September 20, 2023 • 55 mins
Chris Harrison is reunited with his friend from Peter Weber’s season… Madison Prewett Troutt.
Now happily married, Chris is enjoying a totally different conversation with her than the ones back on the show.
Madison tells Chris why she didn’t work out with Peter and Chris reveals that he was shocked by what Mrs. Weber blurted out.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the most dramatic podcast ever and iHeartRadio podcast.
Chris Harrison coming to you from the home office in Austin, Texas,
and I'm so excited for the show today because someone
recently just kind of came back into my life. I
love how things happen for a reason, for a season,
whatever it is. Call it karma, call it God's will.
(00:24):
But Madison Preuet Trout, you guys know her is Maddi
Prue from Peter Season of The Bachelor, had reached out
to me about something different and we started talking and
I said, you have to come on the most dramatic
podcast ever. And I love getting back in touch with
people that I kind of skipped across in my life,
(00:48):
whether it was on the show business whatever, and then
diving in a little deeper to see what was their
experience really, Like, you know, I have my thoughts on
how Peter Season of The Bachelor went, but that's his host.
That's as a producer, that says someone who was really
trying to facilitate entertaining you and helping Peter find love
(01:08):
and you know, dealing with his mom and dad and
his brother. And there's a lot of moving parts when
you're hosting and producing the show, and when you get
to kind of peel back the layers and compartmentalize a
little bit and just talk to one person. Just talk
to Maddie about her experience. What did she go through?
(01:29):
And these are conversations that I really haven't had with
a lot of the contestants that I worked with for
well twenty years, and so I'm really interested to talk
to her about her experience. Does she regret being on
the show? You know, I know she's a very faithful
woman and she's written a couple of books. Now we're
going to talk about that. She's married to a wonderful guy,
(01:51):
Grant Trout, hence the Madison Pruet Trout name. Now, but
does she look back and regret anything, Does she wish
she didn't do it? Or did she learn from it?
And I find these things interesting. And also what was
her experience of going through this with Peter? When did
she know she wanted to leave for real? When did
her and Peter start talking again? And we have to
(02:14):
talk about the Barb of it all. When we went
back on the After the Funnel Row special, when Barb
said what she did on live TV and really just
said basically, you and Peter aren't right together, and you
aren't right for my son. Y'all shouldn't be together. And look,
I'm not saying she was wrong. And I have no
(02:35):
problem with Barb, I have no problem with Peter. I
have no problem with Mattie. But did those specific words
need to be said on live TV at that moment?
And how much did that affect Mattie? How much did
it hurt? And how much now does she take away
and put into the pages of the book that comes out, Well,
just came out September nineteenth, So a lot to talk about,
(02:58):
a lot of layers to pull back. And I'm so
excited that this woman came back into my life so
we could have this conversation. Joining me now, is Madison
pruit Trout still still a newlywed?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Still a newlywed? We are we are thriving. Last time
I saw you quite quite different circumstances. It feels good
to be where we are today.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yeah. I mean, let's see, from having Peter's mom tell
you you're not enough for her son on national television
to happily married, accomplished author. Yeah, I would say life
is definitely done A one eighty for you, I would.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Say life is sitting pretty good right now.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
It is bizarre. So I guess the first question is
you threw in the trout? Ye you're hyphenating? Is that
what we're doing?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
We are a Trout. I actually didn't even hyphenate. I
moved prough it to middle name. So we are a
Madison Pruitt Trout. We are full, full in. We're all
in with Trout. It's kind of crazy seeing like a
new last name on the book, and I'm embracing it.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
And by the way, we're going to talk about the
new book, The Love Everybody Wants, which dropped Tuesday the nineteenth.
It's already crushing it. We're going to talk about a
lot of stuff, but I want to dive into something
and I might just completely take us out on a
side rail here. But Lauren and I have had this
discussion about changing your last name. And at some point,
(04:27):
you know, when you had two marriages or you've changed
your name already and doing it again, did you consider
you know, because you're known as Madison Pruitt and people
know you as that as an influencer and as an
author already, but now you are Madison Prouit Trout. Did
you think about not changing it?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
I had a moment of like, this is going to
be different, this is going to be weird. But honestly,
I always knew I wanted to take on my you know,
future husband's last name, but yeah, I mean it is
definitely it was a moment for me. I was like,
this has been my identity for so long and just
you know, I'm so proud of my family and like
(05:06):
the Pruitt name and just what that means and what
that represents. So it was it was really hard. I'm
not gonna lie, but I'm I mean, I'm thankful that
I kept it as my middle name, and so now,
I mean it's still I still go by Madison pru
At Trout to like everyone, so you know, it is
what it is, and people still call me Mattie Prue.
I just I kept that on my social media. I
(05:26):
don't think my husband loved that part as much. He's like,
you wanted to keep Maddie.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Prue, Like what, Well, yeah, man, I've established myself. But
it's interesting if that is just is that a tradition
that we keep for just some reason? Is it something
that you held dear that you really wanted to do that.
That's kind of what Laurena and I have been debating
is is that kind of pass a is Does it
(05:52):
matter anymore? Is that a thing?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Honestly, I don't know. I don't know the answer. I
think it really is just like preferences for me personally,
I you know, with just being so rooted in my faith,
like I really take that. I don't know the particular verse,
but it's like that verse where it's like you shall
leave your father and mother and become one. I just
take that verse so literally of even meaning like last name.
(06:15):
You know, I'm like, I want to become one. My
loyalty now is no longer with my my family. That
sounds so harsh, it is, but you know what I mean,
It's like it's now, you know, I'm starting a new family.
I'm becoming one with this man, and I'm taking on
his last name, and I'm just I'm so proud to
be his and I want to I want to represent him,
you know, I want to represent the family we're going
(06:37):
to create together. So, you know, I think that's that's
my perspective on it.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
At least it's good behind it. Yeah, totally I want
to go back and this. You know, when you and
I started texting and we were talking about talking about
your book and then and I said, You've got to
come on my podcast. I started thinking about your season
of The Bachelor with Peter, and I'll be honest, I
had to kind of go back. There were so many layers,
(07:03):
there was so much that happened. I had kind of
forgotten some of it. And I don't know if that's
a good thing from like PTSD where I just like
blocked it away.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Me too, me too.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
But I forgot how bonkers it was completely. And the
funny thing is Lauren obviously covered the show for Entertainment Tonight,
so we've been discussing that season and she would bring
up things that she remember and I'm like, oh my gosh,
I completely forgot.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
It was insane. It was literally insane. I mean I
think we had one of the like highest rated seasons
or something because of how insane it was.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
It was the Barb effect, as we called it.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
It was pretty wild. I mean I think each moment
I'm just like, even there, like an actual real time
live I'm like, what is going on?
Speaker 1 (07:49):
I mean, well, let's talk about that then, and I
don't want to dive too deep into this bit. Can
we just discuss because you and I have never really
talked about how it really unfolded.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Yeah, so Peter season it ends with you leaving. We
were in Australia correct, mm hmm, Australia and we went
to that one god for second place way up north.
Did you ever make it up there? Did you leave before?
Speaker 2 (08:15):
I don't remember. Well I left the day before the proposal,
so I was okay.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
So you were up there. You were up there, like
way up north. We were in the outback. It was like, yeah,
we tried to make it sexy. It was not. It
was I mean, they might as well have just dropped
us on Mars.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Yeah. It was like, well our last date was we
were like in the middle of nowhere. Remember Peter was
like wondering and like there were like rattlesnakes and crazy
things around.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
So you yeah, I remember you leaving because I remember
having to tell him that you had left the next
day and he decides he's going to propose to Hannah
ann mm hmm. What when did you find out that
that was the case? And when did he reach out
to you? Again?
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I found I literally, you knocked on my door, you came, well,
I don't know whose house that was. You came to
a house. We were there, and that was so crazy
that I had heard about things before that moment. Yeah,
but that was when it was like super legit. Like
I was like, Okay, it's it's legit. This is happening.
(09:24):
He got engaged, he's ending the engagement. Like the whole
thing was just so surreal. So yeah, honestly, like when
you say you block it out, I'm like even talking
about it. I'm like, the other day I hadn't talked
about it in so long, and I was sharing like
my testimony to someone and that was like half of
the testimony and I was like, I haven't talked about
(09:46):
this in so long. But yeah, I mean, the whole
thing was was super crazy. I remember leaving there truly
not knowing like what was going to happen or what
was going to come. But I just had so much
peace to walk away, and and then you know, got
brought right back. We went right back into it. Just
when you think you're out, so when you get said
(10:07):
vibe and so.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
We get to some point where we've all left Australia right,
and then he reaches out to you.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Yeah, so we I'm trying to think of how it happens.
I don't know that we had like I think we
had like some mutual friend that had.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Like that's a crazy part. At this point, we've not
exchanged numbers. Yeah, that's that's that's how crazy this can get.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
It's wild. We had some mutual friend that was like
kind of the lays on, you know, and it was
like so middle school. It was like, so, how how's
he feeling? Like, tell me what he's feeling, you know,
and uh but yeah, I mean truly that was like
kind of the connection point. And then you know, and
then everything unfolded.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
So and we get to so he reaches out to
you at some point I assume, Yeah, y'all actually talked,
because y'all talked before a fr after Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Oh yeah for sure.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Because and now had y'all seen each other or gone
on a date before that? I couldn't remember.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Yes, we went, We did the whole like remember you
showed up at the house. Then we I flew out
to California and met with him.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Oh that's right. Oh that's right, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Okay, Yes, and then we had like a few I
can't remember if we had like I think we had
a couple of weeks before the Final Rose or not
Final Rose, the Live I forget whatever it's called.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
We were in the middle, so you know, it's funny
talk about blocking out. We were shooting another show. I
got on a plane, flew to Auburn, first time i'd
seen Auburn. By the way, did you like it? Well?
I saw the inside of your garage, yeah, or whatever
house that was. I saw the inside of a garage,
and then I went in and then I had to
(11:48):
get back on a plane and get right back to
the next season we were shooting. But it was I
remember having that talk and just I wasn't even sure
when we were having that heart to heart, like what
was right. I didn't know, honestly, how to counsel you best.
I wasn't sure. I was like, run or give us
(12:09):
a shot, because I know I did. It's because I
didn't dislike Peter. I don't dislike Peter, but I didn't
know at the same time if it was right at
all for you?
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Right, yeah, I think my whole thing. There was just
so many emotions. I cared deeply about the girls on
my season. I cared about Hannah Ann, you know, and
we had had a friendship, and so then it's like
this weird thing where you're friends with someone and then
they get engaged to the guy you were dating, and
then and then now like it's broken up, and so
I'm like, weirdly like, Okay, there could be a chance
(12:41):
at another relationship with this guy, but also like they've
just broken up, and so she's heart broken, and then
my heart goes out to her. So with so many
emotions all at one time, and then also trying to
navigate my own feelings in the midst of it, because
I had ended the relationship for a reason, you know,
I knew that there was a reason I walked away.
So that well, our faith just didn't fully align, our
(13:03):
convictions didn't fully aligned aligne and we just had different
perspectives on you know, on marriage, on relationships, on faith,
on life. And you know, some people are okay with that.
I personally wasn't. I wanted to build a marriage on
the same foundation and to be able to raise our
kids with that same foundation, and so I just saw
(13:26):
the differences there. You know, my dad didn't give the blessing.
That was another red flag. I was like, I'm definitely
not going to be able to say yes to this proposal.
So there was a lot you know that factored into it.
And so then when you know it kind of started
back up again, like those things didn't just go away.
I was still definitely, you know, racking my brain. And
even when we met back up before the finale, I
(13:49):
told him, I was like, this is this is not
us getting back together, like this is us just having
conversations off camera for the first time. And we got
to do that, and we got to just have conversations,
went into the finale honestly, like, no, there was no solution.
