September 9, 2024 • 44 mins
This week we connect with Shannen's mom and her bestie Chris Cortazzo. Chris shares a special moment he had with Shannen before her passing, and talks about still feeling her presence around him. Mama Rosa updates us on her good days and bad days in this emotional episode of Let's Be Clear.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Let's Be Clear with Shannon Dhorny. Hi, everybody.
I'm so excited to be back with you on Let's
Be Clear. And today I have a very special guest,
so I'm going to introduce you too. But first I
just want to let you know that what we want
to do like today, and what I would like to
(00:24):
do is always share stories about Shannon. We'll pick and choose.
There's some things that I'm sure she would prefer to
keep private, but we're gonna be on here to share
stories about her so that you even see a more
integral part of who she was. And I hope you
all enjoy it. And today I'm going to this is Chris.
(00:47):
You've met him before on the podcastcast with Shannon, and
I'm so excited to have him here because he's part
of our family. And that's another thing. We were very fortunate,
Shannon and myself that we came out here and we
don't have any of our family out here. So as
(01:09):
she grew up out here and then I was here,
I would bring my friends to her, she would bring
her friends to me and to her dad, and we
created a family here and now we have this tight
family group here that is support. It was support for her,
(01:29):
support for me when her dad was alive, it was
support for him. And so this is Chris Cortazzo. You
all know Chris from seeing him before on the podcast,
and if you knew one little bit about Shannon at all,
you know how important Chris is to Shannon.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
It's just but I love the way we're still talking present.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yes, I can't help. He's with me all the time.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
It's so weird because my housekeeper today, she goes this
swetter is this yours? It was Shannon's. She left it
on the plane and it's just yummy cashmir sweater. And
you know, it was so And I was bragging about
Shannon because I was just in Europe and her fashion sense.
She had the best style, Like I was telling to
(02:17):
Richard and James, she had the best fashion style.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah. And if I wasn't here, if I was like
in my place, my other place, I'm like, I have
two because she kept me over here a lot in Malibu.
But she would text me and she would take pictures
and she said, I'm going to Nobu denight or wherever
she was going. What do you think about this outfit
and everything that she put together just worked. Or if
(02:42):
I was here, it would be like a fashion show
before she would go to dinner because she wanted to
look nice and she just wanted that opinion. And then
it was really funny because then she would make me
do the same thing. If I was going somewhere, She's like,
if you hurry up, I'll do your makeup and then
show me what you're going to wear.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Is just and I had to confront That was one
of my toughest confrontations. Or just to go to Paris,
because Paris was us. We always went to Paris, and
I revisited a hotel Costs for dinner by myself. I
did a toast to her, and then we went to
(03:20):
our favorite hotel, Hotel I could say it now, Hotel Lancaster,
and we loved Hotel Lancaster. And I just confronted it,
and I could feel her presence. And one morning I
walked I got up so early because I was thinking
of her, and I walked in the Left Bank and
we were I was walking through the streets at like
seven o'clock in the morning, and I turned the corner
(03:41):
and I just get chill saying it, and the wind
just went and she was like, baby, I am here
with you, and it was so brilliant.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
And then there was the whale in Canada.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I haven't shared this with anyone yet. It was yeah,
I said to Sham And after she just left her
body the night before, I said, Shannon, and it was
such a rough day for us. All I said, Shannon,
come to me as a whale. If you come to
(04:13):
me as a whale, I know you're there and you'll
be with Mama Rosa and myself. And I was on
this lower ledge at our place on Quadra Island and
all of a sudden he hit us and there's such
a drop off near the shelf of our cabin. It
was fifteen feet off the shore and this monstrous it
(04:38):
wasn't a gray whale, it was a humpback whale came
and yellow. My son, Yeah, bolted because the sound is
so intense. And then came up and then she, Shannon
came up with this big flute. Shannon's the whale now,
and then waved goodbye and then took off and I
(04:59):
was like, baby, you're there, You're there.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I feel her all around me and when I'm in
the garden, which she absolutely loved, it's it's incredible. So
it we just feel her all the time and the
love that she gave to us. I mean, we all
had our moments, you know, and she could be a
tough cookie, but but you know she would always like
(05:24):
if any little thing and then I know with me,
it was like we might like disagree on something. I
have moments and I'm like, Okay, well I'm just gonna
I'm just gonna go back over to my place or
I'm gonna go downstairs right now, and and uh, after
a while, I would either get a little text or
(05:45):
she would like she would just come to me and
she would just hug me. And when Shannon hugged you,
you knew you had been you were being loved, you
were being and she she was wonderful. And so it's
like I still feel that sometimes. It's like I'll think
about certain moments that we went through and then in
my head I will see that that confrontation and then
(06:10):
the loving result of that confrontation, and it's a beautiful
thing that you have those memories and those feelings that
just are there every every day. And I still like, well,
something exciting will happen or even even maybe it's something
like the dishwasher the other day broke and I went
(06:31):
to tell her, Shannon, the dishwasher is broken, and she
wasn't there. So it's it's just one of those things
that I think most people experience when you truly lose
a loved one. It was that way with my husband.
So she's all around us, and I know that all
you guys, you all have lots of hugs. I met
(06:51):
a lot of you at conventions. I've been to many
conventions with her, and I know that you're all phenomenal fans.
I know that you loved her. I know that you
know she would get up and hug you, and all
those hugs were real, and she appreciated each and every
one of you and everything that you you brought to her,
(07:12):
because you did. You brought to her, You brought the
appreciation of her lifetime work. And that the love that
she extended to her fans.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
It's and she loved her fans. She did, like you said,
she loved and appreciated her fans. And there was always
like once a week we had date night and we
did either go to Nobu Lucky's or Jojio Obaldi's and
there was one really special night where we're sitting in
(07:43):
Nobu and I could see this mother and daughter and
they looked over at us a few times. Everyone look
at Shannon to be real to always. But anyway, they
finally got the courage and the mother came up and said,
this must be a sign. I just told my daughter
that I had breast cancer and the fact that you're
(08:05):
here being so much to me Shannon, and Shannon was
so lovely and so gracious and hugged them into pictures.
But you know where every word she is like a
lifetime achievement of her work and what she accomplished. We
would take boat trips every summer to Greece, and there
(08:28):
was a I was.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Too afraid to go because I was I'm afraid of that.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
That's a different story. Yeah, that will lead into.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
But talking about to Greece at that time, I've got time.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
But then you got over your fear. And it was
the smallest little island and there's an eighty something year
old man and he goes Shannon Doherty. Shannon Doherty. But
her fame was everywhere and she I was just so
proud of her as a friend. She was extraordinary and yeah,
(09:03):
she just she had so much love to give. It
was such an inspiration to watch. And I never really
watched a lot of her work before.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Now it's everywhere now now TV. It's like I turn
on the TV and there she is, and.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
She showed me one episode and maybe I'll put it
on Instagram. I had to find it, and she had
a New York accent. She was like at a diner. Yeah,
and she's we're taking off on our plane and we
she played it for me and I go, Chamon, you're
so good. You're such a great actress. And she looked
(09:44):
at me and you could tell how happy that she was.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
You appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I just appreciated her talent. I was like, babe, you're amazing.
And then we try to watch Heathers and we fell asleep.
That was that was our one figure of watching. But
now you know, it's everywhere on the Instagram and I'm
watching all these clips of her and I'm just like,
I just wish we could talk a little bit more
(10:11):
about that. But I do say, I go, babe, you're
so great. Yes.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
The other night I turned on and it was a
burning passion in Margaret Mitchell's story. Margaret Mitchell were going
with the Wind, and Shannon played Margaret Mitchell and it
was shot in Bright School Beach, I think, South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
She loved it.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
She had her dog at the time. Her dog was Elfy.
