What happens when a deeply personal memoir about loss transforms into a Hollywood comedy-drama with Kevin Hart? "Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Love and Loss" and "Fatherhood" tell the same heartbreaking story from radically different angles, revealing how adaptation can both honor and re imagine true experiences.
Matthew Logelin's raw memoir chronicles the devastating loss of his wife Liz to a pulmonary embolism just 27 hours after giving birth to their daughter. Left suddenly as a grieving single father, Matt documents his journey through that first impossible year with baby Maddy, building a foundation to help others in similar situations. His unfiltered voice—sometimes criticized as pretentious or problematic—nonetheless captures the unvarnished reality of unexpected loss and parenthood.
When Kevin Hart stepped into the role for the film adaptation, he brought deliberate purpose beyond storytelling. Hart specifically chose this project to showcase positive Black fatherhood on screen while bringing awareness to the disproportionately high maternal mortality rates among Black women—the very condition that claimed Liz Logelin's life nearly took Serena Williams' as well. The film expands beyond the book's timeline, creating fictional elements like school uniform battles and relationship struggles that weren't part of Matt's actual experience.
Whether you connect more with the memoir's unflinching grief or the film's hopeful re imagining, both versions ultimately celebrate the same truth: that love transcends loss, and that parenthood requires courage in the face of the unimaginable. Which raises the podcast's central question—is the book really better than the movie when they're telling fundamentally different stories for different purposes?
All episodes of the podcast can be found on our website: https://booksvsmovies.buzzsprout.com/share
Connect with me: Instagram | Threads | Bookshop | Goodreads | Blog
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Books vs Movies, the podcast where I set
out to answer the age-oldquestion is the book really
always better than the movie?
I'm Yuvia, an actress and booklover based out of New York City
, and today I will be talkingabout Two Kisses for Maddie, a
memoir of love and loss, byMatthew Loughlin, and its 2021
adaptation, fatherhood, starringKevin Hart, alfre Woodard and
(00:21):
Little Rel Howery.
Hi everyone, so first of all, Ijust want to say I'm so sorry.
I did not mean for this hiatusto be as long as it did or as
long as it ended up being.
I started reading the BookThief and I didn't really have
anything else on my docket, so Iwas like I'll read the Book
(00:41):
Thief and watch the film andthat'll be my next episode, and
I was fully anticipating that tobe my next episode.
But then life happened and Istill haven't finished reading
the Book Thief, so I got waybehind.
So I started reading two otherthings Well, I guess three other
things, but I know one of themis going to be a while before I
finish reading it because it's aseries.
(01:03):
But yeah, in terms of thoseother things that I'm reading in
preparation for this podcast,which totally doesn't really
make sense, because it wouldjust make more sense for me to
finish the Book Thief, butanyway, the Book Thief is on its
way, as well as other episodes.
Cannot guarantee when they'regoing to come out.
But yeah, just personal life.
I've also been a lot more busythan expected.
(01:26):
So one of my roommates movedout just last week.
Wow, it's been a week it'sbarely going to be two weeks
since she moved out, and soOrlando and I had the smaller
room and she had the biggestroom, and so now that once she
moved out, we're like well, itmakes more sense for us to move
into the big room.
So we're in the big room now.
(01:47):
So we had to bring all of ourfurniture over from the little
room into the big room and kindof go through all her stuff.
And there's a lot ofrearranging going on.
We need to at some point takeour stuff out of storage.
That's been in there since welived in Jersey and so excited
to say that I also just recentlygot cast in a show.
(02:08):
Yes, so we open in two weeksand that's been taking up most
of my time and my attention andit's been so fun.
Last year I was booked andblessed in terms of I did so
many commercials last year andif you are on YouTube, you may
or may not have seen me already.
I know I've had several familymembers and several friends say,
(02:30):
oh my gosh, I just saw you on acommercial.
I still haven't seen thiscommercial myself, but I'm so
glad so many people are seeingit and I will do commercials.
Doing commercials is fun.
It's fun to be on set.
They pay very well but they'renot creatively fulfilling.
For me, and I don't think theyare for most people.
They're fun, they're a fun gigto do.
Don't get me wrong.
(02:50):
I don't think anyone's going tobe like hate it doing that
commercial, but it's just notcreatively fulfilling.
Like you, you're selling aproduct and so you're.
You know you don't really needto like there is a technique to
do commercial work, but it isnot as challenging as it is to
like sink your teeth into a roleand make decisions around your
(03:11):
character and their livedexperience.
And so, yeah, it's been about ayear and a half since I got
cast in something that requiredme to, you know, really get into
the character, and I've had fun, like doing auditions I've had
so many auditions and getting towork on my monologues or
working on sides that I've beensent.
So you know, still getting thatlike actor creative juice
(03:34):
flowing, but there, that is justso like such a small part of
what we do, and it's fun to doall that, but to actually work
on a role and be in therehearsal room with other actors
, like there's just nothing likeit.
So I'm really excited.
So I've been busy and I'm veryhappy about it.
I'm so excited for the show.
If you happen to be in New YorkCity, we run the week of August
(03:57):
4th pretty much run from thestarting August 4th, which is a
Monday, until that Saturday,which is, I think, august 8th,
august 9th, something like thatAt the New Perspectives Theater
Festival.
This is the theater festivalthat they have going on and
there's Program A and Program B.
I'm part of Program B, but youshould definitely still check
(04:18):
out Program A if that'ssomething you're interested in.
But yeah, just really wanted togive that update because that's
why I've been a little bitslower when it comes to my
reading life and just yeah, justa lot of things going on
personally.
So, yeah, but I'm very excitedto be back with a new episode.
So this, well, you know what?
Let's just get started.
(04:38):
Two Kisses for Maddie, a memoirof Love and Loss by Matthew
Logelin was first published in2011.
Now, matt Logelin this is hismemoir telling the story about
the first year of his daughter'sMaddie's first year of his
daughter Maddie's life followingher birth and the death of his
(04:59):
wife.
So Matt and Liz his wife werehigh school sweethearts.
They spent many years longdistance dating.
They finally, after hegraduated with his master's
degree, he finally joined her inLos Angeles and they were
finally able to get married, geta house and welcome a baby.
Liz's pregnancy was,unfortunately, not a smooth one,
(05:24):
but she did give birth toMadeline, a few weeks premature
but otherwise very healthy,happy baby.
However, 27 hours after givingbirth to Maddie, liz suffered a
pulmonary embolism and died, andshe never got to hold her
daughter.
Matt was suddenly a singlefather and a widower, and he had
(05:46):
to adjust to this new life veryquickly because he had a baby
that depended on him.
So in his memoir, matt tells usabout his years dating Liz,
their marriage, how he cared forhis newborn daughter, the
people he came to rely on, thiscommunity of strangers that
found him, that found ways tosupport him, and a way that he
(06:12):
found to honor Liz's life andyeah, so I probably should have
said this ahead of time.
I do apologize for not sayingit before, but I do understand
if this topic is a littlesensitive.
It is a very sensitive topicthat I am going to discuss a
little bit briefly aboutpregnancy issues, mother
(06:34):
mortality and yeah, so thismight not be an episode that you
can tolerate, so I completelyunderstand if you are not able
to keep listening.
The 2021 adaptation Fatherhoodis the film that shows us a
father who has to bring up hisbaby girl as a single dad after
(06:54):
the unexpected death of his wife, who dies a day after she gives
birth to her daughter.
I apologize if you can hear theair conditioner in the
background.
I apologize if you can hear theair conditioner in the
background.
We are going through.
I thought about turning it offso that it would be completely
silent, and usually that's whatI do, but we are going through a
very intense heat wave and Idon't want to overheat, so you
(07:17):
may hear the air conditioner andit goes on and off, so it might
shut off, it might be on, buthopefully just hear my voice.
I was looking for my microphoneand I could not find it Again.
We just moved into a new roomso I don't know where I left my
microphone that I usually record.
So I'm recording straight intomy computer.
So it's not as easy for me toblock out extra noise, but
(07:40):
hopefully I'm like right upagainst my computer microphone,
so hopefully that's enough, butanyway.
So, despite the description ofthe film, these two are about as
different that you can get fromeach other.
Like this is a very differentadaptation from the book, and so
my talking about the.
(08:02):
So this is going to be a veryshort episode.
In that regard.
There isn't really much to talkabout when it comes to the two
because they are prettydifferent.
But we I will.
So I'm going to talk very, verybriefly about the two
differences that kind of stoodout to me the most.
I guess three, but one of themI'm going to get into a lot more
(08:22):
detail.
So the film takes place inBoston, while the book primarily
takes place in LA.
So Matt and Liz were originallyfrom Minnesota.
They dated long distance.
They went to different colleges.
Eventually, when Liz graduated,she ended up in LA and then
Matt had, like, finished hisundergrad, went on to Matt to
(08:44):
get his master's degree, theycontinued to be long distance.
