D'Andra Simmons~Bravo and Hats off to this Dynamic Real Housewives of Dallas

I had so much fun interviewing and getting to know D'Andra Simmons from the Real Housewives of Dallas.  Oh, but she is much more than a star on this show.  She is an incredibly kind and compassionate person.  It was fun getting to hear some of the "behind the scenes" situations and was open and honest about the dynamic between the other cast members and how she is doing since the show ended. 

It was particularly interesting to hear about her background and upbringing as a Christian and how she had her own miracle story after falling off of a horse in college.   Listen in and get to see into her life these days.  You are going to love her.

If you would like to reach out to D'Andra you may do so through her contact information below.

Founder CEO
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Official Cast Member of Real Housewives of Dallas
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Facebook: D'Andra Simmons
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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Well, on today's show, my guestis none other than D'Andra

(00:03):
Simmons, who starred in the hitTV show, Real Housewives of
Dallas that aired on Bravo TV.
I quickly became a big fan andnoticed her Christian views and
her to speak up and speak thetruth about herself.
And the life around her, herbeauty, her fashion talents, and
her entrepreneurial spirit iswhat drew me back to watching

(00:25):
the show each week.
Thanks for being on the showDeandra.
Oh, yes, Eric.
I'm so glad to be here.
We've been chatting a little biton social media, and I finally
get to meet you in person.
Yeah, you're just as lovely asyou are whenever we're talking.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, I'm from Dallas as well.
And now I live in South Dakota.
And, and actually, this is afunny thing about the House

(00:48):
Posse of Dallas, we, we namedour own my daughter's 29.
And there's a really cool littletown that we're that we live in
here.
And it's called spearfish.
And we call it The RealHousewives of Spearfish.
And so, oh my gosh, Spearfish.
So Spearfish is where again?
Where is that?
It's in South Dakota and theBlack Hills.
I've been there.
I've been to black, I've been toSouth Dakota and the Black

(01:10):
Hills.
I did a movie.
I've been, did a movie aboutthe, Sue Lakota Indians.
Yeah, a long time ago.
And I had to go interview abunch of people up there.
And, uh, back then there wasnothing to eat, but Buffalo
burgers and iceberg lettuce.
That's what I remember.
I was like, what do you peopleeat here?
Every single time I went, it wassteak, Buffalo burgers, iceberg
lettuce, no vegetables, nothing.

(01:31):
I was like, if I had to come uphere and do a movie for a long
period of time, I'd be in deeptrouble.
That's why, uh, I think it was,um, Kevin Costner had like, uh,
sushi and all kinds of thingsflown in when he was filming
Dances with Wolves.
And then he had a restaurant.
He had Jake's and he had DiamondLils.
He let that go.
But yeah, it's really cool that,uh, my, husband is the biggest

(01:52):
fan of, Kevin Costner and hekept saying, Oh, let's go to
Kev's place, his restaurant, youknow, in Deadwood.
Like he knew him.
And, uh, but it was the coolestthing because his parents lived
here and his mom had come to aBible study that we were
hosting, years ago.
And my husband actually ran intohim one time at the airport.
So that was, I mean, he calledme and I thought he was kidding

(02:14):
and he got a picture andeverything.
So his mom came to your Biblestudy now.
Is she a believer?
Oh yeah.
Oh, so the family's arebelievers.
That's amazing.
Yeah, they are.
They, his mom and dad used tolive in Spearfish and back when
we lived here, my daughter was asenior and she was out.
And anyway, I walked over and Isaid, aren't you Mrs.

(02:34):
Costner?
And she said, Oh yeah.
She said, I remember you, yourdaughter sang praise and
worship.
And, and her husband says, well,get your coffee and come on over
and sit down with this.
And so my goodness.
My joke is I had breakfast withthe Costners, but not really,
but sort of, God bringseverybody together.
When you find out someone's abeliever, it's like, okay, we

(02:55):
have something in common.
And so you feel more safe toabout the rapport and about what
kind of communication you'regoing to have.
And it's just a safety.
If I meet somebody and they say,Oh, I'm a believer, I will open
up more to them.
That's somebody that's a nonbeliever only because I have
that safety and security thatGod will protect the
conversation.
And in many ways.
I mean, that's not alwaysbecause there are people that

(03:16):
are, um, you know, fraudstersand charlatans.
But at the same time, God hasgiven me, the ability to have
some intuition about what peopleare, you know, okay to talk to
and communicate and then be ableto share my love of Christ and
spread the word about, you know,good and bad things in my life.
And, you know, I wrote you along, quote.
Um, interview about RealHousewives and that was not the

(03:38):
best of my, Christianity on thatshow, but, and I knew every time
I did something wrong or I wasbad, you know, that I knew I
said, Oh God, why'd I do that?
And, then I had to deal with it.
I had to pray about it.
I had to ask God forforgiveness.
And I just had to say, okay, I'mgoing to move on and do my best
the next day or not.
Um, it's a long process.
Five years on that show and it'svery difficult and it's very

(04:00):
difficult if you are a believer.
And I, think the fame aspect isreally hard too, because fame
and ego are the worst killersof, a lot of Christians in
general and people's, uh,humility goes out the window,
you know, that's, that's hard.
So, well, you know, I can onlyimagine I have a, A dear friend

(04:22):
of ours.
He was like family.
And they were on the very firstshow of trading spouses and what
she, yeah, it was Tammy and YukiNakamura, and he's a plastic
surgeon, you know, in the Dallasarea and, you know, who that is.
Yeah, I know exactly who it is.
Okay.
Yeah.
So they've been, I've known themsince I was 16 and been family

(04:42):
friends a long, long time.
But, you know, just that oneshow, I saw what it did to her.
So I can only imagine.
You know, because they takethings and they twist it, you
know, and then they make itinteresting, you know, I guess,
and you're thinking, shoot, I'm,I have to, I have to deal with
this now because of what theywant to do to make it a good
show.
And it's all in absence before Iknow if you've read this in any

(05:02):
of my interviews, but it's wash,rinse, repeat, fight, make up,
fight again, you know, befriends, fight, make up, it's
the same on every franchise, andif you watch all the shows.
Um, you can see the,underflowing current and theme
are the same in all the shows.
So they will have the sameexperiential things.
Like we had an Honest Tea,they'll have that.

(05:24):
They have that in Atlanta.
All these different things, thedifferent cast trips, things
happen the same on all theshows, which I think is a
problem with the franchiseoverall, because it makes it
less interesting.
And at some point it's going toburn out because you can't keep,
Wash, rinse, and repeat the samestories over and over on
different franchises.
Um, Housewives has, has atimeline and I always said when

(05:44):
I joined the franchise, this isso funny, I didn't tell you
this, that I had a timeline as ahousewife.
I don't know if it's one year,two years, five years, ten
years, God has that all plannedout.
But whenever my time does come,I'm ready to step down and it's,
That was five years of my life.
And I did that for five yearsand now I'm onto the next thing,
but I don't look at it and say,Oh, I wish I was a housewife.

(06:05):
Oh, I must be the housewife.
Oh, you know, you just thinkabout, it was another thing and
I did in my life, but a lot ofpeople can't deal with not being
a housewife anymore.
That they lose the fameovernight.
They lose the notoriety.
You're not, when you're not onTV, you're not important.
You're not, um, uh, current.
So people aren't as excitedabout you lose followers.
And it's, I mean, it's a hard,it's a hard thing.

