in the community
that have reached out to support me through this journey,
and the women who shared their stories or the heroes,
(24:48):
because it was seeing how great they were that made
me believe in the potential of healing and being okay.
Not being okay because I don't look great, but boy
feel good. Oh wow, Well I'm excit had it for
you and I'm so once again thank you for your
friend Chris for being there to support you and Christine.
I know you guys share a lot of information on
(25:09):
your podcast from navigating disease, from diagnosis to treatment and detox.
How many stories from women or men do you get
that tell you that both of you you save someone's
life by helping them spot certain signs. I got one
this morning from a young girl which really touched me
(25:30):
because I have a twenty three year old daughter and
she made the decision to not get implants and do
other things. And ironically she's in the music industry and
she was feeling a lot of pressure to be you
know that image, and she's about to write about it
and share her feelings through it. And I think that
those stories are where I know this is not only
so worth it, but just again checking in and women
(25:54):
communicating with other women and getting to meet on a
foundational platform of purpose for this, you know, judgment and
gossip and all that has been an incredible you know
care for me and the stories are incredible. We also,
um we've lost women to this to suicide. So you know,
mental health and b I I go hand in hand.
(26:16):
They are one crutch in the other to your path
to success. And I can say that my emotional state
is night and day from four weeks ago where I
didn't think I was gonna make it. You've had some
really bad days, Kristen, and I UM, as a friend,
I can hear it in your voice when you're not
(26:37):
when you're not all there. You know when you're when
you're I mean, you're never all there, but you know
when when is she there today? Yeah? I mean look,
you know, like look at that smile. I mean, I
know this is your first time maybe seeing each other,
but Kristen has a very infectious smile, and she's fun
to be around, and she's like excited and excited and up.
(26:59):
But you can always hell like I mean, like you know,
whenever we check in with people that we know and
love and and hang out with and and appreciate, you
always know when something's a little bit off if you're
paying attention. So I'm really grateful that, Um, it's night
and day, Kristen. It really is night and day because UM,
when I when I saw you, a couple of weeks
(27:20):
ago in person. We actually saw each other in person,
which is crazy, but um uh, you know it was
right before surgery, and and it was really taking a
toll on her um. And there's always the second guessing,
oh do I really need the surgery? And surgery scary
whether you're putting them in or taking them out or
you know, just surgery in general is is anxiety inducing. Um.
(27:43):
But um, the fact that you're just giggling and being,
you know, yourself is really refreshing. And I'm really really
grateful that doctor gets a great job. It's those stories
from those women Michelle, like them writing in and sharing
their information and meet hundreds, if not thousands now with women.
You know, that gave me correction and it gave me confidence.
(28:06):
If that doesn't sound weird, wow, No, it's beautiful that
you are here today two weeks post opt girl. You
know we could rest if you need to be resting. Christine,
you keep um kind of touching in the area of
areas of mental health, but both of you have um.
(28:27):
October tenth was World Mental Health Day, and I think
we can include stories like this into mental health because
of so many girls making the decision to what they
feel is improving their body. So we've got breast implants.
Now you've got the bbls. Now, my baby sister, I
(28:51):
got a personal Facebook account and I just lark on
all of them. Now she's thirty, she's not quite a baby,
but I just leark on family and ends out what
to school with. And she left the comments somewhere she
said she was just joking, but she was like, I
need this money for my BBL So I had to
google what BBL was. This is before it became really popular,
(29:15):
you know, say this year. But I said, what the
world is b mel It's the whole Brazilian butt lift thing.
So when you see things like that, Lady's, even though
your show is close to the chest, what are your
thoughts about young girls flying all over the place to
get bbls. And I'm like, lunges and eating pasta makes
(29:38):
my booty swollen. I'm like, don't say know about curbs. Yeah,
I know, it's it's a as a for me. No,
I am horrify my mom first, I'm horrified. I just
want to take him home. The medical device safety is
medical device safety, and just for the young girls out there,
if going to a third world country or a second
(29:58):
world country or a first world country. To get something
done on sale is never a good idea. Yet what
you pay for, what you pay for. And you know, honestly,
I'm scared to see where these women are going to
be in a very long period of time. And you know,
first of all, I don't sit on my implants all day.
