January 16, 2024 • 46 mins
Our first episode back in 2024 is dedicated to YOU - our listeners!
As you know, we ask for you to send in voice memos with questions and/or thoughts but we never seem to have enough time to do more than 2 questions per episode. Rosie wanted to hear from you more and here it is: a whole show of questions and thoughts from the voice memos sent in and Rosie responding.
Did we pick yours? Listen and find out, and; even if we didn't, it's a fun and heartfelt listen!And please - continue sending us your voice memos to: OnwardRosie@gmail.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Well, hi everybody, and welcome back. It's been three weeks
that we've been off on break. I took my little
one back to New York for the holidays. I got
to see almost all my kids, and not Chelse, she
was in Wisconsin, but everybody else I got to see
(00:33):
and you know, meet Parker's new girlfriend, and you know,
hang out with Jackie and Jeanie. I went to see
a couple movies. I went to see some Broadway shows,
of course, because when in New York, you've got to
see a Broadway show. It's the best part of living there,
it really is. I missed the Broadway life. I miss
(00:55):
not seeing a show, you know all the time. I
mean something about holding that waxy playbill and here in
the orchestra tune up and you're just like, here we go.
You know, it's like the best roller coaster ride in
the world if you ask me. But I'm a little biased,
being a New Yorker and all that. So God, that
(01:18):
first part of the year seems to you know, when
you still have kids in school, you go by the
school calendar, right, It's like it starts in June and
it ends in June, and it's just hard to believe
that we're here already. And great news in terms of
January is the guide dog training begins in a couple
(01:43):
weeks and I go away for ten days and I
get trained to be the handler of my kids' autism
service dog. And this is my new Year's resolution to
really stick to it and do good and connect and
(02:03):
you know, have this be the experience that I know
it will be for my kiddo. So that's exciting. And
they just turned eleven. We had a birthday party at
a circus Dave and Busters, not technically at Damon Busters,
but it was called two Bit Circus or something, and
(02:24):
it was really wonderful virtual reality like mispac Man, arcade games,
carnival games. They had the greatest time and it was
so fun to see it really was. They did an
escape room at the end and they had to do
teamwork and all the eight of them or the nine
(02:47):
of them escape the escape room. You know, I always
thought an escape room really launched you in. I come
to find out it's not a case at all. You
can leave whenever you want, which makes me want to
try one now, because frankly I was too afraid to
ever go try an escape group. I thought, all these people,
nobody has anxiety but me. It's like making a billion
(03:08):
dollars a year, and I'm thinking that you may be
held captive, really, really people. There's things bouncing around my head.
You have no idea, no idea, people, So listen what
we thought we would do while we were away on
those three weeks. Laurie, my producer here, has been hard
at work getting all of the questions ready and I
(03:31):
have not heard any of them yet. But these are
all messages left by you, the loyal listener, and we
thank each and every one of you for leaving a message.
We got a whole bunch and we picked out some.
I haven't heard any of these questions, so it'll be
the first time I'm hearing it. And we're just gonna
go until the time runs out. So hit it. Let's go.
(03:52):
Question or Viewer number one, Rosie.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I fell in love with you after watching you in
A League of their Own and Sleepless and See How,
And I was thrilled when you played Betty and the
Flintstones because it was one of my favorite childhood cartoons.
When you started your TV show in nineteen ninety six,
I was pregnant with my first child. Although we didn't
know the baby's gender, we had chosen the name Brandon
early on in the pregnancy. However, the pregnancy was difficult
(04:18):
and I was put in bed rest right around the
time your TV show aired. My grandmother came to stay
with me to help out, and we watched your show
every single day. It was an absolute highlight, and Grandma
fell in love with you too as we listened to
the stories about your son. We also fell in love
with a name Parker and decided to change my baby's name.
We had to explain that to my husband when he
(04:40):
got home that night, but Grandma just told him that
that was the way it was going to be. On
August twenty seventh, I gave birth to my premi baby
boy named Parker, who would have been Brandon if it
wasn't for you. My question actually is about your podcast
theme song. Who is a composer and why did you
choose it? Compared to your TV themes, which was entertaining,
(05:01):
hyped up and energetic, your podcast theme is more calming
and serene. Both themes set the mood appropriately. Your TV
show was exciting and animated, whereas your podcast is more
tranquil and thought provoking. They show two sides of you,
which I admire both very much. Thank you for being
a part of our lives for so many years and
for allowing us to feel a part of yours.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
I bet you got all a's in school. That was
like most beautifully written little essay and it was very touching.
Thank you so much for that. You know, my Parker
was a pre me too, and he's a tall six foot,
big old man now, you know, so as I'm sure
(05:45):
yours is as well, because they're they're twenty eight now right, Wow,
it's hard to believe, you know, it's that many years
have gone by. But the song, the song that you're
talking about is Andre Simone, who is really an unbelievably
talented songwriter and he played with Prince. He's you know,
(06:06):
listen google him Andre Simone and the Simone is see
why mo on e and what you know, we share
a love of Joni Mitchell. He and I were both
talking about that and I was like kicking it around.
I'm like something that evokes the mood of the Joni
Mitchell piano pieces, and he came up with that beautiful song.
(06:28):
That's where we get the song from, so thank you
for that. And yeah, the first show was, you know,
very much an entertainment kind of bump bump, bump bomb quick,
you know. And definitely the podcast is an older, more mature,
less quick kind of pace. And isn't that the evolution
(06:50):
of life in some ways?
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Right?
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Who you are in your thirties or forties, you know,
who you are in your sixties. A lot changes in
between those times. You know, all Right, who do we
got next?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Hey, Rosie, my name's Amanda. I feel like I've grown
up with you. I was in high school when your
show started, and I never missed it. I was lucky
enough to be in your studio audience twice, and I
saw you in Susicle and you were so kind to
me at the stage door. We even got a photo together,
which just made my life at the time. You have
(07:23):
no idea. Like so many, your show helped develop my
love for Broadway. I majored in music in college, and
after I graduated, I moved to New York City and
even worked for a Broadway producer for a while and
had some other really cool music jobs. I have two
daughters now and am a preschool music teacher. Which is
(07:45):
so fun. But anyway, my question for you is a
very scary topic. Teenagers. My oldest is ten, and I'm
already getting attitude and a lot of very strong feelings
from her. I'm so out of my element and I'm
just learning.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
As I go.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
I wasn't ready for this to start at age ten.
I thought I had a few more years left. Are
girl teenage years harder for moms? I don't know any
advice for me.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Who Well, wonderful, wonderful question, honestly, and I have to
tell the truth. I am a much better parent two
young kids than I am to teenagers. I struggled a
lot during their teenage years. I mean a real lot.
You know. I have gone through a lot of therapy
(08:33):
to figure out why I did the things that I
did in the way that I did based on what
I imagined would happen when I had my own kids.
You know, it's hard. And my eleven year old here
is in those teenage stage as well, and then you
(08:54):
add a layer of autism on top of that, and
that's going to be an interesting ride. I can already feel.
You know, the biggest thing is to keep communication open
and to know and I never knew this because my
mom died before I was a teen, so I didn't
push against anyone to you know, figure out who I
(09:18):
was not in the shadow of my mother. And children
have to do that, they have to push away from you.
But when Parker did it first one my oldest, I
was a basket case hysterical. I made him go to
therapy with me. I was crying, saying, you know, he
doesn't spend time with me, he never talks to me.
Weas a go to the movies, and I cried for
(09:41):
forty minutes and finally the wonderful guy he said to him,
do you have anything to say? And he said, yeah,
can you adjust her medication? Which you know is funny
it it's in my act, but it's a true story,
you know, And he was right. I was having, you know,
such a hard time having ever kind of experienced it
(10:04):
at dealing with it. So it's hard, man, it's hard.
It really is. To stay as close as you can
to them, is all I can say, even though they're
going to push you away and be embarrassed of you,
and you know, all those things. But I think there's
no such thing as over loving a kid. I really don't,
(10:27):
so I don't know if we should take parenting tips
for me, but that's that's what I would say. Stay
as close as you can, love love, love love them,
and know that they're confused and their hormones are everywhere.