There was no like here, here's us, like saying we're
gonna last and get married. Like we did not have
(14:10):
any plan. It was like, we're going in the finale,
we'll see what happens. We did not expect what happened,
and and then you know, and then we ended up
parting ways and deciding that it wasn't gonna work.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Yeah, I mean what happened was you know, if for
people that don't remember and go back and watch this,
it was amazing bizarre television. We're barb just buried you
on National TV. I mean buried you. And I'll be honest,
I did not see it coming.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
And if I was gonna ask if you knew.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
No, and honestly, a lot of times I would know,
I would know what's coming, and but that I didn't know.
And if you watch it back, you'll see me try
to fix it to be like, well, you said this,
but you know you probably mean this, and she doubled
down on it, and then I was like, oh crap,
like this is unsalvageable at this point. But no, and
(15:04):
I will, I promise you one hundred percent. I had
no idea that's where she was going to go. Because
I'll be honest, whether I think you are right for Peter,
you know, let's say it's my son. Whether whether I
thought you were right for Joshua, there's no way, even
in the short time I got to know you, that
I could dislike you, Like there's nothing to dislike about
(15:24):
Maddie Prue, Like she is lovely, smart, adorable, kind, faithful,
like all those things. So even if you don't think
you're right for somebody, there's no way I could have
been what I thought was pretty mean in the moment.
It was mean, and so I was trying to kind
of fix that moment because I did not see it coming.
But then the cat was out of the bag and
(15:45):
it was ballgame.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
It was what it was. And honestly, like truly, I
can say, like, weirdly God used all of that, and
I'm weirdly thankful for it all. And you know, was
able to even have conversations Peter after and just we
were able to talk through it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Yeah, And what did that entail? Did he ever like say, hey,
sorry about my mom?
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Oh? Yeah, I mean he was super he was super remorseful.
I mean, on all ends. It was a very uncomfortable
position obviously for anyone to be in because it's his
you know, the person he wants to be with, and
then his family, and so he was in a pretty
weird situation. But he definitely was I think shocked and
(16:31):
blown away by how it was handled, really saddened by
and discouraged by it. But ultimately, you know, when we
decided to part ways, I just you know, I was like, hey,
I want the best for you, I want the best
for your family, I want the best for your future marriage.
This isn't it. This is not God's best, but I
wish the best for you.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
You don't think that would have been a good Thanksgiving
to be at?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I mean, you know a lot of people would have
paid a lot of good money to be a fly
on the wall, you know, Maddie.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Can you pass the cranberries? I still don't think you're
good enough for my son. And how about the gravy?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
It would have been so interesting. It's a good thing
my parents were not there, you know. I think my
parents would.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Have had Oh, I would have gotten so defensive.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah. Yeah, But it's funny I get asked. I actually
get asked all the time. One of the biggest questions
I get asked is like, so, what's Harrison like, Like,
tell me about Chris Harrison, and like, were y'all able
to hang out like off the camera? And is he cool?
And I'm like, he literally was one of my favorite people.
And I'm sad I didn't get more time with him.
But I remember this one moment, yeah, that I got
(17:39):
with you off the camera. It was with you and
the stylist and yes and one other producer and I
saw you and I was distraught, like I had just
gotten the worst news ever and blindsided and all the things,
and I see y'all and I just immediately I think,
(17:59):
I just like bury my head into your arms and
I'm like crying, and I just will never forget that moment.
But I was like, no, Chris is literally the best,
and I wish like we would have gotten more time together.
But yeah, I just had to tell you. Everybody wants
to know how awesome you are.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Well, I appreciate that. I will take all the propaganda
I can get. You know, It's funny. The travel that
season was so crazy. We didn't get a ton of
(18:36):
time to spend together because we were also so remote
and it was a lot of moving parts. And then
also the season got so bonkers towards the end. We
really had to keep everybody apart and only talk when
we needed to, whereas normally, I think it would have
been a lot more chill if we were just kind
of cruising to the end and we knew exactly how
it was going to go.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yeah, no, nobody knew what was gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
You take this experience, and I've heard you talk a
little bit about this, and so I think I know
the answer. But do you regret doing the show? Or
being on the show.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Not at all, honestly, not at all. I think like
for me, it was such a I had such a
piece about it from the very beginning, Like I really said, yes,
it's something that I had no idea what was going
to come out of it, and just trusted the piece
that I felt like God gave me and I went
with that and throughout the whole experience, like I stayed
so prayerful and I just stayed so like, Okay, I'll stay,
(19:33):
I'll walk away. I'm like what do I do? And
I've so seen like God showed up in all the
little moments during filming, but even since then, the way
that it's been used to be able to encourage so
many people and to be able to share my testimony,
my story and relate to people even though that might
not be their exact same story. Not a lot of
people were going on The Bachelor and trying to, you know,
(19:54):
find love on a dating show, but it was definitely
you know, the universal feelings of like what do you
do with regjat, what do you do with heartbreak? What
do you do when you know you get blindsighted? Or
when you're evaluating is this person the one for me
and uh, and then it just tests like your beliefs,
your values. It's like I had to really learn, like, Maddie,
who are you? What do you believe about yourself? What
(20:15):
do you what do you want in a spouse? What
is the love you're looking for? And it really tested
my identity, my faith, my convictions. And so I walked
away stronger and like more just in tune with who
I was and and with what I believe. And I'm
super grateful for that. You know that I was able
to just really stand stay true to those things and
(20:38):
stand firm in that because that was the most important
thing to me so well.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
I always said, if you know whether this show works
for you or not, there's no way you go through
it unchanged if you don't learn so much about yourself,
because like you said, it will push all those buttons
and make you question everything and make you really like, Okay,
do I really believe the things I've been saying all
these years? And so for you, it only reaffirmed who
(21:03):
you were, which is phenomenal. And before we move out
of that too, the crazy thing obviously, Peter later ends
up with Kelly or started dating Kelly for a while.
Who was on the show, and did you ever talk
to any of them? Again? Like, do you keep in
touch with hand An? Do you keep in touch with Kelly?
Do you keep in touch with Barb? Did you ever
talk to Barbe?
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Not her? But I did, I did pretty much everyone else.
I keep in touch with all the girls. I mean
even still, like I have such good relationships with everyone.
I mean truly, there's I don't I can't think of
a single person that I don't have good relationship in
standing with. Kelly was at my wedding. I mean, the
(21:43):
girls were at my wedding. Handa Anne was at my wedding.
Victoria Kelsey, I mean literally all of the girls were
at the wedding. And it's just so special, you know,
and we're.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
I heard such spectacular things about your wedding, Chris Harrison.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
You should have been at my wedding.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Had been officiating your wedding, But I figured, I figured
you're pretty solid in that department of marrying into plenty
of people who can officiate. But no, I did. I
I was so happy because I remember I was think
I was with Wells Adams and Ben Higgins. We were
at this golf tournament about the same time, and we
were talking about you, and I don't know if either
(22:20):
Ben or Wells nos Grant ornew of him Ben Ben
Ben does okay? So Ben and they must have been
been though. That was telling Wells and I like, this
guy is salt of the earth, just a good dude.
They are so happy and was telling us all about it.
So I was really happy to hear you had found
this in your life. I feel like if anybody deserved
it, it was you.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Oh thank you. He's truly like unbelievable. And I, I mean,
I was pretty boy crazy, like I had been on
a lot of dates, you know, and then I went
on The Bachelor and was just like at a point
where I was like, am I ever gonna Like I
felt like I was gonna have to settle in some way,
and I'm so thankful that I did it. I'm so
thankful that.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Had After the show, did you meet Grant?
Speaker 2 (23:02):
It was, oh gosh, okay. So I came off March
twenty twenty and then met him October twenty twenty one,
so it had been about a year and a year
and a half.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Yeah, so that's good. And then how did you guys
first meet it?
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Was pretty wild. I was doing a podcast for my
actual my first book made for this Moment, and was
doing a podcast podcast ends the whole. One of the
hosts of the show was like, Hey, are you single?
And I was like, uh, who's asking? And he was like,
I have this friend that I want to set you
up with. And I was like, I don't do blind dates.
(23:37):
But he was like set on it. He was like, no,
I really think you guys would be amazing. And he
was a mutual friend, like I knew him outside of
just like us recording this podcast, and so I was
kind of like, Okay, I'll trust you, I'll go for it. Whatever.
And so he sets Grant I up on a blind
date and I knew like nothing about Grant. Grant did
not know like anything about me, and uh. And so
(23:58):
we go into the state and I kid you not Chris.
By the end of it, I called my mom and
tears and I was like, I just met my husband.
This is the man I'm going to marry. I knew, Yes,
it was that instant. It was wild.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
How long before you guys got engaged?
Speaker 2 (24:16):
We dated for eight months?
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Okay, perfect, that's that's amazing. And so he must have
felt the same he did.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
He did. I mean, I don't know that he called
his mom crying.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
That's usually no.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
He was probably like it was cool, Yes.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
She's cool. Yeah, I could see this. I could see
this working. And so y'all had a big wedding.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
We did. We invited about four hundred people. It uh
was no small and we planned. We only had a
three month engagement, so we planned, you know, the wedding
very quickly, and it honestly, I kid you not, there
were so many God moments of things coming together that
I look back and I'm like, how did that happen?
Like how did we do all of that in three months?
(25:00):
I mean from like my dress, to venue, to vendors
to everything in between. It just was there were so
many little God moments and so I'm super super grateful
for that because most of the time you can't even
get like a dress within three months. So it all,
it all came together, and it was the time of
my life. It was the wedding of my dreams, and
more importantly, just got to spend it with such amazing people.
(25:22):
And I feel like the gospel was preached and we
were able to just share our faith and share what
our love was founded on and rooted on. And you
know that was really cool for us, having people from
all different walks of life and you know, on different
faith journeys just to be able to see that and
hear that. So it was really awesome.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
And how was married? Like, Ben, I mean, you're still newlyweds,
I would call you.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
So it's been so good. Now, well, I'll say the
first six months I was like whoa. I was like,
marriage is quite a quite a thing, and it was
just an adjustment, you know, living with someone, just being
with someone all the time, learning that person was it
(26:00):
was an adjustment. But no, it has been literally like
the greatest gift. He is truly like my biggest champion
that he pushes me and challenges me, leads me so
well and just continues to like show me what matters most.
I think I have these moments where I can like
so get in my head and I start caring about
all these little things that don't really matter, and he's
(26:20):
just like, Maddie, like what matters. This is what matters,
This is who you are, this is what your purpose is,
and he just like brings me back to focus and
it's it's been so so good. It I always say,
like relationships reveal, they reveal the best of you, the
worst of you. You know, you'll see in marriage the
best of someone and then the absolute worst. And so
(26:41):
I we've definitely already seen those moments of each other.
We've had we've had some low moments and then we've
had some unbelievable amazing moments, and then of course just
the everyday life moments. But it's been it's been really
really sweet to just be, you know, in a covenant
where it's like, hey, I choose you on your good
days and bad days and continue to remember what matters most.
It's been really sweet.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Would what would you say is the biggest adjustment to
married life?
Speaker 2 (27:07):
I mean, honestly, the like just the sacrifice, Like it's
it's so when especially when you're when you're doing it
God's way and your you know, faith is like the
foundation of your marriage. It's like it's not about me,
but it's about obviously God, yes, but then also about
serving you. And that was such an adjustment for me
(27:28):
of just going from this perspective of like single life,
do whatever, see whoever, go wherever, Like just not not
having to give an account for someone else, not having
to think about someone else. And you know, I was
doing like meal press. I was just like getting meals
dropped off at my house. And now I'm like, I
gotta cook. I don't know how to cook. So it's
you know, it's been quite just quite the adjustment of
(27:50):
just like even learning like little things of like, oh,
this is how you like to spend your mornings, this
is what you like to do on the weekend.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
And because you'll din't live together, right, you didn't live
together before, so yeah, you had to you know, do
you squeeze the toothpaste in the middle? Do you leave
the toilet seat up? Do you think all those things
just the little.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, all the little things. And I mean, thankfully,
like I do think we have such a good which
this was learned, This was not immediate, but just love
and respect for each other of you know, hey, I
love and value you. This this did not make me
feel loved. Can you work on this? You know? And
we have that communication going, which I'm super thankful for.