So there's the b b L, there's the implants, there's
you know, pulling fat from one place to another. We've
learned more than I care to share about that. But
(30:21):
think about like you're taking fat which is young stem
cells and putting it in places and transferring it. And
what we've learned is, you know, there's a lot to
be learned. And so to young women, I think also
just from a financial perspective, because that's my background, is
you know, EPs we care about the money and the
investment in the r O. I. Yeah, if you think
about this, what is it going to cost to maintain
that over your life? And what could you do to
(30:43):
invest in yourself and your mental, physical health and other
ways to maybe deal with the core issue. Because if
you really dig down deep and check in and ask
anybody why they want that at the end, it's not
because it's going to make them love them more. Usually,
if you're with somebody who loves you for how you look,
find somebody else. Yeah, you know, I mean it looks fade,
(31:09):
looks do fade you just just in, just little more collagen.
And it's kind of thing too. No one ever said
to me, Michelle along the way, and I've had some
amazing man in my life, but now, no never said
I love you for your boots, right. They didn't say that,
how many thought, but because some men are either are
(31:30):
boobs or booty dudes. Daughter literally came over, Michelle, my daughter, three, Mama,
don't worry. You know what's so in right now? I
saw this girl on Instagram and she had nothing up top.
She was all button. People love her and I was
looking at it like, we're trying to make mom feel
better right now? Now, Christine, how do I say it? Legally?
(31:51):
We are not here to tell people what to do.
We're not here to shame anyone opinions of the podcasters,
and I don't know, but I don't. I don't think
it's ever a good idea to tell anybody let's do
because they're either going to listen to you and do
it because they want to, or they're not gonna listen
(32:12):
to you and not do it at all. But the
fact is that we all have autonomy over our own bodies.
We um control what we eat, what we drink, how
we take care of ourselves. If you go to some
shady doctor and they inject something into your body, either
(32:39):
up top on the bottom. You know, men they get
those peck lifts, um calph lifts, and you know, I
mean this affects men as well. You think they get
testicles lifted down? The girl botox out right? You ting
too tip. They have this video. I'm gonna forward you later.
(33:02):
You won't believe it. Why would you do that, Christie?
Why would you do that? Now? I do don't that
botox is also useful. People don't sweat, is it? So
they don't have sweaty smooth smooth? But the disclaimers you
lose a few inches when you smooth things out. So
it's a choice. I am going to ignore this and
(33:24):
keep going with my conversation. Christie. We are so sorry. Amen. Amen,
you choose what to put in your body, men, women
and everybody in between. It's a personal choice and you
have to make these choices on how you treat this
(33:45):
one body that we have with love and care. It
has to last now longer than ever, like at least
you know years, Yeah, because we're people are living longer.
There's something key you said, one body, we have one.
We take that for granted, ladies. We feel like there's
another one waiting around the bid for us somewhere. It's
(34:09):
so key. Desensitized ourselves to changing our bodies, right, Like,
it's no big deal, it's elective, it's easy. And so
I think Michelle, what you touch on about this issue
is the decision comes down to why, how you feel
about yourself and what you're what's your intention? Right? I
think that's such an important thing that you always set
with these conversations checking in us what's the intention? And
(34:29):
you know, feeling better if we make beauty of feeling
business Like I love when someone looks at me right now,
like you look like you feel good. That's a great compliment, right,
you know? And I think as women it all phases
of our life. We want to be beautiful, we want
to be loved, we want to shine, we want to
be a star like this, But at the same time
that expectation and image changes. Like I'm not twenty so
(34:53):
I've seen the skinny, thin, tiny person is the ideal
human to the bodaciou. His body is the ideal right
over the last thirty years, and body positivity and mental
positivity go hand in hand. And that would be my
message that if I've learned anything from being sick for
twenty years, from one choice was I had to love
(35:14):
me more, to have more and to feel more and
to be better. M hmm. Wow. This has just been
eye opening from the rooted to the tube. Literally listen,
I'm still this is the first podcast in which I
just weep both tx down there for the men. We
(35:35):
have this amazing person who came on our podcast, Dr
tony Un, and he does videos which I encourage people
to check out, the Holistic Plastic Surgeon because he breaks
down what's real and what's perceived. And he did he
did a video about it, and I sent it to
my producer and I think I still have trauma points.
