Speaker 1: This is Conversationous with Olivia Jade and my Heart Radio podcast.
Speaker 1: Hi everybody, welcome back to another episode of Conversations with
Speaker 1: Me your host Silvia Jade. We all know this already.
Speaker 1: I am honestly, so so so excited about today's episode
Speaker 1: because I'm bringing on a dear friend, somebody I know
Speaker 1: personally and somebody that you guys probably have seen through
Speaker 1: the media and just being around and being a host
Speaker 1: for so many years. And you probably already know from
Speaker 1: the title, But today we have Billie Bush coming on
Speaker 1: the podcast, and I am just thrilled. I want to get,
Speaker 1: honestly some advice from him, because he's been in the
Speaker 1: industry for so long and I think that he has
Speaker 1: so many wise and just key points to make it
Speaker 1: and so you don't drown in this whole thing. But
Speaker 1: I also want to talk to him about things that
Speaker 1: he's been through and things that I can relate to.
Speaker 1: And um, yeah, with all that being said, please welcome
Speaker 1: Mr Billy. What's up? What's up? Billy Fish? How are
Speaker 1: you very well? Very two? I'm nine pounds down in
Speaker 1: eleven days. Are you serious? Yeah? How what if you
Speaker 1: did you cut our alcohol? No? I cut off a
Speaker 1: Leg'll do it. That's a heavy leg. No, I'm going
Speaker 1: booze list. You know what your father Gosh, if he
Speaker 1: can go booze list for like a month at a
Speaker 1: time and he's going longer, U, then I can go like,
Speaker 1: you know, two weeks. Although I'm making the move from
Speaker 1: dry January, I think to damp January. I'm hearing this
Speaker 1: term out there and I like it. What is that
Speaker 1: where you just dabble a little bit but not full
Speaker 1: send weekends only weekends only. I should join you in
Speaker 1: that endeavor, even though I'm not nearly as crazy as
Speaker 1: you and my dad. But no, you're you're you're young.
Speaker 1: I would go hard in the paint if I thank
Speaker 1: you for the advice. Well, welcome on the podcast us.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. I am really excited because I
Speaker 1: feel like I've been talking to you about this for
Speaker 1: quite some time and I think, well, good for you
Speaker 1: do it. Thanks, thank you so much. Um. You can
Speaker 1: also jump in and carry as much as this of
Speaker 1: this conversation as you want, because you are the pro
Speaker 1: at everything that has to do with this. But for
Speaker 1: those that don't know you, do you want to just
Speaker 1: give a little intro as to who you are. I'm
Speaker 1: Billy Bush and I've been doing this far too long,
Speaker 1: the host of Extra before that, Access Hollywood very briefly
Speaker 1: the Today Show two months, um, but father of three
Speaker 1: girls and uh friend of your father and your mother
Speaker 1: and uh golfer, patriot advocate, uh philanthropist, bicyclist, whatever that
Speaker 1: sums it up. That's perfect. Well, Honestly, I think something
Speaker 1: that I kind of want to start out with is
Speaker 1: I don't even really know this. I don't think I've
Speaker 1: really ever had an end depth conversation with you. But
Speaker 1: obviously people know your last name and it's very connected
Speaker 1: to politics, and I'm curious how you went the route
Speaker 1: of journalism. Well, no one would ever vote for me, um,
Speaker 1: so I thought would would would they? Possibly? You know?
Speaker 1: Um watch Me TV? I found later I was in
Speaker 1: um in college and I found the college radio station
Speaker 1: and started having a lot of fun on that, you know,
Speaker 1: just calling buddies and putting them on the air and
Speaker 1: and playing some music. And I really fell in love
Speaker 1: with the radio. And after I graduated college, I spent
Speaker 1: seven years in radio before touching local television, which of
Speaker 1: course then led to everything else. But radio was my
Speaker 1: first love, which we're kind of doing right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it kind of feels like that. Yeah. I started in
Speaker 1: radio in Lake Winnipesake, New Hampshire, up in I mean,
Speaker 1: very very small town, three thousand watt station, an unrated market.
Speaker 1: It was so small the the Arbitron Ratings Care didn't
Speaker 1: even care about it. But I started in sales because
Speaker 1: the general manager of the station was like, yeah, you
Speaker 1: can be on the air, but we're gonna pay you
Speaker 1: five dollars an hour. No kidding, five dollars an hour.
Speaker 1: You're not gonna make any money, but you seem to
Speaker 1: have a decent personality. Maybe you know you could sell
Speaker 1: some advertising. Well, there is no harder job. I'm convincing
Speaker 1: the world and selling air to people. I mean it's
Speaker 1: not you have to sell them on this idea of
Speaker 1: filling sixty seconds of air. It was brutal, doors slammed
Speaker 1: in my face everywhere, but I broke through as a
Speaker 1: sales guy by figuring out this lesson. Everybody buys differently.
Speaker 1: You buy you, you make a different decision when you
Speaker 1: buy Olivia that the car dealer makes it different. This guy.
Speaker 1: The biggest advertiser was Plymouth Auto Village and Tilton Ford
Speaker 1: a duopoly, a huge car dealer duopoly, and they're advertised
Speaker 1: on seven out of the eight radio stations in the
Speaker 1: Lakes region of New Hampshire. I was the eighth, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, what this guy is spending so much money?
