Speaker 1: Welcome to the podcast, everybody. Amy and TJ both here,
Speaker 1: and I'm excited about the day's podcast. How about you, TJ. H.
Speaker 2: I'll get back to you here shortly about it. They'll
Speaker 2: know how this is.
Speaker 1: Going to go TVD. And the reason why he said
Speaker 1: that is because we actually talked about this topic together
Speaker 1: and both agreed upon it before we sat down. It
Speaker 1: started and correct me if I'm wrong here, TJ. When
Speaker 1: we were on text with each other and we were
Speaker 1: exploring our feelings, and you suggested, because yes we know
Speaker 1: each other, Yes we'd known each other for a long time,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't mean we knew everything about each other.
Speaker 1: And you said to me one night, ask me anything,
Speaker 1: and I'll answer it. I'll be honest, and nothing's off
Speaker 1: the table, and it's funny. Even as somebody who interviewed
Speaker 1: people for a living, I was intimidated. I didn't know
Speaker 1: what to ask, what not to ask, and so I
Speaker 1: just kind of went for it. And you were extremely honest,
Speaker 1: and it was a nice way to further our relationship,
Speaker 1: to deepen our relationship, would you agree.
Speaker 2: I didn't realize it at the time because I thought
Speaker 2: you'd take advantage of something like that. Because I meant
Speaker 2: it every time I said it, and I had to
Speaker 2: egg you on and push you to ask me a question.
Speaker 2: But yeah, you're of all people, let's know about nothing
Speaker 2: I'm hiding from you, so I don't need to hold
Speaker 2: my tongue or be careful. So it was a relief
Speaker 2: to be asked anything by you.
Speaker 1: We're going to take turns, and I will put myself
Speaker 1: in the hot seat. But this episode, I actually realized
Speaker 1: as I sat down, I got a ton of questions
Speaker 1: I don't know the answer to, and we agreed that
Speaker 1: we wouldn't obviously let each other know what the other
Speaker 1: is going to ask, So I don't even know where
Speaker 1: you're gonna go with your questions, or what themes you're
Speaker 1: gonna have, or any of that. And the same goes
Speaker 1: for you. And you ready to get started? Yeah, all right,
Speaker 1: let's jump in. Let's dive in head first. How would
Speaker 1: you describe your life to someone who didn't know you?
Speaker 2: A life worth living that has the highest of highs
Speaker 2: and the lowest of lows, but not one I would
Speaker 2: ever take back. It was full of opportunity and love
Speaker 2: and family. And I took those lessons with me and
Speaker 2: led to great success, but then some of my greatest failures.
Speaker 2: Those are the lessons I had to learn on my
Speaker 2: own and not things I got from the family and
Speaker 2: love coming up. So I have lived a a wonderful
Speaker 2: life that I wish everybody had all the highs, and
Speaker 2: actually I wish some of the lows because they were
Speaker 2: some of the biggest lessons.
Speaker 1: What do you need that you don't currently have?
Speaker 2: Probably a scheduled colin. My sister got on to me
Speaker 2: of this two days ago, sent the text as if
Speaker 2: I had one. I said no, and she said, well,
Speaker 2: you're getting older, you need to get one. So that's
Speaker 2: the only thing I can think of.
Speaker 1: I like what Tish asked you to do. That's good advice.
Speaker 1: What from your childhood would you say shaped you the most.
Speaker 2: The most is a tough one. Maybe my experience my
Speaker 2: time internal Arkansas country, little town about twenty miles outside
Speaker 2: of where I grew up. That's where my granddad was,
Speaker 2: and I was very close to him and coming up,
Speaker 2: and I spent so much time in that back and
Speaker 2: forth and that family element internal Arkansas that I think
Speaker 2: so much of what I saw and experienced their shaped
Speaker 2: to me. I think about uncles, and aunts and cousins
Speaker 2: and things that I do that I got from them
Speaker 2: that I don't even realize. So I would say just
Speaker 2: having my granddad, that guy and such close proximity to me,
Speaker 2: a guy who only had a third grade education but
Speaker 2: got seven kids through college, and who was a great
Speaker 2: entrepreneur and a businessman and did well for himself, and
Speaker 2: he was just that experience is huge for me in
Speaker 2: my childhood.
Speaker 1: You have a quote from him on your arm one
Speaker 1: of your tattoos.
Speaker 2: That's a long story. The tattoo only says make them
Speaker 2: all happy. And that's a reminder. I lost my grandad
Speaker 2: in twenty sixteen, but he was maybe the closest person
Speaker 2: to that point that I had lost. But a childhood
Speaker 2: memory of mine sitting out a window, I was probably
Speaker 2: six seven years old and just sitting at his feet
Speaker 2: around the holidays and he's just, you know, he's holding
Speaker 2: court and just talking trash like it always does. And
Speaker 2: he said to me, why would you ever get married
Speaker 2: and try to make one woman happy when you can
Speaker 2: stay single and make them all happy. Now that's my
Speaker 2: granddad And I was six or seven. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 2: he was just messing around, being silly and joking, but
Speaker 2: it was to this day a memory from birth to
Speaker 2: eighteen years old. I don't have more vividly than that one.
Speaker 2: And it was just a very special and cool and
Speaker 2: funny moment with my granddad. And I got the tattoo
Speaker 2: after I lost him in to honor them.