She had Elfie with her, and they gave her a
beautiful home to say it, and gave her a motor
boat and an inner tube, and Elfie would get on
the very top of the boat and then Shannon would
be in the inner tube out in the water, and
(10:57):
then somebody would be driving the boat. Usually it was
who she had been with for seven years. But to
hear her do this, I mean, I grew up in
the South. I mean she was born in Tennessee and
we left there when she was going in the first grade.
But like, it was amazing to me because I'm like,
(11:17):
Shannon was never one that was like, will you run
lines with me? Will you do this? She read a
script and she knew it, and she pinned down her
character and everything you saw was Shannon. She developed it
all herself. And so I'm watching this, of course I
watched it, you know originally, But to sit there in
my room alone, which is my little dog, and this
(11:38):
comes on and I'm watching it and just even gave me,
as her mom, even a greater appreciation of what she
was able to do.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
What a talent, Yeah, what a talent.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Should we go back to our boat trip, our Malibu Crosia.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Group, Yes, so Mama Rosa, myself and Shannon and a
couple of other friends.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Uh it eventually meet.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yes, it was on her bucket list that we would
go to Croatia and rent this big, beautiful yacht. So
we did four stories, right, yeah, four stories and it
was just perfection.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
And I was scared of this.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
I know you weren't.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
I don't like being on the water, and it freaked
me out.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
And Mama Rosa brought probably eighty five coordinated, perfect outfits.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
That was Shannon's doing, she was I think it was
all trying to get me.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Dinner and maybe a cocktail attire. And we were on
this boat. And when you're on the boat, you literally
where your pajamas were, swimming in pajamas, the most casual
you probably wore. I don't see six outfits the whole time.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
I broke my ribs and it was hard to get
in and out of so much stuff I wore as
little and as loose as I could.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
But that was now you are your yaughterer officially.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Well, when you're on that is it the A, G
and C. When you're on A G and C, it's
very calm. It's not like you're out in the Pacific.
I know a woman who is in Malibu who is
a major sailing, major, sportswoman, all of this stuff, not
afraid of anything, and she said the last place she
wants to be is out on the Pacific Ocean.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Well, one time Shannon and I went from Bowdrum to
Greece through the islands, and there was one night it
was so rough we were literally all flying in the
air and then landing. I have never experienced seas like that,
and Shannon slept the whole way through and on the boat.
(13:54):
If you know anything about Shannon, she has to have
her room subarctic. Yeah, and it was. They would I
think it was sixty two degrees and so I'd call
my nickname for her was little Bear because she would
go in and hibernate in her room and she would
she's so relaxed on the CD and she loved it.
(14:16):
Oh my gosh, have we had such fun journeys. And
Mama Rosa we have to post some of her pictures
of or maybe some videos as well of us.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
To it. Yeah, there's some really go to and see
what we can share.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
The PG version.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
But we were pretty good.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
We were great. But gosh, what a fun trip. When
you looked at Shannon's eyes and her facial features, she
(15:02):
was one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen.
And every time we go out to dinner, she would
give me that luck because I'd be looking at her
in an interesting way and I go, Shannon, you are
the most beautiful woman in the world. And you could
just see how it just touched her heart. But I said,
(15:26):
it was such sincerity. Her face, it just everything about
her was gorgeous, like beyond beyond gorgeous. That was just
those eyes were like cats, those gorgeous green and the
shape of them. But you know, you being Native American,
(15:47):
was that your side or to my side? You had
the highest cheek bones.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
One of my I don't know which grade it was,
but one of my great grandmothers had been taken from
Mississippi be to Oklahoma, walking from Mississippi to Oklahoma in
the Trail of Tears, so the whole Indian heritage to
Shannon was very, very important, and she swore when she
bought this property, it just she felt something with this
(16:14):
property and she just was here and she says, I
just feel it. She says, I know that this is
where I'm supposed to be. And she just felt that
whole Indian.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
It's the Tchumash Indians that were in residence here, but.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Then what we were chucked out. But I mean, yeah,
she just felt like the whole Indian.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yeah. Yeah, And that's why I think she loved our
ranch property so much, because they were in that valley
and that's where we had so many We shared, Chen
and I shared on our other podcast how special it
was to be there and that was a healing time
for you and Shannon, my husbands away. Yeah, you guys
(16:58):
went up there. I remember she told us to on
the podcast that she the wind came and she said,
and Tom said, I'll be okay. Yeah, amazing.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
And dragonflies, I mean when she one of the ceremonies
that she was in, we won't mention which one, but
she was walking and a dragonfly lit on the back
of her dress and I was walking next to her,
and from that moment on, I mean, and we were
said one day after her dad had passed away. We're
(17:33):
sitting on the steps at the ranch and this dragonfly
just came and sat on her shoulder, and it's just
like every time, you know, it's just I don't know.
She just felt like that was her a symbol of
her dad, you know, not this, but it was just
a symbol of her dad. It just gave her like
(17:53):
a quiet peace.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
So great. And the ranch unfortunately burned down, but we're
building it, aren't we. Rosa yes, and it's going to
be a new version, a new improved version, which is
going to be so fun. One thing I think we
should talk about is all of Shannon's dreams.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
You have to be careful now, streams you share. Oh
I'm so okay, dreams, dreams like careful.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Talking about No. We we bought this beautiful farm called
the one hundred Acre Woods from the Winnie Depoo. It's
actually one hundred and fifty acres and there was sixty
flat acres and there's two separate pastures and then it backs.
There's a stream that goes through it and you drive
over a bridge and a waterfall and then the main
(18:47):
house is there. And we had all these homes that
we're going to be building and Mama Rosa and Shannon
we're going to be building something on the back.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Forty and she picked out and everybody's like, she's.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
The best location. Of course it's Shannon. So she picked
out the best location. And she had designed a structure
for you and for Shannon and the combined is it
living room, kitchen.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
It was almost like, okay, she said, First off, she said,
it's got to be dune put up by United Steel
because you do have tornadoes there and we have a studio.
Studio here was put up by United Steel. And she said,
then we can wrap it in whatever we want, but
we know it's strong. And so she said, we're going
to have like a main house and then on each
(19:39):
end we will have apartments, her apartment, my apartment, and
when we want to have people over and everything, or
we want to get where we can cook and do
and everything in the main center of the of the structure.
And then when we're just like because she has somebody
personal coming over and I just want to spend time together,
(20:00):
it's like they're in her spot, I'm in my spot.
And then we were but the whole thing was then
to build a barn, and she wanted to like bring
some the rescue horses up, and she wanted to be
sure that this is children and yellow Anna Moray learned
how to ride. She wanted very much for them.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
To insist, yes, insisting on that. We're still going to
build that structure for you and for Shannon, and that's
going to go up. And during that process where this
is all being built, all of us we're going to
(20:40):
live long enough room you'll be living. I'm not letting
you go nowhere. But we were going to go to
Italy for two years, and we were debating between Rome
and then are outside of Florence. We're going to get
a big family villa with all these cottages. And one
thing I loved about Shannon is that she would do
(21:00):
all the research so I could just go up, we
can make the decision. She would pick out the five
best things and then we'd show up and make our move.
But we were going to do that for a couple
of years. Have the children learn Italian, and well, we
just all wanted to be together. And we're still going
(21:21):
to be together, Mama Rosa. We have a lot of
living to do. But yeah, we had a lot of
dreams right, and her bucket list.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
The last thing we were doing well. She and I
had a trip planned together to Scotland because on my
dad's side, my grandfather is Scottish and we'd already been
to Ireland because on his side, my grandmother's from Ireland.
