Speaker 1: This is the most dramatic podcast ever and iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1: Chris Harrison and Lauren Zeema coming to you not at
Speaker 1: home today. We are on the road yet again, getting
Speaker 1: away from that Texas heat. We are well, I'll say this,
Speaker 1: we're very close to Canada. We're up here a little
Speaker 1: vak with some friends, and we have had such a
Speaker 1: crazy week to the point of I hope Els can
Speaker 1: get through this podcast today because well, her singing voice
Speaker 1: was used elsewhere here.
Speaker 2: I am. This is the first time I'm talking this morning.
Speaker 2: I wow, I have got to look in I got
Speaker 2: to get something right. I need to be educated on
Speaker 2: how to use my voice. Also, I don't know if
Speaker 2: anybody else does this, but I overbook myself. I had
Speaker 2: our trip that we took to celebrate your birthday with friends.
Speaker 1: Yes, say, I say, I am partly to blame for this.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean it's your Then I flew home Delp.
Speaker 1: And your voice was kind of going after that birthday.
Speaker 1: It was.
Speaker 2: And again I'm doing something wrong, Chris says, I'm speaking
Speaker 2: out of my throat and not my diaphragm. I don't
Speaker 2: know how as someone who is a broadcast journalist for
Speaker 2: years I'm not better at this at this point, so
Speaker 2: this is a failure of me on my body.
Speaker 1: But what really threw you over the ledge was well.
Speaker 2: Then I went home to help Taylor pack up for
Speaker 2: college and do some shopping for the new school year,
Speaker 2: and then I flew to Mexico for my annual sorority
Speaker 2: sister reunion girls trip. We do it every year. I
Speaker 2: highly recommend if you've got great friends from college or
Speaker 2: high school, or just any great friends in your life.
Speaker 2: Oh my god listening, make a pact that you will
Speaker 2: do it one trip together every year and that unless
Speaker 2: major unforeseen circumstances happen, you will not miss this trip.
Speaker 2: So we do that every year. We try to do
Speaker 2: it in a different city every year so that we
Speaker 2: experience something new together. It's been so good for us
Speaker 2: to maintain our female friendships and our sisterhood, which is
Speaker 2: just so important in life. We look forward to it
Speaker 2: every year.
Speaker 1: I've said this before and I'll say it again. One
Speaker 1: of the most incredible things about you is this group
Speaker 1: of friends, these women you have surrounded yourself with the bond.
Speaker 1: Y'all have the love, y'all give each other, the support,
Speaker 1: y'all give each other and the success of this group
Speaker 1: doctors and lawyers, you name it emmy winners. But I
Speaker 1: love that this group fiercely protects itself and you guys
Speaker 1: have been doing this for so long. It's really a
Speaker 1: special thing.
Speaker 2: Well they made it even more special this time because
Speaker 2: they turned one of the knights into a surprise bachelorette party.
Speaker 2: There was myself and one other bride, so we had
Speaker 2: two bachelorette parties. And yeah, I mean, listen, when you've
Speaker 2: got fifteen women talking and then you add in some
Speaker 2: like screaming and singing all weekend, this is how I've
Speaker 2: ended up sounding. So I'm sorry, but no regrets. And
Speaker 2: then you want to talk about overbooking yourself. We've now
Speaker 2: added on to it. We're on a little couple's trip
Speaker 2: right now. This is a blessed life. It's been a
Speaker 2: wonderful summer. I feel very lucky to have lost my
Speaker 2: voice for so many great reasons.
Speaker 1: But let's go back. I want to just gloss over
Speaker 1: this bachelorette party. Was this? Did you know going into
Speaker 1: it that the girl they were going to kind of
Speaker 1: surprise you with some things, because they came with some gifts,
Speaker 1: some fun things.
Speaker 2: Well, we had two brides, yeah, and it was myself
Speaker 2: and my friend, and I actually was part of the
Speaker 2: idea of surprising her.
Speaker 1: How funny.
Speaker 2: I got balloons and I kept saying, I do not
Speaker 2: want to do a bachelorette party, Like I don't. This
Speaker 2: is not that I'm against it. I'm not against the
Speaker 2: bachelorette parties. They're awesome. I'm have been married before, and
Speaker 2: this group of friends had celebrated me before, and I
Speaker 2: wanted it to be about my other friend who this
Speaker 2: is her first time getting married. Let's do a bachelorette
Speaker 2: party night for her. So I had actually gotten balloons
Speaker 2: and I thought that's what we were doing, and then
Speaker 2: they kind of surprised me with oh, it's also about you.
Speaker 2: They had it's a dual bachelorette party, so she and
Speaker 2: I were both surprised. They had had some tattoos made
Speaker 2: with your face on them.
Speaker 1: I did get a video one night and it was
Speaker 1: one of the girls putting a tattoo on LZ and
Speaker 1: I'm like, wait, what is that. I click it and
Speaker 1: I zoom in. I was like, oh my gosh, that's
Speaker 1: my face.
Speaker 2: It was wonderful. We both put we all put both
Speaker 2: of your faces on various parts both guys faces on
Speaker 2: various parts of our bodies. It was the perfect bachelorette
Speaker 2: party because it didn't lean I'm not too into the
Speaker 2: like I don't want a stripper, It didn't lean into
Speaker 2: the Penis Straws world of bachelorettes. It was just fun silliness,
Speaker 2: and we went out and danced all night long and
Speaker 2: had the best time. And it was kind of the
Speaker 2: perfect outing actually, because we ended up at this restaurant
Speaker 2: seated next to two other bachelorette parties and a bachelor party,
Speaker 2: so we kind of all united into a swirling force
Speaker 2: of bachelor energy and batchel energy and it was wonderful.
Speaker 1: That's amazing, and I'm glad to know this is where
Speaker 1: the line is drawn. Penis Straws, Well, let's.
