WEBVTT - I Choose … Just Say Yes! with Joan Lunden 0:00:01.600 --> 0:00:04.800 You're listening to I Choose Me with Jenny Girl. 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:12.440 Welcome to I Choose Me, a podcast about the choices 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:16.680 we make to redefine what it means to evolve, reinvent, 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:22.680 and thrive. Few women epitomize these qualities better than Joan London, 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:27.840 a trailblazing broadcast journalist who co hosted Good Morning America 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:32.400 for seventeen years. Joan helped transform the show into the 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:36.559 highest rated morning program in the country, and over the 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:40.200 course of her career, has authored multiple best selling books 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:44.559 and mothered seven children, including two sets of twins. 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:47.600 After turning fifty. She writes in her new. 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:51.839 Book Joan Life Beyond the Script that she's hardwired to 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:56.320 go go go, clearly, but she is putting aside busyness 0:00:56.360 --> 0:00:59.760 as a badge of honor to be productive with much more. 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:04.040 Pea want to know who you can become without the hustle. 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:08.440 Take a listen to my wonderful friend John London. Hi, 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:11.320 it's so great to see you again after all these years. 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:13.920 I remember, after all these years. 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:15.920 Remember when you came to visit the set of nine 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:17.679 two and oh in nineteen ninety two. 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:20.440 As I get ready for every interview, I don't go 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:23.640 into anything not prepared. So like, I'm looking to see 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:25.679 all the things you're doing now, And I thought, when 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:27.440 did I do that? When was I there? So I 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:29.600 go onto YouTube and put good Morning America on the 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:32.760 set of Beverly Hills nine two one, oho up pops 0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:34.440 the entire show. 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:36.240 It was so good. 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:39.280 I watched it hire show and I'm like seeing and 0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:41.600 I remember I was sitting next to Charlie and you 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:45.200 were right next to me, and I said, so, I 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:49.160 need to ask you, Jenny, your character, and Charlie's like, 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:53.760 how are you gonna ask this diplomatically? I said, she 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:56.240 just kind of keeps things juicy spicy. 0:01:57.080 --> 0:01:57.600 Yeah. 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:01.040 We went off on the whole, like the whole talk 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:05.280 of sex and teens. Yeah, yeah, but conversations that needed 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:05.800 to be had. 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:06.680 Yep. 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:09.520 We felt so big time to be glad. 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:11.959 Were you? I mean, you look so young. 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:13.840 Ninety two, I must have been. 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:18.960 Nineteen nineteen. That's I kind of guessed you are probably nineteen. 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:23.639 Yes, Oh my gosh. I so enjoyed your new book, 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:29.080 Joan Life Beyond the Script. I devoured every page and 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:32.280 I learned about your life and I saw myself in 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:33.680 so much of your journey. 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:35.080 It was wonderful. 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:40.040 Oh absolutely, I mean I see you in much of 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:44.640 my journey, you know, starting at young I got Good Morning. 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:46.799 I started at Good Morning America. I was what twenty four, 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:50.880 twenty five, and then finally kind of you know, shows 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:55.840 end and like for me, everybody expected me to jump 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:59.200 into another And actually, I mean there was a talk 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:01.840 show that was tried to be designed for me and 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:04.880 I didn't really lean in, and I couldn't even stand 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:10.240 what's wrong with you? And I was exhausted, just completely 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:14.400 heavily exhausted at the time. And you know it. You 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:20.480 really can't appreciate what you did following something that's so big. 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:23.640 And I don't think I could have written this book 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:26.800 if I it like five or ten years, even five 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:30.160 years before now, because now I had the ability to 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:33.320 look at the whole arc and say, wait a minute, 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:36.920 like you didn't like blow it. Your last twenty five 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:40.200 years have allowed you to make your mark on this 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:45.200 earth in kind of a lot of more significant ways. Actually, yeah, 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:47.320 and a lot of the same ways that you now 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:50.320 are out talking about. 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:53.840 And yeah, I mean I so related to you said, 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:57.720 you've come to realize that you've spent your entire life 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:02.000 in a full sprint, always chasing, always pushing, always revving 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:03.800 the engine to its highest gear. 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:05.000 But as you look. 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:08.080 Back now you find yourself asking did I even have 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:08.880 time to. 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:10.160 Absorb it all? 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:13.040 I feel like that all women can relate to that. 