Speaker 1: What do you do when life doesn't go according to plan?
Speaker 1: That moment you lose a job, or a loved one,
Speaker 1: or even a piece of yourself. I'm Brookshields and this
Speaker 1: is now What, a podcast about pivotal moments as told
Speaker 1: by people who lived them. Each week, I sit down
Speaker 1: with a guest to talk about the times they were
Speaker 1: knocked off course and what they did to move forward.
Speaker 1: Some stories are funny, others are gut wrenching, but all
Speaker 1: are unapologetically human and remind us that every success and
Speaker 1: every setback is accompanied by a choice, and that choice
Speaker 1: answers one question. Now what, there's a there's total total sisterhood.
Speaker 1: And then Nanny Connie for sure, I.
Speaker 2: Know, teach me, please God, teach me.
Speaker 1: Oh she's the best. So she made you let's see
Speaker 1: potato chip cookies.
Speaker 2: Yet I know, and I'm pissed off.
Speaker 1: Tell her to get get on that.
Speaker 2: I don't know about you.
Speaker 3: I absolutely suck at anything domestic in my life. I
Speaker 3: basically feel like I'm back at college. I'm learning everything.
Speaker 3: And you know, when she asked me, do you have this,
Speaker 3: prime example, do you have a bunt cake pan? My
Speaker 3: husband then looks for her and goes a bum cake,
Speaker 3: No idiot, no a bunt. I don't have one, girl,
Speaker 3: Go to your neighbor and go get one.
Speaker 1: We got.
Speaker 3: I mean, I am learning, burping the baby, changing the baby.
Speaker 3: What I'm missing in my kitchen. It's been a real
Speaker 3: tutorial over here.
Speaker 1: My guest today is veterans sportscaster and new mom Aaron Andrews.
Speaker 1: Aaron has been in the game for decades, as a
Speaker 1: fixture at Fox Sports and a familiar face to millions
Speaker 1: who watched the NFL e tweek. Outside of football, she's
Speaker 1: covered in a number of other pro sports, host a
Speaker 1: TV shows, has a successful clothing line, and co hosts
Speaker 1: the podcast Calm Down with fellow sportscaster Carissa Thompson. Aaron
Speaker 1: is down right impressive. She's one of those people who
Speaker 1: seems to meet every challenge head on. I am grateful
Speaker 1: for her time and vulnerability, and I hope that you
Speaker 1: enjoy our conversation as much as I did. Here is
Speaker 1: Erin Andrews. First of all, congratulations, Oh thank you, and
Speaker 1: nice to meet too. Nice to meet you too, baby Mac.
Speaker 1: How old is see?
Speaker 3: So he is going to be I guess he was.
Speaker 3: He's gonna be six weeks this week? Yeah, hey, can
Speaker 3: I just ask as a mother? My husband and I
Speaker 3: are having a really hard time when you like see
Speaker 3: a couple or you see a mother and you're like, oh,
Speaker 3: how old your baby and they're like seventeen months? And
Speaker 3: he's like, are we going to be those people? Because
Speaker 3: I don't know if I am, maybe I will be.
Speaker 3: A lot of stuff is already surprising me. I feel
Speaker 3: like I'll be like, well, he's a little over a year,
Speaker 3: But what is with the calculation?
Speaker 2: I can't do math that fast.
Speaker 1: That's such a funny question, you know. I think it's
Speaker 1: that your life changes so drastically that you're just and
Speaker 1: the days feel so long. Then the years go by
Speaker 1: really quickly. So I think that it's just this documentation
Speaker 1: of like, and that was another day I survived. Oh wait,
Speaker 1: we got through a week, you know. So I do
Speaker 1: think that that it's this like it's like a badge
Speaker 1: of honor to be like seventeen months and four.
Speaker 2: Days exactly in fifteen minutes.
Speaker 1: It's like a life sentence, except you're you're checking off
Speaker 1: the days. Yeah, because your life will never be the same. However,
Speaker 1: you won't trade it for anything, but by the same token.
Speaker 1: They they're total strangers. Yeah, and they live off of you,
Speaker 1: like in your house, and it's it's bizarre, Like it's
Speaker 1: very strange. You guys have to get to know each.
