May 7, 2025 • 20 mins
Yahoo News has just announced a new, weekly relationship advice column with Amy and T.J. called “Ask Amy & T.J.”
The duo talks about how the idea for the column came about and preview what kinds of questions they’ll be answering. They also talk about why they would never consider themselves “experts” in the field, just “experienced”.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome everyone to the Amy and TJ Podcast. In this episode,
we are going to talk about a very exciting, brand
new project that we're jumping into. It's a column with
Yahoo and it's called Ask Amy and TJ. It's a
relationship column. TJ.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You don't want to call it advice?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Well, look, we're going to give a suggestion, counter experience, comfort. Yes, yes,
a perspective.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hey, we got that.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
But yeah, I when they protest about this, I, for
whatever reason, I was uncomfortable with the idea of calling
it an advice column. I'm not quite sure, you know what.
I step away from. The idea still foreign to me
that anybody would come to me for advice on relationships.
I think that's what it is.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Right, and I don't think that either one of us
feel comfortable at all claiming or having anyone else call
us experts. We're experienced, yes, and we've made a lot
of mistakes and in my life, and I think in
most people's lives, if you think about it, you learn
the most when you make mistakes through those mistakes. And
so I would say in that sense, we do have
(01:16):
a lot of information, hard earned information, experience that we
can pass along that perhaps could help someone in some
sort of relationship dilemma.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
And we smile about it, but it's some we It
never crossed our minds to do a relationship column. We'll
talk about how this came about in just a second,
but we have found over the past several years, and
even sometimes publicly on our podcast and episodes we've done,
people open up and speak to us in a way
(01:46):
that maybe they would not have had they done it
with someone else or didn't know some of what you
and I had gone through. That there has been something
to that. There's a comfort in knowing you're not going
to be judged, first of all, but in listening to
someone who's been through it.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
As well exactly, and that has been one of the
silver linings of what we went through. Look, we would
not have wanted to ever. It's kind of funny the
situation we found ourselves in. We're both private people. We
would not have ever been putting our relationship out there
for people to discuss. We knew it was going to
become public because we had plans to make it public
(02:22):
within literally a month of when it was revealed, not
our doing or on the timeline, we would have liked
it but we would have been private. So we were
thrust our relationship became fodder. We were thrust into the headlines,
and so then yeah, people feel like, Okay, well they've
been through a lot of stuff and we know about
it because we've read about it. So now I don't
(02:43):
feel so bad about telling you my stuff and what
I'm going through because the truth is everybody is going
through something, but nobody wants you to know that exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Why everybody, y'all, we're all in it. I don't to
the idea that someone is it is jealous of that
other couple or that other couple, but.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
That happens every I'm guilty of looking, at least in
past moments in my life, looking at other couples, thinking Wow,
what's that like? What would that be like?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
And what I am saying to people are suggesting that
everybody is going through it in some way just because
they put on whatever face. You have been guilty of that.
I have been guilty of that publicly putting out a
phase and people would have looked and said, ha, they
got it together.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
A couple of goals.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
They're the perk couple goals exactly hashtag couple goals. They're perfect,
they are so in love, they must never fight. I
bet they have the best life.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Ha, Just everybody's going through it. So when we got
this opportunity, I mean we were kind of scratching our
heads saying, well, how did this come about? And then
we realize this actually is right in our wheelhouse. Because
we have been giving advice to people on the street
formerly for a while now Robes. It has been kind
(04:05):
of remarkable the number of folks who have started telling
us their life stories because they know what we've gone
through and they want.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
To hear how to get through it.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Everyone's trying to connect and I think everyone no one
wants to feel alone. Everyone wants to know Hey, me too.
And so it started almost immediately. We started to venture
out a few times, kind of hiding away at a
restaurant here or there, and people still would find us.
And there was one in particular initially who came up
to us and they said, you think you've been through
(04:36):
the Ringer, wait till you'll hear our story and how
we got together. A lot we've had flight attendants say hey,
I met my husband. He's a pilot at the job.
On the job, they're like shocking that two people who
work together might fall in love. Wow, that must never happen.