Speaker 2: Talk about it. If you are, first of all, I
Speaker 2: don't even know are you having a bachelor party?
Speaker 1: You know it's funny, I am now what You don't
Speaker 1: even know. You don't know what's been happening since you've
Speaker 1: been gone. But I have figured out yes, a kind
Speaker 1: of essentially, I'm having a bachelor party.
Speaker 2: Wow, this is breaking news.
Speaker 1: As really is. I know, I meant to surprise you
Speaker 1: on this podcast.
Speaker 2: So are you planning your own ish?
Speaker 1: It all kind of happened in this beautiful kind of culmination.
Speaker 2: Oh beautiful. It was a beautiful culmination.
Speaker 1: It was a gorgeous it came together and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm like, this is what I want. Because I'm not
Speaker 1: a penis straw guy either. That's where I draw the line.
Speaker 1: And so, no, I didn't want to have a bachelor party.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to go. You know, I'm not a
Speaker 1: Vegas guy. You know that I'm not. I don't want
Speaker 1: to go to the clubs. I'm not that guy. If
Speaker 1: I went on a golf trip with my buddies or
Speaker 1: maybe go fishing or something great. But I really didn't
Speaker 1: want to take a trip just to do that. So
Speaker 1: it just didn't make sense to me. But last week,
Speaker 1: as you know, I'm having suits made for all the
Speaker 1: people in that'll be kind of part of our wedding party,
Speaker 1: and so started making calls and it just turns out
Speaker 1: we all need to be in the same town to
Speaker 1: get these suits made, at the place where I want
Speaker 1: to get the suits made, which you'll find out later.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to divulge that yet, but we're all
Speaker 1: getting suits made. And I said, well, befo're in town.
Speaker 1: There's a ballgame the night before. The Dodgers are in town.
Speaker 1: So all the guys that are going to be a
Speaker 1: part of my wedding party are flying into Dallas. We're
Speaker 1: going to go to Rangers Dodgers baseball and then we're
Speaker 1: going to go have suits made. And that's just going
Speaker 1: to be my bachelor party.
Speaker 2: Wow. Well, are you sure you don't want to go
Speaker 2: out in Mexico and dance all night and get on
Speaker 2: a table and dance and lose your voicemam.
Speaker 1: And this is just a small group, by the way,
Speaker 1: very so it is really none of my friends per se.
Speaker 1: It's more family. So my brother Glenn is coming up,
Speaker 1: Joshua obviously coming over from TCU, and actually Glenn's son
Speaker 1: Sam will be there. And your little brother John, my
Speaker 1: brother is going. Your brother's going, Oh.
Speaker 2: My god, I'm really just learning this. Okay.
Speaker 1: John is flying in and he will be a part
Speaker 1: of this crew and we're all going to go to
Speaker 1: the ballgame and then we're going to get suits made.
Speaker 2: All that really warms my heart.
Speaker 1: It's going to be awesome. It's all all my guys,
Speaker 1: you do.
Speaker 2: Weeby little Dad having your bachelor party at a baseball game.
Speaker 1: Well it was sad, but it was it's what I want.
Speaker 1: When I started putting it together, you know, my brother
Speaker 1: just kind offhand mentioned, oh, hey, Rangers are into you know,
Speaker 1: the Dodgers are in town. Let's go to the Ranger game,
Speaker 1: which were diehard Texas people from growing up in Dallas.
Speaker 1: And so I called all the guys that were going
Speaker 1: to be a part of the wedding and I was like,
Speaker 1: I knew Josh could make it, and my brother had
Speaker 1: to fly up and your brother, hopefully we're crossing our fingers.
Speaker 1: He's a phenomenal lawyer. He may have a trial starting
Speaker 1: that day, so he's literally he's a daytime decision. If
Speaker 1: he he doesn't think it's going to go to trial.
Speaker 1: And so we have a plane booked and he's ready
Speaker 1: to go, and so hopefully John's going to make it
Speaker 1: into But that's it. Are those are the guys in
Speaker 1: my wedding party. And I was like, that's all I want,
Speaker 1: That's it.
Speaker 2: And that's so sweet. It I didn't as you were
Speaker 2: saying those names out loud. I really didn't expect you
Speaker 2: to say my brother, just because your brother and Josh
Speaker 2: are both in Texas and I thought they just travel
Speaker 2: up easily, and I figured you'd coordinate with my brother
Speaker 2: to do something in LA. So thank you for including him.
Speaker 1: That's right, Well, I love him. I love your family,
Speaker 1: and it's one of the great things about you. One
Speaker 1: of the things I think we love about each other
Speaker 1: is that we have such great families around us. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're crazy, it's it's family, but at the same time,
Speaker 1: we love them fiercely and they're amazing. And it's been
Speaker 1: fun to be a part of your family and get
Speaker 1: to be more a part of your family versa.
Speaker 2: I was with people before who didn't who wouldn't have
Speaker 2: automatically done that? Who would have made it? And not
Speaker 2: that you can't make your bachelor party about you, but
Speaker 2: who would have I don't know. I was with someone
Speaker 2: before who didn't always think of my family, and I
Speaker 2: didn't realize it until kind of too late in the relationship,
Speaker 2: when we were already very committed to each other. And
Speaker 2: I that's something I should have looked for sooner. I'm
Speaker 2: not family doesn't always get along, but are you with
Speaker 2: somebody who will think of your family, want to care
Speaker 2: for your family, do the right thing with your family.
Speaker 2: So that really warms my heart.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be fun. I'm looking forward to it, despite
Speaker 1: how geeky it is. It's gonna be really fun.
Speaker 2: Well, let me ask you a question. Huh, say, well,
Speaker 2: just generally, where do you fall on strippers with bachelor
Speaker 2: and bachelorette parties?