Speaker 3: Other exactly well, and even more so for me because
Speaker 3: there's no connection in terms of me carrying him, you know,
Speaker 3: I almost feel like it's so interesting the guy in
Speaker 3: the relationship. They always talk about, you know, the person
Speaker 3: that didn't carry the baby, and how you know whoever
Speaker 3: that is didn't really connect with the baby and it
Speaker 3: takes a minute.
Speaker 2: And so that's.
Speaker 3: Something with Nanny Connie that when I normally live in
Speaker 3: La and we have a place out here in Montana,
Speaker 3: and she said, after you have this baby, let's go
Speaker 3: to Montana because we're here, and I don't you know,
Speaker 3: a lot of my friends didn't come out this summer,
Speaker 3: which is good because I'm in it with him.
Speaker 2: Trying to learn him.
Speaker 3: So I don't know if that's something I've kind of
Speaker 3: created in my head, but I feel like, even more so,
Speaker 3: my connection is something I'm trying to create with him.
Speaker 1: So for people that don't know who Nanny Connie is,
Speaker 1: she's a legend, an angel, she's an angel iventioned a
Speaker 1: baby whisper. She is, and she is a baby nurse
Speaker 1: amed nanny. You know, I worked with her from my
Speaker 1: with my second daughter, and a lot of it is
Speaker 1: I had to learn how to do certain things too.
Speaker 1: But she takes away the fear because we're not giving
Speaker 1: a book. There's no rule book. There's also a lot
Speaker 1: of guilt, like I had a tremendous amount of guilt
Speaker 1: with my first daughter because I had really bad postpartum depression.
Speaker 1: But I'm sure she tells you, I mean, you are
Speaker 1: that baby's only mama.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
Speaker 3: I like study his face and she will constantly say
Speaker 3: in the background, that's your baby, that's your baby. And
Speaker 3: it's like, oh, you know, because it took me like
Speaker 3: nine ten years to get him with all my trials
Speaker 3: with IVF and so forth, and failed pregnancies and failed
Speaker 3: circuses and so forth. So yeah, all the things. She's
Speaker 3: an angel. She's a nurse, she's a nanny, she is
Speaker 3: a therapist. She is like a bit of you know,
Speaker 3: heaven in your living room. It's pretty amazing.
Speaker 1: I totally identify with I mean, I went through IVF
Speaker 1: seven times.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, I didn't know that you went you.
Speaker 1: Eight, you said eight.
Speaker 3: Nine.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh god, it's just it's so heartbreaking, and it's
Speaker 1: it's worse like my husband would see me rip off
Speaker 1: the estrogen patches, you know, I would be bleeding and
Speaker 1: then lost pregnancies. And and then when you really start
Speaker 1: talking to people and you realize how common it is,
Speaker 1: you know, but is your h how is your schedule
Speaker 1: going to change with the with the start of the
Speaker 1: NFL season.
Speaker 3: That's going to be the hard part for me. That's
Speaker 3: why this month has been so good for us. And
Speaker 3: we get home in a couple of weeks and it's
Speaker 3: just like boom, here we go. And you know, if
Speaker 3: I have a random, you know, athlete calling me for
Speaker 3: the game I'm studying for, if we have a you
Speaker 3: know call change for you know, we are our life
Speaker 3: is based off of what the teams that were covering
Speaker 3: schedule basically, So if we have a set schedule with
Speaker 3: a head coach and a quarterback at nine am on
Speaker 3: a Tuesday, but then practice didn't go right, he's injured,
Speaker 3: we go off of them. So then we had, you know,
Speaker 3: and so my life has to kind of change. And
Speaker 3: then of course I travel and I go do sit
Speaker 3: down interviews, and I'm there for the game, and I
Speaker 3: pray the game doesn't go too long so I can
Speaker 3: get back on my flight and get home for that night.
Speaker 3: You know, we miss Thanksgivings, we miss Christmas, so a
Speaker 3: lot of anxiety all wrapped into one. And it's about
Speaker 3: to happen in four to five weeks, which is absolutely crazy.
Speaker 3: But again, the good thing with Connie is she's been
Speaker 3: with people like you. She's been with people that have
Speaker 3: really hectic schedules, and she's like, baby, we'll get through it.
Speaker 1: But you've been in sports and you've been a sideline
Speaker 1: reporter for so many years. You've covered college football, You've
Speaker 1: covered the NFL, and then you also covered baseball, hockey, basketball,
Speaker 1: and even NASCAR.
Speaker 3: I mean, I did one stont on NASCAR, and it
Speaker 3: was my biggest nightmare in the whole world, my big nightmare.