(28:27):
And I am I have no problem with conflict, so
I have no problem with being like, hey, I didn't
like that, let's change this and and you know vice versa.
So thankfully, like we we've learned. We learned how important
communication was very early on, because I was that person
that was like, you're supposed to read my mind, Like
why didn't you know this? And he's dude, Yeah, dude.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
I know. It's sometimes I wanted to say that to
Lauren too, Like you realize at the end of the day,
I'm still a dude. I'm just a man. Like, we're
not smart animals. We're not smart animals.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
You gotta be clear, like, if you want this, tell
me verbatim.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Because we're happy to give it. That's fine, right, just say.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
It, which is so funny. I love it.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
You've written two books now, obviously, the one Behind You
is the latest that dropped Tuesday, September nineteenth, The Love
Everybody Wants, And so I'm sure a lot of what
you went through on The Bachelor, what you went through
subsequently and then finding love and dealing with conflict, all
those things has found its way into the pages of
(29:41):
this book.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Yeah, totally. It has been. What's really really cool, I
don't know if I mentioned this earlier, but what's really
cool is I actually started writing this book single, so
I was single and honestly better. I thought about calling
the books single and Better, but my publishers were like,
that's not.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
How about the love everybody?
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Yeah, exactly, exactly. And I started writing this book honestly
just mad that I wasn't married, mad that I wasn't
getting the love that I wanted, and that everybody else
seemed to be getting it. And so then it made me,
you know, kind of have an internal wrestle of like,
what's wrong with me? What's am I the problem? Like
am I hard to love? And just having all of
(30:21):
those doubts and you know, questioning my worth and value
because you know of my relationship status. And I remember
having this moment and I just I felt like one
day when I was just praying, you know, God was like, hey,
just pressed on my heart, Like you're not looking for
the wrong thing, Like you're looking for the right thing.
You're just taking it to the wrong places. You're trying
to find it in people and in the world and
(30:42):
in things, and like it's got to start with me,
It's got to start here. And so for me, that
was such a game changer and shift when I really
like stopped striving and being frustrated and just surrendered and
just said, hey, okay, God, Like if I'm single forever, awesome.
If I meet my husband next week, awesome, Like I
(31:03):
just trust you and just taking you know, those longings
to God. And that just totally changed everything for me.
So then I started thriving my singleness, and I was like,
I'm not looking for nobody. I'm content, I'm happy. And
what's really cool about this book was I started writing
it single and bitter, then single and thriving. Then I
met Grant and we started dating, and then I got
(31:24):
to write even from like this authentic place of being,
in this evaluation period of like, Okay, is this God's
best for me? Is this the person I want to
spend the rest of my life with? And what you know?
Does he make me better? Do I make him better?
Are we good together? And then all the way up
until I finished the manuscript two months after we got married,
and so even got to add a little bit of
(31:45):
like marriage perspective in it. And the book actually ends
with like our written vowels in like the last few pages,
which is really sweet, and I'm really really I'm really
excited about it because I was able to write from
all those different vantage points because I felt like when
I was single, I was like, I just wish that
someone like my own age and like in my similar
(32:05):
season of life could just relate to what I'm feeling
right now. And I didn't really see a lot of
that out there. And so I think, you know, by
God's grace and kindness, I was really able to do that.
And then when I was struggling, I started realizing I
was having so many DMS from people and from girls,
being like, I'm struggling with my worth and value, I'm
struggling pursuing purity. I you know, am struggling feeling rejected.
(32:28):
How do I get over this person? How what do
I look for in the one? And uh? And I
realized I'm not the only one who has, you know,
these feelings and these doubts and these struggles, and so
it was even really cool to see and like take
that and filter that through like the writing.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Well, I think it's important that you were able to
write through all those phases of life because I find
it interesting if you just have one perspective, if you
write from just a single bitter standpoint, it's going to
be it's gonna be one thing. If you just wrote.
But I also, you know, I think to the other
side of that spectrum, if you just write from that
(33:03):
moment of euphoria where everything is perfect, you know, you
come up with these really inspirational lines and verses and things.
And that also is not relatable because people that are
single and struggling are like, well, you don't understand, like
everything's good for you tonight. And so I'm I bet
and I know you didn't plan on this because life
(33:23):
just took you there. But it's amazing you got to
write across this spectrum to have that kind of perspective.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Yeah, no, truly, And what's wild is again started writing
it single, but even finishing it married, I was like,
these same principles apply, Like I still have to cling
to these truths and remind myself of these things even married,
Like I still have to pursue perity in marriage. I
still have to make God the foundation. I still have
to know my value and worth, Like I still have
to find that outside of my marriage and outside of
(33:51):
my spouse and know that I have a purpose and
know that I have things to give. And so it's
been really cool to see that even the same message
that I was writing in singleness like still applies in marriage.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
You've mentioned a few times is this God's best? And
I know where you're coming from, and I like it,
but is it also a lot of pressure because if
you are trying to measure up right, measure a relationship, love,
our faults and everything up to God's best? You know,
(34:25):
can any relationship? Can any man or woman live up
to that?
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Yeah? I think what I mean by that personally, what
I've seen in my life is just like, is God's
peace in it? You know? Is this is this led
by God's peace? Do you have peace? Because I've been
in situations where truly the guy was awesome, he loved God,
we were on the same page everything like on paper
it was perfect, but I did not have peace Like
(34:50):
I could not for some reason, there was this check
in my heart of like, this is not this is
not his best. And I equate that to like I
don't have peace about it. And so for me, it
really comes down to that and just a line like
do we have you know, a similar vision for our
life or we headed on the same track? You know?
(35:10):
Just are you a good compliment to me to how
God's wired me? Am I a good compliment to you.
I mean, so many things to evaluate and figure out now,
I think at the same time, I don't know that
I necessarily believe in the one and so because of that,
I think, could I have married, you know, the guy
I dated for four years in college. Absolutely, and I
think God still would have blessed that, and I think
(35:31):
it would have been like a good marriage. You know. However,
I trusted that I didn't have peace, and I now
see where I am. It led me to go on
The Bachelor, It led me to be able to write books,
and it led me to now marrying like the love
of my life. And so I am so grateful that
I leaned into that lack of peace and trusted, Okay
(35:52):
this there's something off here, and I have to trust that,
even if it doesn't fully make.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Sense that voice. Yes, I've heard you speak on this before,
and I don't know if it's some of your testimonies
or some of the things I've heard, but you talk
about social media and I I could picture especially you,
and I find it interesting from this perspective. You come
off The Bachelor. I'm sure you have a million or
so followers. You're very beloved, and you're getting DMS and
(36:19):
you're getting you know, influencer deals and all that, but
that can also be a very lonely place. And whether
you are a big influencer or just my nineteen year
old daughter who has to see happy marriages the best right,
as I tell my kids, you're just seeing the best
of everything. You're not feeling that if you're in a
(36:40):
bad place. It just it's like a thousand paper cuts.
I guess do you talk about that in the book.
I know you've talked about it in your testimonials, but
how do we balance that?
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Yeah? No, I love that you brought this up, because
one of my biggest hearts like behind this book was
I really wanted to take on this culture that we're
in today and the cultural pressures and norms and phrases
and mantras and all these things. And so actually each
of my chapters starts with some type of like cultural
phrase or trend. You know, there's like the pick me girl,
(37:14):
and there's you know, the drive before you buy, and
there's you know all these you know, he completes me.
There's all these different phrases and mantras that I tackle
and I add, you know, truths to a biblical truths
to it and just my testimony things I've experienced and
you know what I've come to see as you know,
the ultimate truth in my life. And so it's been
(37:34):
it's been interesting because I was definitely thrown into culture
and just social media, world pressures, thoughts, opinions a lot.
And I remember in different stages of my life when
I was twenty twenty one and all of my friends
were getting married. I mean in Alabama, everybody gets married
at twenty two years old.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Yeah, I do the same thing.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Yeah, I mean, it's like the thing. I mean, my
parents got married at eighteen, So it's a very normal
thing in you know, some cultures for that to be
the norm. And so for me, I felt like something
was wrong with me. And one of the biggest triggers
for me was social media because I was seeing it
wasn't even that I was super discontent with where I was,
but I became more discontent seeing where everybody else was.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
And then it led to the idea, yeah, the the
what they put out there, and then what's crazy, which
which you spoke to this, But there's so much that
happens behind a.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Post and behind a story and behind a phone that
you're not seeing, you know, you're not seeing the tears,
the fights, the struggles, the all the things that are happening.
And for me in that season, I definitely was only
focusing on, you know, the highlights, the good things. All
my friends are married. God, why isn't that me? And
I've definitely had to protect myself, you know, in those seasons,
(38:53):
even in this season, like I personally have deleted social
media off my phone, and you know, I have, I
have a team, I have my my husband has it
on his phone, and there's just seasons of my life
where I just have to protect my eyes and my
heart because you know, sometimes I'm just more affected by it.
And I think you just have to lean into that
and know, like who are you following? Like what kind
of content are you taking in? Is it beneficial and
(39:15):
helpful to you? How much time are you spending on it?
And just those things really matter. And my husband has
done such a good job of reminding me, Maddie, like
live in the real life. You know, social media, this
world on your phone is not real like the real life.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
You can you can literally turn it off and put
it off exactly will and it will matter not like
you can read all of Twitter x whatever the hell
it is, and you know threads and Instagram and TikTok
and all that, but anything that you can simply click,
put it down, walk away, and if you never went back,
it doesn't matter in your life. That's all you need
(39:52):
to know. But when you were young, and you know
you were younger when you came off the backsloor, and
I think about my own daughter, You're drinking from a
fire hydrant. Your brain, your hormones, you are not at
all prepared for that at that age. I don't think
we're ever prepared to drink out of a fire hydrant
like that. It's just it's too much.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
Yeah, no, absolutely, And I think that's so real. And
I had so many moments of like I remember when
I came off the show and just seeing so much
and reading so much and just being so affected by it.
I lost like twenty pounds. I was like not okay,
and my face was breaking out. I lost so much weight.
I was struggling with sleeping, struggling with eating, and just
(40:32):
not in a very healthy place. I had to like
fully get off of social media. And I've just realized,
like my triggers and I had to like really put
up some healthy boundaries and things like around me, bring
in accountability, bring in people, and like I have, you know,
a community of people here that I'm like, hey, I'm
believing this lie right now because of something I saw
on social media, Like I just want to confess it
(40:53):
to you. Will you will you pray for me? And
like that has been so so good just for me
to like bring that out into the light and all,
so you know, bring people so they have an awareness
of my struggles, so they have an awareness of my
trigger points, and they can hold me accountable and they
can pray for me. And so for me, you know,
when I'm struggling on social media, if I don't delete it,
I'm bringing my people into it and being like, hey,
(41:14):
can you hold me accountable? Ask me how much time
I'm spending on here, Ask me what I see, ask
me how it's making me feel, and constantly be in
prayer for me, because yeah, I mean we all need that.
Like community is so important, And that was something about
like even this book I wanted to I wanted to
touch on the importance of like we weren't made to
go through life alone. We were made for relationships.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
We're tribal people. We've always said exactly yes.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
Like we need we need people. But at the same time,
the people we choose to spend our time with and
our life with matters so much. Our environment matters so much.
It shapes our becoming. It shapes our view and perspective
of our self, of life, of God, of everything. And
so those people you know that we do life with,
(41:57):
it's like ask ask questions like are they making me
a better version of myself? Or they pushing me to
the things that matter most? Or are they leading me
further away from it? And for me, finally finding those
people that could be my safe people and good people
was so important.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
Number one, it's amazing how someone you don't know and
someone who is essentially irrelevant in your life can have
such an impact by something they say or something they do.
And that is but the confusion that that is your community,
that's not social media praise on that in our mind.
I think it gives us that you know, that dopamine
(42:44):
kick and that that feeling, Oh, this is our community.
I belong to something you don't. That's not real. Yeah,
you have to def it sounds like what you're saying
in the book, and what you're saying just now is
you got to define that in reality?