And you know, Inside Out is coming out with a
new version Inside Out too in the summer, and it's
(10:47):
all about puberty. And I think that that's going to
be so helpful to so many parents of teens. And
I can't wait to see it, and neither can Clay.
They're very excited about that film, and I'm so thankful
Amy Palmer genius, really genius. That film's genius. Okay, we
got another question. Here we go.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Hi Rosie, Hello from North Dakota. My name is Greg
and wow, you are an amazing interviewer. I guess I
should have known that because of all your experience with
your TV show and all that. But thank you so
much for your podcast. I've got a long commute and
it's a great day when I have a new podcast
(11:28):
of yours to listen to, So thank you so much.
The reason why I'm making this recording is that I
was listening to the interview with Sophie B. Hawkings, and
you all started to talk about parenting without a partner,
and it just cut right through me. As a matter
of fact, I had to pull the car over out
in the middle of nowhere and just sit and listen
(11:50):
to the rest of the interview undistracted. My situation is
that I'm a saying old dad. My husband at the
time had children, and I was ambivalent about it. I
didn't think that I would be a good dad. No
one in my life I don't think thought that I
would be a good dad. It wasn't anything I'd ever
(12:10):
thought about for myself. And we fostered these three amazing kids,
survivors of extreme trauma, little gods of chaos, and I
just absolutely fell in love with it, discovered a part
of myself that I didn't know existed. And unfortunately, my
(12:33):
husband discovered that this wasn't really for him, and I
went on to adopt all three kids. None of my
friends or family have ever been able to understand how
I can be okay with my husband's leaving. But I
heard you all say, it's just I didn't want to
be a parent with someone who didn't want to be
(12:55):
a parent, and being a parent was pretty much all
I wanted to do. Anyway. You were talking about therapy
and stuff like that, but you know that whole saying
you can't pour from an empty cup, and I really
struggle with that. So I just wanted to hear you
comment more about how you keep yourself in a place
(13:16):
where you can be fully present for your kids. You know,
I try a bunch of little things, like I may
take an extra moment when I'm out grocery shopping to
get an ice cream, or I might you know, listen
to your podcast, or you know, you know, get up
a few minutes early so I can have a few
minutes to collect my thoughts. You know, I have lots
(13:38):
of little ways, but I just wanted to hear you
talk a little bit more about that. Anyway, I could
go on forever. Thank you so much for your for
your podcast, and I don't know what else to say,
so I'll just say, uh, say goodbye, okay.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Joe, thank you so much, so sweet. I love these
I always imagine where you're sitting and if you're talking
into your you know phone, or how you're doing it,
and you know, such a warm feeling from your voice,
and good for you. You know that these children found
(14:15):
their way to you, and that awakened your sense of
being a parent and how important that is in your
life and world. And even if people don't understand, you
know there you know, there are are people that have
a certainty that they will parent from the time they're
(14:36):
on the earth, you know. And I was one of
those people, you know, I just was I was certain
I wanted to have a lot of children. And how
we came to be, you know, in this family, it
has has its own story, as every family does. And
I think that I parented with Kelly for the first
(14:56):
four and then alone for this last one. Clay also
known as Dakota. I know it's still confusing to some people,
but they're going by Clay and the pronouns are they
them And that's okay with me, And I know some
people have trouble with it. I'm just glad that you're
(15:17):
not parenting them, okay. So I would say that parenting
as a single parent has advantages. You know, Now, what
do you do for yourself? That's something that I need
to take notes on, like, you know, self care and
(15:39):
knowing that you're you know, a separate person who gets
to have friends and a life and go do things
and not always just be home with your kid who
likes to be home all the time. You know, that's
kind of a tough thing to do. But I think
that the more connected you are to your family, the
(16:00):
better you feel as a human. And and you know
you have a strong desire to parent. That's all you
want to do, is what you said. And I totally
understand that. I totally understand it, and I think it's
wonderful I do. But take care of yourself first, and
(16:21):
you know, put on your life mask first. That's what
they say. I'm sure I would put theirs on first
and then grab mine, which is against the rules and
not the way one should do it. Fully understand, I
fully understand. Thank you for that. We're going to take
a little break. We'll be back with more questions from you.
Are fabulous listeners. Okay, so we got another question from you,
(17:05):
the loyal listener.
Speaker 5 (17:06):
Here we go, Hi, Rosie, this is Marianne in New Jersey.
I actually have two questions for you. One is, did
you ever feel a frustration or difficulty that you weren't
able to come out during your show? Was it the
people around you? Was it the network that kind of
(17:30):
told you that wouldn't be a good idea. I remember
in nineteen ninety nine that I made a conscious decision
that I was tired, that I wanted to live a
different life. I'm a physician, and my wife and I
both made the conscious decision that we were going to
(17:51):
live out from that point on. It was the best
decision we ever made. Sadly, I lost her about five
years ago, but from nineteen ninety nine on until her death,
we lived an open life. The second question I have
has to do is Broadway. My friends have a joke
(18:15):
that they think a more gay guy than gay girl
because I suck at sports and I love musical theater.
But the question is, do you remember a defining performance
that you sat there and you thought, oh, my good lord,
how did this person do this? I remember seeing Jacqueline
Hyde with Linda Etter and Robert Cucciolo, and he finished
(18:40):
that performance where he was transforming from one to the other,
and I just kept saying to people, if I didn't
see it live, I wouldn't believe that a human being
could do that. That he sang both parts of both
sides of his alter ego at the same time. In
(19:00):
the podcast, and thanks for everything you do.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Thank you very sweet, Thank you so much. I'm sorry
about the loss of your partner, your spouse. Yeah, listen,
you know, nobody ever told me not to come out.
It was more just the times that we were in.
You know, when I took the job, I told Warner
Brothers that I was gay and that I didn't think
I would ever come out and say it. At the time,
(19:25):
people weren't out, you know, when we started the show
and talks in like ninety five, and there was no
Will and Grace, there was no you know, I don't know.
That just was a different time. It was a different culture,
and people didn't ask in interviews, and there was no Internet,
and you know, I mean everybody who knew me in
(19:46):
my life knew that I was gay. You know. At
the award shows, I always brought Kelly and you know,
sat next to her. And I don't know, I mean,
I think that it is such a better thing when
you get to live your authentic self, no matter what
the circumstances are for you. I agree with you so
(20:08):
much in terms of just not compromising for you know,
for yourself, not compromising and you know, staying true to
who you are and all of those things. But you know,
I do wish that I could have come out sooner,
(20:29):
but I don't think I could have. You know, you
don't scream in a flower bloom. It blooms when it's ready,
you know, And so I don't know. I don't know
about that. And as for Broadway, God, there are so many.
I would say, you know, Patty Lapone is Eva Perone,
Come on, Ava Parone had every disadvantage you need if
(20:53):
you want to succeed. I would say, Jennifer Holliday and
dream Girls when those child times hit Kong Hung and
I am telling you, you know, uh, those were unreal
moments of theater. I could not believe when I first
(21:14):
saw the animals coming down the aisle in the Lion King,
I was overwhelmed with emotion. I was started sobbing. Wheels
of a dream Audrey McDonald, Brian Stokes, Mitchell when they
sang that in Ragtime. You know, I loved the musical Titanic.
(21:36):
I loved Sweeney Todd with the newest production with Annalie
and Josh Grobin. Oh my god, there's so many. I Jake,
Jill and All and Sunday in the Park with George.
He was astounding. That was a performance Christine Eversoll and
(21:57):
Grey Gardens, where it seemed like she wasn't even acting,
where it seemed like she was channeling Edie, you know,
Adie Beale. I've been so lucky to see so many
unbelievable performances. I remember Judy Dench in Uh, I think
(22:18):
it was called Amy's Room or Amy's View, and there
was a scene where she was talking to the man
behind her and she was looking in a mirror, but
of course there was no mirror there because we were
sitting in the audience. But where she put her eye
and how she was looking at him while talking to
him was like the most magnificent moment of acting I've
(22:39):
ever seen in my life. I couldn't believe it. It
was so precise and excellent. I've been lucky. I've seen
so many glorious, glorious performances on Broadway. Kristin Chenowith and
Charlie Brown, you know her, and Adina Menzel and in Wicked.