And then he had the choice topursue his doctorate or, at that
point, settle in with Elizabethin LA.
And he chose at that point tohe was like I'm ready, I'm tired
of the long distance, I justwant to be with the woman that I
love.
So that's when he relocated toLA and things progressed pretty
quickly which sounds kind ofweird to say because they had
(09:07):
been together for so long.
At that point they did startdating in high school.
I think they were together,including marriage and
everything a total of 12 years.
So I think it was like she diedbefore they celebrated their
three-year wedding anniversary.
So they were married for abouttwo years.
So they were like dating forabout 10 years.
And after those 10 years he waslike I'm ready, like they were,
(09:30):
like they were high schoolsweethearts, they dated long
distance for that long of a time, and so he was like I'm ready.
And so, yeah, it feels kind ofweird to say things move pretty
quickly after that, consideringthey've been together for 10
years.
But yeah, like as soon as hemoved in with her, like they got
engaged, they got married, theybought a house and they had a
baby.
So yeah, but that's whathappened and the film, for
(09:54):
whatever reason, takes place inBoston.
I'm not really sure why theymade that creative change
because it didn't really addanything.
Maybe it was just cheaper tofilm in Boston than it was to
film in LA.
I don't know.
I haven't found any reason forwhy they made that change, but
they did make the change to setthe film in Boston as opposed to
setting it in LA.
(10:15):
The book chronicles a littlelike Matt and Liz's love story.
So Matt talks about him and Lizdating how they got married.
Matt talks about him and Lizdating how they got married and
her pregnancy and the struggleswith her pregnancy and then her
death and After she Dies.
Book just really focuses onMaddie's first year of life, the
film.
(10:35):
That's probably like the firstthird of the film, and then the
last two thirds of the film aremade up for the film.
Now there are some elements oftruth in there.
A version of the book, of thememoir that I read, I want to
say was I'm not exactly surewhen there's been like a few
updates.
So the film, the book, is nowcalled Fatherhood as well to
(10:58):
match, to be more of a tie-inwith the film.
But before that I want to sayit was updated again in, I guess
, 2015, because there's a letterthat's added at the.
There are some things that areadded that happened, like, in
2018, matt did end up falling inlove with someone else and
eventually getting married toher and he had another baby, and
(11:21):
so all of that happened in 2018.
I think they got married in2018 and then their baby was
born in 2019.
So that has been added to thebook and I think after that
there was the updated version,the movie tie-in version, but
otherwise like not includinglike the updated thing that you
can find in the movie tie-inthere was a lot of creative
(11:44):
liberties I'm sure with thepermission of Matt that were
taken and there might be sometruth for them, some heightened
truth, some exaggerated truths,you could say, to make the film
more dramatic, one of them beingAlfre Woodard's character.
She plays Liz's mom in the film,so Kevin Hart's mother-in-law
(12:04):
and Matt had a greatrelationship with his in-laws.
I mean, they've been together,for Matt and Liz had been
together for so long, even aftershe passed away, like he was
still going on family vacationswith them and him and Maddie
were, and so he had.
Like there was no.
Like.
The mother-in-law in the filmwas a little bit more
(12:25):
stereotypical mother-in-law inthat she wasn't really a fan of
her son-in-law and she was veryagainst him raising her child,
her grandchild, on his own, andthat, just that was not the case
in the book.
Matt had the support, like hewas urged by his family to move
back to Minnesota but he decidedto stick around in LA and his
(12:47):
in-laws and his family allrespected that decision and in
the film, like she was very likeif you're not moving with me to
Minnesota, I'm going to stayhere, and Kevin Hart essentially
has to kick her out and be likeno, I'm taking care of my
daughter and I got this and youneed to leave.
So, yeah, so that was a littlebit heightened.
There is also the character ofLizzie.
(13:08):
So Matt Loughlin in real lifedid end up marrying Lizzie and
he did not even realize that itwas one of those things that Liz
was always Liz to him.
Obviously her name wasElizabeth, but he just she was
Liz, and so when he met Lizzie,that's who she was, she was just
Lizzie.
And it wasn't until he saw apiece of mail with her name
Elizabeth that he was like oh,my girlfriend and my wife have
(13:32):
the same name, what are the odds?
But so that is true, he did endup marrying someone with his
wife's name.
But in the film, like um,there's more of there's more
drama, as I said, that KevinHart, after spending an
afternoon with Lizzie andmissing a phone call from
Maddie's school where she getsinjured, he breaks up with
Lizzie and then they end upreuniting at the end of the film
(13:53):
.
So, yeah, so, like creativeliberties like that were taken,
but there is some semblance oftruth with Matt's real life.
But, yeah, so it's vastlydifferent.
Like the last, just the firstthird of the film is like
Maddie's first year of life inthe film and then when, when,
that is like two thirds of thenovel and in the film it's just
it's two thirds of Kevin Harttrying to make, trying to be a
(14:16):
good father and making decisionsthat make him feel like a
failure as Maddie gets older.
I think we spent.
I think Maddie in the film isabout seven or eight years old.
So, yeah, so that's really theonly thing to talk about in
terms of difference.
The other difference that I wantto talk about is Kevin Hart.
We know he's a black man.
(14:36):
Matthew Logelin is a white man,so I'm not really sure how it
ended up.
I don't know the exact detailsof how it ended up being Kevin
Hart that played the role ofMatthew, but originally this
memoir was going to be turnedinto a film, a lifetime film.
So it was going to be one ofthose lifetime films and then,
(14:59):
after that didn't pan out,channing Tatum was attached to
play the role of Matthew, andthen that didn't pan out.
Channing Tatum was attached toplay the role of Matthew and
then that didn't pan out.
And then eventually it went toKevin Hart and, like I said, I
don't know the logistics, like Idon't know if, after it fell
through with Channing Tatum,like Kevin Hart heard about this
and was like I'll do the role,or if it didn't pan out with
Channing Tatum, like thecreative team reached out to
(15:21):
Kevin Hart and see if he wouldbe interested.
So I don't know, like thoselogistical details.
But there is an interview atthe back of the book, the movie
tie-in, in which Matthewinterviews Kevin Hart, and one
of the things they talk about isKevin Hart being interested in
taking this role.
Like he was very interested inbringing the role of Matthew to
life because he wanted to bringa more positive depiction of
(15:44):
Black fatherhood to film.
There aren't a lot of filmsthat depict Black fatherhood in
a positive light, and he alsowanted to take this opportunity
to so.
Mortality, mother mortalityrates are high, and those
numbers are even higher forBlack women.
Black women die at much higherrates during pregnancy and
(16:08):
childbirth than white women orother women of color, and so
that's something that Kevin Hartalso wanted to bring attention
to.
In fact, liz the real life Liz,and the dramatized version of
her in the film died of apulmonary embolism, which is
what Serena Williams also almostdied of after she gave birth to
(16:28):
her daughter, alexis.
So this could have ended verylike Serena Williams' life could
have ended very similar to LizLohgolin's.
So that was something thatKevin Hart also wanted to bring
attention to is the high rate ofmotherhood mortality rates of
Black women.
That being said, I do sincethat was one of the intentions
(16:50):
of this film I do wish that theyhad rushed upon it a little bit
more, because Liz's death is inthe film is just is it happens
so fast.
I want to say that it happensin like the first five to ten
minutes of the film and then weget like five more minutes of,
like, the funeral, and then ittransitions completely into
(17:12):
Kevin Hart's character, or Kevinas Matt, adjusting to his life
as a single father and a widower.
So there isn't really much talkor focus on the Black
motherhood mortality rate.
So it's like, if that's one ofthe things you wanted to bring
awareness to, I feel like wecould have done it more.
Yeah, I just feel like therewould be a way to incorporate a
(17:34):
little bit more without even Idon't know, I don't, I don't
know, but I feel like the mainfocus of this story is Black
fatherhood, which there'snothing wrong with that, and I'm
not saying they necessarilyneeded to incorporate the other
aspect, but if that was one ofthe goals, I feel like more
needed to be done to bringawareness to that.
But, yeah, oh, another, anotherdifference, before moving on
(17:56):
into just my thoughts on thefilm and the book, I almost
forgot this.
So in in real life, liz Loughlin.
She was having trouble with herpregnancy, she wasn't gaining
the right amount of weight, andso she had to go on bedrest to
see if she could gain thatweight by, you know, just just
sitting there just being onbedrest and so she was on
(18:17):
bedrest and then she, she was onbedrest and then she ended up
going into labor.
Um, and Maddie was bornprematurely.
And it was one of those thingslike sorry, voldemort was just
like, pay attention to me.
So yeah, so Liz was on bedrest,she gave birth to Maddie
prematurely, and then she had to, since she gave birth to Maddie
(18:40):
prematurely and she had hadissues with her pregnancy.