Speaker 2 (42:56):
Yeah, yeah, no, for sure. And it's it like for me,
this inspiration behind this book was what changed my life
was my relationship with God. And that shaped everything. That
shaped my relationships, that shaped my purpose, that shaped my identity,
my self worth, my value. It shaped like I have peace,
I have joy, I feel free like it just so
(43:19):
much is packed into that statement. And what I've realized
is I've tried to do life Mattie's way. I've tried
to do dating Matty's way. I've tried to do friendships,
relations everything Maddy's way, and it just continued to lead
to you know, chaos, confusion, like so much lack of peace,
just so many things. And I finally got to a
point where I was like, fine, God, you win, you win,
(43:40):
and I'm gonna do it your way. And I realized, like, there'
that's the that's the like secret to life is like hey,
it's it's the two Greatest Commandments, which is Matthew twenty
two thirty six through forty, which is the inspiration behind
this book. And you know, God's Jesus is saying like, Hey,
the most important thing that you can learn is to
love the Lord, your God with all your heart, to
love and to love your neighbor as yourself. And so
(44:02):
I really take these these three loves one love God,
two love yourself, and three love people as the foundation
of this book and what it actually looks like to
build you know, our lives on the foundation of God's love.
But then also, how do you love yourself? Like how
do you value yourself and set high standards for yourself
(44:22):
and know your words so that you're not coming to
other people and other things looking for them to tell
you who you are and looking for them to complete you,
which is so important.
Speaker 1 (44:32):
That's and there's a subtle difference there. That's very interesting. Yeah,
go further on that. What does that mean to you?
Speaker 2 (44:40):
Yeah, you mean the like loving yourself?
Speaker 1 (44:42):
Yeah, like coming into a relationship. I hate to say this,
but for the wrong reasons. Yeah, yeah, you know what
I mean?
Speaker 2 (44:50):
Like it?
Speaker 1 (44:51):
So do you know do you talk about that in
the book and explain that?
Speaker 2 (44:54):
Yeah? I mean the first like half of the book,
one of the chapters is called pick Me, another chapter
called if he wanted to he would, And another chapter
is called you know he completes me. And each of
these chapters is really speaking to this idea of like,
we've got to know our worth and value. And I
take it, you know, in the direction of like in Christ,
we've got to know who we are, you know, in Christ,
(45:15):
and what God thinks about us. But just in general,
our true worth and value comes not from someone else,
you know, it doesn't come from what they think about
us or how they treat us. And this perspective of
like a partner in life is meant to compliment us,
not complete us. Our purpose is not a person, Our
identity is not a relationship status. And I think when
(45:36):
we make someone our everything, we lose everything else because
we make them our whole world. And then we quickly realize, like, oh,
this person can't actually complete me and satisfy me, because
our hearts were made to only be whole and complete
by the one who created it. And so I talk
all about in my book just the importance of like
You've got to come, We've got to start approaching relationships
(45:56):
and situations from a place of confidence and value, knowing
who we are, being comfortable with who we're not, not
trying to be like someone else because then when we
do that, we don't long for acceptance and belonging. Rather,
we're able to love from acceptance and belonging because we
already know who we are, so we're not like striving
for it, and it becomes.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
A value add in your life, right Exactly. You are
clearly a very vocal in your faith. I'm a faithful
person too, and we've never really talked about that, but
I'm sure as much as you talk about your faith
in God and Jesus that there is backlash to that. Yeah,
(46:38):
And how have you dealt with How strong has that been?
Because it also is very bizarrely when you talk about
like what are the three tenets of Matty's life? It
was like love thyself, love thy neighbor, you know, like
it's all love, love, love, But yet that it can
it's something now that can be so polarizing. How have
(46:59):
you dealt with that? How difficult has that been?
Speaker 2 (47:02):
Yeah? There were moments, like I would say, right when
I came off of Reality TV, I was truly so afraid,
I think, to like take strong stances on things because
I was so afraid of what people would say, what
people would think, and how if it would offend them
and all the things. But I think like, as I've
matured more and more in my faith, surrounded myself with
(47:24):
good people, gotten plugged back into a local church, you know,
just gotten back to like what matters most. I've just
realized I'm like, this is all throughout scripture. This is biblical. Like,
you're going to be insulted for the name of Christ
if you profess your faith, if you stand to even
take Jesus out of it, if you stand for anything important,
You're gonna have backlash. You're gonna you're gonna if you
take a stand for something like go ahead and prepare,
(47:46):
you know, to to receive some hate because there's just
gonna We live in a world where there's so many
opinions and there's so much opportunity to vocalize those opinions,
and everyone feels entitled to vocalize their opinion, and so
you know, I think I go back to, like, there's
so many verses in scripture that's like if you're insulted
because of the name of Christ, you're blessed, So like,
consider it a joy, consider it a blessing. And you know,
(48:08):
there's been moments where I'm like, I don't know if
I believe that God, But you know, I do go
back and I'm like I at the end of the
day when I lay my head down, and I'm like,
I do believe that, because Lord, like, your love is
so worth it. It's so worth it, even if I'm
misunderstood and hated by everybody around me, You're so worth it,
and so like, Yeah, at the end of the day,
(48:29):
I know what matters most. I know what I believe,
I know what's true. I know what has brought freedom
and peace and hope to my life. And I'm not
going to trade that to be maybe more likable or
to be more popular. Like I'm going to cling to
what gives me life and what gives me value and
what has changed everything for me, because I've been in
the other situation, like I've been in the boat where
(48:50):
I just wanted to be so liked and accepted by
everybody that I conformed to whatever everybody wanted and whatever
everybody needed, and I lost myself in the process, and
it was just this endless cycle of just clinging to
other people's opinions of me and letting other people who
didn't know who they are to find who I was
and you know, just being lost in the sauce. And
(49:11):
then I finally got to a point where I was like,
I know, I know, I know that this thing that
I grew up on, you know, this thing that I
was taught, this faith in Jesus, Like I remember the
hope I used to have, and I want to go
back to that moment. And so it just that's been
my my thing for years of just like continuing to
go back to that moment of like why why I
(49:31):
believe what I believe? And even when it gets hard
and truth be told, Like I am really careful with
what I look at and see because I don't want
to see all the hate, but I also, to be honest,
don't want to see all the praise, Like I don't
want to see either, Like I really want to stay
so just normal and focused and present and just love
(49:53):
the person in front of me and be like we
were just talking about earlier, like in the real, in
the here, in the now, and not so caught up
in like oh no, they commented this, they said this
in this magazine, they were talking about me here on
this podcast. It's like who carees whatever?
Speaker 1 (50:07):
Like something these days?
Speaker 2 (50:10):
Right, I'm like you and me both. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (50:12):
Well, you know, it's funny. I always said, even during
the highest times of the Bachelor, you know, and then
the lowest of low's when I went through what I
went through when I left the show, I always said,
You're never as bad as everybody says you are. Equally,
you're not as great as everybody says you are.
Speaker 2 (50:28):
A perspective, you don't.
Speaker 1 (50:31):
Get to believe one and believe the other. You don't
get to pick and choose, you know, the truth. The
truth usually lies somewhere in the middle. Maddie, congratulations on everything,
on finding your truth, on living it, on loving it,
being married to Grant in this beautiful life. And of
course the book The Love Everybody Wants is already out.
(50:52):
You can, I'm sure, order an Amazon, go find it
in bookstores. Be old school, go find it in a bookstore. Yeah,
come on, I've wrote a book as well. Actually, it's
right here. I went through that literary process. It is
not easy. It is a bee It is a very antiquated,
like bizarre genre. It's you think it's very technologically advanced,
(51:15):
it's not. And so, yeah, it takes a lot to
get a book written. And now you have two it's
just it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (51:20):
Thank you. It's a lot, and it's a lot of
feelings and emotions. I have so many people that have
come up to me, like over this past week, and
they're like, how are you feeling? And I'm like, how
do I answer this question? Because I have poured my
heart and soul into this book for the last two
years and given it so much time and attention. So
I'm like, well, I'm anxious, I'm excited, I'm terrified, I'm
(51:43):
you know, all the things. And I'm also just like,
I know this message can impact a lot of people,
and so there's also just a hope attack there's hope
attached to it. But it's also the most vulnerable book
I've ever written, and so I've only written too but
it's the you know, still the most vulnerable book I've
ever written. And I open up about things in this
book that like, I've never really shared with many people,
and so it's scary, but at the same time you
(52:06):
just cling to, like, I really just hope this encourages
and helps people.
Speaker 1 (52:10):
So there's a lot of vulnerability. It's you know, I
said the same thing when I was going on my
book tour and all that that you know. There is
an excitement, of course, but it's it's it's like you've
had this baby. You're bearing it all to the world,
and you feel pretty naked because these are your feelings
and thoughts. Of Mine was a fictional romance novel, but
a lot of my life and feelings and stories went
(52:30):
into it, And so you want people to love it
and accept it. And because it's almost like they are.
Their love is just it's like they're accepting you because
you so much of you is in this book. So
it is it's difficult. So I admire it very much.
Speaker 2 (52:45):
Oh thank you. I now want to meet your daughter
because I just like feel I don't know, I like
want to. I want to see her and encourage her
and love on her because I'm like, I go back
to my nineteen year old self, and I'm like, oh
the things I would go back and tell my nineteen
year old No, I'm.
Speaker 1 (53:01):
Going to connect with the two of you. Taylor is please.
She's a sophomore. She's actually just up the road for you,
because you're in Waco and she's up at TCU at
forut Worth. Oh amazing, and she is just such an
incredible soul, very faithful girl. And I'm actually going to
get her your book. She needs her. I think she
needs to read your book. I think she would love it.
Speaker 2 (53:19):
Yes, No, I seriously, I'm not kidding. Like it's my
greatest passion, especially before like if I can get a
hold to like some younger versions of Maddie before she
has to experience all of the pain and heartbreak and
questioning worth and value. If I can get you know
her early on and just encourage her and speak the
truth to her and challenge her, like I would have
(53:41):
saved her a lot of heartbreaking moments, and some of
it you can't escape, but a lot of it you can.
A lot of it you can prepare and advance for.
And you know have have a strong value and foundation,
And so I would, I seriously would love to connect
with her.
Speaker 1 (53:56):
As I tell my kids, I said, the only reason
i can give you this wisdom and advice is I've
tripped and fallen flat on my face on all the
hurdles that I know are in front of you. I
can't take them all out of your life. You will
fall like that will happen. But I think maybe fifty
percent of them I can probably pull out of your way,
and so if you can avoid that, don't make the
(54:17):
same mistakes I did. It's not because I was perfect
or I know better. It's only because I also tripped
and fell totally.
Speaker 2 (54:24):
And the power of good parenting. I'm like, you have
more impacts than you'll ever know. I mean, I was
so blessed to have amazing parents.
Speaker 1 (54:31):
So well, it made you the incredible basketball player you are.
Speaker 2 (54:35):
Yeah, exactly, exactly. My dad would appreciate that calling.
Speaker 1 (54:39):
Yeah, I know. Anyway, Maddie, I thank you for the time.
I was so excited we connected. And again, I think
both you and I believe there's a reason for everything,
and there's a reason that we got brought back together
again to talk. If nothing else, it was just good
to see your smiling face again and connect.
Speaker 2 (54:54):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, I know. I'm excited. Hopefully we all
see each other soon. You got to meet.
Speaker 1 (54:59):
Grant now, I have to meet Grant. I drive through
Waco about fifty times a year, going up and back
and forth between Dallas and TCU and for Worth and
all that. So one of these days, I'm just going
to pull off the side of the road.
Speaker 2 (55:09):
Please.
Speaker 1 (55:10):
We'll meet at the in and out of Chick fil
A right there, all thirty five we have to The
book is The Love Everybody Wants by Madison Pruitt Trout
Go check it out, go get it. Thank you. You're
an absolute doll. I appreciate the time.
Speaker 2 (55:27):
Thank you so much. I had the best time.