(06:26):
It's very hard for people's ego.
Luckily for me, I was an actorbefore I was not famous as an
actor.
I've been an actor my wholelife.
And so I had my time on thestage.
My family's also very well knownin Dallas.
I was on the stage as a local,uh, philanthropist, socialite
that, that raised tons of money,always giving speeches, always
out in front.
I worked for president Bush.
So I was always in theforefront, not so much as being

(06:49):
a housewife, but I was used tospotlight and when it goes away,
it goes away.
And I spend time in my home withmy doggies and my books and my
husband and enjoy my cookie.
Exactly.
Well, and I'm, I'm sure.
I love the part about when yousaid that you got asked to be on
the show and how you prayedabout it, how you prayed to ask

(07:09):
God's direction.
Tell us, tell us a little bitabout that, because I think that
so many times people, you know,say someone gets asked to do
something like that.
They may jump and say, yes, I'lldo it.
But is it really best for them?
And did they really ask forGod's direction in that?
Well, funny thing about it is, Ithought, Surely, God, this is

(07:30):
not what she wants me to do.
No way would this ever go, thiswould fly past heavenly angels
into your realm and you wouldsay yes.
But then I thought, well, in mymother, first person, which was
my mother, my husband, obviouslyit said, this is an opportunity
that's come to me now.
The first year it was airing, Iwas not on because I declined,

(07:50):
not because I wasn't asked.
I was literally, they, theybegged me to be on the first
year.
And I said, no, because I waschairing the salvation army
luncheon.
And I was cheering at CancerBlows and I was cheering UNICEF
all in the same year.
That was a lot.
And it wasn't fair.
I felt like for me to join areality show in the midst of
doing that because they wanted,they wanted to see what was

(08:11):
happening in your real life.
And there's no way SalvationArmy and all these other UNICEF
cameras there.
And so it was kind of like, thatwas what was, uh, you know,
really taking up my time.
So I declined and I said, it'snot really fair.
But if you want me next year,come back to me and we'll talk.
But I had a long time to pray, along time to think about it.
And I also, at the time, didn'treally believe, and I still

(08:33):
believe that they did not havethe right cast to start the
show.
Uh, I think that's why it's offthe air right now.
I think they had started with adifferent cast because most
people don't know it was calledHow to Make It in Dallas.
It wasn't Real Housewives.
Really?
So, yeah, these women weretrying to make it, whether it be
in the social realm, uh, youknow, in the business realm,
whatever they had aspirationwise, they were trying to make

(08:54):
it in Dallas.
Yeah.
So I had already made it inDallas.
I really didn't, you know, thatdidn't fit me.
And then, um, they didn't choosethen the right, the people that
would be, um, I would say verysimilar to me in Dallas society
that should have been on theshow that would have done the
show if it would have been adifferent cast.
So then you got to start in,they called me in the middle of
season one and said, okay, ifwe're, we're having a struggle,

(09:15):
we're having a hard time withthis show.
If we change it from how to makeit in Dallas to real housewives
of Dallas and Bravo accepts it,will you be on the show?
I said, no, because I told you Ihave commitments and I don't
back.
I always.
Keep my word people.
If I tell you I'm gonna dosomething, I do it.
And I said, and number two, thetiming is not right for me.
And I, I really still don'tbelieve that you have the right
cast.
So come back to me next year.

(09:36):
I'll talk to you about cast.
That's when Cameron and I cametogether as a package deal.
She did, you know, we don'treally have a good relationship
now, but she did wait for me atthe time.
And we, we came on togetherbecause we knew each other
socially and if she's a lotyounger than me, so we weren't
close friends, but we had beenin the junior league and cattle
barons and all that together.
But so the second season I wenton, but I, Whenever they said,

(09:58):
okay, we're ready.
And then they sent the contractover.
It was a matter of praying and Istill didn't know what I wanted
to do.
And for the time I got down toactually signing the contract, I
had put so many writers andclauses in my contract, but
there's no way any network wouldsign me.
There's no way.
I mean, because you understandif you know anything about these
contracts, they take apercentage of your business.

(10:20):
Did you know that?
Of your actual, like yourskincare business or any of your
Percentage of any business youhave.
So I did not, I had had abusiness for since 2008.
My mother had a business since,uh, 1998.
Why would we give them apercentage of a business?
Plus we had been on Christiantelevision.
I'm not giving them money fromthose customers.
So it didn't make sense to me.
But I also, so I cut that out.

(10:41):
I also cut out any futurebusinesses I might have, which,
you know, and then I did otherthings in the contract that I
can't remember.
It was a long, long list, but,uh, they, I believe one of them
was, they couldn't, uh, film mein the bathroom or something.
Cause they can, those contracts,they can put my head on a
different person's body,different voice.
They can do whatever they wantwith you.

(11:01):
So, um, it, it was a verydifferent contract than other
people.
And so, and then I just was, Ithought there's no way.
And so I put out a fleece, youknow, how Gideon put out a
fleece instead of God, if youwant me to lead Israel, then you
have to put do on this fleece.
So God did it.
Well, then he said, okay, well,God, I'm still not quite sure.
So I'm going to put out anotherfleece, this is in judges.

(11:21):
I'm going to put out anotherfleece and you're going to have
to do it again.
And God doesn't like to betested, but God, sure enough,
didn't forget.
And there was due the next dayas well.
So I put out several fleeces, sothey would call me.
This is the funny part.
And I'll wrap it up.
They would call me and say,okay, we agreed to, you know,
this percentage or whatever be,we're not taking a percentage of
the business.
And I'd be, well, what aboutthis?
This is, well, we're not really,we're not going to do that.

(11:44):
And I said, well, sorry, call meback when you're serious.
And then my daddy used to say,good Southern man.
Well, when you're ready to cometo the lick log, then we'll
talk.
So the last conversation and Ikept putting out a fleece, okay,
God, if they come back and youlet me do this, they do this,
they do this.
So I said, you know what?
Don't call me back.
I said, i'm not doing the show.
I said, if you, when you'reready to come to the lick log

(12:04):
and you accept every singlething in that contract, then
we'll do the show.
But until then, I don't want todo the show because I don't need
you.
I said, I have already, I'mestablished in Dallas.
I have my own money.
I don't need this, this program.
And the only reason I did it isbecause I thought, well, it
would be really good for me withmy businesses and it would help,
but my businesses were doingwell.
This is way before the pandemicand we were on Christian TV.

(12:27):
And also I thought I reallywanted to go back into acting
and it would give me on screentime where I could when I would
meet with agents I didn't haveenough followers to get signed
up and all these differentthings.
So, I just, and then God justdid everything he did all of it,
all of it, and I thought, OhGod, really.
Because I was hoping you'd sayno.

(12:48):
And everything, everything linedup for you to do it.
So, was your, you were on fiveyears, was it five seasons or
five years?
I was on four seasons and fiveyears of filming.
So, I filmed the first year thatI didn't do, part of the first
year.
I filmed the last season that wedidn't show, which was all of
the, um, I filmed with all thenew potential cast members that
they didn't, then they didn'trenew the contracts for anybody.

(13:10):
So I did a lot of filming in thesummer after 21.
So we wrapped in April of 21.
And then that whole summer Ifilmed and I filmed with almost
every potential person that theywere going to hire.
And I knew that they weren'tgoing to continue the show
because In my heart, I believethat they needed more people to
look at.
And I told the producer, I said,you're not going to get the show
back because you, they need morepeople to look at.