Speaker 1: And I know it sounds like, oh, you're saying this
Speaker 1: because you're fiance sitting right next to you. I am
Speaker 1: not a stripper guy, never have been, never will be.
Speaker 1: I just I don't I feel comfortable. I don't love it.
Speaker 1: I've never loved it. I've been, I've been to a
Speaker 1: strip club before, but god, it will probably thirty years ago,
Speaker 1: twenty thirty years ago. I just it's never been my thing.
Speaker 1: I went to one when I was my first quote
Speaker 1: unquote bachelor party, when I was in my twenties. What
Speaker 1: it was like twenty two, twenty three, and I just
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, I just don't get it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just don't. I just don't get it.
Speaker 2: I did have a friend who had what is maybe
Speaker 2: the best possible scenario for a surprise stripper for her
Speaker 2: bachelorette party. She is a Harry Potter fan like me.
Speaker 2: Oh god, and our friends hired a stripper. I actually
Speaker 2: could wasn't there. I couldn't make this bachelorette party. But
Speaker 2: our friends hired a stripper. And the guy said, it
Speaker 2: was the first request you'd ever gotten of this kind.
Speaker 2: They asked him to dress up like Harry Potter.
Speaker 1: I'm shocked that that's the first time he's been asking.
Speaker 2: I am too, actually, because all the Harry Potter readers,
Speaker 2: the millennials are getting married now, the people who grew
Speaker 2: up on Harry Potter. But he had the cape, he
Speaker 2: came out to the movie theme music, he had a
Speaker 2: wand there's a lot of wand jokes you can make there.
Speaker 2: But I loved that it was kind of funny. I
Speaker 2: think that's the way to go to me at a
Speaker 2: bachelor bachelorette party is, if you're gonna do it, is
Speaker 2: it funny? Is there? Is it quirky in some way?
Speaker 2: I was just thinking about it because you just included
Speaker 2: my brother on your super dweepy dad vibes bachelor party.
Speaker 2: And there was a bachelor party that we were near
Speaker 2: when we were out last weekend. And the groom's brother
Speaker 2: in law was there, meaning like the brother of obviously
Speaker 2: his future wife, and I actually I didn't ask them,
Speaker 2: And now I'm sitting there thinking, I wonder if they
Speaker 2: had a stripper. Is that not a little weird if
Speaker 2: you are the groom and a stripper is there, and like,
Speaker 2: as the brother in law, you're like, that's my sister's
Speaker 2: future husband. I don't know, there's there's some there's some
Speaker 2: dynamics there.
Speaker 1: It would for sure be weird if I was sitting
Speaker 1: with Andrew, who's married to your sister, John, your brother,
Speaker 1: and I and my family at a strip club or
Speaker 1: in heaven. By the way, the strip club is even
Speaker 1: one thing hiring a stripper, where like someone comes to
Speaker 1: your house and it's like a bunch of dudes just
Speaker 1: sitting around staring at someone in a living room. Not
Speaker 1: not my thing, but that would be really weird sitting
Speaker 1: there with your brother, like, yeah, my arm around him
Speaker 1: doing shots? What do you think?
Speaker 2: I don't get it. Maybe there could be something I'm missing.
Speaker 2: I think it's something that feels a lot more acceptable
Speaker 2: when you're really young getting married. The older you get,
Speaker 2: the more it feels icky and zero I'm so glad,
Speaker 2: so so glad. I think my friends knew me well
Speaker 2: enough and my other friend to not go down that
Speaker 2: road at all.
Speaker 1: I'd be interested to know if the what the average
Speaker 1: is now like has that waned over the years? Is
Speaker 1: that something that we did more in the seventies, eighties, nineties,
Speaker 1: early two thousand, Like, are kind of the millennial crew
Speaker 1: getting married now? Are they imbibing in this as much that.
Speaker 2: The Harry Potter stripper is the only one I know
Speaker 2: of my friends who did it?
Speaker 1: Or is it just gotten weirder now?
Speaker 2: With right it's just how nerdy and awkward? Can we
Speaker 2: make it tough?
Speaker 1: To segue from love and strippers to some sad news
Speaker 1: for some friends of ours. Jason Tarctic Caitlin Bristow broke
Speaker 1: up announced their breakup last week, and it's you know,
Speaker 1: it was being rumored about for a bit. We even
Speaker 1: had a tabloid reach out and contact us and said,
Speaker 1: do you have a comment. This is before Jason and
Speaker 1: Caitlyn ever had a chance to break the news themselves
Speaker 1: and talk about it. It was, you know, being put
Speaker 1: out in the press and stuff, and so we obviously
Speaker 1: politely told this person to go f off and no comment, but.
Speaker 2: Is there a polite way to do that?
Speaker 1: We didn't say, f Off, I kindly request you kissed
Speaker 1: my butt. No, but very sad news. You know, both
Speaker 1: of them are friends of ours, and it's always interesting
Speaker 1: when these things happened because it happening publicly. They were
Speaker 1: a very public couple, obviously coming from my bachelor Bacherette
Speaker 1: family world and getting together, and I love them dearly
Speaker 1: and I like them together, and I was so excited
Speaker 1: when they when they got engaged and shared in that news.
Speaker 1: And then when the demise happens of a couple like this,
Speaker 1: it is a public but be just as equally personal,
Speaker 1: especially for us, and so it's a very difficult line
Speaker 1: to walk when yes, we've all opened our lives up
Speaker 1: to a certain degree, but at the same time, these
Speaker 1: are also just two people that we know and we
Speaker 1: love and we respect and we wish them well, and
Speaker 1: we know their hearts are breaking and broken right now.