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:16.200 I mean, I gotta tell you, Jenny, one of my 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:23.120 early early assistants started an archived timeline, and that timeline 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:27.640 starts at the very beginning GMA, and it has every 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:30.400 major interview and a lot of just even smaller interviews 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:35.360 every trip we took. Now I have an incredible They 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:37.839 also started keeping videos. I don't even know how I 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:40.320 have all the videos that I have. One of these 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:41.719 days I'm going to have to put them in a 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:43.719 big truck and send them back to ABC and say, 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:46.400 don't you guys want these now? 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:47.479 Keep them forever. 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:52.840 But it like it allowed us to put dates and descriptions. 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:55.839 Having this archived timeline. I don't know if I could 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:58.960 have written this book without. Thank God for all these 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:03.920 assistants who kept that. But also I googled my way 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:05.800 all through this book, like when did I do this? 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:09.560 When was the Republican Convention? When was I was constantly 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:14.200 BacT checking and then I would go to YouTube, and amazingly, 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:17.120 so much of it was there on YouTube, and I 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:18.760 don't even know how it all got there because I 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:19.680 didn't put it all there. 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:21.560 I mean, that's why you. 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:23.919 Gave me the idea, Jenny. Don't you use the QR. 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:25.480 Codes, which I think is brilliant? 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:31.320 You really done? No, Like, my whole life is on video. 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:34.240 I called my attorney. I said, can I put QR 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:36.479 codes in the book so that people can read the 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:39.960 story and then open it up to the actual story 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:42.760 on video? He said, well, do you own all the rights? 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:45.880 I said, they're all on YouTube. He said, if they're 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:48.400 all on YouTube, have about it. You can use whatever 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:51.719 you want. So that's when. So then, of course I 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:53.640 made my job even harder because I not only had 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:56.960 to go through thousands of photographs, now I went through, 0:05:57.000 --> 0:05:59.800 you know, hours and hours and hours of video to 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:01.520 what do I want to share. 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:06.760 Back to the like full sprint ahead and not really 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:10.200 absorbing any of it. Tell us how you came to 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:16.760 realize this and how you chose to course correct, you know. 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:19.960 I was just telling someone the other day that after 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:22.520 I left GMA, I was still doing behind Closed Doors 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:25.040 and my producer called me one day and said, can 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:28.560 you meet me in Washington tomorrow, wear that navy blue 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:32.120 suit with a really short skirt and fight meels, and 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:33.720 we need to go to the Pentagon. We're going to 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:36.440 ask them if we can get into whatever crazy thing 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:39.719 we were asking them to let us do. And I 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:41.919 got up the next morning really really could take like 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:46.039 a six o'clock flight to get there by seven, and 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:48.279 I was walking across the parking lot and I said 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:51.480 to my assistant, Oh my god, I'm so tired. She said, well, yeah, 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:54.280 you woke up early. I said, no, no, No. What 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:59.560 I'm saying is how i feel right now physically, now 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:02.000 that I've had time away from the show. It just 0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:04.400 hit me that how I feel right now is how 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:09.520 I felt for twenty years. I was this sleep deprived 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:14.080 and and I mean quite honestly, when I go back 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:16.360 and look at some of the things when I was 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:18.200 trying to recall, because that's what you have to do 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:20.480 when you're writing a book like this, I'd have to 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:22.520 go to YouTube or I'd have to go to my 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:26.080 video archive to say, oh, yeah, I was in eight 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:28.280 countries that year, like holy. 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:33.160 Crap, yeah, yours just full stop, like full time. 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:35.960 I mean, quite honestly, from a very young age, even 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:38.840 as you now that you've read the book, I don't know. 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:41.720 Maybe there's just my husband always says, not that I'm 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:43.800 looking forward to it, but when I'd like to be 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:46.679 at your autopsy because I want to see that little 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:51.280 chip inside you that everybody else doesn't have just keeps 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:52.640 you going like this all the time? 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:56.560 Oh my god? Is it ambition? Is it tenacity? Is 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:57.960 it passion? 0:07:58.320 --> 0:07:59.840 What is it? 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:02.440 All those things push of all. But it's such an 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:06.880 interesting question because of the fact that it just it 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:11.800 didn't just happen at like, you know, twenty three when 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:15.000 I was going into the workplace. It happened when I 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:20.280 was I don't know, a little girl. It certainly happened 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:24.640 like in high school when I just decided I'm going 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:28.280 about this at my pace, not the school's pace, and 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:31.920 I'm going to graduate a year early. And I just 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:35.400 started taking correspondence courses from UC Berkeley and going to 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:38.200 night school and going to summer school. My mom said, 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:39.920 why don't you just take a sleeping bag over there 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:45.080 and stay over there. But I was so determined to 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:48.400 graduate and get out into the real world. 