(13:31):
There's just not enough people.
Cause I can tell, I know who'sgood on camera.
You gotta understand.
I'm a producer.
That's why I can do this.
I'm a producer and I went todirecting school.
Yeah.
I can tell by looking atsomebody on camera, if they're
going to make it in five minutesor not.
And there was some people thatwere not going to make it.
I can just tell you, Bravo wasgoing to say, no, Andy was going
to say, no, I knew it.
And I specifically called outthe people that weren't going to

(13:52):
make it and they didn't make itwell, then they needed to
replace three people at least.
So, cause they need six people.
We didn't have three to replace.
So they're not going to take,you know, two and a half then
work that way.
Yeah.
So unfortunately that was, Ithink the real reason.
The other reason is they had alot of racial undertones on our
show, which unfortunatelydidn't, you know, people just

(14:13):
didn't, um, behave the way theyshould.
And, um, it was, that's, thatwas very unfortunate.
I think, I think at the time inour country, which is still very
prevalent, Um, it was verysensitive.
So honestly, I just said, look,let me take this as a teachable
moment and stop.
I don't question, just let mehear your experience because I

(14:34):
don't know your experience.
I didn't grow up like you.
So let me know your experience.
And I learned so much more bydoing that than by digging my
heels and say, I've never doneanything wrong my whole life.
I'm fine.
You know, that's not how youhandle things like that.
So I really had a growing, uh, Ihad a lot of growth in that time
for me and learning about othercultures and other people that
grew up in our country that,that had different experiences

(14:55):
that were immigrants.
I mean, it was great for me, butunfortunately it wasn't great
for the rest of the girls in theshow.
Right.
Was the, I guess the last seasonwas, was her name Tiffany, the
doctor?
Was that my friend?
That was my friend who I believeI could have done better by
Knowing these women had problemswith her and fighting about
things that were veryunimportant on the big realm of
things.

(15:16):
Um, I also, um, I think I shouldhave just said, okay, I'm
hearing what you're saying.
Why don't I put a dinnertogether and let's talk a real
conversation?
Yeah.
Why do you have these, what arequestions that you have and how
can we fix this?
The other reason I reallybelieve that it didn't come back
is that no one knew, but mymother was, was ill during that
time.
And I had to call Bravo and tellthem.

(15:37):
And it was, she was diagnosedand I'm not going to talk about
but she was other reason Ibelieve the show probably wasn't
renewed at the time is becausemy mother is almost like the
seventh housewife.
She's just as important asanyone else.
In fact, she's way more popularthan me.
So, I mean, I admit it.
I'm like right on her coattails.
That's great.
You know, make her the star.
I do not care because guesswhat?
I still get the benefit.
I'm not stupid.

(16:00):
Yeah.
I thought he was.
She was sitting down.
I was at a bar and I'll pascaland she was sitting a few rows,
you know, a few seats down and Iwas going to go talk to her and
I didn't I don't want to botherher at dinner.
But she was she had beendiagnosed with an illness at
that time.
She's 82 years old.
I'd called the network and toldthem what was happening.
I want to be honest with thembecause I felt like it was very
important that I was alwayshonest with the network the

(16:22):
whole time.
I don't have anything bad to sayabout the network.
I know that right now there's amhm.
Horrible article out Vanity Fairabout housewives and reality TV
and people taking advantage andwhat these networks do to you.
But everything, once again, Goddrives my life.
So everything is what I do.
And what I say is my mistake andmy choice.
And I have free will.
If I want to drink too much onthe show, which I did several

(16:43):
times, that's my free will.
I make the mistake.
I get up the next day and say,Oh my gosh, what'd I do that?
Yes, there are drinks available.
Yes, there are different things,but you choose to do what you
want to do.
And, um, so I never have like.
I have a great relationship withNBC.
I have a great relationship withBravo.
I have a great relationship withthe vice president, everybody
else, and the producers.
I don't have anything bad tosay.

(17:03):
All I have bad to say is,D'Andra didn't necessarily
behave in her best interest theentire time, but that's what
you're looking for anyway.
So, Bravo to me.
Yeah, that's cute.
Bravo to me.
I love that.
Well, I know, I think, um, theone of the times I reached out
to you was when I saw somethings going on between you and

(17:24):
your mother and, you know, I'vebeen close with my mom for years
like you and your mom are, butwe have had Yes.
Mothers and daughters can havethose.
And I was, I remember that'swhen I reached out.
Cause I was like, you know,about, I don't even remember.
It's been a long time ago, but Iwas asking things about that.
And was that really real?
And was that really yourrelationship and things like

(17:46):
that?
And, you know, I think thatreally.
Spoke volumes that you were justso honest because I was like,
wow, I can't believe, you know,her mom saying that to her or
acting like that to her and howthat all happened.
And then, and then you justsaid, you know what, that's just
how it goes.
I mean, well, I also it's funnybecause I got so much support

(18:08):
from people that had difficultrelationships with the parent
and most of the time was themother.
Um, I'm an only child.
So you can imagine how close weare.
We're also very, very much alikein many ways and very much not
like in other ways.
So there's both.
You've got both dynamics.
Also, I, I wanted to, it wasvery hard for you.

(18:30):
I thought it was important toshow that because then other
people could say, Oh, I'm notthe only one that has this crazy
relationship going on with mymom.
Now, when you said somethingpositive to me, on the other
hand, I have a bunch of peoplethat said negative to me.
How could you, how could youtalk to your mother like that?
That's horrible.
I can't believe you did that.
I can't believe you're adisgusting, awful person.
I mean, I had one recently,disgusting, awful human being.

(18:53):
I can't believe you talked toyour mother like that.
And by the way, you're not asfamous as you think you are.
I'm just like, what did you justsay I was famous?
I think it's, you know, it'sjust, You get two different
sides and most of the time, likeI told you on the bowling on
social media, it's not even thatperson.
It's somebody else or somebodypretending to be somebody else.
So I can take it with a grain ofsalt.

(19:13):
Now, um, the first, I think thefirst thing that the woman said
was, uh, she sent me one messageand she said, I don't like your,
um, your Instagram stories.
Um, I think you shouldn't callout people that you shouldn't be
caught your friends, thebackground, nobody cares.
I'm thinking, well, why are youwatching?
And why, yeah, that's why Isaid, I told her, I said to
unfollow me.
If you don't want to watch mystories and follow me, you don't

(19:35):
have to.
Nobody's forced.
I go, nobody has a gun to yourhead is making you watch my
stories.
And why are you watching?
You hate me so much.
And that's when she started onmy mom and this, and nobody
likes me.
And I'm so unpopular.
That's just typical.
It goes down that rabbit hole.
And then I just delete her, youknow?
Yeah, you can't win thosepeople.
But my mom and I have beenthrough what I will tell you.

(19:55):
And I said, I told you on myinterview before, when I wrote
it out, we conquered things anddiscuss things that we would
never, ever discuss for conquerin real life, because we them
under the rug like everybodyelse does.
My mom is old school person.
She's eight years old.
She's not the person that she'sone of those people.
Like my dad didn't want to go toa lot of counseling.

