Speaker 1: Welcome to Checking In with Michelle Williams, a production of
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and The Black Effect. The more you get to
Speaker 1: know someone, the more you appreciate their journey, the more
Speaker 1: you appreciate their resilience, the more you appreciate the standards
Speaker 1: that they have through the work that they do as well,
Speaker 1: and then tie that in with being a wife and
Speaker 1: a mother. I'm just really excited about today's guest.
Speaker 2: Stay tuned.
Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, what an amazing way to check in today.
Speaker 1: I've got somebody totally special, someone that so many people
Speaker 1: look up to, especially She's from Texas to Chicago to
Speaker 1: New York. She's the Emmy Award winning host of one
Speaker 1: of the highest rated talk shows, a seasoned journalist, author,
Speaker 1: mom and wife. Please welcome Tameron Hall to Checking In.
Speaker 3: Hey, it's so good to check in with you, Michelle.
Speaker 3: So good to see you and hear you and all
Speaker 3: of those wonderful things, and congratulations on this podcast and
Speaker 3: just everything you've done in this space of mental health
Speaker 3: and conversation. It's really beautiful to watch you shine.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Tameran, tamfam, are y'all in the building, Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: Oh MG, we are just so excited I was telling
Speaker 1: someone that works with you by the name of Taylor.
Speaker 1: When I was living in Chicago and the Chicago area,
Speaker 1: Nicole Maingroom used to do my hair. She is Oprah's
Speaker 1: hairstylist now for the past years, and I went very
Speaker 1: short about two years, and I used to tell Nicole.
Speaker 3: Give me God like I remember the very first time
Speaker 3: that I interviewed you in Chicago, I was in local news.
Speaker 3: You just joined Destiny Child, and everyone was so excited
Speaker 3: that this Illinois, beautiful bright light was coming on board.
Speaker 3: And I remember sitting in my local news and then
Speaker 3: right when I started with the Today Show, me and
Speaker 3: my mom were in sackt with Avenue doing some shoe
Speaker 3: shopping and I looked over and there you were, this
Speaker 3: beautiful light, and you were so kind to come over
Speaker 3: to say hello. I mean, here you are at the
Speaker 3: height of your fame and everyone's trying to get your attention,
Speaker 3: and that you stopped to say hello to my mom
Speaker 3: while reaching for a blue blutan behind her was absolutely
Speaker 3: so thoughtful and wonderful. So you've just been in that part.
Speaker 1: I would have dreams of my business management of bills
Speaker 1: that y'all and we don't have a lot of time
Speaker 1: with Tameran. But that shoe department at Sex it's like
Speaker 1: its own zip code. It is absolutely insane. So you
Speaker 1: caught me in one of my favorite places. Okay, but
Speaker 1: we are we are really delighted to have you here.
Speaker 1: We're excited because you've got a new book, Watch Where
Speaker 1: They Hide. Your first was so so, so successful. It
Speaker 1: is a crime series. And just tell us because your
Speaker 1: background is in journalism, but it seems that it's been
Speaker 1: like your niche has been in the area. My major
Speaker 1: was criminal justice, so I'm just going to say criminal law,
Speaker 1: criminal justice.
Speaker 2: So tell us that journey.
Speaker 3: Okay, Well, for this all makes sense then, because listen.
Speaker 3: Jordan Manning is a character inspired by my years as
Speaker 3: a reporter in Chicago. Watch Where They Hide, which is
Speaker 3: my new novel as well as the first as the Wicked.
Speaker 3: Watch all set in Chicago, in and around the Chicago
Speaker 3: area and over the pandemic. I, like so many people,
Speaker 3: trying to figure out what you want next. Right, life
Speaker 3: came into a different perspective, and I'd always wanted to
Speaker 3: write a novel. I grew up reading Nancy drew in
Speaker 3: crime novels and also being a crime reporter. I showed
Speaker 3: Deadline Crime. I went for six seasons. Someone they knew
Speaker 3: a stow that I recently did. So I've always been
Speaker 3: quite fascinated, of course, as a journalist, but the deeper
Speaker 3: part of crime that I wanted to reveal with Jordan
Speaker 3: Manning was what is it like to cover those stories.
