Speaker 1: Life can be a lot, and it helps to have
Speaker 1: a therapist by your side. Register at talkspace dot com
Speaker 1: to connect with a licensed therapist within days for virtual support.
Speaker 1: Talkspace is in network with major insurers no insurance. Now
Speaker 1: get eighty five dollars off of your first month with
Speaker 1: promo code Katie when you go to talkspace dot com
Speaker 1: slash Katiekuric. Hi everyone, I'm Katie Kuric and this is
Speaker 1: next question. I recently had a chance to sit down
Speaker 1: with my friends Christina Applegate and Jamie Lynn Sigler. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you've heard, but they've got a new podcast.
Speaker 1: It's called Messi, and they were nice enough to have
Speaker 1: me on and MESSI. It was in the best possible way.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm usually the one asking the questions, but
Speaker 1: I have to admit it was pretty fun to answer
Speaker 1: a few for a change. The Messy podcast is all
Speaker 1: about life's curveballs. Jamie Lynn and Christina have one in common.
Speaker 1: They have both been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis or MS.
Speaker 1: The point of their podcast is that everyone goes through
Speaker 1: hard things. It's pretty unavoidable, but there's real strength in
Speaker 1: being honest and open about just how much life sucks. Sometimes.
Speaker 1: We laughed, we cried, We talked about the good times
Speaker 1: and the bad times. Times we've been sick. And I'm
Speaker 1: not talking about the cold drill here I had in
Speaker 1: this interview, but the big sea cancer. In fact, Christina
Speaker 1: and I bonded as fellow breast cancer patients. So yeah,
Speaker 1: MESSI a little, but we had a blast. Here's Christina
Speaker 1: and Jamie Lynn's conversation with yours. Truly, Hi, ladies, I'm
Speaker 1: so happy to see you both. I'm such a big
Speaker 1: fan of both of you. And I've apologized because I
Speaker 1: have a bad so I apologize for my voice, which
Speaker 1: sounds like I got talking like that.
Speaker 2: We can all, do you want us all to do it.
Speaker 3: A great cartoon vo like maybe you should like audition
Speaker 3: for a voice risin right now and just be like
Speaker 3: I can play that little weird bunny.
Speaker 1: I was thinking, though, you know, aside from that, when
Speaker 1: I don't have a cult that I was thinking I
Speaker 1: should do some voice over work because my voice, I think,
Speaker 1: because people listen to me for so many years. A
Speaker 1: lot of times I'll be out and about and I
Speaker 1: won't have any makeup on and I'll just you know,
Speaker 1: be whatever. But when I start talking, that's when people say,
Speaker 1: wait a second, because I think when people watch the
Speaker 1: Today Show, they actually were doing other things so they
Speaker 1: listened more than they watched, and so as a result,
Speaker 1: for certain demographic, my voice is very recognizable.
Speaker 4: Well, yes, I mean you're Katie Couric.
Speaker 3: That's the thing, Like, there's a lot of people we've
Speaker 3: had on here that we can't just be like you're
Speaker 3: bloody blah. It's like you're Katie Kurt like that. It's
Speaker 3: its own poster of name. And I was going to
Speaker 3: say something about for me when I would try to
Speaker 3: be incognito, my nose gave me away.
Speaker 5: Really.
Speaker 3: Everything else was like I could hide it all, but
Speaker 3: if the nose my weird.
Speaker 5: No, you have a very I'm.
Speaker 3: Not trying to make it about me. I'm just saying
Speaker 3: it's so funny that there's certain things.
Speaker 5: About that have to call that a ski slope nose.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, you could jump right off of it and
Speaker 3: then also see into my brain.
Speaker 5: Oh yes. And she used to also call it a
Speaker 5: don't rain on me nose.
Speaker 2: Oh I get it now.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's very cute.
Speaker 4: There you go.
Speaker 2: Well we cold no nasally voice or not we are
Speaker 2: so thrilled to have you here with us because you
Speaker 2: have been somebody who I mean one of my first
Speaker 2: memories of somebody that's taken something deeply personal and tragic
Speaker 2: that's happened in their life and decide to share it
Speaker 2: publicly and heal publicly and have it turned into a purpose.
Speaker 2: And I think you were really ahead of your time
Speaker 2: when you did that, and I would love I'm sure
Speaker 2: you've shared so much about that experience, but you know,
Speaker 2: what were the lessons and what were the things that
Speaker 2: you turned to that gave you the strength to do
Speaker 2: that as we sort of navigate the space right now ourselves,
Speaker 2: And can.
Speaker 3: I can I post ps on that so you can
Speaker 3: answer both being a woman in your field, like I
Speaker 3: don't even know, like how you broke that, you know.
Speaker 3: I hate to always say that the glass ceiling because
Speaker 3: I think we've used that a lot, but it's the Yeah,
Speaker 3: you broken in and you are a legend.
Speaker 4: So okay, So her question, then my question there you.
Speaker 5: Go, Okay, that's how we do.
Speaker 1: Things, all right, Okay, So Jamie's question first, I think
Speaker 1: it's so interesting the changes we've witnessed, the evolution in
Speaker 1: people's willingness to talk about things that were once taboo,
Speaker 1: you know, that were once too private, too personal and
Speaker 1: somehow embarrassing.
Speaker 5: And I think that, you.
Speaker 1: Know, everybody has shit that happens to them in their lives,
Speaker 1: and you know, I think diseases in particular need to
Speaker 1: be out in the open. So I really applaud both
Speaker 1: of you for doing this podcast. I'm sure you know,
Speaker 1: and your producer, Alison, who's also my friend, has told
Speaker 1: you how important it is and how important it is
Speaker 1: to build community. And I think since my husband was
Speaker 1: diagnosed and died of colorectal cancer in nineteen ninety eight,
Speaker 1: he was diagnosed in April of nineteen ninety seven, there
Speaker 1: really has been a shift in attitudes about people's willingness
Speaker 1: to talk about things. And I think, you know, you
Speaker 1: can say a lot of negative things about the Internet
Speaker 1: and social media and our digital lives and how so
Speaker 1: much of what we should be doing has been taken
Speaker 1: over by a more virtual existence, but I think it
Speaker 1: has allowed people to form communities and to be heard
Speaker 1: and be seen and be helped by people who are
Speaker 1: in a similar situation. And you know, I am just amazed,
Speaker 1: almost on a daily basis, people coming forward and talking
Speaker 1: about things in a way that destigmatizes illness, in a
Speaker 1: way that brings attention to illnesses and diseases, and a
Speaker 1: way that the collective voices helped demand more research into
Speaker 1: various diseases. You know, I just interviewed Francis Collins, who
Speaker 1: ran the NIH, the National Institutes of Health from two
Speaker 1: thousand and nine till twenty twenty one, and he was
Speaker 1: diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was part of a clinical trial.
Speaker 1: It became more aggressive, he had surgery, and you know,
Speaker 1: he wrote an article in the Washington Post about it.
Speaker 1: And I said to him, Francis, he lets me call
Speaker 1: him Francis. He's like a geneticist. He you know, mapped
Speaker 1: the human genome. He's a brainiac, like unparalleled brainiac. But
Speaker 1: he said, you know, I just whenever you can give
Speaker 1: people information and do the things that I mentioned forum community,
Speaker 1: and in his case, you know, he wanted men to
Speaker 1: know that if they have elevated A, they should check
Speaker 1: their PSA and if they have elevated PSAs what that means.