Speaker 1: How come he's not doing it here. I went to
Speaker 1: see the guy lo and behold, he slams the door
Speaker 1: in my face four or five times. My boss finally says,
Speaker 1: you have to go back one more time and ask
Speaker 1: him why he won't buy from you. So I go
Speaker 1: and I show up and they said, why won't you
Speaker 1: buy from me? I just wanted to know that one
Speaker 1: thing before you throw me out again. He said, well,
Speaker 1: you know what, if you had a nice set of
Speaker 1: legs and a good set of buns, you know, maybe
Speaker 1: we'd uh, maybe we'd get somewhere. And I went, oh, okay.
Speaker 1: It just so happens that we have an exchange program
Speaker 1: with this radio station in Sweden and we have this
Speaker 1: new girl working for us named Olga. I could send
Speaker 1: her up here on Monday and maybe we get there.
Speaker 1: He goes, now we're talking. I said, great, no problem,
Speaker 1: thank you for that information. I left. I come back
Speaker 1: Monday morning. The mid day woman on the on the
Speaker 1: station had lent me her heels. She was a tall woman.
Speaker 1: Her heels, her miniskirt, her wig, her lashes, her lipstick,
Speaker 1: a pair of socks in the chich rolled up Daisy
Speaker 1: Duke style. I pulled in. I had already pre written
Speaker 1: the largest contract our station had ever seen. I printed
Speaker 1: it out. This was like more money than we make
Speaker 1: in a quarter. I walk in. The little guy sitting
Speaker 1: behind his desk. They're busy on the sales room floor.
Speaker 1: I walk in. I put my foot up on it.
Speaker 1: Everybody in the showroom stops. They're looking going, oh my,
Speaker 1: what is this horror? I mean, this is New Hampshire, right,
Speaker 1: Northern New Hampshire, all freaking out. The service guys in
Speaker 1: the back bays, they come out there in the floor.
Speaker 1: Everybody's going crazy. I walk over, put my foot up
Speaker 1: on this little man's desk, and I said, Mr Vincent,
Speaker 1: my name is Old God from the Oldie's one oh
Speaker 1: five radio station. Billy Bush sent me here. He didn't
Speaker 1: tell me how cute you are. Look, oh my god.
Speaker 1: I put my foot up. He looks at me and
Speaker 1: he goes, Jesus, kid, you have some balls. Oh my
Speaker 1: gut and I put the contract out in front of him.
Speaker 1: I held my composure. They're all cheering, going crazy. He
Speaker 1: takes out his pen. He signs the biggest radio contract
Speaker 1: our station at ever seen. Bam, it goes through the roof.
Speaker 1: I make the sale, I leave, I go in town.
Speaker 1: I get a couple of beers with a friend. It's terrific.
Speaker 1: And just as I'm leaving, I'm driving out of town
Speaker 1: and there's my other client. I managed to get on
Speaker 1: Community Bank and Trust a great The president was Ron Sibley.
Speaker 1: I'll never forget little Ron. He's sitting in his office.
Speaker 1: There's a light on in there. This is She goes, YEA,
Speaker 1: how fast word travels in a small town. I decide,
Speaker 1: you know what, I've had a little couple of beers.
Speaker 1: Let me say goodbye to Ron. Let me say hi.
Speaker 1: I knock on the door. Ron Sibley comes and opens
Speaker 1: the bank door, and he says hello, Billy. I said, Ron,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry to Bobby. I just wanted to stop in
Speaker 1: and and say hello. He goes, no problem, I'm just
Speaker 1: so sorry you're not wearing a dress. That is honestly
Speaker 1: one of the greatest stories I've ever been told I've
Speaker 1: been dying to get a chance to tell that story
Speaker 1: to someone in some sort of public form. So you're
Speaker 1: the You're the You're the one who is this the
Speaker 1: first hit on this story? Have you never talked about
Speaker 1: that on any of your first hit on this? Absolutely
Speaker 1: the first hit on this story. But it does go
Speaker 1: to show you, like in life, like everybody buys differently,
Speaker 1: there's a way to get almost anything done. You just
Speaker 1: got to know who you're dealing with. That is so true,
Speaker 1: and the persistence too, is so admirable. The fact that
Speaker 1: you walked in with heels and you stop on his
Speaker 1: desk is the funniest thing I've ever heard, and it's genius.
Speaker 1: Well yeah, I mean, you know, it was such a moment.
Speaker 1: He was totally peer pressure, the crowd cheering. He had
Speaker 1: to then sign, you know, which was I don't know,
Speaker 1: like ten grand a month or something, But in that
Speaker 1: kind of in that area, it's unbelievable. I then moved
Speaker 1: to a lake house and bought a small boat. Wow. Okay,
Speaker 1: So then what happened after that encounter? So and you
Speaker 1: got the well, then eventually the I I was accounting
Speaker 1: for about fifty percent, if not a little more of
Speaker 1: the of the radio station sales, and so they I
Speaker 1: became the sales manager. But I'm like, this isn't what
Speaker 1: I wanted to do, what I came for. So I
Speaker 1: said to the guy who was running the station, Look,
Speaker 1: I gotta sell very less. I'll manage my accounts, but
Speaker 1: I need to take over one of the full time shifts.
Speaker 1: I had the leverage. He gave it to me. Two
Speaker 1: months of being on the radio full time and I
Speaker 1: packed up my bags and left. And where did you come?
Speaker 1: And on the greener Pastors? Yeah, I ended up in
Speaker 1: in Rockville, Maryland, which serviced the d C market, on
Speaker 1: a classic rock station. So I was getting slightly younger.