Speaker 3: We know the stories, but from a reporter standpoint. The
Speaker 3: first book was inspired by a case out of Chicago,
Speaker 3: Ryan Harris, this little girl who was killed on the
Speaker 3: South Side of Chicago. And I remember that night, Michelle
Speaker 3: going home after standing just a few yards from where
Speaker 3: she was found and just sobbing and being so just
Speaker 3: torn up inside. You know, here I am on TV.
Speaker 3: I'm supposed to present myself as this reporter with your
Speaker 3: microphone and the crime tape is behind you, and then
Speaker 3: I'm supposed to go home and forget that this little
Speaker 3: girl wasn't going to go home to her mother. You
Speaker 3: would never celebrate a prom, she would never be able
Speaker 3: to get married or go to college, any of the
Speaker 3: dreams that you and I have been able to pursue.
Speaker 3: And so with Jordan Manning, I wanted to show through
Speaker 3: my experience and also what I've witnessed what is it
Speaker 3: like to be a crime reporter? But also what is
Speaker 3: it like to be a woman climbing the ladder where
Speaker 3: people believe you're putting work before love. And she's got
Speaker 3: this great friend circle. So it's a little bit of
Speaker 3: sex in the city. It's a little bit of you know,
Speaker 3: life that I live. But also I wanted it to
Speaker 3: be a juicy thriller that you know, whether you're on
Speaker 3: vacation or you know, you just need some time to
Speaker 3: relax and you don't want to be on social media
Speaker 3: and you just want to read something good. It's got escapism,
Speaker 3: but it's also got heart, like what is what is
Speaker 3: fueling Jordan Manning? And I have to tell you as
Speaker 3: I'm sitting here talking to you, we've been able to
Speaker 3: option it and we're looking at turning it into a series.
Speaker 3: And now that I know you have criminal justice background,
Speaker 3: you need to be Jordan Manning because you are like
Speaker 3: your faith everything. If somebody I'm going to put it
Speaker 3: out here in the universe, we're casting Michelle as Jordan
Speaker 3: Manning in the series because you would be perfect. She changed.
Speaker 3: She's got a background in forensics and decided to pursue
Speaker 3: this journalism career, and now she's using what she learned
Speaker 3: in her studies with what she's learned in real time
Speaker 3: as a journalist to solve the stories that she's supposed
Speaker 3: to be covering. But now she's turned investigator to find
Speaker 3: out in the end why this crime happened and who
Speaker 3: did it.
Speaker 1: Wow, Okay, y'all, I'm so excited. Major new criminal justice.
Speaker 1: Forensics is what I wanted to go to to be
Speaker 1: a forensic psychologist because I like I like to get
Speaker 1: into the mind and pull the lakers, try to get
Speaker 1: to the root of behaviors and responses and all of that,
Speaker 1: which I've used that skill in relationships. So ladies, gentlemen,
Speaker 1: if you need me to find out anything, call me child,
Speaker 1: I'll get to the root of it. A shell.
Speaker 3: It is Jordan Manning. You heard it here.
Speaker 2: I am so excited.
Speaker 1: But I'm so glad that you were talking about how
Speaker 1: it kind of almost well, it doesn't totally mirror or parallel.
Speaker 2: Your entire life.
Speaker 1: But that is so good because you can take the
Speaker 1: route as well of you can know, you can do
Speaker 1: the biography, the autobiography. But then but the word escapism
Speaker 1: is so huge of what I've learned to me and
Speaker 1: an author like people like your real life story, but
Speaker 1: they also like the escapism part. I can be in
Speaker 1: the airport. I'm going to have this book because I'm
Speaker 1: going to go to the beach and I'm going to
Speaker 1: read this book. We are so excited, excited.
Speaker 3: That's what I wanted. I want to you know, like
Speaker 3: I said, I use some of the inspiration of For example,
Speaker 3: you know, in this book The Newest One Watcher They Hide,
Speaker 3: Jordan is approached by the sister of a woman who
Speaker 3: is missing, and the sister is begging for media attention
Speaker 3: and begging Jordan to help her find out what happened
Speaker 3: to her sister. I've been very open about the death
Speaker 3: of my own sister and an unsolved crime, so it
Speaker 3: does touch a little bit on my real life. But
Speaker 3: with Jordan, I am able to create a world and
Speaker 3: a character who can do things I never could. I mean,
Speaker 3: there's scenes where Jordan, the crime, the disappearance happens in Indiana,
Speaker 3: and there's Jordan getting in her car, driving to Indiana
Speaker 3: to get to the business to find out, and then
Speaker 3: driving back to try to make it to a date
Speaker 3: with a guy that's been interested in her for a while,
Speaker 3: but believes that all she thinks about is work and
Speaker 3: that her whole focus is work. So you see this
Speaker 3: character inspired by me but experiencing I think something very
Speaker 3: relatable in many ways that all of us are going
Speaker 3: to solve crime, Like Michelle can whip out her little
Speaker 3: Sherlock home a magnifying glass.