You guys are weird. So yes, we've had those kind
of anecdotal moments where people are connecting because they've had
(04:59):
either a relationship work or some sort of relationship that
was frowned upon by others, and so we felt camaraderie
with them, and that's kind of how it began.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Yeah, but when I guess we got a call and
we want to give her credit. Carol O'Connor, So when
we worked with back at ABC was now the director
of communications at Yahoo. She knew how to get in
touch with us and reached out because they have a
new editor in chief over at Yahoo News, who is
Rosa Hayman, and those two reached out and had an idea.
(05:30):
We weren't exactly sure, so Rose, we got together and
trop Becka Bluestone Lane.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I remember that that morning.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
And they said, we would like to have the two
of you write an advice column. And they already had
a name, ask Amy and TJ. And they kind of
felt what we had been experiencing. That because our relationship
was so out there and because we had been through
the Ringer and because so many other people privately go
through versions of something they just figured there'd be an
(05:59):
immediate connect, and because we had experienced so much and look,
we can go through our resumes on relationships, but we
both have two divorces, and a lot of people could
point to that and say, well, why would you then
give relationship advice? But man, going through those experiences and
learning and then relearning the dues and don'ts and where
(06:21):
things went wrong, there's there. We've both done a lot
of work and introspection on how things got to where
they were and why we chose the mates we did.
I just feel like when you look at it from
that perspective, we do have a lot of experience them.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
It's weird to think, well, I don't want to listen
to this person on relationship advice because that person has
had some failures in their relationships. Well, go find someone
who's perfect in a relationship and get advice from them.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Go right ahead.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
It might take you a while to find them, but
it's nice. We are not at all. We wouldn't make
that suggestion that we're just trying to tell people how
to necessarily avoid mistakes. We are the folks who a
lot of people reached out to us, talk to us
about not making the mistake, but how to get through it.
(07:08):
And that's where so many people right now find themselves.
They're already in the thick of something robes and now
they're trying to figure out how to get sometimes out
of it or through it.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
You know, I have come back and this is this
has been going on now for at least two years.
Where whether I'm going to a doctor's office, I'm going
to a lawyer's office dealing with divorce proceedings, whether I'm
at an event where I see an old colleague, a medium, mogul,
you know, people from all walks of life will seek
(07:40):
me out and say, oh my god, I'm about to
get divorced. I think I'm going to tell my husband
I want a divorce, or I'm in the middle of
a messy divorce. And then they have questions, how did
you handle this? How did you deal with this? But
these are women who I don't think otherwise would have
ever come up and shared any of this with me.
But because they know I've been through it, and because
(08:01):
they know our dirty laundry was aired all over the place,
they know, like you said, there's no judgment, and there's
a lot of experience, and so I have just been
kind of amazed at how forthcoming, how vulnerable. I have
seen powerful women who I know would not even otherwise,
how they've been able to open up because they feel safe.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
The think you have that you know you're talking to
a kind and empathetic ear is how differently people will
talk to you because of so off And I'm sure
you saw it in some of those rooms. A powerful
person comes over vulnerable with you and then turn around
and go back to being mispowerful.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
In that right exactly without a doubt. I mean, we've
even had it on our podcast where we've had people
come in, prominent guests come in, and then all of
a sudden they'll break down a little bit in the
actual podcast and kind of reveal more than maybe they
would have. But then when the mics turn off, they
will just tell you comes out everything. And I've been
(09:04):
stunned by that because you and I have spoken with
celebrities for the last two decades, and that just doesn't
happen if you have a little bit of a connection,
a little bit of laugh after the cameras turn off,
when the micser turned off. But this has been on
a whole other level with what we've been through, where
people who I get would probably have a lot to
lose if we talked about what they told us. It
(09:25):
still felt connected enough to say.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
It we should get official licenses to be.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
We can't name names, but it's been jaw dropping.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
It had, and I would say I've had different conversations
with people since we've been podcasting than I did when
we were in broadcasting on broadcast television. There's something about it,
and I've appreciated and felt more connection with people that
we have been talking to, and quite frankly, you and
I have been more vulnerable in this role than we
have been in our careers, and I think that shows
(09:53):
and it's paid off in the people we talk to,
So I've appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
One of the cool moments when we were approached by
Rosa and Kara to do this advice column, they had
just listened to our February series called Love Stories, And
I've given you full credit, TJ, because this was your
idea for us to interview couples in different stages in life,
coming at it from different places in life. There were
(10:26):
age gaps, there were religious differences, there were sexual orientation differences,
people who had been married a long time, people who
had just gotten married, people had been married four times.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
You know.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
It was like every single possible relationship scenario. And then
these were currently successful couples, and so we wanted to
ask them questions and so we just had a unique experience.
