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Speaker 1: That first game, fans yelling I was in the bag,

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Speaker 1: like wooh, pull it together. You gotta go out here

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Speaker 1: and be a beast, like come on, and can't be crying.

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Speaker 2: Britney Grinder is a basketball icon and three time Olympic

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Speaker 2: gold medalists. We made history as the first openly gay

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Speaker 2: athlete to sign with Nike, and then in February twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty two, she became a.

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Speaker 1: Prisoner, terrified because I'm like, I'm gonna.

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Speaker 2: Die, sentenced to nine years in a Russian labor camp,

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Speaker 2: stripped of everything.

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Speaker 1: I felt less than a human, felt less than animal, honestly,

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Speaker 1: and I thought about, you know, I thought about ended it.

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Speaker 2: In their first ever interview together, Britney and her wife,

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Speaker 2: Cherrelle revealed those heartbreaking two hundred and ninety three days

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Speaker 2: and what it took to survive.

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Speaker 1: Anybody that knows me know how much I love this

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Speaker 1: woman is sitting next to me right now, and for

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Speaker 1: me to sit there and ask her to wait nine

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Speaker 1: years when I know all her dreams. So I wrote

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Speaker 1: her and I basically just gave her out.

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Speaker 3: But Cherrelle wasn't waiting. She was fighting because if silence

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Speaker 3: got them nowhere, then we would be as loud as

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Speaker 3: it take.

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Speaker 2: Join hosts Martine for King, the Third, Andrea Waters King,

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Speaker 2: Mark Kilberger and Craig Kilberger were a raw, unforgettable conversation

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Speaker 2: about resilience, courage, and the unbreakable bond between two people

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Speaker 2: who lived through the unthinkable.

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Speaker 1: And this is where I was in front of like

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Speaker 1: eight or nine men. They had me stripped down old way.

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Speaker 1: So I have one more attempt.

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Speaker 4: To welcome to my legacy. Today we're joined by one

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Speaker 4: of the most accomplished athletes of her generation, w NBA

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Speaker 4: star Britney Griner. Thank you so much for being with

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Speaker 4: us here today and on my legacy. As all of

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Speaker 4: our listeners and audience know, we not only have extraordinary individuals,

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Speaker 4: but they let us into their lives by bringing someone

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Speaker 4: who knows them so well, someone who's been with them

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Speaker 4: on the journeys, the ups, the downs, the person who

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Speaker 4: they've chosen to spend their life with. Would you do

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Speaker 4: us the honor of introducing your plus one today?

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Speaker 1: Oh man, this is such a honor to introduce my amazing,

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Speaker 1: lovely wife, Cherrelle Griner.

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Speaker 4: Well, because I understand this is the first interview the

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Speaker 4: two of you have done.

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Speaker 1: We've done a full interview like this, and I'm just

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Speaker 1: honored to have her here because a lot of people

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Speaker 1: don't get to see the background and don't a lot

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Speaker 1: of people don't get to see, you know, my backbone

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Speaker 1: all the time. And I mean, I wouldn't be here

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Speaker 1: and doing what I'm doing without her in so many

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Speaker 1: different ways.

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Speaker 4: By the way, I love to smile on that one.

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Speaker 1: You're like, just chloing, this is awesome.

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Speaker 5: We're all thrilled to have both of you here today.

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Speaker 3: Thank you, happy to be here.

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Speaker 5: We're going to start with your career, Brittany, and because

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Speaker 5: the world has witnessed your incredible success on the court

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Speaker 5: and you're inspiring resilience off the court as well. But

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Speaker 5: before we talk about that, I want to go back

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Speaker 5: to childhood and what ultimately made you powerful on the

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Speaker 5: court came from some pretty painful experiences. There's so many

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Speaker 5: kids that have experienced bullying, and in so many ways,

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Speaker 5: you were bullied by classmates growing up. But can you

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Speaker 5: share a bit about that struggle.

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Speaker 1: Especially when you look a little different. You know, I

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Speaker 1: was slightly taller than everybody growing up, maybe more than slightly,

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Speaker 1: but yeah, I mean I was taller, a little bit

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Speaker 1: deeper voice. I vividly remember there was a time where

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Speaker 1: these girls came up to me and literally put their

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Speaker 1: hands on me, like touched my chest and was like see, no,

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Speaker 1: she's not a girl, she's a boy. And I'm just

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Speaker 1: standing there like all right, like what do I do now?

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Speaker 1: And everybody's just staring at me, and I'm like, oh, okay,

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Speaker 1: so I'm the butt end of this joke. Now. I

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Speaker 1: didn't really tell my parents anything at all. I hid

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Speaker 1: at all what I was going through, what I was

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Speaker 1: dealing with, and I would write, so I would use

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Speaker 1: journaling and I would write little stories about someone and

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Speaker 1: I'm using air quotations, but it was about me. And

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Speaker 1: then of course I would destroy it and hide it

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Speaker 1: because I didn't want my parents to find out. So

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Speaker 1: it was just a tough time. But I found a

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Speaker 1: teacher and I was able to talk to him and

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Speaker 1: share with him, and another lady at my school as well,

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Speaker 1: and they helped me, you know, with it a lot,

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Speaker 1: and I was just able to kind of have somebody

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Speaker 1: to confine in. But it just taught me to kind of, like,

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Speaker 1: you know, just be strong. In an indirect way, I

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Speaker 1: wanted to crumble so much. But I was like, I

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Speaker 1: really didn't have any choice. I'm a kid. I was like,

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Speaker 1: I gotta keep going to school. I got to keep

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Speaker 1: doing you know, what I'm supposed to do. So just

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Speaker 1: I guess it taught me to kind of endure and

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Speaker 1: buckle down.

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Speaker 5: And there were two teachers that you said were a

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Speaker 5: safe space for you. Yes, who are their two teachers?

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Speaker 1: Mister KINGU he was like a criminal, mister King. Oh yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think I want to say he's a principal now

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Speaker 1: at a school in Houston. But yeah, no, I was.

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Speaker 1: I was able to just go to his class. My

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Speaker 1: other teachers kind of knew what was going on, and

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Speaker 1: I was just able to kind of escape to his

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Speaker 1: class and just had a safe, safe place. I actually

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Speaker 1: had a coach, JB. Coach that was instrumental in my

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Speaker 1: high school years because I ended up leaving home for

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Speaker 1: just a little bit. I had left and I went

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Speaker 1: and stay with her. I think you're gonna like her

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Speaker 1: name to her name was missus Kan.

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Speaker 5: Coach, no relation, no relationship.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, I just I was really lucky. Like I said,

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Speaker 1: I was just really lucky for them to be there,

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Speaker 1: not overstep you know, but just be somebody that could

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Speaker 1: give me a safe place to be beautiful, pretty.