Speaker 2: I will, I sure will.
Speaker 3: But we I think many of us understand that work
Speaker 3: life imbalance, because I don't call it balance. There no
Speaker 3: such thing, you know, the work life imbalance, the struggle
Speaker 3: to find identity. She's in her thirties and it's like,
Speaker 3: what is this all for? What do I really want
Speaker 3: to do? So while she is solving these crimes, we
Speaker 3: see this richly layered character that really is a combination
Speaker 3: of many people that I've experienced and things that I've seen.
Speaker 3: So it's juicy and it's you know, it's betrayal, it's infidelity,
Speaker 3: it's all those things that going to have you like
Speaker 3: look inside eye at your next date. But it's good.
Speaker 3: It's good stuff.
Speaker 1: Listen not only side I at your next date. But Tamraon,
Speaker 1: have you ever had people maybe do the page turner,
Speaker 1: you know, with your book and they're wondering, Okay, now
Speaker 1: is this.
Speaker 3: Real life you? Oh? Yeah, of course, of course, you know.
Speaker 3: I have to tell you In fact, when I wrote
Speaker 3: the first one, I was in bed with my husband
Speaker 3: and night and I'm writing and I burst out. He
Speaker 3: was actually fall asleep and I'm writing and I started laughing,
Speaker 3: and he's like, what are you laughing about it? I said, oh,
Speaker 3: I'm writing this scene with Jordan and she's on this
Speaker 3: day and he is writing about your exes. I was like,
Speaker 3: I was like, well, uh, what I.
Speaker 1: Like, Noney, I'm writing about how you make me laugh?
Speaker 1: Is Jordan's She just needs someone in her life like
Speaker 1: you to make her laugh.
Speaker 3: Right. People have tried to figure out some of the
Speaker 3: names are similar, uh, And I've already started, you know,
Speaker 3: writing the third book, and there's a character named Nelson,
Speaker 3: and some people have you know, made some speculations about that.
Speaker 3: But we are like, you know, there's there's a lot.
Speaker 4: Of fun in creating as you know, characters and creating
Speaker 4: a world and touching on things with Jordan's you know,
Speaker 4: I tell people covering crime for all those years, I
Speaker 4: didn't realize the level of and I don't use this
Speaker 4: loosely this level of PTSD that I.
Speaker 3: Experienced because you know, when I was pregnant. Even I
Speaker 3: remember sitting and writing and reading this h crime that
Speaker 3: I was covering, and the woman had been murdered and
Speaker 3: she was pregnant, and I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 3: I can't do this for a living. This is not
Speaker 3: what I can do. And when I was creating Jordan,
Speaker 3: I was able to really face some of those things
Speaker 3: as a crime journalist or a you know, true crime
Speaker 3: reporter that people don't know exists in that world. And
Speaker 3: so it was it was cathartic. It was a relief,
Speaker 3: but it was also and I use this word very
Speaker 3: carefully because it is about crime, but it was it
Speaker 3: was exhilarating. I'm over fifty, I'm fifty three years old,
Speaker 3: and to be able to step out and do something
Speaker 3: new that you don't think you can do. That also
Speaker 3: became a bit of the story. Right It's like, i
Speaker 3: have this book, and now I have this series, and
Speaker 3: even though I've got the talk show and things that
Speaker 3: I've worked on in the past, as you said, people
Speaker 3: approach people and wanting a memoir. They wanted a beauty book,
Speaker 3: and that's not where my head was at that time,
Speaker 3: I really wanted to take on this new challenge and say,
Speaker 3: you know, can I do it? Let me do it?
Speaker 3: And I talk about that because I want the tanfam,
Speaker 3: whomever it is, to always feel inspiration to step out there,
Speaker 3: do things that no one's expecting, things that might make
Speaker 3: you feel uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: Even wow, because I definitely was gonna ask if you
Speaker 1: had advice for aspiring writers, but you just you just
Speaker 1: gave it to us, like try.