Speaker 3: And I'm interested to know what yours is coming from
Speaker 3: the acting world. Mine is I wake up, I'm at
Speaker 3: a game or I'm at an event that I don't
Speaker 3: know why I didn't prepare for, because preparation for me
Speaker 3: is insane. It's half of the reason why I have
Speaker 3: wrinkles or anxiety. So NASCAR, the one event. I had
Speaker 3: just signed with Fox Sports. I'd been with ESPN for
Speaker 3: eight years. Here she is, they're rolling her out for
Speaker 3: their big event at Nascart's before football. I don't know
Speaker 3: anyone like I will do my best studying. And they
Speaker 3: had played it off. They said, no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 3: it's a fun walk and talk. You're just gonna go out,
Speaker 3: you know, before the race, and you're going to talk
Speaker 3: to all the drivers right before they get in their cars.
Speaker 3: I'm like, okay, I can bys with the best of them.
Speaker 3: I had studied the people that they said we we're
Speaker 3: going to go to all right, we're going to send
Speaker 3: it down to the newest member of our Fox Sports family,
Speaker 3: Aaron Andrews, her debut at NASCAR. Well, she's just going
Speaker 3: to catch up with some of the drivers and see
Speaker 3: what they're up to second before they go into their car. Guys,
Speaker 3: thanks so much. I'm so thrilled to be here. It's
Speaker 3: an honor. I'm so excited. Let's head over to that
Speaker 3: driver's not there. Let's okay, Well they're not there, Well,
Speaker 3: we'll come back later. Let's head over to where danikapet everybody.
Speaker 3: Brooke went to go pee. I had no one to
Speaker 3: talk to. Nightmare coming true, and I was like, oh
Speaker 3: my god, oh my god, finally fifty cent is here.
Speaker 3: Fifty I mean, you know, it was horrific, awful experience.
Speaker 3: So yes, that was my one NASCAR experience, and I
Speaker 3: am mortified. Whenever I see a driver, they're like, you
Speaker 3: remember that, I remember it? You know what I think
Speaker 3: about it at three thirty in the morning with chest pains.
Speaker 1: You know, I can't even I can't even imagine keeping
Speaker 1: all of the information. So how do you prepare? Do you?
Speaker 1: What's like, what's your homework?
Speaker 3: Like? So much so and I don't even use like
Speaker 3: three fourths of it right Like, I sit there with
Speaker 3: my big binder, my big trapper keeper on the sidelines
Speaker 3: in my arm.
Speaker 2: I'm holding it.
Speaker 3: I've got all my stuff typed out ready to go.
Speaker 3: If it rains, I get pissed off because it gets wet.
Speaker 3: I've got my notepad. We get packets every single day,
Speaker 3: so getting ready. In a couple of weeks, we are
Speaker 3: going to do a preseason game, and then two weeks
Speaker 3: after that we have Week one. So we're already now
Speaker 3: getting every day packets of every single article that was
Speaker 3: written of these teams, and when you are doing teams
Speaker 3: brook that are big time markets, like your New York's,
Speaker 3: your Philadelphia's, your Dallas. Dallas has like seven thousand writers.
Speaker 3: Your pamphlet is this big and I am so anal
Speaker 3: and probably something I need to let go and maybe
Speaker 3: baby Mac and Connie will teach me about that. I
Speaker 3: don't have to read every single one. But because I'm
Speaker 3: a female, because I never played, because I never want
Speaker 3: the NASCAR experience at the football game, I feel like
Speaker 3: I have to read everything. Then during the week we
Speaker 3: get on calls that are probably two hours long with
Speaker 3: the head coach, the quarterback, the star of the defense,
Speaker 3: the defense, which that teaches the defense. It's way more
Speaker 3: preparation that i'll, like I said, i'll ever ever use.
Speaker 3: But I am so like robotic that if I don't
Speaker 3: have that done, I feel like I will be paralyzed
Speaker 3: on the field. Which probably is a great session for
Speaker 3: doctor phil Why who.