Speaker 1: What is your first memory?
Speaker 2: Falling down the steps in kindergarten at a circus field
Speaker 2: trip and a big dude in cowboy boots having to
Speaker 2: stand at the railing as I was going down the
Speaker 2: step to keep me from falling over down maybe a
Speaker 2: few stories to the level below. That is my first
Speaker 2: childhood memory. Falling, Yeah, falling down some steps and being
Speaker 2: saved by a white guy and cowboy boots. No wonder,
Speaker 2: I'm messed up.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. It's funny because they say your first
Speaker 1: memory is usually a traumatic one and that's why you
Speaker 1: remember first one. I remember, Wow, Okay, were you born
Speaker 1: with swagger?
Speaker 2: Get my mom in near and ask for that. My
Speaker 2: guess is yes, I was born. My due date was
Speaker 2: August sixteenth, nineteen seventy seven. That will sound familiar to
Speaker 2: some folks because that ends up being the day that
Speaker 2: Elvis Presley died August sixteenth, nineteen seventy seven, so I
Speaker 2: always know the anniversary of his death. It was forty
Speaker 2: seven years this year because I'll be forty seven. But
Speaker 2: I ended up being born on August nineteenth, so I
Speaker 2: always joke I just wanted Elvis to have his moment.
Speaker 2: I didn't want to come into the world and try
Speaker 2: to take take some of the spotlight away. So I
Speaker 2: guess I had swagger from birth. If you want to
Speaker 2: put that story together.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're Elvis reincarnated. Whoa thinking of that? He went
Speaker 1: upstairs to meet the big guy and then came back down.
Speaker 1: You never know. I think it's possible. What is something
Speaker 1: that you would like to change about yourself?
Speaker 2: My sleeping habits, that's just a health habit I would
Speaker 2: like to change. I'm getting better about it, but I
Speaker 2: have a hard I have a difficult time forgiving and
Speaker 2: giving people a second chance who aren't already in my
Speaker 2: circle of my world. Like I meet new people or whatever,
Speaker 2: somebody I'm not that close to. I don't they screw
Speaker 2: me once and I don't necessarily let that person back in.
Speaker 2: But I want to do better about being more forgiving. Okay,
Speaker 2: that's what I'm.
Speaker 1: Saying, what is something you'd like to change about me?
Speaker 2: I don't want to change anything about you, baby, You're perfect.
Speaker 1: I think you said that a little too quickly.
Speaker 2: That is my answer.
Speaker 1: I won't follow up, what do you miss most about
Speaker 1: your life? Before the tabloids released those pictures of.
Speaker 2: Us anonymity, there was a an ease, I should say,
Speaker 2: I think a complacency, which you can argue that that's
Speaker 2: all what we all want. We all say we want adventure,
Speaker 2: we want something new, we want but truly we just
Speaker 2: we'd like to be comfortable and not stress the hell
Speaker 2: out all the time. But I think there was an
Speaker 2: ease and a comfort just generally speaking to life in
Speaker 2: the direction it was going. That's that I think I
Speaker 2: let sometimes creep back into my head. But I would
Speaker 2: never go back to that.
Speaker 1: Well, I was just going to ask the next question,
Speaker 1: would you go back to your old job if you could?
Speaker 2: That is, there's a lot of ifs in there, and
Speaker 2: does that include working with you? Does that include working
Speaker 2: with some of the same folks that are still there
Speaker 2: that would involve that would have all a lot, But
Speaker 2: generally speaking, I can't I can't see a path of
Speaker 2: doing that now. I shouldn't say a path. Obviously, nobody's
Speaker 2: over there is thinking about us coming back. But I
Speaker 2: don't like I couldn't set up a scenario that actually
Speaker 2: makes sense. Okay, Uh.
Speaker 1: What is the biggest misconception people have about you?
Speaker 2: That I'm outgoing, that I am the life of the
Speaker 2: party and an extrovert.
Speaker 1: Okay, I would agree with that. What is the hardest
Speaker 1: decision you've ever had to make?
Speaker 2: The don't know. There have been a lot of difficult
Speaker 2: decisions that shaped life and would have changed the course
Speaker 2: of my life altogether. I had to make a decision
Speaker 2: to where I was even gonna go to college. I
Speaker 2: had to make a decision to take that job or
Speaker 2: not that job. I had to make a decision to
Speaker 2: get married. I had to make this decision to get divorced.
Speaker 2: Made those decisions twice, actually right those old things came.
Speaker 2: I think one of the biggest turning points in my
Speaker 2: life that I always wonder about is I had an
Speaker 2: opportunity to go back to Little Rock, to my home
Speaker 2: state at least Arkansas, and be main anchor at a
Speaker 2: station there. And at the same time I had an
Speaker 2: offer to go to CNN to be an anchor and
Speaker 2: I actually that was a fifty to fifty shot, and
Speaker 2: a lot of people thought I was crazy, and one
Speaker 2: of my best friends at the time I ended up
Speaker 2: having to talk me out of Arkansas saying, look, they'll
Speaker 2: always be there. CNN doesn't always come calling, is what
Speaker 2: he told me. But I was at that point in
Speaker 2: my life to where I was twenty five twenty no, no, no, twenty,
Speaker 2: I was twenty eight. I was twenty eight at the time,
Speaker 2: twenty eight years old, willing to go back to Little
Speaker 2: Rock and be the big fish in a small pond
Speaker 2: and live out a quieter existence. I was willing to
Speaker 2: do that, and I almost did it. So that was
Speaker 2: a very hard decision that I think back to and wow,
Speaker 2: that really really changed would have changed to the direction
Speaker 2: of my life in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that certainly what I've What would you say is
Speaker 1: your biggest turnoff? I'm talking about when you are.