(20:15):
You know, that's kind of nottheir generation.
We are the people that mygeneration, I'm 54.
I put everything out there.
And my husband said, you know,the optimal overshare.
I tell way too much stuff aboutmyself, which made me good on
reality TV.
Yeah.
But so it's two differentgenerations.
My grandmother and mother usedto say, don't don't air your
dirty laundry like and Landerssaid, and then I would do all

(20:38):
that.
But I believe it was reallycathartic.
We discussed things, they didn'tnecessarily always come to the
resolution I was hoping, but atthe same time.
We talked and then we moved pastit and moved on.
And I think we're at a betterplace.
We do have a very closerelationship.
We talk every day, call hereither to check on her, see how
she is, what she's doing, um,she has a lot of friends and a

(21:00):
big social group, and then we goto dinner, try to go to dinner
once a week.
And then also we go to church onSundays and we go to a lunch
after, after church.
Oh, that's great.
Well, you know what?
I'm 54 as well.
And my mom's 83.
That's great.
So we're right about there.
And, you know, it's, um, it, mydaughter is an only child now,

(21:21):
you know, and her dad, he justhas not been in her life that
much, but we are, we've gotthat, you know, really close
dynamic.
I mean, the reason why I movedup to South, back to South
Dakota is because she lives, sheand her husband are five miles
from me and they're having theirfirst baby, uh, in January.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So that's exciting, but youknow, that closeness, it can be
a push pull, but I think thatforgiveness is key in a lot of

(21:43):
things, even.
I know it has been for me to getthrough forgiveness for, you
know, things in the past.
And I know that's helped a lot.
So when forgiveness doesn't makesense is probably when you need
to forgive the most.
And yes, that also has happenedto me with regards to the
housewives.
There's a lot of women I don'twant to forgive, but I have to
forgive because God commands meto do it in the Bible.

(22:04):
But just because you forgivedoesn't mean you forget or you
go back to abuse andrelationships.
That's the most important thingI want to say today is that you,
okay.
are required to forgive people,but you do not have to go back
to an abusive relationship andstay involved.
Whether it be a friendship, aspouse, a partner, you can
create boundaries in a familyrelationship.

(22:24):
Um, there are so many things youcan do to protect yourself and
not continue the abuse.
Yeah, that's absolutely true.
And I talk about that in my bookthat that I have out and it's
about, you know, creatingboundaries because a lot of
people do get stuck and saying,you know, I don't want to
forgive them because they didthis to me and I, how could I
ever forgive them?
Of course, first and foremost,like you said, Jesus forgave,

(22:47):
you know, God forgave us.
We are commanded to forgive, butalso it doesn't mean that you
establish a relationshipsometime.
And, you know, I've had to dothat quite, quite a bit with
family members.
And you know what?
It ends up being the healthiestlater on.
It's hard at the time to createthat boundary to maybe not be
around that person for a while.
But when you do that and you gooff on your own and you pray

(23:10):
about it and you let God takecare of it rather than you
trying to take care of it.
It ends up being a lot, morepositive than the outcome than
it would have been if you wouldhave pushed to try to do it
yourself.
That's what I found for me.
And it also, it doesn't, ithurts you more than it hurts the
other person because they don'tcare.
So what you're doing is you'reletting that bitterness eat you

(23:30):
up inside.
And when, if you just forgivethem and move on and just, you
know, move on with your life,you don't have to suffer
anymore.
So that's where I am with thepeople that have hurt me.
I just, you know, I just haveforgiven them.
I have moved on.
I do not think about it or themunless it's being brought up to
me and then I will go back alittle bit, but I will not go
back and allow myself to be in asituation.

(23:52):
I have very close close circleof friends and colleagues.
Some of my friends have been inmy life since I was 12 years
old, believe it or not, my otherfriends are.
people that have developed orare, you know, over the years
we've dealt, developedfriendships.
I have 30, so 30 somethingyears.
My friend grew up from college.
We still are on a chat.
We chat every day.

(24:13):
Yeah.
It's like 12 girls on a chat.
So I have long lastingfriendships, which On the show,
it doesn't seem like thatbecause they're not showing
that, but I do have very longlasting friendships.
I've never had a fight with someof these girls or guys ever.
I mean, just don't do that, youknow, so funny.
I understand.
That's great.
So tell us about your, okay.

(24:34):
And then we'll move on to someother things and all the cool
things that you're doing now.
I mean, that you were doing andthen have grown, and then things
that you're doing now and you'veadded to, so.
Things that I get to see andfollow on Instagram that are
really cool.
But tell us, um, your veryfirst, I mean, not your very
first, your very favorite momentor your very favorite memory of
being on Real Housewives ofDallas, the most fun, or let's

(24:58):
see, what was the most fun?
Um, yeah, I think the first, um,my first season was the most fun
because it was unchartedterritory.
Yeah.
And it was, you never knowwhat's going to happen and you
become famous overnight.
So, and then you have peoplejust blowing up your phone on
your direct messages.
Oh, I love you.
Oh my gosh.
I really didn't have any hate.

(25:19):
I didn't have any hate the firstseason.
three or four messages.
Then the one season I startedgetting a lot of hate and it
flipped where it was more hateto negative to positive was the
second season.
So my first season, which wasthe second season, it was a lot
of fun.
And we went to, I think we wentto Mexico.
We had a blast.
Um, We did, we did a lot of funthings.
And I, when you start a realityshow the first year, you're

(25:42):
usually not going to be thecenter of, um, attack.
So you get to breathe the firstyear.
Now the formula is the secondyear, you're going to be at the
center of attack.
Okay.
And then you get to breatheagain for maybe one or two years
and you're going back to be acenter of attack again.
so I was, I tended after thesecond year to continue to be
the center of attack for somereason.

(26:02):
I think the third season theywent easy on me.
They went easy on me on thethird season because the second
season was really hard.
Um, and if you noticed at the,the second season, I sat next to
Andy, the third season I was atthe end of the couch.
Well, there was a reason becauseI really didn't, they kind of
kept me out of all of the, um,the arguing and everything that
season.
So, and that's how you get.

(26:23):
You're, you're sat in differentplaces.
And they also didn't want me tosit there and fight with Leanne
again the whole time, becausethey just didn't want that.
So, um, and then the next, thelast season was.
Not easy for me because it was,I was trying to defend Tiffany
the whole time and nobody reallyunderstood that and they didn't
understand Tiffany's a workingwoman like I am.

(26:45):
So she has a job, a family, aprofessional career.
It's a lot different than, um,So, uh, she, her time is, uh,
you know, in days is, is metedout in different ways and other
women.
So I think people were, well,she, she has to only work at
this time.
She can only do this.
You know, she's ananesthesiologist.
She gets it five.
She can't film during the day.

(27:06):
That's, you know, that's whatshe does for a living.
Yeah.
So, um, but.
It was the most fun.
The trips were usually prettyfun, except for when we went to
Copenhagen.
That was a nightmare for me.
Let me think.
We went to Thailand.
That was, parts of that werefun.
Parts were not so fun.
My birthday when I turned 50.
It was a blast.
We went to Carrie's home inMexico as well.

(27:28):
That was really fun.
Was that the glass that gotbroken?
There was some place that therewas a glass that somebody went
through.
That was the last season.
That was okay.
That was so funny.
That was the very last season atSouth Fork.
And yeah, that's what it was.
I had gone to bed and Brandy andCarrie were up, you know, doing
their shenanigans late at night,which are usually really funny,

(27:50):
but we were told not to go intothis particular part of the
house that had that glass there.
And they, of course they wentacross the glass, you know, had
too many cocktails and then fellinto the glass.
And.
And then I, because I was thesenior at that point, I was the
one that was made to, I was thesenior person, like literally 10
years older than anybody,except, no, Carrie was close to
my age.