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Speaker 6: I just want to make sure that's right, because your

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Speaker 6: accolades are absolutely remarkable. You're one of the few athletes

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Speaker 6: we can say won an NCAA championship, a w NBA championship,

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Speaker 6: and three Olympic gold medals. Thank you, But you also

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Speaker 6: made history as the first openly gay athlete ever endorsed

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Speaker 6: by Nike. What did that moment mean to you, not

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Speaker 6: just as an athlete but somebody who also struggled to

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Speaker 6: feel fully accepted.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, coming out of college, I knew that, you know,

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Speaker 1: I was going to be completely open with my sexuality

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Speaker 1: and who I was. And then for Nike to come

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Speaker 1: in and sign me, knowing that with me being open,

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Speaker 1: one of the first to be openly out like that,

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Speaker 1: it meant a lot. I felt safe, secure. I felt like,

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Speaker 1: you know, I would be with an employer that would

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Speaker 1: celebrate me in a way and promote me in a

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Speaker 1: way that was authentic to myself. And yeah, it felt good.

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Speaker 1: And then I knew I was given a model to

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Speaker 1: you know, younger girls that I, you know, didn't really

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Speaker 1: have growing up. You know, I didn't have somebody just

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Speaker 1: saying that they were, you know, openly gay and and

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Speaker 1: out like that. So I just wanted somebody to be

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Speaker 1: able to look up and be like, Okay, I can

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Speaker 1: do this, because I had people telling me like, oh,

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Speaker 1: you're not gonna be able to you know, get deals,

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Speaker 1: You're not gonna be able to go pro and like

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Speaker 1: telling me all these things because it was a different

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Speaker 1: it was a little bit different time. Not to sound

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Speaker 1: a little bit over, but it was it was different,

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Speaker 1: you know, And the look on it was, oh, just

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Speaker 1: be quiet, And I was like, I want to break that.

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Speaker 5: Did you ever consider being quiet? Did you even?

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Speaker 1: No, not for someone, but I was quiet for me

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Speaker 1: in certain stages like high school. I was quiet until

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Speaker 1: I came out to my friends. College, I was somewhat quiet,

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Speaker 1: but a little bit more open because I felt a

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Speaker 1: little bit more independent being in college. And then once

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Speaker 1: I got to the pros, I was like, yeah, no,

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Speaker 1: like it's time. I want to look in a mirror

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Speaker 1: and be happy every time.

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Speaker 4: So and I love that through it all, as tested

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Speaker 4: as you've been, you're sitting here together and I know

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Speaker 4: we know the end of the story, but we also

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Speaker 4: know in between a lot has happened Brittain. If I

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Speaker 4: can jump ahead and no to February twenty twenty two.

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Speaker 4: You both have been married for about four years. You

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Speaker 4: just finished your regular season with the WNBA, and you

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Speaker 4: were returning to Russia. I'd been eight years, eight years

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Speaker 4: in a row you'd play in Russian. I don't think

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Speaker 4: most people appreciated this, because you know, this was something

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Speaker 4: almost ordinary for you at this stage. You go through

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Speaker 4: customs by an accident, you have a small amount of

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Speaker 4: medically prescribed cannabis with you. You probably thought, oh, this

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Speaker 4: is inconvenient, but nothing more than an envenience. Was there

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Speaker 4: that moment we realized this is this is just out

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Speaker 4: of control. Like no, what was the moment that that

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Speaker 4: flipped in your head?

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Speaker 1: I mean, when they took my passport right there, I

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Speaker 1: already felt like, okay, you're detained because they took you know,

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Speaker 1: any they took my form ID that I could leave with,

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Speaker 1: so right then I was like, okay, this is getting

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Speaker 1: a little bit more serious. But when they moved me

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Speaker 1: from the airport to the custom building and then the

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Speaker 1: arm guard and the full blue camo came and sat

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Speaker 1: down to guard me and my every movement I was like, okay, yeah, no,

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Speaker 1: this is this is this is intense because this isn't

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Speaker 1: just a regular, you know, police officer, Like this is

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Speaker 1: military because it's a camo you know, and assault rifle

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Speaker 1: on the them. I'm like, oh okay, Like like I am,

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Speaker 1: this is going to be a long haul. And what

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Speaker 1: really made it click was once they took me those

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Speaker 1: next probably forty eight hours. I mean they drove me

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Speaker 1: all around Moscow and a regular car too, like not

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Speaker 1: a police car. It was. It was. It was pretty crazy.

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Speaker 1: Crabbing in the back of anybody knows what a Honda

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Speaker 1: like CRV is that hatch back like kind of weird. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I was crammed in the back of one of those.

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Speaker 1: They took me one hospital for a COVID test, took

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Speaker 1: me to another hospital for a drug test, took me

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Speaker 1: back to another hospital for a TV test that I

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Speaker 1: didn't even know what a TV test was. I just

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Speaker 1: knew that they were injecting, you know, something into my body,

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Speaker 1: and I'm like terrified because I'm like I'm gonna die. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: all that kind of just let me know that this

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Speaker 1: was going to be an experience that I never.

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Speaker 4: Thought well, and I can only imagine that moment because frankly,

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Speaker 4: the part that I imagine just even here you say this,

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Speaker 4: it's the feeling of powerless.

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Speaker 1: Yes, oh yeah, super powerlessness. I mean just sitting in

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Speaker 1: the cell and seeing how they unlocked the doors. It's

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Speaker 1: not like, you know, there's a garden, you know, control

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Speaker 1: center hitting a button and you hear click it unlocks. No,

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Speaker 1: these are it's double doors. Old skeleton keys think like

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Speaker 1: green Moule or something like that, like old school, you know,

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Speaker 1: and the keys don't always work. They got to go

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Speaker 1: get another guard because their keys not working. I'm like, well,

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Speaker 1: if there's a fire, oh, there's probably about six hundred

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Speaker 1: people in this building, two doors for each cell. Oh

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Speaker 1: we're going to burn up. I'm gonna die. Like so,

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Speaker 1: like it was just constant fear the whole time. Wow.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, and you were sentenced to nine years nine years.

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Speaker 5: Well one of the things that you did is that

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Speaker 5: you did you sent the letter to Charll, basically giving

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Speaker 5: her an out.

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Speaker 1: I did. Like, when you're sitting in the cell and

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Speaker 1: you just have a lot of time, you're just thinking,

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Speaker 1: and honestly, that's kind of like your worst your worst enemy.

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Speaker 1: Anybody knows me know how much I love this woman

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Speaker 1: sitting next to me right now, and for me to

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Speaker 1: sit here, sit there and ask her to wait nine

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Speaker 1: years when I know all her dreams, aspirations and everything

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Speaker 1: that she wanted to do family lawyer, on her own

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Speaker 1: law firm. I was just like, that's this is gonna

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Speaker 1: be a lot, It's gonna be hard. She didn't ask

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Speaker 1: for this. So I wrote her and I basically just

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Speaker 1: gave her out, gave her out and I told her.