Speaker 2: Dating someone smoking I can't deal with.
Speaker 1: Oh I did know the answer to that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this non starter.
Speaker 1: I was trying to ask questions I didn't know the
Speaker 1: answer to, but I actually knew the answer to that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just forgot all right, what's your biggest turn on.
Speaker 2: If a woman can't put on that sounds weird to
Speaker 2: be sitting here with my girlfriend talking about if this woman.
Speaker 2: If I'm to ask the question, it's fair if she
Speaker 2: can't put on jeans and a white T shirt and
Speaker 2: belly up to the bar, have a draft beer and
Speaker 2: watch a football game on a Saturday. We're not gonna work.
Speaker 1: Out, but if she does, it's a good start, all right.
Speaker 1: That's a point in my corner. What do you look
Speaker 1: for in a partner?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 1: What are the qualities that matter to you the most?
Speaker 2: You have to There has to be a at this point.
Speaker 2: We all say we want to be happy and seeking happiness,
Speaker 2: but I find it to be peace and anybody that
Speaker 2: disrupts my piece is a problem for me these days.
Speaker 2: So what I look for. I look for somebody who
Speaker 2: is self aware, self confident, certainly not clingy. I guess
Speaker 2: independent is one way to say that. But you just
Speaker 2: can't disrupt my piece. I need someone who is comfortable
Speaker 2: with who she is because I don't need to have
Speaker 2: to deal with you and your issues. You have to.
Speaker 2: I learned that later on in life with so many
Speaker 2: relationships partners I've had the problem is I'm not healthy
Speaker 2: enough to help anybody else, So I need somebody who
Speaker 2: is in her own good place so it doesn't disrupt
Speaker 2: the work I've done and the piece I have finally
Speaker 2: been able to get.
Speaker 1: This sounds like an interview question, but I'm actually curious
Speaker 1: what the answer is. What would you tell twenty two
Speaker 1: year old TJ just getting out of.
Speaker 2: College, have a good time, homie, have a good time. Absolutely,
Speaker 2: what did go get them? Have a good time? Enjoy yourself?
Speaker 2: I can say is you know, look, I'll be careful,
Speaker 2: do the best you can. Try not to hurt yourself
Speaker 2: if I hurt anybody else. But other than that, I can't.
Speaker 2: I would not be sitting here with you, the love
Speaker 2: of my life, if that twenty two year old TJ
Speaker 2: took my advice and did anything different. Yeah, you gotta
Speaker 2: go on that path and go on that journey, and
Speaker 2: you don't know where you're gonna end up.
Speaker 1: So I won't ask the questions do you have any regrets,
Speaker 1: because the answer would be no.
Speaker 2: The only one is I kind of regret that I
Speaker 2: didn't continue playing football out of junior high school. It
Speaker 2: sounds crazy, but I was. I stuck with basketball. It's
Speaker 2: already always a pretty good basketball player, and I had
Speaker 2: some smaller college opportunities out of high school. But as
Speaker 2: good as I was in basketball, I was a better
Speaker 2: football player. And if I actually broke my ankle, and
Speaker 2: I said to hell with this after I broke my ankle,
Speaker 2: but if I had continued with football, I kind of
Speaker 2: wonder I wouldn't call it a regret. But that's the
Speaker 2: one thing.
Speaker 1: Do you think we would have been friends in high school?
Speaker 2: I should qualify that by saying where were we attending
Speaker 2: high school? Some neighborhoods, some blocks, some cities. Maybe we
Speaker 2: would have never been rolling with the same crowd, but
Speaker 2: generally too, I think what your question is, yes, what
Speaker 2: we would have cut up and clowned and gotten in
Speaker 2: a lot of trouble, But yeah, personality wise, and you
Speaker 2: and I, yeah we would have been fine.
Speaker 1: I think we would have been the kids who were
Speaker 1: separated in class for talking to You always said, but
Speaker 1: I thought you were going to take the opportunity to
Speaker 1: point out that you were in middle school when I
Speaker 1: was in high school.
Speaker 2: But uh no, you said, would we have been good
Speaker 2: in high school together?
Speaker 1: I just thought you might take the opportunity.
Speaker 2: Oh, it's fun and it was college. You were in
Speaker 2: college when I was in junior high school. No, we
Speaker 2: did some numbers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because junior high school to you was ninth grade
Speaker 1: and that's seventh or nine. Yeah, I see that was
Speaker 1: different for me. Middle school was six to eight. So
Speaker 1: in my world, I was you were in high school.
Speaker 2: When I was in When you were a freshman in
Speaker 2: college was what.
Speaker 1: Year nineteen ninety one?
Speaker 2: You know what I was doing. I was in Junior
Speaker 2: High West Junior High in West Memphis, Arkansas. Yes, home
Speaker 2: of the Blue Imps. That's where I was when you
Speaker 2: were freshman in college. So wow, I guess I did
Speaker 2: have swagger right.