Speaker 1: And I just think the world is there's so much
Speaker 1: information and so much stuff out there that anytime we
Speaker 1: can use whatever our situations are to help people live healthier,
Speaker 1: happier lives. It's kind of, I think, imperative, and I
Speaker 1: think for the three of us, we have platforms, you know,
Speaker 1: we are known individuals, and I think it does have
Speaker 1: a lot of impact when someone shares a really intensely
Speaker 1: personal experience and is willing to come forward and talk
Speaker 1: about things. So I felt at the time, just to
Speaker 1: get back to your question, Jamie, sorry, I'm so long winded,
Speaker 1: that the Today Show was such an incredible platform. Know,
Speaker 1: we had millions of people watching. This was before iPhones
Speaker 1: and the fragmentation of media. You know, it was kind
Speaker 1: of a destination for a lot of people because there
Speaker 1: were there were limited options, right If you wanted to
Speaker 1: know what was going on in the world, you read
Speaker 1: your paper, you turned on to MPR, your local radio,
Speaker 1: or you turned on a morning show.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 1: And I just felt, God, it would be criminal if
Speaker 1: there's ways to prevent this disease from happening to someone else,
Speaker 1: if there are ways to keep fathers and mothers and
Speaker 1: sisters and brothers and sons and daughters, et cetera, et
Speaker 1: cetera alive, because you can get screened for something. I
Speaker 1: felt it was almost criminal not to take advantage of
Speaker 1: my platform. And that's why, you know, you know, looking
Speaker 1: back on it, it seems so natural. I have learned
Speaker 1: so much about colorectal cancer during my husband's illness, and
Speaker 1: I felt, well, I felt really obligated to share it
Speaker 1: with millions of people and tell them there are things
Speaker 1: you can do that will prevent this disease, that will
Speaker 1: prevent a premature death. That you know, our daughters were
Speaker 1: six and two when Jay died, and he was so
Speaker 1: ripped off, and I just I thought, if I can
Speaker 1: save one life, if I can get one person to
Speaker 1: get screened, if I can get one person to talk
Speaker 1: to their doctor, if I can get one person to
Speaker 1: be aware of symptoms like blood in your stools or
Speaker 1: un explained weight loss, or the whole panoply of reasons
Speaker 1: that someone might have colorectal cancer.
Speaker 5: I mean, why wouldn't I?
Speaker 1: So I think I think it's it's really wonderful that
Speaker 1: now it's become much more sort of the status quo.
Speaker 1: I was just I don't know, I was scrolling Instagram
Speaker 1: and I saw someone I don't know who she is,
Speaker 1: but I think she was filling in for Lennon Doyle
Speaker 1: on her podcast, and I think I gathered that she
Speaker 1: has breast cancer and she's talking about dense breasts. And
Speaker 1: I was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago. And
Speaker 1: I've been, you know, talking till i'm blue, because.
Speaker 3: You know, we're sisters in that respect, Yes, exactly, and
Speaker 3: I was, and I don't want to stop your thoughts,
Speaker 3: but I'm very interrupted.
Speaker 4: Jamie knows this.
Speaker 3: I'm interrupted only because no, I don't know, because I
Speaker 3: will all forget my thought.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and that all super bummed that I didn't.
Speaker 5: How old were you when you were diagnosed?
Speaker 4: Thirty six?
Speaker 5: Good lord?
Speaker 3: And immediately, you know, I kind of went on the
Speaker 3: you know, I was on Oprah and stuff and I
Speaker 3: was all like, oh, I love my boobs and yay,
Speaker 3: this was such a blessing. And I was so full
Speaker 3: of shit, Katie. I was so full of shit about
Speaker 3: how I actually was feeling. But I did start a
Speaker 3: foundation called Right Action for Women, which I think you
Speaker 3: helped us out with at some point, with Stand Up
Speaker 3: to Cancer, which we will get into, of course, because
Speaker 3: that accomplishment is like I'm going to start to cry,
Speaker 3: beyond incredible and thank.
Speaker 4: You for always sorry I'm crying. Thank you for always
Speaker 4: having me there.
Speaker 3: But you know, I started right extra for women to
Speaker 3: get MRIs, for women who are of high risk, and
Speaker 3: like I was so angry that like young women were
Speaker 3: not able to get MRIs because of insurance.
Speaker 5: But I know it is so frustrating.
Speaker 3: I mean, now it's like it's a little bit easier,
Speaker 3: but at that time it was out of pocket thirty
Speaker 3: five hundred dollars for them to get it.
Speaker 1: I still think it's very difficult, you know, for a
Speaker 1: lot of women to get I think you're right if
Speaker 1: you have a family history or you're you know, I'm brunchion,
Speaker 1: but a rock arge or other genetic mutation that makes
Speaker 1: you at higher risk.
Speaker 4: All I just got really super No, that's okay. I
Speaker 4: don't have my period anymore.
Speaker 1: Oh well, that's okay. Listen, it's all of this stuff
Speaker 1: is really hard. And it's interesting that that you said
Speaker 1: your TV appearances after your diagnosis weren't emblematic about how
Speaker 1: you were actually feeling. And I think, you know, the
Speaker 1: flip side of this is, you know this people people
Speaker 1: coming forward and and sort of framing their situation in
Speaker 1: a way that just isn't true or real hashtag warrior.
Speaker 4: That's that's something that like Jamie and I are like
Speaker 4: so against.
Speaker 3: We're like, no, you know what, it's okay to be
Speaker 3: super honest about how you're feeling because I think you're
Speaker 3: going to help more people if people can relate to
Speaker 3: that pain.
Speaker 5: I think you're right.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I used to have this fantasy, you know,
Speaker 2: when the sixteen or so years that I didn't tell
Speaker 2: anybody that I had MS. But oh, one day, when
Speaker 2: I'm better, I'll talk about it, when it's all wrapped
Speaker 2: up in a beautiful beau and I heal this thing,
Speaker 2: I'll talk about it. And what I realize now in
Speaker 2: this exercise of talking about it while I'm still very
Speaker 2: much in it, is this is what people need to hear.
Speaker 2: People connect when you're in it. People connect when you're
Speaker 2: where they're at. There's and there's such comfort and strength
Speaker 2: that comes with that. Like you said, Katie, the community.
Speaker 2: And I feel so bolsterred by this MS and messy community.
Speaker 2: I shouldn't even just label it just MS. Our listeners
Speaker 2: in this messy community in a way that I have
Speaker 2: never felt before, just by being honest and vulnerable. And
Speaker 2: I attribute Christina to really bringing that out in me
Speaker 2: in a raw, authentic way that I wasn't able to
Speaker 2: quite tap into before.
Speaker 4: Pissed off.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think people need to hear you, and
Speaker 1: need to hear that anger, and they need to hear
Speaker 1: that honesty. I think because I mean, if you're just
Speaker 1: sort of a cock guide optimist and surely temper, I
Speaker 1: love that.
Speaker 4: I'm running that down cock guyde optimist. I'm texting myself.
Speaker 5: That's from South Pacific, right, that's right.
Speaker 4: Okay, okay, but okay, you guys talk, I'm texting.
Speaker 1: It's just it's just I don't think it's very useful
Speaker 1: because it's just a facade, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, well you've I think you've always let us
Speaker 2: in into what's happening in your life with the intention
Speaker 2: of helping people, and that's always been very clear. But
Speaker 2: when you what then sparked your wanting to write your memoir?
Speaker 1: You know, I was at the time, I think I
Speaker 1: was sixty four or sixty five years old.
Speaker 5: I'm sixty seven.
Speaker 4: Now, no, you're not.
Speaker 2: I know she looks like she's no no no no no.
Speaker 4: No no no no no. I'm fifty two. You're fifty five.
Speaker 5: Oh, I'm fifty five.
Speaker 4: You're earliest.
Speaker 1: I'm the earliest. How did I get I got confused?
Speaker 1: All ladies and gentlemen, I'm only don't.
Speaker 4: Look at and the wikipedias.
Speaker 5: She's fine.
Speaker 1: The only idiot, you guys, who actually has the date
Speaker 1: of the year I was born in my email address.
Speaker 5: WTF? What is wrong with me?
Speaker 1: But anyway, I think I had become you.
Speaker 5: Know, I was at a certain age.
Speaker 1: My daughters are older, they're now thirty two and twenty eight,
Speaker 1: and you know, I think I have led a very
Speaker 1: unexpected life and it's been fascinating and thrilling and heartbreaking,
Speaker 1: and you know, I mean all.
Speaker 5: Of the feels as the kids used to say.
Speaker 1: And I sort of thought, when you're a public figure
Speaker 1: and you all know this, probably better than anyone you
Speaker 1: get written about, right, people project whatever it is onto you.
Speaker 1: They control the narrative in many ways, and certainly it
Speaker 1: was true prior to social media, when now you know
Speaker 1: now there's disintermediation. You can go straight to people and
Speaker 1: you can share what you want to share, not through
Speaker 1: the prism of somebody who's writing something, who may have
Speaker 1: an agenda, who has a certain take. And I think
Speaker 1: for me, the narrative had been controlled by other people,
Speaker 1: and I thought, you know, I think it's time before
Speaker 1: I forget everything, to tell my own story and to
Speaker 1: kind of share what it was like to be me
Speaker 1: during all these years. And you know, there I've had
Speaker 1: so many different chapters of my life, professional triumphs and disappointments,
Speaker 1: personal heartache.