(28:10):
I was meant to call outeveryone.
Well, Carrie and I had beenfighting all season long.
Last thing I wanted to do wascall Carrie out because she was
going to get so hot headed aboutit, but she did.
Yeah, I had to, they, they tellyou, okay, now ask him, do this,
do that.
You know, and then they have, itis true that if you're not
saying the right things, they'llput up the phone and it'll say,
ask her why her husband was hereor whatever it is.
You're like, I don't know.

(28:36):
Yeah.
The trips, that was definitelyfun.
And you know, I don't evenwatch, other.
housewives of Beverly Hills oranything.
I think I just started watchingit originally because I'm from
Dallas and I thought, Oh, thisis fun.
And then I got hooked in and itwas always fun to see.
Oh, have I been to thatrestaurant or have I been to
that place?
That was really kind of fun forme to just I don't know.

(28:56):
Check out and see.
And then, yeah, sometimes thefights got, of course, I love
seeing all the beautiful ladiesand just like your lives and the
fashion and things like that.
But then the fight, sometimesit's like enough with fights.
Yeah.
And you know, that's the thingis like, that's what they think
that viewers want to see aremore fights.
I thought what was differentabout our franchise was the
comedic aspect of it.
Yeah.
I thought it was funny.

(29:17):
Lighthearted.
Brandy and Stephanie surely hada really great dynamic that they
brought to the show.
It was fun.
I had a lot of fun with Brandy.
We're still good friends.
Yeah.
So I enjoyed her, but Brandyalso like me had been a
performer.
She was Dallas Cowboycheerleader and a performer.
So she knew the formula.
So we always fought and I knewwhat she was doing and I get
real mad at her.

(29:37):
And I thought, Oh, she knows theformula just like me.
So I should just let it go, youknow, let it happen and then let
it go, move on.
So kind of, that's how we didit.
But everybody else carried thefights and everything and the
grudges.
Season after season afterseason, they're still carrying
it.
I've moved on.
I'm like, what we thought aboutthat four years ago.
What are you talking?
I don't even know what you'retalking about.
So I think that was a bigdownfall too, is that we didn't

(29:57):
let things go from season toseason.
But you know, it was, and thenthe other thing that was really
fun was after being aired andpeople knew you were a housewife
to go in public.
And it just was like.
Crazy.
I mean, state fair or my people,you know, people come up and Oh,
what a picture.
Oh, start crying, start crying.
Little kids would cry.
I was like, what's a four yearold watching the show is not

(30:19):
appropriate for a four year oldwatch the show.
And to see that kind ofattention and that adoration.
And I mean, obviously it'sintoxicating and addictive.
You can just, I mean, you know,that's why it's so hard for
people to leave because it'sgolden handcuffs.
And it's, I mean, there's somany, um, things that you like
about, about being famous andabout having these opportunities

(30:40):
and these doors open, these freethings, these things paid for,
free to do.
I mean, it's just, it's areally, a different experience
that not everybody in this worldis going to be having.
And, um, whether it's throughHousewives or something else,
when you become famousovernight, your life changes.
Yeah.
Uh, sorry.
I'm just still laughing aboutthe pictures in the four year
old watching.

(31:01):
That is so funny.
Yeah, crying, crying.
I'm like, you're my favorite asa performer.
How can I be your favorite?
Yeah, how can you be?
You're not supposed to even beup at that time.
So, as I've, you know, when theshow ended, and of course, I
still continue to follow you onInstagram and everything and
I've watched.
I'm just like, is there anythingthat you don't do?
It's like you're a chef and I'mgoing, I can't, I'm not a chef

(31:25):
and I'm not, my husband cooks.
My husband does all the cookingand I'm very blessed in that.
I like to cook for parties.
But not daily.
It's just too much to deal with.
But, you know, I, the, thecooking, the skincare, the, um,
just everything that you havegoing on.
I mean, you said, you know,you're acting and you've done
that a long time, but when thatshow ended, what

(31:46):
changed?..........
I actually did have more time inmy schedule because understand
it seems like we don't we'reshooting primary principle
photography for about fourmonths.
Yeah, that is five days a week.
And that means you're going towork three to five days a week,
depending on what schedule theysend you.
Oh, that's a lot.
Be two to three scenes a day, itcould be one seat a day, you can
have a day off, it's you onlyhave Sundays and Mondays, but

(32:07):
when you're having two days off,they're calling you all day long
about your story, and they'retaking notes.
And I was doing this.
I was also thinking abouteverything that happened over
the week and what I would haveto do the next week to follow
up, what conversations I wasgoing to have to have, who I was
going to have to confront.
And then I would write it down.
I'm older.
I don't, can't remembereverything.
So I would write mine down andmake my notes and say, okay,

(32:29):
this week I want to cover this,this, and this.
Also, it made it easier on theproducers.
Now people get mad.
Oh, you scripted the show.
No, I didn't script the show.
This is what happened.
This is what I want to talkabout.
This is how to get to the pointquickly, because I know where
they're going instead of wastingpeople's time.
And you know, it just, for me,it was a more efficient because
I did have to run a skincarecompany and a nutrition company,
which was different thaneverybody else.

(32:51):
And I had to influence and I hadto make appearances.
So I had to figure out how isall this going to fit into my
day and make the most of theirtime productions, very
expensive.
And that's how I said, I have aproducer's lens.
So wasting people's time is notsomething I like to do because I
know how much it costs per day.
I mean, we're, we're talking toshow that.
At the minimum is a milliondollars an episode and probably

(33:12):
way more for like if you'retalking LA or New York or
Atlanta, we were in the low end.
So we're talking a million upper episode.
So that's a lot of time,manpower and cost for, for a
production.
To do one episode, it's aminimum of a million dollars.
Yeah, yeah, a minimum.
So, and I think more, probably alot more in other cities, but

(33:33):
just because we didn't have ahigher budget.
But after that, I thought when Iwas on the show, to go back to
your question, how can I makethe most of this?
What am I going to do when thisis over?
Yes, I'm going to go back toacting.
Also, I love to cook.
So every season I made surethere was a cooking scene in one
of the season's episodes.
And my husband and I would docooking competitions.
I remember I had to cook at,someplace in Austin where we

(33:55):
went, I was in charge of cookingthe dinner.
And so I'd always be doing thatbecause that way I could say I
am a housewife chef or cook.
Yeah.
Then when it was, when it wasover, I didn't decide to go to
culinary school.
They have like an executiveprogram at Dallas college is
very good here.
It's one of the best top 10 inthe United States.
So I went there and I went atfour in the morning or I got up
at four in the morning, wentthere at six.

(34:15):
From six until nine, I was atculinary school.
Then I came home and I'm not amorning person, just so you
know.
And, uh, I was at home at nineand then I could do my bit, my
day.
And then also practice myrecipes to go back the next day.
Um, and then, then we'd havetests and different things like
that.
And then costs, food costs,which is a math is not my thing,
you know, costs and all thosekinds of things.