Speaker 1: All right? I would tease some of the questions I'm
Speaker 1: going to ask you, but I don't want you to
Speaker 1: prep for them. So stay tuned. We'll be right back.
Speaker 1: Welcome back everyone, TJ. Remaining on a hot seat, and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna just dig right in. So what do you
Speaker 1: worry about most?
Speaker 2: TJ? Uh bean being okay? My health and business and
Speaker 2: professional success?
Speaker 1: What is something you could say right now that would
Speaker 1: surprise me?
Speaker 2: I say that surprises you. You would be surprised to know.
Speaker 1: That.
Speaker 2: As soon as we get done with our work today,
Speaker 2: in this podcast that I need to take up an
Speaker 2: issue with you from an email that I sent you earlier.
Speaker 1: Great, that just sounds so much fun, Like maybe I'm
Speaker 1: going to extend this even further.
Speaker 2: My response is you asked, can't wait for that?
Speaker 1: All right? Who would you like to interview most on
Speaker 1: this podcast?
Speaker 2: Diane Warren, Jimmy Allen, Matt, and Rachel. I'll leave it
Speaker 2: at that. You said who is one? But those are
Speaker 2: three that popped into three or four that popped into
Speaker 2: my mind immediately. All right, and I say, Matt and Rachel.
Speaker 2: Maybe some do know, but Matt, Matt James, we will
Speaker 2: I have him on with Rachel. I'm actually looking forward
Speaker 2: to it they having that conversation with him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're good people, and I think we've had some
Speaker 1: shared experiences. What is your most embarrassing moment?
Speaker 2: Most? There have been a lot of embarrassing moments. I
Speaker 2: picked one, but all right, I'll pick the one in
Speaker 2: which I was new to k In TV out in
Speaker 2: the Bay Area, the NBC station out there. I was
Speaker 2: fairly new. I was filling in for the main anchor
Speaker 2: on the late news and they did not update the
Speaker 2: prompter at the top of the show. His name was
Speaker 2: still in the prompter, and I introduced myself by calling
Speaker 2: myself his name.
Speaker 1: I have heard that story of before, but it's always
Speaker 1: good to repeat. I didn't I forgot you were going
Speaker 1: to go there, But yes.
Speaker 2: I didn't know it was. But that's the most embarrassing
Speaker 2: thing that's come to mind.
Speaker 1: Is there a video of that anywhere?
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know it was tapes and whatnot
Speaker 2: back then, so it's probably long gone, but.
Speaker 1: Beta tapes or something, so man, that would have been
Speaker 1: fun to watch. All right. I don't know the answer
Speaker 1: to this. Do you care what people think about you?
Speaker 2: Yes? We all do. We can't help it. If anybody
Speaker 2: says no, they don't, then well I think it's rare
Speaker 2: that people don't care what people think about them, but
Speaker 2: I think everybody does. It's just a matter of how
Speaker 2: much are you willing to adjust who you are to
Speaker 2: try to be liked? And that's I guess that's where
Speaker 2: it stops. I care up to that point.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was gonna ask how much do you care?
Speaker 1: How much does it affect you?
Speaker 2: Not very much these days, because I don't know what
Speaker 2: people think of me, because I don't spend time reading anything,
Speaker 2: as you know. But I obviously I'm aware that folks
Speaker 2: out there will continue to say particular things about us,
Speaker 2: and there'll be a narrative that's some a narrative that
Speaker 2: some won't ever get away from. But care, Yeah, And
Speaker 2: we have to care to a certain degree more in
Speaker 2: that we actually work in public life to where what
Speaker 2: somebody thinks of you or somebody we've seen it a
Speaker 2: hashtag costs people's jobs and careers and opportunities. And we'll
Speaker 2: think some think that's okay, and some deserve that, an
Speaker 2: others say some don't. But the point just being it's
Speaker 2: what people think of us is not just a personal impact.
Speaker 2: It can be a professional one.
Speaker 1: What would you say is your worst habit.
Speaker 2: Worst habit, worst habit, worst habit? I have a bad
Speaker 2: habit of blank ah worse. I mean, oh god, I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm trying to think of the habits have bad. A
Speaker 2: sleeping habit. Not sleeping is not a habit.
Speaker 1: Well, it can be, and it kind of is for you.
Speaker 2: But that's awful. It's it's there's a countdown clock going
Speaker 2: for me every single day that's going to expire at
Speaker 2: about four thirty am. So the closer I get to
Speaker 2: that time, is how much sleep I'm going to lose.
Speaker 2: So if it's ten o'clock at night, eleven o'clock at night, midnight,
Speaker 2: some people can go to bed at midnight and this
Speaker 2: I'll just sleep in until seven or eight. I go
Speaker 2: to bed at midnight. I go to bed at one,
Speaker 2: doesn't matter. I am getting up at four point thirty.
Speaker 2: So I have this kind of countdown in my head
Speaker 2: every single day. And you've seen this. I don't have
Speaker 2: to set my alarm. I just pop up. And so
Speaker 2: I don't know how that's a habit, that's a that's
Speaker 2: a health habit I need to change. But that's an
Speaker 2: awful one.
Speaker 1: And that countdown clock does not help. Isn't that just
Speaker 1: anxiety producing?
