Speaker 1: Twist.
Speaker 2: I'm a homegirl that knows a little bit about everything
Speaker 2: and everybody.
Speaker 1: You don't know if you don't lie about that, right,
Speaker 1: Lauren can't.
Speaker 2: Hey, y'all, it's Laura l. Rosa and this is the
Speaker 2: Latest with Laura L.
Speaker 1: Roza.
Speaker 2: Y'all know, this is a daily dig on all things
Speaker 2: pop culture, entertainment, news, exclusive and breaking news. But more importantly,
Speaker 2: the conversations that shake the room. Baby, were gonna get
Speaker 2: on into them all the time. I'm Laura la Rosa.
Speaker 2: I'm your host. Thank you guys for joining me for
Speaker 2: another episode. If this is your first episode, don't go anywhere.
Speaker 2: Please make sure you become a Lowrider, which is our
Speaker 2: podcast community, and stick right here with me for everything breaking,
Speaker 2: everything trending now on the podcast. You guys know, when
Speaker 2: we open it up, we do the behind the scenes
Speaker 2: of the grind.
Speaker 1: Which is a check in.
Speaker 2: Because I said all the time, when you move in
Speaker 2: and when you shake in, a lot of times you
Speaker 2: don't take the time to just make sure you're good.
Speaker 2: People don't ask you are you okay? Because you always
Speaker 2: appeared to be okay. And I am one of those
Speaker 2: people when people say check on your strong friend. I
Speaker 2: am the strong friends, so friends, low riders. Thank y'all
Speaker 2: for being here with me and checking in on me
Speaker 2: during this behind the scenes of the grind checking.
Speaker 1: And today I am feeling unsure a bit.
Speaker 2: If I'm being honest, and I'm not unsure about you know,
Speaker 2: life and career and like all the things I think
Speaker 2: right now, my my unsureeness or like my uncertainty unsureness,
Speaker 2: I don't even if that's a word, y'all know, I'll
Speaker 2: be making up words. My uncertainty comes from, you know,
Speaker 2: being at a point in life, career and all these
Speaker 2: things where I'm experiencing things for the first time. In
Speaker 2: first generation college student HBC, you graduate, So walking into
Speaker 2: a dark room and having to find a light switch
Speaker 2: I am very familiar with. But I think when you're
Speaker 2: doing it in career, when you're doing it in love,
Speaker 2: when you're doing it in relationship, whether that's you know,
Speaker 2: a platonic friendship or like you're you know, a person
Speaker 2: you're trying to be with, all the things. Right now
Speaker 2: in my life, I'm experiencing things and people at heights
Speaker 2: and in volumes that I've never done it before. So
Speaker 2: right now I'm blessed that I have people around me
Speaker 2: who've already been here, done this, and are operating at
Speaker 2: such a high level that can guide me, that can
Speaker 2: give me, you know, education, that can pull me up,
Speaker 2: that can call me out, that can remind me of responsibility,
Speaker 2: that can remind me to say sharp, that can remind
Speaker 2: me that you know, all of.
Speaker 1: The things because it's needed.
Speaker 2: And the feeling of uncertainty that I'm referencing, I'm not
Speaker 2: upset about.
Speaker 1: It ain't making me nervous. I'm not, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean.
Speaker 2: It's it's more of like, if I'm being honest, this
Speaker 2: is a this is a new space for me. You know,
Speaker 2: these are new levels, these are new things that are happening,
Speaker 2: and I'm always one to say I want to make
Speaker 2: sure I'm doing it right because I might not get
Speaker 2: a second chance at it. I don't have the shot.
Speaker 2: You know that a lot of women who don't look
Speaker 2: like me as a black woman. When I get on
Speaker 2: a platform, when I'm whether I'm having a good time
Speaker 2: or I'm being that like serious you know person bringing
Speaker 2: you the story and the facts in the details, I
Speaker 2: take everything really serious and really personal because I might
Speaker 2: not get to do it again.
Speaker 1: I gotta work three times.
Speaker 2: It's hard, honestly, I say six, and I also have
Speaker 2: to do it all while showing up effortlessly. And now
Speaker 2: I'm beginning to learn to deal with the critiques and
Speaker 2: the criticisms, and I take it all in stride because
Speaker 2: for me, I look at those things as metrics of like, okay,
Speaker 2: you know, if I'm more in talking with her marketing degree,
Speaker 2: these are ways to kind of look at your performance,
Speaker 2: look at how people are perceiving you, look at how
Speaker 2: your audience, you know, digest you and breaks you down
Speaker 2: to better and be sharper. So I'm grateful to even
Speaker 2: have that understanding and that way of thinking about it.