Speaker 1 (55:29):
Thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram at the most
dramatic pod ever, and make sure to write us a
review and leave us five stars. I'll talk to you
next time.
This is the most dramatic podcast ever and iHeartRadio podcast.
Chris Harrison coming to you from the home office in Austin, Texas,
and I'm so excited for the show today because someone
recently just kind of came back into my life. I
love how things happen for a reason, for a season,
whatever it is. Call it karma, call it God's will.
(00:24):
But Madison Preuet Trout, you guys know her is Maddi
Prue from Peter Season of The Bachelor, had reached out
to me about something different and we started talking and
I said, you have to come on the most dramatic
podcast ever. And I love getting back in touch with
people that I kind of skipped across in my life,
(00:48):
whether it was on the show business whatever, and then
diving in a little deeper to see what was their
experience really, Like, you know, I have my thoughts on
how Peter Season of The Bachelor went, but that's his host.
That's as a producer, that says someone who was really
trying to facilitate entertaining you and helping Peter find love
(01:08):
and you know, dealing with his mom and dad and
his brother. And there's a lot of moving parts when
you're hosting and producing the show, and when you get
to kind of peel back the layers and compartmentalize a
little bit and just talk to one person. Just talk
to Maddie about her experience. What did she go through?
(01:29):
And these are conversations that I really haven't had with
a lot of the contestants that I worked with for
well twenty years, and so I'm really interested to talk
to her about her experience. Does she regret being on
the show? You know, I know she's a very faithful
woman and she's written a couple of books. Now we're
going to talk about that. She's married to a wonderful guy,
(01:51):
Grant Trout, hence the Madison Pruet Trout name. Now, but
does she look back and regret anything, Does she wish
she didn't do it? Or did she learn from it?
And I find these things interesting. And also what was
her experience of going through this with Peter? When did
she know she wanted to leave for real? When did
her and Peter start talking again? And we have to
(02:14):
talk about the Barb of it all. When we went
back on the After the Funnel Row special, when Barb
said what she did on live TV and really just
said basically, you and Peter aren't right together, and you
aren't right for my son. Y'all shouldn't be together. And look,
I'm not saying she was wrong. And I have no
(02:35):
problem with Barb, I have no problem with Peter. I
have no problem with Mattie. But did those specific words
need to be said on live TV at that moment?
And how much did that affect Mattie? How much did
it hurt? And how much now does she take away
and put into the pages of the book that comes out, Well,
just came out September nineteenth, So a lot to talk about,
(02:58):
a lot of layers to pull back. And I'm so
excited that this woman came back into my life so
we could have this conversation. Joining me now, is Madison
pruit Trout still still a newlywed?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Still a newlywed? We are we are thriving. Last time
I saw you quite quite different circumstances. It feels good
to be where we are today.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yeah. I mean, let's see, from having Peter's mom tell
you you're not enough for her son on national television
to happily married, accomplished author. Yeah, I would say life
is definitely done A one eighty for you, I would.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Say life is sitting pretty good right now.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
It is bizarre. So I guess the first question is
you threw in the trout? Ye you're hyphenating? Is that
what we're doing?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
We are a Trout. I actually didn't even hyphenate. I
moved prough it to middle name. So we are a
Madison Pruitt Trout. We are full, full in. We're all
in with Trout. It's kind of crazy seeing like a
new last name on the book, and I'm embracing it.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
And by the way, we're going to talk about the
new book, The Love Everybody Wants, which dropped Tuesday the nineteenth.
It's already crushing it. We're going to talk about a
lot of stuff, but I want to dive into something
and I might just completely take us out on a
side rail here. But Lauren and I have had this
discussion about changing your last name. And at some point,
(04:27):
you know, when you had two marriages or you've changed
your name already and doing it again, did you consider
you know, because you're known as Madison Pruitt and people
know you as that as an influencer and as an
author already, but now you are Madison Prouit Trout. Did
you think about not changing it?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
I had a moment of like, this is going to
be different, this is going to be weird. But honestly,
I always knew I wanted to take on my you know,
future husband's last name, but yeah, I mean it is
definitely it was a moment for me. I was like,
this has been my identity for so long and just
you know, I'm so proud of my family and like
(05:06):
the Pruitt name and just what that means and what
that represents. So it was it was really hard. I'm
not gonna lie, but I'm I mean, I'm thankful that
I kept it as my middle name, and so now,
I mean it's still I still go by Madison pru
At Trout to like everyone, so you know, it is
what it is, and people still call me Mattie Prue.
I just I kept that on my social media. I
(05:26):
don't think my husband loved that part as much. He's like,
you wanted to keep Maddie.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Prue, Like what, Well, yeah, man, I've established myself. But
it's interesting if that is just is that a tradition
that we keep for just some reason? Is it something
that you held dear that you really wanted to do that.
That's kind of what Laurena and I have been debating
is is that kind of pass a is Does it
(05:52):
matter anymore? Is that a thing?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Honestly, I don't know. I don't know the answer. I
think it really is just like preferences for me personally,
I you know, with just being so rooted in my faith,
like I really take that. I don't know the particular verse,
but it's like that verse where it's like you shall
leave your father and mother and become one. I just
take that verse so literally of even meaning like last name.
(06:15):
You know, I'm like, I want to become one. My
loyalty now is no longer with my my family. That
sounds so harsh, it is, but you know what I mean,
It's like it's now, you know, I'm starting a new family.
I'm becoming one with this man, and I'm taking on
his last name, and I'm just I'm so proud to
be his and I want to I want to represent him,
you know, I want to represent the family we're going
(06:37):
to create together. So, you know, I think that's that's
my perspective on it.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
At least it's good behind it. Yeah, totally I want
to go back and this. You know, when you and
I started texting and we were talking about talking about
your book and then and I said, You've got to
come on my podcast. I started thinking about your season
of The Bachelor with Peter, and I'll be honest, I
had to kind of go back. There were so many layers,
(07:03):
there was so much that happened. I had kind of
forgotten some of it. And I don't know if that's
a good thing from like PTSD where I just like
blocked it away.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Me too, me too.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
But I forgot how bonkers it was completely. And the
funny thing is Lauren obviously covered the show for Entertainment Tonight,
so we've been discussing that season and she would bring
up things that she remember and I'm like, oh my gosh,
I completely forgot.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
It was insane. It was literally insane. I mean I
think we had one of the like highest rated seasons
or something because of how insane it was.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
It was the Barb effect, as we called it.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
It was pretty wild. I mean I think each moment
I'm just like, even there, like an actual real time
live I'm like, what is going on?
Speaker 1 (07:49):
I mean, well, let's talk about that then, and I
don't want to dive too deep into this bit. Can
we just discuss because you and I have never really
talked about how it really unfolded.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Yeah, so Peter season it ends with you leaving. We
were in Australia correct, mm hmm, Australia and we went
to that one god for second place way up north.
Did you ever make it up there? Did you leave before?
Speaker 2 (08:15):
I don't remember. Well I left the day before the proposal,
so I was okay.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
So you were up there. You were up there, like
way up north. We were in the outback. It was like, yeah,
we tried to make it sexy. It was not. It
was I mean, they might as well have just dropped
us on Mars.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Yeah. It was like, well our last date was we
were like in the middle of nowhere. Remember Peter was
like wondering and like there were like rattlesnakes and crazy
things around.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
So you yeah, I remember you leaving because I remember
having to tell him that you had left the next
day and he decides he's going to propose to Hannah
ann mm hmm. What when did you find out that
that was the case? And when did he reach out
to you? Again?
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I found I literally, you knocked on my door, you came, well,
I don't know whose house that was. You came to
a house. We were there, and that was so crazy
that I had heard about things before that moment. Yeah,
but that was when it was like super legit. Like
I was like, Okay, it's it's legit. This is happening.
(09:24):
He got engaged, he's ending the engagement. Like the whole
thing was just so surreal. So yeah, honestly, like when
you say you block it out, I'm like even talking
about it. I'm like, the other day I hadn't talked
about it in so long, and I was sharing like
my testimony to someone and that was like half of
the testimony and I was like, I haven't talked about
(09:46):
this in so long. But yeah, I mean, the whole
thing was was super crazy. I remember leaving there truly
not knowing like what was going to happen or what
was going to come. But I just had so much
peace to walk away, and and then you know, got
brought right back. We went right back into it. Just
when you think you're out, so when you get said
(10:07):
vibe and so.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
We get to some point where we've all left Australia right,
and then he reaches out to you.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Yeah, so we I'm trying to think of how it happens.
I don't know that we had like I think we
had like some mutual friend that had.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Like that's a crazy part. At this point, we've not
exchanged numbers. Yeah, that's that's that's how crazy this can get.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
It's wild. We had some mutual friend that was like
kind of the lays on, you know, and it was
like so middle school. It was like, so, how how's
he feeling? Like, tell me what he's feeling, you know,
and uh but yeah, I mean truly that was like
kind of the connection point. And then you know, and
then everything unfolded.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
So and we get to so he reaches out to
you at some point I assume, Yeah, y'all actually talked,
because y'all talked before a fr after Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Oh yeah for sure.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Because and now had y'all seen each other or gone
on a date before that? I couldn't remember.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Yes, we went, We did the whole like remember you
showed up at the house. Then we I flew out
to California and met with him.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Oh that's right. Oh that's right, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Okay, Yes, and then we had like a few I
can't remember if we had like I think we had
a couple of weeks before the Final Rose or not
Final Rose, the Live I forget whatever it's called.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
We were in the middle, so you know, it's funny
talk about blocking out. We were shooting another show. I
got on a plane, flew to Auburn, first time i'd
seen Auburn. By the way, did you like it? Well?
I saw the inside of your garage, yeah, or whatever
house that was. I saw the inside of a garage,
and then I went in and then I had to
(11:48):
get back on a plane and get right back to
the next season we were shooting. But it was I
remember having that talk and just I wasn't even sure
when we were having that heart to heart, like what
was right. I didn't know, honestly, how to counsel you best.
I wasn't sure. I was like, run or give us
(12:09):
a shot, because I know I did. It's because I
didn't dislike Peter. I don't dislike Peter, but I didn't
know at the same time if it was right at
all for you?
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Right, yeah, I think my whole thing. There was just
so many emotions. I cared deeply about the girls on
my season. I cared about Hannah Ann, you know, and
we had had a friendship, and so then it's like
this weird thing where you're friends with someone and then
they get engaged to the guy you were dating, and
then and then now like it's broken up, and so
I'm like, weirdly like, Okay, there could be a chance
(12:41):
at another relationship with this guy, but also like they've
just broken up, and so she's heart broken, and then
my heart goes out to her. So with so many
emotions all at one time, and then also trying to
navigate my own feelings in the midst of it, because
I had ended the relationship for a reason, you know,
I knew that there was a reason I walked away.
So that well, our faith just didn't fully align, our
(13:03):
convictions didn't fully aligned aligne and we just had different
perspectives on you know, on marriage, on relationships, on faith,
on life. And you know, some people are okay with that.
I personally wasn't. I wanted to build a marriage on
the same foundation and to be able to raise our
kids with that same foundation, and so I just saw
(13:26):
the differences there. You know, my dad didn't give the blessing.
That was another red flag. I was like, I'm definitely
not going to be able to say yes to this proposal.
So there was a lot you know that factored into it.
And so then when you know it kind of started
back up again, like those things didn't just go away.
I was still definitely, you know, racking my brain. And
even when we met back up before the finale, I
(13:49):
told him, I was like, this is this is not
us getting back together, like this is us just having
conversations off camera for the first time. And we got
to do that, and we got to just have conversations,
went into the finale honestly, like, no, there was no solution.
There was no like here, here's us, like saying we're
gonna last and get married. Like we did not have
(14:10):
any plan. It was like, we're going in the finale,
we'll see what happens. We did not expect what happened,
and and then you know, and then we ended up
parting ways and deciding that it wasn't gonna work.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Yeah, I mean what happened was you know, if for
people that don't remember and go back and watch this,
it was amazing bizarre television. We're barb just buried you
on National TV. I mean buried you. And I'll be honest,
I did not see it coming.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
And if I was gonna ask if you knew.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
No, and honestly, a lot of times I would know,
I would know what's coming, and but that I didn't know.