So because it was you and I a couple interviewing
another couple.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
I love that series.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
I love I didn't know it was going to come
out like that, but we asked all these couples the
exact same questions from a list and just to hear
how the conversation said off and how the differences and
the similarities and everything you do you see a theme
in so many couples, no matter what the differences are.
I loved it, and we absolutely folks were telling you
now we are going to continue that series.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
We give you our word there.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
But I was surprised Robes and we did get some response,
some online and some friends talking about it. But I
was surprised to hear Yahoo. It got Yahoo's attention, and
that's part of the reason they approached us.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Yes, and you know, we wanted to take this time
to think those couples, because it does take a lot,
oh my god, yes, to be vulnerable. I mean that's
the best word to use to actually, especially when you're
a celebrity, to actually talk about sometimes taboo topics. Because
we asked all the couples basically the same question, so
we wanted just to see the different answers like when
(11:45):
it was your first date, when did you know you
were in love, how often do you have sex, etc. Etc.
But Trista and Ryan Suitor, they were weren't they the
first ones we spoke with right, and they were awesome?
And Ryan was a chatty kathy yeah, which we're not
used to hearing if you've ever seen interviews with him
over the years. He's the tall, dark and quiet one.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
And he was great.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
He did most of the talking almost We gragged a
bunch of jokes and we got to hang out with
him in La and absolutely loved it. So they set
a good tone. But I was taken rogues by what
we got out of these couples. We learned a lot ourselves.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
As a couple.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
I think we felt better about and this is part
of the point, I guess of this series and maybe
hopefully even this advice column, this relationship column is that
you start to realize you're not that different from everybody else.
So some of their answers just to go, oh my god,
that's us too, where that happens to us too, where
we went through that as well, and you just feel
like I felt more confident in our relationship because it
(12:41):
didn't feel like we had a bigger problem, more a
different problem. It kind of felt like we were all
in the same boat.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
And I loved all of these couples. Of course, Jenna
Cram and her husband Alan Russell, we had a good
chat with them. Jenny Garth her husband Dave were great.
Dave was amazing in that one.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
The guy who drove around for a year and a
half with divorce papers in the back of his truck.
I mean, it can get that bad, folks, and you
can still ten years later be smiling, holding hands and
being interviewed by us.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
And we laugh about it because they were laughing about it.
I've never heard such a story. Eddie and Tamra, they're amazing.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
You have Pita and Max, Mike, the situation in Lauren Sorrentino.
They surprised me a lot.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
They were amazing.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
This is this is a couple that got together when
he was about to go to prison and she went
to go visit him and they got Their story is
incredible and their love was so palpable. We had doctor
Jeff Gardier and doctor Amber Brody with a thirty year
age gap, interracial couple, once Jewish, once not. I mean,
it was every opposite you could think of, Like all
the stacks were against them, and yet still they were.
(13:49):
We were at their wedding, so and we Yeah. Kevin
green so sorry, Samantha Greenstone and Jacob Hoff the mixed
orientation couple, which was just a mind blower.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Okay, if you're trying to put your head around mixed
orientation couple. He is a gay man, she is a
straight woman. They are married and a monogamous sexual relationship.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
With a monogamous sexual relationship, he hasn't talked about how
they made it work. And then Austin Mackenzie and Kevin McHale.
I love them. They're so fun. Yeah. So it's just
it was a blast getting to know all of these couples.
We know some of them individually as stars, but to
know them as couples and how they relate to one another,
it was just if you haven't listened to the series,
(14:30):
if you want to go back and find it, I'm
telling you it is absolutely worth the listen. I have
listened to it multiple times, several of them because they're
so good. But yes, Rosa and Karatt caught their eye.
