Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Pig Live.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
This is Pet Life Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:04):
Let's talk pets Rapaport to the Rescue with award winning
animal advocate, best selling author, journalist, and pet products creator
Jill Rapaport.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Hi, and welcome to this special edition of Rapaport to
the Rescue. I'm Jill Rapaport, and I say special because
we are taking time today to pay homage to the
one and only legendary Robert Redford. And this one really
hit me hard. I have to tell you. I woke
up to a phone call from my sister telling me
(00:42):
the news, which shocked me to my core. Yes, Robert
Redford was eighty nine years old, but we hadn't heard
of him having any health issues. But I had a
very special relationship with him over the years. This man
was truly incredible, and I can say, like I'm sure
so many millions do, I loved Robert Redford, but I
(01:05):
had the pleasure of getting to know him personally, first
of all through my job. Over the years, I interviewed
him several times for so many of his wonderful films,
and we always had an amazing connection. He was hilarious
and he just got me and we always had so
much fun together. When I was interviewing him. They were
(01:27):
just unbelievably candid, wonderful moments during those interviews. But then
I had an opportunity to write a book with my
sister and Wendy Wilkinson, and it was a book called
People We Know, Horses They Love. And my sister, the
incredible Linda Solomon, was the photographer for the book, did
(01:49):
all the most amazing pictures from all over the country
of just legends that we had, and Robert Redford was
our cover boy, and I'll never forget getting to know
him on a whole different level through the book. First
of all, we went out to Utah to Sundance to
do the photo shoot, and the cover is one of
(02:10):
the most beautiful coffee table books, if I do say
so myself. It was a New York Times bestseller. And
on the cover there's Redford with the golden hair, sitting
on his golden horse. Her name was charm She was
a palamino, beautiful just like him, and he's like laughing, smiling,
looking down. Well, he actually was looking at me in
(02:31):
that particular photograph, and I'll never forget what he said
while my sister was clicking away, and I'm literally down
below in a sea of grass, looking up at him,
and he said, Jill, be very careful, there are snakes
in the grass. And I said, well, Bob, if I
die looking up at you, it's okay. And that was
the laugh that was on the cover of the book.
(02:53):
He was responding to my comment. Later in the evening,
we had dinner together and I did this whole wonderful,
full interview for the book, and I gave him the
release to sign, and without hesitation, he just signed it
and didn't even read it. And then he looked up
at me and he said, wow, I probably should have
read that right, And I said, nah, don't worry about it.
(03:14):
I am now going to be missus Robert Redford and
I now own half of Sundance. And he cracked up
and gave me the biggest hug. He was just hilarious,
and I'll never forget. The next day, I don't ski,
but he encouraged me to go up on the chair
lift with him, and I'm thinking, who's ever going to
turn down that invitation? Sitting in a chairlift with Robert Redford?
(03:35):
Right my first time We're going up the mountain, and
I don't love heights. I ride horses, but I really
don't love heights, and I'll never forget. I looked at
him and I said, I'm so scared. I'm so nervous,
and you should know when I get scared, I can't talk.
And he looks at me. He goes, ooh, let's keep
you scared. Then he then took those arms and wrapped
(03:57):
him around me and held me so top height, to
the top of the mountain. You want to talk about
memorable experiences. He was so funny, and he would send
me Christmas cards every year. He left me one of
the most beautiful messages. I'll never forget it on my
machine when he agreed to do the interview for the book,
(04:18):
and it was really personal and wonderful that he was
fond of me and he trusted I would do a
great job and I was a very good journalist. Blah
blah blah. And I thought, this is the most incredible thing.
And back then answering machines. Hello, I saved it. And well,
we had a power outage. And you know, if you
ever had an answering machine, if you ever lost power,
it would literally take out everything and rewind and erase
(04:41):
all the messages I lost my Robert Redford message, and
I remember telling him about that, and I used to say,
would you mind calling me again? And can you remember
exactly what you said to say the same thing to
me again. He had the best sense of humor. He
was just the most wonderful mane the first outspoken environmentalists.