Speaker 2: But it's here, that is the feeling, that is where
Speaker 2: I'm at right now. I don't know how you guys
Speaker 2: are feeling today and in this time, but you know,
Speaker 2: always feel free to share with me. I'm at Lauren
Speaker 2: la Rosa everywhere including Twitter and Instagram. But let's get
Speaker 2: on end to the latest right now, because one thing
Speaker 2: I'm sure about is there is always a lot going on. Now.
Speaker 1: When I saw this story that we're about.
Speaker 2: To get into, it really touched me because I talk
Speaker 2: about it a lot on all of my platforms having
Speaker 2: to take a leave of word to help my mother
Speaker 2: get through a stage for a cancer battle, and you
Speaker 2: know what the pressure and the anxiety and the uncertainty
Speaker 2: of that actually felt like, you know, and being on
Speaker 2: a platform and you know, feeling like, hey, I might
Speaker 2: not get another shot at this again at the time.
Speaker 2: But Holda from The Today Show actually back in January,
Speaker 2: decided to leave The Today Show now the Today Show.
Speaker 2: And you know, Holda's career a very coveted spot. She
Speaker 2: it built her way into a very coveted position and
Speaker 2: all of the things right, very successful and very accomplished.
Speaker 2: But for a lot of people, you don't get to
Speaker 2: that place in your life and be like, you know what,
Speaker 2: I'm going to just exit and remove myself from this show,
Speaker 2: from this platform, from this daily grind, from this daily hustle.
Speaker 2: Normally it's like networks will say, hey, we're going in
Speaker 2: a different direction, or your show is cancelled or things
Speaker 2: of that nature. But to voluntarily do it and not
Speaker 2: announce something else, bigger, another show, another job, another something
Speaker 2: makes people wonder. So Holda actually sat down with People
Speaker 2: magazine and they published this article on her where she
Speaker 2: actually went into more detail about why she decided to
Speaker 2: step away from the Today's Show, and Holda revealed that
Speaker 2: her daughter, Hope, who was six years old, was actually
Speaker 2: diagnosed with type one diabetes back in twenty twenty three,
Speaker 2: and because of that, Holda says, I really wanted to
Speaker 2: and needed to be here to watch over her. So
Speaker 2: she stepped away from The Today Show and decided to
Speaker 2: do other things with her life and her career so
Speaker 2: that she could do that. Now, I think anybody who
Speaker 2: hears that line alone of what I just said, instantly,
Speaker 2: you don't need any other further explanation. You understand as
Speaker 2: a parent, You understand as a person. You just understand.
Speaker 2: Whether you're not a parent. I'm not a parent, but
Speaker 2: I get it. Anyone who has ever dealt with a
Speaker 2: loved one who was experiencing something as traumatic as you know,
Speaker 2: an illness that can grow to be terminal if not
Speaker 2: managed well and all those things, one hundred percent get it.
Speaker 2: But even if not, you understand. Now, when Holda decided
Speaker 2: that she was going to take a step away, they
Speaker 2: had this huge episode for her and everybody that she
Speaker 2: had worked with, she had known, she had loved, decided
Speaker 2: to come on the show and just give her her
Speaker 2: flowers and make her feel good. Upon her departure, there
Speaker 2: was like a parade of people, Maria Shiver, Simone Bios,
Speaker 2: Andy Cohen, Kathylee Gifford, Jimmy Fallon, all of these people
Speaker 2: showed up to say goodbye, to hold m and it
Speaker 2: was it was a very emotional episode. Her co host
Speaker 2: Jenna Bush Hagger burst into tears as they did this
Speaker 2: huge glass of champagne toast to hold upon her exit.
Speaker 2: Her daughter's Haley who was eight years old, and Hope
Speaker 2: who was six, which is her daughter who was actually
Speaker 2: diagnosed with the type one diabetes, also joined them on
Speaker 2: set as well.
Speaker 1: It was a beautiful moment.
Speaker 2: It was very emotional because she's been a part of
Speaker 2: this show and a part of this brand for so long.