I think it sparked their It sparked an idea to
have a relationship column. It's funny, I keep saying. So
we told them we wanted to call a relationship column.
(14:52):
They wanted advice column. Did you see the finished version?
They called it a relationship advice column. So now, yeah,
I shu read that this morning when I saw the
press release just went out yesterday, the day before we
recorded this, and I just looked at it because we
had already fallen asleep by the time the press release.
And they called it. So they married the two and
(15:14):
they called it a relationship advice column.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
And again, we've already seen a number of questions with
a few wild scenarios but all relatable.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Still, yes, we we've already actually started the process of
answering a couple of questions. And so yeah, if anyone
listening has a question for us, please contact Yahoo and
submit your question and wherever you can see, even on
our social media. If you've got a question you want
to be anonymous, that's fine, Like we will welcome any
(15:46):
and all because it's it's fascinating to know what people
are dealing with. But yeah, we had a I think
one of the first ones that caught our attention was
do we do we give? Should we give? Specifics about
some of these questions.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Just generally speaking.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
That was a great scenario about a husband telling people
that he was married out of obligation.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Yep. There was another one about you know, when you
have that third person in your marriage, what would happen
if someone moved that third person into your home?
Speaker 3 (16:21):
That was a great The plastic surgery one was devastating.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
There was an unbelievable plastic surgery scenario where you know,
what happens if one partner changes how they look?
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Yeah, and the other partners is no longer attracted.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Yeah, then there's sexual issues. You know what if one
partner just doesn't want to have sex anymore. So, yes,
this has been really interesting and I do think completely relatable.
All of these are specific questions to specific people, but
I think everyone reading it will either it's either going
to relate to them or someone they know.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
You're going to scream at the screen either way.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Yes, because some of the Oh my god, because our
jaws dropped in seeing some of these already.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
So we're really excited about this new project, and we
hope that that you all are too, Because our plan
right now is to have the column in Yahoo and
then the next day or you know, in some you
know timeline, but a timely timeline, we'll have a podcast
about the column. And my dream is whoever writes the question,
(17:28):
they can remain anonymous, but if we could get them
on the podcast to go in deeper, how fun would
that be? So they ask us the question, we give
our best attempt at advice, and then when we get
him or her on the podcast, we can start asking questions.
We can go deeper.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
We should say it more confidently. You said we're gonna
make our best attempt at advice.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Well, you know we I think we just came up
with this idea. Yes, I'm sorry, I forgot. Yes, we're
gonna make it happen.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Why did your voice get deeper?
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Well, you know, because it was just authoritative. A yeah,
I meant what I said.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
So a man's voice is more authoritative.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Yeah, I hate to admit that, why don't we just fine?
But we're going to make that happen. And I do
think that that will be an exciting way to go
even deeper, because if you're into the column, then you're
invested in the story and you really want to hear
from this person and what's going on.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
I didn't realize it, but I was complaining earlier. I
didn't realize this was my complaint with columns. I'm not
used to the payoff. Someone writes in a question, they
get an answer. I'd never get to know that the
person take the advice, did it go well? Did it
go poorly? So I would love to be able to
pay these off.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Yeah, we could have multiple follow ups. If some of
these stories as good as they sound, if you really
get into the weeds, it actually might be it could
become a series, you know. I mean some of these
questions I think could actually be Netflix series. That's how
crazy they are. No, there was a couple that we
were just thinking, is this for real? Who's living like this?
(18:55):
Like the eggshells you would have to step on every
day in your own home to try and deal with
the situation. So yes, I think this could have a
lot of legs.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
One issue.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
I just thought about this. So what if we get
the follow up? Yeah, they took our advice and it
went poorly.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Well, then we'll all learn an even bigger lesson.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
We won't use those follow ups.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
No, Hey, you all told me to do this, and
look what happened. Oh, that would be terrible. Let's hope
that doesn't happen. We'll try to use our best effort
to make sure you all learn from our mistakes, not
continue to make them or make more. That would be
the goal. But we just wanted to let y'all know
what was going on and what was behind it, and
hopefully you're excited as well. And again, bring those questions
(19:38):
to us on our social media to Yahoo. We want
to hear what you're going through and how we can help.