Speaker 1: I started on an oldies station and then I went
Speaker 1: to a classic rock station. A year into that, the
Speaker 1: brand new Top forty station picked me up as the
Speaker 1: morning drive host at years old. Wow, you know what's
Speaker 1: so interesting to me too? I feel like when you
Speaker 1: I'm from like some any sort of well, I can
Speaker 1: kind of relate to this, but or how I feel
Speaker 1: in my life, it's like, since people know that I
Speaker 1: come from some sort of family, that's like in the
Speaker 1: business or in an industry, I think that there's like
Speaker 1: a big misconception that you don't have to work as
Speaker 1: hard and honestly, just even from the first story you
Speaker 1: just told, like hearing that you went in after time
Speaker 1: after time of being declined and then dressing up as
Speaker 1: a woman, even though you did grow up around people
Speaker 1: that were very influential and you probably did have great
Speaker 1: connections and opportunities. But I just think it's it's something
Speaker 1: that I feel like most people maybe wouldn't assume, which
Speaker 1: I think is really really cool. Yeah, I would say
Speaker 1: the you know, in the grand scheme of things, the
Speaker 1: the being Ray I certainly raised and privileged, there's no
Speaker 1: question about that. But as far as like getting into
Speaker 1: Hollywood or this business, I mean, I don't know. Last time,
Speaker 1: if you check, it's a it's a pretty liberal town.
Speaker 1: A guy named Bush. That's really good to dictate how
Speaker 1: far you go? You really got to cut your own swap.
Speaker 1: In fact, in my first contract at end be way
Speaker 1: back when I first signed with Access Hollywood in two
Speaker 1: thousand one, I made it mandatory that they were never
Speaker 1: allowed to introduce me or refer to the Bush family
Speaker 1: as far as politics, because I really you know you
Speaker 1: you you you live by that sword. You die by
Speaker 1: that sword. Focus less on the bush, don't ride the bush,
Speaker 1: ride the billy, believe in the billy. And so no
Speaker 1: one knew for the longest time. I still have people like,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, a way you're connected. Well, to be honest,
Speaker 1: I didn't even really know that until I was talking
Speaker 1: to my mom recently. Well, I tell you what, if
Speaker 1: you want to be a long term player and be
Speaker 1: serious in the biz and all that, you can't I
Speaker 1: don't think it's wise to to ride the easy door
Speaker 1: in or the more notable found the gimmick. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, build a career. I've been at I've been
Speaker 1: a broadcaster for twenty oh man, I don't know since
Speaker 1: four include radio, so almost thirty years. Wow. So then
Speaker 1: at what point did you really when it really started
Speaker 1: to pick up and you're own access and then um
Speaker 1: extra now obviously, but like when you moved to l
Speaker 1: A and you start your family, Like, what give us
Speaker 1: a little timeline my career. I knew I would make
Speaker 1: it in television. Well, I knew i'd make it in
Speaker 1: television when I started it Access Hollywood. My boss was
Speaker 1: like he was a little frustrated with me. One I
Speaker 1: look terrible at like corduroy jackets and my hair was
Speaker 1: all over the place. I didn't look like you're slick,
Speaker 1: you know, entertainment guy, or I find that hard to believe.
Speaker 1: I well, I'm smooth. I wasn't. I was a total ruffian.
Speaker 1: I mean right out of you know. Uh, it's certainly
Speaker 1: not Central casting, but I covered. My first interview was
Speaker 1: with sir Ian mckillan, Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. Right,
Speaker 1: this guy is a great serious Shakespearean actor. And I
Speaker 1: interviewed him at Sardi's Restaurant off Broadway, and I prepared
Speaker 1: meticulously for the interview, and I did about a forty
Speaker 1: five minute sit down interview my best Barbara Walters, and
Speaker 1: the boss says, look, he said, Jesus, dude, this is
Speaker 1: Access Hollywood. It's not Dateline. I'm looking for a moment,
Speaker 1: just a moment. If the drink spills on the table,
Speaker 1: it's a moment. If you get you know, if there's
Speaker 1: a laugh about something, it's a moment. We're a show
Speaker 1: about moments. I said, oh, okay, I got it. And
Speaker 1: then the next thing, I started just turning in moments.
Speaker 1: And the first one I think was the victorious Secret
Speaker 1: fashion show, Heidi Kloone, Gazelle, Bunch, entire of banks, oh gee,
Speaker 1: super models, I mean the bosses of bosses, and I went.
Speaker 1: They were all doing makeup and they let the press
Speaker 1: come in and I brought in three large pizzas from
Speaker 1: across the street as a delivery man. The cameras rolling,
Speaker 1: and I said, pizza for Clome, Pizza for Clome, and
Speaker 1: Heidi is like, what new, and all the girl they don't.
Speaker 1: They've been they've been getting ready for this fashion show,
Speaker 1: so they've been watching their diets. And the pizzas came
Speaker 1: in and everybody devoured him and it was really fun.
Speaker 1: That's a clever way. Yeah, So it was just a moment, right,
Speaker 1: No one had ever seen that kind of thing, right,
Speaker 1: some moments that's like the key kind of thing that
Speaker 1: you've taken home. Yeah that makes sense. Okay, I'm like
Speaker 1: taking that as a note for myself because I still
Speaker 1: feel like I'm new out all of this and this
Speaker 1: is one of my I mean, this is really one
Speaker 1: of my first I think I've only released like five
Speaker 1: or six episodes so far up the podcast. So they
Speaker 1: say five is the number for legitimacy, right, you gotta
Speaker 1: have five if you want to get to all the
Speaker 1: platforms or something like that. Is that a thing? I think? So? Um,
Speaker 1: if you say unless you work for a woman named Amy, shoot, um,
Speaker 1: well yeah, so I think that's actually some great advice.