And so Shannon said, you know, when we went to Ireland,
we didn't have time to go to Scotland, so we
(21:53):
always planned to go back. And this was like the
next trip was like, she says, you and I are
going to Scotland and we're going to Sardinia. Our Malibu
group is going to Sardinia. There's seven of us, including
Shannon and myself. There were seven of us all together.
And that was what she wanted to go to Sardinia
(22:13):
and have.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
The mama's teacher's cooking. It's so fun. Yeah, and Shannon
was an amazing shot. Oh what about every Sunday night,
That's what I was going to bring up so sweet. Yeah,
every Sunday night we had La Familia night. And Shannon
(22:35):
would spend days making the tomato sauce for my mother
and a yellow and amida, and she would make the
dough days before and we'd have the most delicious feast
and they would and Yellow and Shannon and AMREI would dance.
We had to. There's some fun videos.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Of all that, one where they're just like, yeah, they're
just like dancing, they're running, they're running around. It's like
she was like a kid herself, and she loved that
kind of thing. She loves. She loved it, she loved it.
There would be it's like there would be times she
loved like music and I have always loved music, and
(23:19):
we would just be everything would be quiet, come we
would just be we usually just we were sitting doing whatever,
and suddenly the music would come on and she would
get up and the next thing I knew, she would
grab me and we would be we would be dancing
and she says, come on, Mom, you can do this.
You can do this, and I'm like okay. And then
sometimes we would go outside on the patio and we
(23:42):
would be the music blasting and just dancing and having
the best time. And she loved to do that. And
then our other thing to do and it was just
the two of us together. I would be like we
would fix dinner. Sometimes we fix dinner together. Sometimes she'd
be like, no, I'm fixing dinner tonight. And then other
times we'd just order in, but should we get dinner?
(24:03):
Whatever it's done, dinner's all ready to go, and so
she said, okay, grab your plate, and she'd head into
the the library with the TV and she'd said, come on,
come on, family food is starting. We loved family food.
We played family Feud. There's two of us would sit
on the sofa and play family Food and we would
(24:25):
laugh and it's like the contestants were great, the host
was great, and we just wed. It was just one
of the most memoral times I have, just sitting on
the sofa with Shannon playing family Feud.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
So fine, and her mind was so sharp.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Oh my gosh, she was so smart. It was scary.
And from from she came out of the wound smart.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
What was she like as a baby. Did she have
a formed, very strong personality?
Speaker 1 (25:01):
She was. She was very she was excellent. But both
my kids, I have to say, you know, with Sean too,
my son, was that they were both very very good babies,
very easy. But Shannon would be She's always been more
of a late night person, where my son has been
(25:22):
an early night person. Sean would go to bed at
eight o'clock and then be up at five o'clock in
the morning all the way through high school. That was
him Shannon. As a baby, I would put her in
a room, she would be in her crib. I would
go in. I could go in at two o'clock in
the morning and she'd just be sitting in her room,
just like in her bed, doing whatever, just like singing,
(25:43):
humming whatever. She was always just very content and like
she could entertain herself. And I always wondered what is
going on in her head? And it being a baby.
Artie scripts early and she was walking at eight and
a half months, so it was like she was independent.
Sean was walking in eight months. I mean they were
(26:05):
both very independent, but yet very very affectionate, loving, and
they loved each other and they had each other's backs.
And I think when Channel was about twelve, I took
Seawann aside and I'm like, I know, you love your
sister so much, and I know you know he always
(26:25):
felt like, you know, God sent me a sister, and
that always excited him. And I said, you can always
watch out for her, but you can't, like you got
to back up just a little bit, back off, just
a little bit and that's how they were. They were
very very close and they protected each other dearly.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Well, what, you guys are such a close family?
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Yes, we were, Yeah, and we had to be when
you get a member of your family, which my husband
became like it was more like when we moved out
here and we didn't really have family here or anything,
and he was having major health issues and had him
for many years, and so we all just you just
(27:13):
family closes in and you protect one another and that's
what you do, and you help each other and you
get through the hard times and you enjoy the good times.
And that's just what we always did. And she would
have us come to set, and sometimes if they hadn't
seen us on set for a while, we'd get a
phone call from somebody on the crew or something saying, hey,
(27:35):
where are you where? What are you and Dad doing?
We haven't seen you in a while. Why aren't you here?
Are you coming tomorrow? When are you coming? Come tomorrow?
We're gonna you know, and we would go. But even
when she was with her friends, they would go bowling
at this deli in Studio City, and they would be
they would have like midnight bowling and Tom and I
(27:55):
would already be in bed and we'd get this phone call, Hey,
what are you and dad doing. I'm like, we're in bed,
we're sleeping. Come on, get up and come. We're bowling.
We're waiting for you. Guys. We would get up and
get dressed and go. Because when your children want to
keep you in their lives like that, you do it.
And all her friends have always known. They know now,
(28:17):
you know, even at the ages they are now. If
you need something, if you need a ride, you call,
We'll get you.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
So my parents said the same thing.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Yeah, it's important. That's what you do for one another
if you love each other. That's part of that love.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
As I said before too, is that I think Shannon
and I's bond and respect for each other was how
much we loved our family and how we always stuck
by our family, and then, as we were saying earlier,
we became each other's family, and it was just it's
(28:56):
been a really beautiful, fun journey.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yes, yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
So many memories to go.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Yeah, we're gonna, like I share things with you guys.
I hope you've enjoyed so far what we've shared. And
I also like, I know that Shannon would a couple
of times. I don't know how many times she did.
She took questions from everybody and then she would answer
the questions if if any of you decide you want
to do that, and and uh it works out. I'm like,
(29:28):
I more than happy to take questions. Some questions I
might choose not to answer. Some I will answer, but
I'm open to that because I know that she enjoyed.
She enjoyed that, and it gets you to know her
better and her to know you better the questions that
you're throwing up.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
And I think she liked a lot of the questions
and answers at her conventions. And the last one she
went out, she said it was one of the most
interesting ones.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Mm.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
She really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Yeah, she did. It was interesting too because she got
to know Rose better. And I hope to have Rose
on with me at some point because I've never met Rose.
And when Shannon came back and told me, like the
first time that she and Rose kind of actually met
and got together, and she's she said, I have actually
(30:36):
found Rose very interesting. She says, I'd like for you
to meet her mom and see what you think. And
so I hope to do that. And I felt, what
better place to do it than here on the podcast
where Shannon would would be and just see what comes
(30:57):
out of it. I I you know, I think she
probably still has a lot to say and I have
a lot to say, and it would just be interesting
in the conversation and things between the two of us.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
I think there was a lot of clarity that came out,
which was good and I'm glad they had that experience together. Yeah,
because she said the same thing to me. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
I watched Brian has a Pot. Brian's another one that
I hope someday that like, I can have Brian on
because I've known Brian for a long time and I
love Brian and his wife Sewna, and then they have
the baby now and I just Brian has his podcast.
And I watched Brian's podcast the other night and it
was very interesting. He was It's Brian, I think it
(31:45):
was Brian, Shawna, his wife, and Randy Randy spelling, and
it was really cute. But for me, I thought it
was cute because Brandy talked about when he was twelve
years old and met Shannon and he had this mad
crush on Shannon. Now min Shannon's shared with me when
(32:07):
she first met Randy, and they're at the Spelling mansion,
which is like sixty something thousand square feet, you know
this place, And I never got to go there. My
husband went there, and he would go there and they
would take him in the kitchen and fix him lunch
or whatever. But she said that, she said we used
to play hide and seek in the mansion. She said
it was phenomenal, so we could we could get in
(32:29):
all these clausets and these cupboards and these cabinets that
you wouldn't even know were cabinets, and she says, and
Randy would hide and Tory would hide, and I go
look for and we'd switch up. And she loved that plane.