Speaker 1: Knows that type of preparedness that you are just describing
Speaker 1: is so important. But you also said something that was
Speaker 1: very striking to me. You said, because I am female,
Speaker 1: can you delve into that a little bit more? Is
Speaker 1: it more pressure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, listen, I'll be honest. I'm fortunate to
Speaker 3: have one of three four spots on a Fox, NBC, ABC,
Speaker 3: But those spots, I mean, this is the starring role
Speaker 3: every sideline reporter wants. You know, I'm on the A crew. Yes,
Speaker 3: I worked my ass off to get here, but look,
Speaker 3: I never want to forget what got me here. And
Speaker 3: I think what got I know what got me here
Speaker 3: was the chip on my shoulder. I didn't play this sport.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: When I first came up in the industry, I didn't
Speaker 3: want to be like everybody else. I didn't want to
Speaker 3: wear even though now oversized blazers and baggy pants are
Speaker 3: really in. And I was the first girl to maybe
Speaker 3: clip in a couple of extensions, and you know, dye
Speaker 3: my hair blonde a little bit and gave a gave
Speaker 3: a here's one from my mom, gave a hoot about
Speaker 3: what I, you know, looked like. But I also, I'm
Speaker 3: basically like I talk like the guys, I study like
Speaker 3: the guys, drink and eat like the guys. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I know that I will never have the experience of
Speaker 3: going back in the locker room and knowing how to
Speaker 3: turn this thing around at half time. Because I'm a female.
Speaker 3: There is more pressure, I know it on me because
Speaker 3: I am a female.
Speaker 1: I've been thinking a lot about this lately, just how
Speaker 1: in both of our industries, really, what was always accepted
Speaker 1: an acceptable behavior the sexualization of women and how women
Speaker 1: were sexual life or even how they were spoken to
Speaker 1: or about, regardless of the quality of the work. Did
Speaker 1: you have to deal with that acutely when you first
Speaker 1: started your career.
Speaker 3: You know, the crazy part is everybody always thinks it
Speaker 3: comes from an athlete or a coach or my dog's
Speaker 3: having his breakfast by the way, Sorry, I'm trying to
Speaker 3: mute the mic every time he's like eating the kibble.
Speaker 2: Yeah. It wasn't by athletes.
Speaker 3: It wasn't by coaches, it wasn't by general managers, sands well, fans. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and you know, my husband does not enjoy being on
Speaker 3: the sidelines very much because fans are absolutely they've been marinating,
Speaker 3: you know, since the morning. By the time they're at
Speaker 3: their game, they are inebriated. I had to deal with
Speaker 3: early in my career, and it's pretty interesting because it's
Speaker 3: something that I still think fuels me. I know it,
Speaker 3: you know, it's something that always upset in my family.
Speaker 3: Local writers. The stuff that was written about me in
Speaker 3: newspaper by local writers when I first came on the scene.
Speaker 3: If I ever went back and posted some of that stuff,
Speaker 3: it is mind blowing and wouldn't be allowed. And a
Speaker 3: lot of it was guys saw me as coming in
Speaker 3: with the ESPN's young girl. They saw how coaches and
Speaker 3: athletes maybe treated me differently, or saw the attention that
Speaker 3: they gave me, and they would voice their opinion pretty
Speaker 3: darn quick in their articles. And this stuff now would
Speaker 3: never be accepted.
Speaker 1: Did you respond, did you feel the need to respond,
Speaker 1: or did you was it? Don't honor that with a response.
Speaker 3: I try not to honor things, but I will never forget.
Speaker 3: I'm sure you're probably the same way. Anytime anything difficult
Speaker 3: has happened in your life, you remember who was there
Speaker 3: and who wasn't. I'm really good at remembering what people
Speaker 3: said there. I went through an experience, obviously it's well documented,
Speaker 3: where I stalked and my stalker videotaped me in hotel rooms.
Speaker 2: I went through a huge.
Speaker 1: Trial with it.
Speaker 3: And I remember before when my family knew that the
Speaker 3: FBI was investigating, we were told do not say a word.
Speaker 3: Do not say a word, because they wanted to catch
Speaker 3: him in the act. They didn't want him to throw
Speaker 3: away evidence that he was keeping of all the places
Speaker 3: that he had stalked me.
Speaker 2: And there was a real thought.
Speaker 3: There was a lot of people said behind the scenes
Speaker 3: and even publicly, and I remember who they all are,
Speaker 3: that I did this to myself for publicity. Look, it's
Speaker 3: psycho and again things I need to let go in therapy.