(23:02):
Come on, I mean, really, there were so many I
can't even I can't even think of them all. But
I love Broadway so much, and I loved the one
that you talked about Linda Edar and Robert Cuccioli. Uh,
you know, it's funny. I took one of my nieces
with me to see that, and one of them leaned
(23:24):
over and said to me, I think he's on a
harness on a pole. It's like I think you've seen
too many shows long, young one. Yes, he's on horn.
It's not a pole, but come on, just go with it. Anyway,
Thank you so much. Thank you for that, and uh,
thanks for your question and for your listenership. Okay, who
(23:45):
do you got next? Hi?
Speaker 6 (23:47):
Rosie Friday is Sina and falling from Ohio. I went
so concerned about you several episodes ago than Hunt. Your
voice was so low and he sounded so down.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
I was freaking out.
Speaker 6 (24:08):
I was like, something's going on, something's happening to you.
I was really really concerned. And then I realized that
I was playing your podcast at seventy five speed I
don't know the one lower than one, and I busted
(24:29):
out laughing. So I was very happy to hear your
voice is back and you sounded the way you always sound. Anyway,
my question to you is are you going to write
a new book? I love hearing your voice again. I've
(24:50):
missed your show and I would like to just keep
listening to you so you keep going onwards. Thanks, thank
you very much for being a bright light and a
beacon in the dark miserable time that we are trying
to get through. Bye.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Totally totally hear you on that, Dina. I mean that
was hysterical. I was cracking up as you were telling
the story. I was first thinking, God, you know what,
that was probably the night that I heard from so
and so, Like I was thinking, she really did hear something, right,
But then that's even funnier. It reminds me of the
story when I got a new car and yeah, I
(25:34):
hadn't had had seat warmers, and I go and I'm
sure I have some sciatica because every time I sit
in my car, my legs are on fire. And the
doctor literally looked at me and said, you have a
new car. Those are seat warmers. Just turn them off
and then you your legs won't be on fire. It
was the most embarrassing thing I think that ever happened
(25:56):
to me in a doctor's office. And trust me, there's
a lot of runners up for number one place, but
that's I think number one so that was very funny.
I am going to write a new book. Answer to
your question, Yes, I was going to write a book
that I wrote started a book that's titled Raising Dakota,
and now it's going to be called Raising Clay. And
(26:19):
it's just about one autistic kid and you know, one
mom trying to figure it out. And I'm not an expert.
I don't claim to be. I don't have all the
answers I'm learning. There's no roadmap. You know, you got
to advocate for your kid and do the best that
you can. And you know, mysterious sometimes crazy, you know
(26:45):
ways that that it doesn't usually go down in in life.
And I have I've found such joy, truthfully, in this
relationship with this human I have found nothing but curiosity
and excitement and the desire to really understand and know
(27:09):
who they are and what they're about and to support
that as best I can. And so you know, that's
what the book's going to be about. It's going to
be called Raising Clay. And people will be very confused.
All right. We got Beth next to Beth.
Speaker 7 (27:29):
Hello, Rosie, this is Beth, and I am also in
that last third of my life. I turned sixty five
this year. I know you are just a few years
younger than me, but I'm also trying to figure out
what to do with this part of my life now
that I'm a retired art teacher. Wanted to talk to
(27:50):
you a little bit about pronouns. My child, Anna, who
was born in ninety seven on your birthday, March first,
has just come out as non binary and chooses to
use them pronouns, as well as their partner, who is
also non binary and uses they them pronouns. And I
(28:13):
really respect their choice and their authentic identity and want
to use those pronouns, but I know that, like you,
I sometimes slip up and use their dead pronouns, the
ones that they were given when they were identified as
(28:33):
a certain gender at birth. So I just was wondering
if you would like to talk about that, and the
fact that your child came out as non binary at
a much younger age, and how you're dealing with that,
and anything you'd like to say about that. Thank you, babbye.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Babe, bye, Thank you, Beth. I've always wanted to have
an art teacher as a mother. I think that would
be a great thing.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Right.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
You do crafts all day, long, that would be my dream. Yeah.
My kid born Dakota last year said to me that
her stuffed animals were non binary, and I said, really,
what does that mean? Because I thought, how does she
(29:17):
even know what that is, you know? And she said, well,
it's when they don't think they're a girl and they
don't think they're a boy. And I said, okay, and
which one of yours is non binary? And she said
well most of them. And I said okay, all right,
and that was kind of the end of that subject.
(29:37):
Then a couple months later, she said to me, do
you know that there are some kids in my class
who don't know their gender? And I said, yeah, why
don't you tell them when they're in the shower. Take
a look downtown, you know, And she goes, Mommy, that's
not gender, that's your physical body. That's finite. Gender is infinite.
(29:59):
Gender is infinite. I don't know where they got this
information from. It was certainly not from me, because I
find that I'm learning from them. I'm learning. And so
when they finally told me that they were non binary,
and I said, well, that's fantastic that you know that
(30:23):
about yourself. Wonderful news, you know. And then they asked
if I was non binary, and I said, no, I
am a gay woman. I am not non binary. I
know that I'm a woman and I like being a woman.
And she said okay. They said okay. So they also
(30:43):
said at that time when they said they were non binary,
that they prefer they them pronouns. And I said, all right, Well,
my sixty two year old brain, with those synapses and
neurons made their little tunnel holes in my brain. It
goes down the she shoe right, But you know, I
was listening to her. Ah, So I went so far
(31:05):
as to get they tattooed on my wrist so that
I would look at it and remember. And you know,
it matters so much to Clay, It matters so much
to them when I get it right. That I'm trying
with all my might, but sometimes I just mess up,
you know, And I think grace has to be given
(31:26):
to those of us who are a little bit older,
you know. And I will tell you that her friends
have no problem. Everybody in her school no problem. The
older teachers. Me and the older teachers are the ones
who mess up a lot. You know. It's funny when
I do say she in front of them, she will
say to me, or they will say to me, they
(31:48):
did it again. They will say to me, your tattoo
isn't working, as if I got it on there and
it would go right to my brain. But yeah, so
good luck luck. Would that be loving? That's all you have?
You know how to do that. You're an art teacher.
You know you can't make art without heart, right, so listen. Uh,
(32:09):
just keep loving them, that's it. Just keep loving them.
And you know what, imagine what it's like to be
a youngster today, somebody coming into their own and having
hormones all of a sudden and knowing all the various
options and choices. It's like it. I mean, it's it's
(32:29):
unbelievable that we've come this far as a human species
to be able to be accepting and understanding of the
different types of human beings that are on this planet,
all equal. You know. It's it's an amazing time to
be alive. I can tell you that. All right, Becky,
(32:51):
I think is up next? Becky bro Yeah, Hi, Hi,
my name's Becky. Hi, Becky Poorland, Oregon.
Speaker 8 (33:00):
I've been a fan of yours for many, many years,
and the question I have for you is you were
friends of David Bowie. I love David Bowie. I miss him.
Can you give a couple examples of how you saw
how incredibly creative he was beyond his music, and also
(33:24):
what was he like as a friend. I'd really be
curious to know that. Anyway, Happy twenty twenty four, Thanks
ro Hey.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
And you know what today happens to be Bowie's birthday.
You know, he would have been seventy seven years old.
Can you imagine David Bowie seventy seven? He was a lovely, lovely,
charming man. And I met him when I did a
movie with Emon, a movie called Exit to Eden, possibly
the worst film ever made, and Amon was in it,
(33:58):
and I met David through her. And you know, I
was not a David Bowie fan before, you know, like
I knew, I didn't. I wasn't a Bowie fan. I
was a Barry Manilow, Barber Streis, say Bette Midler. I
you know, I felt like David Bowie was a little
bit scary, right. It was like a black T shirt.