Speaker 3: And.
Speaker 1: I've had loss, you know, through my husband and my
Speaker 1: sister and then my parents who lived to the age
Speaker 1: of ninety and ninety one. So I was very blessed
Speaker 1: that way. But my sister, Emily died of pancreatic cancer
Speaker 1: just three years after Jay died of calling cancer. So
Speaker 1: you know, I just I thought, if there's you know,
Speaker 1: I kind of did it as a gift to my
Speaker 1: kids because I always thought, I'm going to be the
Speaker 1: kind of mom who writes a letter every year and
Speaker 1: when they're eighteen, give them to give it to them
Speaker 1: in a pretty box or something. But of course I
Speaker 1: never did, but I wanted. I wanted to give it
Speaker 1: to my daughters. But I also thought, you know, I
Speaker 1: wanted to be really honest. My husband really encouraged me
Speaker 1: to be super honest. Now, he said, maybe you shouldn't
Speaker 1: have been quite so honest. But I thought, if there
Speaker 1: was any aspect of my life that could potentially be
Speaker 1: instructive for people, or fun or entertaining, or they could
Speaker 1: relate to it, I thought, why not? And so that's
Speaker 1: why I wanted to do that. And I had never
Speaker 1: written a memoir. I'd written a couple of children's books,
Speaker 1: and I had a book of advice because I gave
Speaker 1: so many commencement addresses, and I'd call people I had
Speaker 1: interviewed and I'd say, what advice would you give these students?
Speaker 1: And they would write back really interesting things, and I thought, Wow,
Speaker 1: that would be a really cool book to get people
Speaker 1: for their graduation. But never had I really written a memoir.
Speaker 1: And it's interesting that, Jamie, you say I let people in,
Speaker 1: because I really did try to have boundaries, you know.
Speaker 1: I tried to let people in when it would be
Speaker 1: useful for my information and would help them, but I
Speaker 1: also tried to protect my kids. And when my husband died,
Speaker 1: I really felt like that was his story to tell.
Speaker 1: I didn't want to exploit it, try to capitalize on it.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to help people learn what I have
Speaker 1: learned in that process. So I have through my whole life.
Speaker 1: Try to not overshare too much because I think people
Speaker 1: talking about them as themselves and se is really tiresome.
Speaker 5: You know, after the break Stand Up.
Speaker 1: To Cancer it is all about collaboration, not competition. We'll
Speaker 1: talk about why that's so important right after this. Everyone
Speaker 1: needs someone to talk to and text with about life's challenges,
Speaker 1: and while girlfriends are great listeners, there are limits to
Speaker 1: your group chat. A talkspace therapist will give you an
Speaker 1: objective perspective and professional guidance. Register at talkspace dot com
Speaker 1: to connect with the licensed therapist within days and you
Speaker 1: can start messaging back and forth and also schedule live
Speaker 1: video or audio sessions. Talkspace is in network with major
Speaker 1: insurers and copays are usually twenty five dollars or less
Speaker 1: no insurance. Now get eighty five dollars off of your
Speaker 1: first month with promo code Katie when you go to
Speaker 1: talkspace dot com slash Katie. Match with a licensed therapist
Speaker 1: at talkspace dot com slash Katie Couric. We're back with
Speaker 1: Christina Applegate and Jamie Lynn Sigler.
Speaker 3: But what you did so beautifully, my love, my friend,
Speaker 3: stand Up to Cancer? What seven hundred million dollars eight
Speaker 3: hundred million.
Speaker 4: Oh oh hello, yes, okay.
Speaker 2: Tell us about starting that that's.
Speaker 3: That's wait, can I say something going to that event.
Speaker 3: For the years that I was asked by you to come,
Speaker 3: one time you had it was so powerful. You had
Speaker 3: Cheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge and myself come out after I
Speaker 3: had just been had my first surgery and it was
Speaker 3: the three of us coming out like three survivors. It
Speaker 3: was like this powerful moment for me. For me, I
Speaker 3: don't know if anyone. I think it was powerful for everyone.
Speaker 3: It was like, we are going to be okay, and
Speaker 3: you gave us that. You were telling us that we're
Speaker 3: going to be okay. You were standing up and saying
Speaker 3: I'm going to take care of you. And yes, we
Speaker 3: lost our dear friend during you know, the process of that,
Speaker 3: and yeah, but.
Speaker 4: What you have done. And also on a side note,
Speaker 4: on the phones.
Speaker 3: I would get other people's numbers and prank call them, like.
Speaker 4: Like other actors.
Speaker 3: I would just kind of like George, like Gwyneth palt
Speaker 3: your own people and I would just walk around and
Speaker 3: I find out what their number was, and then I'd
Speaker 3: call them and be like.
Speaker 5: What are you wearing?
Speaker 4: No, yes, I would. I would really.
Speaker 3: I mean, of course I would answer the calls too,
Speaker 3: of course, but no, but I also would do that. Sorry,
Speaker 3: sorry Katie, but I have to entertain myself otherwise I
Speaker 3: get bored.
Speaker 5: I don't blame you. I don't blame you, but.
Speaker 3: You took a tragedy and literally probably saved millions of
Speaker 3: people's lives.
Speaker 1: Well, listen, it was a team effort, and there is
Speaker 1: no I in team or cancer. And basically, you know,
Speaker 1: I had been really focused on colon's and colon cancer
Speaker 1: and rectums and colearectal cancer. And Lisa Paulson, who was
Speaker 1: head of the Entertainment Industry Foundation, which is the philanthropic
Speaker 1: arm of Hollywood, you know, she and I were talking
Speaker 1: and I said, you know, I don't know if you
Speaker 1: all remember there was a period of time where they
Speaker 1: would do these television specials for very important, very worthy causes,
Speaker 1: for example, after the tsunami and after nine to eleven
Speaker 1: and after all sorts of horrific events. And I said,
Speaker 1: you know, it's not a competition, but so many people
Speaker 1: are affected by cancer. We need to really do something
Speaker 1: about that.
Speaker 3: So every day, every day I have a friend, Oh,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna cry, and I'm going telling you this because
Speaker 3: I want I want us to hear it, because I
Speaker 3: want this girl to be prayed for. She's thirteen years old.
Speaker 3: She was just diagnosed with the cancer that they said
Speaker 3: she has maybe six months to live. And she's a
Speaker 3: friend of my friend's child who I've known the you know,
Speaker 3: the friend, but not the girl. And she doesn't even know,
Speaker 3: she doesn't know the severity of the cancer that she has.
Speaker 3: And it's like this was just two nights ago. I
Speaker 3: was woken up at four o'clock in the morning by
Speaker 3: my friend who lives in Nashville, to tell me, please
Speaker 3: help please pray, please help me pray. You know, with
Speaker 3: like our rever Michael and our people like our everyone
Speaker 3: get together, but like it's affected every single day, there's
Speaker 3: your hit.
Speaker 1: Well, every minute a person is diagnosed with cancer, and
Speaker 1: two out of three men and one out of three
Speaker 1: women will be diagnosed in their lifetimes. And you know,
Speaker 1: it is it is such a it is such an
Speaker 1: evil disease. It can kind of outwit its fiercest foes.
Speaker 1: You know, they can come up with a medication or
Speaker 1: some kind of therapeutic approach that can be really effective.
Speaker 1: But cancer is so wily it can figure out how
Speaker 1: to get around so many different treatments. And now they're
Speaker 1: doing a lot of really exciting stuff with immunotherapy, which is,
Speaker 1: you know, bolsters your immune system to squash the cancer,
Speaker 1: but it is painstakingly slow, and you know, we need
Speaker 1: to support these scientists. So in addition to doing these
Speaker 1: televised events, our whole model is collaboration instead of competition.
Speaker 1: You know, even with worthy causes, with different nonprofits and
Speaker 1: organizations that pop up to do really worthy, important things,
Speaker 1: there becomes this competition.
Speaker 3: Myself, when I had breast cancer, I saw all the
Speaker 3: groups say, well, you can't go to this one if
Speaker 3: you went to this one, as it's so crazy?