She met her daughter.
Thankfully, she did get to meetMaddie.
She met her shortly aftergiving birth.
She had to have a C-section inorder to deliver Maddie safely,
and so after Maddie was pulledout of her, she got to see her
daughter before they had to sendMaddie to the NICU and she
(19:02):
never got to hold her daughter.
She did meet her daughter andMatt would go to the NICU and
feed her and change her diaperand give his wife updates as his
wife.
So after the C-section, she hadto stay on bed rest for another
24 hours before she couldofficially go to the NICU and
(19:23):
hold Maddie.
So, as she stood up to you know, the 24 hour period passed.
They're like great, you cancome with us to go meet Maddie.
As she gets up, she startswalking.
She felt really, really dizzy,collapsed and passed away
shortly after and it was of apulmonary embolism.
(19:44):
We don't really see that toomuch in the film.
It was like her death was so,so sudden in the film that I
even asked Orlando.
Orlando used to work as an EMT,so he's not like an expert, but
he does know more about medicalstuff than I do.
So I was like, can she reallydie that suddenly?
And Orlando was like, yeah, shejust had a C-section as a
(20:06):
surgery.
It's a major surgery so thatcan complicate things and that
can cause complications that canlead you to die.
But and so that's.
I guess what happened in thefilm was maybe complications
after the C-section because she,she has so the like.
Like I said this, like we meetMatt and Liz at the beginning of
(20:28):
the film there are doctor'sappointments.
They're talking about um, theupcoming birth, but Liz is fine.
Like she is not on bed rest.
It's safe to assume that shedelivered Maddie after the
between the 36 to 40 week markor maybe slightly after, but
Maddie this Maddie, the filmMaddie was not born prematurely.
(20:48):
Like it's safe to assume thather pregnancy was completely
healthy in the film becausethere's no indication otherwise,
like she is not on bed rest,she goes into labor without any
complications.
It wasn't and I think itmight've been an emergency
C-section in the film, but eventhen it wasn't as much of it
(21:09):
didn't seem as much of a causeof concern as it came off in the
book.
So for all intents and purposes, liz in the film had a very
healthy pregnancy.
She had a good birth, maybe notcompletely as anticipated,
since she did have to have aC-section, but there was nothing
to indicate that we should beworried that things were going
(21:29):
to go bad during the C-section.
She did not have to stay on bedrest for 24 hours after giving
birth the way that Liz did inreality.
Like I think Maddie was justlike in the nursery and she
might have just been sleepingoff the anesthesia or whatever
they do when you, when you havea C-section and then she gets up
(21:50):
, same thing she gets up, saysshe can't breathe, collapses and
then passes away.
So it was a lot more abrupt inthe film than what happened in
reality.
And again, I did talk toOrlando and it was like okay,
that makes sense about thepossible complications after a
C-section, since it isconsidered a major surgery.
(22:11):
So I guess that's kind of whathappened to Maddie, I mean to
Liz, in the film, but it's notreally clear.
And yeah, just wanted to bringthat up because her, her, her
death was very, very unexpected.
And maybe that's kind of whatthey were going for, like I said
, since, since they did want tobring awareness to the
motherhood mortality rates ofblack women, but, and how abrupt
(22:35):
it can be, I don't know.
That's the only thing I canthink of.
But yeah, I will say like I waslike I was watching this and I
was like well, like can someonejust die that, like that,
suddenly, and our line it waslike yeah, yeah, like it's, it's
, it's a major surgery, likethings can go wrong, and so it's
like okay, um, yeah, and it'snot really something that is
talked about in the film as well.
But liz, liz, what they and Ithink they end up finding out is
(22:58):
that Liz's pulmonary embolismgot started as a blood clot on
her legs that traveled up to thelungs.
I don't know exactly how thatworks, but I have heard of
something like that.
But yeah, so that's yeah, sothat's the other thing.
Just, liz's death in the filmis just a lot more abrupt than
(23:20):
it is in the book.
I mean, that sounds that's aweird way to phrase it, but I
hope you understand what I'mtrying to say like not that we
expected, not that anyoneexpected Liz to die, but it's
like, well, I can see how.
I mean, she was already havingissues with her pregnancy and
this led to this.
This led to this.
This led to this as opposed tojust like how abrupt Liz's death
(23:40):
in the film was.
But anyway, moving on, yeah, soTwo Kisses for Maddie actually
won the 2011 Goodreads ChoiceAward.
It won for Reader's FavoriteMemoir and Autobiography and
overall, it has pretty positivereviews.
It has a total of 4.01 ratingbased off of 8,863 ratings.
(24:05):
So it's it has pretty goodnumbers and it did win the
favorite memoir andautobiography category.
But I will say, the people thatare giving it terrible reviews
and there are a few with thatthat that have given it terrible
reviews, but the consensus,from what I've seen, that has
(24:26):
prompted people to give thissuch a low rating, is Matthew
Logelin himself.
Now, I understand where they'recoming from, like a lot of
these people.
Let me find one, okay.
So here I'm just going to readsome snippets from a reviewer
named Doreen, who rated the booktwo stars, and this I'm reading
(24:48):
Doreen's because it's the firstreview that's available, but
also because this Doreen's viewon the book seems to be the
general consensus of people thathave been giving it low stars,
low ratings.
Some people have issues with theactual writing of it, like the
writing style, the prose andeverything, but from what I've
(25:09):
seen, most people take issueswith Matthew himself.
So here is what Doreen had tosay.
The main complaint from otherreviewers who've given this book
low ratings is that he swearstoo much.
I too have a potty mouth, somere swearing.
(25:30):
So here is what Doreen had tosay His wife's death sucks,
shortly after also using it todescribe how awful the generic
music played at the funeralparlor is.
But that wasn't why I thinkthis book is terrible, even if
the writing is uniformlydisjointed and subpar.
My main problem with this bookis that the author is a
pretentious hipster snob.
After his wife's death hegrieved and I felt sincerely bad
(25:52):
for him, but his insistence onnot being lame when out and
about with his kid made me wantto shake him.
Being a parent isn't aboutbeing cool asshole.
I respected a lot of what hehad to say about the different
processes of grieving.
Unfortunately, this book dwellstoo much on how badly he
perceived some people to bebehaving towards him and made me
want to tell him to get overhimself.
So I also want to share onemore review from aaroniloglu,
(26:16):
who also gave it two stars.
Just to add on to that, Iperhaps gave this book more
leniency than I should have.
Matthew Loglin did, after all,lose his wife one day after his
daughter was born.
But if death doesn't makemartyrs of the dead, surviving
doesn't make a douchebag losehis douchebagginess.
It's very hard to like this manwho almost brags about Peter
Pan syndrome Bitchy opinion.
More than once I thought if hiswife had.
(26:38):
So yeah, a lot of people don'tlike Matthew Loveland.
They don't think he's a very,they just don't see him as a
very likable person and I gottasay I kind of agree.
(27:01):
Now I will say I give Matthewcredit for not like making
himself look better than he was,like he portrayed himself
pretty accurately, it seems like.
If so many people dislike him,but yeah, I will say the chapter
in which his wife, in which Liz, gives birth and she dies, I
(27:23):
could definitely I feel like.
I mean he wrote this book, Ithink 18 months after, or he
started writing this book 18months after Liz died, so I'm
sure her death was still very,very raw and so he might have
still had like an emotionalshield, an emotional block.
He does mention that whileattempting to write this book,
like he missed so many deadlinesbecause he just emotionally he
(27:46):
was, he felt, blocked and whathelped him get rid of that block
was just writing this poem thathe wrote and that's what
allowed him to just release thatemotional block and he was able
to finally write the book.
So I think that emotional blockmight have still been there
when he wrote that chapter and Ican completely understand why.
Like, this is the chapter inwhich the love of his life died
(28:09):
and he's suddenly a widowersomething he never expected to
be at the age of 30.
So, yeah, I completelyunderstand why he would still
have that emotional block, but Ihad so many issues with this
chapter and I might have feltthis way about him overall.
He did start warming up to meafter this chapter again and his
(28:31):
struggles, as he mentioned hisstruggles as being a single dad.
But, yeah, like reading thischapter, I was like I do not
like this man.
I want to give him gracebecause he's writing about his
wife and she just died and I'msure this is like difficult to
remember and write about.
But I did not like him and then, as I was doing more research
(28:51):
on him, especially and I hadn'teven finished the book yet, I
was like I need to see what isgoing on.
As the book went on well, Ihadn't even finished the book
yet, I was like I need to seewhat is going on.
As the book went on well, Idon't know honestly if, like, as
the book went on, I softened upto him or if it was like
finding out this research,feeling better about who he is
and then going back and thathelped soften it up as I
continued reading.
So I don't know.