She talked about playing hide and seek with Randy and
Tory in the mansion.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Got the memories. Yeah, such great movies.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
We're very fortunate that we have all this. And it's
like it brings happiness, but it also brings like it's
like I can at any moment like just like burst
out because it's like it's such a loss. It's such
a loss. And you know, I've said it before. Parents
(33:14):
should never go you know, lasts longer than a child.
A child should never go before parent, and it's things
we have no control. Love, my faith just tells me
it's all in God's hands. And that's how she Annon felt,
and that's how she left felt. That's how she lived
her life. It's like, you know, and I was like,
(33:36):
aren't you afraid to do this? She said, I say,
whatever is meant to happen is going to happen. I
just have to be smart and take the precautions that
I need to take, and then it's in God's hands.
And that's how she lived her life. And with cancer,
I mean, she fought this battle and she thought it
so hard, and and she bought it so much of
(33:57):
that was with her faith. She says, I just have
to faith that I'm doing what I need to do,
and that's she says, that's all I can do. She says,
I'm doing everything I can do, and I just have
to you know, whatever happens is in God's hands.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
She was such a warrior through it all though, Rosa,
because she thought so hard. In fact, I never thought
she was going to go. I just I still can't
believe it. But she never complained. She with the chemo
and be so sick and she never she didn't want
(34:34):
any sympathy from anyone.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
She just.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
I've never I've never seen anything like it in my
entire life. She she was, she was a different breed.
And she moved me.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
Closer to her. She moved me into a room next
to her, closer to her, and then eventually she's like
one night she said, mam, will you I'm sleep with me,
And that's when Bowie got put off the bed and
we would we And that was that that was such
a gift for me that I had all in those
(35:12):
final weeks whatever. It's like I could lay there, I
could hear her breathing, and I could feel her. It's
like it was like it was a gift. It's like
a gift she gave to me. Mama, you come sleep
with me. It was the gift she gave to me.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
And I just remember coming over and rubbing her and
massaging her. But I still couldn't accept it. Yeah, it
was the most bizarre thing, Mama, Rosa. I couldn't accept it.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
And she didn't want you to see her being so.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Vulnerable and vulnerable, yeah, and sick.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
And I came home one day and she said, Mom,
hurry up, I'm like what I just I'm like, I'm
going to go down and check on Indy my doll
really quick, and then I'll come back up. No, no, like,
what's the wonder is Chris is coming? Chris is coming?
She says he's on. He stops on the door. She's
so she just didn't want and I so Chris. I
(36:15):
talked to Chris on the phone and I'm like, Okay, Yeah,
here's what's gonna happen. Around six o'clock. You're gonna knock
on the door and I'm going to be oh, I
need to take Bowie out, and then Bowie will be
barking because somebody's at the door, and then you come.
Then you're just here there. Yep. That's the way it was.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
But it was yeah, I was just life is full
of journeys. I just not to be somber, but I
just wanted us to live our lives together. We had
so much to live for, so many plans, so many
fun plans, and just gosh, but we're going to still
(37:02):
do it. We're still family and we're going to make
our problem. I do our best, one move at a.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Time, and you, as an audience, are going to get
to meet the other people in her life, our family.
It's interesting. When we first met Chris, we were looking
for properties. She was looking for properties in Malibou and
she said, you know, I want you and dad to
go with me. I'm like, okay, And then I said,
(37:36):
are we meeting? Where are we meeting the realtor? And
she says, oh, you know, we're not getting in a
car with somebody we don't know driving us around. She says,
you know, but we're going to meet him wherever it was.
And she says, and then we'll just stay in my
car and then we'll follow him. That's what we did.
And then when we got all done with the day
and look, we the three of us got back into
Shannon's car, and Mom and Shannon and I all looked
(37:59):
at each other at the same time. I'm like, oh
my goodness, this is the one. This is the one.
I mean, he's good looking, he addresses well, he's like
so well mannered. He's he's working, he seems to be good.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
At his work.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
He's just when is the last time we met somebody
this age that's got everything together? And that was our
first introduction to Chris.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
And you know, it's interesting, and we were going to
get together in a different form as best friends, and
we wanted to get married on the Tennessee farm and
lived this extraordinary life. But while she was in body,
(38:49):
we definitely had an amazing journey. Yeah, amazing journey. And
just as a friend, there was no one like Shannon
mm hmm. You just felt so safe in her presence
and you know that she would just she always had
your back. I don't think she ever wanted me to
(39:12):
be in a relationship with anyone because she didn't want
to share meant to share me. No one would pass,
No one would pass the situation. No, nope. But I
think that went both ways.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Yes, you were always sticking on her to.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
No one was good enough for Shannon except me.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Well and definitely.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Yes, that's on next level. Yeah mm hmm. You know,
it's interesting when you have someone so beautiful and so
successful that someone could attack someone's confidence.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
And mistreat them so much.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Like horribly. And that's why when I would appreciate Shannon
and her beauty and her talent and the talent that
I never watched on TV.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
That she probably that's a good thing too, because it
kept your relationship on a whole different level.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Is such a yeah. Yeah, I mean she was Shannon
to me, but not Shannon Dorty, but it was yeah,
my god. In life, you just have to be careful
with people who can go after your confidence and to
(40:36):
try to make themselves better. So very interesting teaching for
all of us.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
Yep, and it's time for indies. Five o'clock Medison here.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Gosh. I just I just got back from Paris three
nights ago. I got in at one o'clock in the morning,
and I took an yellow for his birthday to Disneyland day,
and I had one day to yesterday, and I'm looking
at myself with you can see how tired. But Mama Rosa,
(41:08):
you look so beautiful.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
Oh, thank you, Chris.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
And and I'm so impressed with you and your spirit.
You could tell that you and Shannon are one because
the inner strength of both of you is honorable and
so commendable. And I'm just so impressed with you. I
really am. You're just You're extraordinary, and you just put
(41:37):
your foot in front of the other every day on
the greatest loss that one could endure, and you are
You're a champion for us all.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
Thank you, my kind. I just when I hit a
rough spot, and I do often, I just hear her
voice and her tell me, Okay, Mom, you need to
learn how to do this. You're going to have to
take care of this. You're going to be And I'm like, no, no, no,
It's like and I always said to her, this is
(42:11):
going to be a Debbie Reyntals Carrie Fisher situation, you know,
And she said, I'm like, yeah, I'm like when Carrie went,
Debbie went the next morning, and I'm like, that's what's
going to happen. She says, no, Mom, it's not. Because
I'm going to will you to stay here and here
I am and you're doing I'm trying. So bear with me, everybody,
and I hope that I get to do more podcasts
(42:33):
and all of you are going to watch and listen
to our stories and Chris will be back of some
time if I have anything.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
To do with it, and we can answer more questions,
and then I'll I will post more on Instagram so
we could all live our amazing journey that we shared
with the most incredible, talented, lovely human being that we
all love so dearly.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
So maybe I'll open my Instagram up. Shannon was always like, no, Mom,
well that's what is it.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
What are you going to do? It's gonna be Mama Rosa.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
Yeah, I think it is already a mamabod. But there
I discovered because I too. I went one time to
see if there was anything on my Instagram and there's this.
I see this very tanned, thick legs feet with this
bright peak nail polish and I'm like, and it says
Mama ros I'm like, that's not me. And then I
think there's a real Italian Mama Rosa somewhere out there.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
Okay, well there's on Instagram. We have to create another name.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
Yes, I'm going to be the Mama Rosa. All right. Well,
it's really great getting to spend time with all of
you and stay with us, stay with us.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Love to you all, Thanks for loving Shannon.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
Yes, absolutely love you.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
Bye bye
This is Let's Be Clear with Shannon Dhorny. Hi, everybody.