So thanks for listening to us, and we'll see you later.
Welcome everyone to the Amy and TJ Podcast. In this episode,
we are going to talk about a very exciting, brand
new project that we're jumping into. It's a column with
Yahoo and it's called Ask Amy and TJ. It's a
relationship column. TJ.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You don't want to call it advice?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Well, look, we're going to give a suggestion, counter experience, comfort. Yes, yes,
a perspective.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hey, we got that.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
But yeah, I when they protest about this, I, for
whatever reason, I was uncomfortable with the idea of calling
it an advice column. I'm not quite sure, you know what.
I step away from. The idea still foreign to me
that anybody would come to me for advice on relationships.
I think that's what it is.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Right, and I don't think that either one of us
feel comfortable at all claiming or having anyone else call
us experts. We're experienced, yes, and we've made a lot
of mistakes and in my life, and I think in
most people's lives, if you think about it, you learn
the most when you make mistakes through those mistakes. And
so I would say in that sense, we do have
(01:16):
a lot of information, hard earned information, experience that we
can pass along that perhaps could help someone in some
sort of relationship dilemma.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
And we smile about it, but it's some we It
never crossed our minds to do a relationship column. We'll
talk about how this came about in just a second,
but we have found over the past several years, and
even sometimes publicly on our podcast and episodes we've done,
people open up and speak to us in a way
(01:46):
that maybe they would not have had they done it
with someone else or didn't know some of what you
and I had gone through. That there has been something
to that. There's a comfort in knowing you're not going
to be judged, first of all, but in listening to
someone who's been through it.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
As well exactly, and that has been one of the
silver linings of what we went through. Look, we would
not have wanted to ever. It's kind of funny the
situation we found ourselves in. We're both private people. We
would not have ever been putting our relationship out there
for people to discuss. We knew it was going to
become public because we had plans to make it public
(02:22):
within literally a month of when it was revealed, not
our doing or on the timeline, we would have liked
it but we would have been private. So we were
thrust our relationship became fodder. We were thrust into the headlines,
and so then yeah, people feel like, Okay, well they've
been through a lot of stuff and we know about
it because we've read about it. So now I don't
(02:43):
feel so bad about telling you my stuff and what
I'm going through because the truth is everybody is going
through something, but nobody wants you to know that exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Why everybody, y'all, we're all in it. I don't to
the idea that someone is it is jealous of that
other couple or that other couple, but.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
That happens every I'm guilty of looking, at least in
past moments in my life, looking at other couples, thinking Wow,
what's that like? What would that be like?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
And what I am saying to people are suggesting that
everybody is going through it in some way just because
they put on whatever face. You have been guilty of that.
I have been guilty of that publicly putting out a
phase and people would have looked and said, ha, they
got it together.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
A couple of goals.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
They're the perk couple goals exactly hashtag couple goals. They're perfect,
they are so in love, they must never fight. I
bet they have the best life.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Ha, Just everybody's going through it. So when we got
this opportunity, I mean we were kind of scratching our
heads saying, well, how did this come about? And then
we realize this actually is right in our wheelhouse. Because
we have been giving advice to people on the street
formerly for a while now Robes. It has been kind
(04:05):
of remarkable the number of folks who have started telling
us their life stories because they know what we've gone
through and they want.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
To hear how to get through it.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Everyone's trying to connect and I think everyone no one
wants to feel alone. Everyone wants to know Hey, me too.
And so it started almost immediately. We started to venture
out a few times, kind of hiding away at a
restaurant here or there, and people still would find us.
And there was one in particular initially who came up
to us and they said, you think you've been through
(04:36):
the Ringer, wait till you'll hear our story and how
we got together. A lot we've had flight attendants say hey,
I met my husband. He's a pilot at the job.
On the job, they're like shocking that two people who
work together might fall in love. Wow, that must never happen.