But yeah, he does have verypretentious thoughts on music,
(29:16):
like, like he's one of thosepeople and I really don't like
these people in general, butthey exist, so he's one of those
of like my taste in music isbetter than yours and I like the
most indie of the indie stuffand anything that you like that
is not indie, that is somainstream.
Like you have the worst tastein music ever and I hate it.
And yeah, that's annoying, I docompletely understand that, but
(29:38):
, like there was at one point,at this point Liz is still alive
, she has given birth andMatthew has gone to see Maddie
in the NICU and this is thefirst time visiting Maddie in
the NICU and so he goes and he'stalking about how the doctor is
, explaining what all thedifferent tubes in Maddie are,
(29:58):
and he's talking about the onethat is attached to her stomach
Because she was born prematurely.
She does not have the abilityto suck and swallow just yet.
And Matt makes a note or a jokein which he's like I was like so
worried about my daughter thatI couldn't even appreciate the
double entendre of what thedoctor just said and I was like
(30:19):
dude, you're talking about yourdaughter, who's your newborn
daughter who's in the NICU.
Like that's gross man.
Like why would you even saythat?
I don't know.
I also don't really like look,kids say funny stuff and
sometimes they say things thatcan be double entendres without
them even realizing it, becausethey're kids.
There's a difference betweenkids doing something like that
(30:41):
naturally and like parent, likenot just parents, but like
adults.
Making comments like that, likethat does make me uncomfortable
, because it's like they're kids.
There's no need.
And this is your newborndaughter who's in the NICU.
Like that's weird.
So, yeah, I didn't really likethat.
There's also a part in which Iwas like rolling my eyes so hard
(31:03):
because he's talking about howthey bought like they had two
separate diaper bags a diaperbag for Liz and they found a
really manly diaper bag for him.
And I was just like, oh my gosh, dude, like is your masculinity
so fragile that you have tohave a quote unquote manly
diaper bag?
Because you cannot, you justcan't have like a regular diaper
(31:25):
bag.
It has to be a manly one.
Get out of here with that.
Like that just irritates me tono end.
So I was like, oh my gosh, solike there was comments like
that that bugged me and did notmake me like him.
His sense of humor is incredibly, incredibly dry and there is
that aspect and but I do feellike it was full force in this
(31:47):
chapter.
Like you can see hints of it inthe other chapters, but this
one I was like all right again,I'm trying to give him grace
because I do understand he'stalking about probably the worst
day of his life and he's likeusing humor to cope.
But it was still just like suchan eye roll when I read that,
especially because once he is asingle dad, he talks about the
(32:09):
amount, the way he's treated,the amount of women especially
that are like, where's your wife, why are you by yourself with
your kid?
Like he was treated differentlyfor being a single dad than
being single mom, and like hewas denied access to a parenting
group that was a women'sparenting group.
Because they're like, well, wetalk about sensitive things on
(32:29):
here and we don't want anyone tofeel uncomfortable because
you're a dad, like becauseyou're a man, and he was like
well, but I like you guysbecause they were essentially
talking about like changes theirbody has gone through in
graphic detail, essentiallyabout breastfeeding, things like
that.
And he was like, well, I mean,I can't relate to like the body
changes or like breastfeeding,but like any other insights that
(32:50):
you're providing, like that'swould be beneficial for me as a
parent.
And he was denied access tothat group and so, like some of
the other people in that group,didn't agree with the fact that
he wasn't allowed in that groupand so they started a new
parenting group in whicheveryone, as long as they were
parents, were welcome.
So he, like he's talking aboutthe way he's being treated as a
single father and it's like solike stereotypical gender roles
(33:14):
are harmful and like you'reexperiencing that yourself.
So why do you got to talk abouthow like your manliness is
getting hurt by the fact thatyou don't have like a manly bag?
And then he also talked aboutlike how he would get so
irritated to see like cause he'slike a huge baseball fan and he
would go to baseball games andhe would like roll his eyes
whenever he went to baseballgames and there were like little
(33:36):
girls in their baseball gear,but like girly baseball gear,
like wearing little skirts andhaving like little pom poms,
like jumping up and down andcheering for the baseball teams.
And I was like like look at theboys, the boys are just like
into the game, while the girlsare just like being annoying.
Well, and like that was alsolike I really I don't have like
(33:57):
any patience for that.
It's just like you don't.
You don't know your how yourkids are gonna turn out like.
You're so focused on makingsure that they that every that's
like.
So what if they're like little,like they're still enjoying the
game.
They're enjoying the game in adifferent way than the boys are,
but they're still enjoying thegame.
So why does it matter?
And that, yeah, like that, justjust that kind of like gender
(34:21):
ideology just really bothers me,where it's like like, oh, why
can't they just like sit downand watch the game like the boys
?
And it's like, well, maybe yourdaughter will be like the boys,
you don't know.
So one speaking of one of thethings I ended up finding out
that kind of in doing myresearch that kind of started I
was like, all right, he's notlike I think this is he's just
(34:44):
making some jokes too, becausehe's like his wife's death is
still very, very fresh and thisis how he's coping and it's
they're just not landing.
And because there hasn't beenmuch updates on Matt and
Madeline.
He used to have a blog, whichis how a lot of people found him
.
He started the blog mainly toprovide updates to his friends
(35:05):
and family who did not live inLA with him and this was like a
quick way to update them on whatwas going on his Liz and
Maddie's life.
And then, once Liz died, it wasa way for him to express his
grief and the things he wasexperiencing as a parent, and
that's like his readership grewand that's when a lot of
(35:27):
strangers ended up wanting topitch in and help him, and a lot
of them did, and eventually,like once he started feeling
better, he's like it feels weirdfor me to keep all this money.
And so he started the LizLoughlin Foundation, and that
foundation is to help any parentthat finds himself in his
situation that they they'reunexpected widowers and
unexpected single parents, andso that foundation provides
(35:51):
financial assistance to thosefamilies.
So that's great, and therehasn't been much updates on.
Eventually, the blog ended upclosing down.
He stopped writing it and therewasn't really much updates
beyond that.
The last update I found wasfrom when Maddie was 13.
Maddie is in 2025, 17.
(36:11):
So it's been about four yearssince we've received an update
and we are by no means entitledto updates, regardless of how
many updates he provided in thepast.
This is definitely not acomplaint against like you need
to update us on your daughter'slife or no, like he's entitled
to like.
If now he wants to live hislife in privacy with his wife
(36:31):
and his two daughters, he's morethan welcome.
I'm just simply saying that Idon't know what updates have
been made in their personal lifesince then, but the most recent
update was when Maddie was 13.
And it's a picture of Matt,maddie, kevin Hart and Melody
Hurd, who plays Maddie in thefilm, and it's a picture of them
on set.
But it very much seems likeMaddie did grow up to be a
(36:53):
tomboy.
At one point, when she beforethe age of 13, she was, I want
to say, around seven or eightshe went up to her dad one day
and this is she went up to herdad and she was like I want to
cut my hair short, like you.
And he was like, if that'sreally what you want to do, of
course we'll do it, but just soyou know, people might think
that you're a boy and she was.
I don't care, I'm fine withthat.
(37:14):
And he was just talking about,like this, how in all he was of
like his daughter's confidenceand her sense of self and that
is something they incorporatedinto the film was her
tomboyishness.
So maddie, in the film shedoesn't cut her hair short, but
she does go to a school, acatholic school, and the uniform
girls have to wear skirts andMaddie doesn't want to wear
(37:37):
skirts, she wants to wear pants,like the boys.
And this is a change that'smade at the end of the film,
that after a bit of a fight, therules change and girls are now
allowed to wear pants as part oftheir school uniform.
So there's that incorporated.
Maddie in the film also wantsto wear boys underwear.
She doesn't want to wear girlsunderwear.
So that is something else thatisn't in the original book or
(38:01):
even in the update of the book,but it is something that at some
point Matt mentioned that youknow, his daughter is seems to
be like she's a tomboy and shewas even his best man in quotes
at his wedding to Lizzie andyeah, so that's reading those
things it was.
It did soften me up a lottoward Matt and I was like, okay
(38:21):
, as long as he's not likeforcing these like gender
stereotypes down his daughter'sthroat, then that's fine, and so
that's kind of was.
I read those updates and I sawit's like you're doing a great
job, matt.
You're doing a great job Maddieseems to be.
There was an interview withKevin Hart and Matt Loglin on
the Kelly Clarkson show wherethey were there to promote the
(38:42):
film and Kevin Hart himself waslike at this point, this is when
Maddie was 13.
And Kevin Hart was like she'ssuch a great kid, like Maddie's
such a great kid.
So you know, matt was soworried about being a single dad
, and I'm sure there's a lot ofparents out there who are
worried about being singleparents.
But, yeah, so that is it forthis episode.
I'm trying to think if there'sanything else I want to say, but
(39:03):
I think that's pretty much it.