And if you watch it back, you'll see me try
to fix it to be like, well, you said this,
but you know you probably mean this, and she doubled
down on it, and then I was like, oh crap,
like this is unsalvageable at this point. But no, and
(15:04):
I will, I promise you one hundred percent. I had
no idea that's where she was going to go. Because
I'll be honest, whether I think you are right for Peter,
you know, let's say it's my son. Whether whether I
thought you were right for Joshua, there's no way, even
in the short time I got to know you, that
I could dislike you, Like there's nothing to dislike about
(15:24):
Maddie Prue, Like she is lovely, smart, adorable, kind, faithful,
like all those things. So even if you don't think
you're right for somebody, there's no way I could have
been what I thought was pretty mean in the moment.
It was mean, and so I was trying to kind
of fix that moment because I did not see it coming.
But then the cat was out of the bag and
(15:45):
it was ballgame.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
It was what it was. And honestly, like truly, I
can say, like, weirdly God used all of that, and
I'm weirdly thankful for it all. And you know, was
able to even have conversations Peter after and just we
were able to talk through it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Yeah, And what did that entail? Did he ever like say, hey,
sorry about my mom?
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Oh? Yeah, I mean he was super he was super remorseful.
I mean, on all ends. It was a very uncomfortable
position obviously for anyone to be in because it's his
you know, the person he wants to be with, and
then his family, and so he was in a pretty
weird situation. But he definitely was I think shocked and
(16:31):
blown away by how it was handled, really saddened by
and discouraged by it. But ultimately, you know, when we
decided to part ways, I just you know, I was like, hey,
I want the best for you, I want the best
for your family, I want the best for your future marriage.
This isn't it. This is not God's best, but I
wish the best for you.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
You don't think that would have been a good Thanksgiving
to be at?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I mean, you know a lot of people would have
paid a lot of good money to be a fly
on the wall, you know, Maddie.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Can you pass the cranberries? I still don't think you're
good enough for my son. And how about the gravy?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
It would have been so interesting. It's a good thing
my parents were not there, you know. I think my
parents would.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Have had Oh, I would have gotten so defensive.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah. Yeah, But it's funny I get asked. I actually
get asked all the time. One of the biggest questions
I get asked is like, so, what's Harrison like, Like,
tell me about Chris Harrison, and like, were y'all able
to hang out like off the camera? And is he cool?
And I'm like, he literally was one of my favorite people.
And I'm sad I didn't get more time with him.
But I remember this one moment, yeah, that I got
(17:39):
with you off the camera. It was with you and
the stylist and yes and one other producer and I
saw you and I was distraught, like I had just
gotten the worst news ever and blindsided and all the things,
and I see y'all and I just immediately I think,
(17:59):
I just like bury my head into your arms and
I'm like crying, and I just will never forget that moment.
But I was like, no, Chris is literally the best,
and I wish like we would have gotten more time together.
But yeah, I just had to tell you. Everybody wants
to know how awesome you are.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Well, I appreciate that. I will take all the propaganda
I can get. You know, It's funny. The travel that
season was so crazy. We didn't get a ton of
(18:36):
time to spend together because we were also so remote
and it was a lot of moving parts. And then
also the season got so bonkers towards the end. We
really had to keep everybody apart and only talk when
we needed to, whereas normally, I think it would have
been a lot more chill if we were just kind
of cruising to the end and we knew exactly how
it was going to go.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yeah, no, nobody knew what was gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
You take this experience, and I've heard you talk a
little bit about this, and so I think I know
the answer. But do you regret doing the show? Or
being on the show.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Not at all, honestly, not at all. I think like
for me, it was such a I had such a
piece about it from the very beginning, Like I really said, yes,
it's something that I had no idea what was going
to come out of it, and just trusted the piece
that I felt like God gave me and I went
with that and throughout the whole experience, like I stayed
so prayerful and I just stayed so like, Okay, I'll stay,
(19:33):
I'll walk away. I'm like what do I do? And
I've so seen like God showed up in all the
little moments during filming, but even since then, the way
that it's been used to be able to encourage so
many people and to be able to share my testimony,
my story and relate to people even though that might
not be their exact same story. Not a lot of
people were going on The Bachelor and trying to, you know,
(19:54):
find love on a dating show, but it was definitely
you know, the universal feelings of like what do you
do with regjat, what do you do with heartbreak? What
do you do when you know you get blindsighted? Or
when you're evaluating is this person the one for me
and uh, and then it just tests like your beliefs,
your values. It's like I had to really learn, like, Maddie,
who are you? What do you believe about yourself? What
(20:15):
do you what do you want in a spouse? What
is the love you're looking for? And it really tested
my identity, my faith, my convictions. And so I walked
away stronger and like more just in tune with who
I was and and with what I believe. And I'm
super grateful for that. You know that I was able
to just really stand stay true to those things and
(20:38):
stand firm in that because that was the most important
thing to me so well.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
I always said, if you know whether this show works
for you or not, there's no way you go through
it unchanged if you don't learn so much about yourself,
because like you said, it will push all those buttons
and make you question everything and make you really like, Okay,
do I really believe the things I've been saying all
these years? And so for you, it only reaffirmed who
(21:03):
you were, which is phenomenal. And before we move out
of that too, the crazy thing obviously, Peter later ends
up with Kelly or started dating Kelly for a while.
Who was on the show, and did you ever talk
to any of them? Again? Like, do you keep in
touch with hand An? Do you keep in touch with Kelly?
Do you keep in touch with Barb? Did you ever
talk to Barbe?
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Not her? But I did, I did pretty much everyone else.
I keep in touch with all the girls. I mean
even still, like I have such good relationships with everyone.
I mean truly, there's I don't I can't think of
a single person that I don't have good relationship in
standing with. Kelly was at my wedding. I mean, the
(21:43):
girls were at my wedding. Handa Anne was at my wedding.
Victoria Kelsey, I mean literally all of the girls were
at the wedding. And it's just so special, you know,
and we're.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
I heard such spectacular things about your wedding, Chris Harrison.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
You should have been at my wedding.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Had been officiating your wedding, But I figured, I figured
you're pretty solid in that department of marrying into plenty
of people who can officiate. But no, I did. I
I was so happy because I remember I was think
I was with Wells Adams and Ben Higgins. We were
at this golf tournament about the same time, and we
were talking about you, and I don't know if either
(22:20):
Ben or Wells nos Grant ornew of him Ben Ben
Ben does okay? So Ben and they must have been
been though. That was telling Wells and I like, this
guy is salt of the earth, just a good dude.
They are so happy and was telling us all about it.
So I was really happy to hear you had found
this in your life. I feel like if anybody deserved
it, it was you.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Oh thank you. He's truly like unbelievable. And I, I mean,
I was pretty boy crazy, like I had been on
a lot of dates, you know, and then I went
on The Bachelor and was just like at a point
where I was like, am I ever gonna Like I
felt like I was gonna have to settle in some way,
and I'm so thankful that I did it. I'm so
thankful that.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Had After the show, did you meet Grant?
Speaker 2 (23:02):
It was, oh gosh, okay. So I came off March
twenty twenty and then met him October twenty twenty one,
so it had been about a year and a year
and a half.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Yeah, so that's good. And then how did you guys
first meet it?
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Was pretty wild. I was doing a podcast for my
actual my first book made for this Moment, and was
doing a podcast podcast ends the whole. One of the
hosts of the show was like, Hey, are you single?
And I was like, uh, who's asking? And he was like,
I have this friend that I want to set you
up with. And I was like, I don't do blind dates.
(23:37):
But he was like set on it. He was like, no,
I really think you guys would be amazing. And he
was a mutual friend, like I knew him outside of
just like us recording this podcast, and so I was
kind of like, Okay, I'll trust you, I'll go for it. Whatever.
And so he sets Grant I up on a blind
date and I knew like nothing about Grant. Grant did
not know like anything about me, and uh. And so
(23:58):
we go into the state and I kid you not Chris.
By the end of it, I called my mom and
tears and I was like, I just met my husband.
This is the man I'm going to marry. I knew, Yes,
it was that instant. It was wild.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
How long before you guys got engaged?
Speaker 2 (24:16):
We dated for eight months?
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Okay, perfect, that's that's amazing. And so he must have
felt the same he did.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
He did. I mean, I don't know that he called
his mom crying.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
That's usually no.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
He was probably like it was cool, Yes.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
She's cool. Yeah, I could see this. I could see
this working. And so y'all had a big wedding.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
We did. We invited about four hundred people. It uh
was no small and we planned. We only had a
three month engagement, so we planned, you know, the wedding
very quickly, and it honestly, I kid you not, there
were so many God moments of things coming together that
I look back and I'm like, how did that happen?
Like how did we do all of that in three months?
(25:00):
I mean from like my dress, to venue, to vendors
to everything in between. It just was there were so
many little God moments and so I'm super super grateful
for that because most of the time you can't even
get like a dress within three months. So it all,
it all came together, and it was the time of
my life. It was the wedding of my dreams, and
more importantly, just got to spend it with such amazing people.
(25:22):
And I feel like the gospel was preached and we
were able to just share our faith and share what
our love was founded on and rooted on. And you
know that was really cool for us, having people from
all different walks of life and you know, on different
faith journeys just to be able to see that and
hear that. So it was really awesome.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
And how was married? Like, Ben, I mean, you're still newlyweds,
I would call you.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
So it's been so good. Now, well, I'll say the
first six months I was like whoa. I was like,
marriage is quite a quite a thing, and it was
just an adjustment, you know, living with someone, just being
with someone all the time, learning that person was it
(26:00):
was an adjustment. But no, it has been literally like
the greatest gift. He is truly like my biggest champion
that he pushes me and challenges me, leads me so
well and just continues to like show me what matters most.
I think I have these moments where I can like
so get in my head and I start caring about
all these little things that don't really matter, and he's
(26:20):
just like, Maddie, like what matters. This is what matters,
This is who you are, this is what your purpose is,
and he just like brings me back to focus and
it's it's been so so good. It I always say,
like relationships reveal, they reveal the best of you, the
worst of you. You know, you'll see in marriage the
best of someone and then the absolute worst. And so
(26:41):
I we've definitely already seen those moments of each other.
We've had we've had some low moments and then we've
had some unbelievable amazing moments, and then of course just
the everyday life moments. But it's been it's been really
really sweet to just be, you know, in a covenant
where it's like, hey, I choose you on your good
days and bad days and continue to remember what matters most.
It's been really sweet.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Would what would you say is the biggest adjustment to
married life?
Speaker 2 (27:07):
I mean, honestly, the like just the sacrifice, Like it's
it's so when especially when you're when you're doing it
God's way and your you know, faith is like the
foundation of your marriage. It's like it's not about me,
but it's about obviously God, yes, but then also about
serving you. And that was such an adjustment for me
(27:28):
of just going from this perspective of like single life,
do whatever, see whoever, go wherever, Like just not not
having to give an account for someone else, not having
to think about someone else. And you know, I was
doing like meal press. I was just like getting meals
dropped off at my house. And now I'm like, I
gotta cook. I don't know how to cook. So it's
you know, it's been quite just quite the adjustment of
(27:50):
just like even learning like little things of like, oh,
this is how you like to spend your mornings, this
is what you like to do on the weekend.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
And because you'll din't live together, right, you didn't live
together before, so yeah, you had to you know, do
you squeeze the toothpaste in the middle? Do you leave
the toilet seat up? Do you think all those things
just the little.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, all the little things. And I mean, thankfully,
like I do think we have such a good which
this was learned, This was not immediate, but just love
and respect for each other of you know, hey, I
love and value you. This this did not make me
feel loved. Can you work on this? You know? And
we have that communication going, which I'm super thankful for.
(28:27):
And I am I have no problem with conflict, so
I have no problem with being like, hey, I didn't
like that, let's change this and and you know vice versa.