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:49.840 Get it over with, get in there. 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:53.400 Yeah. Yeah, like let me loose, like take the reins 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:54.679 out and let me go and run. 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:57.400 Oh my god, you are the epitome of the Year 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:01.200 of the Horse. Yeah that we're kinding tiny, You're thors, 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:05.720 You're ready to run. You quote Audrey hepburn in saying 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:11.520 nothing is impossible. The word itself says I'm possible. And yes, 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:15.360 you have lived by that wordplay. You've taken so many 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:18.600 risks in your career and your jobs and your roles 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.920 that you've exceeded in the personal journey that you've been on. 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:26.720 Just overall, your belief that you can do anything rings 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:31.200 so clearly. I mean it's going to compliment you. You 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:33.440 are an unwavering visionary and I'm so happy to be 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:36.480 talking with you. But where do you think that belief 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:39.280 came from, that feeling that anything is possible. 0:09:39.720 --> 0:09:43.320 I it came from positive affirmations from my parents, and 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:45.960 I think that's a good thing to put out there 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:49.560 into the universe other people who are raising kids. It's funny. 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:53.079 I just interviewed Susan Lucci for her book, and as 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:56.080 I when we first kind of met and got to 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:57.920 know each other about a year ago, we couldn't figure out, 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:02.800 like why is there feel this simpatico, like we have 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:06.000 this connection, Like what could it be? She's this dramatic 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:10.080 actress and I'm this pragmatic journalist. And when I started 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:12.360 reading her book, I'm like, oh my god. Her parents 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:15.760 gave her the same positive affirmations and I mean the 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:18.240 same words you can be anything you want to be, 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:19.920 you can do and it hit my mom, hits your 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:23.280 wag into a star, sweetie, like it came to me 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:27.040 all the time. And that was I mean, I'm going 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:28.000 to date myself here. 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:33.360 But that was in like the fifties and sixties, right, 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:37.240 And that was not when young girls were being told 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:42.040 go out and see the world and make your mark 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:42.800 on this world. 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:44.920 They were kind of being told to go to college 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:47.400 so you can get an mrs degree, you know, so 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:50.880 you can find a mate. And yet, so I really 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:55.960 hand it to my parents to have been telling me 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:59.400 back then, like just think in night like my I 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:03.400 lost my in nineteen sixty four. I was only thirteen, 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:07.640 So I've been hearing that women didn't get the right 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:10.080 to have a credit card or open a bank account 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:11.600 until nineteen seventy two. 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:13.600 Insane and it's. 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:16.920 Kind of insane. And I always love young people. I 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:19.280 hope that young women because I'm sure you have a 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:22.199 lot of young women who also listen to your podcasts, 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:27.600 and I want them to understand how different it was 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:31.760 for young women not that long ago. Like here I am. 0:11:31.920 --> 0:11:33.920 That was when I was a kid. That was when 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:37.800 I was in my twenties and you just weren't expecting. 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:40.480 Look when I went to try to graduate a year early, 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:44.240 the principle wasn't like applauding me. He was like, what 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:47.760 the hell are you doing? Because girls were supposed to 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:52.240 just follow the rules and not try to be anything special. 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:57.679 And I guess I had just started bucking the system. 0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:02.480 Yeah, I mean, what an incredible mom you had, yes 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:05.160 to be giving you. I mean I had the same 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:08.400 thing with my parents. They told me there's nothing you 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:13.200 can't do, and I believed them because that's what you 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:15.959 do when your parents tell you something over and over. 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:18.840 And it makes you think that you can actually be 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:22.080 able to show At nineteen years old, it became like this, 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:25.400 Oh man, that hit you, know, but then your parents 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:25.920 let you. 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:29.400 I think it was I can survive anything, and that 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:38.880 was the message I was going with then, as it 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:43.040 turned out, your career basically came from believing in yourself 0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:46.480 at every step of the way. You thought initially that 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:49.319 you wanted to be you follow in your father's footsteps 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:51.600 and become a doctor, but then you soon realized that 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:53.680 you felt differently about that. 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:55.960 So I wanted to talk about three months working in 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:59.719 a hospital. Yeah, I'm sure that now, real quick, scalpels 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:01.280 and stay, which is uh No. 