Speaker 3: Something new to trypt We would.
Speaker 1: Still love a memoir, We would still love the beauty book,
Speaker 1: and how like and then this has nothing to do
Speaker 1: with the book, but as far as the beauty book
Speaker 1: is concerned, you have literally coined for especially for journalists
Speaker 1: and women of color. Now I get to say it,
Speaker 1: she don't, but everybody got the Tamil haircut. That is
Speaker 1: a black journalist, and that's great.
Speaker 2: So we definitely want to you know.
Speaker 1: And then it's like, okay, wait a minute, has she
Speaker 1: ever thought can she go along? But there's like no,
Speaker 1: that's part of her brand, you know, and I do.
Speaker 3: I wanted to like because you know, it's so funny.
Speaker 3: Even now I'm working on a little bit of a
Speaker 3: memoir that you know, was down the line. But I
Speaker 3: talk about when I first cut my hair, so crazy, Michelle.
Speaker 3: I was in Chicago and Johnny Wright, who you know,
Speaker 3: my hair solace since he was eighteen. Johnny and I
Speaker 3: met Chicago and I cut my hair. And when I
Speaker 3: was in Chicago, people everyone's like, oh, the hair is
Speaker 3: so fly, I want the haircut. I wanted the haircut.
Speaker 3: I came to National News and I remember being an
Speaker 3: MSNBC in the beginning of my career, and people started
Speaker 3: this was right. They were like, why do you have
Speaker 3: short hair? And you know, is she this? Is she
Speaker 3: that looking? And that I remember reading someone saying women
Speaker 3: with short hair are lazy because that's a lazy haircut.
Speaker 3: Oh no, I read it all. And I a pretty
Speaker 3: confident person. So imagine the stark contrast. I leave Chicago
Speaker 3: where people are like, can I get the tamer Hall haircut?
Speaker 3: And beating down Johnny Store to the National press and
Speaker 3: some of the people in national articles questioning, you know,
Speaker 3: short hair aesthetic, and I started to grow my hair out.
Speaker 3: I'm not kidding when I was so insecure and I
Speaker 3: started to cry. And then one day I looked on
Speaker 3: air and I had a full mushroom and I was like,
Speaker 3: oh no, no, no, no, We're not going out like that.
Speaker 3: And I called Johnny he was with Michelle Obama at
Speaker 3: the time, because the only time we've never had a
Speaker 3: break was when he was worth the first lady. I
Speaker 3: called Johnny. I was like, if you don't get on
Speaker 3: that to sell a train and get here and cut
Speaker 3: my hair right now, because I cannot go out like that.
Speaker 3: But you go through those moments. But yeah, it's crazy,
Speaker 3: and that's part of what I'll talk about in my
Speaker 3: memoir one day, is that that betting on yourself and
Speaker 3: not letting people rock your boat, you know, finding for
Speaker 3: who you are.
Speaker 1: The Tameron Hall Show has been renewed, you know. And
Speaker 1: then you're an author, wife and mom. People ask all
Speaker 1: the time, where are you finding the time? And to
Speaker 1: seemingly do things so seamlessly and with excellence, nothing seems
Speaker 1: to miss a oh so great.
Speaker 3: You know what it is? It's first of all for me,
Speaker 3: I'm a virgo. So anybody know that I'm like I
Speaker 3: overthink everything, all right. My poor phone is like I
Speaker 3: littered with notes. I'm always taking notes. I try my best,
Speaker 3: like keep it with the wardrobe, whether it's my personal
Speaker 3: wardrobe or here on the set. I tell people that
Speaker 3: the whole week of wardrobe is picked out in advance,
Speaker 3: because that's one less thing I have to think about.
Speaker 3: And I learned that from my dad, who was in
Speaker 3: the military. He was like, pick it out, but Biggie, say,
Speaker 3: I'm Gucci down to the socks. I pick out everything
Speaker 3: down to the sphinx, and I'm all laid out for
Speaker 3: that week. I don't I could have a white suit
Speaker 3: picked out and it could rain mud, and I'm not
Speaker 3: changing that suit because that's one less thing I have
Speaker 3: to think about. Think about how many times you're getting
Speaker 3: ready to go somewhere and you're like, oh, that shirts
Speaker 3: dirty and wait a minute, where does that shoot? And
Speaker 3: before you know it, it's taking your time, taking your mind,
Speaker 3: and now you're late. You arrived frazzle and you're not present.