So thankfully, like we we've learned. We learned how important
communication was very early on, because I was that person
that was like, you're supposed to read my mind, Like
why didn't you know this? And he's dude, Yeah, dude.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
I know. It's sometimes I wanted to say that to
Lauren too, Like you realize at the end of the day,
I'm still a dude. I'm just a man. Like, we're
not smart animals. We're not smart animals.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
You gotta be clear, like, if you want this, tell
me verbatim.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Because we're happy to give it. That's fine, right, just say.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
It, which is so funny. I love it.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
You've written two books now, obviously, the one Behind You
is the latest that dropped Tuesday, September nineteenth, The Love
Everybody Wants, And so I'm sure a lot of what
you went through on The Bachelor, what you went through
subsequently and then finding love and dealing with conflict, all
those things has found its way into the pages of
(29:41):
this book.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Yeah, totally. It has been. What's really really cool, I
don't know if I mentioned this earlier, but what's really
cool is I actually started writing this book single, so
I was single and honestly better. I thought about calling
the books single and Better, but my publishers were like,
that's not.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
How about the love everybody?
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Yeah, exactly, exactly. And I started writing this book honestly
just mad that I wasn't married, mad that I wasn't
getting the love that I wanted, and that everybody else
seemed to be getting it. And so then it made me,
you know, kind of have an internal wrestle of like,
what's wrong with me? What's am I the problem? Like
am I hard to love? And just having all of
(30:21):
those doubts and you know, questioning my worth and value
because you know of my relationship status. And I remember
having this moment and I just I felt like one
day when I was just praying, you know, God was like, hey,
just pressed on my heart, Like you're not looking for
the wrong thing, Like you're looking for the right thing.
You're just taking it to the wrong places. You're trying
to find it in people and in the world and
(30:42):
in things, and like it's got to start with me,
It's got to start here. And so for me, that
was such a game changer and shift when I really
like stopped striving and being frustrated and just surrendered and
just said, hey, okay, God, Like if I'm single forever, awesome.
If I meet my husband next week, awesome, Like I
(31:03):
just trust you and just taking you know, those longings
to God. And that just totally changed everything for me.
So then I started thriving my singleness, and I was like,
I'm not looking for nobody. I'm content, I'm happy. And
what's really cool about this book was I started writing
it single and bitter, then single and thriving. Then I
met Grant and we started dating, and then I got
(31:24):
to write even from like this authentic place of being,
in this evaluation period of like, Okay, is this God's
best for me? Is this the person I want to
spend the rest of my life with? And what you know?
Does he make me better? Do I make him better?
Are we good together? And then all the way up
until I finished the manuscript two months after we got married,
and so even got to add a little bit of
(31:45):
like marriage perspective in it. And the book actually ends
with like our written vowels in like the last few pages,
which is really sweet, and I'm really really I'm really
excited about it because I was able to write from
all those different vantage points because I felt like when
I was single, I was like, I just wish that
someone like my own age and like in my similar
(32:05):
season of life could just relate to what I'm feeling
right now. And I didn't really see a lot of
that out there. And so I think, you know, by
God's grace and kindness, I was really able to do that.
And then when I was struggling, I started realizing I
was having so many DMS from people and from girls,
being like, I'm struggling with my worth and value, I'm
struggling pursuing purity. I you know, am struggling feeling rejected.
(32:28):
How do I get over this person? How what do
I look for in the one? And uh? And I
realized I'm not the only one who has, you know,
these feelings and these doubts and these struggles, and so
it was even really cool to see and like take
that and filter that through like the writing.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Well, I think it's important that you were able to
write through all those phases of life because I find
it interesting if you just have one perspective, if you
write from just a single bitter standpoint, it's going to
be it's gonna be one thing. If you just wrote.
But I also, you know, I think to the other
side of that spectrum, if you just write from that
(33:03):
moment of euphoria where everything is perfect, you know, you
come up with these really inspirational lines and verses and things.
And that also is not relatable because people that are
single and struggling are like, well, you don't understand, like
everything's good for you tonight. And so I'm I bet
and I know you didn't plan on this because life
(33:23):
just took you there. But it's amazing you got to
write across this spectrum to have that kind of perspective.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Yeah, no, truly, And what's wild is again started writing
it single, but even finishing it married, I was like,
these same principles apply, Like I still have to cling
to these truths and remind myself of these things even married,
Like I still have to pursue perity in marriage. I
still have to make God the foundation. I still have
to know my value and worth, Like I still have
to find that outside of my marriage and outside of
(33:51):
my spouse and know that I have a purpose and
know that I have things to give. And so it's
been really cool to see that even the same message
that I was writing in singleness like still applies in marriage.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
You've mentioned a few times is this God's best? And
I know where you're coming from, and I like it,
but is it also a lot of pressure because if
you are trying to measure up right, measure a relationship, love,
our faults and everything up to God's best? You know,
(34:25):
can any relationship? Can any man or woman live up
to that?
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Yeah? I think what I mean by that personally, what
I've seen in my life is just like, is God's
peace in it? You know? Is this is this led
by God's peace? Do you have peace? Because I've been
in situations where truly the guy was awesome, he loved God,
we were on the same page everything like on paper
it was perfect, but I did not have peace Like
(34:50):
I could not for some reason, there was this check
in my heart of like, this is not this is
not his best. And I equate that to like I
don't have peace about it. And so for me, it
really comes down to that and just a line like
do we have you know, a similar vision for our
life or we headed on the same track? You know?
(35:10):
Just are you a good compliment to me to how
God's wired me? Am I a good compliment to you.
I mean, so many things to evaluate and figure out now,
I think at the same time, I don't know that
I necessarily believe in the one and so because of that,
I think, could I have married, you know, the guy
I dated for four years in college. Absolutely, and I
think God still would have blessed that, and I think
(35:31):
it would have been like a good marriage. You know. However,
I trusted that I didn't have peace, and I now
see where I am. It led me to go on
The Bachelor, It led me to be able to write books,
and it led me to now marrying like the love
of my life. And so I am so grateful that
I leaned into that lack of peace and trusted, Okay
(35:52):
this there's something off here, and I have to trust that,
even if it doesn't fully make.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Sense that voice. Yes, I've heard you speak on this before,
and I don't know if it's some of your testimonies
or some of the things I've heard, but you talk
about social media and I I could picture especially you,
and I find it interesting from this perspective. You come
off The Bachelor. I'm sure you have a million or
so followers. You're very beloved, and you're getting DMS and
(36:19):
you're getting you know, influencer deals and all that, but
that can also be a very lonely place. And whether
you are a big influencer or just my nineteen year
old daughter who has to see happy marriages the best right,
as I tell my kids, you're just seeing the best
of everything. You're not feeling that if you're in a
(36:40):
bad place. It just it's like a thousand paper cuts.
I guess do you talk about that in the book.
I know you've talked about it in your testimonials, but
how do we balance that?
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Yeah? No, I love that you brought this up, because
one of my biggest hearts like behind this book was
I really wanted to take on this culture that we're
in today and the cultural pressures and norms and phrases
and mantras and all these things. And so actually each
of my chapters starts with some type of like cultural
phrase or trend. You know, there's like the pick me girl,
(37:14):
and there's you know, the drive before you buy, and
there's you know all these you know, he completes me.
There's all these different phrases and mantras that I tackle
and I add, you know, truths to a biblical truths
to it and just my testimony things I've experienced and
you know what I've come to see as you know,
the ultimate truth in my life. And so it's been
(37:34):
it's been interesting because I was definitely thrown into culture
and just social media, world pressures, thoughts, opinions a lot.
And I remember in different stages of my life when
I was twenty twenty one and all of my friends
were getting married. I mean in Alabama, everybody gets married
at twenty two years old.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Yeah, I do the same thing.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Yeah, I mean, it's like the thing. I mean, my
parents got married at eighteen, So it's a very normal
thing in you know, some cultures for that to be
the norm. And so for me, I felt like something
was wrong with me. And one of the biggest triggers
for me was social media because I was seeing it
wasn't even that I was super discontent with where I was,
but I became more discontent seeing where everybody else was.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
And then it led to the idea, yeah, the the
what they put out there, and then what's crazy, which
which you spoke to this, But there's so much that
happens behind a.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Post and behind a story and behind a phone that
you're not seeing, you know, you're not seeing the tears,
the fights, the struggles, the all the things that are happening.
And for me in that season, I definitely was only
focusing on, you know, the highlights, the good things. All
my friends are married. God, why isn't that me? And
I've definitely had to protect myself, you know, in those seasons,
(38:53):
even in this season, like I personally have deleted social
media off my phone, and you know, I have, I
have a team, I have my my husband has it
on his phone, and there's just seasons of my life
where I just have to protect my eyes and my
heart because you know, sometimes I'm just more affected by it.
And I think you just have to lean into that
and know, like who are you following? Like what kind
of content are you taking in? Is it beneficial and
(39:15):
helpful to you? How much time are you spending on it?
And just those things really matter. And my husband has
done such a good job of reminding me, Maddie, like
live in the real life. You know, social media, this
world on your phone is not real like the real life.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
You can you can literally turn it off and put
it off exactly will and it will matter not like
you can read all of Twitter x whatever the hell
it is, and you know threads and Instagram and TikTok
and all that, but anything that you can simply click,
put it down, walk away, and if you never went back,
it doesn't matter in your life. That's all you need
(39:52):
to know. But when you were young, and you know
you were younger when you came off the backsloor, and
I think about my own daughter, You're drinking from a
fire hydrant. Your brain, your hormones, you are not at
all prepared for that at that age. I don't think
we're ever prepared to drink out of a fire hydrant
like that. It's just it's too much.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
Yeah, no, absolutely, And I think that's so real. And
I had so many moments of like I remember when
I came off the show and just seeing so much
and reading so much and just being so affected by it.
I lost like twenty pounds. I was like not okay,
and my face was breaking out. I lost so much weight.
I was struggling with sleeping, struggling with eating, and just
(40:32):
not in a very healthy place. I had to like
fully get off of social media. And I've just realized,
like my triggers and I had to like really put
up some healthy boundaries and things like around me, bring
in accountability, bring in people, and like I have, you know,
a community of people here that I'm like, hey, I'm
believing this lie right now because of something I saw
on social media, Like I just want to confess it
(40:53):
to you. Will you will you pray for me? And
like that has been so so good just for me
to like bring that out into the light and all,
so you know, bring people so they have an awareness
of my struggles, so they have an awareness of my
trigger points, and they can hold me accountable and they
can pray for me. And so for me, you know,
when I'm struggling on social media, if I don't delete it,
I'm bringing my people into it and being like, hey,
(41:14):
can you hold me accountable? Ask me how much time
I'm spending on here, Ask me what I see, ask
me how it's making me feel, and constantly be in
prayer for me, because yeah, I mean we all need that.
Like community is so important, And that was something about
like even this book I wanted to I wanted to
touch on the importance of like we weren't made to
go through life alone. We were made for relationships.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
We're tribal people. We've always said exactly yes.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
Like we need we need people. But at the same time,
the people we choose to spend our time with and
our life with matters so much. Our environment matters so much.
It shapes our becoming. It shapes our view and perspective
of our self, of life, of God, of everything. And
so those people you know that we do life with,
(41:57):
it's like ask ask questions like are they making me
a better version of myself? Or they pushing me to
the things that matter most? Or are they leading me
further away from it? And for me, finally finding those
people that could be my safe people and good people
was so important.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
Number one, it's amazing how someone you don't know and
someone who is essentially irrelevant in your life can have
such an impact by something they say or something they do.
And that is but the confusion that that is your community,
that's not social media praise on that in our mind.
I think it gives us that you know, that dopamine
(42:44):
kick and that that feeling, Oh, this is our community.
I belong to something you don't. That's not real. Yeah,
you have to def it sounds like what you're saying
in the book, and what you're saying just now is
you got to define that in reality?