I'm so excited to be back with you on Let's
Be Clear. And today I have a very special guest,
so I'm going to introduce you too. But first I
just want to let you know that what we want
to do like today, and what I would like to
(00:24):
do is always share stories about Shannon. We'll pick and choose.
There's some things that I'm sure she would prefer to
keep private, but we're gonna be on here to share
stories about her so that you even see a more
integral part of who she was. And I hope you
all enjoy it. And today I'm going to this is Chris.
(00:47):
You've met him before on the podcastcast with Shannon, and
I'm so excited to have him here because he's part
of our family. And that's another thing. We were very fortunate,
Shannon and myself that we came out here and we
don't have any of our family out here. So as
(01:09):
she grew up out here and then I was here,
I would bring my friends to her, she would bring
her friends to me and to her dad, and we
created a family here and now we have this tight
family group here that is support. It was support for her,
(01:29):
support for me when her dad was alive, it was
support for him. And so this is Chris Cortazzo. You
all know Chris from seeing him before on the podcast,
and if you knew one little bit about Shannon at all,
you know how important Chris is to Shannon.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
It's just but I love the way we're still talking present.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yes, I can't help. He's with me all the time.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
It's so weird because my housekeeper today, she goes this
swetter is this yours? It was Shannon's. She left it
on the plane and it's just yummy cashmir sweater. And
you know, it was so And I was bragging about
Shannon because I was just in Europe and her fashion sense.
She had the best style, Like I was telling to
(02:17):
Richard and James, she had the best fashion style.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah. And if I wasn't here, if I was like
in my place, my other place, I'm like, I have
two because she kept me over here a lot in Malibu.
But she would text me and she would take pictures
and she said, I'm going to Nobu denight or wherever
she was going. What do you think about this outfit
and everything that she put together just worked. Or if
(02:42):
I was here, it would be like a fashion show
before she would go to dinner because she wanted to
look nice and she just wanted that opinion. And then
it was really funny because then she would make me
do the same thing. If I was going somewhere, She's like,
if you hurry up, I'll do your makeup and then
show me what you're going to wear.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Is just and I had to confront That was one
of my toughest confrontations. Or just to go to Paris,
because Paris was us. We always went to Paris, and
I revisited a hotel Costs for dinner by myself. I
did a toast to her, and then we went to
(03:20):
our favorite hotel, Hotel I could say it now, Hotel Lancaster,
and we loved Hotel Lancaster. And I just confronted it,
and I could feel her presence. And one morning I
walked I got up so early because I was thinking
of her, and I walked in the Left Bank and
we were I was walking through the streets at like
seven o'clock in the morning, and I turned the corner
(03:41):
and I just get chill saying it, and the wind
just went and she was like, baby, I am here
with you, and it was so brilliant.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
And then there was the whale in Canada.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I haven't shared this with anyone yet. It was yeah,
I said to Sham And after she just left her
body the night before, I said, Shannon, and it was
such a rough day for us. All I said, Shannon,
come to me as a whale. If you come to
(04:13):
me as a whale, I know you're there and you'll
be with Mama Rosa and myself. And I was on
this lower ledge at our place on Quadra Island and
all of a sudden he hit us and there's such
a drop off near the shelf of our cabin. It
was fifteen feet off the shore and this monstrous it
(04:38):
wasn't a gray whale, it was a humpback whale came
and yellow. My son, Yeah, bolted because the sound is
so intense. And then came up and then she, Shannon
came up with this big flute. Shannon's the whale now,
and then waved goodbye and then took off and I
(04:59):
was like, baby, you're there, You're there.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I feel her all around me and when I'm in
the garden, which she absolutely loved, it's it's incredible. So
it we just feel her all the time and the
love that she gave to us. I mean, we all
had our moments, you know, and she could be a
tough cookie, but but you know she would always like
(05:24):
if any little thing and then I know with me,
it was like we might like disagree on something. I
have moments and I'm like, Okay, well I'm just gonna
I'm just gonna go back over to my place or
I'm gonna go downstairs right now, and and uh, after
a while, I would either get a little text or
(05:45):
she would like she would just come to me and
she would just hug me. And when Shannon hugged you,
you knew you had been you were being loved, you
were being and she she was wonderful. And so it's
like I still feel that sometimes. It's like I'll think
about certain moments that we went through and then in
my head I will see that that confrontation and then
(06:10):
the loving result of that confrontation, and it's a beautiful
thing that you have those memories and those feelings that
just are there every every day. And I still like, well,
something exciting will happen or even even maybe it's something
like the dishwasher the other day broke and I went
(06:31):
to tell her, Shannon, the dishwasher is broken, and she
wasn't there. So it's it's just one of those things
that I think most people experience when you truly lose
a loved one. It was that way with my husband.
So she's all around us, and I know that all
you guys, you all have lots of hugs. I met
(06:51):
a lot of you at conventions. I've been to many
conventions with her, and I know that you're all phenomenal fans.
I know that you loved her. I know that you
know she would get up and hug you, and all
those hugs were real, and she appreciated each and every
one of you and everything that you you brought to her,
(07:12):
because you did. You brought to her, You brought the
appreciation of her lifetime work. And that the love that
she extended to her fans.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
It's and she loved her fans. She did, like you said,
she loved and appreciated her fans. And there was always
like once a week we had date night and we
did either go to Nobu Lucky's or Jojio Obaldi's and
there was one really special night where we're sitting in
(07:43):
Nobu and I could see this mother and daughter and
they looked over at us a few times. Everyone look
at Shannon to be real to always. But anyway, they
finally got the courage and the mother came up and said,
this must be a sign. I just told my daughter
that I had breast cancer and the fact that you're
(08:05):
here being so much to me Shannon, and Shannon was
so lovely and so gracious and hugged them into pictures.
But you know where every word she is like a
lifetime achievement of her work and what she accomplished. We
would take boat trips every summer to Greece, and there
(08:28):
was a I was.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Too afraid to go because I was I'm afraid of that.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
That's a different story. Yeah, that will lead into.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
But talking about to Greece at that time, I've got time.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
But then you got over your fear. And it was
the smallest little island and there's an eighty something year
old man and he goes Shannon Doherty. Shannon Doherty. But
her fame was everywhere and she I was just so
proud of her as a friend. She was extraordinary and yeah,
(09:03):
she just she had so much love to give. It
was such an inspiration to watch. And I never really
watched a lot of her work before.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Now it's everywhere now now TV. It's like I turn
on the TV and there she is, and.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
She showed me one episode and maybe I'll put it
on Instagram. I had to find it, and she had
a New York accent. She was like at a diner. Yeah,
and she's we're taking off on our plane and we
she played it for me and I go, Chamon, you're
so good. You're such a great actress. And she looked
(09:44):
at me and you could tell how happy that she was.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
You appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I just appreciated her talent. I was like, babe, you're amazing.
And then we try to watch Heathers and we fell asleep.
That was that was our one figure of watching. But
now you know, it's everywhere on the Instagram and I'm
watching all these clips of her and I'm just like,
I just wish we could talk a little bit more
(10:11):
about that. But I do say, I go, babe, you're
so great. Yes.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
The other night I turned on and it was a
burning passion in Margaret Mitchell's story. Margaret Mitchell were going
with the Wind, and Shannon played Margaret Mitchell and it
was shot in Bright School Beach, I think, South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
She loved it.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
She had her dog at the time. Her dog was Elfy.