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Speaker 1: I was like, I just asked, like, just be my friend,

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Speaker 1: you know, just talk to me, write me. But yeah, and.

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Speaker 5: Then Cheryl, the world witnessed you fighting so publicly, all

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Speaker 5: while grieving privately, and as Brittany was just saying, I

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Speaker 5: don't think a lot of us knew that you were

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Speaker 5: finishing up law school during your final year. I think

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Speaker 5: of law school during that time, so one of the

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Speaker 5: things already we can feel your strength and your resilience,

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Speaker 5: not only knowing the story but just what you emanate.

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Speaker 5: But was there anything that surprised you during that time

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Speaker 5: about your strength?

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Speaker 3: I never in a million years thought that I would

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Speaker 3: have the capacity to handle multiple things at the same

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Speaker 3: time that carried that much weight. And so I have

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Speaker 3: a mentor. She was my juvenile law professor, and she

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Speaker 3: had just ran for judge ship and she wanted and

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Speaker 3: so I just remember texting her and I was like,

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Speaker 3: Judge Mitchell, I'm about to come to your like you know, chambers.

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Speaker 3: And she's like, okay, you know, she's not thinking anything

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Speaker 3: of it because I've been toil this point. No one knows,

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Speaker 3: so I'm still going to school. So I went in

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Speaker 3: her office and I told her, I said, this isn't

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Speaker 3: public knowledge yet, and I knew I could trust her

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Speaker 3: with it. And I told her what had happened with BG.

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Speaker 3: And at that point it had only been like a

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Speaker 3: couple of days. And I was like, I don't know

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Speaker 3: the gravity of what's about to happen, but I think

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Speaker 3: they're keeping her. And I was crying in her office

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Speaker 3: won her chambers, and she looked at me and she

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Speaker 3: was just like, well, I want you to stop saying

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Speaker 3: you don't have the capacity. And she told me, she said,

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Speaker 3: do you have the capacity? She was like, but she

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Speaker 3: was like, it's your decision on the choice of what

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Speaker 3: you're going to do, what the capacity you have. She

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Speaker 3: was like, so if you choose to do both finish

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Speaker 3: law school and fight for BG. She was like, you can.

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Speaker 3: She was like, if you choose to just do one

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Speaker 3: of them, you can. She was like, but don't limit

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Speaker 3: yourself and just say you don't have the capacity. And

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Speaker 3: at that point I was like, girl, you don't work

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Speaker 3: your butt off, like you gotta finish law school. And

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Speaker 3: then I thought about it more and I'm like, you

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Speaker 3: love beg down, like we gotta get her back, and

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Speaker 3: so it became a no brainer. I was like, we're

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Speaker 3: about to do this, like you know, And at that point,

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Speaker 3: you know, I kind of, you know, I crumbled a

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Speaker 3: little bit, but eventually, you know, I had another mentor.

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Speaker 3: She was an attorney at a I was working at

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Speaker 3: a criminal homicide firm and my attorney at the time, Adrian.

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Speaker 3: She told me, she said, it's okay to go down Grainer.

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Speaker 3: She was like, but I'll call you in a couple

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Speaker 3: of days because you can't stay there. I was like, okay,

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Speaker 3: and so we hung up and I literally was in

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Speaker 3: that bed and she called me forty eight hours later

284
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Speaker 3: and she was just like, it's time to get up.

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Speaker 3: And you know, I'm just grateful for people like that

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Speaker 3: in my life. At the time. They helped me realize

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Speaker 3: that I could do it. And once I tell myself

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Speaker 3: I'm doing something, I'm doing it.

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Speaker 5: Because it became such a public case and it was

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Speaker 5: based on your advocacy, did you intentionally decide to make

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Speaker 5: it as public? Was that a strategy or did it

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Speaker 5: kind of snowball in and of itself?

293
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Speaker 3: Oh, absolutely was a strategy. The first thing we did

294
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Speaker 3: was really really really strategic by doing nothing, because when

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Speaker 3: something is that big, and you know something is at

296
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Speaker 3: risks that big as well, because the situation was big,

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Speaker 3: but also the risk management was Begi's life. You know,

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Speaker 3: that's huge to me, and so we're not just going

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Speaker 3: to go in there swinging. We had no idea what

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Speaker 3: we were dealing with, and so we sat back silent

301
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Speaker 3: for a couple of weeks because we really wanted to

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Speaker 3: see the trajectory of what we were dealing with. Because

303
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Speaker 3: sometimes big things, if you know the right people, can

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Speaker 3: become really small things.

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Speaker 5: You know.

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Speaker 3: So we are just silent, making really powerful phone calls

307
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Speaker 3: to try and see, you know, is this really what

308
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Speaker 3: we think it is? Or can we take this medical

309
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Speaker 3: marijuana cartage and really treated what it is a really

310
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Speaker 3: small thing you know, because she's declarated, she's very distinguished

311
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Speaker 3: in Russia, like her footprint is good, you know. So

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Speaker 3: we were really trying to do that route first while

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Speaker 3: we sat back and at the same time, you know,

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Speaker 3: I like to say Parallelaine's. We were trying this route,

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Speaker 3: but we were also strategically trying to figure out, if

316
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Speaker 3: this gets us nowhere, what do we do next? And

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Speaker 3: so I'm grateful to the other families that were already

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Speaker 3: experiencing one of their loved ones being wrongfully detained. And

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Speaker 3: I got to meet a few of them at the

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Speaker 3: James Foley Foundation dinner like two weeks after PG was detained,

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Speaker 3: and that changed everything for me because I met daughter's wives, sisters, mothers, brothers,

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Speaker 3: all of the above, and they all told me something

323
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Speaker 3: that hit my soul so hard. They said, I can't

324
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Speaker 3: believe you're here. They were like, when it happened to us,

325
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Speaker 3: we were just in bed for months. They were like,

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Speaker 3: and everyone told us to be quiet, and they were like,

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Speaker 3: and we did that and three years past and at

328
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Speaker 3: that point, wait what he said, how many ys? And

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Speaker 3: I'm in my brain, I'm like, I'm not prepared for

330
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Speaker 3: three years. I'm not prepared for at that point, I

331
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Speaker 3: wasn't prepared for a month, you know. And so I

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Speaker 3: went back and I talked to BG's agent and I'm like, hey,

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Speaker 3: everyone's telling me that they were quiet first, and we're

334
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Speaker 3: right now quiet first. We need to change that. We

335
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Speaker 3: cannot do whatever they did because it didn't work. We