I gotta pay back him for me because what what
(35:56):
was the name, Dr tony Un? Y o u n
okay okay, Holistic plastic Surgeon And I think to like
word of mouth, it's crazy how you hear about these
things right, and there's acronyms, and then they get desensitized.
And then people are posting on social media or on
TV shows that they've had, you know, ten procedures in
one day. And I think it's really important to know
(36:18):
that as humans, you know, new and improved doesn't mean
you reconstruct your structure like you talk about is what
about working on the insight and so you know, you
think about if guys are willing to do that. Guys
suffer too. You know, we all feel like we're supposed
to be some idea of that. And I think you
really have brought this mental health conversation, especially with us women,
(36:40):
to light, because not being okay isn't okay. And thank
you guys for bringing the conversation around our chest breast
to light that it's okay to talk about it. Yes,
I can't wait to continue to listen and thank you
all for for coming on and sharing. Um. Are there
any projects that we can look forward to next Christine
(37:03):
tours that you can share well? Chris and I are
collaborating on on on several projects, so I'll love Kristen.
I'll throw that one to Kristen we're actually working through
the podcast. I have a background in finance, and I
found there's a really big hole for women to be
able to get treated. And I think it's a holistic approach,
(37:24):
like you talk about the mental side of things, meeting
other survivors, getting access to the right doctors, getting the
real Okay, you know, there's a lot of fake news
about fake boobs, and we want to give people the
real facts. So expanding sick Titties dot Com into a community,
which really started out as a lifestyle company to raise
money for me to do surgery, and it's now become
a website with resources and we want to help people
(37:46):
get the right care and access to the experts. And
then we're working on a film about this issue and
what fifty years of this industry has looked like. So
people can actually see beauty as an industry. Breast implants,
it's a business. And what you talked about medical to
bake safety and raise a mariness. So we have not
only focusclosure, but the ability to get information on anything,
(38:09):
be it your new butt, your new hip, your hurt,
your pacemaker, et cetera. Absolutely, and um to the listeners,
I definitely kind of pivoted. I know this month is
Breast cancer Awareness month, but I wanted to make sure
that I was like, let's talk about a topic that
kind of goes under the radar as it relates to
what can happen should we make the choice to alter
(38:32):
parts of our body. Once again, this was not too
shame or to tell anybody what they should or should
not do, but it was to just raise the awareness
and just have the conversation as it relates to implants
and people are dying and literally getting sick from this,
and Kristen, Um, y'all, she's two weeks post out of
(38:53):
getting her breast implants removed. And I'm just thankful that
you were able to gather up some strength today to
talk to us, and Chris for being that friend to
Kristen checking it on her, and um, prayerfully you've got
people checking in on you. To Christie, I'm very blessed.
So I just I'm I'm grateful to be here and
(39:14):
to be a part of this and to help women
and hopefully save lives, because that's really what it's all about.
Women need to to take care of themselves and to
be taken care of in in a in a healthful
way so that we can live long and productive and
vibrant lives. Absolutely, and on that note, I just want
(39:38):
to say thank you all for checking and we all
come back again. This was awesome. Oh my god. Absolutely
you are a blessing. And I think I posted today
just to you. I said, listen, if there's anybody who
can take this chorus of a conversation and add some
harmony and make it a concert, everybody will hear it
was Michelle, and thank you for you, because thank you.
(40:00):
It's not easy to talk about, but like you said,
we're it's about knowing that together we're not alone and
empowering other women. Listen. I'm excited about the brand host
to the Chest and the possibilities for merchandise wise, books, wise,
docuseries wise. Keep us posted, you know, and let me
know if there's anything that I can do voice wise,
(40:21):
Like you said, to continue amplifying the message, we should
do it. You got me as a friend for sure. Well,
thank you for you and I would love to do
you know, there's so many ways to reach people in
music is an amazing force, and if we do a single,
you know these young girls are going to hear it.
And we'll come up with an acronym doe touch your boot,
Doe touch your boot, you lose, Doe touch your chest,
(40:51):
Doe touch your ches. They're already the best. You are
my hero. Copyrighted. That was the Broadway version. We'll get
an R and B version of Gospel version somewhere up
to the Hey, the one thing all those women have, Michelle,
is faith, and I think that's I read it on
your shirt. We always say, you know you have these conversations.