Speaker 2: Well, it probably keeps me from falling asleep faster. I
Speaker 2: think a lot of people can at least relate to
Speaker 2: staring at like it's midnight and that, oh god, I
Speaker 2: have to get up at five, and then you're so
Speaker 2: stressed that you're missing sleep that you can't sleep. So
Speaker 2: I don't necessarily have that of anxiety about it.
Speaker 4: What is your biggest pet peeve about other people? Folks
Speaker 4: that stand on an escalator. We'll get that twice as
Speaker 4: fas as folks if you just walk.
Speaker 1: Okay. So I wrote an escalator down with you one
Speaker 1: time and you said to me, this isn't a ride.
Speaker 2: It's not an amusement park ride.
Speaker 1: I was confused, and You're like, what are you waiting on?
Speaker 2: Move? Yeah, that must have been early on because you
Speaker 2: know now now I know, do not stand on.
Speaker 1: The escalator when you're with TJ. What are you most
Speaker 1: afraid of?
Speaker 2: I am a I am afraid of. I guess all
Speaker 2: my fears have to do with sabine right, have to
Speaker 2: do with family, have to do with health, have to
Speaker 2: do with those things. But in day to day life,
Speaker 2: I don't I've gotten away from that. And I used
Speaker 2: to be that queste and five years ago would have
Speaker 2: gotten a word to spawned a much different answer. But
Speaker 2: it seems weird to be at a place where I'm
Speaker 2: not daily or generally fearful or worried or scared of something.
Speaker 2: Fear I don't know. I mean, I guess I'm supposed
Speaker 2: I don't know. I guess I'm not supposed to say
Speaker 2: I fear death, not necessarily. I mean, I don't think
Speaker 2: about it like that I don't know. I don't know what.
Speaker 2: I fear you're fearless. I won't say that, I mean
Speaker 2: because I always think you right. This courage is is
Speaker 2: is understanding, feeling, acknowledging the fear, and then doing it anyway.
Speaker 2: I would like to think that. I mean, even this
Speaker 2: venture of what we're doing here, there was a little
Speaker 2: fearful of trying something new. But I don't necessarily think
Speaker 2: that's what you mean. That sounds a smaller thing. But
Speaker 2: I don't know what on a regular basis I fear
Speaker 2: that's one I actually don't know.
Speaker 1: All right, honest answer there, Other than smoking, what would
Speaker 1: be a relationship deal breaker for you? Other than well,
Speaker 1: because that's what you had said before, a turnoff?
Speaker 2: Oh, other than smoking? I mean, try something. Is that
Speaker 2: a challenge you rich your best shot? Other than a turnoff,
Speaker 2: a turnoff and getting into a relationship or versus getting out,
Speaker 2: I'm not thinking of it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is like being in a relationship with somebody
Speaker 1: and could somebody do something that is a relationship deal
Speaker 1: breaker for you? Asking for a friend?
Speaker 2: Um, I think there is a trust element having to
Speaker 2: do with right, you told me it's not a deal breaker,
Speaker 2: but you told me something not long ago that you
Speaker 2: had never told me, because you revealed to someone that
Speaker 2: we were dating, and you hadn't told me that you
Speaker 2: did that ahead of time, even though I'd asked you before.
Speaker 2: We talked about it plenty, and you never told me
Speaker 2: that those types of like, I feel like that was
Speaker 2: a betrayal of a friendship, even more so than a
Speaker 2: betrayal of the relationship, and that I don't want that
Speaker 2: stuff to stack up. Yeah, so that would drive me
Speaker 2: crazy because then everything I'm thinking, Well, I asked her
Speaker 2: not to tell her parents that, and she did it. Anyway, Well,
Speaker 2: I asked her to do this and she did It.
Speaker 2: Is those little little things that would break down to
Speaker 2: trust certainly that I've formed with you over a decade.
Speaker 1: Now, yep, okay, that makes sense. What is the most
Speaker 1: meaningful compliment you've.
Speaker 2: Received being a good daddy?
Speaker 1: That makes sense, and you are a very good daddy.
Speaker 1: What would you say is your biggest insecurity?
Speaker 2: I have bad feet ding That was just a have.
Speaker 1: A very bad toe.
Speaker 2: We know, we saw only said that to bye some time.
Speaker 1: That's okay, I'm going to be doing the same thing.
Speaker 2: Come on with a real answer.
Speaker 1: What s biggest insecurity because you don't seem like a
Speaker 1: very insecure person at all. In fact, I feel like
Speaker 1: you are one of the most secure people I've ever met,
Speaker 1: and yet I know you're human, So you have to
Speaker 1: have some sort of insecurity that pecks away at you
Speaker 1: a little bit here and there.
Speaker 2: I'm insecure about, you know what. And this made me
Speaker 2: have something to do with our our business right for
Speaker 2: so long, for too long, I attached my worth, my value,
Speaker 2: my identity to the accolades or the adoration I was
Speaker 2: getting publicly. So when that goes away in a way
Speaker 2: it did to where we got more famous than ever,
Speaker 2: but not for what our jobs were. I think that
Speaker 2: it was definitely an insecurity that then many folks in
Speaker 2: the public and in privately friends and family reassured you
Speaker 2: and let you know, wow, that is that is not
Speaker 2: what I am known for. That is not what people
Speaker 2: are complimenting me for. That is not what people are
Speaker 2: rooting for me for. That's not That's not it. And
Speaker 2: we know that, and we've you know, I've talked plenty
Speaker 2: about authors we read and lessons we learned. But it's
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, I think that's an insecurity I had
Speaker 2: and something I'd worked on in years prior to get
Speaker 2: away from that and to make sure I always remember
Speaker 2: who I am, which has nothing to do what I
Speaker 2: ever did on air.