Speaker 4: Are you not so like?
Speaker 1: But that's the way it is, because I think people
Speaker 1: become there's something sort of human nature about there. They
Speaker 1: become very territorial. And I've seen this time and time again.
Speaker 1: You girls, I keep saying you guys, time and time again,
Speaker 1: with so many different great philanthropic organizations. So you know,
Speaker 1: we said, why can't you know, if two heads are
Speaker 1: better than one, aren't ten heads better than two? Why
Speaker 1: can't we collaborate? Why can't we share research because one
Speaker 1: of the things I found when Jay, my husband was sick,
Speaker 1: is that it was so siloed and and it was hard.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 1: I would call cancer institute, research institutions and academic centers
Speaker 1: and pharmaceutical companies and they were all kind of working
Speaker 1: on their own and they weren't really talking to each other.
Speaker 1: And at first the scientists were like, we're not doing that.
Speaker 1: We're not going to share our research and our tissue samples.
Speaker 5: And then they became.
Speaker 1: So energized by this group approach that some of them
Speaker 1: even go on vacation together now. So I think we
Speaker 1: just tried to change the paradigm of how cancer research
Speaker 1: was done. And I'm very involved with a film that's
Speaker 1: coming out on Amazon about Brian Wallack and his wife.
Speaker 3: I watched the trailer today. I'm still emotional about it.
Speaker 3: I think that crime are so amazing.
Speaker 2: Tell us all about it.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So it's Brian Wallack and Sondra Abravea, and they met
Speaker 1: working on the Obama campaign. They are the nicest, cutest, smartest,
Speaker 1: coolest couple. And I read an article about them in
Speaker 1: Politico and I was involved and still am in Project
Speaker 1: Als because my friend Jennifer Estes, who had this theater
Speaker 1: company called Naked Angels in New York. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you all knew Jennifer.
Speaker 2: I didn't know her, but Naked Angels I knew.
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 1: So Jennifer died of ALS, and I had become very
Speaker 1: close to her and her sisters, and they've done amazing research.
Speaker 1: So I was pretty familiar with ALS in general. And
Speaker 1: I read an article in Politico written by a guy
Speaker 1: named Sam Stein, and I was so moved by this
Speaker 1: article and I called Sam Stein. I DMed him on
Speaker 1: Twitter now X and I said, Hey, Sam, that was
Speaker 1: such an incredible piece. And I had read in the
Speaker 1: article that Brian's roommate at Yale had been following him
Speaker 1: around for three years. I said, it says they're working
Speaker 1: on a documentary. I'd love to be helpful in any
Speaker 1: way I can, because I was just so taken by
Speaker 1: this couple. And so I did it. During the pandemic.
Speaker 1: I did a zoom with Sondra and Brian, and you know,
Speaker 1: we sort of fell in love and we become good friends.
Speaker 1: And I just am an executive producer. I helped with
Speaker 1: some of the funding, not a ton and and now
Speaker 1: Amazon is going to air it, I think starting next month.
Speaker 1: I believe we're going to the premiere in l a h.
Speaker 1: Next Monday Night. But it's it's just a very inspiring story,
Speaker 1: you know. I think people don't know what they'll do
Speaker 1: or how they're how they'll react until it actually happens
Speaker 1: to them. I don't know how how I would honestly
Speaker 1: with the whole no.
Speaker 3: I mean hosting, we talk about like MS right and
Speaker 3: what where where where did we think this was going
Speaker 3: to be? Like how where in our minds did this happen?
Speaker 3: And I know als is? I mean, I'm not comparing interesting.
Speaker 3: But I love that in part of it he wants
Speaker 3: to help people with we call it multiples. That's that's
Speaker 3: how we pronounce it.
Speaker 5: You did.
Speaker 2: But like his mission, the fact that he turned it
Speaker 2: into a missions Yes.
Speaker 4: Freaking beautiful. I cannot wait to watch it.
Speaker 5: I'm so happy for love and life, Yes right.
Speaker 1: For love and Life. And the subtitle is no ordinary campaign,
Speaker 1: No ordinary campaign.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: I have friends of mine sometimes that will say to me,
Speaker 2: like Jamie, I don't know how you do it, Like
Speaker 2: I would never be this way in your situation. And
Speaker 2: I think it's like what you said, Katie, you just
Speaker 2: don't know what you would do until you're faced with
Speaker 2: these things. And I am a believer that we are
Speaker 2: given things for a reason for our growth, and certain
Speaker 2: of us are given things and that have a platform.
Speaker 4: And I don't like my reason, Jamie, I don't like Well.
Speaker 2: I think it's given Christina my voice. I think it's
Speaker 2: given Christina a voice. But aside from that, I just
Speaker 2: I think that it's it's so much of who you
Speaker 2: are and this person. Like these stories like ours and
Speaker 2: Brian's and yours there they're meant to give perspective, They're
Speaker 2: meant to give encouragement, They're meant to give life and
Speaker 2: and and I am so as heartbreaking as it is
Speaker 2: to watch and to experience myself, I wouldn't I truly
Speaker 2: wouldn't change it, as hard as that is for me
Speaker 2: in some days, as much as it breaks my heart
Speaker 2: to struggle physically, I really don't want to know who
Speaker 2: I am without without MS and I and I not
Speaker 2: to think that Brian would, you know, wish he had
Speaker 2: had a als in his life, but what he's doing
Speaker 2: with his life because of it will change the course
Speaker 2: of so many people's lives and that that is that
Speaker 2: is a life well lived, you know, and I think
Speaker 2: that they're really an example of that, and I'm I'm
Speaker 2: so excited for people to see that. And again, no
Speaker 2: surprise that you're involved in a project like.
Speaker 4: Jamie, why do you always fuck my hearty? Sorry? Sorry
Speaker 4: Katie Carl.
Speaker 5: Christine Applegate.
Speaker 1: Okay, the reason I started talking about this movie about
Speaker 1: Brian and Sondra is I think for neurodegenerative diseases that
Speaker 1: they would it would serve them well, the communities and
Speaker 1: the scientists to me to be more collaborative because so
Speaker 1: much of this I think they have. You know, listen,
Speaker 1: I'm not a doctor or scientist, but there are many
Speaker 1: similarities but among these diseases, and I know Brian is
Speaker 1: really stoked to try to kind of almost model a
Speaker 1: whole consortium of scientists after this stand up to cancer
Speaker 1: idea to work together. You know, I'm very good friends
Speaker 1: with Michael J. Fox and his wife Tracy. He is
Speaker 1: one of my personal heroes. But Parkinson's als MS, Huntington's Alzheimer's,
Speaker 1: you know, they all have you know, they have on
Speaker 1: the Venn diagram, there's areas of overlap, and I hope
Speaker 1: that somebody will take the lead, and maybe it can
Speaker 1: be you two to or maybe it can be people
Speaker 1: who are listening in this community to say, how can
Speaker 1: we make this happen? You know, life is the art
Speaker 1: of the possible, and why can't we all collaborate? And
Speaker 1: my whole idea was we'll move science forward faster if
Speaker 1: we collaborate instead of compete. But for some reason, it
Speaker 1: just isn't. It's not the default for a lot of us.
Speaker 1: We are competitive and you know, credit mongery and territorial
Speaker 1: you know, it's just human nature. So I hope that
Speaker 1: I hope that comes to pass because I do think
Speaker 1: it would be a really positive development for so many people.
Speaker 5: Me too.
Speaker 3: I hope for that for us, you know, for us
Speaker 3: who are disabled, you know, and and I know it
Speaker 3: I hate saying that word, but it is. It's the
Speaker 3: truth of kind of where we live and with immuno
Speaker 3: compromised and neuro stuff, and there has to be something.
Speaker 3: Oh God, I can't wait for the day that people
Speaker 3: just don't put ego and and.
Speaker 4: All of that ahead of literally saving people's lives. I
Speaker 4: just don't get. It makes no sense.
Speaker 1: To me, and you know, all these different diseases are
Speaker 1: vying for funding, so it's very tough, you know, But
Speaker 1: I don't know. I used to give speeches and say,
Speaker 1: you know, if you can put the entire in Cyclopedia
Speaker 1: Britannica on a tiny little microchip, right or I mean,
Speaker 1: I just it's so frustrating. And I think, by the way,
Speaker 1: I admire and respect scientists and medical researchers more than
Speaker 1: anyone in the world, and they get very little support
Speaker 1: or recognition from the general public. So I don't think
Speaker 1: it's their faul. I think these diseases are just exceedingly complex.