Speaker 2 (42:56):
Yeah, yeah, no, for sure. And it's it like for me,
this inspiration behind this book was what changed my life
was my relationship with God. And that shaped everything. That
shaped my relationships, that shaped my purpose, that shaped my identity,
my self worth, my value. It shaped like I have peace,
I have joy, I feel free like it just so
(43:19):
much is packed into that statement. And what I've realized
is I've tried to do life Mattie's way. I've tried
to do dating Matty's way. I've tried to do friendships,
relations everything Maddy's way, and it just continued to lead
to you know, chaos, confusion, like so much lack of peace,
just so many things. And I finally got to a
point where I was like, fine, God, you win, you win,
(43:40):
and I'm gonna do it your way. And I realized, like, there'
that's the that's the like secret to life is like hey,
it's it's the two Greatest Commandments, which is Matthew twenty
two thirty six through forty, which is the inspiration behind
this book. And you know, God's Jesus is saying like, Hey,
the most important thing that you can learn is to
love the Lord, your God with all your heart, to
love and to love your neighbor as yourself. And so
(44:02):
I really take these these three loves one love God,
two love yourself, and three love people as the foundation
of this book and what it actually looks like to
build you know, our lives on the foundation of God's love.
But then also, how do you love yourself? Like how
do you value yourself and set high standards for yourself
(44:22):
and know your words so that you're not coming to
other people and other things looking for them to tell
you who you are and looking for them to complete you,
which is so important.
Speaker 1 (44:32):
That's and there's a subtle difference there. That's very interesting. Yeah,
go further on that. What does that mean to you?
Speaker 2 (44:40):
Yeah, you mean the like loving yourself?
Speaker 1 (44:42):
Yeah, like coming into a relationship. I hate to say this,
but for the wrong reasons. Yeah, yeah, you know what
I mean?
Speaker 2 (44:50):
Like it?
Speaker 1 (44:51):
So do you know do you talk about that in
the book and explain that?
Speaker 2 (44:54):
Yeah? I mean the first like half of the book,
one of the chapters is called pick Me, another chapter
called if he wanted to he would, And another chapter
is called you know he completes me. And each of
these chapters is really speaking to this idea of like,
we've got to know our worth and value. And I
take it, you know, in the direction of like in Christ,
we've got to know who we are, you know, in Christ,
(45:15):
and what God thinks about us. But just in general,
our true worth and value comes not from someone else,
you know, it doesn't come from what they think about
us or how they treat us. And this perspective of
like a partner in life is meant to compliment us,
not complete us. Our purpose is not a person, Our
identity is not a relationship status. And I think when
(45:36):
we make someone our everything, we lose everything else because
we make them our whole world. And then we quickly realize, like, oh,
this person can't actually complete me and satisfy me, because
our hearts were made to only be whole and complete
by the one who created it. And so I talk
all about in my book just the importance of like
You've got to come, We've got to start approaching relationships
(45:56):
and situations from a place of confidence and value, knowing
who we are, being comfortable with who we're not, not
trying to be like someone else because then when we
do that, we don't long for acceptance and belonging. Rather,
we're able to love from acceptance and belonging because we
already know who we are, so we're not like striving
for it, and it becomes.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
A value add in your life, right Exactly. You are
clearly a very vocal in your faith. I'm a faithful
person too, and we've never really talked about that, but
I'm sure as much as you talk about your faith
in God and Jesus that there is backlash to that. Yeah,
(46:38):
And how have you dealt with How strong has that been?
Because it also is very bizarrely when you talk about
like what are the three tenets of Matty's life? It
was like love thyself, love thy neighbor, you know, like
it's all love, love, love, But yet that it can
it's something now that can be so polarizing. How have
(46:59):
you dealt with that? How difficult has that been?
Speaker 2 (47:02):
Yeah? There were moments, like I would say, right when
I came off of Reality TV, I was truly so afraid,
I think, to like take strong stances on things because
I was so afraid of what people would say, what
people would think, and how if it would offend them
and all the things. But I think like, as I've
matured more and more in my faith, surrounded myself with
(47:24):
good people, gotten plugged back into a local church, you know,
just gotten back to like what matters most. I've just
realized I'm like, this is all throughout scripture. This is biblical. Like,
you're going to be insulted for the name of Christ
if you profess your faith, if you stand to even
take Jesus out of it, if you stand for anything important,
You're gonna have backlash. You're gonna you're gonna if you
take a stand for something like go ahead and prepare,
(47:46):
you know, to to receive some hate because there's just
gonna We live in a world where there's so many
opinions and there's so much opportunity to vocalize those opinions,
and everyone feels entitled to vocalize their opinion, and so
you know, I think I go back to, like, there's
so many verses in scripture that's like if you're insulted
because of the name of Christ, you're blessed, So like,
consider it a joy, consider it a blessing. And you know,
(48:08):
there's been moments where I'm like, I don't know if
I believe that God, But you know, I do go
back and I'm like I at the end of the
day when I lay my head down, and I'm like,
I do believe that, because Lord, like, your love is
so worth it. It's so worth it, even if I'm
misunderstood and hated by everybody around me, You're so worth it,
and so like, Yeah, at the end of the day,
(48:29):
I know what matters most. I know what I believe,
I know what's true. I know what has brought freedom
and peace and hope to my life. And I'm not
going to trade that to be maybe more likable or
to be more popular. Like I'm going to cling to
what gives me life and what gives me value and
what has changed everything for me, because I've been in
the other situation, like I've been in the boat where
(48:50):
I just wanted to be so liked and accepted by
everybody that I conformed to whatever everybody wanted and whatever
everybody needed, and I lost myself in the process, and
it was just this endless cycle of just clinging to
other people's opinions of me and letting other people who
didn't know who they are to find who I was
and you know, just being lost in the sauce. And
(49:11):
then I finally got to a point where I was like,
I know, I know, I know that this thing that
I grew up on, you know, this thing that I
was taught, this faith in Jesus, Like I remember the
hope I used to have, and I want to go
back to that moment. And so it just that's been
my my thing for years of just like continuing to
go back to that moment of like why why I
(49:31):
believe what I believe? And even when it gets hard
and truth be told, Like I am really careful with
what I look at and see because I don't want
to see all the hate, but I also, to be honest,
don't want to see all the praise, Like I don't
want to see either, Like I really want to stay
so just normal and focused and present and just love
(49:53):
the person in front of me and be like we
were just talking about earlier, like in the real, in
the here, in the now, and not so caught up
in like oh no, they commented this, they said this
in this magazine, they were talking about me here on
this podcast. It's like who carees whatever?
Speaker 1 (50:07):
Like something these days?
Speaker 2 (50:10):
Right, I'm like you and me both. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (50:12):
Well, you know, it's funny. I always said, even during
the highest times of the Bachelor, you know, and then
the lowest of low's when I went through what I
went through when I left the show, I always said,
You're never as bad as everybody says you are. Equally,
you're not as great as everybody says you are.
Speaker 2 (50:28):
A perspective, you don't.
Speaker 1 (50:31):
Get to believe one and believe the other. You don't
get to pick and choose, you know, the truth. The
truth usually lies somewhere in the middle. Maddie, congratulations on everything,
on finding your truth, on living it, on loving it,
being married to Grant in this beautiful life. And of
course the book The Love Everybody Wants is already out.
(50:52):
You can, I'm sure, order an Amazon, go find it
in bookstores. Be old school, go find it in a bookstore. Yeah,
come on, I've wrote a book as well. Actually, it's
right here. I went through that literary process. It is
not easy. It is a bee It is a very antiquated,
like bizarre genre. It's you think it's very technologically advanced,
(51:15):
it's not. And so, yeah, it takes a lot to
get a book written. And now you have two it's
just it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (51:20):
Thank you. It's a lot, and it's a lot of
feelings and emotions. I have so many people that have
come up to me, like over this past week, and
they're like, how are you feeling? And I'm like, how
do I answer this question? Because I have poured my
heart and soul into this book for the last two
years and given it so much time and attention. So
I'm like, well, I'm anxious, I'm excited, I'm terrified, I'm
(51:43):
you know, all the things. And I'm also just like,
I know this message can impact a lot of people,
and so there's also just a hope attack there's hope
attached to it. But it's also the most vulnerable book
I've ever written, and so I've only written too but
it's the you know, still the most vulnerable book I've
ever written. And I open up about things in this
book that like, I've never really shared with many people,
and so it's scary, but at the same time you
(52:06):
just cling to, like, I really just hope this encourages
and helps people.
Speaker 1 (52:10):
So there's a lot of vulnerability. It's you know, I
said the same thing when I was going on my
book tour and all that that you know. There is
an excitement, of course, but it's it's it's like you've
had this baby. You're bearing it all to the world,
and you feel pretty naked because these are your feelings
and thoughts. Of Mine was a fictional romance novel, but
a lot of my life and feelings and stories went
(52:30):
into it, And so you want people to love it
and accept it. And because it's almost like they are.
Their love is just it's like they're accepting you because
you so much of you is in this book. So
it is it's difficult. So I admire it very much.
Speaker 2 (52:45):
Oh thank you. I now want to meet your daughter
because I just like feel I don't know, I like
want to. I want to see her and encourage her
and love on her because I'm like, I go back
to my nineteen year old self, and I'm like, oh
the things I would go back and tell my nineteen
year old No, I'm.
Speaker 1 (53:01):
Going to connect with the two of you. Taylor is please.
She's a sophomore. She's actually just up the road for you,
because you're in Waco and she's up at TCU at
forut Worth. Oh amazing, and she is just such an
incredible soul, very faithful girl. And I'm actually going to
get her your book. She needs her. I think she
needs to read your book. I think she would love it.
Speaker 2 (53:19):
Yes, No, I seriously, I'm not kidding. Like it's my
greatest passion, especially before like if I can get a
hold to like some younger versions of Maddie before she
has to experience all of the pain and heartbreak and
questioning worth and value. If I can get you know
her early on and just encourage her and speak the
truth to her and challenge her, like I would have
(53:41):
saved her a lot of heartbreaking moments, and some of
it you can't escape, but a lot of it you can.
A lot of it you can prepare and advance for.
And you know have have a strong value and foundation,
And so I would, I seriously would love to connect
with her.
Speaker 1 (53:56):
As I tell my kids, I said, the only reason
i can give you this wisdom and advice is I've
tripped and fallen flat on my face on all the
hurdles that I know are in front of you. I
can't take them all out of your life. You will
fall like that will happen. But I think maybe fifty
percent of them I can probably pull out of your way,
and so if you can avoid that, don't make the
(54:17):
same mistakes I did. It's not because I was perfect
or I know better. It's only because I also tripped
and fell totally.
Speaker 2 (54:24):
And the power of good parenting. I'm like, you have
more impacts than you'll ever know. I mean, I was
so blessed to have amazing parents.
Speaker 1 (54:31):
So well, it made you the incredible basketball player you are.
Speaker 2 (54:35):
Yeah, exactly, exactly. My dad would appreciate that calling.
Speaker 1 (54:39):
Yeah, I know. Anyway, Maddie, I thank you for the time.
I was so excited we connected. And again, I think
both you and I believe there's a reason for everything,
and there's a reason that we got brought back together
again to talk. If nothing else, it was just good
to see your smiling face again and connect.
Speaker 2 (54:54):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, I know. I'm excited. Hopefully we all
see each other soon. You got to meet.
Speaker 1 (54:59):
Grant now, I have to meet Grant. I drive through
Waco about fifty times a year, going up and back
and forth between Dallas and TCU and for Worth and
all that. So one of these days, I'm just going
to pull off the side of the road.
Speaker 2 (55:09):
Please.
Speaker 1 (55:10):
We'll meet at the in and out of Chick fil
A right there, all thirty five we have to The
book is The Love Everybody Wants by Madison Pruitt Trout
Go check it out, go get it. Thank you. You're
an absolute doll. I appreciate the time.
Speaker 2 (55:27):
Thank you so much. I had the best time.
Speaker 1 (55:29):
Thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram at the most
dramatic pod ever, and make sure to write us a
review and leave us five stars. I'll talk to you
next time.
Hosts And Creators
Lauren Zima
Chris Harrison
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