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:04.160 I've watched The pet I've been watching The Pit and 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:07.760 I love that show. So you're just watching it and 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:09.800 then all of a sudden you see something you've never 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:10.880 want to see. 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:13.560 They don't give you a warning. They just got to 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:15.720 like the insides of someone's body. 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:19.360 Yeah, but I wanted to ask you, how does one 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:22.720 come to know that a dream is not right for them? 0:13:23.440 --> 0:13:27.120 And then what steps should they take to let it 0:13:27.160 --> 0:13:28.960 go and figure out what is the dream? 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:32.320 Well, it became very apparent to me. I mean I 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:34.760 was young. I remember I was sixteen when I went 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:38.200 into college, but said that summer before I was so 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:42.840 anxious to dip my toe into the medical world. And 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:45.160 so my dad had founded that hospital, and he had 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:47.640 been chief of staff at the time that he crashed 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:51.280 and we lost him. But so I got a job 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:55.080 I probably shouldn't have, probably wasn't old enough to be 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:58.760 working there, but they let me, and it just became 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:02.160 very apparent to me that that was not going to 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:07.479 be my path, very apparent, And it was a dilemma 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:11.439 because letting go of that dream kind of in this 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:16.720 weird little way, I mean, my thoughts disconnected me a 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:19.600 little bit from my dad, who I was so young 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:22.160 that I hadn't really gotten a chance to really really 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:26.280 know him. And so then, how then what am I 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:28.600 going to do? So I went into college and I said, 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:31.680 I'll get a psychology degree. That's as close as I 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:35.000 can get to the medical field, which by the way, 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:37.520 probably has served me very well in my life as 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.720 a journalist, definitely. But I think there was always this 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:45.880 little nigglaly thing in the back of my head that said, 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:50.040 you didn't live up to that legacy. You wanted to 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:54.280 carry on your dad's legacy, this cancer surgeon back at 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:56.840 a time when there was no chemo, there was no radiation, 0:14:57.480 --> 0:14:59.280 there was only surgery. 0:14:59.440 --> 0:14:59.760 And. 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:06.200 All of that spurred me forward. Because he was born 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:08.840 in Australia, raised in China, came to the US, so 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:11.160 like he wanted me to go out and see the world. 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:17.800 But I really think that the circle became connected when 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:21.320 I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and that it was 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:26.320 not until then. Meanwhile, I stole all the health spots 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:29.600 on GMA, and I did like ten health shows after GMA, 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:32.320 but they weren't on every day, so people don't even 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:35.560 realize that I did another ten shows after GMA. But 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:40.520 it was that breast cancer diagnosis that like within twenty 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:45.960 four hours, I said, Wow, I just got I had 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:50.760 a gift dropped in my lap, and this is going 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:54.560 to be my opportunity to take that torch from my 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:58.120 dad and run with it. And I just in that moment, 0:15:58.200 --> 0:15:59.960 I said, I'm not going to go through this journey 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:02.280 as a victim as a patient. I'm going to go 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:05.520 through this journey as an advocate, and I'm going to 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:07.760 learn everything I can. I'm going to take that camera 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:10.840 into every single appointment. I'm going to share it so 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:14.600 I can try to make a mark in this world. 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:16.640 Of all the things I could make my mark in, 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:21.560 it would be cancer because that was how my dad 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:24.400 saved lives. And you know how I always wanted to 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:26.800 go out and save lives like him. And I've had 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:28.960 a lot of feedback from women that I probably did 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:32.000 help save lives. You know, when I was constantly saying, 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:34.040 have you had your mammogram? Have you had your mammogram? 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:35.640 And if you did, do you know if you have 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:38.160 dense breast, because if you do, then a mammogram won't 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:42.000 necessarily show your cancer. And all these women have written 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:46.360 back to me on you know, my social media and said, like, 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:48.680 you made me go get that and oh my god, 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:52.680 I found out I have stage two cancer. So you know, 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:55.440 I've said that if on my tombstone that that's the 0:16:55.480 --> 0:17:00.520 only thing I'm remembered for, that would be okay, because 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:05.359 that's what gave me my opportunity to carry that torch 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:06.720 of my dad's right. 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:10.720 And that became your new dream. 