336
00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:47,399
Speaker 3: have to do something different. And so that's when we

337
00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:50,280
Speaker 3: were just like, okay, like you know, let's start getting

338
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Speaker 3: all the collective hands together. Let's start, you know, making

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Speaker 3: this a movement. I want to say. At first they

340
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Speaker 3: were like love BG. I was like, hate it. No,

341
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Speaker 3: can't do it. We don't relate because they don't all

342
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Speaker 3: just love BG. Okay. I was like, no, we need

343
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Speaker 3: something better. And finally they brought me we are BG,

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Speaker 3: and I was like that's it. I was like that's

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Speaker 3: the one. And I'm like, let's get it going, you know, like,

346
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Speaker 3: let's get this ball rolling. And I'm like, we're just

347
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Speaker 3: you know, we're just gonna keep it going because two

348
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Speaker 3: seconds I knew that we weren't going to stay quiet,

349
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Speaker 3: because if silence got them nowhere, then we would be

350
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Speaker 3: as loud as it take. It's kind of how my

351
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Speaker 3: mind sat was at the time.

352
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Speaker 7: Let me ask something different. Was there a fan presence

353
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Speaker 7: in Russia that were saying something even though I'm I

354
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Speaker 7: imagine people are just used to being restricted because how

355
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Speaker 7: the government is run. But were there fans who were

356
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Speaker 7: saying wait a minute, wait a minute in Russia?

357
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Speaker 1: Oh? Yeah no. And I was actually shocked that I

358
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Speaker 1: got letters from fans all over Russia asking if they

359
00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:55,480
Speaker 1: could like send me stuff that word Russian living in Russia,

360
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Speaker 1: saying that they were sorry for what was happening to me.

361
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Speaker 1: I had them telling me, I mean, I had guards

362
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Speaker 1: telling me at times, you know, different things like there

363
00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:10,399
Speaker 1: was some angels. There was definitely some hidden angels along

364
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Speaker 1: the way. Don't worry, You're you're your country is going

365
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Speaker 1: to get you like you You're going to go home

366
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Speaker 1: like and I'm just like, I hope so, uh my

367
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Speaker 1: salemates would tell me all the time too. I kind

368
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Speaker 1: of got a little bit of a crash. Course. I

369
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Speaker 1: guess they're way of life, not by you know, school

370
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Speaker 1: or anything, but by just living it. And I could

371
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Speaker 1: see that they had no hope for them for themselves,

372
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Speaker 1: but they they had a lot of hope you know,

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Speaker 1: through me for me to go home. And I think

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Speaker 1: that kind of became like a little thing, especially in

375
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Speaker 1: my room at least, you know, you.

376
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Speaker 7: Know my my dad And one of his speeches said,

377
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Speaker 7: only in the darkness can you see the stars. So

378
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Speaker 7: what was your lowest moment and how did you find

379
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Speaker 7: the strength to keep going when everything in you wanted

380
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Speaker 7: to give up?

381
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Speaker 1: Lowest moment for me, I was in isolation for a

382
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Speaker 1: little bit over a week.

383
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Speaker 3: And.

384
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Speaker 1: Uh, this is when I first got to like their

385
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Speaker 1: like their county. I guess you would call it jail.

386
00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:23,040
Speaker 1: I hadn't seen my lawyer yet. He was still trying

387
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Speaker 1: to find me because last he told me he would

388
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Speaker 1: have to find me because they're not going to just

389
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Speaker 1: tell them where I went. So I had nothing. I

390
00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:34,240
Speaker 1: had three shirts, I had my shoes, my Nike Duck

391
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Speaker 1: boot shoes on. I had a Parker jacket, no toothbrush,

392
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Speaker 1: no soap, no food, no nothing. So I had to

393
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Speaker 1: take a shirt, found a rough piece of metal, ripped

394
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Speaker 1: it and that was what I used to clean myself with.

395
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Speaker 1: And uh, it was just a really low I felt dirty,

396
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Speaker 1: I felt not like a human, I felt less than

397
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Speaker 1: a human, felt less than animal, honestly, And I thought

398
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Speaker 1: about you know, I thought about ending it. I saw

399
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Speaker 1: some metal where I could break it off, thought about it,

400
00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,280
Speaker 1: But then I also thought about my family. I thought

401
00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:16,520
Speaker 1: about my wife, thought about my mom, my dad, my siblings. Like,

402
00:21:17,359 --> 00:21:19,520
Speaker 1: I mean, they're holding me now, Like who's to say

403
00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:21,560
Speaker 1: they were going to release my body? And now you know,

404
00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:23,480
Speaker 1: my family's trying to fight to get me my body

405
00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:25,440
Speaker 1: home and all that kind of went through my mind

406
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Speaker 1: and I was like, I can't do that to them.

407
00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:30,240
Speaker 1: I have to be strong. And I thought about my

408
00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:33,199
Speaker 1: dad being in Vietnam and you know, stories that he

409
00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:36,080
Speaker 1: shared with me, and you know, he shared a lot

410
00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:39,000
Speaker 1: with me and his resilience to get through that, to

411
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Speaker 1: make it through that and get back home. I was like,

412
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Speaker 1: I can do the same thing. So that was my

413
00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:46,840
Speaker 1: my fight, my you know, I just got to make

414
00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:48,639
Speaker 1: it back home so that everybody can lay eyes on

415
00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:51,840
Speaker 1: me and find that strengthen my pops had over there.

416
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Speaker 6: Wow. Pretty What were some of the insights from your

417
00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:58,520
Speaker 6: dad and his experience being a veteran that shared and

418
00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:01,480
Speaker 6: shaped you in your insights in terms of when you

419
00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:02,560
Speaker 6: needed that strength the most.

420
00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:04,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, not giving away too much, because you know, I

421
00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:08,199
Speaker 1: really I really value those those stories that he that

422
00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:11,479
Speaker 1: he shared with me and only me. But you know,

423
00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:14,280
Speaker 1: he he did talk about, you know, just front lines,

424
00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:17,360
Speaker 1: being walking through the jungle, watching his his his friends

425
00:22:17,359 --> 00:22:20,080
Speaker 1: that he had made over there, falling, you know, traps

426
00:22:20,119 --> 00:22:22,520
Speaker 1: and seeing their bodies the way they are, and you know,

427
00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:28,000
Speaker 1: some very grewsome stories from war and he had to

428
00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:30,159
Speaker 1: go through that. And I see how he went through that.

429
00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:35,280
Speaker 1: He came back and still had a family, still you know,

430
00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:38,160
Speaker 1: went to work, still endured and did what he needed

431
00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:41,600
Speaker 1: to do and just kept going forward in the face

432
00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:46,919
Speaker 1: of a lot of things. Also where he grew up to.