(34:36):
But that would be able to giveme the French background, the
culinary background, the basicknowledge.
And then I decided that I wantedto learn barbecue because I was
emceeing barbecue festivals at acasino in the Pacific Northwest.
I got, I got introduced to agentleman that owns a marketing
company and he hired me to dothe Alanae Barbecue Fest, then

(34:58):
the Alanae Brew Fest.
And then I went to Mohegan Sunand did an appearance there.
So I started doing thesedifferent festivals and emceeing
and I met all these barbecuepeople and these chefs.
And I thought, you know, there'snot a lot of women in barbecue
and it's not like you have to goto the CIA.
You, you have to study andlearn, but, and I bet I could
get these guys to teach me howto do it.
I ended up in barbecue and thenI found out there was a lot of

(35:22):
nice women in barbecue that werealso willing to share their
stories and their secrets andinvited me to their teams.
So I've been competing inbarbecue for a couple of years,
not a lot because of my time.
But I went to Memphis in May andcompeted in whole hog.
We got 10th this year.
I got to inject the hog andseason the hog.
And then, um, I didn't have tobabysit all night.
Thank goodness.
I mean, somebody has to staythere all night and watch it

(35:43):
cook.
That's, that's not my job.
I don't want to do that.
I'm too old for that.
Um, and then, we've gotten likenext week I'll be in Charleston.
I'll be doing Holy smokes.
Festival, which is, I don't knowwhat I'm cooking.
They haven't given me my recipeyet.
I've been at World FoodChampionship as a judge.
I'm a judge with the SCA, StateCompetition Association,
Terlingua.
I judge a lot of differentthings.
I did Food Network, MichaelSimon Show, Barbecue USA, where

(36:06):
I was a judge.
So, I'm really enjoying it and Ihave not done a lot recently
because of the move.
So now that we're getting thehouse set up, we will start
doing more videos and, andthings of that nature.
Yeah, it looked like you, uh,well, first of all, I don't even
know, do you sleep?
I don't actually, that's aproblem.
You don't sleep very, because Imean, there's people in, in my

(36:28):
life, my close friends that say,you You know, they're always
talking about my schedule and Idon't know, how do you do all
this stuff and I'm hearing yourschedule and I'm like, Oh gosh,
that's, that must be what itsounds like to them, but that
that is amazing.
And I love the whole barbecuething I mean you're everything
you cook I'm wanting to go okay.
Okay.
Can't she just make that somehowthat people can buy it?

(36:51):
Well, I'm working on rubs andsauces.
And like I said, when I get mycatch the kitchen finished up
here, I do live fire cooking.
So the chef I was in culinaryschool with is from Argentina
and we decided to partnertogether in a company called
fire show.
So we're doing really cool.
Yeah, private chef experiences,we'll be doing rubs and sauces
and all that together.
So that's coming around thecorner.

(37:12):
It's just a matter of fittingall this in my schedule and
getting this house to where I'mnot.
They're still working on mykitchen right now.
Like today, it's, if you heardall the noise in the background.
No, I didn't hear it, but I didsee a preview.
I think you did a walkthroughon, uh, and it looks beautiful.
It looks, although it's like, soit's, it's so large.
It's like so many steps fromhere.
You're going to get all yoursteps taken care of just walking

(37:33):
around your home.
Well, in the back, the backyardis about an acre.
So I built, I have a lot of landfor growing vegetables, bees, a
lot of more barbecue pits andtools and things.
My, my husband's like, I don'twant this to be a barbecue
university in the backyard.
Okay.
So we're not having all thisstuff.
I go, Oh, you, you travel a lot.
When you come home, you maynotice something that changes.

(37:55):
It's okay.
Yeah.
You may notice something nowthat's funny.
And by the way, I saw hiscommercial.
That's pretty amazing.
Oh, isn't it awesome.
So you won't believe this,Erica.
I was, I kept telling him, causehe looks so good.
I said on television, you'relike the silver Fox.
You could get all this work.
Oh, no, he wouldn't do it.

(38:15):
So finally I talked him intoputting his headshots on casting
networks and actors access.
My agent then.
You know, he wants moreheadshots, but Jeremy's too
busy, even though he's aphotographer, so my agent was
like, I need new, new headshots.
In the meantime, Jeremy justsigned up on casting networks
and submitted himself for twocommercials, the second job
Toyota commercial he got.

(38:36):
Okay, he looks amazing in acowboy hat.
He can't stand country music.
I'm like, you are going to dothis.
So he did.
And now he's like, not so badbeing an actor.
I kind of like this, you know, Imean, he saw himself, I can tell
that big grin.
And so now he got, he is alsothe face of Colwell Banker Real
Estate.
He just did that.
Um, I mean, he's just gettingstuff all the time and he would

(38:57):
probably get more, but he hasbeen working and traveling.
So he hasn't been able to do theauditions or do the actual
shoots.
We just did a, an auditionyesterday or day before
yesterday for Super 8, I thinkmotels or something.
Uh, so it was, it was fun.
We got to be stupid and crazy oncamera together.
For Super 8, lookie there.

(39:18):
Yeah, exactly.
So he's.
He's um, I think Jeremy, if hecould have more time, would do a
lot more work.
And I think now he's going to betaking action classes with my
teacher and my agent.
If he said, oh my gosh, he said,I won't say the word he said
with your blank blank photos,you're still getting all this
work.
I need some new photos.
You think he could make sometime for some headshots.

(39:38):
Right, exactly.
Yeah.
Or something.
Now, okay, so I could notbelieve when I saw your pictures
on that billboard in TimesSquare.
And I was like, is that when I,the reason why I didn't mean
that, you know, I didn't meanthat like disrespectfully
saying, is that real?
But so many times there's thingspeople can put things on, like a
friend of mine put her pictureon the side of a bus, you know,

(40:00):
whatever.
And I, and so that's why I wasjust like, that is the coolest
thing ever.
I mean, that must be.
That would be one of my all timefavorite things is to be in
Times Square.
It was on my bucket list.
I always wanted it because Ilived in New York and studied as
an actor and was a model for solong.
And I always wanted my pictureon a billboard, but I was always
too short or it wasn't my timeor whatever it was.

(40:22):
And to do that at 54 years old,it just, and it happened just so
haphazardly.
I luckily met this amazingphotographer, Lori Sapio, who
lives in Chicago.
We met at a friend's weddingshower here in Dallas, and she's
come up and introduced herselfand she said, Oh, I'd like to do
a photo shoot with you.
And I was like, okay, fine,whatever.
You know, I needed new photosbecause Jeremy is working all

(40:42):
the time.
He can't always do my photos andit's good to have other.
Photographers as well.
Plus Jeremy says I'm his worstclient ever.
And he can't stand to takephotos of me cause he doesn't
like to Photoshop anything.
So, um, so Lori did a photoshoot with me and then I was in
Chicago for a barbecue festivalwhere I was, um, there, I was

(41:02):
covering it for social media,Windy City Smokeout.
And so she arranged a photoshoot at Duck Duck Goat, which
is owned by Stephanie Izzard.
Fabulous.
Chef, she was a pop chef.
And so we went to her place anddid the photo shoot.
Didn't, I didn't think anythingabout it.
Just went on my way.
Next thing I know, I startgetting all these, the first
photo shoot that she did, by theway, I got a magazine cover and

(41:25):
I thought, well, how'd thishappen?
So every time she was submittingphotos, I was either getting big
campaigns or in the magazine ormagazine covers.
And so she's been continuouslyshooting now.
This last one was Estee magazineis a fashion magazine and they
also have billboard and theyasked to put the photo on
billboard.
So that was really cool.
Unfortunately it didn't stay upvery long, but it was like a day
or something like that, but Idon't care.