You guys are weird. So yes, we've had those kind
of anecdotal moments where people are connecting because they've had
(04:59):
either a relationship work or some sort of relationship that
was frowned upon by others, and so we felt camaraderie
with them, and that's kind of how it began.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Yeah, but when I guess we got a call and
we want to give her credit. Carol O'Connor, So when
we worked with back at ABC was now the director
of communications at Yahoo. She knew how to get in
touch with us and reached out because they have a
new editor in chief over at Yahoo News, who is
Rosa Hayman, and those two reached out and had an idea.
(05:30):
We weren't exactly sure, so Rose, we got together and
trop Becka Bluestone Lane.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I remember that that morning.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
And they said, we would like to have the two
of you write an advice column. And they already had
a name, ask Amy and TJ. And they kind of
felt what we had been experiencing. That because our relationship
was so out there and because we had been through
the Ringer and because so many other people privately go
through versions of something they just figured there'd be an
(05:59):
immediate connect, and because we had experienced so much and look,
we can go through our resumes on relationships, but we
both have two divorces, and a lot of people could
point to that and say, well, why would you then
give relationship advice? But man, going through those experiences and
learning and then relearning the dues and don'ts and where
(06:21):
things went wrong, there's there. We've both done a lot
of work and introspection on how things got to where
they were and why we chose the mates we did.
I just feel like when you look at it from
that perspective, we do have a lot of experience them.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
It's weird to think, well, I don't want to listen
to this person on relationship advice because that person has
had some failures in their relationships. Well, go find someone
who's perfect in a relationship and get advice from them.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Go right ahead.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
It might take you a while to find them, but
it's nice. We are not at all. We wouldn't make
that suggestion that we're just trying to tell people how
to necessarily avoid mistakes. We are the folks who a
lot of people reached out to us, talk to us
about not making the mistake, but how to get through it.
(07:08):
And that's where so many people right now find themselves.
They're already in the thick of something robes and now
they're trying to figure out how to get sometimes out
of it or through it.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
You know, I have come back and this is this
has been going on now for at least two years.
Where whether I'm going to a doctor's office, I'm going
to a lawyer's office dealing with divorce proceedings, whether I'm
at an event where I see an old colleague, a medium, mogul,
you know, people from all walks of life will seek
(07:40):
me out and say, oh my god, I'm about to
get divorced. I think I'm going to tell my husband
I want a divorce, or I'm in the middle of
a messy divorce. And then they have questions, how did
you handle this? How did you deal with this? But
these are women who I don't think otherwise would have
ever come up and shared any of this with me.
But because they know I've been through it, and because
(08:01):
they know our dirty laundry was aired all over the place,
they know, like you said, there's no judgment, and there's
a lot of experience, and so I have just been
kind of amazed at how forthcoming, how vulnerable. I have
seen powerful women who I know would not even otherwise,
how they've been able to open up because they feel safe.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
The think you have that you know you're talking to
a kind and empathetic ear is how differently people will
talk to you because of so off And I'm sure
you saw it in some of those rooms. A powerful
person comes over vulnerable with you and then turn around
and go back to being mispowerful.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
In that right exactly without a doubt. I mean, we've
even had it on our podcast where we've had people
come in, prominent guests come in, and then all of
a sudden they'll break down a little bit in the
actual podcast and kind of reveal more than maybe they
would have. But then when the mics turn off, they
will just tell you comes out everything. And I've been
(09:04):
stunned by that because you and I have spoken with
celebrities for the last two decades, and that just doesn't
happen if you have a little bit of a connection,
a little bit of laugh after the cameras turn off,
when the micser turned off. But this has been on
a whole other level with what we've been through, where
people who I get would probably have a lot to
lose if we talked about what they told us. It
(09:25):
still felt connected enough to say.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
It we should get official licenses to be.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
We can't name names, but it's been jaw dropping.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
It had, and I would say I've had different conversations
with people since we've been podcasting than I did when
we were in broadcasting on broadcast television. There's something about it,
and I've appreciated and felt more connection with people that
we have been talking to, and quite frankly, you and
I have been more vulnerable in this role than we
have been in our careers, and I think that shows
(09:53):
and it's paid off in the people we talk to,
So I've appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
One of the cool moments when we were approached by
Rosa and Kara to do this advice column, they had
just listened to our February series called Love Stories, And
I've given you full credit, TJ, because this was your
idea for us to interview couples in different stages in life,
coming at it from different places in life. There were
(10:26):
age gaps, there were religious differences, there were sexual orientation differences,
people who had been married a long time, people who
had just gotten married, people had been married four times.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
You know.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
It was like every single possible relationship scenario. And then
these were currently successful couples, and so we wanted to
ask them questions and so we just had a unique experience.