433
00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:49,000
Speaker 1: My dad grew up in Jasper, Texas. Anybody that knows

434
00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:51,520
Speaker 1: anything about Jasper, Texas, it was not the best in

435
00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:54,240
Speaker 1: the South. The Jamesburg Junior Dragon and.

436
00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:57,240
Speaker 5: We investigated that. I don't know if you all heard

437
00:22:57,240 --> 00:22:59,880
Speaker 5: about that. This was a black man that was put

438
00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:03,600
Speaker 5: on the back of a truck and was dragged by

439
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:08,439
Speaker 5: dragged until he was decapitated. When I used to monitor

440
00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:10,440
Speaker 5: hate groups and hate crimes, that was one of the

441
00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:11,720
Speaker 5: cases that I worked on.

442
00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:14,120
Speaker 1: Yep, it was down Hull Creek Road. Yes, my whole

443
00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:16,879
Speaker 1: family is buried down that road cemetery. So we have

444
00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:19,840
Speaker 1: a lot of ties to that, but I know he

445
00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:22,480
Speaker 1: went through all this and I still can see this man.

446
00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:25,879
Speaker 1: And he had his flaws everybody does, but I still

447
00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:29,560
Speaker 1: see a strong man providing for his family and his kids.

448
00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:32,760
Speaker 1: And I'm like, oh, that that's gonna be me. I'm

449
00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:34,359
Speaker 1: going to do the same thing, and I can I

450
00:23:34,359 --> 00:23:34,919
Speaker 1: can't be that.

451
00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:41,359
Speaker 7: So, Sharil, what image or memory kept coming back to

452
00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:45,560
Speaker 7: you as you were not going to lose hope? But

453
00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:50,040
Speaker 7: yet some days we all sort of feel like hopeless?

454
00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:51,840
Speaker 7: What is it that kept you going?

455
00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:56,679
Speaker 3: I would say, just who BG is, and like we

456
00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:01,360
Speaker 3: have a really good think on here. You know, my

457
00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:04,600
Speaker 3: life immediately got harder without her, and so you know,

458
00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:07,320
Speaker 3: you chose right at that point, you know, because the

459
00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:09,680
Speaker 3: things that BG does, like on a day to day

460
00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:13,800
Speaker 3: were instantly missed, you know. And so for me, it's like, Okay,

461
00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:17,080
Speaker 3: I definitely need her back because this ship doesn't really

462
00:24:17,119 --> 00:24:19,040
Speaker 3: ship the way it needs to, Like we are a

463
00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:22,320
Speaker 3: cold like we we co do this, you know, And

464
00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:25,760
Speaker 3: so adding on all the things BG do on top

465
00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:28,280
Speaker 3: of the things I do was insane to me. You know,

466
00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:30,719
Speaker 3: I was like absolutely not insign up for this, Like

467
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,080
Speaker 3: I want to co ship again. Like I want to

468
00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:35,439
Speaker 3: co captain this thing. I do not want to be

469
00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:37,960
Speaker 3: the only captain of this ship. Because this is the

470
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:40,840
Speaker 3: type of person where I'm like, hey, I have an

471
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:45,720
Speaker 3: exam Friday, and I kid, you're not maybe Thursday, Wednesday,

472
00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:50,679
Speaker 3: I have roses and and food sent. She's like, I

473
00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:52,359
Speaker 3: know you're studying, like you know.

474
00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:57,760
Speaker 1: So she's like.

475
00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:02,200
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, well wait wait I'm sorry, let's go back.

476
00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:05,880
Speaker 5: Yeah you sent you had flowers sent from.

477
00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:08,160
Speaker 1: Yourself, a whole like a tinerary thing.

478
00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:13,119
Speaker 3: Yeah, for our anniversary. So yeah, like she wrote, yeah,

479
00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:16,879
Speaker 3: she wrote somebody on the team or whoever, I know

480
00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:18,560
Speaker 3: who she talked to on the saw. But it was

481
00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:20,760
Speaker 3: a shock for me because I was not expecting that.

482
00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:23,320
Speaker 3: But I was accustomed to things like that. But I

483
00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:25,240
Speaker 3: was like, okay, sure these things are going to stop,

484
00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:27,960
Speaker 3: and she's told him. I was okay with that, but yeah,

485
00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:31,679
Speaker 3: she totally surprised me. It was like a thick, really

486
00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:35,879
Speaker 3: nice just like nine by ten like paper, and it

487
00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:38,600
Speaker 3: just had picture of us on it and just the

488
00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:42,480
Speaker 3: whole day's worth for me to do on our anniversary.

489
00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:45,800
Speaker 5: I'm sorry, like okay, like there is no excuses.

490
00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:48,880
Speaker 3: I thought was prison.

491
00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:58,639
Speaker 1: Yes, I set the bar kind of high. Sorry guys, sorry.

492
00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:56,560
Speaker 3: Coming up.

493
00:25:56,920 --> 00:25:58,560
Speaker 2: What do you say to the love of your life

494
00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:01,040
Speaker 2: after almost three hundred days he's in a Russian prison?

495
00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:02,680
Speaker 2: Brittany takes us there.

496
00:26:06,359 --> 00:26:08,960
Speaker 4: Now back to my legacy, So can I post a

497
00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:13,240
Speaker 4: question each of you the moments in two different countries.

498
00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:16,040
Speaker 4: I assume you weren't talking at this moment live when

499
00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:19,440
Speaker 4: each of you heard that you were going to be freed.

500
00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:22,800
Speaker 4: Can you take us to that moment when each of

501
00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:24,920
Speaker 4: you heard that news? What was running through mind? After

502
00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:28,320
Speaker 4: ten months of fearless fighting and advocacy. And to all

503
00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:31,119
Speaker 4: of our listeners and audience members, we see you know

504
00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:34,640
Speaker 4: you're laughing, you're joking. But I remember watching the story

505
00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:37,240
Speaker 4: as we all did, and the narrative could have played

506
00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:40,960
Speaker 4: out just as easily. You know, the war has it

507
00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:44,159
Speaker 4: ended in This could have gone on for years to

508
00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:48,240
Speaker 4: the present day. This was far from a foregone conclusion. Yes,

509
00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:51,840
Speaker 4: and so just for each of you, what was that moment.

510
00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:54,879
Speaker 1: I was working. I was at IK two, I was

511
00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:57,720
Speaker 1: at the actual penal colony at this point, I was

512
00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:02,919
Speaker 1: working in fabric with the second offenders and the lady

513
00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:05,359
Speaker 1: that was basically like kind of over me helping me.