Speaker 3: I remember every single person that said I did it
Speaker 3: to myself to help my career. And I've confronted some
Speaker 3: people because some of those people are in my industry
Speaker 3: and I see them on the sidelines and it's probably
Speaker 3: not healthy, but they try to be nice to me
Speaker 3: and because they see where I am now after fifteen
Speaker 3: years later. I've had situations on the field where I'm
Speaker 3: talking to a head coach and the head coach is like, oh,
Speaker 3: do you know so and so, And I'm like, sure do.
Speaker 3: He said on his radio show that I deserved this
Speaker 3: and I did it to myself to get higher.
Speaker 2: How are you not healthy? Not the best thing to do, but.
Speaker 1: Now, but you know what, come on, that's if you
Speaker 1: need that for yourself. You're you're not supposed to be superhuman.
Speaker 1: For God. That means I have stalkers, had them, there
Speaker 1: have been arrests made, I've been to court as well,
Speaker 1: you know, and you know I've had to face stalkers
Speaker 1: and and and what happened when then you'll find this
Speaker 1: too now as a mom, then there are certain things
Speaker 1: that become so off limits and you will, you will
Speaker 1: find that animal, ferocious person inside and you're and you're
Speaker 1: not fine. But thank God that you you you reclaimed
Speaker 1: that power and you fought it. You fought for yourself,
Speaker 1: and in doing that as a public figure, you're not
Speaker 1: taking it lining down. Who were the people that really
Speaker 1: were on your side that you were?
Speaker 3: Family, your family, my family, a lot of coworkers you
Speaker 3: know also too. And then I don't know, you know
Speaker 3: what you've You've gone through so much in your life.
Speaker 3: I kind of like call that time in my life
Speaker 3: when I was trying to cope and deal with it
Speaker 3: my glazed over time. I wasn't really present, I was
Speaker 3: just glazed over. I was like, Hi, how are because
Speaker 3: I was still on television and I wanted to show
Speaker 3: everybody like, you know, there hadn't been an arrest.
Speaker 2: I was going through a trial. I'm fine, I'm good.
Speaker 3: I have a kind of a mailbox, buy my emails
Speaker 3: where I pushed all the supportive emails from friends, friends
Speaker 3: back home, friends in high school, and sometimes I'll go
Speaker 3: back and read them. But it's yeah, like there were
Speaker 3: so many great people that reached out during men.
Speaker 1: I want to pivot back to to parenthood for another minute,
Speaker 1: just because I'm so happy for you. I'm so happy
Speaker 1: for Mac. You got a little boy. Did you want
Speaker 1: a boy or girl or did you have any Oh?
Speaker 2: I definitely wanted a boy.
Speaker 3: I mean he really didn't have a choice because I
Speaker 3: just we didn't have much left in the frozen bank.
Speaker 3: We had already lost two with another Saragate, and this
Speaker 3: was he was kind of like our last good one left.
Speaker 3: So yes, we definitely definitely want to. He waited, just
Speaker 3: he was like, that's what everybody says. It's so funny.
Speaker 1: My first daughter had been frozen for two years. Oh
Speaker 1: my yeah, yeah, she was in the freezer for two years.
Speaker 1: All the other ones didn't take or took them, and
Speaker 1: I lost, you know, and I I was like, just
Speaker 1: put the rest in, let's take you know. See what happens,
Speaker 1: you know, but you know it's a very interesting thing. No,
Speaker 1: did you because when you have because I don't know
Speaker 1: this world. But when you interview, do you find us?
Speaker 1: Are again? Do you get to know her? Yeah?
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're very lucky we were aligned. So after our
Speaker 3: first experience where we finally decided to do Sarahgacy, it
Speaker 3: was really hard to get to that point because it
Speaker 3: was just like, you still have hope.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: My husband's a former NHL player, I'm very competitive in
Speaker 3: what I do. Haven't really dealt with much, I guess defeat,
Speaker 3: not winning, not being the top of your sport, your industry.
Speaker 3: So that was very hard kind of being like, we
Speaker 3: need help, and I think, well, I know when we
Speaker 3: decided that. On Easter of twenty twenty, when we're all
Speaker 3: locked down. Normally we're with all our friends that have
Speaker 3: kids to celebrate Easter and go have a good time
Speaker 3: with them. We were all locked down and we didn't
Speaker 3: have kids, and I just remember being like, this sucks,
Speaker 3: like it suck to be locked down anyways, but it
Speaker 3: just we what were we doing. We need to start
Speaker 3: a family, We need to get serious about this. So
Speaker 3: we decided then to find a saragacy group. Through loss
Speaker 3: we had gain. We had went one direction, we lost
Speaker 3: two of our embryos, but then it led us to
Speaker 3: this other group and this lovely woman who runs a
Speaker 3: I want to say company, but it's not. But it
Speaker 3: is a company where she aligns people with sarrogates and
Speaker 3: she became a family member.