If you like this episode, leaveit a rate.
Or if you're liking thispodcast, leave it a rating and
review.
Share it with one of yourfriends.
Let's get our listenership up.
And yeah, see, let's get ourlistenership up.
And yeah, see you next time.
I don't know what the next bookis gonna be.
(39:23):
I'm hoping it'll be the bookthief, but at this point I don't
know.
All right, bye, editing uvahere to say wow, I can't believe
.
I forgot to rate it and tellyou who the winner is.
So I rated the film three and ahalf stars and I rated the book
four stars.
So that means winner is thebook.
Yes, the book is the winner.
Thank you so much for tuning inand I can officially confirm
(39:44):
that, yes, next episode will beall about the book thief.
See you next time.
Bye.
Welcome to Books vs Movies, the podcast where I set
out to answer the age-oldquestion is the book really
always better than the movie?
I'm Yuvia, an actress and booklover based out of New York City
, and today I will be talkingabout Two Kisses for Maddie, a
memoir of love and loss, byMatthew Loughlin, and its 2021
adaptation, fatherhood, starringKevin Hart, alfre Woodard and
(00:21):
Little Rel Howery.
Hi everyone, so first of all, Ijust want to say I'm so sorry.
I did not mean for this hiatusto be as long as it did or as
long as it ended up being.
I started reading the BookThief and I didn't really have
anything else on my docket, so Iwas like I'll read the Book
(00:41):
Thief and watch the film andthat'll be my next episode, and
I was fully anticipating that tobe my next episode.
But then life happened and Istill haven't finished reading
the Book Thief, so I got waybehind.
So I started reading two otherthings Well, I guess three other
things, but I know one of themis going to be a while before I
finish reading it because it's aseries.
(01:03):
But yeah, in terms of thoseother things that I'm reading in
preparation for this podcast,which totally doesn't really
make sense, because it wouldjust make more sense for me to
finish the Book Thief, butanyway, the Book Thief is on its
way, as well as other episodes.
Cannot guarantee when they'regoing to come out.
But yeah, just personal life.
I've also been a lot more busythan expected.
(01:26):
So one of my roommates movedout just last week.
Wow, it's been a week it'sbarely going to be two weeks
since she moved out, and soOrlando and I had the smaller
room and she had the biggestroom, and so now that once she
moved out, we're like well, itmakes more sense for us to move
into the big room.
So we're in the big room now.
(01:47):
So we had to bring all of ourfurniture over from the little
room into the big room and kindof go through all her stuff.
And there's a lot ofrearranging going on.
We need to at some point takeour stuff out of storage.
That's been in there since welived in Jersey and so excited
to say that I also just recentlygot cast in a show.
(02:08):
Yes, so we open in two weeksand that's been taking up most
of my time and my attention andit's been so fun.
Last year I was booked andblessed in terms of I did so
many commercials last year andif you are on YouTube, you may
or may not have seen me already.
I know I've had several familymembers and several friends say,
(02:30):
oh my gosh, I just saw you on acommercial.
I still haven't seen thiscommercial myself, but I'm so
glad so many people are seeingit and I will do commercials.
Doing commercials is fun.
It's fun to be on set.
They pay very well but they'renot creatively fulfilling.
For me, and I don't think theyare for most people.
They're fun, they're a fun gigto do.
Don't get me wrong.
(02:50):
I don't think anyone's going tobe like hate it doing that
commercial, but it's just notcreatively fulfilling.
Like you, you're selling aproduct and so you're.
You know you don't really needto like there is a technique to
do commercial work, but it isnot as challenging as it is to
like sink your teeth into a roleand make decisions around your
(03:11):
character and their livedexperience.
And so, yeah, it's been about ayear and a half since I got
cast in something that requiredme to, you know, really get into
the character, and I've had fun, like doing auditions I've had
so many auditions and getting towork on my monologues or
working on sides that I've beensent.
So you know, still getting thatlike actor creative juice
(03:34):
flowing, but there, that is justso like such a small part of
what we do, and it's fun to doall that, but to actually work
on a role and be in therehearsal room with other actors
, like there's just nothing likeit.
So I'm really excited.
So I've been busy and I'm veryhappy about it.
I'm so excited for the show.
If you happen to be in New YorkCity, we run the week of August
(03:57):
4th pretty much run from thestarting August 4th, which is a
Monday, until that Saturday,which is, I think, august 8th,
august 9th, something like thatAt the New Perspectives Theater
Festival.
This is the theater festivalthat they have going on and
there's Program A and Program B.
I'm part of Program B, but youshould definitely still check
(04:18):
out Program A if that'ssomething you're interested in.
But yeah, just really wanted togive that update because that's
why I've been a little bitslower when it comes to my
reading life and just yeah, justa lot of things going on
personally.
So, yeah, but I'm very excitedto be back with a new episode.
So this, well, you know what?
Let's just get started.
(04:38):
Two Kisses for Maddie, a memoirof Love and Loss by Matthew
Logelin was first published in2011.
Now, matt Logelin this is hismemoir telling the story about
the first year of his daughter'sMaddie's first year of his
daughter Maddie's life followingher birth and the death of his
(04:59):
wife.
So Matt and Liz his wife werehigh school sweethearts.
They spent many years longdistance dating.
They finally, after hegraduated with his master's
degree, he finally joined her inLos Angeles and they were
finally able to get married, geta house and welcome a baby.
Liz's pregnancy was,unfortunately, not a smooth one,
(05:24):
but she did give birth toMadeline, a few weeks premature
but otherwise very healthy,happy baby.
However, 27 hours after givingbirth to Maddie, liz suffered a
pulmonary embolism and died, andshe never got to hold her
daughter.
Matt was suddenly a singlefather and a widower, and he had
(05:46):
to adjust to this new life veryquickly because he had a baby
that depended on him.
So in his memoir, matt tells usabout his years dating Liz,
their marriage, how he cared forhis newborn daughter, the
people he came to rely on, thiscommunity of strangers that
found him, that found ways tosupport him, and a way that he
(06:12):
found to honor Liz's life andyeah, so I probably should have
said this ahead of time.
I do apologize for not sayingit before, but I do understand
if this topic is a littlesensitive.
It is a very sensitive topicthat I am going to discuss a
little bit briefly aboutpregnancy issues, mother
(06:34):
mortality and yeah, so thismight not be an episode that you
can tolerate, so I completelyunderstand if you are not able
to keep listening.
The 2021 adaptation Fatherhoodis the film that shows us a
father who has to bring up hisbaby girl as a single dad after
(06:54):
the unexpected death of his wife, who dies a day after she gives
birth to her daughter.
I apologize if you can hear theair conditioner in the
background.
I apologize if you can hear theair conditioner in the
background.
We are going through.
I thought about turning it offso that it would be completely
silent, and usually that's whatI do, but we are going through a
very intense heat wave and Idon't want to overheat, so you
(07:17):
may hear the air conditioner andit goes on and off, so it might
shut off, it might be on, buthopefully just hear my voice.
I was looking for my microphoneand I could not find it Again.
We just moved into a new roomso I don't know where I left my
microphone that I usually record.
So I'm recording straight intomy computer.
So it's not as easy for me toblock out extra noise, but
(07:40):
hopefully I'm like right upagainst my computer microphone,
so hopefully that's enough, butanyway.
So, despite the description ofthe film, these two are about as
different that you can get fromeach other.
Like this is a very differentadaptation from the book, and so
my talking about the.
(08:02):
So this is going to be a veryshort episode.
In that regard.
There isn't really much to talkabout when it comes to the two
because they are prettydifferent.
But we I will.
So I'm going to talk very, verybriefly about the two
differences that kind of stoodout to me the most.
I guess three, but one of themI'm going to get into a lot more
(08:22):
detail.
So the film takes place inBoston, while the book primarily
takes place in LA.
So Matt and Liz were originallyfrom Minnesota.
They dated long distance.
They went to different colleges.
Eventually, when Liz graduated,she ended up in LA and then
Matt had, like, finished hisundergrad, went on to Matt to
(08:44):
get his master's degree, theycontinued to be long distance.
And then he had the choice topursue his doctorate or, at that
point, settle in with Elizabethin LA.
And he chose at that point tohe was like I'm ready, I'm tired
of the long distance, I justwant to be with the woman that I
love.
So that's when he relocated toLA and things progressed pretty
quickly which sounds kind ofweird to say because they had
(09:07):
been together for so long.
At that point they did startdating in high school.
I think they were together,including marriage and
everything a total of 12 years.
So I think it was like she diedbefore they celebrated their
three-year wedding anniversary.
So they were married for abouttwo years.
So they were like dating forabout 10 years.
And after those 10 years he waslike I'm ready, like they were,
(09:30):
like they were high schoolsweethearts, they dated long
distance for that long of a time, and so he was like I'm ready.