Speaker 2: But watching that back now, understanding and knowing everything that
Speaker 2: we know now, it definitely makes you think a lot about,
Speaker 2: you know, as a woman, or as a parent, or
Speaker 2: as a person learning how to or figuring out when
Speaker 2: it's time to balance life more over career. And I
Speaker 2: think I'm always struggling with that because of you know,
Speaker 2: just being a caregiver for my mother and my grandmother,
Speaker 2: and the things that I talk about a lot here
Speaker 2: on the podcast and on my YouTube channel, Laura on
Speaker 2: the Roads of TV.
Speaker 1: But hearing her.
Speaker 2: Story, I'm like, man, all of these months and all
Speaker 2: of this time, and it's no one's job to have
Speaker 2: to tell us why, especially when it comes to something
Speaker 2: like this, you know, illness or you know, anything medically
Speaker 2: that you have to you know, now watch and keep
Speaker 2: up with. But you just never know what people are
Speaker 2: going through. You just never know people are going through.
Speaker 2: You never know what they're experiencing. It doesn't matter at
Speaker 2: what point in their career, how high they're operating, or anything.
Speaker 2: Since then, it's been five months since Holda walked away
Speaker 2: from The Today Show, and in that time, she's been
Speaker 2: doing a bunch of new stuff. She created like a
Speaker 2: whole life for herself, a new life for herself, and
Speaker 2: she's actually had, of course more time to spend with
Speaker 2: her daughters and be able to you know, plan for
Speaker 2: their future and like figure out, you know, best health
Speaker 2: care for her daughter. But she's also launched a wellness
Speaker 2: company is called Joy one on one and that wellness
Speaker 2: company comes with an app, and within that app, you know,
Speaker 2: of course they're giving you information and education and resources.
Speaker 2: But she also is going to couple that with live events.
Speaker 2: There's a subscription newsletter that will cent her like all
Speaker 2: around joy and mindfulness, meditation and wealthness and things that
Speaker 2: really can impact your self care and your health care
Speaker 2: as well. But I think the biggest thing that I
Speaker 2: took from this article there was a quote from Holda
Speaker 2: where she talked about the small things now that feel
Speaker 2: her day. And I think when you're a person who
Speaker 2: lives such a big life in front of the world,
Speaker 2: a lot of times you don't get a chance to
Speaker 2: enjoy the small things. And if you're enjoying the small things,
Speaker 2: you don't feel the impact of that joy at all.
Speaker 2: It's so different when you don't have the noise and
Speaker 2: the hustle and bustle of having to be here and
Speaker 2: do this and prepare for this and do that. And
Speaker 2: she's getting to feel that now at age sixty. And
Speaker 2: I'm really happy for her. Number one, because of course
Speaker 2: she gets to prioritize her daughter's health. But number two,
Speaker 2: I think being able to enjoy those small things after
Speaker 2: not being able to it gives you just this refreshing
Speaker 2: and replenishing look on life and on career and on.
Speaker 2: You know your priorities and where you put them that
Speaker 2: I think every person honestly deserves to experience. Hopefully it
Speaker 2: doesn't come from, you know, finding out that you know
Speaker 2: a loved one is ill or is battling, you know,
Speaker 2: something with that can potentially impact their life if not
Speaker 2: managed well. But it is a good thing to be
Speaker 2: able to have something just remind you to kind of
Speaker 2: like sit in, smell the roses. Right, So Holda says,
Speaker 2: it's really cool to just realize that there's so much
Speaker 2: more to life. I wasn't able to bear witness to
Speaker 2: my kids daily lives because of what I was doing.
Speaker 2: I got to see Helly sing with a wonderful world
Speaker 2: at nine to fifty a m. I would have missed
Speaker 2: that I used to have to. I used to think
Speaker 2: life was the big things, but it's really all about
Speaker 2: the stuff that happens in between. I can't tell you
Speaker 2: guys enough how I feel like my life, my decision making,
Speaker 2: my prioritization was altered by being able to take the
Speaker 2: time off of work. I took almost I would say,
Speaker 2: like four to six months off of my job when
Speaker 2: I was at TMZ to just solely figure out what
Speaker 2: was about to happen with my mom, and it was
Speaker 2: really scary.
Speaker 1: It was really dark.
Speaker 2: People don't understand what you're dealing with, and it's something
Speaker 2: sometimes that you can't really talk to people about because.
Speaker 1: They don't really get it.
Speaker 2: So send them some love and some prayers and some
Speaker 2: comfort and hugs and all of the things. Shoda and
Speaker 2: her family, you can't do that enough being a person
Speaker 2: in that position, regardless of you know how she's been
Speaker 2: able to turn things around for herself and find new
Speaker 2: spaces in career and life and experience the beauty of
Speaker 2: experiencing these new moments, it's still a very different place for.