Speaker 1: You actually set this question up earlier with one of
Speaker 1: your answers, but I already had it written down. Why
Speaker 1: is it so hard for you to forgive? And I
Speaker 1: put me in parentheses, But just in general.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I actually could probably go back somewhere
Speaker 2: if I had to unpack this with a with a therapist.
Speaker 2: But I have always been that way. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I've always been that way. Just it's more so I
Speaker 2: can forgive people who are I forgive my sister, my mom,
Speaker 2: you man, close friends, we all get into beefs. But
Speaker 2: when it's someone who's just I don't know that well.
Speaker 2: If it's someone I just have a difficult time being
Speaker 2: disappointed let down. Maybe those are some of my own expectations,
Speaker 2: but I just don't let a whole lot of people in.
Speaker 1: What is your love language?
Speaker 2: I can't keep up with what these damn things are.
Speaker 2: It's five of them, and then y'all say it six.
Speaker 1: If you had to pick between, I think physical touch,
Speaker 1: words of affirmation.
Speaker 2: There are the gifts in there, right, gifts is in there?
Speaker 2: Probably words of affirmation, words.
Speaker 1: Of affirmation, this acts of service. I think I'm missing ones.
Speaker 2: Probably.
Speaker 1: Oh quality time. Quality time is the other one.
Speaker 2: Quality time is a big one for me.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, so those two words of affirmation and quality time.
Speaker 2: The gifts isn't there? Okay, so all of them. I'm
Speaker 2: trilingual when it comes to love languages.
Speaker 1: I like that, all right. When did you know you
Speaker 1: loved me?
Speaker 2: I think from birth there was something. Oh, it was
Speaker 2: kind of something on that August nineteenth and West Memphis
Speaker 2: all those years ago, just a hole in my heart
Speaker 2: from birth. Doctors couldn't figure it out.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, answer please, Look, I'm still not sure.
Speaker 2: I'm dealing with yo. That was a joke. Everybody got
Speaker 2: cold and Jesus sold.
Speaker 1: That very well. I kind of sucked my breath and
Speaker 1: got stone cold.
Speaker 2: Quiet. Oh he's just snorting about it over there. That's
Speaker 2: a good laugh. That's a good laugh. Loved you for
Speaker 2: a long time, loved you, been in love with you
Speaker 2: in this way? When I knew that? And I'm thinking
Speaker 2: of it in my mind, like when did I know
Speaker 2: I'm in trouble? When did I know oh oh, this
Speaker 2: needs to be a dressed I campinpoint, but I twenty
Speaker 2: post pandemic twenty twenty. When was that, damn girl?
Speaker 1: I mean, we started working together in twenty twenty, like closely,
Speaker 1: we always work together, but we actually shared in America that.
Speaker 2: I'm the twenty twenty It was early twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: We didn't start talking about it until much nutel later.
Speaker 2: But when I thought that was an issue was for me?
Speaker 2: Was twenty twenty two going into I don't know spring
Speaker 2: certainly somewhere, but spring twenty twenty two is what I
Speaker 2: would say.
Speaker 1: How do you motivate yourself when you're feeling down or
Speaker 1: uninspired or just low? What do you do?
Speaker 2: I have learned now that I need to stop and
Speaker 2: rest and take could beat. Usually I would try to
Speaker 2: push through. I would pop another five hour energy, stay
Speaker 2: up all night. But I've learned now that sometimes I'm
Speaker 2: less productive by staying up for three hours and not
Speaker 2: getting anything done instead of just taking one hour break
Speaker 2: and being much more productive. So that's I've learned that
Speaker 2: to motivate myself, I don't need a whole lot of it.
Speaker 2: I need I get down and I get low. But
Speaker 2: when I do that. I need rest, mental rest, physical rest.
Speaker 2: But as far as motivation, You've seen this time and
Speaker 2: time again that the alarm doesn't have to go off.
Speaker 2: I don't hit snooze. If it does, I hit off
Speaker 2: and jump out of the bit and I am off
Speaker 2: and running. I don't need to go. Get tea first
Speaker 2: and crust out of my eyes and I'm ready to go.
Speaker 2: That's me every day.
Speaker 1: What is your best life advice for someone who is
Speaker 1: starting out in adulthood? Like, what would you what would
Speaker 1: be your best advice that, with everything you've learned, everything
Speaker 1: we've been through, what would you say?
Speaker 2: I would tell folks, don't let perfect to get in
Speaker 2: the way of good, which is some great advice I
Speaker 2: got a while back. This point you have given all
Speaker 2: we know. I don't know what to advise anybody. Cool luck,
Speaker 2: but we went through. But no, you have to screw
Speaker 2: up early and often make as many of them. Don't ever,
Speaker 2: don't be afraid when you're eighteen nineteen twenty twenty one.
Speaker 2: Don't be afraid then, because you can actually make a
Speaker 2: mistake you can recover from. But screw up early. Don't
Speaker 2: get scared early, and do it absolutely all and maybe
Speaker 2: maybe you have time in life to correct some of
Speaker 2: those mistakes you made early on.