Speaker 1: But I really, gosh, I just can't think of a
Speaker 1: more important cause for then to help people be well
Speaker 1: and to help figure out how to not only prevent
Speaker 1: these diseases, but treat these diseases and cure these diseases.
Speaker 1: When we come back, we talk all about Christina's role
Speaker 1: as Veronica Corningstone in one of my favorite movies, Anchorman,
Speaker 1: and we discuss our stripper names. How's that for tease?
Speaker 1: That's right after this. If you want to get smarter,
Speaker 1: every morning with a breakdown of the news and fascinating
Speaker 1: takes on health and wellness and pop Culture. Sign up
Speaker 1: for our daily newsletter Wake Up Call by going to
Speaker 1: Katiecuric dot com. We're back with Christina Applegate and Jamie
Speaker 1: Linz Siegler.
Speaker 4: I'm going to like shift a little bit, Jamie.
Speaker 1: You know I love to shift, go baby go, or
Speaker 1: as we used to say on The Today Show, on
Speaker 1: a lighter note.
Speaker 3: I'm shifting only not because I don't want to keep
Speaker 3: talking about this, but I also want some nuggets from me. Yes,
Speaker 3: we had a guest on and this is something that
Speaker 3: we do with all of our guests. We just ask
Speaker 3: about little baby you. And we had a guest on
Speaker 3: last week who I said, who's little baby you? And
Speaker 3: she said, I wore saddle shoes, and so I kind
Speaker 3: of want to know little baby Katy. M little baby
Speaker 3: Katy and when when was the moment that this became
Speaker 3: your focus? But little baby Katy is who I wanted, like,
Speaker 3: toddler Katy? What your shoes?
Speaker 4: What? What was your street like?
Speaker 5: Like?
Speaker 4: What did it smell? Like?
Speaker 5: What is my stripper name?
Speaker 4: What's your name? No, we don't do that.
Speaker 5: No, I love my name. What'same is?
Speaker 3: Is?
Speaker 4: Either?
Speaker 1: So I lived on fortieth Street and you can't have
Speaker 1: fortieth Street, but I had two other streets that were
Speaker 1: perpendicular to fortieth streets, so I would be either Pansy Chesterfield,
Speaker 1: Oh God, or spicy Woodstock.
Speaker 4: Oh my god, what's yours? Jame? I love it. I
Speaker 4: love your spicy Woodstock.
Speaker 2: Did you compare wait Mine's Randy Sutton not as sexy
Speaker 2: as Katie's Mirandy.
Speaker 5: You had a pet named Randy? I did.
Speaker 2: I had a dog named Randy.
Speaker 4: Our first dog I was Kicky lookout.
Speaker 5: Oh well that works, It totally works. You look out,
Speaker 5: look Kiky lookout? That works? And what kind of was it?
Speaker 5: A dog named Kiki or a cat?
Speaker 3: It was a cat who was eaten by coyotes in
Speaker 3: the camp. Oh, anyway, I had my cats. We only
Speaker 3: had cats growing up. But my first cat was Pansy,
Speaker 3: and Pansy was a black cat. And my second cat
Speaker 3: was Spicy and I named her after that commercial. Oh mom, Ama,
Speaker 3: that's a spicy meatball.
Speaker 4: God.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's so cute.
Speaker 1: Anyway, Young Katie, Sorry, yeah, we digressed. I mean, honestly,
Speaker 1: it's so predictable. I was the youngest of four kids,
Speaker 1: so I was always smiling, and my sister and their
Speaker 1: friends and their boyfriends. I had two older sisters and
Speaker 1: an older brother, and they would call me smiley and
Speaker 1: I would flirt with a paper boy, Ralph Osca. I
Speaker 1: was just a very phototypical youngest child.
Speaker 4: And where lays At some point after we I know.
Speaker 1: I loved Ralph Janaska what Ralphie I think we called him?
Speaker 1: And yeah, and I guess I don't know what shoes
Speaker 1: I wore.
Speaker 5: I wore.
Speaker 1: I did wear saddle shoes because I was a cheerleader,
Speaker 1: of course, and back back in the day cheerleaders wore
Speaker 1: saddle shoes with their uniforms.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but what was the moment, Like, I don't, I know,
Speaker 3: it's like a weird thing because people always ask.
Speaker 1: Me, like when you wanted to become when you wanted
Speaker 1: to become a bestmony And.
Speaker 3: I was like, my mom had no money and I
Speaker 3: had to help pay the rent.
Speaker 4: So that's how it happened.
Speaker 3: But I've talked about that at no, you were in cute,
Speaker 3: But like, what was it?
Speaker 5: I mean, I mean, it wasn't.
Speaker 1: It wasn't like suddenly I asked Barbara streisand I asked
Speaker 1: Barbara streysand went Sandan No, I mean I interviewed her
Speaker 1: on my my talk show. And I'm also fascinated like
Speaker 1: by origin stories and what you know that movie Sliding Doors,
Speaker 1: and how like one decision changes everything and if you
Speaker 1: had done something different, the course of your life would
Speaker 1: be dramatically different. But for me, it wasn't like this
Speaker 1: epiphany or this aha moment like I'm going to be
Speaker 1: a TV journalist. It was basically I think it suited
Speaker 1: who I was and am in that I never met
Speaker 1: a stranger.
Speaker 5: I'm extremely outgoing. I love to write. I love words.
Speaker 1: We used to have to bring a new word to
Speaker 1: the dinner table every night, a new vocabulary word.
Speaker 5: My dad would make us do that.
Speaker 2: Oh I love that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And basically I wanted to go into maybe advertising.
Speaker 1: I wanted to do something creative and fun. And my
Speaker 1: dad had been in public relations and had also been
Speaker 1: a newspaper man. He'd written for the Atlanta Constitution and
Speaker 1: United Press. He was an editor there, and I think
Speaker 1: he saw in me something that would align with a
Speaker 1: career in journalism. So that's really how it happened. And
Speaker 1: I was lucky and I worked hard, and you know,
Speaker 1: during college, I worked at different radio stations and I
Speaker 1: knew sort of kind of what I wanted to do.
Speaker 1: And then and I worked really hard, and I saw
Speaker 1: people succeeding, and I had this maybe lack of humility
Speaker 1: to say, well, what do they have that I don't have.
Speaker 1: I'm just as good as they are. I can be
Speaker 1: successful even when people told me I was terrible at
Speaker 1: my job. So I think I had this. I was
Speaker 1: just persistent and thought, you know, I really believe Malcolm
Speaker 1: Gladwell is right. It takes ten thousand hours to become
Speaker 1: proficient at something, and I just needed to do it
Speaker 1: more and I needed to hone my craft, as they say,
Speaker 1: and that's how it happened. And I was very, very fortunate.
Speaker 1: But I also worked extremely hard. But there, you know,
Speaker 1: there was kismet involved in all kinds of things, and
Speaker 1: I think there isn't anyone's career, you know, kind of
Speaker 1: right time, right place. There's so many talented people out there,
Speaker 1: you all, I mean so many. One thing social media
Speaker 1: has taught me is good lord. There are a lot
Speaker 1: of incredibly creative, talented people out there, and I think
Speaker 1: we've all been very lucky for whatever reason. We You know,
Speaker 1: Jamie was on probably the most successful TV show and
Speaker 1: TV history, and Christina, you know how long was married
Speaker 1: with children on I mean, you became sort of a
Speaker 1: household name and fixture and then dead to me was
Speaker 1: so so good so, and you've done a lot of
Speaker 1: other stuff. You've done Broadway. I remember when you were
Speaker 1: in Sweet Charity, right, I should have actually looked at
Speaker 1: all your cvs.
Speaker 5: But more I got on.
Speaker 3: This, But no, you're not supposed to look at our
Speaker 3: IMAD buzz. That's why I was calling him the buzz.
Speaker 3: It's IMDb. But I was going to say because earlier
Speaker 3: I asked you about, you know, the glass ceiling. And
Speaker 3: I was in a movie called Anchorman, and I based
Speaker 3: my character on Jessica Savage, who was going up in
Speaker 3: a in a very male dominated world of news in journalism.