Speaker 9 (34:16):
You know.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
I was not a black T shirt kind of girl
in high school, and so I was not I didn't
know any of his work when I worked with them
on and then of course I was schooled in it.
And he thought it was funny that the only song
that I knew of his start to finish was China Girl,
and he was like, my song, ever, how could you
(34:37):
possibly like that song?
Speaker 3 (34:38):
You know?
Speaker 1 (34:40):
And he was very very sweet and very loving and
very funny. He told dirty jokes a lot, and he
loved his wife and his kid. And I think that
it was truly a joy of my life to get
to be in his orbit for certain amount of time.
(35:01):
You know, he was one of the most inventive, creative
artists in the world ever. And in his house in
Saint Croix or was it Jamaica, that was maybe Bermuda.
I stayed it a couple of their houses, but one
of them was right on the beach, and I think
(35:21):
it was maybe it was Jamaica. But he had this
huge art studio, like huge, like a and and all
of his different canvases going at once and true artist,
true artist, every everything that he lived and did. I
think it was through the those beautiful miscolored eyes. You know,
(35:44):
he's an artist through and through. For sure. We're going
to take a little break. We'll be back with more
questions from you are fabulous listeners.
Speaker 9 (36:15):
Hey, Rosie, this is Julie from North Carolina. I'm actually
new to Rosie. I'm the same age as you, and
somehow I really never ended up watching your show. I
think I always was working, but I stumbled across you
(36:35):
now later in life, and I've listened to all your
podcasts and I've really enjoyed getting to know you. So
you said you were going to do a show on questions,
and I have a couple of questions for you. One is,
can you give an update on your housing situation. I
(36:56):
remember listening to one of your podcasts where you were
living You're the Ocean and you were you saw dolphins
or whales or something like that, and I think Clay
really wanted to move, and so I think you were
going to be moving. And then could you also give.
Speaker 7 (37:14):
An update on your weight loss.
Speaker 9 (37:17):
I think you shared that you were using like We'll
go be your a zumbig or something like that, one
of those and you'd had a lot of success with
it and just wanted to see how that was still
going and maybe just give us an update. Thanks so much,
it's really been a pleasure getting to know you.
Speaker 5 (37:39):
Every week awbye.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Well, thank you, Joy. That's so nice of you all
those things that you said. And isn't it funny how
you can miss somebody's height of their career, Like I
feel like that happened to me with Paul Rudd. I
don't know why. Somehow I never like got to see
him until something way after he was already famous. I
don't know. Can miss somebody you know, and then you
(38:02):
catch them on a podcast and go, oh that's I yeah,
I remember her. The house on the beach was just
for a year. I turned sixty and as a gift
to myself I rented a house on the beach in
Malibu for one year. And I knew it was going
to be for one year because first of all, it's
way too expensive for me to live there and justify
(38:23):
the cost. And it's very isolating when you're out there,
although it's gorgeous and beautiful, and Clay did not like
the incessant noise of the ocean. It was very annoying
to her ability or their ability to focus and gave
(38:43):
her anxiety worrying about tsunamis and flooding. So we did
a year there and now we're in Santa Monica in
a lovely house, and we still have the place in
New York as well, and we're just trying to figure
out what's the right way to go in terms of
(39:04):
places to live. When I thought I was going to
be working on a series and it only went for
one season, and so I don't have workout here, and
you know, we might need a different kind of school
for Clay now after their assessment that we got them,
which you know was so very helpful, the UCLA Assessment
(39:26):
for autism. And I know it's very costly and not
that many people can afford it, and very few insurances
cover it. So I'm fortunate in so many ways because
of that, and I wish it was available for everyone,
just like I wish Munjarro, which is what I am on.
(39:46):
A year ago, my doctor put me on on December sixteenth,
put me on Munjaro and told me I had Type
two diabetes. I was right at a seven, which is
your A one C number, and that's seven means you're
a diabetic. Anything like a six nine you're three or
pre diabetic. You know, fives are good, sixes and sevens
(40:10):
are not, and anything above a seven is dangerous. So
now I'm a five, which is really good. In one
year and I've lost about thirty something pounds. You know,
I have to say that I didn't know exactly how
much I weighed when I started because I didn't realize
(40:31):
that the weight loss part of it. She didn't explain
the weight loss part of it, and it wasn't that known.
The only commercial that was on TV was that woman
singing about you know ozembic and the pond and the fountain,
you know that woman in the blue outfit. It's a
(40:52):
very annoying commercial. That one was on. But I didn't
know that it was going to make weight loss come
off quickly. Until the weight loss came off quickly, and
I called my doctrines, said something happened. I lost eleven pounds.
They're like, well, that's a result of the medicine you're on.
I was like really, And then I found out not
only is it a result, it's uh, it turns off
(41:15):
the food noise in your head, which only people, I
think who suffer from obesity will understand what that really means.
Anyone who has lived as an obese person knows the
struggle with your brain never stopping, craving, wanting, thinking about food.
(41:36):
So now that's done, and I hope to be on
this for the rest of my life. I mean, really
diabetic medication, if you go off of it, then your
diabetes numbers goes right back up. So I don't plan
on going off of it. But you know, I'm okay
slow and steady with a pound every two weeks, maybe
two pounds a month. I'm okay with you know, the
(41:58):
pace that it's been going. And I feel very, very
very strongly that this medication is life saving for so
many people who struggle with obesity and the disease of obesity,
and this medicine does so much to cure it that
(42:21):
I'm a very proud supporter of Munjaro for type two diabetics.
And the results that I have gotten from my doctor
on all my numbers have been phenomenal. So I'm grateful,
and I only wish that everybody could have a chance
to have it, because it just doesn't seem fair. You know.
I had my friend Lisa here, who's you know, had
(42:43):
to wait stuff her whole life, and and you know,
she's been bigger, she's been smaller, and I said, well,
why don't you try you know, one of these we
go via. She has no diabetic issues, she's only you know,
in her forties, so but the doctors won't give it
to her. You know, she can't get a doctor to
(43:04):
prescribe it. I don't understand. I don't understand. I just
wish that there was a way that they could do that, because,
you know, I mean, some people don't need it and
are taking it, and that's a whole other story. But
I don't want to get into that. But that's how
I'm doing on both of those topics. I'm safe away
from the water. Although I would love to live on
(43:27):
the beach the rest of my life. I would. Okay,
here's our next one.
Speaker 4 (43:32):
Yeah, I have a question for you, Rosie o'donald.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
You said you were leaving the country when President Trump
was elected, so why are you still here?
Speaker 5 (43:40):
Liar?
Speaker 1 (43:46):
Okay, Hi, Rosie o'donald. No, d oh, Rosie O'Donnell. Two
l's two ends. Yeah, listen, surprise that you left a
voice message. I never said that I was going to
(44:07):
move out of the country. Never said it. I didn't
say it once, So that would mean I'm not a
liar because I never said it. But the people on
Fox News who told you that I said it. They're
the liars, right, because if I had said it, there
(44:27):
would be a video tape of it and it would
play incessantly. I never said it. I would never leave
the United States of America. I love my country and
yours here in America, where we have freedom, where we
still are hanging on to our democracy, where we're you know,
(44:49):
we're a good people, the American people, and we have
to remember that. Before you know, this man appeared and
it all went to hell in a handbasket. So let's
hold on tight as we get through to November. But listen,
whatever your name is, thank you for calling, and peace
(45:10):
be unto you. Love you, Rosie o'donald. We'll be back
with more after this. I hope you enjoyed that. I
(45:32):
know that I did, so listen. In two weeks, we're
going to do the same with some of the questions
and comments you all sent in about the Lyle Menendez episode.
But next week my guest will be the fabulous, talented
singer actor friend Jimmy Smuggle A SMUGGLEA. We first met
when he was an audience member on my talk show.
(45:52):
We were playing some silly game and the audience, show
me your talent, and he said he could sing, and boy,
that was an understatement. This guy can. He's done like
eight Broadway shows since, and he's currently starring in Spam
a lot on Broadway. And I just really love the guy.