Speaker 3: So the decisions that I can make in advance, I do.
Speaker 3: I PI line out my son's lunch. The whole week
Speaker 3: of lunch is all in advance. Is breakfast all. We
Speaker 3: write it all down. And some might think that that's
Speaker 3: a very strident way to live, but it allows for
Speaker 3: me to be creative. It allows for me to be
Speaker 3: prepared for the unknown variable. I tell my husband all
Speaker 3: the time. We were on vacation recently and he was
Speaker 3: all going through in his mind about something, and I said,
Speaker 3: you better enjoy this moment because listen, as my friend
Speaker 3: Bevy Smith says, life be life, and it's gonna come.
Speaker 3: You don't have to look for it. The unknown variable
Speaker 3: that's going to screw up your whole time is coming.
Speaker 3: We were the Huntel we were in Italy once and
Speaker 3: his great vacation. We're on the plane and oh my gosh,
Speaker 3: you're all in our fields and we land and I'll
Speaker 3: never forget the phones started buzzing as soon as I
Speaker 3: landed our house to flood it, and I'm like, what
Speaker 3: But had I not taken that respite, and had I
Speaker 3: not you know, said I need to decompress, and I
Speaker 3: would have been on ten, landed and gone to one
Speaker 3: hundred and been crying. But I was just kind of
Speaker 3: in this relaxed state because I had taken a moment
Speaker 3: to appreciate that time with him, that time with my son,
Speaker 3: that the rewards of the hard work right being able
Speaker 3: to be in Italy. So when I landed, don't get
Speaker 3: me wrong, was highly upset, but I'd taken that breathing
Speaker 3: moment because that unknown variable of that challenge in our home,
Speaker 3: it was waiting for me. I didn't know it, but
Speaker 3: it was waiting for me. You so you have to
Speaker 3: take care of yourself when you can, and that allows
Speaker 3: me to find room to create like I did, you
Speaker 3: know the book? Or be present with my child who
Speaker 3: was looking to me as his guide. I am his life.
Speaker 3: I'm his guide, and I want to be the best
Speaker 3: guide I can be.
Speaker 2: Well you are, y'all.
Speaker 1: The son that she speaks so beautifully about is his
Speaker 1: name is Moses.
Speaker 2: Four years old? Now is he four.
Speaker 3: Years or he'll be five in April? And he is
Speaker 3: oh a whole vibe. He's a Taurus and he is
Speaker 3: I live with a baby bull. But he's very, very fun.
Speaker 3: You know. I never imagine being a parent. I remember
Speaker 3: when I'm on the cover of People magazine, it's like
Speaker 3: Tammernhall forty eight year old miracle baby, And I was like, wait,
Speaker 3: first of all, I'm forty eight. How that happened? And
Speaker 3: then are I didn't because when you're in the throes
Speaker 3: of it, you don't fully understand or you're not conscious,
Speaker 3: I think of the enormity of it. And then I
Speaker 3: started hearing from other women who had gone through IVF struggles,
Speaker 3: and some were able to conceive and others were not.
Speaker 3: But they thanked me for being open about this late
Speaker 3: in life journey that I'm now on. But no, he's
Speaker 3: a whole firecracker. He's a company, he's a comedy. I
Speaker 3: don't know what he is. Somebody said, what do you think.
Speaker 3: I think it's gonna be comedian because all he wants
Speaker 3: to do is be silly and make people laugh. He's
Speaker 3: so sweet.
Speaker 1: Oh well, he's gonna have to make his first stand
Speaker 1: up comedy appearance on your show.
Speaker 2: You know, you have been.
Speaker 1: So open about things personally, even talking about your iv
Speaker 1: OF journey. I'll be forty five this year.
Speaker 3: I have yet.
Speaker 1: To have children, and it's been in the back of
Speaker 1: my mind because you could be so career oriented or
Speaker 1: then when you are then being in a relationship, I'm like,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, do I want this? And then us,
Speaker 1: you know, producing this show that you are my guest on,
Speaker 1: you know, and you sharing you gave birth at the
Speaker 1: age of forty eight, But you're like, I even know,
Speaker 1: I don't feel forty eight.