Speaker 1: And that name Veronica Corny Star, so you're you're you're
Speaker 1: close enough, take a.
Speaker 2: Sip, another great tripper name.
Speaker 4: But it was Veronica Cornstone.
Speaker 5: Veronica.
Speaker 4: I'm just messing with you.
Speaker 1: But no, but Christina, can I tell you I love
Speaker 1: that movie very much and I loved you in it.
Speaker 6: I just want you to know that if Ron does
Speaker 6: not show up, I am ready to go on.
Speaker 4: Sweetheart.
Speaker 1: You and I have had this discussion a million times,
Speaker 1: there's never been a woman anchor.
Speaker 4: Mister Harkin.
Speaker 6: This city needs its news, going to deprive them of
Speaker 6: that because I have breasts, exquisite breasts. Now, I am
Speaker 6: going to go on, and if you want to try
Speaker 6: and stop me, bring it on, because I am good
Speaker 6: at three things, fighting, screwing, and reading the news. Now
Speaker 6: I've already done one of those today, So what's the
Speaker 6: other one going to be?
Speaker 4: Huh?
Speaker 5: You were so funny, Thank you.
Speaker 3: But I'm bringing this up because I read Golden Girl,
Speaker 3: which was I think was Jessica Savage's book, right, And
Speaker 3: I know I wasn't at the time supposed to say that.
Speaker 3: It was kind of loosely based on her kind of
Speaker 3: trajectory in that world of men. So I can only
Speaker 3: imagine what I had asked before is, what, how did
Speaker 3: you just kick that motherfucking door down, girl, Katie.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry, I'm going to say it, Katie, motherfucking courage.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry. I didn't.
Speaker 5: I didn't.
Speaker 1: Really, I'm looking at the name of the book because
Speaker 1: I read that book too, and I was so sad.
Speaker 1: I'll never forget. My mom came into my bedroom. I
Speaker 1: was busy. My mom and dad in Arlington, Virginia, and
Speaker 1: she came in one morning and say said, Jessica Savage
Speaker 1: has died, and she was so.
Speaker 4: Mom did the same thing. That's crazy.
Speaker 5: She was thirty six years old.
Speaker 4: Yeah, every single night.
Speaker 5: Isn't that crazy?
Speaker 2: So young?
Speaker 5: So young?
Speaker 1: And that was and it was much worse for Jessica
Speaker 1: than it was even for me. You know, Barbara Walters,
Speaker 1: My friend Susan Page just wrote a book about Barbara,
Speaker 1: who was really remarkable. And when she was on the
Speaker 1: Today Show, the male anchors had to ask were it
Speaker 1: was required that they asked three questions before she could
Speaker 1: ask one, and it was just so obnoxious.
Speaker 5: And oh my god.
Speaker 1: You know, listen, there was still a lot of sexism
Speaker 1: when I came up the ranks, but it was slowly changing,
Speaker 1: and I think it's changed even more now. You wonder
Speaker 1: if it's because so many meat outlets. It's been so fragmented.
Speaker 1: It doesn't really have a place in the culture at
Speaker 1: once did when Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings and Dan
Speaker 1: Rather did the news right and they were at the
Speaker 1: epicenter of journalism every single night. Yeah, you've seen many
Speaker 1: more women doing well in media. I mean, I mean gosh,
Speaker 1: it's a struggling industry right now for a whole host
Speaker 1: of reasons. But you know, I felt like at the
Speaker 1: Today Show I was given a lot of opportunities. The
Speaker 1: executive producer at the time was very young, named Jeff Sucker.
Speaker 1: He was in his twenties. He gave me lots of opportunities.
Speaker 1: I think he was a different generation than a lot
Speaker 1: of the executives who had been there before. And I
Speaker 1: think I just you know, and I really respect and
Speaker 1: admire Brian Gumbel, but he's a little bit of a
Speaker 1: male chauveness pig, as we used to say, and back
Speaker 1: in the day, wait, can.
Speaker 4: I do this? Let's do it live?
Speaker 5: Oh that's I know.
Speaker 4: But I just had to say that we're going live.
Speaker 4: Let's do it live.
Speaker 3: We're doing it live, and that I think that was
Speaker 3: actually what inspired that inspired Anchorman.
Speaker 5: So you see, oh really, oh my god, I had
Speaker 5: no idea anyway. But but all right.
Speaker 1: I think that, you know, it was hard at times,
Speaker 1: but I also think I had a lot of opportunities.
Speaker 1: So I don't like to do the woe is Me thing,
Speaker 1: And I think I just love my work. I love
Speaker 1: telling stories, I love talking to people. I love learning
Speaker 1: from people. I love trying to understand this crazy world
Speaker 1: we're in. I just I love I love people people.
Speaker 2: But you're carved out your voice, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: In a panel of that's male dominated, you carved out
Speaker 2: your space and what your your voice and how you
Speaker 2: could deliver and no one else could do that. And
Speaker 2: that's and that comes from like you said, you know,
Speaker 2: you always believed why not me? You paved a beautiful way.
Speaker 1: I think people are doing incredible work and there's a
Speaker 1: lot of great journalism happening now. I think there's also
Speaker 1: a lot of shitty, terrible false journalism, manipulated, cherry picked,
Speaker 1: distorted information that comes through your feed, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's really hard. It's a very hard environment. But
Speaker 1: I think for me, if I had to say, not
Speaker 1: only was it Jamie that I thought why not me?
Speaker 1: But I also thought, I'm going to be me. I
Speaker 1: am going to be who I am. I cannot fake it.
Speaker 1: I hate pretentious, faky people. They grossed me out and
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm not going to be I'm not
Speaker 1: going to pretend I'm anyone or anything I'm not. And
Speaker 1: I made that decision early on And I remember John Chancellor,
Speaker 1: he always pronounced a. Chancellor wrote me a lovely letter
Speaker 1: when I was named the anchor the Today Show, and
Speaker 1: he said something like the camera is the world's best
Speaker 1: bullshit direct a bullshit detector or BS detector, And basically
Speaker 1: I think he was saying it will come through if
Speaker 1: you're not being who you are, Like viewers aren't stupid,
Speaker 1: you know, and they are going to know your essence
Speaker 1: and who you are.
Speaker 4: He's like left me like, are they are they not stupid?
Speaker 2: Well, we can treat them like they're stupid, but they're not,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 5: You know, you you really hope they're not.
Speaker 1: And yeah, and I think there are a lot of
Speaker 1: really I think unfortunately, sometimes the people with the loudest
Speaker 1: voices have the smallest brains. And I think there are
Speaker 1: so many smart, thoughtful people out there who understand you
Speaker 1: need to have a nuanced conversation that their issues are complex.
Speaker 1: It's not an easy sound bite and you have to
Speaker 1: sometimes think dialectically. Yes, And and I think in this
Speaker 1: very tribal black and white world we live in, you know,
Speaker 1: we feel pushed to take sides and push to say
Speaker 1: one thing or the other, when maybe it's a combination
Speaker 1: of both, and I don't know, it's it's it's a
Speaker 1: very it's a very fraught time in our in our
Speaker 1: information ecosystem, I think.
Speaker 2: But yeah, yeah, yeah, I feel that. Well, what are
Speaker 2: you to tell us about, Katie Kirk Media, your slate
Speaker 2: of projects and all your what you hope, your hopes
Speaker 2: and dreams for it.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, I think I realized and I think
Speaker 1: one thing I am good at at is being prescient,
Speaker 1: like looking at the world around me and kind of anticipate,
Speaker 1: painting how things are going to change. And I think
Speaker 1: visa v journalism, I realized that, you know, people were
Speaker 1: not watching television at you know, what is it called
Speaker 1: appointment viewing?
Speaker 5: Right right?