(41:46):
I'll take the day, but I did itand it's checked off, check off,
you know?
And yeah, but you have itrecorded.
So it will never die.
Exactly.
We almost didn't because we, Ididn't know what time it was
going to be up.
I didn't have anybody overthere.
I could not get to.
From Dallas to there.
Cause I was busy.
So we were trying to findsomebody to go do it, but they
did.
So we got it.

(42:07):
Got it.
You got it.
That is so cool.
I love that.
Well, oh my goodness.
I don't even know.
I mean, there's so many thingsnow.
Wait, tell me real quick again.
What does that mean?
The fire shows?
What is, what are you actuallydoing?
Are you doing it yet?
So we, we will be, we could doit tomorrow if somebody wanted
us to do it.
I don't have a package thatI've, a proposal that I put out

(42:29):
there on the internet, but it's,um, fire live fire cooking.
So if you wanted to hire us tocome to your house for a private
dinner party, and you wantedlike hanging Tomahawk steaks, or
you wanted a full lamb on aciddoor, we could do all that with
live fire.
And so we would do, it's, it'spart of a presentation and
theater in addition to thewonderful wine and food and that

(42:50):
we provide.
So, and Segundo from BuenosAires, he went to French
culinary school.
So he's kind of, he's my mentorand my teacher.
So together we work really well.
That is so, sounds like a blast.
And I mean, you're going to haveto clone yourself somehow
because I don't know how peoplewill start booking and then
you're not going to have time todo them all.
Yeah, I don't know how that'seven going to happen.

(43:12):
Your skincare.
Okay.
I always get this twisted hardnight.
Good morning.
Yes.
Everybody they call hard days.
Night.
Everything you could hard, hardnight.
Good day.
I mean, I had to look at itbecause I twist it all the time.
Hard, not good morning.
How long has that product beenout?
Or is it an, it's an entireskincare line?
Yeah, I've had that skincareline since 2008, believe it or

(43:34):
not, but you've got to lookback.
I had been through the ringerwith regards to businesses.
This in 2008, when I startedthat company, the real estate
crash happened.
You remember that all themortgages and everything.
So nobody was taking yourskincare lines.
Nobody was buying anything.
I had one product.
I thought I was going to eat itall.
And then Whole Foods came to meand they took my line on.
Well, they had me compete withDr.

(43:55):
Hausch at the time, and Ibelieve they don't even carry
that anymore.
So they kind of got rid of theirluxury skincare.
So we sell just a few skews atWhole Foods, but only in the
Southwest, not in the otherregions.
Um, I just, the people wouldturn over so often.
I'd go in there and educatepeople and, and the Whole Foods
stores, and then they'd be gone.
And I'd have to go re educate,re educate.
It was just a lot for me.

(44:16):
So now people five because theyknow the brand.
And it's just like I said, theSouthwest.
So, um, it's natural aloe verabased it's high in botanicals
and actives.
And I keep the last two years,I've come out with three new
products.
I've come out with an aminobright, which is a resurfacing
cream, the skin repair cream,uh, burning the midnight oil,
which is an oil, um, adjuncttherapy, hydration to all your

(44:38):
other products.
And then I, uh, S3, which is,um, three sets of, uh, essential
oils.
So different ones that Icreated, yeah, three essential
oils and which one, which one isthe, the essential oils in which
product then?
So it's in Hard Knocked Morning,but it's called S3E S S T H R E
E cause S and three.
And then it has something calledinto the woods.

(45:00):
Uh, which is kind of like, athieves kind of, detoxing for
the house.
You've got a flower bomb, whichis a spicy floral and you've got
happy dance, which is a really,um, Uplifting aroma for I use it
when I work and when I need it,you know invigoration and my in
my attitude attitude adjustmentYeah, it does.
It's great stuff.
That's awesome.
I love essential oils and But Idefinitely, I can't really, I

(45:23):
don't know when is this going toair, but Amino Brite just won a
huge award, but I'm not allowedto mention it until the middle
of November.
So I don't know if it'll beafter that.
So on November 14th, I'll justlet you know.
We will be able to announce thatwe won best skin repair cream of
the year, 2, 500 products.

(45:44):
So I'm very proud of that.
500 products.
Yes.
Very, very, very excited aboutthat.
So, um, I'm, I'm, we're gearingup for that coming up and I hope
to God it sells out.
I don't want anymore.
I want it all to sell out andthen have to reorder because I
just want it to be that popular.
That sounds, that sounds good.
I know I glanced last nightonline and I thought, Oh,
there's a whole, cause I thoughtit was just one or two pieces.

(46:06):
And then I thought, Oh, it's awhole line.
So who knows?
I may have to go in there andorder some and check it out.
And give it a try.
Well, I'll send you, I'll sendyou the product that I'm talking
about.
So you can, if you want to postabout it, if you like it and
tell people about it, I wouldappreciate it.
I mean, I can't, I can't makeyou post about it, but if you
like it, please do.
Yeah, no, that would be great.
You know, because you were inthe skincare business.

(46:27):
Yep.
There you go.
I mean, yeah, for sure.
And, and, you know, even thoughI'm not in that industry
anymore, I still, I retired fromit, but I still get people.
People know that that was myhistory.
I still do permanent makeup.
And I taught for over 30 years,eyebrows, eyeliner, lips.
I did all that.
So, you know, I'm still in thatindustry a little bit and people
are always asking.
So it's a great thing to greatas you can recommend.

(46:51):
that works, because we both knowthere's a lot of things out
there that just don't work,don't work.
I know I have a whole, you know,that is it called the 10, 000
junk drawer product because Ihave to try everything.
So it's my graveyard ofeverything.
Yes, the graveyard, thegraveyard.
Yes, the graveyard.
Yes, I worked in Nordstrom manytimes or a couple of times,
Neiman's and some of thosecreams, you're like, mm hmm.

(47:13):
You're going to spend how muchon that?
And it's going to do what?
Nothing, nothing, exactly.
Nothing unless it's reallyactive.
Well, if you have just a fewmore minutes, I wanted to,
unless there's something elseyou wanted to share, um, I
wanted to ask you about one morething, but you tell me if
there's something you would liketo share.
Um, I just would like for peoplethat are watching this to just,

(47:34):
um, continue to pray for, for meand God's favor in my life and
direction because, um, It's beena hard few years.
Real Housewives is very hard andthen coming out of Real
Housewives and trying to Havinga small business is difficult
for anybody.
I mean female and smallbusinesses are really
challenging.
So Um, and I I want whatever issupposed to happen in my life

(47:58):
Which all these doors are stillopening for acting things like
that I would just continue tohave god's favor And that this
would be my My time in my life,that would be my time of the sun
because, and, and I mean thatnot in a matter of fame and
fortune, but I mean that in amatter of grace, mercy, God's
favor, and that I will beremembered for being a person

(48:21):
that people, um, looked up toand aspire to, and that we're.
We're inspired by, you know, andfor good reasons, not bad
reasons.
And then I would also be, a goodfriend, a good wife, a good
daughter, and, um, just someonethat, um, others want to emulate
because of my behavior.