514
00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:08,399
Speaker 1: She was also locked up as well. She worked in

515
00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:10,600
Speaker 1: the kitchen, but she came to me and was like,

516
00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:12,520
Speaker 1: get your stuff, Harry up. I was like, what do

517
00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:14,159
Speaker 1: you mean? She was like, no, you have to go,

518
00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:19,119
Speaker 1: like check you out, like you're you're there's some people

519
00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:21,800
Speaker 1: here you have to talk to, and I think you're

520
00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:26,800
Speaker 1: you're going home. I got extremely happy, but then I

521
00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:31,000
Speaker 1: immediately went back to the cold, just stone face, and

522
00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:32,920
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm not going to believe it until

523
00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:35,159
Speaker 1: my feet are on us oil. I was like, anything

524
00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:39,919
Speaker 1: can fall through, not make it there signature, a period

525
00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:43,840
Speaker 1: wasn't somewhere, and you know it's all messed up. So uh,

526
00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:49,280
Speaker 1: I did check out. Got gave away all my stuff

527
00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:52,200
Speaker 1: to the to the girls because when I say, they

528
00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:56,000
Speaker 1: had nothing, nothing, so I gave them everything I had

529
00:27:56,280 --> 00:28:00,480
Speaker 1: and I got transported maybe the next day or day

530
00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:04,760
Speaker 1: after that to the men's prison down in Moscow. Stayed

531
00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:07,160
Speaker 1: there a couple of days. Thought I was getting checked

532
00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:09,440
Speaker 1: back in. This is where I was in front of

533
00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:12,080
Speaker 1: like eight or nine men. They had me stripped down

534
00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:18,119
Speaker 1: all the way, camera had me spinning, and I was

535
00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:19,800
Speaker 1: just like, I'm not gonna give you a reaction because

536
00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:23,359
Speaker 1: I know that that's what you're looking for. So one

537
00:28:23,359 --> 00:28:28,800
Speaker 1: more attempt to humiliate me, I guess. But the next day,

538
00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:34,800
Speaker 1: about five mask guards they come get me, put me

539
00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:38,720
Speaker 1: in a van. They take me around Moscow one last loop.

540
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:41,720
Speaker 1: They asked me, you know who lives there. I'm like, no,

541
00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:46,240
Speaker 1: they're talking about Putin. They were like our great leader.

542
00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:49,600
Speaker 1: I was just like, oh, okay, I said okay, and

543
00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:51,920
Speaker 1: then they took me to the airport. I got on

544
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:55,040
Speaker 1: that plane and immediately I could just feel it in

545
00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:58,960
Speaker 1: my stomach, just the butterflies of like the anxiousness, but

546
00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:01,640
Speaker 1: still until I get on that US soil. And it

547
00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:04,959
Speaker 1: wasn't until I saw her in that US flag that

548
00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:08,280
Speaker 1: I felt like, okay, it's happening, Like I can I

549
00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:12,120
Speaker 1: can be relieved now. And yeah, I couldn't wait for

550
00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:12,960
Speaker 1: that warm embrace.

551
00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:16,280
Speaker 4: Yeah.

552
00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:19,080
Speaker 3: And for me, I didn't know because they do really

553
00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:28,040
Speaker 3: phone calls from a sitting US president or extremely extremely discreet,

554
00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:32,280
Speaker 3: and so this was not my first time President bideny

555
00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:35,400
Speaker 3: had called me, and so I mean, in my mind,

556
00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:39,000
Speaker 3: I'm like, I don't think that it's because BG's coming home.

557
00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:43,120
Speaker 3: So I knew it was going to be some news

558
00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:46,040
Speaker 3: and normally, if he's calling me and wants to see me,

559
00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:49,520
Speaker 3: it's something he can't say over the phone he wants

560
00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:53,480
Speaker 3: to say in the over office. And I was excited

561
00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:56,080
Speaker 3: because I'm like, you're not gonna waste my time, Like

562
00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:58,880
Speaker 3: we have a good relationship, you know, like he knows

563
00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:00,920
Speaker 3: I'm grieving. He's not just asking me to come there

564
00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:03,120
Speaker 3: for no reason. So I'm like, Okay, it must be

565
00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:05,400
Speaker 3: something good. So I was expecting to go there to

566
00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:08,560
Speaker 3: hear good news, but I'm thinking it's good news as

567
00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:11,840
Speaker 3: of like, hey like the channel to give BG back.

568
00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:15,360
Speaker 3: I think it's working. I think we're getting close, you know,

569
00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:19,280
Speaker 3: because we had had one of those conversations before and

570
00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:21,120
Speaker 3: it had to be in person. So in my brain,

571
00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:23,320
Speaker 3: that's what I'm going there for. So I pack a

572
00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:26,400
Speaker 3: bag for me to go to DC so that I

573
00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:28,880
Speaker 3: can you know, meet President Biden the next morning and

574
00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:30,800
Speaker 3: just you know, hear whatever it is he has to

575
00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:34,200
Speaker 3: tell me. And I get a phone call from BG's

576
00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:38,520
Speaker 3: agent and she's like schreyl. She was like, did you

577
00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:41,800
Speaker 3: pack a bag for BG as well? And I was like,

578
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:45,680
Speaker 3: why would I do that? No, because that's torture for me.

579
00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:47,320
Speaker 3: You want me to go in there and touch her

580
00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:49,960
Speaker 3: clothes and pack a bag that you know she may

581
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:52,560
Speaker 3: not need. Like that's insane. No, I'm not doing that.

582
00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,080
Speaker 3: Did he tell you I should? And she's like no,

583
00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:58,680
Speaker 3: but I mean, like I'm feeling really good, and I'm like, okay, well,

584
00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:01,080
Speaker 3: I'm not that optimistic to go in there and pack

585
00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:04,040
Speaker 3: this bag because it's gonna crush me, like literally crush

586
00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:06,000
Speaker 3: me if I can't give it to her, you know.

587
00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:10,800
Speaker 3: And so she's like, I would still like you to

588
00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:14,480
Speaker 3: just pack one just in case. Okay, Lindsey, I'll pack

589
00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:16,640
Speaker 3: the bag. And the next day I gets to the

590
00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:21,240
Speaker 3: White House and I go in the over office, and

591
00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:24,960
Speaker 3: you know, I think I knew the minute I saw

592
00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:27,760
Speaker 3: his face what he was about to say, because he's

593
00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:30,400
Speaker 3: such a nice person. But he doesn't get up that early.