Speaker 1: We know they're sad, and Lauren and I have been
Speaker 1: through divorces, we've been through breakups, so we are old
Speaker 1: and wise enough to know it's a brutal time for
Speaker 1: them and it's never easy, and so I would My
Speaker 1: only thing before I toss it to you would be please.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying don't talk about it, because I know
Speaker 1: it public and people will continue to talk, but just
Speaker 1: have some grace and have some love in your heart
Speaker 1: that these are two human beings that are actually going
Speaker 1: through something that's pretty brutal. No one really needs your
Speaker 1: snide comments right now, no one. You know, if it
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to help the world, then maybe don't put
Speaker 1: it out there. But I just want to send them
Speaker 1: our love.
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's always amazing to me when you can see
Speaker 2: like someone split on Instagram and the comment will be
Speaker 2: you know, I hate her, or I hate him or
Speaker 2: no Bay's It's always interesting to me when people feel
Speaker 2: like they just need to connecue or.
Speaker 1: She should have done better anyway, or you can do better. Why.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know I I I hated hearing this, but
Speaker 2: I think they both handled it so well. I thought
Speaker 2: that their statement was really beautiful, they posted pictures together.
Speaker 2: I thought the way they put it out to the
Speaker 2: world was really really mature and just eloquent. So I
Speaker 2: don't know where they'll both go from here, But I also,
Speaker 2: I guess commend them on this realization at this point,
Speaker 2: because I have had friends before where it's really hardier
Speaker 2: on the engagement train, and once you are on that road,
Speaker 2: that roller coaster of you're engaged and you're starting to
Speaker 2: play in a wedding and everybody's asking you when the
Speaker 2: wedding is and how things are going. If you are
Speaker 2: having issues in your relationship, it can be really difficult
Speaker 2: to recognize that and pause because of this forward momentum
Speaker 2: you have and because you don't want to disappoint people
Speaker 2: and you've made this commitment and you don't want to
Speaker 2: be embarrassed and get out of this. So I've had
Speaker 2: that happen to friends, and then I've had friends who
Speaker 2: have realized, you know what, I shouldn't go down this road.
Speaker 2: I should not take that extra step and get married.
Speaker 2: I'm not ready for that. This isn't right. And I
Speaker 2: don't know anyone who's regrets I did that. So if
Speaker 2: this was the decision that they needed to come to,
Speaker 2: and I just really commend them because I think it
Speaker 2: takes an extra amount of bravery when you have not
Speaker 2: just gotten engaged, but publicly announced your engagement. And again
Speaker 2: they've handled it really really gracefully in the press. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I know that they're both going through a really rough time,
Speaker 2: and I think that we just want to send them
Speaker 2: our support.
Speaker 1: Yeah, hopefully they will continue this grace and that that
Speaker 1: mutual statement was wonderful and I'm glad to see. I
Speaker 1: would expect nothing less from either one of them. Jason's
Speaker 1: a gentleman, love Caitlin, and you know, I think inevitably
Speaker 1: people go, oh, what side are you on? I'm on
Speaker 1: team Jason and Caitlyn. I love them both. I wish
Speaker 1: them both well, and I know they are both struggling
Speaker 1: through this and so it's not easy, and we both
Speaker 1: will be there for them. And you brought up a
Speaker 1: really good point because I was thinking about us and
Speaker 1: our marriage, our upcoming wedding, and people have asked us
Speaker 1: for the last couple of years when you're getting married,
Speaker 1: what's the date? What's going on? And it's such a
Speaker 1: point of pride and excitement for me right now. Hopefully
Speaker 1: it is for you too. But I was thinking immediately
Speaker 1: about Jason and Caitlin once I heard this news of
Speaker 1: the opposite would be true if every day people are
Speaker 1: asking you, when are you guys gonna get married? What's
Speaker 1: going on. You know, we can't wait, and if you
Speaker 1: know behind the scenes things are not going well, what
Speaker 1: A just exacerbates the cut, right It just it's pouring
Speaker 1: salt in the wound day after day after day and
Speaker 1: just makes it that much harder. And it's one of
Speaker 1: the pitfalls of being public and opening your life up
Speaker 1: the way we all have. But anyway, I love them
Speaker 1: and we wish them the very best.
Speaker 2: It's a reminder, you know, of like that, these stories,
Speaker 2: I don't know, they're painful, they affect real people. I
Speaker 2: was completely blown away this week when I saw the
Speaker 2: headline about Sandra Bullock's longtime partner dying, Brian Randall dead
Speaker 2: at fifty seven after a private three year battle with
Speaker 2: the horrible disease ALS. And I was completely blown away,
Speaker 2: a because the news was shocking and sad and tragic, horrible.
Speaker 2: But then I remembered that only a few days before,
Speaker 2: I had seen a headline in US Weekly, and that
Speaker 2: headline was Sandra Bullock and Brian Randall on the Rocks
Speaker 2: having cooling off period while living apart. A source told
Speaker 2: US Weekly, I have it here. The chances of reconciliation
Speaker 2: are a long shot. According to the insider who adds
Speaker 2: that Bullock fifty nine and Randall fifty seven have been
Speaker 2: cordial amid their on off romance and that they hit
Speaker 2: a bump in fall twenty twenty two. So say it's
Speaker 2: on a Monday. US Weekly runs the headline that Sandra
Speaker 2: Bullock and Brian Randall are cooling off and in an
Speaker 2: on off relationship, and a few days later, the true
Speaker 2: news is revealed that he has died. And I was
Speaker 2: thinking to myself, as a member of the media, my
Speaker 2: guess of what went on behind the scenes here is
Speaker 2: maybe you know, someone said, God, we haven't seen them
Speaker 2: out together in a while, maybe there's rumors of a breakup,
Speaker 2: and then you get an insider who says they know
Speaker 2: what's going on, but probably obviously doesn't really know what's
Speaker 2: going on, or you know, I know that in some cases,
Speaker 2: I'm not accusing US Weekly of this, but some really
Speaker 2: tabloidy publications will truly just make up, just fabricate source quotes,
Speaker 2: And this was a case to me of just a
Speaker 2: reminder that you cannot believe everything you read.