Speaker 1: And also I was wondering about the I don't know
Speaker 1: how much you want to get into certain things, so
Speaker 1: I won't. Yeah, because I think I can really relate.
Speaker 1: And I've talked to you privately before when I went
Speaker 1: through like my family stuff about just honestly just being
Speaker 1: in the media something that I can um understand, and
Speaker 1: when you do have a setback, like just some advice
Speaker 1: not even just for me, but for those that have
Speaker 1: had setbacks too in different capacities, like in the darkest times,
Speaker 1: how you kind of got through it because I know
Speaker 1: you and you're such a lighthearted fun man to be around,
Speaker 1: but obviously you went through something. Yeah, oh for sure. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, look, it's like canceled culture is a little
Speaker 1: bit like um, it's kind of like you know, my
Speaker 1: dad used to say about a motorcycle accident. If you
Speaker 1: have a motorcycle, if you haven't been in an accident,
Speaker 1: you will be There's two types of motorcycle riders right,
Speaker 1: those who have been in the accident, those who will
Speaker 1: be in the accident. And at this rate, if you
Speaker 1: haven't been canceled, your time is coming because we're we're
Speaker 1: we're we're getting into an area that's and I'm the
Speaker 1: o G. I guess I'm the o G of canceled culture.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but we're getting into an area where
Speaker 1: if someone has a thought that is not a good
Speaker 1: thought and intrusive thought, they could be fired for it.
Speaker 1: You know, the rules are getting all life is gray
Speaker 1: area and we live in this black and white prism
Speaker 1: that somehow has has ruled our culture. I you know,
Speaker 1: Steve Harvey just talked a little bit about it. Um,
Speaker 1: I can tell you this. It's when it had it
Speaker 1: happened to me. It took me, oh, I think it
Speaker 1: took me until recently, probably four years to really you know,
Speaker 1: four or five years to really get that's how long
Speaker 1: ago was to be through the PTSD, because um, it's
Speaker 1: it's brutal. I mean you you you you know you're
Speaker 1: I'm providing for my family, I have a livelihood, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm and all of a sudden, you're unhirable for three
Speaker 1: years in the business that you love. Um, you know
Speaker 1: what did you do in that meantime in those three years? Well,
Speaker 1: first I drank a lot of alcohol, uh, very hard.
Speaker 1: The bottle became my my, my bestie. Then I put
Speaker 1: it down and just started figuring. Okay, like behind me,
Speaker 1: over my shoulder. I have but you know, thirty books
Speaker 1: or something. I've read every one of them. The role
Speaker 1: in the self help area. Uh. I went to a
Speaker 1: retreat for ten days in northern California, no phones, no electronics,
Speaker 1: just about trying to get the first foot forward again,
Speaker 1: get walking again. Went to Tony Robbins. I mean, I
Speaker 1: did everything I possibly could. In the end, it just
Speaker 1: it takes time. And what you really want to do
Speaker 1: is own your own stuff. The best thing for me,
Speaker 1: I finally realize, is to own my faults, own my role,
Speaker 1: own accountability for me and let everyone else who whatever
Speaker 1: they did, let them do that for themselves or if
Speaker 1: they're not going to fine, I can only be responsible
Speaker 1: for myself. And frankly, in the end, I'll tell you
Speaker 1: what it gave me. It gave me a tremendous blessing,
Speaker 1: and that is and you can relate to this. There
Speaker 1: is a lot of value in knowing what it feels
Speaker 1: like to be down, makes you approach other people a
Speaker 1: different way, makes you think twice before you cast judgment
Speaker 1: on someone, makes you kind of have a have a
Speaker 1: more open heart to other people because everybody's going through something.
Speaker 1: We also, Yeah, and I think also it's really interesting
Speaker 1: about just cancel culture in general. I mean, right now
Speaker 1: it's at new heights because although like four or five years,
Speaker 1: as you were saying, it was obviously still around your
Speaker 1: the o G. But now it's just like you could
Speaker 1: just post the wrong thing, say the wrong thing, and
Speaker 1: instantly with social media and the bandwagon effect, I feel
Speaker 1: like it's just almost too easy. But I also think
Speaker 1: that it's interesting because it doesn't make a lot of
Speaker 1: sense to me. Um, I think that I think that
Speaker 1: it's just I mean, my perfect example would be you,
Speaker 1: obviously we're in a situation that was a mistake on
Speaker 1: I'm sure a lot of people's parts and whatever. It
Speaker 1: was not going to speak on that, but you know,
Speaker 1: like you lost your job and then somebody also became
Speaker 1: the president who's who also was in the car and
Speaker 1: said certain things. Um, and I just find it really
Speaker 1: interesting though, like what I just always think about, like
Speaker 1: what is the what's the decipher like of who gets
Speaker 1: canceled and then somebody becomes the president. It's like mind
Speaker 1: blowing to me. No one can understand the l rhythm
Speaker 1: of crime and punishment. Does the punishment fit the crime?
Speaker 1: There is ano some people can do amazing things, like
Speaker 1: there are certain late night hosts. We don't have to
Speaker 1: go back and cancel them retroactively because I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe they're on the right side of the prevailing media narrative, right,
Speaker 1: so they're considered protected. Uh maybe there. You know, it
Speaker 1: depends on where you fall on the pendulum, and there's
Speaker 1: always usually someone to gain when someone's down. I am
Speaker 1: very good now at seeing all the pieces of the puzzle.