So because it was you and I a couple interviewing
another couple.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
I love that series.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
I love I didn't know it was going to come
out like that, but we asked all these couples the
exact same questions from a list and just to hear
how the conversation said off and how the differences and
the similarities and everything you do you see a theme
in so many couples, no matter what the differences are.
I loved it, and we absolutely folks were telling you
now we are going to continue that series.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
We give you our word there.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
But I was surprised Robes and we did get some response,
some online and some friends talking about it. But I
was surprised to hear Yahoo. It got Yahoo's attention, and
that's part of the reason they approached us.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Yes, and you know, we wanted to take this time
to think those couples, because it does take a lot,
oh my god, yes, to be vulnerable. I mean that's
the best word to use to actually, especially when you're
a celebrity, to actually talk about sometimes taboo topics. Because
we asked all the couples basically the same question, so
we wanted just to see the different answers like when
(11:45):
it was your first date, when did you know you
were in love, how often do you have sex, etc. Etc.
But Trista and Ryan Suitor, they were weren't they the
first ones we spoke with right, and they were awesome?
And Ryan was a chatty kathy yeah, which we're not
used to hearing if you've ever seen interviews with him
over the years. He's the tall, dark and quiet one.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
And he was great.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
He did most of the talking almost We gragged a
bunch of jokes and we got to hang out with
him in La and absolutely loved it. So they set
a good tone. But I was taken rogues by what
we got out of these couples. We learned a lot ourselves.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
As a couple.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
I think we felt better about and this is part
of the point, I guess of this series and maybe
hopefully even this advice column, this relationship column is that
you start to realize you're not that different from everybody else.
So some of their answers just to go, oh my god,
that's us too, where that happens to us too, where
we went through that as well, and you just feel
like I felt more confident in our relationship because it
(12:41):
didn't feel like we had a bigger problem, more a
different problem. It kind of felt like we were all
in the same boat.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
And I loved all of these couples. Of course, Jenna
Cram and her husband Alan Russell, we had a good
chat with them. Jenny Garth her husband Dave were great.
Dave was amazing in that one.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
The guy who drove around for a year and a
half with divorce papers in the back of his truck.
I mean, it can get that bad, folks, and you
can still ten years later be smiling, holding hands and
being interviewed by us.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
And we laugh about it because they were laughing about it.
I've never heard such a story. Eddie and Tamra, they're amazing.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
You have Pita and Max, Mike, the situation in Lauren Sorrentino.
They surprised me a lot.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
They were amazing.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
This is this is a couple that got together when
he was about to go to prison and she went
to go visit him and they got Their story is
incredible and their love was so palpable. We had doctor
Jeff Gardier and doctor Amber Brody with a thirty year
age gap, interracial couple, once Jewish, once not. I mean,
it was every opposite you could think of, Like all
the stacks were against them, and yet still they were.
(13:49):
We were at their wedding, so and we Yeah. Kevin
green so sorry, Samantha Greenstone and Jacob Hoff the mixed
orientation couple, which was just a mind blower.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Okay, if you're trying to put your head around mixed
orientation couple. He is a gay man, she is a
straight woman. They are married and a monogamous sexual relationship.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
With a monogamous sexual relationship, he hasn't talked about how
they made it work. And then Austin Mackenzie and Kevin McHale.
I love them. They're so fun. Yeah. So it's just
it was a blast getting to know all of these couples.
We know some of them individually as stars, but to
know them as couples and how they relate to one another,
it was just if you haven't listened to the series,
(14:30):
if you want to go back and find it, I'm
telling you it is absolutely worth the listen. I have
listened to it multiple times, several of them because they're
so good. But yes, Rosa and Karatt caught their eye.
I think it sparked their It sparked an idea to
have a relationship column. It's funny, I keep saying. So
we told them we wanted to call a relationship column.