Speaker 1: Well, I wish I had gotten that advice about twenty
Speaker 1: years ago. Okay, so lightning round when we come back,
Speaker 1: stay with us. Okay, here we are with a lightning
Speaker 1: round for TJ. Holmes favorite movie of all time?
Speaker 2: Ten Commandments.
Speaker 1: Oh that's surprise.
Speaker 2: Yes, Charleston heston you and Brennard that movie, favorite movie
Speaker 2: all the time.
Speaker 1: I did not know that. Yep, very interesting. Okay. What's
Speaker 1: the last thing that made you cry?
Speaker 2: Probably you?
Speaker 1: I didn't say, who is the last person to make
Speaker 1: you cry?
Speaker 2: Okay? Something you said? The last thing that made me cry?
Speaker 1: I duly noted. I'm not going to ask what it was,
Speaker 1: because I probably just don't. I want to keep that
Speaker 1: to ourselves. What song will get you on the dance floor?
Speaker 2: A sap rocky f problems?
Speaker 1: Okay? Favorite country you visited?
Speaker 2: Morocco?
Speaker 1: Maybe?
Speaker 2: Wait, there's a Brazil in there. Give me one a second. Maybe, Oh, Frances, for.
Speaker 1: So many good ones.
Speaker 2: I'm trying just what trip I enjoyed the most. Let's
Speaker 2: go with France.
Speaker 1: Okay, And what what country do you still want to
Speaker 1: visit that you haven't yet that's on the top of
Speaker 1: your list.
Speaker 2: Top Egypt is way up there.
Speaker 1: We are in sync with that, all right. I don't
Speaker 1: know the answer to this favorite color black that's mine?
Speaker 2: What the hell?
Speaker 3: Man?
Speaker 2: I mean?
Speaker 1: You gotta have some silly ones.
Speaker 2: You see me. The color I wear most is probably
Speaker 2: I do wear black most, but as far as being
Speaker 2: on TV blue, I would go with a lot of blue. Okay.
Speaker 1: Favorite holiday Thanksgiving? Oh, I knew that. Dang celebrity crush.
Speaker 2: There are so many. Mom oh god, Zazie Beats, Helen Muhren,
Speaker 2: Emily Blunt, Angela Bassett.
Speaker 3: Wow, you can stop now, my god, Edgar Ramirez, Denzel Washington.
Speaker 3: I should have qualified that question. Name your favorite or
Speaker 3: your biggest celebrity crush? It's okay, I liked it. Last
Speaker 3: thing you searched on Google?
Speaker 2: Damn, I don't know that's a good shot. Check yeah,
Speaker 2: check it. Okay, you want to ask the next one while.
Speaker 1: You're do you believe in astrology?
Speaker 2: It's fun to play around with, but not really.
Speaker 1: It's so leo of you. Last book you read cover
Speaker 1: to cover? Yeah, I'm really curious what this one is
Speaker 1: cover to.
Speaker 2: Cover with cover to cover? Hiesh. You know what Cover
Speaker 2: to Cover? You know what it was? It was Will
Speaker 2: Smith's biography, autobiography, Okay, because I had an interview coming
Speaker 2: up with him, and yeah, cover to Cover. I think
Speaker 2: that was the last one because I had read all
Speaker 2: the singers stuff, Marchol Singer and yeah, I think i'd
Speaker 2: read all that beforehand. I think that was it.
Speaker 1: I listened to that book. It's still I mean that
Speaker 1: it is an amazing book. It's an amazing read. All right.
Speaker 1: What's the last thing you googled?
Speaker 2: Art Malick?
Speaker 1: Please explain?
Speaker 2: He is the actor who plays the villain in True Lives.
Speaker 2: Why did you google that? I was trying to remember
Speaker 2: who he was. I had the movie on, and you
Speaker 2: know I always have something on in the True Lies
Speaker 2: is one of my absolute favorites. David Lee Curtis is
Speaker 2: one of our absolute favorites of all time, and he
Speaker 2: is the bad guy, the terrorist in it. But he
Speaker 2: is a British actor and I was trying to look
Speaker 2: up his background. That is the last thing that I googled.
Speaker 1: That is very funny. Okay, best gift you've ever received, man,
Speaker 1: I got.
Speaker 2: A lot of crappy gifts.
Speaker 1: Or they're so good you can't pick.
Speaker 2: The best I've ever received. That's todd I really do
Speaker 2: not know.
Speaker 1: Do you have a gift that you remember about that?
Speaker 1: Because have you ever gone through Christmas and you're like, wait,
Speaker 1: someone asks you what your favorite gift is and you
Speaker 1: can't even remember one of them? Was there a memorable gift?
Speaker 2: You know what I got? I got when I was
Speaker 2: I don't know, five six seven. I got a a
Speaker 2: Gi Joe set. They had like forty fifty pieces in it.
Speaker 2: I cannot remember being that excited about a gift since.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I've got a lot nice gifts, but the
Speaker 2: greatest scale. I was trying to think that anybody ever
Speaker 2: give me a car or a suit or a house
Speaker 2: or pay my rent for the month or something. I've
Speaker 2: never gotten anything on that scale.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, but memorable? I like that. What would
Speaker 1: your last meal be?