Speaker 1: You all witness that in your industry that people were
Speaker 1: watching things when they wanted to see them. You know,
Speaker 1: first it was TVO and then other things, and then
Speaker 1: of course streaming took over, and I saw the same
Speaker 1: thing happening for news. You know, people that you had
Speaker 1: to really go where people were, and now they're everywhere,
Speaker 1: and they're a million different tributaries that you know, lead
Speaker 1: to the collective consciousness. And by the way, oftentimes it
Speaker 1: doesn't because everybody's creating their own little echo chamber and ecosystem, right,
Speaker 1: They're all kind of that, as my friend Nicole says,
Speaker 1: they're getting affirmation, not information. But anyway, I saw, I
Speaker 1: witnessed all these things changing, and I thought, gosh, even
Speaker 1: and I did a syndicated talk show in twenty eleven
Speaker 1: and twenty twelve, I thought, I kind of feel like
Speaker 1: I'm writing on the back of a dinosaur. I feel
Speaker 1: like the world is changing and I'm hanging on to
Speaker 1: traditional media in a way where this is not where
Speaker 1: the puck is going.
Speaker 5: So I went.
Speaker 1: I did a syndicated talk show which really just did
Speaker 1: in the line with the kind of things I'm interested
Speaker 1: in what an afternoon audience really wanted to watch.
Speaker 5: And I don't blame them.
Speaker 1: They wanted to watch sort of more fun, lighthearted, fair
Speaker 1: and for all my you know, quote unquote pirkiness. I'm
Speaker 1: actually a pretty serious person, you know, I really care
Speaker 1: about important issues and I'm really I really try to
Speaker 1: learn every day.
Speaker 5: So anyway, I went to Yahoo.
Speaker 1: To try to to really cultivate a digital media operation,
Speaker 1: but they just really that wasn't that wasn't really a
Speaker 1: good fit because I don't think they were really there
Speaker 1: that wasn't in their DNA. And I thought, but boy,
Speaker 1: I really want to keep working. I love my job.
Speaker 1: I think I have something to offer. And I said
Speaker 1: to my husband, why don't we just create our own thing,
Speaker 1: because you know, I came up in the business when
Speaker 1: you could be a household name. You know, Christina, You said,
Speaker 1: I can't name any mail journalists now. And I think
Speaker 1: it's much harder to penetrate, you know, the consciousness for
Speaker 1: all the reasons I've told you, you know, with so
Speaker 1: many options and.
Speaker 5: This paradox of choice.
Speaker 1: So I thought, why don't I create something I can
Speaker 1: mentor some young people.
Speaker 5: I can be a job creator.
Speaker 1: And I've never been an entrepreneur, and I thought, gosh,
Speaker 1: that would be a really great learning experience. My husband
Speaker 1: is very smart in business. He was in finance, and
Speaker 1: he said, gosh, why don't we work together. If not,
Speaker 1: I don't think we'll ever I'll ever see you. So
Speaker 1: I said, great, And so we created this media company.
Speaker 1: We have a newsletter called wake Up Call. We have
Speaker 1: a very vibrant website. I do a podcast like you
Speaker 1: All call Next Question, and we do I do important interviews,
Speaker 1: and I think because I've established myself as a you know,
Speaker 1: a professional who knows what she's doing. A lot of
Speaker 1: big people will talk to me. You know, Kamala Harris
Speaker 1: did an interview with me not too long ago. Mike
Speaker 1: is familiar with her, Michael McFall, who was the US
Speaker 1: ambassador to Russia, you know, Richard Haas my friend, who's
Speaker 1: head on ahead of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Speaker 5: So and a lot of people.
Speaker 1: Because of the name recognition, they're willing to talk to me,
Speaker 1: which is so nice. And I think they know that
Speaker 1: I am you know, I come prepared and I think
Speaker 1: they trust me honestly, and so I've been able to
Speaker 1: do that. And we want to get more people into
Speaker 1: the fold. So you know, I'm not doing everything, but
Speaker 1: we also are our financial model and then I'll stop talking.
Speaker 1: Is working with brands that are really interesting.
Speaker 4: Just don't stop talking. I'm pretty sure I want you
Speaker 4: to adopt me.
Speaker 1: Okay, brands, brands that are you know as Trust in institutions,
Speaker 1: government media, all kinds of our institutions has declined. Trust,
Speaker 1: believe it or not, in companies has increased. If you
Speaker 1: look at the Edelman Trust Barometer, if you look at
Speaker 1: the Business Roundtable. People are lucky.
Speaker 4: Can you stop trying to make me feel dumb?
Speaker 5: Oh no, no, no, no, But I'm kidding.
Speaker 4: I'm kidding. I'm just kidding.
Speaker 5: I know no word.
Speaker 3: There was a word you said earlier. It was like
Speaker 3: almost like homunculus, but it was like I don't know
Speaker 3: what the word was. And I was like, never heard
Speaker 3: that word. And I value myself as really really smart.
Speaker 3: I literally have an etymology dictionary next to my bed
Speaker 3: because I love words.
Speaker 4: But you said something that I never heard it in
Speaker 4: my life.
Speaker 5: I was like, what was it?
Speaker 4: If it started with a C.
Speaker 3: I was texting Alison like what was that word? It
Speaker 3: was like, come cause I don't know. And it was
Speaker 3: like I think I need to bring it into my verbiage.
Speaker 3: I need I need to take it out.
Speaker 5: I love words, love words.
Speaker 4: I'm a word. I'm a word nerd.
Speaker 1: Okay, So can I tell you a word that okay
Speaker 1: that people always misuse that I misused for a long time?
Speaker 5: Well, there are there are a few.
Speaker 4: Oh, there's so many.
Speaker 3: I'm sure all of us nonplussed. What do you think
Speaker 3: nonplus mean? It's French, It's not plun Do you think
Speaker 3: it means my show.
Speaker 5: It means not to be don't look it up, don't
Speaker 5: I'm not.
Speaker 3: Not to be messed with, Like you're not you don't
Speaker 3: know because you're dumb, because you don't know the word that.
Speaker 5: Actually, that was a good. That was a good.
Speaker 4: That was a definition of the word.
Speaker 1: Try Yeah, no, no, no, it's good because most people
Speaker 1: think it means unbothered.
Speaker 4: No, it's like you're you're not in it it, like
Speaker 4: you don't get it.
Speaker 3: You're somebody seized and confused. Yes, that's yeah, I know
Speaker 3: what that word. The other one, the other word that
Speaker 3: bothers me. But the people say is exponentially, and they
Speaker 3: use it incorrectly constantly correct Well, exponentially is It's it's
Speaker 3: almost like a math kind of thing. It's like going
Speaker 3: down here to hear with like you know, money or
Speaker 3: you know, like in government and and you know it's
Speaker 3: changed exponentially. You can't say that you went to therapy
Speaker 3: and you changed exponentially. That's actually not the definition. But
Speaker 3: I feel like Webster's Dictionary has changed it now for
Speaker 3: this generation that they can apparently use that word however
Speaker 3: they want to use it.
Speaker 1: Well, it says with reference to an increase more and
Speaker 1: more rapidly. Our business has been growing exponentially. Mathematics by
Speaker 1: means of or as expressed by a mathematical exponent values
Speaker 1: distributed exponentially according to a given time constant. Whatever the
Speaker 1: hell that means. But I know what you mean. Okay,
Speaker 1: you want Okay, that's good, that's you know. Another one
Speaker 1: is people say primer instead of primmer. Primer is something
Speaker 1: you put under a coat of paint. Primmer is like
Speaker 1: a lesson.
Speaker 4: And I've never even heard.
Speaker 2: The word life you have there No, no, either one
Speaker 2: of us I've heard.
Speaker 5: I'm going to start giving you like a word of
Speaker 5: the day.
Speaker 4: Oh please wait, I have to show you this case.
Speaker 5: I guess a primer is what you put on your
Speaker 5: face before me.
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, I I put makeup primer.
Speaker 5: On right prime?
Speaker 1: Well that's I'm talking about, Like, can you give me
Speaker 1: a primer on what happened in Afghanistan?
Speaker 5: Right? Uh?
Speaker 1: There's a small introductory book on a subject, a short
Speaker 1: informative piece of writing. And I'm going to say, Siri,
Speaker 1: how do you pronounce p R I M E R
Speaker 1: when it's a short informative piece of writing? I pronounced primmer?
Speaker 1: The textbook to rhyme with trimor.
Speaker 4: There you go. Okay, here's my book. It's next to
Speaker 4: my bed.
Speaker 5: What is it?
Speaker 3: Etymology, smarty pants, it's the origin of words.
Speaker 5: I love that. I'm going to get that book.