And so, yeah, it feels kind ofweird to say things move pretty
quickly after that, consideringthey've been together for 10
years.
But yeah, like as soon as hemoved in with her, like they got
engaged, they got married, theybought a house and they had a
baby.
So yeah, but that's whathappened and the film, for
(09:54):
whatever reason, takes place inBoston.
I'm not really sure why theymade that creative change
because it didn't really addanything.
Maybe it was just cheaper tofilm in Boston than it was to
film in LA.
I don't know.
I haven't found any reason forwhy they made that change, but
they did make the change to setthe film in Boston as opposed to
setting it in LA.
(10:15):
The book chronicles a littlelike Matt and Liz's love story.
So Matt talks about him and Lizdating how they got married.
Matt talks about him and Lizdating how they got married and
her pregnancy and the struggleswith her pregnancy and then her
death and After she Dies.
Book just really focuses onMaddie's first year of life, the
film.
(10:35):
That's probably like the firstthird of the film, and then the
last two thirds of the film aremade up for the film.
Now there are some elements oftruth in there.
A version of the book, of thememoir that I read, I want to
say was I'm not exactly surewhen there's been like a few
updates.
So the film, the book, is nowcalled Fatherhood as well to
(10:58):
match, to be more of a tie-inwith the film.
But before that I want to sayit was updated again in, I guess
, 2015, because there's a letterthat's added at the.
There are some things that areadded that happened, like, in
2018, matt did end up falling inlove with someone else and
eventually getting married toher and he had another baby, and
(11:21):
so all of that happened in 2018.
I think they got married in2018 and then their baby was
born in 2019.
So that has been added to thebook and I think after that
there was the updated version,the movie tie-in version, but
otherwise like not includinglike the updated thing that you
can find in the movie tie-inthere was a lot of creative
(11:44):
liberties I'm sure with thepermission of Matt that were
taken and there might be sometruth for them, some heightened
truth, some exaggerated truths,you could say, to make the film
more dramatic, one of them beingAlfre Woodard's character.
She plays Liz's mom in the film,so Kevin Hart's mother-in-law
(12:04):
and Matt had a greatrelationship with his in-laws.
I mean, they've been together,for Matt and Liz had been
together for so long, even aftershe passed away, like he was
still going on family vacationswith them and him and Maddie
were, and so he had.
Like there was no.
Like.
The mother-in-law in the filmwas a little bit more
(12:25):
stereotypical mother-in-law inthat she wasn't really a fan of
her son-in-law and she was veryagainst him raising her child,
her grandchild, on his own, andthat, just that was not the case
in the book.
Matt had the support, like hewas urged by his family to move
back to Minnesota but he decidedto stick around in LA and his
(12:47):
in-laws and his family allrespected that decision and in
the film, like she was very likeif you're not moving with me to
Minnesota, I'm going to stayhere, and Kevin Hart essentially
has to kick her out and be likeno, I'm taking care of my
daughter and I got this and youneed to leave.
So, yeah, so that was a littlebit heightened.
There is also the character ofLizzie.
(13:08):
So Matt Loughlin in real lifedid end up marrying Lizzie and
he did not even realize that itwas one of those things that Liz
was always Liz to him.
Obviously her name wasElizabeth, but he just she was
Liz, and so when he met Lizzie,that's who she was, she was just
Lizzie.
And it wasn't until he saw apiece of mail with her name
Elizabeth that he was like oh,my girlfriend and my wife have
(13:32):
the same name, what are the odds?
But so that is true, he did endup marrying someone with his
wife's name.
But in the film, like um,there's more of there's more
drama, as I said, that KevinHart, after spending an
afternoon with Lizzie andmissing a phone call from
Maddie's school where she getsinjured, he breaks up with
Lizzie and then they end upreuniting at the end of the film
(13:53):
.
So, yeah, so, like creativeliberties like that were taken,
but there is some semblance oftruth with Matt's real life.
But, yeah, so it's vastlydifferent.
Like the last, just the firstthird of the film is like
Maddie's first year of life inthe film and then when, when,
that is like two thirds of thenovel and in the film it's just
it's two thirds of Kevin Harttrying to make, trying to be a
(14:16):
good father and making decisionsthat make him feel like a
failure as Maddie gets older.
I think we spent.
I think Maddie in the film isabout seven or eight years old.
So, yeah, so that's really theonly thing to talk about in
terms of difference.
The other difference that I wantto talk about is Kevin Hart.
We know he's a black man.
(14:36):
Matthew Logelin is a white man,so I'm not really sure how it
ended up.
I don't know the exact detailsof how it ended up being Kevin
Hart that played the role ofMatthew, but originally this
memoir was going to be turnedinto a film, a lifetime film.
So it was going to be one ofthose lifetime films and then,
(14:59):
after that didn't pan out,channing Tatum was attached to
play the role of Matthew, andthen that didn't pan out.
Channing Tatum was attached toplay the role of Matthew and
then that didn't pan out.
And then eventually it went toKevin Hart and, like I said, I
don't know the logistics, like Idon't know if, after it fell
through with Channing Tatum,like Kevin Hart heard about this
and was like I'll do the role,or if it didn't pan out with
Channing Tatum, like thecreative team reached out to
(15:21):
Kevin Hart and see if he wouldbe interested.
So I don't know, like thoselogistical details.
But there is an interview atthe back of the book, the movie
tie-in, in which Matthewinterviews Kevin Hart, and one
of the things they talk about isKevin Hart being interested in
taking this role.
Like he was very interested inbringing the role of Matthew to
life because he wanted to bringa more positive depiction of
(15:44):
Black fatherhood to film.
There aren't a lot of filmsthat depict Black fatherhood in
a positive light, and he alsowanted to take this opportunity
to so.
Mortality, mother mortalityrates are high, and those
numbers are even higher forBlack women.
Black women die at much higherrates during pregnancy and
(16:08):
childbirth than white women orother women of color, and so
that's something that Kevin Hartalso wanted to bring attention
to.
In fact, liz the real life Liz,and the dramatized version of
her in the film died of apulmonary embolism, which is
what Serena Williams also almostdied of after she gave birth to
(16:28):
her daughter, alexis.
So this could have ended verylike Serena Williams' life could
have ended very similar to LizLohgolin's.
So that was something thatKevin Hart also wanted to bring
attention to is the high rate ofmotherhood mortality rates of
Black women.
That being said, I do sincethat was one of the intentions
(16:50):
of this film I do wish that theyhad rushed upon it a little bit
more, because Liz's death is inthe film is just is it happens
so fast.
I want to say that it happensin like the first five to ten
minutes of the film and then weget like five more minutes of,
like, the funeral, and then ittransitions completely into
(17:12):
Kevin Hart's character, or Kevinas Matt, adjusting to his life
as a single father and a widower.
So there isn't really much talkor focus on the Black
motherhood mortality rate.
So it's like, if that's one ofthe things you wanted to bring
awareness to, I feel like wecould have done it more.
Yeah, I just feel like therewould be a way to incorporate a
(17:34):
little bit more without even Idon't know, I don't, I don't
know, but I feel like the mainfocus of this story is Black
fatherhood, which there'snothing wrong with that, and I'm
not saying they necessarilyneeded to incorporate the other
aspect, but if that was one ofthe goals, I feel like more
needed to be done to bringawareness to that.
But, yeah, oh, another, anotherdifference, before moving on
(17:56):
into just my thoughts on thefilm and the book, I almost
forgot this.
So in in real life, liz Loughlin.
She was having trouble with herpregnancy, she wasn't gaining
the right amount of weight, andso she had to go on bedrest to
see if she could gain thatweight by, you know, just just
sitting there just being onbedrest and so she was on
(18:17):
bedrest and then she, she was onbedrest and then she ended up
going into labor.
Um, and Maddie was bornprematurely.
And it was one of those thingslike sorry, voldemort was just
like, pay attention to me.
So yeah, so Liz was on bedrest,she gave birth to Maddie
prematurely, and then she had to, since she gave birth to Maddie
(18:40):
prematurely and she had hadissues with her pregnancy.
She met her daughter.
Thankfully, she did get to meetMaddie.
She met her shortly aftergiving birth.
She had to have a C-section inorder to deliver Maddie safely,
and so after Maddie was pulledout of her, she got to see her
daughter before they had to sendMaddie to the NICU and she
(19:02):
never got to hold her daughter.
She did meet her daughter andMatt would go to the NICU and
feed her and change her diaperand give his wife updates as his
wife.
So after the C-section, she hadto stay on bed rest for another
24 hours before she couldofficially go to the NICU and
(19:23):
hold Maddie.
So, as she stood up to you know, the 24 hour period passed.
They're like great, you cancome with us to go meet Maddie.
As she gets up, she startswalking.