Speaker 1: It's never just oh, that was someone's If someone's going down,
Speaker 1: someone's going up. There there's a sesaw effect, you know.
Speaker 1: I'm working on a new show coming up, a project
Speaker 1: that I have which will be able to lift that
Speaker 1: curtain and show the little man pulling the strings there,
Speaker 1: the little Wizard of Oz in the background of who's
Speaker 1: all the imaginations of what's going on where and who's
Speaker 1: doing what? You know, so people can see now that
Speaker 1: I've survived, there's so much ample material for me to
Speaker 1: analyze um. And in the end, you know, in my life,
Speaker 1: people have I think there are very few people left
Speaker 1: to say, let's punish Billy Bush, I think right. So
Speaker 1: now I'd like to do what I can to embrace
Speaker 1: the gray area again and open people's hearts. And first
Speaker 1: question you gotta ask, Olivia, is does anyone here when
Speaker 1: something happens to someone? So wait a minute before we judge,
Speaker 1: does anyone here have the wiring inside them to maybe
Speaker 1: have done something similar at some point on a bad day?
Speaker 1: Do you have it in you? If you don't, go ahead,
Speaker 1: judge away. Yeah, it's so true. It's so true because
Speaker 1: it's we live in a society though, where you know,
Speaker 1: if everybody's worse moments were caught on camera. I was
Speaker 1: actually talking to a friend about this recently. This is
Speaker 1: a really this is not a serious idea, but we
Speaker 1: were talking about there should be a day, I swear
Speaker 1: and like some somewhere in the near future, because it
Speaker 1: needs to happen where everybody, whatever video they have, whatever evidence,
Speaker 1: are proof of their worst moment or the worst thing
Speaker 1: they've said, or something that's a mistake that you wouldn't
Speaker 1: want public just one day, national like annual time, whatever
Speaker 1: it is. Everybody just throws it up at the same time.
Speaker 1: So it's everybody's worst mistake out there. And then it's like,
Speaker 1: how can you even judge anybody that's so brilliant. I
Speaker 1: call that the buyback program. They do it with guns
Speaker 1: right in major cities. They'll say, okay, it's the buyback brogram.
Speaker 1: If you have a weapon, bring it forward on this day,
Speaker 1: and there will be no prosecution for you or anything.
Speaker 1: Even the legal weapon of some kind come in, turn
Speaker 1: it in. Everybody take their worst moment, offer it up.
Speaker 1: It would be such a therapeutic session. It wouldn't once
Speaker 1: did a terrible thing. I know, next you go around,
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, exactly, That's what we were talking about.
Speaker 1: It was just like it would just I think it
Speaker 1: would eliminate so much judgment because then you you'd finally
Speaker 1: look in the mirror and be like, oh wait, I
Speaker 1: actually I've messed up a lot of times too, And
Speaker 1: I wouldn't want that for everybody to judge and see
Speaker 1: and read every day for years. Like there's you mentioned
Speaker 1: a very interesting thing here, because there is a got
Speaker 1: you element. If people feel like they got you, then
Speaker 1: it can be very shameful and very punishing. But if
Speaker 1: you come forward on your own, it's a different story.
Speaker 1: Like Dave Letterman had some indiscretions with people on his
Speaker 1: staff and it was a big story. But at the
Speaker 1: time he was being extorted by a man and he
Speaker 1: came forward and said, I will not be extorted. This
Speaker 1: is a terrible thing. Yes, I've had some indiscretions and
Speaker 1: I haven't conducted myself perfectly, but I will not I
Speaker 1: will not be extorted by this man. And he came forward.
Speaker 1: People were like, good for you. Nothing happened. He came
Speaker 1: forward first. He beat them to the punch. You are
Speaker 1: in trouble and you know it's about to happen. Come
Speaker 1: from Twitter fast, yea, the one that brought it out.
Speaker 1: Take it from us. Um, when did you realize you
Speaker 1: could come back and like after you did a lot
Speaker 1: of like self work and you took time. At what
Speaker 1: point were you like, Okay, I'm ready to like jump
Speaker 1: back into my job and do what I love again.
Speaker 1: I just did serve my time and over, you know,
Speaker 1: depending on how you feel. I mean, uh, extra was
Speaker 1: um they needed a captain, you know, the host for
Speaker 1: the for the show, and I don't think anyone would
Speaker 1: ever say that I wasn't good at my job. So
Speaker 1: they were like, yeah, I think this makes sense and
Speaker 1: let's grab him and if he wants to go. And
Speaker 1: so I met with the actually Lisa g the producer,
Speaker 1: slid into my d M s can we have lunch?
Speaker 1: And there we decided let's do a different type of show,
Speaker 1: let's change the format a little bit, and sure, let's
Speaker 1: get Rocket and so um, you know, back we went.
Speaker 1: And Ashley from the Almost Famous podcast, it's that time
Speaker 1: of year where drama fills the air. The Bachelor is
Speaker 1: back with an all new season premiering January three. There's
Speaker 1: a new host, Jesse Palmer, and a brand new Bachelor, Clayton.