(41:14):
Faith moves, Yes, faith have faith in your body. So
let's give these girls faith, and you know, let's keep
moving this along because you are a blessing and you're
so courageous. Thank you for what you do. Yes, what
are you talking about? Y'all are courageous to you are
an inspiration to all. Michelle, thank you, stop it stop
it stops. It's true, y'all are the best. We must
(41:38):
link up in person one day, I feel, I feel
it would be a great time. So absolutely, I'm in Atlanta.
You know, I have no idea where you'all. I just
told our producer today that I believe my soulmates there,
So I'm coming to see a girl more going out
I'm in Los Angeles. I will be right over. I
need come on. A friend of my David Imo Nitzi,
a founder of Believing A, and he calls me one
(42:01):
day and says, oh my god, Michelle, I just realized
what the definition of the word future is. So you've
done me. You're almost forty years old and you're just
now knowing what the word future is. Does future means tomorrow?
It means something to come. It means the next minute,
next second. He said, no, he said that's that too,
(42:22):
and he said, but the other definition, it's in the dictionary.
It means the moment following speaking or writing. So if
you believe your soul mate is here in Atlanta, we
speak that, we write that. That's beautiful and I think
the rapper future should run with that. Man, Oh my gosh,
wait a minute, hold up, because I'm I'm like, come on,
(42:43):
get a ticket to Atlanta, Christine, where you want to go?
What do you want in New York right now? So
I'm I'm just I'm up the road from you. Yeah,
she said, her boo is lingering up there somewhere you
in Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, Boston. I mean whatever, Well, I
(43:04):
am all that I need. This is part two, y'all.
Come on, I am all that I need. Oh, let
me put it this way, and I'm probably all that
I can handle. Oh, got it, got it, got it?
All right, ladies, I'm not gonna hold you guys, because
this was about to start the second half of of
(43:25):
of another episode of checking him about being all that
we need or I'm too much to handle for myself
and for you. So listen again. I love y'all already,
thanks for joining me. We'll see you soon. That was
(43:47):
a ton of fun. Um. I love when when I
talk to people and I feel freedom to be funny
and goofy, even though we were talking about a very
serious topic with the ladies Christine and Kristen of the
popular podcast Close to the Chest. I know this is
(44:08):
different than what you guys normally hear from my podcast weekly,
but this needed to be said. So make sure you
you call up your mom, cousins, your girlfriends, your grandma.
You know. And once again, this show is not to
tell anybody what to do with their bodies. It's not
even to shame anybody, but um the young lady Um.
(44:29):
Kristen is literally two weeks post out of getting her
breast implants removed. And so I still believe in um,
you know, talking to your doctors and you know, making
the best decision um for you. But I forgot to
ask her what were some of the alternative ways to
do breast slips. I know she said there were um
(44:51):
alternative ways. So so anyway, I guess I was just
kind of lett y'all know what I've been thinking about
what I want to do because how many of us
this is a vulnerable a moment where you look in
the mirror and you're like, oh, I should do this,
I should do that, I should get both ox, I
should get feelers, I should you know, get my boobs done. Now.
I love my booty, so it does what it needs
(45:12):
to do. So I have no problems down there, but
I do look in the mirror sometimes I'm like, man,
I want my boobs to be perfect. Wow. Um. My
heart goes out to folks out there. You know you're confused,
you don't know what to do, or you feel like
in order to be in a relationship you have to
do something to your body in order to date this
(45:35):
hot chick or this hot guy that you feel like
you have to do something to your body now. I
don't believe. If there are areas that you want to
improve by, I would say working out and eating right,
I would say, let's start there, but making sure that
you're doing it for you and for your literal health right.
(45:56):
So this was an amazing, amazing, much needed conversation. Thanks
for checking in with me, especially during this month of
Breast cancer Awareness Month. I'm sending love to survivors of
breast cancer, those who have been caregivers of someone that's
had breast cancer. And if you are of age and
(46:17):
if breast cancer runs in your family, go ahead and
get your Mamma grahams. Okay, I love you, and there
is nothing, absolutely nothing you can do about it. Checking
(46:50):
In with Michelle Williams is a production of I Heart
Radio and The Black Effect. For more podcasts from I
Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast,
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