(05:03):
He truly cared and lived for the health of our planet.
He absolutely adored and was so concerned about our animals.
He loved horses, he loved dogs. He was just so
committed to making this planet a better, safer, healthier place
for our generation and the generations to come. And I
(05:25):
was so obsessed with him. I have to tell you
I named my Palomino Sun Dance. If you ring my
phone and Mark you know this, Mark Winter, the founder
pet Life Radio, my phone ring is the way we were.
He left such an indelible mark on me. He was
just amazing, not to mention, drop dead gorgeous. There isn't
(05:46):
a woman I know that doesn't dream and fantasize about
being able to take that blonde cooff of hair and
run your finger through it the way Barbara streisand did
in the way we were. Ah, just everything about him,
all of his movies, his character, his personality. He will
be so deeply missed. And I'm really going to miss
(06:08):
that beautiful Christmas card he would send me every year. So, Bob,
this show is dedicated to you today, to all of
the amazing things you have done in your life, and
how everywhere everyone is thinking about you today and your legacy.
And I am so blessed to have known you and
(06:30):
spent time with you. What a gift.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
When we come back, we will be talking to Netta Demio,
who is the president and founder of Return to Freedom,
an organization that is working diligently to save our wild
horses and burrows, and Robert Redford was very involved with it.
Stay tuned.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
You know the expression kats have nine lives? Well, what
if you can give them and more? The Give Them
Ten Movement is on a mission to help give cats
an extra life. How with spee and neoter, spain or
nootering your cat helps them live a longer, healthier life
and it helps control free roaming cat populations too. Learn
(07:18):
more about the benefits of spee and neoter and meet Scooter,
the neutered cat at Give Them Ten dot Org. That's
Give Them ten dot org.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Let's talk pets on Petlife Radio dot com.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Welcome back to Wrap Reports to the Rescue. You on
this really sad day, just losing Robert Redford shook me
to my core. You heard all my memories in my
incredible moments with him at the top of the show.
And now I'm so honored to have just an incredible lady,
Nedda DeMaio, who was, as I mentioned, the founder and
(08:02):
president of Return to Freedom. She has devoted the last
twenty years of her life to saving our wild horses
and burrows, and she connected with Robert Rudford in the
most special way. Nedda. I know you're feeling it just
like I am today. This is really just so sad.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Yeah, thank you for you know, calling me this morning.
You were one of the first texts I got woken
up by everyone mourning around the country. It's unbelievable and
it's hard to talk because whether you knew him personally
or not, he just was so special as a human
being and how he shared his vision, how he manifested
(08:43):
his visions and inspired people about creativity in the West
and all kinds of you know, all kinds of things.
He was just such an iconic inspiration and totally irreplaceable. Yeah,
I'm struggling this morning.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
I know it really is because for those of us
that were lucky enough to have had a relationship with
him above just being super fans from his incredible movies.
And it's so funny when I was talking about him
net at the top, Yeah, I mentioned the way we
were because every woman can relate to the scene of
the hair and how his beauty physically, But it's really
(09:21):
so much more about his character and his work off
screen that left the mark on me. And I know
when you met him, he was one of the first
to jump in and help you. And I believe he's
on your board.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
Yeah, yeah, you know, for a long time he would
let us, you know, if we were writing letters to
Congress or doing advocacy work, he always would lend his
name and that was wonderful, And working with Donna Kle
at the office was always a pleasure, just being able
to leverage his name for letters to congressmen and women
(09:55):
and senators and whatnot on the issue to help wild horses.
But in gosh, it must have been twenty fourteen when
he called me and just completely shocked me, and it
was just such a lifting experience to actually come into
his orbit and really you know, be welcomed and him saying, look,
(10:17):
I want to help. I want to help more. And
in that introduction, as you know, happened through a mutual
friend of ours, Andre Eastman, who is an amazing woman
and dog and animal and horse advocate. She's done so
much and she's too sad today. I asked her if
she wanted to jump on the podcast, but she, you know,
(10:38):
she's mourning. Obviously. They're very old friends. And her story
is so funny how she was out in the middle
of a lake on a boat in Alaska and she
gets a phone call and she can't hear it very well.