Speaker 1: Clayton is a Midwest boy that has that great smile,
Speaker 1: nice teeth, and he's really tall. Ash let's call it
Speaker 1: what it is. He's a beefcake. Okay, Well, Clayton seems
Speaker 1: to be a good guy though, and he can't wait
Speaker 1: to find love, get married, and have kids. And he
Speaker 1: believes more than anything that his future wife is on
Speaker 1: this show. It sounds like a fairy tale, but also
Speaker 1: a bit of an emotional world coaster because Clayton tells
Speaker 1: three different women he's falling in love with him. Technically
Speaker 1: he told one, I couldn't be more sure that I'm
Speaker 1: falling in love with you, and another one, I'm falling
Speaker 1: in love with you, and the third one, I am
Speaker 1: in love with you. You don't miss a thing. It's
Speaker 1: your years of over analyzing everything that guys say. But
Speaker 1: his heart is in the right place. But other parts
Speaker 1: of him as we find out what he admits to
Speaker 1: two different women that he was intimate with both of them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's gonna go over Well, we'll be
Speaker 1: breaking down it all on the Famous podcast Ben is
Speaker 1: Married Now Well Ashley's a mom will change our opinions
Speaker 1: of what we think is acceptable single behavior. Good question.
Speaker 1: Listen to Almost Famous on the I Heart Radio app
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Who's
Speaker 1: the who's your most favorite favorite guest? Or like memorable
Speaker 1: moment you've had on any any show you've ever hosted?
Speaker 1: Is there one? Oh my gosh? Well, I used to
Speaker 1: do Access Hollywood Live, which was a little, you know,
Speaker 1: the live daytime version hour long of Access Hollywood back
Speaker 1: in the day. I loved doing that more than anything
Speaker 1: was stuff. We had John Corbett um Aiden, you know,
Speaker 1: for whatever, from from Sex in the City of the Actor.
Speaker 1: He would come. He stripped down one time when he
Speaker 1: got the music was going and he stripped down to
Speaker 1: his maroons Skivvy's. That was a big laugh. Uh. We
Speaker 1: did more fund spontaneous things. I once interviewed Mike Tyson.
Speaker 1: I said, Mike, and I had nowhere to go, like
Speaker 1: we were out of the interview, but I had a
Speaker 1: little more time, and I said, so, I just say, said, Mike,
Speaker 1: A lot of people have told me you have a
Speaker 1: beautiful singing voice. How is it that I have never
Speaker 1: heard this. I have no idea if Mike Tyson can sing,
Speaker 1: I'm assuming probably not that well. And all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, he's like, he goes, what I
Speaker 1: go work with me, Mike. I've been told by multiple
Speaker 1: reliable sources that you have a fantastic singing voice. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh god, I'm going down. I'm sinking. The
Speaker 1: moment is not happening. He looks at me like I've
Speaker 1: got seven heads. And then finally he goes, who the
Speaker 1: dogs out. How do you like live? Did you feel
Speaker 1: the pressure when you had to interview people lives so
Speaker 1: much more than obviously like a prerecorded So funny, I
Speaker 1: used to always say on our live show back in
Speaker 1: the day, and so, you know what, I don't know
Speaker 1: if it's today or tomorrow or a few months from now,
Speaker 1: but at some point I'm gonna say something that's likely
Speaker 1: going to get me fired, and I'm just you know,
Speaker 1: getting ready for it. Ended up being something from eleven
Speaker 1: years earlier that was in a tape vault. But you know,
Speaker 1: because I saw the direction we were going, you know,
Speaker 1: and the and I always felt me on live TV
Speaker 1: is a terrible miss. It's it's a risky endeavor, but
Speaker 1: it can be fun the time. It's really fun. Maybe
Speaker 1: there's nothing better than than than you know, walking that
Speaker 1: tight rope every day. It can be terrified. I would
Speaker 1: there was just say and we're clear. When the show
Speaker 1: was over and we're clear, and I would just go,
Speaker 1: are you sure, okay? Good? Positive? I made another day. Yeah,
Speaker 1: That's how I felt when I was on Dancing with
Speaker 1: the Stars. With the live shows, obviously I didn't have
Speaker 1: to speak, but I was like, after they were like,
Speaker 1: and it's over and you're off camera and you run
Speaker 1: off stage, You're like, Okay, I didn't fall, I didn't
Speaker 1: say anything bad. I didn't mess up like onto the
Speaker 1: next week, hope for the best and what excuse me,
Speaker 1: but what a hoof for you are? The dancing is unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Have you danced since I haven't? I was. I was
Speaker 1: on the phone with my the guy that was my
Speaker 1: pro val, like two days ago, and I was like yes,
Speaker 1: and I was like, please, I really want you to
Speaker 1: like introduce me to somebody because he doesn't do private
Speaker 1: training obviously, it was just for the show, um. And
Speaker 1: he said he would hook me up with a really
Speaker 1: great instructor. So that's like upcoming back. I really miss it.
Speaker 1: I do. It was such a very very good I
Speaker 1: knew you'd take to it well, but not as well,
Speaker 1: I mean as well as you did that. That was impressive.
Speaker 1: And I know your your parents were both unbelievably you're
Speaker 1: dead and tears in his eyes. It was so cute.