Speaker 3: Oh there's there's so many of them. I have like
Speaker 3: dog eared. Look at I have dog eared of words
Speaker 3: that I love. But I love the etymology of words.
Speaker 3: It's like there their source of where they came from.
Speaker 1: And by the way, can I just finish the thought
Speaker 1: on my our company? No, I was just going to say,
Speaker 1: So we work with brands that care about big issues.
Speaker 1: They need to They need to care about more than
Speaker 1: the bottom line, not only for consumers, but also for employees.
Speaker 1: You know, employees want to work for a company that
Speaker 1: they that they feel good about, right, And so we
Speaker 1: have big brands like Procter and Gamble and Exact Sciences
Speaker 1: and all these other places who we align with to
Speaker 1: tell stories about things they care about.
Speaker 2: Thank you, I love that so much. Okay, so this
Speaker 2: this game you all you have to do is tell
Speaker 2: Madame Christina five favorite movies of yours. Don't think about it.
Speaker 2: This is how she says, don't think about too much
Speaker 2: about it. Say them, and she's going to be able
Speaker 2: to basically tell you exactly who you are because of
Speaker 2: those things.
Speaker 3: And there are movies that you could watch over and
Speaker 3: over and over again. So no thinking five and I'm
Speaker 3: going to write them down.
Speaker 1: Okay, something's got to give the Shawshank redemption. The sound
Speaker 1: of music, West Side Story, Rear Window, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Oh goodbye, mister Chips, the nineteen thirty eight version with
Speaker 1: Robert Donnaugh.
Speaker 4: I didn't see that.
Speaker 5: It's so good, it's so sad.
Speaker 4: Don't tell me things. Hold on, Okay, you guys talk
Speaker 4: while I meditate on this.
Speaker 2: Shashank was one my list as really.
Speaker 5: I love that movie.
Speaker 2: I do too. I do too.
Speaker 5: Oh my god, it's done.
Speaker 4: It's done. It's great.
Speaker 2: She knows she's got it.
Speaker 4: Justice.
Speaker 3: You want justice for yourself, for your loved ones, for
Speaker 3: your childhood, for the work that you do.
Speaker 4: You want justice. It's like, it's it's.
Speaker 3: Really clear why Rear Window is a man trying to
Speaker 3: figure out what the heck is going on over there?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 5: Yeah? You want justice, person.
Speaker 3: You want to see you like everything here. I wrote
Speaker 3: them down. Everything here is about the puzzle of life.
Speaker 4: And I think that.
Speaker 2: You yeah, that was I didn't put justice against the Nazis, right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Nazis and singing and uh and singing and curtains
Speaker 4: were clothes. Okay, she wanted justice to whatever. Okay, sorry,
Speaker 4: I didn't put that one down.
Speaker 1: And Maria wanted justice she did, she did, and she
Speaker 1: was the underdog, right Jamie.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is all like an underdog going for what
Speaker 3: is truth? Like it's so freaking.
Speaker 5: Son of a woman, scent of a woman. Yes, oh rah, oh.
Speaker 2: That was with your cold.
Speaker 5: That was good, thank you.
Speaker 1: I do think I do. I do care about justice
Speaker 1: and fairness, So I think that troubably right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe from her kid if you saw stuff on
Speaker 3: the playground, did you ever see like kids being mean
Speaker 3: to another kid and you wanted to take care of them?
Speaker 4: I don't know, because everything you're.
Speaker 3: Doing is about someone wanting JF and someone playing chess
Speaker 3: in life and trying to figure out how can we
Speaker 3: make this better for everyone else?
Speaker 4: I do like I.
Speaker 1: Am very acutely aware of people, Like if somebody's standing
Speaker 1: by themselves at a party, I'm sure you guys do
Speaker 1: this too. I always walk up to them and talk
Speaker 1: to them. Or I remember there was a girl in
Speaker 1: my piano group who never got the prize, And I said,
Speaker 1: Missus Richmond, I hope I hope that gosh, what was
Speaker 1: her name, Joscelyn or something, I hope she wins a
Speaker 1: piano pen today and Missus Richmond gave her the pin.
Speaker 1: And I do think I'm very sensitive when somebody else
Speaker 1: is hurting.
Speaker 4: I think that's evident.
Speaker 3: In your movies, but also evident in the incredible legacy
Speaker 3: you have given to all of us all over the
Speaker 3: world with your journalism, your kindness, your brilliance. Mine.
Speaker 1: Oh quit, Christina, You're good. You have four I think
Speaker 1: we have another four hours to finish.
Speaker 4: Good good, good boobies that are healthy. Yeah, good boobies
Speaker 4: are healthy and those things.
Speaker 2: What about pleasure?
Speaker 5: So I'm so happy.
Speaker 1: I'm so happy to do this you guys, and anything
Speaker 1: I can ever do for you or for the MS community,
Speaker 1: I want to just say again, thank you for what
Speaker 1: you're doing to bring people together. I admire people who
Speaker 1: I have a friend named Ali who was diagnosed with Parkinson's.
Speaker 1: I think she's forty seven and I met her because
Speaker 1: we met at the Michael J. Fox Walk in Central
Speaker 1: Park a few weeks ago.
Speaker 5: And you know she is.
Speaker 1: Using her platform to help other young women who have
Speaker 1: Parkinson's And gosh, isn't it a gift when you can
Speaker 1: make people feel less alone?
Speaker 5: I mean, what is better than that? Honestly nothing?
Speaker 4: A cure for all our things? We love that too.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but yes, that's the.
Speaker 4: Only thing I wish better.
Speaker 3: But other than that, thank you always for what you
Speaker 3: have done for this world, like I don't think you
Speaker 3: read the world and for us. And we we usually
Speaker 3: do something where we pull a card, a spiritual card
Speaker 3: at the end, and we have never done it with
Speaker 3: the guest on.
Speaker 4: We do it after they've left.
Speaker 5: Oh but you want me to leave?
Speaker 4: No, watch what I'm saying. We want you to stay.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm gonna pull my card now here we go.
Speaker 2: The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more
Speaker 2: joy you can contain.
Speaker 4: I think that says it all.
Speaker 5: Who said that, Jamie? Is that a quote?
Speaker 2: Khalil Gibron?
Speaker 1: He wrote a very because he wrote the prophet. Yes, exactly. Wait,
Speaker 1: I want to read a quote for you all.
Speaker 4: Oh, I love it.
Speaker 1: There's also a nice quote that Michael J. Fox used
Speaker 1: recently in a speech he gave, and it was part
Speaker 1: of a letter by Albert Camu since we're doing a
Speaker 1: lot of French stuff Christina, and he wrote, in the
Speaker 1: middle of winter, I found there was within me an
Speaker 1: invincible summer.
Speaker 5: I love that quote.
Speaker 1: Beautiful, Okay, but the whole thing. You want me to
Speaker 1: read the whole thing or okay, my dear. In the
Speaker 1: midst of hate, I found there was within me an
Speaker 1: invincible love. In the midst of tears, I found there
Speaker 1: was within me an invincible smile. In the midst of chaos,
Speaker 1: I found there was within me an invincible calm. I
Speaker 1: realized through it all that in the midst of winter,
Speaker 1: I found there was within me an invincible summer. And
Speaker 1: that makes me happy, for it says that no matter
Speaker 1: how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there's
Speaker 1: something stronger, something better, pushing right back.
Speaker 4: Okay, Alan, say so send that and so it is.
Speaker 1: And so thanks for listening everyone. If you have a
Speaker 1: question for me, a subject you want us to cover,
Speaker 1: or you want to share your thoughts about how you
Speaker 1: navigate this crazy world, reach out. You can leave a
Speaker 1: short message at six oh nine five point two five
Speaker 1: five oh five, or you can send me a DM
Speaker 1: on Instagram. I would love to hear from you. Next
Speaker 1: Question is a production of iHeartMedia and Katie Kuric Media.
Speaker 1: The executive producers are Me, Katie Kuric, and Courtney Ltz.
Speaker 1: Our supervising producer is Ryan Martx, and our producers are
Speaker 1: Adriana Fazzio and Meredith Barnes. Julian Weller composed our theme music.
Speaker 1: For more information about today's episode, or to sign up
Speaker 1: for my newsletter wake Up Call, go to the description
Speaker 1: in the podcast app, or visit us at Katiecuric dot com.
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