Speaker 1: He was, especially when they posted that he was on
Speaker 1: his deathbed.
Speaker 2: When they posted that Sandra Bullock and Brian Randall were
Speaker 2: in a cooling off period and in an on off relationship.
Speaker 2: He was in the last days of his life, he
Speaker 2: was dying and he had hidden this private battle with als.
Speaker 2: And it's so hard. I mean, I was an entertainment
Speaker 2: journalist and I always tried to report things out and
Speaker 2: to not go with rumors, and to fight against people,
Speaker 2: even in my own office, who wanted to run something
Speaker 2: that I didn't think we should run. But you know,
Speaker 2: it's hard, I mean, especially I think of red carpets.
Speaker 2: There were, for sure times when I asked people questions
Speaker 2: that my boss has wanted me to ask. And you know,
Speaker 2: looking back, I didn't know what somebody was going through privately.
Speaker 2: So having been on the other side of it, I
Speaker 2: have a different empathy for it now. And empathy is
Speaker 2: the word, humanity is the word.
Speaker 1: And you're right, you don't know what people are going through.
Speaker 1: And I saw, you know, as soon as Jason and
Speaker 1: Caitlin mentioned and posted that they were breaking up, the
Speaker 1: inevitable picture shows up online. That picture that if you've
Speaker 1: been through a public divorce, you've had this. I've had
Speaker 1: it with my ex wife, and that is picture of
Speaker 1: you and your significant other with the proverbial torn page
Speaker 1: down the middle, and.
Speaker 2: You know, like they've literally created it.
Speaker 1: They've created the graphic of the torn page between you,
Speaker 1: and it's like, it's so it's laughable if it wasn't
Speaker 1: so sad. And you and I went through that when
Speaker 1: we were going through the craziness with Bacher Batzorette. Stuff
Speaker 1: of sources said, insiders say, and a lot of times,
Speaker 1: like you said, they will just make things up because
Speaker 1: what they really want is for you to rebut that
Speaker 1: and then that creates a story. So the people that
Speaker 1: started the story will then take what you said and
Speaker 1: write another story. And now this story has legs, and
Speaker 1: so it just keeps going and going. And I think
Speaker 1: the Sandra Bullock story is a great testament to how
Speaker 1: sad it can be sometimes that that was wild. I
Speaker 1: can't believe they did that.
Speaker 2: Well, let's talk about somebody who is putting it all
Speaker 2: out there herself on the record via her music, Kelly Clarkson,
Speaker 2: She has this is my instinct, My gut instinct is
Speaker 2: that I love it. But I wanted to talk to
Speaker 2: you about it because you've been through a very public
Speaker 2: breakup obviously. Kelly Clarkson went through a public divorce, and
Speaker 2: she has now started changing the lyrics to her past
Speaker 2: songs to reflect on her divorce. And the latest one
Speaker 2: is the song Piece by Piece. The song was about
Speaker 2: her ex husband, Brandon Blackstock. It was about how Kelly's
Speaker 2: own father had disappointed her in her childhood and Brandon
Speaker 2: had showed her what a real man could be. But
Speaker 2: now they've split up, and.
Speaker 1: So the literal tune has changed.
Speaker 2: Yes, so one part of the song that she changed
Speaker 2: was she had sang in the past, he never walks away,
Speaker 2: he never asks for money. He takes care of me.
Speaker 2: He loves me. She's now changed it to I just
Speaker 2: walk away when they ask for money. I take care
Speaker 2: of me because I love me. Here's what I love
Speaker 2: about it. She has changed the lyrics in a way
Speaker 2: that is reflecting her own independence, reflecting her confidence in
Speaker 2: her self. And look, look, I'm not for bashing your
Speaker 2: ex in public. But also I was singing in this case.
Speaker 2: How can she keep singing this song when she is
Speaker 2: going through a heartbreaking, monetarily painful, devastating divorce right now?
Speaker 2: How that song is one of her biggest hits. Her
Speaker 2: fans want to hear it and I can't imagine being
Speaker 2: in her position. You've got to sing this song that
Speaker 2: was praising your ex husband and.
Speaker 1: Now you're getting half the money.
Speaker 2: Well no, I mean, and now she's in such a
Speaker 2: different place, Like imagine if she hadn't changed the lyrics,
Speaker 2: continuing to sing his praises when she's going through what
Speaker 2: she's going through. So I understand why she needed to
Speaker 2: adjust the lyrics a little.
Speaker 1: And you're right, it's kind of that curse because it's
Speaker 1: such a big hitch song that you can't just cut
Speaker 1: it out of your set list. People will be disappointed
Speaker 1: if you don't have that in your settles.
Speaker 2: What do you think should she have.
Speaker 1: Get just get rid of the get rid of the song?
Speaker 2: Oh you do think she should?
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know I heard. I saw it was in
Speaker 1: Vegas and I saw some video of her and she
Speaker 1: really it was aggressive the way she kind of went
Speaker 1: after him, and I know she's It's wonderful she has
Speaker 1: this avenue to express her feelings in emotion. I found
Speaker 1: it kind of funny too. Her interesting, I guess, not funny,
Speaker 1: And just to hear her lamenting the fact that this
Speaker 1: guy's getting so much money that she has to pay
Speaker 1: her ex, and I'm like, welcome to the you know,
Speaker 1: welcome to the club. It's like every you know, every
Speaker 1: marriage has one side that's you know, probably going to
Speaker 1: give more than the other.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well she did. She also had changed the lyrics
Speaker 2: maybe you're referring to. She did the song A B,
Speaker 2: C D E f U and that was not one
Speaker 2: of her songs, but she changed the lyrics to the song.
Speaker 2: I mean, first of all, she's singing F you yes,
Speaker 2: and she said F you and your dad and the
Speaker 2: fact that you got half and my broken heart turned
Speaker 2: that into art F you and your view from the
Speaker 2: Valley I bought too. Yeah, so that is Yeah, that
Speaker 2: song she didn't have to have on her set list.