Speaker 1: That's so sweet. Yeah, I think I got the I
Speaker 1: think I got the moves from Moss, although I've only
Speaker 1: ever seen those moves come out of my dad when
Speaker 1: he's had some tequila. I had to do it sober,
Speaker 1: which was way scarier and not and not afraid and
Speaker 1: not afraid to do so. I believe I'm playing golf
Speaker 1: with him on Saturday. So I'm hoping that that my
Speaker 1: dry January will probably turning damp. It's turning damp, and
Speaker 1: it's turning damp. Qu He has a tremendous golf His
Speaker 1: golf company is through the roof, I mean people sending
Speaker 1: contures and yeah, he is doing pretty well. What advice
Speaker 1: would you give me? Obviously, you know my parents, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm a young twenty two year old woman living in
Speaker 1: l A trying to figure out my next move. And
Speaker 1: what do you have anything that you could maybe tell
Speaker 1: your younger self or something that I could take away? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You got I think you got a tremendous life lesson
Speaker 1: very early. And you know, there's it comes with many
Speaker 1: different you know, um facets to it. I mean one
Speaker 1: is things are very unpredictable. Uh you know when when
Speaker 1: when there's an error made you own up. Uh you're
Speaker 1: you went through a period of feeling down all the
Speaker 1: way down, Like am I ever gonna get back? I
Speaker 1: I don't know that type of feeling is very causes
Speaker 1: a lot of anxiety and stuff, but it really also
Speaker 1: makes you a warmer, nicer, kinder, you know, more empathetic person,
Speaker 1: and we need more people like that. So I think
Speaker 1: going forward, you have at a lesson that you never
Speaker 1: saw it coming. It was never on the you know,
Speaker 1: it just it occurred, and you now I think, have
Speaker 1: the fortification to really dominate in whatever you want. One
Speaker 1: you're smart and and you know you've got those things,
Speaker 1: but you've got the fortification. I hope you never look back.
Speaker 1: I hope you just you know, blast toward knowing well
Speaker 1: the worst is behind me. That can be fuel for you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. Did you when you guys went through your
Speaker 1: hiccup and obviously you have daughters, what was did they
Speaker 1: take away or learn from that situation? Was that like
Speaker 1: a really challenging time as a family. Yeah, only because
Speaker 1: I was despondent, you know what I mean. I mean
Speaker 1: that the they were I had a couple of frank
Speaker 1: conversations with my girls. I've you know, I've they know
Speaker 1: who I am. You know, they also know that there's
Speaker 1: that back then, you know, when twelve years before that,
Speaker 1: there was a desperate little guy that wanted to make
Speaker 1: it in the business, who was young and and and
Speaker 1: naive and and and a suck up and I want
Speaker 1: to and was was his lips were numb from kissing
Speaker 1: celebrity as I mean, it was like I was. But
Speaker 1: of course that's what we want to embrace, right, his evolution.
Speaker 1: By the at the time I was fired, I was
Speaker 1: a completely different man. I was not a boy I was.
Speaker 1: I was a man. I was a man. I controlled
Speaker 1: the set um on the Today Show. I'm like, I'm
Speaker 1: the guy that people walk in and say, oh, I
Speaker 1: grew up watching you with my mom or something, and
Speaker 1: then they're sitting with You're a different person in the room, right,
Speaker 1: you have a different wait in the room. I couldn't
Speaker 1: have been a lighter weight back in the you know,
Speaker 1: at that moment. So I think it's you know, I
Speaker 1: think it's important that we um that we let people evolve,
Speaker 1: we let people screw up, we embrace failure. Again, Oprah said,
Speaker 1: it wasn't the little successes that led to the big success,
Speaker 1: it was the little failures that informed the big success. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's so true. So what's next. I got a great
Speaker 1: project that um that we're that we're working on now.
Speaker 1: But um is exciting. I've learned been in the business
Speaker 1: too long to mention that at this point, although I
Speaker 1: whispered to you later, ah, but you know you don't wanna,
Speaker 1: you don't want to jinx yourself. There's that, there's that,
Speaker 1: and then there's just um, I've been dry in January.
Speaker 1: This is like, this is fantastic. I'm seeing my cheekbones again,
Speaker 1: record breaking. You look great. I dropped nine pounds in
Speaker 1: eleven days. That's so wild, isn't that incredible? Nine pounds
Speaker 1: in eleven days? I'm like that. Also discuss to show
Speaker 1: how much I mean sugar and just calories and everything
Speaker 1: that's in booze. The fact that you can go sober
Speaker 1: for a week, and so here's my mission. Can't go
Speaker 1: dry period. I'm that's just that's not in me. So
Speaker 1: I like DAMP. I like Damp two thousand, twenty two
Speaker 1: weekends only maybe. But the mission is to make Booze special.
Speaker 1: Ag end hmm, in what way? Instead of like a
Speaker 1: Tuesday cocktail while I'm watching whatever? You know, it's make
Speaker 1: it special, like look forward to it. You've you've served
Speaker 1: your penance all week and now you've played golf. It's
Speaker 1: five o'clock on Friday, ket me a gold martini and
Speaker 1: you're shaking the martini and you're pouring it and you
Speaker 1: haven't had four cocktails on the golf course, and so
Speaker 1: you're tired at that point. You've played golf because it's
Speaker 1: a sport and you don't drink during sports, and then
Speaker 1: a nice cocktail afterwards you look forward to it. It's
Speaker 1: special again, right, that's actually such a great idea. And
Speaker 1: I think that this is a wonderful endeavor for you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you get a little blubber off you too, and you know,
Speaker 1: you see the cheekbones and yeah, like a blubbery I'm fifty. Okay,
Speaker 1: you were never blubbery. I would not use that word
Speaker 1: to describe you. But bloated, bloated. Everybody used bloated, your lad.