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:12.639 And advocacy, and you know, and by the way, that's 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:16.440 probably what spurred when I started to understand the impact 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:19.800 one can have when they have a platform like you 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:22.239 do and like I do, and I started seeing all 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:25.720 the feedback, I think that's what then set me off 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:32.159 on just becoming so involved in all the other health 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:37.359 campaigns that I did. Subsequently, going to Congress and testifying 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:41.960 before Congress to you know, include senior care in the 0:17:42.200 --> 0:17:44.560 in the Family and Medical Leave Act. It's not just 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:46.320 at the beginning when a baby is born that you 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:48.760 need to leave work and have some time off and 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:51.440 not lose your job. It's at the end of life 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:54.280 where we have to take care of parents or spouses 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:56.680 and we again need the time off and we don't 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:59.720 want to lose our job or be you know, punished 0:17:59.720 --> 0:18:02.240 for that. And you know, I was at the FDA 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:07.720 testifying to get mandatory mammogram reporting, and only, as I said, 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:10.880 can I now kind of look at the whole thing 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:17.440 and say, the next twenty five years were not the same. 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:22.439 It wasn't topping, you know, the GMA years, but it 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:26.800 was equal to And like, I'm happy and proud of 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:30.840 the direction I took. But I don't know if I 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:37.000 ever let myself say that's all until I sat down 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:41.040 and decided to Because I sat down eleven years ago 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:43.359 and started writing this book. And then I got breast cancer. 0:18:43.400 --> 0:18:44.840 I said, okay, I got to write a book about 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:47.600 breast cancer. And I got so involved, as I say, 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:49.720 on all these health campaigns. Oh, I got to write 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:52.680 a book about women and aging and I wrote, why 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:55.320 did I come into this room? And then I took 0:18:55.359 --> 0:18:58.119 this back up and I'm kind of glad that it 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:01.720 happened that way because you know, my publisher who's written 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:03.800 a few books with me, she said, you couldn't have 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:08.040 written this book and made yourself go that deep even 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:09.480 five years ago. Right. 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:14.200 That's the beauty of writing a memoir is really looking 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:18.040 big picture at everything, what got you to where you are, 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:23.840 what you survived, how you handled crisis. Look, it just 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:28.399 makes you appreciate your journey so much more. And then yes, 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:31.040 to share that because it's so inspiring. 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:34.280 You know. It's funny because my husband always says, I've 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:37.160 got this home office and I've got all these pictures 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:40.480 on the wall, and he said, you know, only now 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:44.480 as you're doing this memoir of yours, he said, you've 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:48.080 lived such an extraordinary life. He said, but to you, 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:50.080 it was ordinary. 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:52.159 It just was. 0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:54.800 Yeah, it just was, and it was it like a 0:19:54.840 --> 0:19:59.520 thousand miles an hour ordinary. And he said, this is 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:01.960 really wonderful that you're doing this because it's allowing you 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:04.879 to see that it wasn't an ordinary life my stretch 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:07.720 of the imagination, and it probably even lets you look 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:11.440 at these pictures of you with presidents, and you with garls, 0:20:11.480 --> 0:20:16.320 and you with every star imaginable with different eyes, and 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:19.520 He's right. I mean I have a new appreciation. 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:22.239 Yeah, because when you're in it, you're surviving it. 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:23.040 Yeah. 0:20:23.040 --> 0:20:26.440 Oh yeah, you know, you're figuring out how to manage 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:29.919 all this craziness. And then when you step back and 0:20:29.920 --> 0:20:32.120 you look at it, you're like, wow, look what I've done. 0:20:33.119 --> 0:20:37.000 Yeah, and they've all kind of come Jenny. I think 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:41.640 with the chapters, which were kind of defined by age, 0:20:42.720 --> 0:20:45.560 you know, because as you get older, you want to 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:48.919 talk to women about whatever it is it's happening to you. 0:20:49.000 --> 0:20:51.919 I wrote a book after leaving GMA called The End 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:53.720 of the Road is Not the Bend. A bend in 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:55.680 the road is not the end of the road. And 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:59.080 I was dealing with this huge change. I mean, the 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:01.560 only difference with me is that everybody in the country 0:21:01.600 --> 0:21:06.600 knew I was dealing with it. But everybody goes through change, 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:09.920 and they lose a job, lose a relationship or whatever. 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:13.320 They had these shifts in their life and they come 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:16.560 upon us, especially when you don't expect them, is very 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:23.399 scary and very vulnerable. And I definitely wanted to write 0:21:23.680 --> 0:21:25.720 not just about all the wonderful things I got to 0:21:25.760 --> 0:21:30.320 do in my life, but about how vulnerable I felt 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:34.800 when some of these transitions happened and how I worked 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:37.439 through it. Because one thing I've learned in the last 0:21:38.160 --> 0:21:41.800 twenty five years out speaking all over the country because 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:45.439 it's different. I mean, GMA just kept me busy with 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:50.760 GMA for twenty five years, and I've learned one thing. 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:57.000 It's really important that we share our stories. When you 0:21:57.080 --> 0:22:01.160 share your story, your impact acting people in a room, 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:04.720 you're impacting people on a podcast. There are people out 0:22:04.760 --> 0:22:07.639 there that are going to say, wow, she went through that, right, 0:22:07.840 --> 0:22:11.679 and she felt vulnerable and then somehow in around up 0:22:11.720 --> 0:22:15.240