594
00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:33,280
Speaker 3: Like our meeting was extremely early, and so everybody kept

595
00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:36,160
Speaker 3: saying like, hey, he must love you, and I'm like,

596
00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:39,080
Speaker 3: what are y'all talking about? Like everyone in the Oval

597
00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:41,840
Speaker 3: office networks there. It's just like president body is not

598
00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:44,640
Speaker 3: up at seven am for anybody. And I'm like, okay,

599
00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:47,760
Speaker 3: well I feel great about this. And yeah, so he

600
00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:50,120
Speaker 3: came in, he looked at me and he grabbed my

601
00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:52,800
Speaker 3: hands like this, and he busted a smile that big,

602
00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:54,480
Speaker 3: and I knew what he was about to say, and

603
00:31:54,520 --> 00:31:57,320
Speaker 3: he said, we got her. And I just started crying

604
00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:00,400
Speaker 3: and he was like, we got her, and he he

605
00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:02,920
Speaker 3: went and grabbed the phone and he was just like,

606
00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:07,360
Speaker 3: my people will be calling this phone soon, and he

607
00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:11,680
Speaker 3: was just like, we got her. And I mean, my

608
00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:14,360
Speaker 3: entire just everything changed at that point.

609
00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:16,200
Speaker 6: And what was going through your heart at that point.

610
00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:19,440
Speaker 3: I couldn't believe it. I was utterly in shock, like

611
00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:23,240
Speaker 3: utterly in shock. I could not believe that he was

612
00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:27,520
Speaker 3: able to do it, especially at that speed. I don't

613
00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:31,040
Speaker 3: think a lot of people understand the trajectory of what

614
00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:33,760
Speaker 3: he did in the time that he did that in

615
00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:36,680
Speaker 3: it was unheard of, like no one has ever come

616
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:37,600
Speaker 3: home in ten months.

617
00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:39,040
Speaker 6: And then take us to the moment when you guys

618
00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:41,640
Speaker 6: saw each other for that first time getting off the plane.

619
00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:44,400
Speaker 4: I'm allowed to ask, what did you guys say to

620
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:44,880
Speaker 4: each other?

621
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:48,880
Speaker 1: I mean, I broke down Crown on the plane. I

622
00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:52,720
Speaker 1: switched seat so I could see her pulling in. I'm bawling,

623
00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:56,400
Speaker 1: but in my mind, and I use I use humor

624
00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:01,680
Speaker 1: a lot as a mechanism like for everything, like bad situations,

625
00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:03,880
Speaker 1: good situations, all that. In my mind, I was like,

626
00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:07,040
Speaker 1: do not fall down these stairs. You went through all this,

627
00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:11,000
Speaker 1: don't ruin it by falling down the stairs in front

628
00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:14,240
Speaker 1: of everybody. So I was nervous for that, but I

629
00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:17,560
Speaker 1: got down them stairs. I ran over to her big hug,

630
00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:21,760
Speaker 1: whispered in her ear, I'm so sorry. I know you're

631
00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:25,520
Speaker 1: going to kill me, but I have to. You know,

632
00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:29,840
Speaker 1: hand just let's just say hand, little squeeze, just touch.

633
00:33:29,880 --> 00:33:31,720
Speaker 3: Mind you is so many people in that room, I'm like,

634
00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:36,280
Speaker 3: if you don't get your little hands off me so embarrassed,

635
00:33:36,320 --> 00:33:41,080
Speaker 3: I'm like, no.

636
00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:46,600
Speaker 5: This also though, this, yes, this has never happened this fast,

637
00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:51,040
Speaker 5: and the trajectory was unusual. But let's also give credit

638
00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:53,440
Speaker 5: where credit is due. And one of the things that

639
00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:56,080
Speaker 5: I was just thinking about, there's this famous story that

640
00:33:56,280 --> 00:34:00,800
Speaker 5: when your father went to see President Johnson, when he

641
00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:02,560
Speaker 5: was saying, look, you know, doctor King, I really want

642
00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:05,280
Speaker 5: to support this bill, but you know, I really just

643
00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:07,880
Speaker 5: don't have the power. You know that we don't have

644
00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:10,160
Speaker 5: the power to get this done. And so when they

645
00:34:10,160 --> 00:34:13,520
Speaker 5: were walking out of the Oval office, your father said

646
00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:16,680
Speaker 5: to his lieutenants well, let's go get the president some power.

647
00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:21,240
Speaker 5: So what you did, and and you know, we certainly

648
00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:25,000
Speaker 5: should give the president, you know, all of his credits

649
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:28,280
Speaker 5: for doing what he did, but also let's be clear

650
00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:33,640
Speaker 5: that it took a determined, strong woman to give the

651
00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:37,120
Speaker 5: president the power to get this done.

652
00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:38,560
Speaker 3: I like that.

653
00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:44,520
Speaker 6: You so pretty. So you get back and just tell

654
00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:47,040
Speaker 6: us about what that transition was like. And you've spoken

655
00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:53,520
Speaker 6: openly about anxiety and trauma following your return, and how

656
00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:55,239
Speaker 6: did you get back to a point where you were

657
00:34:55,320 --> 00:34:59,399
Speaker 6: mentally be able to refocus on all that you needed

658
00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:01,040
Speaker 6: to focus on In the United States.

659
00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:05,600
Speaker 1: A lot of great people, I'll say that, too many

660
00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:09,120
Speaker 1: people to name, but so many great people. I got

661
00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:11,400
Speaker 1: to give my wife a lot of the credit because

662
00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:13,920
Speaker 1: she knew when I was good, she knew when I wasn't.

663
00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:16,719
Speaker 1: She knew when I was lying to myself saying I

664
00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:19,080
Speaker 1: was good and I really wasn't. She gave me the

665
00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:23,000
Speaker 1: space to not be okay because there was there was

666
00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:26,840
Speaker 1: that initial your home. Oh my god, I'm so happy.

667
00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:29,759
Speaker 1: Everything's great, Like we're just going to fall right back

668
00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:33,880
Speaker 1: into everything being normal, and it's like, no, like I've changed,

669
00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:38,359
Speaker 1: she's changed, Like things have changed, and not for the bad,

670
00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:42,239
Speaker 1: but just things have changed and there's healing now. And

671
00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:46,320
Speaker 1: then there's different times where I'll hear something, see something,

672
00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:49,239
Speaker 1: or something will remind me and it'll kind of like

673
00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:52,600
Speaker 1: throw me back. And then sometimes it won't throw me back,

674
00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:55,640
Speaker 1: but I just want to talk about it. So there

675
00:35:55,680 --> 00:35:58,240
Speaker 1: was a it was just an up and down flux,

676
00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:00,960
Speaker 1: but I just knew I needed her right beside me.

677
00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:04,520
Speaker 1: One little quick story. We were in the hospital when

678
00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:06,920
Speaker 1: I came back. There was a program that I went

679
00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:10,200
Speaker 1: into to get reimmersed back in went to the army base.