Speaker 2: Her name is Stephanie.
Speaker 3: She's with family Match consulting anybody that's looking for advice
Speaker 3: or maybe help with this, I highly recommend her. She
Speaker 3: just holds your hand like you said, you didn't know anything.
Speaker 3: We didn't know anything, and it's a difficult and it's
Speaker 3: a really grueling process, especially when it doesn't work. Because
Speaker 3: I didn't have many embryos left. My doctor was very
Speaker 3: very strict, very thorough, very picky.
Speaker 2: In who he chose.
Speaker 3: We probably went through maybe I want to say, three
Speaker 3: to five women before we landed on our girl or woman,
Speaker 3: our saragate, our angel. And it consists of this in
Speaker 3: a nutshell. You first get a profile on them, you
Speaker 3: read all about them, you read about their life, they
Speaker 3: read about you. Then both parties decide if they want
Speaker 3: to meet. You get on a zoom, you meet them,
Speaker 3: You meet their better half. You talk about your story,
Speaker 3: you ball your brains out. Then you call your person
Speaker 3: back and decide if it's a match. If it's a match,
Speaker 3: then comes the contract, the legal process.
Speaker 2: Which is all so fun.
Speaker 3: Yes, so that's money that takes time. And then once
Speaker 3: you are in agreement about all of that, you then
Speaker 3: send her to your fertility doctor. They do thorough exams,
Speaker 3: so you wait a month or so to get results
Speaker 3: on that. Then if there's a match, you go. We
Speaker 3: had gotten to the point with like I said, three
Speaker 3: to five girls, that it came to this is a match.
Speaker 3: Or my doctor was like, I just looked at her,
Speaker 3: but I need her to be perfect because you only
Speaker 3: have one left. And plus he to me felt so
Speaker 3: bad that we had lost the two before and I
Speaker 3: didn't have that many. And so finally, after all of that, gosh,
Speaker 3: I think it took us probably about a year, we
Speaker 3: found our girl. And then comes the process of her
Speaker 3: going through the drugs, her going through you know, the transfer,
Speaker 3: her waiting the ten to twelve days to see if
Speaker 3: she's pregnant. You're pregnant. But as you know, Brooke, go
Speaker 3: you gotta overcome some hurdles. You gotta go, you know,
Speaker 3: so it's so growing. It feels like the longest marathon.
Speaker 1: Did you share all this publicly?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 1: Were you or was it?
Speaker 3: I had always said when people asked after we got married,
Speaker 3: when are you guys going to start a family, I'd
Speaker 3: always said, oh, you know, we're working on it. But
Speaker 3: I had never really been too honest with how much
Speaker 3: we were working on it, that I was shooting up
Speaker 3: at games, that I was, you know, going through IVF
Speaker 3: every summer.
Speaker 1: Did you wish you it's fuken about your fertility struggles earlier?
Speaker 3: I think that, and it's a good not to turn
Speaker 3: the tables. I don't know when you decided to share it.
Speaker 3: I shared it after I think like the seventh or
Speaker 3: eighth try, where I was just like, I'm so tired
Speaker 3: of this. And I think it's like when I started
Speaker 3: realizing these waiting rooms are packed, there are so many
Speaker 3: women in here, there are so many couples in here,
Speaker 3: and what are we doing? Why are we not talking
Speaker 3: about this? So I think that's when I just got
Speaker 3: so done with it and so tired of it. I
Speaker 3: don't know if I wished I had, I am after
Speaker 3: seeing all the outreach that I and support I've gotten
Speaker 3: where women are like thank you, thank you, But for
Speaker 3: some reason, people just don't talk about it. I mean,
Speaker 3: what do you think with your journey?
Speaker 1: I mean, I spoke about it pretty publicly. I wasn't
Speaker 1: ashamed of it at all. Yeah, I don't. That's just
Speaker 1: not the way I operate, you know. I'm like, this
Speaker 1: is my truth, this is it. I know I'm not
Speaker 1: the only one, so that, you know, for me, I
Speaker 1: spoke about it pretty quickly, but more so because I
Speaker 1: had such terrible postpartums, So that was when, you know,
Speaker 1: that was when I of course shared it. You know.