Speaker 2: I don't feel fifty three, you know, And it's like,
Speaker 2: what do people like to be fifty three?
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're more like twenty three energy wise, and just
Speaker 1: let me not say energy wise.
Speaker 2: Well, yes, energy wise because.
Speaker 1: In order to move with the capacity, in order to
Speaker 1: move at the capacity in which you do, you've got
Speaker 1: to feel young. But for people to maybe feel like
Speaker 1: they're discouraged to get married or have children, I feel.
Speaker 2: Like when you get older, you feel better. I do, I.
Speaker 3: Do, you know. Listen, there are two versions of this,
Speaker 3: right of course, there are versions of that. I will
Speaker 3: be very very honest with you in a way that
Speaker 3: I have not been honest with anybody. There are times
Speaker 3: where I say, damn, you know, was I supposed to
Speaker 3: be at twenty seven, twenty five? You know? And I
Speaker 3: wasn't trying at twenty five or twenty seven. It wasn't
Speaker 3: even front of mine. I was dating, I had a
Speaker 3: couple of boyfriends probably you know, and a lot of
Speaker 3: things going on, but I didn't. And then when I
Speaker 3: tried in my thirties, ran into complications. I was in
Speaker 3: a serious relationship and ran into some complications, and then
Speaker 3: that relationship ended in that the thought of it ended.
Speaker 3: In my mind. I wasn't a person who would say
Speaker 3: like I was like, oh gosh, I have to have
Speaker 3: a kid. I knew I wanted. I probably, if I'm
Speaker 3: being honest as well, I probably assumed that it was
Speaker 3: just a part of my life. I assumed that I
Speaker 3: was going to get married one day and have a kid.
Speaker 3: It wasn't I've never I never looked in wedding books
Speaker 3: saying that's going to be my wedding. I wasn't that type, right,
Speaker 3: I wasn't. No, just same, Yeah, I wasn't that type.
Speaker 3: I knew I wanted to have someone special because I
Speaker 3: as no joke. Because I'm a talker and I talk
Speaker 3: a lot. I didn't want to be I didn't want
Speaker 3: to start the story over with a new man every day.
Speaker 3: I wanted the man in the house that was there
Speaker 3: and they was like, oh, yeah, what you said yesterday,
Speaker 3: So I wouldn't have to go like, you know, Shirley,
Speaker 3: the one I told you about it worked and then
Speaker 3: the way No, I wanted somebody who was consistent in
Speaker 3: my life. And I knew that whether it was with
Speaker 3: a marriage or us just living together, that wasn't front
Speaker 3: of mine. But I knew I wanted that consistency, and
Speaker 3: through dating it didn't happen. And I remember around thirty
Speaker 3: five ish, I started to feel a little panic and
Speaker 3: I was like, oh God, I don't want to be
Speaker 3: in another failed relationship, right. I didn't want that to
Speaker 3: have to tell my friends, Oh God, broken up with
Speaker 3: this and then let's start over. Yeah, And I just
Speaker 3: I went through that thirty five year old angst of it.
Speaker 3: And then in my forties, I was like, you know,
Speaker 3: whatever it is, it is and I'm still dating. And
Speaker 3: I met my husband through just a weird circumstance and
Speaker 3: it was at the right time for me in the
Speaker 3: right time for him. But I didn't have a plan.
Speaker 3: And then when the idea of having a child, we
Speaker 3: talked about it on our first date. He didn't have
Speaker 3: kids either, never had kids. I was like, oh, you know,
Speaker 3: let's see what happens. And it worked out for me.
Speaker 3: But there's a version of it now that I'm older
Speaker 3: that I thank god, I'm more settled. I'm less frazzled
Speaker 3: by things. I think. You know, there's a Bonnie Right
Speaker 3: song Scared to run out of time, So that's a
Speaker 3: part of it. A little bit, you know, because now
Speaker 3: you're you're older and it cuts up. You know. I
Speaker 3: was scared to run in time and not be able
Speaker 3: to have him, and now I'm scared to run out
Speaker 3: of time that I won't have enough time with him. Right,
Speaker 3: So it's always going to be these things, you know, but.
Speaker 1: You're going to always have these You'll be day three,
Speaker 1: honey with that haircut, and you'll maybe you.