Speaker 1: She brought it in.
Speaker 2: So that bothered you a little.
Speaker 1: Bit, did It's just that seemed a little public and
Speaker 1: a little but I mean, the crowd went crazy and
Speaker 1: they supported her, and I get the showmanship of it all.
Speaker 1: But I'm like, I don't know, just not my style.
Speaker 2: And but I've had this discussion with friends before who
Speaker 2: are going through divorces about when the woman has to
Speaker 2: pay something, and it's it is interesting. I'm not saying,
Speaker 2: you know, I guess It's just interesting because like, I
Speaker 2: had a friend and she's so shocked she's going to
Speaker 2: have to give her ex husband some child custody payments.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, I mean, babe, you if you were
Speaker 2: a guy, you would have to. This is just the
Speaker 2: way to be both ways, right, And you know, California
Speaker 2: is a very fifty to fifty state when it comes
Speaker 2: to splits and custody and you're making more than him,
Speaker 2: and you're going to have to do it, and it
Speaker 2: is painful no matter which whether you're a man or
Speaker 2: a woman. But I don't think there's anything unusual that
Speaker 2: Kelly's gone through here. She had more money and she's
Speaker 2: got to give him some money.
Speaker 1: The only thing that struck me is I always think,
Speaker 1: do you have kids? Yes, the answer is yes. Are
Speaker 1: they going to hear this at some point and understand yes?
Speaker 1: And so that's the only thing that always drives me
Speaker 1: is would I say something publicly knowing full well that
Speaker 1: my kids are someday going to hear that and it
Speaker 1: will shine a big certain light on me and their
Speaker 1: father or their wife or whatever their mom. So that's
Speaker 1: the only thing that kind of stuck with me. Can
Speaker 1: we talk about some better music news.
Speaker 2: Please be about Taylor Swift.
Speaker 1: Everything is about Taylor Swift. The world is about Taylor Swift.
Speaker 1: I put something out on social media the other day
Speaker 1: that do you even live in Los Angeles if you're
Speaker 1: not posting from the Taylor Swift concert this week?
Speaker 2: I had a little fomo. Everybody was there and.
Speaker 1: I everybody so far she did what seven shows? I
Speaker 1: believe she had previously had the record of selling out
Speaker 1: the Staples Center that's where the Lakers play down town.
Speaker 1: She had sold the most nights out, and then she
Speaker 1: did like six or seven nights at Sofi Stadium. This is,
Speaker 1: by the way, you're gonna love this because this is
Speaker 1: such a Lauren thing to post. I saw this one
Speaker 1: thing on social media and this girl had posted a
Speaker 1: picture of she was close to the top row of
Speaker 1: the stadium. She's like, you know, what's not surprising is
Speaker 1: not that all these people are Taylor Swift fans. I'm
Speaker 1: shocked there's this many people that would go to a
Speaker 1: football game because it was in a football stadium.
Speaker 2: How many people fit in so far?
Speaker 1: Gosh, I'd probably say, if you fill the floor, I
Speaker 1: would have to guess it's upwards of sixty to eighty
Speaker 1: thousand people in those.
Speaker 2: Oh good call, babe. I just looked it up. Seventy
Speaker 2: thousand people.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I don't know depending on where her stage
Speaker 1: and how much the stage cuts off that they can't
Speaker 1: fill the back behind it. But she has absolutely crushed it.
Speaker 1: And we've talked a lot about this tour, but when
Speaker 1: you think about the impact she's having socially, someone brought
Speaker 1: up the question of how big is this? And Billy Joel,
Speaker 1: who is absolute icon legend and has really spanned the decades.
Speaker 1: He's an older man, so he was around for all
Speaker 1: the quote unquote legends back in the day. He said,
Speaker 1: the only thing he can compare this to is Beatlemania.
Speaker 1: The Beatles the greatest rock and roll band of all time,
Speaker 1: bar none. And that's the level he's putting Taylor Swift on.
Speaker 1: And I can't argue against that.
Speaker 2: I don't want to argue against it. I mean she
Speaker 2: first of all, well, I don't know with Beatlemania, was
Speaker 2: that right when they first started? Was it throughout?
Speaker 1: Could say it was during the British invasion when they
Speaker 1: it was when they came over to the States, they
Speaker 1: did the Ed Sullivan Show.
Speaker 2: So in the beginning. Yeah, because what I want to
Speaker 2: point out here is Taylor Swift is fifteen, sixteen, seventeen
Speaker 2: years into her career at this point, and so that's
Speaker 2: what really impresses me is.
Speaker 1: That she's just hitting her stride now, which is crazy
Speaker 1: to think.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't think she's just hitting her stride, but
Speaker 2: I think that she's this stride is unlike anything else,
Speaker 2: she has continued to grow her career. Most people have
Speaker 2: peaks and valleys.
Speaker 1: Or the one off album, or you change your style,
Speaker 1: or maybe.
Speaker 2: You're really big as a teen idol and you continue
Speaker 2: playing those hits, but you don't necessarily keep growing your career.
Speaker 2: It's very odd. The old saying is it's not that
Speaker 2: hard to get famous, it is really hard to stay famous.
Speaker 2: And the fact that she is continuing to get bigger
Speaker 2: and better every single year. When she was doing these
Speaker 2: shows in La, I saw the La Times said that
Speaker 2: by the numbers her shows would become the most tiktoked
Speaker 2: place in the world. She is expected to have sales
Speaker 2: reaching one point four billion dollars or more by the
Speaker 2: end of her full Eras World tour in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 2: which would exceed Elton John's record of nine hundred and
Speaker 2: thirty nine million dollars with his multi year farewell tour.
Speaker 2: So that's Elton John decades in doing his big farewell tour.