Speaker 1: Her and her family and her baby girls. So sending
Speaker 1: them some love. Now.
Speaker 2: In other news, here on the latest Motown legend, Smokey Robinson.
Speaker 1: So, there was.
Speaker 2: This lawsuit that it dropped accusing the singer of sexual assault.
Speaker 2: Now moving forward, Smokey Robinson has decided to fight back.
Speaker 2: He's filed a five hundred million dollar defamation lawsuit against
Speaker 2: the four former housekeepers.
Speaker 1: Who accused him.
Speaker 2: Accused the singer of the sexual assault. Now, this case
Speaker 2: was actually filed by Smokey Robinson and his wife Francis
Speaker 2: this week in California, and it accused these housekeepers of
Speaker 2: fabricating the sexual assault allegations as in a part of
Speaker 2: an extortion Lawsuitkie Robinson says that the alleged victims who
Speaker 2: filed their case anonymously went on family holidays with a couple,
Speaker 2: went on family holidays with Smokey Robinson and their family
Speaker 2: celebrated holidays together and all of the things.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Smokey Robinson, who was also under criminal investigation now in
Speaker 2: Los Angeles over the accusations of sexual assault of sexual assault,
Speaker 2: has denied all these allegations from the jump. Even when
Speaker 2: I reported this on the Breakfast Club, they made it
Speaker 2: very clear that he had denied these allegations and that
Speaker 2: they felt and believed and alleged that this was just
Speaker 2: a shakedown for money. Now, Smokey Robinson's attorney says that,
Speaker 2: like I said, the allegations were a money thing.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Smokey Robinson's attorneys also filed a motion to dismiss the
Speaker 2: woman's lawsuit or the original lawsuit against him, arguing that
Speaker 2: they should have not been granted the ability to remain anonymous.
Speaker 2: And that's been a conversation around a lot of these
Speaker 2: recent sexual assault, sexual harassment, and these various lawsuits.
Speaker 1: When it comes to these big.
Speaker 2: Names, is knowing that you know these big names are
Speaker 2: involved and knowing that it will pick up in headlines,
Speaker 2: and whether this person is found guilty or not, whether
Speaker 2: the charges are dismissed or not. These people who are
Speaker 2: names face very serious consequences in the midst of all
Speaker 2: of that because of public perception, because of brands wanting
Speaker 2: to back away even before these things are settled. And
Speaker 2: when I say settled, I don't mean like a settlement
Speaker 2: paid out, but I mean like whether a judge rules
Speaker 2: guilty or not, and sometimes even if there are settlements
Speaker 2: behind the scenes or not, because brands don't like mess
Speaker 2: So there's been a big conversation around like should that
Speaker 2: be allowed, because you know, on one end, you have
Speaker 2: these names who they're facing the consequences in real time.
Speaker 2: But then you have the accusers who are granted this
Speaker 2: level of protection because they're able to remain anonymous and
Speaker 2: file as Jane Doe's or John Doe's and things of
Speaker 2: that nature. Now, the lawsuit that Smokey Robinson file says
Speaker 2: that the Robinson's did not abuse, harm or take advantage
Speaker 2: of the plaintiffs. They treated the plaintiffs with the utmost
Speaker 2: kindness and generosity. Now to give you guys some background
Speaker 2: information on the original laws who that was filed. The
Speaker 2: women filed this lawsuit in La Superior Court earlier in
Speaker 2: May of this year under the pseudonyms of Jane Doe,
Speaker 2: Jane Doe one, Jane DO two, Jane O three, and
Speaker 2: Jane Do four. It was a twenty seven page legal
Speaker 2: action and they alleged several different incidents that they say
Speaker 2: dated back all the way to two thousand and six,
Speaker 2: which accused Smokey Robinson of pressuring them into sex.
Speaker 1: All four women, who are Hispanic.