So who is this? Who is this? He goes, it's Bob.
It's Bob Redford and she goes, oh my god, I'm
(10:59):
not a out in the middle of Alaska. And then
he said, you know, I am besieged with requests to
help and to be involved with various entities and organizations
to help the horses, and I just I know that
you know who should I call? So of course she said,
well you need to call Meta. So that was just
an honor and it was just something I am. I'm
(11:21):
gonna cry. I'm so grateful for that, for that introduction
and from someone I care about, Andrea Eastman and all
the wonderful work she's done for animals. And then Bob
just called me, and you know, he he was just
a light that just entered and we all were so
uplifted by him, you know, aligning with Return to Freedom,
(11:43):
and he wanted to be on the board and he
just said, I'm busy. I know you're going to know.
You know, I'm busy. Just leverage my name whenever you can,
and I'll do what I can to help and I'll
be available when I can.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
It says so much about you and your organization that
Bob wants to be part of it and the work
that you do. And I remember when we were doing
the book, he was so thrilled to know that you
were also going to be in the book a chapter
on what you do. And it really was so important
(12:15):
to him to save the wild mustangs and the burrows.
This wasn't the core of his being, wasn't it.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
Yeah, I mean, you know it's hard to really. I
was thinking about it this morning, to see where he
begins and where the West starts and where he you know,
it's he's so emblematic of just everything we love about
the West, every yeah, yeah, And he loves horses, wild
and domestic, as you know. And I think he just
felt like he wanted to do what he could. And
(12:43):
everyone expects so much of illuminaries, like they're going to
save them all. You know, we've all found over the
years that it just doesn't work like that. But to
have him as a champion certainly infused the issue with
a positivity and an iconic acknowledgment that only he could do.
I can't say enough about him, the person that I met,
(13:06):
and just how much fun it was to meet him
into cross paths and you know, he called me that
day and he just said, hey, Netda, it's Bob, Bob Redford.
I'm like what. So we met down in Santa Monica
for a brunch or something somewhere, and I'm waiting and
he comes in all sweaty. He'd been jogging, and I
(13:28):
hear this guy go finally at last we meet, and
I look up and he's standing there smiling and sweating
and had just been jogging. And I popped up and
hugged him, and he grabbed me by the face so
lovingly and said come on, and gave me a big kiss,
and we just sat down and we talked for like
four hours, and it was so fun because I felt
(13:50):
like we knew each other forever and like he got me.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Well, it's so interesting that you say he got me.
That's exactly the words I used at the top of
the podcast. He got He did not want to talk
about himself. He wanted to learn about you. He made
you feel like you're the most important person in the
world in the room at that moment, and I was
so struck by that.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Yeah, simple ordinary human being.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
The world without him is definitely, yeah, a much sadder place,
and we should only be grateful that we did get
to know him. And he made such a difference not
only in your life but your wonderful organization. He really
raised awareness for what you're trying to do for the
wild horses and burrows, so again another thing that he
(14:38):
did to truly save lives. So thank you so much, Nedda.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Thank you, Jill, and I know we share that love
for him. So I'm so sorry for our loss and
everyone's loss today.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
And if you want to do a good thing in
honor of Bob. You know it was all about animals
and the planet. So please look up Return to Freedom
and donate. Bob would love it. Do it in his
memory today. This is something that would make him smile,
that big, beautiful smile, knowing that his passing made you
(15:12):
do something. Thank you for that. Thank you all right,
and thank you Neda, and thank you all for listening
to this bittersweet addition of rapaport to the rescue paying
homage to the one and only, truly, the one and only,
Robert Redford.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on petlifradio
dot com.