And we've been friends for a long time, ever since
(46:13):
my show. And he's going to be here on Arnward
with Rosie O'Donnell next week. All right, all right, peace
out everyone, catch you next week.
Well, hi everybody, and welcome back. It's been three weeks
that we've been off on break. I took my little
one back to New York for the holidays. I got
to see almost all my kids, and not Chelse, she
was in Wisconsin, but everybody else I got to see
(00:33):
and you know, meet Parker's new girlfriend, and you know,
hang out with Jackie and Jeanie. I went to see
a couple movies. I went to see some Broadway shows,
of course, because when in New York, you've got to
see a Broadway show. It's the best part of living there,
it really is. I missed the Broadway life. I miss
(00:55):
not seeing a show, you know all the time. I
mean something about holding that waxy playbill and here in
the orchestra tune up and you're just like, here we go.
You know, it's like the best roller coaster ride in
the world if you ask me. But I'm a little biased,
being a New Yorker and all that. So God, that
(01:18):
first part of the year seems to you know, when
you still have kids in school, you go by the
school calendar, right, It's like it starts in June and
it ends in June, and it's just hard to believe
that we're here already. And great news in terms of
January is the guide dog training begins in a couple
(01:43):
weeks and I go away for ten days and I
get trained to be the handler of my kids' autism
service dog. And this is my new Year's resolution to
really stick to it and do good and connect and
(02:03):
you know, have this be the experience that I know
it will be for my kiddo. So that's exciting. And
they just turned eleven. We had a birthday party at
a circus Dave and Busters, not technically at Damon Busters,
but it was called two Bit Circus or something, and
(02:24):
it was really wonderful virtual reality like mispac Man, arcade games,
carnival games. They had the greatest time and it was
so fun to see it really was. They did an
escape room at the end and they had to do
teamwork and all the eight of them or the nine
(02:47):
of them escape the escape room. You know, I always
thought an escape room really launched you in. I come
to find out it's not a case at all. You
can leave whenever you want, which makes me want to
try one now, because frankly I was too afraid to
ever go try an escape group. I thought, all these people,
nobody has anxiety but me. It's like making a billion
(03:08):
dollars a year, and I'm thinking that you may be
held captive, really, really people. There's things bouncing around my head.
You have no idea, no idea, people, So listen what
we thought we would do while we were away on
those three weeks. Laurie, my producer here, has been hard
at work getting all of the questions ready and I
(03:31):
have not heard any of them yet. But these are
all messages left by you, the loyal listener, and we
thank each and every one of you for leaving a message.
We got a whole bunch and we picked out some.
I haven't heard any of these questions, so it'll be
the first time I'm hearing it. And we're just gonna
go until the time runs out. So hit it. Let's go.
(03:52):
Question or Viewer number one, Rosie.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I fell in love with you after watching you in
A League of their Own and Sleepless and See How,
And I was thrilled when you played Betty and the
Flintstones because it was one of my favorite childhood cartoons.
When you started your TV show in nineteen ninety six,
I was pregnant with my first child. Although we didn't
know the baby's gender, we had chosen the name Brandon
early on in the pregnancy. However, the pregnancy was difficult
(04:18):
and I was put in bed rest right around the
time your TV show aired. My grandmother came to stay
with me to help out, and we watched your show
every single day. It was an absolute highlight, and Grandma
fell in love with you too as we listened to
the stories about your son. We also fell in love
with a name Parker and decided to change my baby's name.
We had to explain that to my husband when he
(04:40):
got home that night, but Grandma just told him that
that was the way it was going to be. On
August twenty seventh, I gave birth to my premi baby
boy named Parker, who would have been Brandon if it
wasn't for you. My question actually is about your podcast
theme song. Who is a composer and why did you
choose it? Compared to your TV themes, which was entertaining,
(05:01):
hyped up and energetic, your podcast theme is more calming
and serene. Both themes set the mood appropriately. Your TV
show was exciting and animated, whereas your podcast is more
tranquil and thought provoking. They show two sides of you,
which I admire both very much. Thank you for being
a part of our lives for so many years and
for allowing us to feel a part of yours.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
I bet you got all a's in school. That was
like most beautifully written little essay and it was very touching.
Thank you so much for that. You know, my Parker
was a pre me too, and he's a tall six foot,
big old man now, you know, so as I'm sure
(05:45):
yours is as well, because they're they're twenty eight now right, Wow,
it's hard to believe, you know, it's that many years
have gone by. But the song, the song that you're
talking about is Andre Simone, who is really an unbelievably
talented songwriter and he played with Prince. He's you know,
(06:06):
listen google him Andre Simone and the Simone is see
why mo on e and what you know, we share
a love of Joni Mitchell. He and I were both
talking about that and I was like kicking it around.
I'm like something that evokes the mood of the Joni
Mitchell piano pieces, and he came up with that beautiful song.
(06:28):
That's where we get the song from, so thank you
for that. And yeah, the first show was, you know,
very much an entertainment kind of bump bump, bump bomb quick,
you know. And definitely the podcast is an older, more mature,
less quick kind of pace. And isn't that the evolution
(06:50):
of life in some ways?
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Right?
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Who you are in your thirties or forties, you know,
who you are in your sixties. A lot changes in
between those times. You know, all Right, who do we
got next?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Hey, Rosie, my name's Amanda. I feel like I've grown
up with you. I was in high school when your
show started, and I never missed it. I was lucky
enough to be in your studio audience twice, and I
saw you in Susicle and you were so kind to
me at the stage door. We even got a photo together,
which just made my life at the time. You have
(07:23):
no idea. Like so many, your show helped develop my
love for Broadway. I majored in music in college, and
after I graduated, I moved to New York City and
even worked for a Broadway producer for a while and
had some other really cool music jobs. I have two
daughters now and am a preschool music teacher. Which is
(07:45):
so fun. But anyway, my question for you is a
very scary topic. Teenagers. My oldest is ten, and I'm
already getting attitude and a lot of very strong feelings
from her. I'm so out of my element and I'm
just learning.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
As I go.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
I wasn't ready for this to start at age ten.
I thought I had a few more years left. Are
girl teenage years harder for moms? I don't know any
advice for me.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Who Well, wonderful, wonderful question, honestly, and I have to
tell the truth. I am a much better parent two
young kids than I am to teenagers. I struggled a
lot during their teenage years. I mean a real lot.
You know. I have gone through a lot of therapy
(08:33):
to figure out why I did the things that I
did in the way that I did based on what
I imagined would happen when I had my own kids.
You know, it's hard. And my eleven year old here
is in those teenage stage as well, and then you
(08:54):
add a layer of autism on top of that, and
that's going to be an interesting ride. I can already feel.
You know, the biggest thing is to keep communication open
and to know and I never knew this because my
mom died before I was a teen, so I didn't
push against anyone to you know, figure out who I
(09:18):
was not in the shadow of my mother. And children
have to do that, they have to push away from you.
But when Parker did it first one my oldest, I
was a basket case hysterical. I made him go to
therapy with me. I was crying, saying, you know, he
doesn't spend time with me, he never talks to me.
Weas a go to the movies, and I cried for
(09:41):
forty minutes and finally the wonderful guy he said to him,
do you have anything to say? And he said, yeah,
can you adjust her medication? Which you know is funny
it it's in my act, but it's a true story,
you know, And he was right. I was having, you know,
such a hard time having ever kind of experienced it
(10:04):
at dealing with it. So it's hard, man, it's hard.
It really is. To stay as close as you can
to them, is all I can say, even though they're
going to push you away and be embarrassed of you,
and you know, all those things. But I think there's
no such thing as over loving a kid. I really don't,
(10:27):
so I don't know if we should take parenting tips
for me, but that's that's what I would say. Stay
as close as you can, love love, love love them,
and know that they're confused and their hormones are everywhere.
And you know, Inside Out is coming out with a
new version Inside Out too in the summer, and it's
(10:47):
all about puberty. And I think that that's going to
be so helpful to so many parents of teens. And
I can't wait to see it, and neither can Clay.