Speaker 2: Say that they had not come forward until now because
Speaker 2: they feared losing their livelihoods. You know, they didn't want
Speaker 2: any retaliation against their family, and they were afraid that
Speaker 2: they would be embarrassed. Now some were embarrassed, there was
Speaker 2: not embarrassed. Some of these women also said that they
Speaker 2: were afraid that if they came up with the allegations,
Speaker 2: their immigration said this could be affected because this is
Speaker 2: their place of employment. Now, the women themselves are seeking
Speaker 2: fifty million dollars in damages and they want a jury child. Now,
Speaker 2: the La County Sheriff's Department opened an investigation, a criminal
Speaker 2: investigation into this after this lawsuit was filed, which Smokey
Speaker 2: Robinson said at the time that he welcomed because he's like, YO,
Speaker 2: the more exposure to this, the more exposure to the
Speaker 2: truth that's powerful.
Speaker 1: So bring it. Let's do it.
Speaker 2: And if you guys remember when this happened with jay Z,
Speaker 2: when there was that woman who accused jay Z and
Speaker 2: Diddy of sexually abusing her after the bna's some years ago,
Speaker 2: back in the early two thousands, jay Z said the
Speaker 2: same thing. He said, let's not even talk civil bring
Speaker 2: a criminal case. Let's really look on the inside of
Speaker 2: this because the more exposure the better.
Speaker 1: Because jay Z.
Speaker 2: Then was standing on, hey, I didn't do this, and
Speaker 2: y'all not about to play with me like I did.
Speaker 2: Smokey Robinson has taking the same stance now, mister Robinson,
Speaker 2: Smokey Robinson, I don't even have to I shouldn't have
Speaker 2: to remind you guys, but you know he was Motown's
Speaker 2: first hit maker. He wrote, you know, number one records
Speaker 2: like Mary Well's My Guy and the Temptations, My Girl
Speaker 2: and Powerhouse in all of this, So of course he's
Speaker 2: fighting back to preserve his legacy, to preserve his career.
Speaker 2: You know, he has family and his wife that was
Speaker 2: also named in the woman's original lawsuit that.
Speaker 1: He's also trying to protect.
Speaker 2: And you know, accusers have the right to say what
Speaker 2: they believe happened to them and you know, try and
Speaker 2: bring you know, what they believe should be proper action
Speaker 2: or consequence if you know they did go through these things.
Speaker 2: But he's Smokey Robinson is fighting back, and I think
Speaker 2: that it's fair that both sides are able to speak
Speaker 2: on their own, behalfs defend themselves. Question for you guys, though,
Speaker 2: do you think it's fair in these circumstances or not
Speaker 2: even you know, just with big names like a Smokey
Speaker 2: Robinson or a Jay Z who also said that same
Speaker 2: conversation of like, Yo, this whole Jane Doe thing is
Speaker 2: unfair because I'm facing consequences of real time. So should
Speaker 2: this person not consequences, but the same public scrutiny I'm
Speaker 2: having to endure. It should be a fair even ground
Speaker 2: of like, if we're gonna do this, we're gonna do it.
Speaker 2: Do you guys think it's fair that Jane Doe John
Speaker 2: Doe can be a thing in these type of lawsuits.
Speaker 2: And I do understand, and I've said this on air
Speaker 2: even when we cover these things on a breakfast club
Speaker 2: that a lot of times, you know, if you are
Speaker 2: a victim of sexual abuse or harassment and these different things,
Speaker 2: the retaliation from you know, fans of these big, major
Speaker 2: names and you know, things that the celebrities themselves might
Speaker 2: not send your way, but just because of the fandom
Speaker 2: around them, it might be triggering for victims. It might
Speaker 2: be too much for victims who are not these names,
Speaker 2: they are regular people to handle. So I know that
Speaker 2: the ability to do the pseudonyms leans into that.
Speaker 1: But we've seen a lot of these cases be dropped.
Speaker 2: A lot of these cases kind of tumble and come
Speaker 2: out to be faulty and not thoroughly investigated before the
Speaker 2: claims are brought. So it's creating a new conversation. I
Speaker 2: would love to have it with you guys, So please
Speaker 2: pase tag me on social and let me know what
Speaker 2: you think. Jane Doe, John Doe? Is that still a thing?
Speaker 2: Should that still be a thing, especially in these very
Speaker 2: high volume, highly platformed cases when you're talking about it man,
Speaker 2: like a smokey Robinson. So tweet me let's have the conversation.
Speaker 2: I'm Laura l Rosa. This is the latest with Laura
Speaker 2: la Rosa. And at the end of the day, man,
Speaker 2: there's always so much to talk about. I tell you
Speaker 2: guys this every episode on Low Riders. Every single time
Speaker 2: you guys are here and talking about it with me,
Speaker 2: I appreciate you.
Speaker 1: I'll see you guys in my next episode.