She had Elfie with her, and they gave her a
beautiful home to say it, and gave her a motor
boat and an inner tube, and Elfie would get on
the very top of the boat and then Shannon would
be in the inner tube out in the water, and
(10:57):
then somebody would be driving the boat. Usually it was
who she had been with for seven years. But to
hear her do this, I mean, I grew up in
the South. I mean she was born in Tennessee and
we left there when she was going in the first grade.
But like, it was amazing to me because I'm like,
(11:17):
Shannon was never one that was like, will you run
lines with me? Will you do this? She read a
script and she knew it, and she pinned down her
character and everything you saw was Shannon. She developed it
all herself. And so I'm watching this, of course I
watched it, you know originally, But to sit there in
my room alone, which is my little dog, and this
(11:38):
comes on and I'm watching it and just even gave me,
as her mom, even a greater appreciation of what she
was able to do.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
What a talent, Yeah, what a talent.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Should we go back to our boat trip, our Malibu Crosia.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Group, Yes, so Mama Rosa, myself and Shannon and a
couple of other friends.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Uh it eventually meet.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yes, it was on her bucket list that we would
go to Croatia and rent this big, beautiful yacht. So
we did four stories, right, yeah, four stories and it
was just perfection.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
And I was scared of this.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
I know you weren't.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
I don't like being on the water, and it freaked
me out.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
And Mama Rosa brought probably eighty five coordinated, perfect outfits.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
That was Shannon's doing, she was I think it was
all trying to get me.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Dinner and maybe a cocktail attire. And we were on
this boat. And when you're on the boat, you literally
where your pajamas were, swimming in pajamas, the most casual
you probably wore. I don't see six outfits the whole time.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
I broke my ribs and it was hard to get
in and out of so much stuff I wore as
little and as loose as I could.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
But that was now you are your yaughterer officially.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Well, when you're on that is it the A, G
and C. When you're on A G and C, it's
very calm. It's not like you're out in the Pacific.
I know a woman who is in Malibu who is
a major sailing, major, sportswoman, all of this stuff, not
afraid of anything, and she said the last place she
wants to be is out on the Pacific Ocean.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Well, one time Shannon and I went from Bowdrum to
Greece through the islands, and there was one night it
was so rough we were literally all flying in the
air and then landing. I have never experienced seas like that,
and Shannon slept the whole way through and on the boat.
(13:54):
If you know anything about Shannon, she has to have
her room subarctic. Yeah, and it was. They would I
think it was sixty two degrees and so I'd call
my nickname for her was little Bear because she would
go in and hibernate in her room and she would
she's so relaxed on the CD and she loved it.
(14:16):
Oh my gosh, have we had such fun journeys. And
Mama Rosa we have to post some of her pictures
of or maybe some videos as well of us.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
To it. Yeah, there's some really go to and see
what we can share.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
The PG version.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
But we were pretty good.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
We were great. But gosh, what a fun trip. When
you looked at Shannon's eyes and her facial features, she
(15:02):
was one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen.
And every time we go out to dinner, she would
give me that luck because I'd be looking at her
in an interesting way and I go, Shannon, you are
the most beautiful woman in the world. And you could
just see how it just touched her heart. But I said,
(15:26):
it was such sincerity. Her face, it just everything about
her was gorgeous, like beyond beyond gorgeous. That was just
those eyes were like cats, those gorgeous green and the
shape of them. But you know, you being Native American,
(15:47):
was that your side or to my side? You had
the highest cheek bones.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
One of my I don't know which grade it was,
but one of my great grandmothers had been taken from
Mississippi be to Oklahoma, walking from Mississippi to Oklahoma in
the Trail of Tears, so the whole Indian heritage to
Shannon was very, very important, and she swore when she
bought this property, it just she felt something with this
(16:14):
property and she just was here and she says, I
just feel it. She says, I know that this is
where I'm supposed to be. And she just felt that
whole Indian.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
It's the Tchumash Indians that were in residence here, but.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Then what we were chucked out. But I mean, yeah,
she just felt like the whole Indian.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yeah. Yeah, And that's why I think she loved our
ranch property so much, because they were in that valley
and that's where we had so many We shared, Chen
and I shared on our other podcast how special it
was to be there and that was a healing time
for you and Shannon, my husbands away. Yeah, you guys
(16:58):
went up there. I remember she told us to on
the podcast that she the wind came and she said,
and Tom said, I'll be okay. Yeah, amazing.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
And dragonflies, I mean when she one of the ceremonies
that she was in, we won't mention which one, but
she was walking and a dragonfly lit on the back
of her dress and I was walking next to her,
and from that moment on, I mean, and we were
said one day after her dad had passed away. We're
(17:33):
sitting on the steps at the ranch and this dragonfly
just came and sat on her shoulder, and it's just
like every time, you know, it's just I don't know.
She just felt like that was her a symbol of
her dad, you know, not this, but it was just
a symbol of her dad. It just gave her like
(17:53):
a quiet peace.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
So great. And the ranch unfortunately burned down, but we're
building it, aren't we. Rosa yes, and it's going to
be a new version, a new improved version, which is
going to be so fun. One thing I think we
should talk about is all of Shannon's dreams.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
You have to be careful now, streams you share. Oh
I'm so okay, dreams, dreams like careful.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Talking about No. We we bought this beautiful farm called
the one hundred Acre Woods from the Winnie Depoo. It's
actually one hundred and fifty acres and there was sixty
flat acres and there's two separate pastures and then it backs.
There's a stream that goes through it and you drive
over a bridge and a waterfall and then the main
(18:47):
house is there. And we had all these homes that
we're going to be building and Mama Rosa and Shannon
we're going to be building something on the back.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Forty and she picked out and everybody's like, she's.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
The best location. Of course it's Shannon. So she picked
out the best location. And she had designed a structure
for you and for Shannon and the combined is it
living room, kitchen.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
It was almost like, okay, she said, First off, she said,
it's got to be dune put up by United Steel
because you do have tornadoes there and we have a studio.
Studio here was put up by United Steel. And she said,
then we can wrap it in whatever we want, but
we know it's strong. And so she said, we're going
to have like a main house and then on each
(19:39):
end we will have apartments, her apartment, my apartment, and
when we want to have people over and everything, or
we want to get where we can cook and do
and everything in the main center of the of the structure.
And then when we're just like because she has somebody
personal coming over and I just want to spend time together,
(20:00):
it's like they're in her spot, I'm in my spot.
And then we were but the whole thing was then
to build a barn, and she wanted to like bring
some the rescue horses up, and she wanted to be
sure that this is children and yellow Anna Moray learned
how to ride. She wanted very much for them.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
To insist, yes, insisting on that. We're still going to
build that structure for you and for Shannon, and that's
going to go up. And during that process where this
is all being built, all of us we're going to
(20:40):
live long enough room you'll be living. I'm not letting
you go nowhere. But we were going to go to
Italy for two years, and we were debating between Rome
and then are outside of Florence. We're going to get
a big family villa with all these cottages. And one
thing I loved about Shannon is that she would do
(21:00):
all the research so I could just go up, we
can make the decision. She would pick out the five
best things and then we'd show up and make our move.
But we were going to do that for a couple
of years. Have the children learn Italian, and well, we
just all wanted to be together. And we're still going
(21:21):
to be together, Mama Rosa. We have a lot of
living to do. But yeah, we had a lot of
dreams right, and her bucket list.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
The last thing we were doing well. She and I
had a trip planned together to Scotland because on my
dad's side, my grandfather is Scottish and we'd already been
to Ireland because on his side, my grandmother's from Ireland.