They're very excited about that film, and I'm so thankful
Amy Palmer genius, really genius. That film's genius. Okay, we
got another question. Here we go.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Hi Rosie, Hello from North Dakota. My name is Greg
and wow, you are an amazing interviewer. I guess I
should have known that because of all your experience with
your TV show and all that. But thank you so
much for your podcast. I've got a long commute and
it's a great day when I have a new podcast
(11:28):
of yours to listen to, So thank you so much.
The reason why I'm making this recording is that I
was listening to the interview with Sophie B. Hawkings, and
you all started to talk about parenting without a partner,
and it just cut right through me. As a matter
of fact, I had to pull the car over out
in the middle of nowhere and just sit and listen
(11:50):
to the rest of the interview undistracted. My situation is
that I'm a saying old dad. My husband at the
time had children, and I was ambivalent about it. I
didn't think that I would be a good dad. No
one in my life I don't think thought that I
would be a good dad. It wasn't anything I'd ever
(12:10):
thought about for myself. And we fostered these three amazing kids,
survivors of extreme trauma, little gods of chaos, and I
just absolutely fell in love with it, discovered a part
of myself that I didn't know existed. And unfortunately, my
(12:33):
husband discovered that this wasn't really for him, and I
went on to adopt all three kids. None of my
friends or family have ever been able to understand how
I can be okay with my husband's leaving. But I
heard you all say, it's just I didn't want to
be a parent with someone who didn't want to be
(12:55):
a parent, and being a parent was pretty much all
I wanted to do. Anyway. You were talking about therapy
and stuff like that, but you know that whole saying
you can't pour from an empty cup, and I really
struggle with that. So I just wanted to hear you
comment more about how you keep yourself in a place
(13:16):
where you can be fully present for your kids. You know,
I try a bunch of little things, like I may
take an extra moment when I'm out grocery shopping to
get an ice cream, or I might you know, listen
to your podcast, or you know, you know, get up
a few minutes early so I can have a few
minutes to collect my thoughts. You know, I have lots
(13:38):
of little ways, but I just wanted to hear you
talk a little bit more about that. Anyway, I could
go on forever. Thank you so much for your for
your podcast, and I don't know what else to say,
so I'll just say, uh, say goodbye, okay.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Joe, thank you so much, so sweet. I love these
I always imagine where you're sitting and if you're talking
into your you know phone, or how you're doing it,
and you know, such a warm feeling from your voice,
and good for you. You know that these children found
(14:15):
their way to you, and that awakened your sense of
being a parent and how important that is in your
life and world. And even if people don't understand, you
know there you know, there are are people that have
a certainty that they will parent from the time they're
(14:36):
on the earth, you know. And I was one of
those people, you know, I just was I was certain
I wanted to have a lot of children. And how
we came to be, you know, in this family, it
has has its own story, as every family does. And
I think that I parented with Kelly for the first
(14:56):
four and then alone for this last one. Clay also
known as Dakota. I know it's still confusing to some people,
but they're going by Clay and the pronouns are they
them And that's okay with me, And I know some
people have trouble with it. I'm just glad that you're
(15:17):
not parenting them, okay. So I would say that parenting
as a single parent has advantages. You know, Now, what
do you do for yourself? That's something that I need
to take notes on, like, you know, self care and
(15:39):
knowing that you're you know, a separate person who gets
to have friends and a life and go do things
and not always just be home with your kid who
likes to be home all the time. You know, that's
kind of a tough thing to do. But I think
that the more connected you are to your family, the
(16:00):
better you feel as a human. And and you know
you have a strong desire to parent. That's all you
want to do, is what you said. And I totally
understand that. I totally understand it, and I think it's
wonderful I do. But take care of yourself first, and
(16:21):
you know, put on your life mask first. That's what
they say. I'm sure I would put theirs on first
and then grab mine, which is against the rules and
not the way one should do it. Fully understand, I
fully understand. Thank you for that. We're going to take
a little break. We'll be back with more questions from you.
Are fabulous listeners. Okay, so we got another question from you,
(17:05):
the loyal listener.
Speaker 5 (17:06):
Here we go, Hi, Rosie, this is Marianne in New Jersey.
I actually have two questions for you. One is, did
you ever feel a frustration or difficulty that you weren't
able to come out during your show? Was it the
people around you? Was it the network that kind of
(17:30):
told you that wouldn't be a good idea. I remember
in nineteen ninety nine that I made a conscious decision
that I was tired, that I wanted to live a
different life. I'm a physician, and my wife and I
both made the conscious decision that we were going to
(17:51):
live out from that point on. It was the best
decision we ever made. Sadly, I lost her about five
years ago, but from nineteen ninety nine on until her death,
we lived an open life. The second question I have
has to do is Broadway. My friends have a joke
(18:15):
that they think a more gay guy than gay girl
because I suck at sports and I love musical theater.
But the question is, do you remember a defining performance
that you sat there and you thought, oh, my good lord,
how did this person do this? I remember seeing Jacqueline
Hyde with Linda Etter and Robert Cucciolo, and he finished
(18:40):
that performance where he was transforming from one to the other,
and I just kept saying to people, if I didn't
see it live, I wouldn't believe that a human being
could do that. That he sang both parts of both
sides of his alter ego at the same time. In
(19:00):
the podcast, and thanks for everything you do.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Thank you very sweet, Thank you so much. I'm sorry
about the loss of your partner, your spouse. Yeah, listen,
you know, nobody ever told me not to come out.
It was more just the times that we were in.
You know, when I took the job, I told Warner
Brothers that I was gay and that I didn't think
I would ever come out and say it. At the time,
(19:25):
people weren't out, you know, when we started the show
and talks in like ninety five, and there was no
Will and Grace, there was no you know, I don't know.
That just was a different time. It was a different culture,
and people didn't ask in interviews, and there was no Internet,
and you know, I mean everybody who knew me in
(19:46):
my life knew that I was gay. You know. At
the award shows, I always brought Kelly and you know,
sat next to her. And I don't know, I mean,
I think that it is such a better thing when
you get to live your authentic self, no matter what
the circumstances are for you. I agree with you so
(20:08):
much in terms of just not compromising for you know,
for yourself, not compromising and you know, staying true to
who you are and all of those things. But you know,
I do wish that I could have come out sooner,
(20:29):
but I don't think I could have. You know, you
don't scream in a flower bloom. It blooms when it's ready,
you know, And so I don't know. I don't know
about that. And as for Broadway, God, there are so many.
I would say, you know, Patty Lapone is Eva Perone,
Come on, Ava Parone had every disadvantage you need if
(20:53):
you want to succeed. I would say, Jennifer Holliday and
dream Girls when those child times hit Kong Hung and
I am telling you, you know, uh, those were unreal
moments of theater. I could not believe when I first
(21:14):
saw the animals coming down the aisle in the Lion King,
I was overwhelmed with emotion. I was started sobbing. Wheels
of a dream Audrey McDonald, Brian Stokes, Mitchell when they
sang that in Ragtime. You know, I loved the musical Titanic.
(21:36):
I loved Sweeney Todd with the newest production with Annalie
and Josh Grobin. Oh my god, there's so many. I Jake,
Jill and All and Sunday in the Park with George.
He was astounding. That was a performance Christine Eversoll and
(21:57):
Grey Gardens, where it seemed like she wasn't even acting,
where it seemed like she was channeling Edie, you know,
Adie Beale. I've been so lucky to see so many
unbelievable performances. I remember Judy Dench in Uh, I think
(22:18):
it was called Amy's Room or Amy's View, and there
was a scene where she was talking to the man
behind her and she was looking in a mirror, but
of course there was no mirror there because we were
sitting in the audience. But where she put her eye
and how she was looking at him while talking to
him was like the most magnificent moment of acting I've
(22:39):
ever seen in my life. I couldn't believe it. It
was so precise and excellent. I've been lucky. I've seen
so many glorious, glorious performances on Broadway. Kristin Chenowith and
Charlie Brown, you know her, and Adina Menzel and in Wicked.