Speaker 3: Know, But I just tell people, you know, there's no
Speaker 3: as you know, there's no perfect plan. You you kind
Speaker 3: of get in there and you live life. And I
Speaker 3: want to, as a woman, as a black woman, live
Speaker 3: my life in a way that my grandmother, who died
Speaker 3: in her forties didn't have a chance to do, and
Speaker 3: just ride it to the wheels fall off and in
Speaker 3: the process, if you're lucky enough, you can be an
Speaker 3: inspiration to other people. And I'm lucky enough to do that.
Speaker 3: But I just, you know, I'm just living like you.
Speaker 3: Like you know, I told somebody the last day I
Speaker 3: breathe on this planet, I want people on my gravestone
Speaker 3: to know one thing I wanted to say, she rooted
Speaker 3: for me, because that's the journey. I want to people
Speaker 3: to know she rooted for me that I'm rooting for you,
Speaker 3: and in return, such great things have come my way.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, My show Checking In is the foundation has been
Speaker 1: about mental health and in your impeccable career of being
Speaker 1: a journalist and then having to walk onto like you said,
Speaker 1: you know the story about Ryan Harris, how you walked
Speaker 1: on the scene where she was found and then an
Speaker 1: advocate for domestic violence and your own unfortunate I saw
Speaker 1: a clip of you and Kenya Moore and you were
Speaker 1: sharing how.
Speaker 2: Someone pretty much took you, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And so with the foundation of Checking In being about
Speaker 1: mental health, how have you been taking care of yourself?
Speaker 1: And I know you mentioned the word PTSD earlier on
Speaker 1: in the interview, not necessarily correlating with that.
Speaker 3: It's so interesting, you know, but how have.
Speaker 1: You been able to continue to flourish in your career
Speaker 1: with so much Well?
Speaker 3: For me, you know, I practiced transcendental meditation. I meditate
Speaker 3: twice a day and it helps me refocus, you know.
Speaker 3: I try to go to church every Sunday. I just
Speaker 3: built the little Sunday school at my church because we
Speaker 3: didn't have a kid's room. And I grew up in
Speaker 3: a culture where the kids and so I honestly never
Speaker 3: noticed we didn't have a kids or it was a
Speaker 3: small church that I go to the city. And now
Speaker 3: that I have my son, I was leaving and I
Speaker 3: was like, but he's like, Mommy, where you going as
Speaker 3: I'm going to church, but you got to stay home
Speaker 3: because of course I'm not trying to chase him through
Speaker 3: the pews. And I said, no, I'm going to do this.
Speaker 3: So we, together with my church, built this little Sunday
Speaker 3: school room and the kids are in there and they're
Speaker 3: playing just like when I was, and I'm able to
Speaker 3: go in and worship. And for me, you know, when
Speaker 3: I open my eyes, I pray. I pray before I
Speaker 3: walk out the door of that show, I say, God,
Speaker 3: you know, guide my words and let my words be
Speaker 3: an inspiration to people. Let me be purposeful in my words.
Speaker 3: And when I don't have the words, give me the
Speaker 3: words and what And I say that even before a
Speaker 3: cooking show because everything has an impact. So between meditating,
Speaker 3: as I said, the minute I wake up, I lay
Speaker 3: in that bed. I'm probably supposed to get on my knees,
Speaker 3: but I'm too lazy sometimes and I lay in that
Speaker 3: bed at four forty five or whatever it is, and
Speaker 3: I ask God to really watch over me because I
Speaker 3: know that my mom was a nineteen year old single
Speaker 3: mom who came home with a baby, uncertain of what,
Speaker 3: you know, the next day was going to be like.
Speaker 3: And she really provided a great foundation for me. And
Speaker 3: so I'm I tell my audience all the time before
Speaker 3: we end the show and the commercial breaksts, I hope
Speaker 3: I make you proud. And when I say those words,
Speaker 3: I think of every person that I've ever encountered, from
Speaker 3: the woman in Chicago at the food court at the
Speaker 3: water Tower my first time I went on air and
Speaker 3: she said, you that new black girl on a WFLD,
Speaker 3: And I said, yes, girl were watching you, you know,
Speaker 3: and I never will know her name. I don't know
Speaker 3: where she is, but that energy of girl were watching
Speaker 3: you as I'm in the food court by big oldpile
Speaker 3: of Chinese food. You know. It's like those moments that
Speaker 3: allow me to take care of myself mentally and put
Speaker 3: it all in perspective. That's the biggest lesson, Michelle I
Speaker 3: think I've had in my fifties. It's putting it in perspective.