(48:43):
Wow.
So pray for, pray for that.
Just pray for God's favor.
How's that?
Absolutely.
Brian.
Yes, absolutely.
And I'm sure that, you know, andhis will and his will, that's
the most important thing is hiswill.
And his will in your life.
Yes.
That was beautiful.
And I heard you get emotionalover that because I know, I know
what, you know, I can tell whatkind of person you are just

(49:04):
from, you know, just, I don'tknow you personally, but just
from even this interview, justknowing your heart and heart for
Jesus and what you want him todo in your life and through your
life and how you see how otherpeople see you.
So that's really, that speaksvolumes about you.
And, um, yeah.
Thank you for sharing with usall of these great things and
all the fun talk about RealHousewives of Dallas, but also

(49:27):
about your faith and, um, howyou walk, how you walk through
life.
Well, God has a plan.
You know, I told you for, I knowthe plans I have for you
declares the Lord, Jeremiah 29,11, my favorite ever verse.
He also says that he formed usbefore we were ever formed in
the whim and he were fearfullyand wonderfully made.
And he knew exactly what he hadmade us for what purpose.

(49:47):
And I believe that.
I also believe that Psalms, um,30, 37 and four, if you follow
me, I'll give you the desires ofyour heart.
And God knows that I've desiredto be in the career I'm in since
I was four years old.
And I believe that he's going tohonor me.
Because I'm a follower of his.
Yes, absolutely.
Um, the story, I know we'reabout to close this out, but the

(50:11):
story, gosh, the story about youfalling off that horse, when I
read that, when you sent thatover to me last night, I just
had to stop and it was just sobeautiful to hear how you came
from a family of People prayingfor you and then friends prayed
for you.
And, um, I don't know what ahunter it says you were, uh,

(50:33):
yeah, so I was an equestrian incollege.
In addition to going to college,I went to a school where it was
very famous for Olympic athleteriders.
So I was riding there half a dayand then going to school the
rest of the day.
A hunter and jumper is somebodythat jumps over fences.
So if you look at the, at the,um, Olympics, you'll see that.
And then the hunts are, are boxhunt kind of things that they

(50:56):
emulate in these competitions.
And, um, so I was there, I waspracticing for a meet that
weekend.
I did not have my horse.
I had another horse.
And it was a school horse and itwas abused.
And so I fell off the horsecause it freaked out over the
jump and I landed on my back andI broke my back, but I was
paralyzed from the waist down.
And the doctor, I did the samekind of thing that Christopher

(51:17):
Reeve did.
Do you remember he had thataccident horse?
So I was paralyzed.
I couldn't breathe.
I couldn't eat.
I was in the hospital inLynchburg, Virginia, tiny
hospital for three or fourmonths and didn't know if I
would ever walk.
The doctors weren't sure theydidn't do surgery because they
couldn't even touch my spinalcord.
So I laid there for many months.

(51:39):
Had a lot of prayers, was angryat God at that point, really
angry.
and I went through a lot oftimes in my life where I've been
angry at God, didn't believe inGod, mad at God, was back to
God.
I mean, ups and downs.
Sure.
And I remember my grandmother, Igrew up in Pentecostal, not, not
Baptist church, Pentecostalchurch.
So there was dancing in theaisles.
There was, there was tonguesthat were singing to pray and

(52:00):
everything.
My grandfather was a prophet.
So he would interpret the peoplethat would speak in tongues.
Sure.
And, um, so my grandmother wascalling every day and praying.
I remember that.
So she was alive.
She was calling the Libertyuniversity was down the street,
even though I went to sweepbriar and having pastors come
over and pray for me and theprayer team of the kids.
So remember Glenn, mystepfather, my dad who raised me

(52:23):
came to visit once.
And he told me to take the tubesout of my nose.
Cause they were feeding methrough a tube.
And then basically after that, Ijust walked.
It was a miracle.
I mean, I just, they stoppedfeeding me through the tubes.
He just said, we're not doingthis anymore.
Take those tubes out of her.
And, um, I miraculously walkedagain and it was a lot of

(52:44):
recovery though.
I had to have surgery in 2004,but I've never had back pain,
not much anymore.
I mean, where everybody else fortheir age has the same back pain
I have.
Um, so that was a miracle fromGod.
And that's when I knew, I think,even though I went through ups
and downs after that and makebad decisions, like everybody
does, that God still.
Wanted something from my life.

(53:05):
Um, that, you know, not that youcouldn't have something for your
life.
You're paralyzed.
I'm just saying he wantedsomething different from my
life, you know, then for me tobe that, that wasn't my story.
Everybody has a story.
So that wasn't my story.
And if it had been my story, Iwould have figured it out
because that's the kind ofperson I am.
And I would have gone with mylife, told my story and lived my
life.
But that wasn't, he wasn'tfinished with me and I could

(53:28):
have died.
I mean, honestly, I could havedone.
And so it was just.
It was a really, um, difficulttime and I missed my whole, most
of my sophomore year of school.
And that was the only year thatI didn't get a 3.
8 or 3.
9.
So I didn't graduate with highhonors, unfortunately, because
of my grades that year.
But, um, I was always a straightA student, high honors.
And, uh, that kind of went.

(53:52):
Good reason you were out.
I bet.
I mean, you know, that's theother thing too, is so many
times in this day and time, justin our world, we think that
miracles are not possible.
People think, well, we do youand I, and a lot of people
around us do, but there arepeople that think that that was
just for biblical times thatthat was not for now.
And we, you know, the power ofprayer and the power of people

(54:14):
believing, um, that you can behealed is.
Huge.
And it, and it, and it happens.
I mean, I had a woman on my showthat had MS for 20 years, 20
medications and was in awheelchair and a lot of
spiritual growth.
She was working with, aspiritual counselor for about
eight months and she is a runneragain.

(54:35):
I mean, it's unbelievable.
But I mean, you can, you canhave healing and that's, I mean,
wow.
I just can't imagine going fromnot walking all that time and
thinking that this is your lifeto being able to walk again.
Did you ever ride a horse again?
I have.
I don't.
I'm very careful about itbecause those are, If I, the

(54:55):
doctor has said, if I fall offagain in that way, that it's
lights out.
So let's not do that.
But I do, if you see my videos,I work out very rigorously, lift
heavy weights, have no problemwith it.
Um, I train and I think that'simportant to me is my training
and everything.
Cause my mother has badosteoporosis and my grandmother,
and I don't want that program.
So I'm very careful about that.

(55:16):
Keeping my body in shape.
I had an ankle replacement, so Icouldn't work out for about
three years, and I, you know,had got really heavy, but then
as soon as I could go back, Iwent back.
Um, so it's, those things areimportant to me, but I also
think, back to your point, weare, in my opinion, in the end
times.
In the end times, you're goingto see a lot of miracles happen.
You're going to see a lot ofhorrible things happen, but

(55:38):
you're going to also see a lotof miracles happen and that's
very biblical.
So I believe that yes, all thisstuff is happening right now for
a reason.
It's going to get worse.
It's also going to lead to a lotof miracles for people that are
believers or unbelievers to becalled to God and to be called
to their savior.
So I think that's reallyimportant, to watch for at this

(55:58):
time.
In addition to seeing everythingelse happening, watch for the
miracles all around you becausethey are there and Jesus will
perform them because he said hewould.
They're going to see him in theend times.
That's beautiful.
And I agree 100 percent as well.
So thank you so much, Deandrafor sharing everything.
And we're just, Being my guestand not even knowing me and

(56:20):
agreeing to be on the show.
So I appreciate it.
And I had a wonderful timetalking with you.
We have a lot of things incommon and if I come to South
Dakota, I'm going to come seeyou.