Speaker 2: I need a shrimps of each to start. I need
Speaker 2: a caesar salad no croutons, dressing on the side with
Speaker 2: anchovies as well. I need a lobster ravioli to go
Speaker 2: along with my bone in filet let's cooked midrare. And
Speaker 2: I need a bread pudding for dessert.
Speaker 1: Okay that yes, none of those things surprise me, all right,
Speaker 1: best way.
Speaker 2: To die as late as possible.
Speaker 1: Okay, fair Favorite interview I hate when people ask me this,
Speaker 1: but I'm asking it to you. Favorite interview of all time.
Speaker 2: All time, probably a series of them I did with
Speaker 2: Alex Trebek. Favorite because I just learned so much from
Speaker 2: him in the time I got to spend with him,
Speaker 2: which was a lot. But that it will always stand out.
Speaker 2: Have been so many over the years obviously for it.
Speaker 2: But you enjoy them for different reasons. You enjoy some
Speaker 2: of them because they made big headlines and we're good
Speaker 2: for your career. Others because you got to meet great people,
Speaker 2: and it is the whole range of emotions with Alex Trebek.
Speaker 2: But he was somebody I've valued spending time with and
Speaker 2: will always be a blessings. Been around him as much
Speaker 2: as I was.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was very cool that time you got with him.
Speaker 1: We all learned a lot from you about him. A
Speaker 1: dream car.
Speaker 2: That I've owned them, I think already. Well, I'm not
Speaker 2: I'm a big car guy, but I'm not a big
Speaker 2: exotic car guy. So I yeah, I had for a
Speaker 2: few years a red Corps. Yeah, a bright red Corvette,
Speaker 2: and that was car I missed that car a lot.
Speaker 2: It was sick shift right, it was a six seed.
Speaker 2: I can see it now, I can see me in
Speaker 2: it now. But my dream car, I am a very
Speaker 2: basic dude. I want a just a fully loaded white
Speaker 2: Chevy Tahoe and I'll be happy the rest of my life.
Speaker 1: Okay, best stress reliever.
Speaker 2: Running.
Speaker 1: That is very, very true. I love that this is
Speaker 1: out of the lightning round because I just maybe want
Speaker 1: to end on something, you know, insightful, something to leave
Speaker 1: the listener with. What would you say is your biggest
Speaker 1: takeaway takeaway from the aftermath of this past year.
Speaker 2: Biggest is the biggest. There are so many I have.
Speaker 2: The takeaway has to be that this two shell pass.
Speaker 2: People have told me that my entire life, or when
Speaker 2: something comes up, and so many did tell me that
Speaker 2: this time you can tell. Sometimes people say in passing,
Speaker 2: and some people say it still being sincere, but others
Speaker 2: say it from experience, and it really does. It never
Speaker 2: feels like it when you're it's happening to you and
Speaker 2: you in the moment, but it is absolutely true that
Speaker 2: with time things pass, heels, wounds do heal, and there
Speaker 2: is going to be a way forward. So I have.
Speaker 2: I have learned that more than anything. It's actually true.
Speaker 1: And here is the question that so many of us
Speaker 1: ask at the end of interviews. Is there anything I
Speaker 1: didn't ask you that you'd like to say?
Speaker 2: Nope? And I love when the interview e would say that, no,
Speaker 2: good to go. All right, my plane's taken off here
Speaker 2: an now and half.
Speaker 1: Anyway, you covered it all great, good to hear. How
Speaker 1: did that feel?
Speaker 2: How did it feel? It was fine? I mean, I'm
Speaker 2: not gonna, you know, take issue with the interviewer. You're
Speaker 2: the professional here.
Speaker 1: I like asking the questions. Which one do you prefer most?
Speaker 2: Asking or answering? Yes? Asking? Yeah.
Speaker 1: Same.
Speaker 2: It's easier for me though, to answer them, because, like
Speaker 2: I said, you can ask me anything. It wasn't too
Speaker 2: much in here that was so so out of the
Speaker 2: box or controversial or threw me off to where I
Speaker 2: didn't feel like I could just open my mouth and speak.
Speaker 2: I don't you know. There are times our entire careers
Speaker 2: were on live television. You always to some degree have
Speaker 2: to be mindful of what comes out of your mouth.
Speaker 2: You can't be completely honest, you can't got to couch
Speaker 2: it a little bit. And this is just an environment
Speaker 2: here where I don't feel like I have to do that,
Speaker 2: and this episode is not one where I felt that either.
Speaker 1: Well that's good. That makes that feels good?
Speaker 4: Is there?
Speaker 1: I'm curious? Is there a question you thought I was
Speaker 1: going to ask that I didn't.
Speaker 2: Oh, no, okay, I don't think so.
Speaker 1: All right, more to come. I love it. Well, thank
Speaker 1: you TJ for being our guest on the Amy and
Speaker 1: TJ Podcast.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I like what you guys are
Speaker 2: doing here.
Speaker 1: I hope you come back next week or on a
Speaker 1: couple of days. It'd be nice to have you around
Speaker 1: in the studio. I know where to find you, all right, everybody.
Speaker 1: You can find us on Instagram at Amy and TJ Podcast.
Speaker 1: We're both on Gosh, we both joined TikTok. We have
Speaker 1: our private Instagram accounts. There are numerous ways you all
Speaker 1: can reach out, but we hope you will, and we
Speaker 1: hope you have a fantastic day.