Speaker 1: I didn't feel I mean, I didn't feel obligated. I
Speaker 1: didn't feel like it was a responsibility. But I did
Speaker 1: feel that we need to talk about these things to
Speaker 1: take away the stigma. I'm no less a female, I'm
Speaker 1: no less a mother. I think it's important, and I
Speaker 1: think sharing the story. I don't think it is an obligation.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's because of a public figure. I don't
Speaker 1: believe that you are obligated to share your entire life
Speaker 1: with people. For me, it's cathartic because then I own
Speaker 1: my narrative and I feel that you have that strength
Speaker 1: as well. Do you keep reclaiming your narrative? What are
Speaker 1: some of the things about your life that you cannot
Speaker 1: wait to share with mac.
Speaker 2: Or frightened? Just I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think, do you want them to play sports? Like
Speaker 1: that's such a weird like as a mom, do you
Speaker 1: want them to play sports? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I do.
Speaker 3: I mean the other day, a preseason game was on
Speaker 3: and I was on the couch and holding him and
Speaker 3: feeding him, and I just looked.
Speaker 2: At my husband. I was like, do you know how
Speaker 2: long I've been waiting for this?
Speaker 3: Like I can't wait for in our house, it's always
Speaker 3: either the NFL network or the NHL network. And you know,
Speaker 3: I can't wait for him to go to the ring
Speaker 3: for the first time with his dad. I can't wait
Speaker 3: for him to put his first skates on. I can't
Speaker 3: wait to take him to a football field, not so
Speaker 3: much a game, but just to run around on the
Speaker 3: grass and see where Mommy's office is. I think that'll
Speaker 3: be really cool. I can't wait till him and my
Speaker 3: dog finally connect. My Golden retriever was having a really
Speaker 3: hard time just because he's not feeding him. He's not
Speaker 3: like you know, Max's just worried about. What's he worried
Speaker 3: about right now? The pacifier and maybe you know the bottle.
Speaker 3: But yeah, until mac has a treat in his hand, howie,
Speaker 3: my dog will not care.
Speaker 1: But the dog's got to adjust too. I mean, the
Speaker 1: dog has ten six years all to himself. And now
Speaker 1: mom is a little bay tracked, and now it's gonna
Speaker 1: take a while. And then once he becomes once Max's
Speaker 1: not really a person yet, he's like a little and
Speaker 1: then once like my U, we had a big, big
Speaker 1: dog and at the time and dog always slept in
Speaker 1: our room. And then once the baby got to be
Speaker 1: a certain age, she just started sleeping outside of the
Speaker 1: baby's room and didn't never came back up to be
Speaker 1: with us, just stayed literally stayed in my daughter's room. Again,
Speaker 1: I should call this show now What because it is
Speaker 1: about those unexpected, like massively unexpected moments. Do you have
Speaker 1: a most significant now what moment?
Speaker 2: Wait? Give me an example? Can you give me an example?
Speaker 2: I mean mine?
Speaker 1: Now what was my biggest now what was probably having
Speaker 1: postpartum yea, getting my own television show like it was
Speaker 1: so positive. But I had to do it, you know,
Speaker 1: I had to. I had to show up, really show up.
Speaker 1: Getting into college that was a now what moment? It
Speaker 1: can be any it can be, Mac.
Speaker 3: I mean it is, and it's because of how much
Speaker 3: you know it kind of not that it was my narrative,
Speaker 3: but it's been my life for so long. I you know,
Speaker 3: I think I said to my husband this summer, do
Speaker 3: you realize this is the first summer since we've met,
Speaker 3: I haven't been doing IVF. I mean, I you going
Speaker 3: on a trip and not having to schedule the trip
Speaker 3: when you're going to have your period, when you think
Speaker 3: you're going to have to go get an ultrasound, like
Speaker 3: your whole thing is, you know, based on your reproductive system,
Speaker 3: and it sucks. Yeah, Mac, I you know my career,
Speaker 3: I would say, finally, you know, being a part of
Speaker 3: a big football broadcasting crew something I've worked so hard for.
Speaker 3: I know, you know, like you talked about with your
Speaker 3: experiences in life, mine obviously stalking, might obviously lost with
Speaker 3: pregnancy and so forth. Be interesting to see what's now?