She felt really, really dizzy,collapsed and passed away
shortly after and it was of apulmonary embolism.
(19:44):
We don't really see that toomuch in the film.
It was like her death was so,so sudden in the film that I
even asked Orlando.
Orlando used to work as an EMT,so he's not like an expert, but
he does know more about medicalstuff than I do.
So I was like, can she reallydie that suddenly?
And Orlando was like, yeah, shejust had a C-section as a
(20:06):
surgery.
It's a major surgery so thatcan complicate things and that
can cause complications that canlead you to die.
But and so that's.
I guess what happened in thefilm was maybe complications
after the C-section because she,she has so the like.
Like I said this, like we meetMatt and Liz at the beginning of
(20:28):
the film there are doctor'sappointments.
They're talking about um, theupcoming birth, but Liz is fine.
Like she is not on bed rest.
It's safe to assume that shedelivered Maddie after the
between the 36 to 40 week markor maybe slightly after, but
Maddie this Maddie, the filmMaddie was not born prematurely.
(20:48):
Like it's safe to assume thather pregnancy was completely
healthy in the film becausethere's no indication otherwise,
like she is not on bed rest,she goes into labor without any
complications.
It wasn't and I think itmight've been an emergency
C-section in the film, but eventhen it wasn't as much of it
(21:09):
didn't seem as much of a causeof concern as it came off in the
book.
So for all intents and purposes, liz in the film had a very
healthy pregnancy.
She had a good birth, maybe notcompletely as anticipated,
since she did have to have aC-section, but there was nothing
to indicate that we should beworried that things were going
(21:29):
to go bad during the C-section.
She did not have to stay on bedrest for 24 hours after giving
birth the way that Liz did inreality.
Like I think Maddie was justlike in the nursery and she
might have just been sleepingoff the anesthesia or whatever
they do when you, when you havea C-section and then she gets up
(21:50):
, same thing she gets up, saysshe can't breathe, collapses and
then passes away.
So it was a lot more abrupt inthe film than what happened in
reality.
And again, I did talk toOrlando and it was like okay,
that makes sense about thepossible complications after a
C-section, since it isconsidered a major surgery.
(22:11):
So I guess that's kind of whathappened to Maddie, I mean to
Liz, in the film, but it's notreally clear.
And yeah, just wanted to bringthat up because her, her, her
death was very, very unexpected.
And maybe that's kind of whatthey were going for, like I said
, since, since they did want tobring awareness to the
motherhood mortality rates ofblack women, but, and how abrupt
(22:35):
it can be, I don't know.
That's the only thing I canthink of.
But yeah, I will say like I waslike I was watching this and I
was like well, like can someonejust die that, like that,
suddenly, and our line it waslike yeah, yeah, like it's, it's
, it's a major surgery, likethings can go wrong, and so it's
like okay, um, yeah, and it'snot really something that is
talked about in the film as well.
But liz, liz, what they and Ithink they end up finding out is
(22:58):
that Liz's pulmonary embolismgot started as a blood clot on
her legs that traveled up to thelungs.
I don't know exactly how thatworks, but I have heard of
something like that.
But yeah, so that's yeah, sothat's the other thing.
Just, liz's death in the filmis just a lot more abrupt than
(23:20):
it is in the book.
I mean, that sounds that's aweird way to phrase it, but I
hope you understand what I'mtrying to say like not that we
expected, not that anyoneexpected Liz to die, but it's
like, well, I can see how.
I mean, she was already havingissues with her pregnancy and
this led to this.
This led to this.
This led to this as opposed tojust like how abrupt Liz's death
(23:40):
in the film was.
But anyway, moving on, yeah, soTwo Kisses for Maddie actually
won the 2011 Goodreads ChoiceAward.
It won for Reader's FavoriteMemoir and Autobiography and
overall, it has pretty positivereviews.
It has a total of 4.01 ratingbased off of 8,863 ratings.
(24:05):
So it's it has pretty goodnumbers and it did win the
favorite memoir andautobiography category.
But I will say, the people thatare giving it terrible reviews
and there are a few with thatthat that have given it terrible
reviews, but the consensus,from what I've seen, that has
(24:26):
prompted people to give thissuch a low rating, is Matthew
Logelin himself.
Now, I understand where they'recoming from, like a lot of
these people.
Let me find one, okay.
So here I'm just going to readsome snippets from a reviewer
named Doreen, who rated the booktwo stars, and this I'm reading
(24:48):
Doreen's because it's the firstreview that's available, but
also because this Doreen's viewon the book seems to be the
general consensus of people thathave been giving it low stars,
low ratings.
Some people have issues with theactual writing of it, like the
writing style, the prose andeverything, but from what I've
(25:09):
seen, most people take issueswith Matthew himself.
So here is what Doreen had tosay.
The main complaint from otherreviewers who've given this book
low ratings is that he swearstoo much.
I too have a potty mouth, somere swearing.
(25:30):
So here is what Doreen had tosay His wife's death sucks,
shortly after also using it todescribe how awful the generic
music played at the funeralparlor is.
But that wasn't why I thinkthis book is terrible, even if
the writing is uniformlydisjointed and subpar.
My main problem with this bookis that the author is a
pretentious hipster snob.
After his wife's death hegrieved and I felt sincerely bad
(25:52):
for him, but his insistence onnot being lame when out and
about with his kid made me wantto shake him.
Being a parent isn't aboutbeing cool asshole.
I respected a lot of what hehad to say about the different
processes of grieving.
Unfortunately, this book dwellstoo much on how badly he
perceived some people to bebehaving towards him and made me
want to tell him to get overhimself.
So I also want to share onemore review from aaroniloglu,
(26:16):
who also gave it two stars.
Just to add on to that, Iperhaps gave this book more
leniency than I should have.
Matthew Loglin did, after all,lose his wife one day after his
daughter was born.
But if death doesn't makemartyrs of the dead, surviving
doesn't make a douchebag losehis douchebagginess.
It's very hard to like this manwho almost brags about Peter
Pan syndrome Bitchy opinion.
More than once I thought if hiswife had.
(26:38):
So yeah, a lot of people don'tlike Matthew Loveland.
They don't think he's a very,they just don't see him as a
very likable person and I gottasay I kind of agree.
(27:01):
Now I will say I give Matthewcredit for not like making
himself look better than he was,like he portrayed himself
pretty accurately, it seems like.
If so many people dislike him,but yeah, I will say the chapter
in which his wife, in which Liz, gives birth and she dies, I
(27:23):
could definitely I feel like.
I mean he wrote this book, Ithink 18 months after, or he
started writing this book 18months after Liz died, so I'm
sure her death was still very,very raw and so he might have
still had like an emotionalshield, an emotional block.
He does mention that whileattempting to write this book,
like he missed so many deadlinesbecause he just emotionally he
(27:46):
was, he felt, blocked and whathelped him get rid of that block
was just writing this poem thathe wrote and that's what
allowed him to just release thatemotional block and he was able
to finally write the book.
So I think that emotional blockmight have still been there
when he wrote that chapter and Ican completely understand why.
Like, this is the chapter inwhich the love of his life died
(28:09):
and he's suddenly a widowersomething he never expected to
be at the age of 30.
So, yeah, I completelyunderstand why he would still
have that emotional block, but Ihad so many issues with this
chapter and I might have feltthis way about him overall.
He did start warming up to meafter this chapter again and his
(28:31):
struggles, as he mentioned hisstruggles as being a single dad.
But, yeah, like reading thischapter, I was like I do not
like this man.
I want to give him gracebecause he's writing about his
wife and she just died and I'msure this is like difficult to
remember and write about.
But I did not like him and then, as I was doing more research
(28:51):
on him, especially and I hadn'teven finished the book yet, I
was like I need to see what isgoing on.
As the book went on well, Ihadn't even finished the book
yet, I was like I need to seewhat is going on.
As the book went on well, Idon't know honestly if, like, as
the book went on, I softened upto him or if it was like
finding out this research,feeling better about who he is
and then going back and thathelped soften it up as I
continued reading.
So I don't know.
But yeah, he does have verypretentious thoughts on music,
(29:16):
like, like he's one of thosepeople and I really don't like
these people in general, butthey exist, so he's one of those
of like my taste in music isbetter than yours and I like the
most indie of the indie stuffand anything that you like that
is not indie, that is somainstream.
Like you have the worst tastein music ever and I hate it.
And yeah, that's annoying, I docompletely understand that, but
(29:38):
, like there was at one point,at this point Liz is still alive
, she has given birth andMatthew has gone to see Maddie
in the NICU and this is thefirst time visiting Maddie in
the NICU and so he goes and he'stalking about how the doctor is
, explaining what all thedifferent tubes in Maddie are,
(29:58):
and he's talking about the onethat is attached to her stomach
Because she was born prematurely.
She does not have the abilityto suck and swallow just yet.