Speaker 1: I'm like so nervous to say anything. I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: is this going to be taking the wrong way? That's
Speaker 1: the thing. Wait, you just touched on something so important,
Speaker 1: the way our culture is going with the whole cancelation
Speaker 1: and all this business and and and penalty and penalty,
Speaker 1: you know, death by career, career death for a slip
Speaker 1: up or anything like that. Whatever the circumstances are, We're
Speaker 1: losing interesting people. We're losing voices that matter. Like, you know,
Speaker 1: the the heretics of the of of history are the
Speaker 1: ones that informed us and and made us in many
Speaker 1: ways who we are. So if we lose those people's
Speaker 1: daringness to say interesting thoughts or things that are different
Speaker 1: or go out on a limb, I mean we're really
Speaker 1: sanitizing too much. I mean, that's what's fascinating about our
Speaker 1: discourse are wildly differing opinions. Yeah, it's so true. I
Speaker 1: mean I always say that I'm like, I don't want
Speaker 1: to speak on And I even had my sister on
Speaker 1: one of the episodes, and Bella is very uh. I
Speaker 1: think she's just like a direct a little bit more sarcastic,
Speaker 1: and she really doesn't care about I think she cares,
Speaker 1: but just not to the same degree about being canceled
Speaker 1: and stuff Like she just is like, well, O, your
Speaker 1: say what you gotta say, Like this is your life.
Speaker 1: If people they don't have to watch, I don't have
Speaker 1: to listen. Like, she's just a little bit more free
Speaker 1: and open with her thoughts and I second guess everything
Speaker 1: that comes out of my mouth because I think I
Speaker 1: have trauma from everything that happened with my family, where
Speaker 1: I'm like, I don't ever want to wake up and
Speaker 1: see a text from my agent of an article link again,
Speaker 1: Like I don't ever want to see you, Like I'm
Speaker 1: so freaked out to mess up again that I almost
Speaker 1: rather just like sit in silence, just be like, let
Speaker 1: somebody else do talking. Yeah, yeah, I like, you're afraid
Speaker 1: to like a bar stool sports Instagram because it's a
Speaker 1: little you know, maybe not so, you know, it's a
Speaker 1: little off color or something, and if you like it,
Speaker 1: people like, oh you like that? You're oh god, what
Speaker 1: b But that's you know, we have bloggers out there.
Speaker 1: It's it's called the link economy. We have bloggers out there,
Speaker 1: and they get paid upon not they don't. They don't
Speaker 1: get a pulletzer. You get paid on page views. So
Speaker 1: whatever can be mind, This conversation right now between you
Speaker 1: and I will be mind, and something will be put out.
Speaker 1: You know, someone probably find something and say, oh, back
Speaker 1: up the ambulance, you know too, canceled, people crying. Whatever
Speaker 1: they'll say, who knows cares. But right now where I am,
Speaker 1: what I will likely do is either pound them back
Speaker 1: or or call them on the phone, or I don't know,
Speaker 1: something like that. Enough enough, no more here, But that's
Speaker 1: I won't be doing that out. He's sitting in my
Speaker 1: room like, no, no, you'll be underneath soon, you'll be
Speaker 1: underneath the bed exactly. But I'll let you do the
Speaker 1: calling for sure. I love it. I love nothing I
Speaker 1: love more than calling a writer or a newspaper or
Speaker 1: you know, some outlet and saying, let me ask you
Speaker 1: a question. Are you an idiot? What do you? What
Speaker 1: is the wrong? They call them right to their face.
Speaker 1: It's as I can't stand dishonestly and I can't stand
Speaker 1: lazy work. I've never tried that. Never. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: i'm a little young still. I think I gotta be
Speaker 1: uh that whole respect your elders thing. I gotta gotta
Speaker 1: have a few fs left, but not not a ton,
Speaker 1: I think. Also, I get I just want to see.
Speaker 1: This is exactly what you're going to see, a perfect
Speaker 1: example of what I've been saying. How I'm scared to
Speaker 1: say anything because I was going to go on to
Speaker 1: say I don't want people to take what I'm saying
Speaker 1: the wrong way. Obviously I'm in a huge position of privilege.
Speaker 1: Everybody knows that you're a very you can you come
Speaker 1: from a privileged family as well, and you're in a
Speaker 1: position of privilege. And so I don't want this to
Speaker 1: be taken as me like I was canceled and I'm
Speaker 1: complaining about it and it's not fair, and it's like,
Speaker 1: I just hope people see that there is you know,
Speaker 1: you own your I own my mistake and then I
Speaker 1: got to move forward at some point to be able
Speaker 1: to talk about your experiences right. Well, also, but if
Speaker 1: if you know, if nobody has an opinion about you,
Speaker 1: and opinions go both ways, maybe it's not working. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, I've never had every as much as you.
Speaker 1: You know, you like me. I'm a friend of your parents.
Speaker 1: We have a lovely but not everyone does, right, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. That's got plenty of detractors, and
Speaker 1: I appreciate them. Fine, that's life for you. I can't
Speaker 1: please everyone's life for everybody. I mean I think, I mean,
Speaker 1: like Rosie o'donnald you were too young, but she used
Speaker 1: to be on the view on ABC, and Rosie was
Speaker 1: a lightning run and people hated her or they loved
Speaker 1: her but bore. The ratings were great and she made
Speaker 1: the show. I wish she would go back on. Well, well,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for coming on. I won't take
Speaker 1: up any more of your time because I know you're
Speaker 1: a busy man and you've got stuff to do. But
Speaker 1: I loved having you on and I think you're very
Speaker 1: wise man as well. So thank you, thank you, and
Speaker 1: you're wiser than you expected to be at this age. Folks,
Speaker 1: Olivia Jane genuinely live from her apartment. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: S