Speaker 3: My husband likes to say, don't put a twenty on
Speaker 3: a ten. You know, I try to not let things
Speaker 3: that don't warrant it being, you know, a crisis, right,
Speaker 3: I saved crisis for crisis. And I say, you know,
Speaker 3: I saved my mind and my mental health by putting
Speaker 3: things in perspective. Tameron, you know that's a one, And
Speaker 3: then are you going to react on a five? You know?
Speaker 3: Or how does that really matter? Am I youth? My
Speaker 3: early early years, I wasn't letting anything somebody I was
Speaker 3: last word tammering. I'm like, no, yeah, because you especially
Speaker 3: as a black woman and as a woman, you don't
Speaker 3: want people to feel that they can run over you
Speaker 3: or that you speaking up somehow makes you bad and
Speaker 3: it makes them good to keep you quiet. And so
Speaker 3: early in my career and early in my life, I
Speaker 3: was always trying to fight for that voice. But now
Speaker 3: in my fifties, I put it in perspective and I say,
Speaker 3: you know, I can let that person leave the room
Speaker 3: thinking that I'm okay with that because I've lived enough
Speaker 3: of this journey where that all they have to look
Speaker 3: at see it's wrong, you know, Yes.
Speaker 1: Oh y'all she shared so much that it can be
Speaker 1: a Part two so are you making mountains out of molehills? U? Yes, situation,
Speaker 1: there's a situation that's really one. Are you putting tens
Speaker 1: on it? My heart warmed. You know, I'm a church girl,
Speaker 1: so my heart warmed when you mentioned you helped your
Speaker 1: church build a Sunday school room. You know, we would
Speaker 1: call that children's church, you know, where the kids can
Speaker 1: check in. And y'all she always is posting out that
Speaker 1: I love when you post, you know, outside the church.
Speaker 1: What you know something that the church sign the message
Speaker 1: that it's that it's about. And so I just thank
Speaker 1: you so so much for being here and for you
Speaker 1: to just continue to ascend and soar. You also just
Speaker 1: mentioned how sometimes when black women are we're trying to
Speaker 1: be assertive, we are called aggressive, right, but I know
Speaker 1: you don't let that stop you. You are the executive
Speaker 1: producer of the Emmy winning award show The Tammeron Hall Show.
Speaker 1: We're excited about your book, Watch Where They Hide. We
Speaker 1: got to make this a New York Times bestseller. Now
Speaker 1: that last book, the last book that I'm like, wait
Speaker 1: a minute, and why t that was one hundred thousand units? Now,
Speaker 1: what's the qualifications? I said, that she did it because
Speaker 1: I wanted up. Okay, so listen, we are so excited.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to continue to keep in touch with you.
Speaker 1: We love you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, we want to see you. So we got
Speaker 3: to see you in the studio on the show. When
Speaker 3: you're in New York. I agnore you. Yeah, and I
Speaker 3: tell my mom, I told the story of us all
Speaker 3: hanging out in the fabulous sexist Avenue Street department. I
Speaker 3: love you, and you're just such a bright light and
Speaker 3: it's always an honor pleasure to talk to you. Thank
Speaker 3: you for pleasure.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I am rooting for you.
Speaker 2: Wow, what an inspiring show.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I'm so excited about her new book.
Speaker 3: Watch where they.
Speaker 1: Had Okay, I'm really excited about her new book. I
Speaker 1: hope you guys enjoy today's episode.
Speaker 2: Just be resilient.
Speaker 1: Write those books that you want to write, write that
Speaker 1: script that you want to write.
Speaker 2: You know, whatever it is that you want to do,
Speaker 2: do it.
Speaker 1: Don't let anybody make you feel because you're this you
Speaker 1: can't also have your foot in that. Okay, you might
Speaker 1: be a teacher, but maybe you can sketch. Maybe you
Speaker 1: want to design some clothes or I don't care, just hair, bonnets,
Speaker 1: whatever it is that you want to do. I hope
Speaker 1: this episode pushes you.
Speaker 2: You know, go girl, go bro do this.
Speaker 1: Checking In with Michelle Williams is a production of iHeartRadio
Speaker 1: and The Black Effect. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.