Speaker 2: Taylor Swift is still thirty three years old and doing
Speaker 2: a tour and she's gonna seemingly set the record.
Speaker 1: And if you saw the videos back in the day
Speaker 1: of Elvis concerts, of the Beatles concerts, you saw the
Speaker 1: manic crying and the screaming and these these were also
Speaker 1: heart throbs. And this is what I find interesting if
Speaker 1: you talk about how incredible a woman is doing this,
Speaker 1: is that she's not the heart throb, but you're getting
Speaker 1: the same emotion. You see the videos from these young ladies, girls, mom,
Speaker 1: they're bawling their eyes out. We had a friend who
Speaker 1: took her daughter to So Far. She sent us the video.
Speaker 1: Her daughter was in tears, I mean beside herself with emotion.
Speaker 1: And our daughter Taylor, when I was taking her to
Speaker 1: school the other day, we were listening to Taylor Swift.
Speaker 1: Of course in the car. She goes, I would give anything,
Speaker 1: I would pay anything to go see this concert one
Speaker 1: more time.
Speaker 2: It was so many told us she cried. We got
Speaker 2: her the tickets for her birthday and she cried when
Speaker 2: she went in Dallas.
Speaker 1: So who has moved? What artist has moved millions and
Speaker 1: millions of people like this and been so successful. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you can bring one up. I don't
Speaker 1: know if the Beatles are even comparable anymore. It is,
Speaker 1: and that's well, She's scary to say because that is
Speaker 1: such a crazy bar that we're talking about.
Speaker 2: She's been a brilliant combination of talent, emotional connection and marketing.
Speaker 2: And you know, sometimes I think she keeps really good
Speaker 2: people on her team. She's worked with the same publicist,
Speaker 2: Tree Payne for years and years and they really have
Speaker 2: built this brand and know what the brand is. And
Speaker 2: that brand continues to reach young people too. So she's
Speaker 2: continued to like she hasn't just come up with the
Speaker 2: young people when she was young. I still see twelve
Speaker 2: thirteen year old girls screaming at Taylor Swift concerts. And
Speaker 2: she has also been so smart about making her tours
Speaker 2: an event. This isn't just I'm going on tour, I'm
Speaker 2: singing my songs. You know, She's branded this as the
Speaker 2: Eras Tour and that has created like the friendship bracelets
Speaker 2: and dressing up to go to the tour.
Speaker 1: And she's done the pick your album.
Speaker 2: Yes, she's done two surprise songs at each show, so.
Speaker 1: She's very newsworthy. That was brilliant.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, remember on her last big tour she had
Speaker 2: the surprise guests. So on each tour over the years,
Speaker 2: she's thought, how can I continue to make the news
Speaker 2: with each show?
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying that she is credited with coming
Speaker 1: up with all these ideas, but what I love about
Speaker 1: her is she is the boss. She is CEO, she
Speaker 1: is the chairman, she is the captain of the ship.
Speaker 1: She runs her business and obviously runs it like a boss.
Speaker 1: And then there was this other headline that came out
Speaker 1: last week about her, as if we don't love t
Speaker 1: Swift enough, that she gave a five million dollar bonus
Speaker 1: to her truck drivers. Obviously massive sets, massive stages for
Speaker 1: this tour and trucks upon trucks, and this amounted to
Speaker 1: I think five truck drivers getting what was it, no,
Speaker 1: fifty truck drivers getting one hundred thousand dollars bonuses. So
Speaker 1: she donated five million dollars to her crew and to
Speaker 1: the guys you know, driving the trucks and moving these
Speaker 1: stages around and again just goes to show, you know,
Speaker 1: and I know you're like, look, it's a drop in
Speaker 1: the bucket, it's a rounding air. She's making, you know,
Speaker 1: a billion dollars off this. She didn't have to do it.
Speaker 1: These people are already getting paid. It's their job. But
Speaker 1: she did it.
Speaker 2: By the way, not everybody does it. There's a lot
Speaker 2: of rich people, a lot of rich men out in
Speaker 2: the world who don't do stuff like that, who just
Speaker 2: take take takes.
Speaker 1: So good on you, Taylor Swift. And speaking of Taylor,
Speaker 1: before we go this week, there was quite an emotional
Speaker 1: journey that I just took again. Our daughter Taylor just
Speaker 1: went back to school. And I posted something online the
Speaker 1: other day of just, you know, sitting there. I was
Speaker 1: just packing up her cars. We're about to drive north
Speaker 1: up to TCU and I was just sitting there looking
Speaker 1: and it hit me. I was in the garage by myself,
Speaker 1: and I got a little tear. I'm getting teary eyed
Speaker 1: again talking about it. Just the taking your kids to school,
Speaker 1: and I remember vividly doing this in elementary school. I
Speaker 1: remember junior high and the first high school and you know,
Speaker 1: the first trip with Joshua up to college and now
Speaker 1: Taylor at college, and this was a little different because
Speaker 1: you know, she now has a car. She's a sophomore
Speaker 1: in college and she drove me. I went with her,
Speaker 1: but she drove me up to college and we moved
Speaker 1: all her stuff in. And it is awesome to see because,
Speaker 1: as I always say as a parent, if you do
Speaker 1: your job right, your job is to set them free,
Speaker 1: and they are independent, strong men and women and they
Speaker 1: go off into the world and conquer it and forge
Speaker 1: their own path. But that's also the gutting part of
Speaker 1: it is that there wasn't this big emotional goodbye. There
Speaker 1: wasn't the anxiety that we had last year. Remember obviously
Speaker 1: her freshman year when she was like, hey, can you
Speaker 1: guys kind of swing by and say hi before you leave?