(23:02):
Come on, I mean, really, there were so many I
can't even I can't even think of them all. But
I love Broadway so much, and I loved the one
that you talked about Linda Edar and Robert Cuccioli. Uh,
you know, it's funny. I took one of my nieces
with me to see that, and one of them leaned
(23:24):
over and said to me, I think he's on a
harness on a pole. It's like I think you've seen
too many shows long, young one. Yes, he's on horn.
It's not a pole, but come on, just go with it. Anyway,
Thank you so much. Thank you for that, and uh,
thanks for your question and for your listenership. Okay, who
(23:45):
do you got next? Hi?
Speaker 6 (23:47):
Rosie Friday is Sina and falling from Ohio. I went
so concerned about you several episodes ago than Hunt. Your
voice was so low and he sounded so down.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
I was freaking out.
Speaker 6 (24:08):
I was like, something's going on, something's happening to you.
I was really really concerned. And then I realized that
I was playing your podcast at seventy five speed I
don't know the one lower than one, and I busted
(24:29):
out laughing. So I was very happy to hear your
voice is back and you sounded the way you always sound. Anyway,
my question to you is are you going to write
a new book? I love hearing your voice again. I've
(24:50):
missed your show and I would like to just keep
listening to you so you keep going onwards. Thanks, thank
you very much for being a bright light and a
beacon in the dark miserable time that we are trying
to get through. Bye.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Totally totally hear you on that, Dina. I mean that
was hysterical. I was cracking up as you were telling
the story. I was first thinking, God, you know what,
that was probably the night that I heard from so
and so, Like I was thinking, she really did hear something, right,
But then that's even funnier. It reminds me of the
story when I got a new car and yeah, I
(25:34):
hadn't had had seat warmers, and I go and I'm
sure I have some sciatica because every time I sit
in my car, my legs are on fire. And the
doctor literally looked at me and said, you have a
new car. Those are seat warmers. Just turn them off
and then you your legs won't be on fire. It
was the most embarrassing thing I think that ever happened
(25:56):
to me in a doctor's office. And trust me, there's
a lot of runners up for number one place, but
that's I think number one so that was very funny.
I am going to write a new book. Answer to
your question, Yes, I was going to write a book
that I wrote started a book that's titled Raising Dakota,
and now it's going to be called Raising Clay. And
(26:19):
it's just about one autistic kid and you know, one
mom trying to figure it out. And I'm not an expert.
I don't claim to be. I don't have all the
answers I'm learning. There's no roadmap. You know, you got
to advocate for your kid and do the best that
you can. And you know, mysterious sometimes crazy, you know
(26:45):
ways that that it doesn't usually go down in in life.
And I have I've found such joy, truthfully, in this
relationship with this human I have found nothing but curiosity
and excitement and the desire to really understand and know
(27:09):
who they are and what they're about and to support
that as best I can. And so you know, that's
what the book's going to be about. It's going to
be called Raising Clay. And people will be very confused.
All right. We got Beth next to Beth.
Speaker 7 (27:29):
Hello, Rosie, this is Beth, and I am also in
that last third of my life. I turned sixty five
this year. I know you are just a few years
younger than me, but I'm also trying to figure out
what to do with this part of my life now
that I'm a retired art teacher. Wanted to talk to
(27:50):
you a little bit about pronouns. My child, Anna, who
was born in ninety seven on your birthday, March first,
has just come out as non binary and chooses to
use them pronouns, as well as their partner, who is
also non binary and uses they them pronouns. And I
(28:13):
really respect their choice and their authentic identity and want
to use those pronouns, but I know that, like you,
I sometimes slip up and use their dead pronouns, the
ones that they were given when they were identified as
(28:33):
a certain gender at birth. So I just was wondering
if you would like to talk about that, and the
fact that your child came out as non binary at
a much younger age, and how you're dealing with that,
and anything you'd like to say about that. Thank you, babbye.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Babe, bye, Thank you, Beth. I've always wanted to have
an art teacher as a mother. I think that would
be a great thing.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Right.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
You do crafts all day, long, that would be my dream. Yeah.
My kid born Dakota last year said to me that
her stuffed animals were non binary, and I said, really,
what does that mean? Because I thought, how does she
(29:17):
even know what that is, you know? And she said, well,
it's when they don't think they're a girl and they
don't think they're a boy. And I said, okay, and
which one of yours is non binary? And she said
well most of them. And I said okay, all right,
and that was kind of the end of that subject.
(29:37):
Then a couple months later, she said to me, do
you know that there are some kids in my class
who don't know their gender? And I said, yeah, why
don't you tell them when they're in the shower. Take
a look downtown, you know, And she goes, Mommy, that's
not gender, that's your physical body. That's finite. Gender is infinite.
(29:59):
Gender is infinite. I don't know where they got this
information from. It was certainly not from me, because I
find that I'm learning from them. I'm learning. And so
when they finally told me that they were non binary,
and I said, well, that's fantastic that you know that
(30:23):
about yourself. Wonderful news, you know. And then they asked
if I was non binary, and I said, no, I
am a gay woman. I am not non binary. I
know that I'm a woman and I like being a woman.
And she said okay. They said okay. So they also
(30:43):
said at that time when they said they were non binary,
that they prefer they them pronouns. And I said, all right, Well,
my sixty two year old brain, with those synapses and
neurons made their little tunnel holes in my brain. It
goes down the she shoe right, But you know, I
was listening to her. Ah, So I went so far
(31:05):
as to get they tattooed on my wrist so that
I would look at it and remember. And you know,
it matters so much to Clay, It matters so much
to them when I get it right. That I'm trying
with all my might, but sometimes I just mess up,
you know, And I think grace has to be given
(31:26):
to those of us who are a little bit older,
you know. And I will tell you that her friends
have no problem. Everybody in her school no problem. The
older teachers. Me and the older teachers are the ones
who mess up a lot. You know. It's funny when
I do say she in front of them, she will
say to me, or they will say to me, they
(31:48):
did it again. They will say to me, your tattoo
isn't working, as if I got it on there and
it would go right to my brain. But yeah, so
good luck luck. Would that be loving? That's all you have?
You know how to do that. You're an art teacher.
You know you can't make art without heart, right, so listen. Uh,
(32:09):
just keep loving them, that's it. Just keep loving them.
And you know what, imagine what it's like to be
a youngster today, somebody coming into their own and having
hormones all of a sudden and knowing all the various
options and choices. It's like it. I mean, it's it's
(32:29):
unbelievable that we've come this far as a human species
to be able to be accepting and understanding of the
different types of human beings that are on this planet,
all equal. You know. It's it's an amazing time to
be alive. I can tell you that. All right, Becky,
(32:51):
I think is up next? Becky bro Yeah, Hi, Hi,
my name's Becky. Hi, Becky Poorland, Oregon.
Speaker 8 (33:00):
I've been a fan of yours for many, many years,
and the question I have for you is you were
friends of David Bowie. I love David Bowie. I miss him.
Can you give a couple examples of how you saw
how incredibly creative he was beyond his music, and also
(33:24):
what was he like as a friend. I'd really be
curious to know that. Anyway, Happy twenty twenty four, Thanks
ro Hey.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
And you know what today happens to be Bowie's birthday.
You know, he would have been seventy seven years old.
Can you imagine David Bowie seventy seven? He was a lovely, lovely,
charming man. And I met him when I did a
movie with Emon, a movie called Exit to Eden, possibly
the worst film ever made, and Amon was in it,
(33:58):
and I met David through her. And you know, I
was not a David Bowie fan before, you know, like
I knew, I didn't. I wasn't a Bowie fan. I
was a Barry Manilow, Barber Streis, say Bette Midler. I
you know, I felt like David Bowie was a little
bit scary, right. It was like a black T shirt.
Speaker 9 (34:16):
You know.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
I was not a black T shirt kind of girl
in high school, and so I was not I didn't
know any of his work when I worked with them
on and then of course I was schooled in it.