And so Shannon said, you know, when we went to Ireland,
we didn't have time to go to Scotland, so we
(21:53):
always planned to go back. And this was like the
next trip was like, she says, you and I are
going to Scotland and we're going to Sardinia. Our Malibu
group is going to Sardinia. There's seven of us, including
Shannon and myself. There were seven of us all together.
And that was what she wanted to go to Sardinia
(22:13):
and have.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
The mama's teacher's cooking. It's so fun. Yeah, and Shannon
was an amazing shot. Oh what about every Sunday night,
That's what I was going to bring up so sweet. Yeah,
every Sunday night we had La Familia night. And Shannon
(22:35):
would spend days making the tomato sauce for my mother
and a yellow and amida, and she would make the
dough days before and we'd have the most delicious feast
and they would and Yellow and Shannon and AMREI would dance.
We had to. There's some fun videos.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Of all that, one where they're just like, yeah, they're
just like dancing, they're running, they're running around. It's like
she was like a kid herself, and she loved that
kind of thing. She loves. She loved it, she loved it.
There would be it's like there would be times she
loved like music and I have always loved music, and
(23:19):
we would just be everything would be quiet, come we
would just be we usually just we were sitting doing whatever,
and suddenly the music would come on and she would
get up and the next thing I knew, she would
grab me and we would be we would be dancing
and she says, come on, Mom, you can do this.
You can do this, and I'm like okay. And then
sometimes we would go outside on the patio and we
(23:42):
would be the music blasting and just dancing and having
the best time. And she loved to do that. And
then our other thing to do and it was just
the two of us together. I would be like we
would fix dinner. Sometimes we fix dinner together. Sometimes she'd
be like, no, I'm fixing dinner tonight. And then other
times we'd just order in, but should we get dinner?
(24:03):
Whatever it's done, dinner's all ready to go, and so
she said, okay, grab your plate, and she'd head into
the the library with the TV and she'd said, come on,
come on, family food is starting. We loved family food.
We played family Feud. There's two of us would sit
on the sofa and play family Food and we would
(24:25):
laugh and it's like the contestants were great, the host
was great, and we just wed. It was just one
of the most memoral times I have, just sitting on
the sofa with Shannon playing family Feud.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
So fine, and her mind was so sharp.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Oh my gosh, she was so smart. It was scary.
And from from she came out of the wound smart.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
What was she like as a baby. Did she have
a formed, very strong personality?
Speaker 1 (25:01):
She was. She was very she was excellent. But both
my kids, I have to say, you know, with Sean too,
my son, was that they were both very very good babies,
very easy. But Shannon would be She's always been more
of a late night person, where my son has been
(25:22):
an early night person. Sean would go to bed at
eight o'clock and then be up at five o'clock in
the morning all the way through high school. That was
him Shannon. As a baby, I would put her in
a room, she would be in her crib. I would
go in. I could go in at two o'clock in
the morning and she'd just be sitting in her room,
just like in her bed, doing whatever, just like singing,
(25:43):
humming whatever. She was always just very content and like
she could entertain herself. And I always wondered what is
going on in her head? And it being a baby.
Artie scripts early and she was walking at eight and
a half months, so it was like she was independent.
Sean was walking in eight months. I mean they were
(26:05):
both very independent, but yet very very affectionate, loving, and
they loved each other and they had each other's backs.
And I think when Channel was about twelve, I took
Seawann aside and I'm like, I know, you love your
sister so much, and I know you know he always
(26:25):
felt like, you know, God sent me a sister, and
that always excited him. And I said, you can always
watch out for her, but you can't, like you got
to back up just a little bit, back off, just
a little bit and that's how they were. They were
very very close and they protected each other dearly.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Well, what, you guys are such a close family?
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Yes, we were, Yeah, and we had to be when
you get a member of your family, which my husband
became like it was more like when we moved out
here and we didn't really have family here or anything,
and he was having major health issues and had him
for many years, and so we all just you just
(27:13):
family closes in and you protect one another and that's
what you do, and you help each other and you
get through the hard times and you enjoy the good times.
And that's just what we always did. And she would
have us come to set, and sometimes if they hadn't
seen us on set for a while, we'd get a
phone call from somebody on the crew or something saying, hey,
(27:35):
where are you where? What are you and Dad doing?
We haven't seen you in a while. Why aren't you here?
Are you coming tomorrow? When are you coming? Come tomorrow?
We're gonna you know, and we would go. But even
when she was with her friends, they would go bowling
at this deli in Studio City, and they would be
they would have like midnight bowling and Tom and I
(27:55):
would already be in bed and we'd get this phone call, Hey,
what are you and dad doing. I'm like, we're in bed,
we're sleeping. Come on, get up and come. We're bowling.
We're waiting for you. Guys. We would get up and
get dressed and go. Because when your children want to
keep you in their lives like that, you do it.
And all her friends have always known. They know now,
(28:17):
you know, even at the ages they are now. If
you need something, if you need a ride, you call,
We'll get you.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
So my parents said the same thing.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Yeah, it's important. That's what you do for one another
if you love each other. That's part of that love.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
As I said before too, is that I think Shannon
and I's bond and respect for each other was how
much we loved our family and how we always stuck
by our family, and then, as we were saying earlier,
we became each other's family, and it was just it's
(28:56):
been a really beautiful, fun journey.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yes, yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
So many memories to go.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Yeah, we're gonna, like I share things with you guys.
I hope you've enjoyed so far what we've shared. And
I also like, I know that Shannon would a couple
of times. I don't know how many times she did.
She took questions from everybody and then she would answer
the questions if if any of you decide you want
to do that, and and uh it works out. I'm like,
(29:28):
I more than happy to take questions. Some questions I
might choose not to answer. Some I will answer, but
I'm open to that because I know that she enjoyed.
She enjoyed that, and it gets you to know her
better and her to know you better the questions that
you're throwing up.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
And I think she liked a lot of the questions
and answers at her conventions. And the last one she
went out, she said it was one of the most
interesting ones.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Mm.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
She really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Yeah, she did. It was interesting too because she got
to know Rose better. And I hope to have Rose
on with me at some point because I've never met Rose.
And when Shannon came back and told me, like the
first time that she and Rose kind of actually met
and got together, and she's she said, I have actually
(30:36):
found Rose very interesting. She says, I'd like for you
to meet her mom and see what you think. And
so I hope to do that. And I felt, what
better place to do it than here on the podcast
where Shannon would would be and just see what comes
(30:57):
out of it. I I you know, I think she
probably still has a lot to say and I have
a lot to say, and it would just be interesting
in the conversation and things between the two of us.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
I think there was a lot of clarity that came out,
which was good and I'm glad they had that experience together. Yeah,
because she said the same thing to me. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
I watched Brian has a Pot. Brian's another one that
I hope someday that like, I can have Brian on
because I've known Brian for a long time and I
love Brian and his wife Sewna, and then they have
the baby now and I just Brian has his podcast.
And I watched Brian's podcast the other night and it
was very interesting. He was It's Brian, I think it
(31:45):
was Brian, Shawna, his wife, and Randy Randy spelling, and
it was really cute. But for me, I thought it
was cute because Brandy talked about when he was twelve
years old and met Shannon and he had this mad
crush on Shannon. Now min Shannon's shared with me when
(32:07):
she first met Randy, and they're at the Spelling mansion,
which is like sixty something thousand square feet, you know
this place, And I never got to go there. My
husband went there, and he would go there and they
would take him in the kitchen and fix him lunch
or whatever. But she said that, she said we used
to play hide and seek in the mansion. She said
it was phenomenal, so we could we could get in
(32:29):
all these clausets and these cupboards and these cabinets that
you wouldn't even know were cabinets, and she says, and
Randy would hide and Tory would hide, and I go
look for and we'd switch up. And she loved that plane.