And Matt makes a note or a jokein which he's like I was like so
worried about my daughter thatI couldn't even appreciate the
double entendre of what thedoctor just said and I was like
(30:19):
dude, you're talking about yourdaughter, who's your newborn
daughter who's in the NICU.
Like that's gross man.
Like why would you even saythat?
I don't know.
I also don't really like look,kids say funny stuff and
sometimes they say things thatcan be double entendres without
them even realizing it, becausethey're kids.
There's a difference betweenkids doing something like that
(30:41):
naturally and like parent, likenot just parents, but like
adults.
Making comments like that, likethat does make me uncomfortable
, because it's like they're kids.
There's no need.
And this is your newborndaughter who's in the NICU.
Like that's weird.
So, yeah, I didn't really likethat.
There's also a part in which Iwas like rolling my eyes so hard
(31:03):
because he's talking about howthey bought like they had two
separate diaper bags a diaperbag for Liz and they found a
really manly diaper bag for him.
And I was just like, oh my gosh, dude, like is your masculinity
so fragile that you have tohave a quote unquote manly
diaper bag?
Because you cannot, you justcan't have like a regular diaper
(31:25):
bag.
It has to be a manly one.
Get out of here with that.
Like that just irritates me tono end.
So I was like, oh my gosh, solike there was comments like
that that bugged me and did notmake me like him.
His sense of humor is incredibly, incredibly dry and there is
that aspect and but I do feellike it was full force in this
(31:47):
chapter.
Like you can see hints of it inthe other chapters, but this
one I was like all right again,I'm trying to give him grace
because I do understand he'stalking about probably the worst
day of his life and he's likeusing humor to cope.
But it was still just like suchan eye roll when I read that,
especially because once he is asingle dad, he talks about the
(32:09):
amount, the way he's treated,the amount of women especially
that are like, where's your wife, why are you by yourself with
your kid?
Like he was treated differentlyfor being a single dad than
being single mom, and like hewas denied access to a parenting
group that was a women'sparenting group.
Because they're like, well, wetalk about sensitive things on
(32:29):
here and we don't want anyone tofeel uncomfortable because
you're a dad, like becauseyou're a man, and he was like
well, but I like you guysbecause they were essentially
talking about like changes theirbody has gone through in
graphic detail, essentiallyabout breastfeeding, things like
that.
And he was like, well, I mean,I can't relate to like the body
changes or like breastfeeding,but like any other insights that
(32:50):
you're providing, like that'swould be beneficial for me as a
parent.
And he was denied access tothat group and so, like some of
the other people in that group,didn't agree with the fact that
he wasn't allowed in that groupand so they started a new
parenting group in whicheveryone, as long as they were
parents, were welcome.
So he, like he's talking aboutthe way he's being treated as a
single father and it's like solike stereotypical gender roles
(33:14):
are harmful and like you'reexperiencing that yourself.
So why do you got to talk abouthow like your manliness is
getting hurt by the fact thatyou don't have like a manly bag?
And then he also talked aboutlike how he would get so
irritated to see like cause he'slike a huge baseball fan and he
would go to baseball games andhe would like roll his eyes
whenever he went to baseballgames and there were like little
(33:36):
girls in their baseball gear,but like girly baseball gear,
like wearing little skirts andhaving like little pom poms,
like jumping up and down andcheering for the baseball teams.
And I was like like look at theboys, the boys are just like
into the game, while the girlsare just like being annoying.
Well, and like that was alsolike I really I don't have like
(33:57):
any patience for that.
It's just like you don't.
You don't know your how yourkids are gonna turn out like.
You're so focused on makingsure that they that every that's
like.
So what if they're like little,like they're still enjoying the
game.
They're enjoying the game in adifferent way than the boys are,
but they're still enjoying thegame.
So why does it matter?
And that, yeah, like that, justjust that kind of like gender
(34:21):
ideology just really bothers me,where it's like like, oh, why
can't they just like sit downand watch the game like the boys
?
And it's like, well, maybe yourdaughter will be like the boys,
you don't know.
So one speaking of one of thethings I ended up finding out
that kind of in doing myresearch that kind of started I
was like, all right, he's notlike I think this is he's just
(34:44):
making some jokes too, becausehe's like his wife's death is
still very, very fresh and thisis how he's coping and it's
they're just not landing.
And because there hasn't beenmuch updates on Matt and
Madeline.
He used to have a blog, whichis how a lot of people found him
.
He started the blog mainly toprovide updates to his friends
(35:05):
and family who did not live inLA with him and this was like a
quick way to update them on whatwas going on his Liz and
Maddie's life.
And then, once Liz died, it wasa way for him to express his
grief and the things he wasexperiencing as a parent, and
that's like his readership grewand that's when a lot of
(35:27):
strangers ended up wanting topitch in and help him, and a lot
of them did, and eventually,like once he started feeling
better, he's like it feels weirdfor me to keep all this money.
And so he started the LizLoughlin Foundation, and that
foundation is to help any parentthat finds himself in his
situation that they they'reunexpected widowers and
unexpected single parents, andso that foundation provides
(35:51):
financial assistance to thosefamilies.
So that's great, and therehasn't been much updates on.
Eventually, the blog ended upclosing down.
He stopped writing it and therewasn't really much updates
beyond that.
The last update I found wasfrom when Maddie was 13.
Maddie is in 2025, 17.
(36:11):
So it's been about four yearssince we've received an update
and we are by no means entitledto updates, regardless of how
many updates he provided in thepast.
This is definitely not acomplaint against like you need
to update us on your daughter'slife or no, like he's entitled
to like.
If now he wants to live hislife in privacy with his wife
(36:31):
and his two daughters, he's morethan welcome.
I'm just simply saying that Idon't know what updates have
been made in their personal lifesince then, but the most recent
update was when Maddie was 13.
And it's a picture of Matt,maddie, kevin Hart and Melody
Hurd, who plays Maddie in thefilm, and it's a picture of them
on set.
But it very much seems likeMaddie did grow up to be a
(36:53):
tomboy.
At one point, when she beforethe age of 13, she was, I want
to say, around seven or eightshe went up to her dad one day
and this is she went up to herdad and she was like I want to
cut my hair short, like you.
And he was like, if that'sreally what you want to do, of
course we'll do it, but just soyou know, people might think
that you're a boy and she was.
I don't care, I'm fine withthat.
(37:14):
And he was just talking about,like this, how in all he was of
like his daughter's confidenceand her sense of self and that
is something they incorporatedinto the film was her
tomboyishness.
So maddie, in the film shedoesn't cut her hair short, but
she does go to a school, acatholic school, and the uniform
girls have to wear skirts andMaddie doesn't want to wear
(37:37):
skirts, she wants to wear pants,like the boys.
And this is a change that'smade at the end of the film,
that after a bit of a fight, therules change and girls are now
allowed to wear pants as part oftheir school uniform.
So there's that incorporated.
Maddie in the film also wantsto wear boys underwear.
She doesn't want to wear girlsunderwear.
So that is something else thatisn't in the original book or
(38:01):
even in the update of the book,but it is something that at some
point Matt mentioned that youknow, his daughter is seems to
be like she's a tomboy and shewas even his best man in quotes
at his wedding to Lizzie andyeah, so that's reading those
things it was.
It did soften me up a lottoward Matt and I was like, okay
(38:21):
, as long as he's not likeforcing these like gender
stereotypes down his daughter'sthroat, then that's fine, and so
that's kind of was.
I read those updates and I sawit's like you're doing a great
job, matt.
You're doing a great job Maddieseems to be.
There was an interview withKevin Hart and Matt Loglin on
the Kelly Clarkson show wherethey were there to promote the
(38:42):
film and Kevin Hart himself waslike at this point, this is when
Maddie was 13.
And Kevin Hart was like she'ssuch a great kid, like Maddie's
such a great kid.
So you know, matt was soworried about being a single dad
, and I'm sure there's a lot ofparents out there who are
worried about being singleparents.
But, yeah, so that is it forthis episode.
I'm trying to think if there'sanything else I want to say, but
(39:03):
I think that's pretty much it.
If you like this episode, leaveit a rate.
Or if you're liking thispodcast, leave it a rating and
review.
Share it with one of yourfriends.
Let's get our listenership up.
And yeah, see, let's get ourlistenership up.
And yeah, see you next time.
I don't know what the next bookis gonna be.
(39:23):
I'm hoping it'll be the bookthief, but at this point I don't
know.
All right, bye, editing uvahere to say wow, I can't believe
.
I forgot to rate it and tellyou who the winner is.
So I rated the film three and ahalf stars and I rated the book
four stars.
So that means winner is thebook.
Yes, the book is the winner.
Thank you so much for tuning inand I can officially confirm
(39:44):
that, yes, next episode will beall about the book thief.
See you next time.
Bye.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.