And he thought it was funny that the only song
that I knew of his start to finish was China Girl,
and he was like, my song, ever, how could you
(34:37):
possibly like that song?
Speaker 3 (34:38):
You know?
Speaker 1 (34:40):
And he was very very sweet and very loving and
very funny. He told dirty jokes a lot, and he
loved his wife and his kid. And I think that
it was truly a joy of my life to get
to be in his orbit for certain amount of time.
(35:01):
You know, he was one of the most inventive, creative
artists in the world ever. And in his house in
Saint Croix or was it Jamaica, that was maybe Bermuda.
I stayed it a couple of their houses, but one
of them was right on the beach, and I think
(35:21):
it was maybe it was Jamaica. But he had this
huge art studio, like huge, like a and and all
of his different canvases going at once and true artist,
true artist, every everything that he lived and did. I
think it was through the those beautiful miscolored eyes. You know,
(35:44):
he's an artist through and through. For sure. We're going
to take a little break. We'll be back with more
questions from you are fabulous listeners.
Speaker 9 (36:15):
Hey, Rosie, this is Julie from North Carolina. I'm actually
new to Rosie. I'm the same age as you, and
somehow I really never ended up watching your show. I
think I always was working, but I stumbled across you
(36:35):
now later in life, and I've listened to all your
podcasts and I've really enjoyed getting to know you. So
you said you were going to do a show on questions,
and I have a couple of questions for you. One is,
can you give an update on your housing situation. I
(36:56):
remember listening to one of your podcasts where you were
living You're the Ocean and you were you saw dolphins
or whales or something like that, and I think Clay
really wanted to move, and so I think you were
going to be moving. And then could you also give.
Speaker 7 (37:14):
An update on your weight loss.
Speaker 9 (37:17):
I think you shared that you were using like We'll
go be your a zumbig or something like that, one
of those and you'd had a lot of success with
it and just wanted to see how that was still
going and maybe just give us an update. Thanks so much,
it's really been a pleasure getting to know you.
Speaker 5 (37:39):
Every week awbye.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Well, thank you, Joy. That's so nice of you all
those things that you said. And isn't it funny how
you can miss somebody's height of their career, Like I
feel like that happened to me with Paul Rudd. I
don't know why. Somehow I never like got to see
him until something way after he was already famous. I
don't know. Can miss somebody you know, and then you
(38:02):
catch them on a podcast and go, oh that's I yeah,
I remember her. The house on the beach was just
for a year. I turned sixty and as a gift
to myself I rented a house on the beach in
Malibu for one year. And I knew it was going
to be for one year because first of all, it's
way too expensive for me to live there and justify
(38:23):
the cost. And it's very isolating when you're out there,
although it's gorgeous and beautiful, and Clay did not like
the incessant noise of the ocean. It was very annoying
to her ability or their ability to focus and gave
(38:43):
her anxiety worrying about tsunamis and flooding. So we did
a year there and now we're in Santa Monica in
a lovely house, and we still have the place in
New York as well, and we're just trying to figure
out what's the right way to go in terms of
(39:04):
places to live. When I thought I was going to
be working on a series and it only went for
one season, and so I don't have workout here, and
you know, we might need a different kind of school
for Clay now after their assessment that we got them,
which you know was so very helpful, the UCLA Assessment
(39:26):
for autism. And I know it's very costly and not
that many people can afford it, and very few insurances
cover it. So I'm fortunate in so many ways because
of that, and I wish it was available for everyone,
just like I wish Munjarro, which is what I am on.
(39:46):
A year ago, my doctor put me on on December sixteenth,
put me on Munjaro and told me I had Type
two diabetes. I was right at a seven, which is
your A one C number, and that's seven means you're
a diabetic. Anything like a six nine you're three or
pre diabetic. You know, fives are good, sixes and sevens
(40:10):
are not, and anything above a seven is dangerous. So
now I'm a five, which is really good. In one
year and I've lost about thirty something pounds. You know,
I have to say that I didn't know exactly how
much I weighed when I started because I didn't realize
(40:31):
that the weight loss part of it. She didn't explain
the weight loss part of it, and it wasn't that known.
The only commercial that was on TV was that woman
singing about you know ozembic and the pond and the fountain,
you know that woman in the blue outfit. It's a
(40:52):
very annoying commercial. That one was on. But I didn't
know that it was going to make weight loss come
off quickly. Until the weight loss came off quickly, and
I called my doctrines, said something happened. I lost eleven pounds.
They're like, well, that's a result of the medicine you're on.
I was like really, And then I found out not
only is it a result, it's uh, it turns off
(41:15):
the food noise in your head, which only people, I
think who suffer from obesity will understand what that really means.
Anyone who has lived as an obese person knows the
struggle with your brain never stopping, craving, wanting, thinking about food.
(41:36):
So now that's done, and I hope to be on
this for the rest of my life. I mean, really
diabetic medication, if you go off of it, then your
diabetes numbers goes right back up. So I don't plan
on going off of it. But you know, I'm okay
slow and steady with a pound every two weeks, maybe
two pounds a month. I'm okay with you know, the
(41:58):
pace that it's been going. And I feel very, very
very strongly that this medication is life saving for so
many people who struggle with obesity and the disease of obesity,
and this medicine does so much to cure it that
(42:21):
I'm a very proud supporter of Munjaro for type two diabetics.
And the results that I have gotten from my doctor
on all my numbers have been phenomenal. So I'm grateful,
and I only wish that everybody could have a chance
to have it, because it just doesn't seem fair. You know.
I had my friend Lisa here, who's you know, had
(42:43):
to wait stuff her whole life, and and you know,
she's been bigger, she's been smaller, and I said, well,
why don't you try you know, one of these we
go via. She has no diabetic issues, she's only you know,
in her forties, so but the doctors won't give it
to her. You know, she can't get a doctor to
(43:04):
prescribe it. I don't understand. I don't understand. I just
wish that there was a way that they could do that, because,
you know, I mean, some people don't need it and
are taking it, and that's a whole other story. But
I don't want to get into that. But that's how
I'm doing on both of those topics. I'm safe away
from the water. Although I would love to live on
(43:27):
the beach the rest of my life. I would. Okay,
here's our next one.
Speaker 4 (43:32):
Yeah, I have a question for you, Rosie o'donald.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
You said you were leaving the country when President Trump
was elected, so why are you still here?
Speaker 5 (43:40):
Liar?
Speaker 1 (43:46):
Okay, Hi, Rosie o'donald. No, d oh, Rosie O'Donnell. Two
l's two ends. Yeah, listen, surprise that you left a
voice message. I never said that I was going to
(44:07):
move out of the country. Never said it. I didn't
say it once, So that would mean I'm not a
liar because I never said it. But the people on
Fox News who told you that I said it. They're
the liars, right, because if I had said it, there
(44:27):
would be a video tape of it and it would
play incessantly. I never said it. I would never leave
the United States of America. I love my country and
yours here in America, where we have freedom, where we
still are hanging on to our democracy, where we're you know,
(44:49):
we're a good people, the American people, and we have
to remember that. Before you know, this man appeared and
it all went to hell in a handbasket. So let's
hold on tight as we get through to November. But listen,
whatever your name is, thank you for calling, and peace
(45:10):
be unto you. Love you, Rosie o'donald. We'll be back
with more after this. I hope you enjoyed that. I
(45:32):
know that I did, so listen. In two weeks, we're
going to do the same with some of the questions
and comments you all sent in about the Lyle Menendez episode.
But next week my guest will be the fabulous, talented
singer actor friend Jimmy Smuggle A SMUGGLEA. We first met
when he was an audience member on my talk show.
(45:52):
We were playing some silly game and the audience, show
me your talent, and he said he could sing, and boy,
that was an understatement. This guy can. He's done like
eight Broadway shows since, and he's currently starring in Spam
a lot on Broadway. And I just really love the guy.
And we've been friends for a long time, ever since
(46:13):
my show. And he's going to be here on Arnward
with Rosie O'Donnell next week. All right, all right, peace
out everyone, catch you next week.
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