Speaker 3: Aren't you curious about that? Now that you've done what
Speaker 3: you've done with the television show, you came out about postpartum, Like,
Speaker 3: what's the next one?
Speaker 1: I think you just finding them. You know, I started
Speaker 1: my own company and it's all based around new beginnings.
Speaker 1: It's called Comments, and it's for women over forty and
Speaker 1: it's and it's really it's my next sort of platform.
Speaker 1: I just want to sort of finish with your clothing line,
Speaker 1: because I mean it's called where by Aaron Andrews, and
Speaker 1: I love it because I think for years, Game day
Speaker 1: clothing for women was either cropped or sparkly, or super
Speaker 1: sexualized and not chic or the flip side sort of
Speaker 1: way to mail. Right, what made you want to create
Speaker 1: the line? Like, I can't believe it hasn't been done,
Speaker 1: and I'm so glad you did it.
Speaker 3: Well, it's all those things that you mentioned. You know,
Speaker 3: I'm very much kind of like a basic Betty Tomboy
Speaker 3: kind of in my dress. Like I love an oversized blazer,
Speaker 3: I love a you know, a comfy V neck. I
Speaker 3: love a bomber jacket. All the things that we wanted
Speaker 3: to kind of make for women to be able to
Speaker 3: support their team wait for it anywhere and everywhere. I
Speaker 3: just I've been a sports fan my whole life, and
Speaker 3: I kind of just had a hard time figuring out
Speaker 3: what I was going to wear to games. I like,
Speaker 3: you know, cheering for my team during the week, but
Speaker 3: I don't need it like puked up you know on
Speaker 3: my chest that I am.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have plenty of one.
Speaker 2: I already did.
Speaker 3: Last yesterday, we really got into the projectile point of
Speaker 3: the show and it was crazy. Anyways, So yeah, I like,
Speaker 3: you know, I a huge fan of my husband's team.
Speaker 3: I like to dress that support, you know, the Los
Speaker 3: Angeles Kings, the Boston Red Sox, the Boston Celtics, the
Speaker 3: Florida Gators where I went to school.
Speaker 2: Not I vas NASCAR, baby.
Speaker 3: But yeah, so I just I felt like there needed
Speaker 3: to There was such a huge white space as you mentioned,
Speaker 3: and I listen, we are still trying to knock doors down. Girl,
Speaker 3: I cannot wait to have a compis by it.
Speaker 2: I love you for that.
Speaker 3: Fanatics dot com where by EA dot com. It's in
Speaker 3: pretty much all the arenas and stadiums if you're heading
Speaker 3: out to an NFL game. But yeah, check us out.
Speaker 3: It's definitely been a labor of love. I didn't go
Speaker 3: to school for this. I'm learning so much. It's incredible
Speaker 3: the even now to this day, how many doors still
Speaker 3: get slammed in your face.
Speaker 1: With you having success, Oh yeah, oh it and it
Speaker 1: never ends. But you know you've you've you've done it,
Speaker 1: and you're learning more and more and more and more.
Speaker 1: And isn't that great to be at this stage and
Speaker 1: to keep keep broadening your mind and your and your
Speaker 1: bag of tricks. So I think everything you're doing is wonderful.
Speaker 1: I lovely best, best, best of times as a mom,
Speaker 1: and you just savor, savor that little baby head. Smell
Speaker 1: tell Nanny Connie, I say hi, and give him back
Speaker 1: a kiss from me.
Speaker 2: Oh you will.
Speaker 1: That was Aaron Andrews. To hear more about what's going
Speaker 1: on in her world, go listen to her podcast Calm
Speaker 1: Down on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your shows.
Speaker 1: As for me, I'm taking a few weeks off to
Speaker 1: perform a one woman show. I have been writing it
Speaker 1: and rehearsing it for months. It's scary, in fact, it's terrifying,
Speaker 1: but it's also exciting. It's a gift and I can't
Speaker 1: wait to tell you all about it in the meantime.
Speaker 1: Stay safe, be kind, Thank you for listening. Now. What
Speaker 1: with Brooke Shields is a production of iHeartRadio Our lead
Speaker 1: producer and wonderful showrunner is Julia Weaver. Additional research and
Speaker 1: editing by Darby Masters and Abu Zafar. Our executive producer
Speaker 1: is Christina Everett. The show is mixed by Vahid Fraser.