She talked about playing hide and seek with Randy and
Tory in the mansion.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Got the memories. Yeah, such great movies.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
We're very fortunate that we have all this. And it's
like it brings happiness, but it also brings like it's
like I can at any moment like just like burst
out because it's like it's such a loss. It's such
a loss. And you know, I've said it before. Parents
(33:14):
should never go you know, lasts longer than a child.
A child should never go before parent, and it's things
we have no control. Love, my faith just tells me
it's all in God's hands. And that's how she Annon felt,
and that's how she left felt. That's how she lived
her life. It's like, you know, and I was like,
(33:36):
aren't you afraid to do this? She said, I say,
whatever is meant to happen is going to happen. I
just have to be smart and take the precautions that
I need to take, and then it's in God's hands.
And that's how she lived her life. And with cancer,
I mean, she fought this battle and she thought it
so hard, and and she bought it so much of
(33:57):
that was with her faith. She says, I just have
to faith that I'm doing what I need to do,
and that's she says, that's all I can do. She says,
I'm doing everything I can do, and I just have
to you know, whatever happens is in God's hands.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
She was such a warrior through it all though, Rosa,
because she thought so hard. In fact, I never thought
she was going to go. I just I still can't
believe it. But she never complained. She with the chemo
and be so sick and she never she didn't want
(34:34):
any sympathy from anyone.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
She just.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
I've never I've never seen anything like it in my
entire life. She she was, she was a different breed.
And she moved me.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
Closer to her. She moved me into a room next
to her, closer to her, and then eventually she's like
one night she said, mam, will you I'm sleep with me,
And that's when Bowie got put off the bed and
we would we And that was that that was such
a gift for me that I had all in those
(35:12):
final weeks whatever. It's like I could lay there, I
could hear her breathing, and I could feel her. It's
like it was like it was a gift. It's like
a gift she gave to me. Mama, you come sleep
with me. It was the gift she gave to me.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
And I just remember coming over and rubbing her and
massaging her. But I still couldn't accept it. Yeah, it
was the most bizarre thing, Mama, Rosa. I couldn't accept it.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
And she didn't want you to see her being so.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Vulnerable and vulnerable, yeah, and sick.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
And I came home one day and she said, Mom,
hurry up, I'm like what I just I'm like, I'm
going to go down and check on Indy my doll
really quick, and then I'll come back up. No, no, like,
what's the wonder is Chris is coming? Chris is coming?
She says he's on. He stops on the door. She's
so she just didn't want and I so Chris. I
(36:15):
talked to Chris on the phone and I'm like, Okay, Yeah,
here's what's gonna happen. Around six o'clock. You're gonna knock
on the door and I'm going to be oh, I
need to take Bowie out, and then Bowie will be
barking because somebody's at the door, and then you come.
Then you're just here there. Yep. That's the way it was.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
But it was yeah, I was just life is full
of journeys. I just not to be somber, but I
just wanted us to live our lives together. We had
so much to live for, so many plans, so many
fun plans, and just gosh, but we're going to still
(37:02):
do it. We're still family and we're going to make
our problem. I do our best, one move at a.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Time, and you, as an audience, are going to get
to meet the other people in her life, our family.
It's interesting. When we first met Chris, we were looking
for properties. She was looking for properties in Malibou and
she said, you know, I want you and dad to
go with me. I'm like, okay, And then I said,
(37:36):
are we meeting? Where are we meeting the realtor? And
she says, oh, you know, we're not getting in a
car with somebody we don't know driving us around. She says,
you know, but we're going to meet him wherever it was.
And she says, and then we'll just stay in my
car and then we'll follow him. That's what we did.
And then when we got all done with the day
and look, we the three of us got back into
Shannon's car, and Mom and Shannon and I all looked
(37:59):
at each other at the same time. I'm like, oh
my goodness, this is the one. This is the one.
I mean, he's good looking, he addresses well, he's like
so well mannered. He's he's working, he seems to be good.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
At his work.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
He's just when is the last time we met somebody
this age that's got everything together? And that was our
first introduction to Chris.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
And you know, it's interesting, and we were going to
get together in a different form as best friends, and
we wanted to get married on the Tennessee farm and
lived this extraordinary life. But while she was in body,
(38:49):
we definitely had an amazing journey. Yeah, amazing journey. And
just as a friend, there was no one like Shannon
mm hmm. You just felt so safe in her presence
and you know that she would just she always had
your back. I don't think she ever wanted me to
(39:12):
be in a relationship with anyone because she didn't want
to share meant to share me. No one would pass,
No one would pass the situation. No, nope. But I
think that went both ways.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Yes, you were always sticking on her to.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
No one was good enough for Shannon except me.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Well and definitely.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Yes, that's on next level. Yeah mm hmm. You know,
it's interesting when you have someone so beautiful and so
successful that someone could attack someone's confidence.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
And mistreat them so much.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Like horribly. And that's why when I would appreciate Shannon
and her beauty and her talent and the talent that
I never watched on TV.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
That she probably that's a good thing too, because it
kept your relationship on a whole different level.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Is such a yeah. Yeah, I mean she was Shannon
to me, but not Shannon Dorty, but it was yeah,
my god. In life, you just have to be careful
with people who can go after your confidence and to
(40:36):
try to make themselves better. So very interesting teaching for
all of us.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
Yep, and it's time for indies. Five o'clock Medison here.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Gosh. I just I just got back from Paris three
nights ago. I got in at one o'clock in the morning,
and I took an yellow for his birthday to Disneyland day,
and I had one day to yesterday, and I'm looking
at myself with you can see how tired. But Mama Rosa,
(41:08):
you look so beautiful.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
Oh, thank you, Chris.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
And and I'm so impressed with you and your spirit.
You could tell that you and Shannon are one because
the inner strength of both of you is honorable and
so commendable. And I'm just so impressed with you. I
really am. You're just You're extraordinary, and you just put
(41:37):
your foot in front of the other every day on
the greatest loss that one could endure, and you are
You're a champion for us all.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
Thank you, my kind. I just when I hit a
rough spot, and I do often, I just hear her
voice and her tell me, Okay, Mom, you need to
learn how to do this. You're going to have to
take care of this. You're going to be And I'm like, no, no, no,
It's like and I always said to her, this is
(42:11):
going to be a Debbie Reyntals Carrie Fisher situation, you know,
And she said, I'm like, yeah, I'm like when Carrie went,
Debbie went the next morning, and I'm like, that's what's
going to happen. She says, no, Mom, it's not. Because
I'm going to will you to stay here and here
I am and you're doing I'm trying. So bear with me, everybody,
and I hope that I get to do more podcasts
(42:33):
and all of you are going to watch and listen
to our stories and Chris will be back of some
time if I have anything.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
To do with it, and we can answer more questions,
and then I'll I will post more on Instagram so
we could all live our amazing journey that we shared
with the most incredible, talented, lovely human being that we
all love so dearly.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
So maybe I'll open my Instagram up. Shannon was always like, no, Mom,
well that's what is it.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
What are you going to do? It's gonna be Mama Rosa.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
Yeah, I think it is already a mamabod. But there
I discovered because I too. I went one time to
see if there was anything on my Instagram and there's this.
I see this very tanned, thick legs feet with this
bright peak nail polish and I'm like, and it says
Mama ros I'm like, that's not me. And then I
think there's a real Italian Mama Rosa somewhere out there.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
Okay, well there's on Instagram. We have to create another name.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
Yes, I'm going to be the Mama Rosa. All right. Well,
it's really great getting to spend time with all of
you and stay with us, stay with us.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Love to you all, Thanks for loving Shannon.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
Yes, absolutely love you.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
Bye bye
Host
Shannen Doherty
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