(14:52):
They wanted advice column. Did you see the finished version?
They called it a relationship advice column. So now, yeah,
I shu read that this morning when I saw the
press release just went out yesterday, the day before we
recorded this, and I just looked at it because we
had already fallen asleep by the time the press release.
And they called it. So they married the two and
(15:14):
they called it a relationship advice column.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
And again, we've already seen a number of questions with
a few wild scenarios but all relatable.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Still, yes, we we've already actually started the process of
answering a couple of questions. And so yeah, if anyone
listening has a question for us, please contact Yahoo and
submit your question and wherever you can see, even on
our social media. If you've got a question you want
to be anonymous, that's fine, Like we will welcome any
(15:46):
and all because it's it's fascinating to know what people
are dealing with. But yeah, we had a I think
one of the first ones that caught our attention was
do we do we give? Should we give? Specifics about
some of these questions.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Just generally speaking.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
That was a great scenario about a husband telling people
that he was married out of obligation.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Yep. There was another one about you know, when you
have that third person in your marriage, what would happen
if someone moved that third person into your home?
Speaker 3 (16:21):
That was a great The plastic surgery one was devastating.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
There was an unbelievable plastic surgery scenario where you know,
what happens if one partner changes how they look?
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Yeah, and the other partners is no longer attracted.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Yeah, then there's sexual issues. You know what if one
partner just doesn't want to have sex anymore. So, yes,
this has been really interesting and I do think completely relatable.
All of these are specific questions to specific people, but
I think everyone reading it will either it's either going
to relate to them or someone they know.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
You're going to scream at the screen either way.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Yes, because some of the Oh my god, because our
jaws dropped in seeing some of these already.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
So we're really excited about this new project, and we
hope that that you all are too, Because our plan
right now is to have the column in Yahoo and
then the next day or you know, in some you
know timeline, but a timely timeline, we'll have a podcast
about the column. And my dream is whoever writes the question,
(17:28):
they can remain anonymous, but if we could get them
on the podcast to go in deeper, how fun would
that be? So they ask us the question, we give
our best attempt at advice, and then when we get
him or her on the podcast, we can start asking questions.
We can go deeper.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
We should say it more confidently. You said we're gonna
make our best attempt at advice.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Well, you know we I think we just came up
with this idea. Yes, I'm sorry, I forgot. Yes, we're
gonna make it happen.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Why did your voice get deeper?
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Well, you know, because it was just authoritative. A yeah,
I meant what I said.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
So a man's voice is more authoritative.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Yeah, I hate to admit that, why don't we just fine?
But we're going to make that happen. And I do
think that that will be an exciting way to go
even deeper, because if you're into the column, then you're
invested in the story and you really want to hear
from this person and what's going on.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
I didn't realize it, but I was complaining earlier. I
didn't realize this was my complaint with columns. I'm not
used to the payoff. Someone writes in a question, they
get an answer. I'd never get to know that the
person take the advice, did it go well? Did it
go poorly? So I would love to be able to
pay these off.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Yeah, we could have multiple follow ups. If some of
these stories as good as they sound, if you really
get into the weeds, it actually might be it could
become a series, you know. I mean some of these
questions I think could actually be Netflix series. That's how
crazy they are. No, there was a couple that we
were just thinking, is this for real? Who's living like this?
(18:55):
Like the eggshells you would have to step on every
day in your own home to try and deal with
the situation. So yes, I think this could have a
lot of legs.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
One issue.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
I just thought about this. So what if we get
the follow up? Yeah, they took our advice and it
went poorly.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Well, then we'll all learn an even bigger lesson.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
We won't use those follow ups.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
No, Hey, you all told me to do this, and
look what happened. Oh, that would be terrible. Let's hope
that doesn't happen. We'll try to use our best effort
to make sure you all learn from our mistakes, not
continue to make them or make more. That would be
the goal. But we just wanted to let y'all know
what was going on and what was behind it, and
hopefully you're excited as well. And again, bring those questions
(19:38):
to us on our social media to Yahoo. We want
to hear what you're going through and how we can help.
So thanks for listening to us, and we'll see you later.
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