Speaker 1: And we did. There was none of that. She was
Speaker 1: just like, you know, her girls there, she has the
Speaker 1: lay of the land now and it was like bye,
Speaker 1: thanks Cia, And part of that warmed my heart, but
Speaker 1: part of it crushed me. But I have rarely gotten
Speaker 1: a response like I did on social media with people
Speaker 1: dming me of and it was the broadness of it
Speaker 1: is what hit me. I'm just about to take my
Speaker 1: kids to kindergarten. I'm just about to drop my son
Speaker 1: or daughter at the University of Arkansas. Across the board,
Speaker 1: everybody was talking about this. It really hit a tune
Speaker 1: with everybody. And so it's just something that you and
Speaker 1: I have been through now with both kids, taking them
Speaker 1: to college, and wherever you are in this journey of
Speaker 1: taking your kids to school. It's about that time we're
Speaker 1: all heading back to school. And I know we also
Speaker 1: enjoy that. I know there's a lot of parents out
Speaker 1: there like thank God, because dealing with your kids during
Speaker 1: the summer, trying to plan their lives and then live
Speaker 1: your life is not easy. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: I know we all have that little twinge in our heart.
Speaker 2: I and I get the twins, I think, but they're happy,
Speaker 2: They're good, and I would want that so much more
Speaker 2: than them calling me telling me they wanted to come home.
Speaker 2: So I feel so grateful for that. What is it
Speaker 2: what makes it so hard that drop off moment? For me?
Speaker 1: It's weird. I get emotional just talking about this. You
Speaker 1: and I have talked about this this summer. I have
Speaker 1: had such a special gift given to me late in
Speaker 1: my career of this break honestly and leaving the Bachelor
Speaker 1: bacherette when I was traveling around the world NonStop. The
Speaker 1: sacrifice was I missed a lot of my kids. I
Speaker 1: have been so in trenched with them the last couple
Speaker 1: of years and enjoying them and just knowing that this
Speaker 1: is the last summer that our son Joshua was going
Speaker 1: to be around. He'll get it, you know, we're going
Speaker 1: to see him, but it's like, this is the last
Speaker 1: summer he's really going to live with us as a student.
Speaker 1: He graduates this next May, and with Taylor we got
Speaker 1: two more. That's it, and that windows closed for me.
Speaker 1: And I felt it in high school when they were
Speaker 1: going off to college, and now I'm really feeling it
Speaker 1: in college where my babies are all grows up and
Speaker 1: you know, they're taking flight, and I'm so excited to
Speaker 1: see Joshua and he's talking about what job he might
Speaker 1: get and taking that big leap, and I know he's
Speaker 1: you know, he'll get his own place and move on,
Speaker 1: and it just I don't know, man, When he goes
Speaker 1: to get a little cereal in the morning, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I just look at it and I remember him sitting
Speaker 1: there in his high chair, and that stuff just kills you.
Speaker 1: It just it does. And I'm trying to keep it
Speaker 1: together right now. But as I said in the video
Speaker 1: that I posted, I don't know where these seasons are going,
Speaker 1: but I just they're going so fast, and I'm just
Speaker 1: I'm holding on for dear life.
Speaker 2: It's also that if it feels like it went by fast,
Speaker 2: that means it went well, yeah, which is a catch.
Speaker 2: Twenty two. Well, you're such a great dad, and I'm
Speaker 2: I'm always so in awe of the kids that you've raised,
Speaker 2: the people you've raised, and I love it. I love
Speaker 2: seeing you know that you're the dad who will be
Speaker 2: at every movement and not miss any moment. And yeah,
Speaker 2: the kids.
Speaker 1: Are so lucky to and thank god you were there
Speaker 1: because if Taylor had to go shopping with me for
Speaker 1: all the sorority stuff and the preschool, it would have
Speaker 1: been a nightmare. So and so it is awesome and
Speaker 1: it is special to see and this talking to you
Speaker 1: guys is always something that Lauren and I love. And Babe,
Speaker 1: you did a great job. You did a great job
Speaker 1: getting through this.
Speaker 2: I this is horrifying. I'm so sorry for everyone. I
Speaker 2: had to listen to my voice like this. Somebody told
Speaker 2: me that I sounded like if you remember the Friends
Speaker 2: episode when Phoebe is sick and she has what she
Speaker 2: calls sexy flamah, and then actually she gets better and
Speaker 2: she misses the sexy voice. So maybe I'll feel that way,
Speaker 2: but I don't think so. I'm ready to talk again.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I want you to leave me messages.
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 1: But before I say goodbye, we also so did a
Speaker 1: podcast last week. Go back and take a listen. Elsie.
Speaker 1: You weren't a part of this, but I know you
Speaker 1: listened to it. The doctor Mary Claire Haver, board certified
Speaker 1: obg yn. We had this amazing discussion about menopause. And
Speaker 1: I know people are like, wait, Chris, what are you
Speaker 1: doing talking about menopause? But we spent about an hour
Speaker 1: with doctor have and she went deep into menopause. I
Speaker 1: think it was a fascinating discussion. I learned a tremendous
Speaker 1: amount and what I found astonishing is just how little
Speaker 1: a lot of women know about what their bodies are
Speaker 1: going through or what they're about to go through with menopause.
Speaker 1: So go back and have a listen to doctor Mary
Speaker 1: Claire have. I think we will talk more and more
Speaker 1: with her about this because it was definitely something that
Speaker 1: you guys really responded to, and so when you love something,
Speaker 1: definitely leave a comment. You can always find Elz at
Speaker 1: Lauren z Ema on Instagram. I'm at Chris B. Harrison
Speaker 1: of course at the Most Dramatic Pod Ever, because we
Speaker 1: always love doing this and we love talking about the
Speaker 1: things that matter to you, and we'll do it again
Speaker 1: next time because we have a lot more to talk about.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram at the Most
Speaker 1: Dramatic Pod Ever and make sure to write us a
Speaker 1: review and leave us five stars. I'll talk to you
Speaker 1: next time.