680
00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:14,359
Speaker 1: An amazing program and amazing people at that military base

681
00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:19,120
Speaker 1: down in San Antonio that I met, But they kind

682
00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:22,120
Speaker 1: of wanted us separate just because of you know, you

683
00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:25,920
Speaker 1: never know how somebody's going to reaccliment being back, night terrors,

684
00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:29,239
Speaker 1: anything can go, anything happened. But I was like, no,

685
00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:32,040
Speaker 1: I need her with me in this room. I want

686
00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:35,920
Speaker 1: to just start talking and telling her everything. And I

687
00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:38,640
Speaker 1: was away from her this whole time, isolated. I don't

688
00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:42,360
Speaker 1: want to be isolated anymore, like absolutely not. So after

689
00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:45,280
Speaker 1: a couple of phone calls and a couple more phone calls,

690
00:36:45,840 --> 00:36:49,040
Speaker 1: they were like, okay, you know and she came and

691
00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:50,719
Speaker 1: because I was watching the news, they were like, wait,

692
00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:52,200
Speaker 1: you're doing what I was like, I'm watching the news.

693
00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:54,359
Speaker 1: I want to know everything that was said, what was done.

694
00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:57,520
Speaker 1: They were like, hey, like, don't do that. I was like, well,

695
00:36:57,560 --> 00:36:59,239
Speaker 1: I need her then I'm watching it.

696
00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:03,960
Speaker 3: Yeah. I was really shocked when they called because they

697
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:06,080
Speaker 3: told us like we got to see each other maybe

698
00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:09,680
Speaker 3: for like an hour at the bunker. They had like

699
00:37:09,719 --> 00:37:12,080
Speaker 3: a little room with snacks and things, and we talked

700
00:37:12,280 --> 00:37:14,000
Speaker 3: and then they were like, Okay, shyl you're gonna go

701
00:37:14,080 --> 00:37:16,640
Speaker 3: back to the house on the base. Beg'll meet you

702
00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:18,479
Speaker 3: at the house like in like two days or something.

703
00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:20,360
Speaker 3: They said like we were supposed to go like almost

704
00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:22,480
Speaker 3: forty eight hours not seeing each other as she went

705
00:37:22,520 --> 00:37:26,920
Speaker 3: through testing and conversations and different things like that, and

706
00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:31,080
Speaker 3: I get a phone call. We separated maybe for I

707
00:37:31,120 --> 00:37:33,080
Speaker 3: don't know, like when they told you were going to

708
00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:35,480
Speaker 3: the hospital and I went back to the house. We

709
00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:38,080
Speaker 3: weren't a part that long before I got a phone

710
00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:39,360
Speaker 3: call and they're like, we're coming to get you and

711
00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:41,560
Speaker 3: bring you to the hospital. I'm like, but I thought you, guys, said,

712
00:37:41,600 --> 00:37:45,000
Speaker 3: and they're like no, BEG said, and I.

713
00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:51,000
Speaker 1: Was like, Okay, I was gonna check myself out, but yeah,

714
00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:53,080
Speaker 1: I just needed her. And it was like and I

715
00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:55,160
Speaker 1: do understand, but I did understand what they were saying

716
00:37:55,200 --> 00:37:57,399
Speaker 1: because as much as I wanted to see the rest

717
00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:00,680
Speaker 1: of my immediate family, it was just kind of hard

718
00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:03,960
Speaker 1: because like I could see the ten months of grief,

719
00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:07,880
Speaker 1: I can see the aging, I can see the you know.

720
00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:10,120
Speaker 1: It was just it was good to see them, but

721
00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:13,200
Speaker 1: I needed to see them in doses, you know, because

722
00:38:13,239 --> 00:38:15,480
Speaker 1: it was just like it was a lot for me

723
00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:18,279
Speaker 1: because every time they cry cry, I felt like I

724
00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:20,480
Speaker 1: felt like I let my dad down, felt like, you know,

725
00:38:20,600 --> 00:38:24,240
Speaker 1: it was just all these little things, these little things

726
00:38:24,239 --> 00:38:26,799
Speaker 1: that you just hold on to, and I was like, yeah, no,

727
00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:28,399
Speaker 1: I just need my wife right now.

728
00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:33,920
Speaker 6: So if you're looking for stories that move you, insights

729
00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:36,919
Speaker 6: that shift you, in conversations that stay deeply within you,

730
00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:39,239
Speaker 6: do us a favor and do yourself a favor it

731
00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:42,319
Speaker 6: hit the subscribe button right now. It's the best way

732
00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:45,800
Speaker 6: to support this podcast and support your journey. New episodes

733
00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:46,839
Speaker 6: drop every week.

734
00:38:50,560 --> 00:38:50,759
Speaker 1: Now.

735
00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:52,839
Speaker 4: Back to my Legacy, prit me it.

736
00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:57,360
Speaker 7: Five months since you got back and that you first

737
00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:02,120
Speaker 7: walked on the court again. With your Phoenix Mercury team.

738
00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:04,000
Speaker 7: What was that moment?

739
00:39:04,200 --> 00:39:08,319
Speaker 1: Like that was challenging. That was tough. I've never been

740
00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:12,560
Speaker 1: challenged like that in my professional career ever. It's never

741
00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:15,040
Speaker 1: been that hard either. My body went through a toll,

742
00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:18,480
Speaker 1: so you know, I'm trying to get back muscle mass.

743
00:39:18,520 --> 00:39:21,399
Speaker 1: I'm trying to put weight, good weight back on, take

744
00:39:21,480 --> 00:39:26,080
Speaker 1: off the bad weight. I mean that first. I think

745
00:39:26,160 --> 00:39:29,080
Speaker 1: the first time I worked out, I definitely cried, like

746
00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:31,680
Speaker 1: I broke down. I think I was asking you, I

747
00:39:31,719 --> 00:39:33,960
Speaker 1: was like you, I was like do I should I

748
00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:34,480
Speaker 1: just stop?

749
00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:34,920
Speaker 5: Like?

750
00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:40,120
Speaker 1: Should I just not do this? So it was tough,

751
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:42,520
Speaker 1: but I will give credit to my team at the time,

752
00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:46,840
Speaker 1: the Phoenix Mercury. You know, they were very understanding with

753
00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:50,759
Speaker 1: just giving me the time, giving me the space, making

754
00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:54,239
Speaker 1: sure I had an outlet, and I didn't feel like

755
00:39:54,239 --> 00:39:56,600
Speaker 1: I was rushed back into it at all. It was

756
00:39:56,600 --> 00:39:59,880
Speaker 1: definitely definitely my my doing just you know, throw back

757
00:40:00,040 --> 00:40:02,919
Speaker 1: in the fire and let's let's get it going. But

758
00:40:03,239 --> 00:40:05,120
Speaker 1: it was tough getting back into it, but I loved

759
00:40:05,120 --> 00:40:09,359
Speaker 1: every moment of it. That first game fans yelling had

760
00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:12,560
Speaker 1: a little video. It was definitely emotional. I was in

761
00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:14,719
Speaker 1: the back like who pull it together? You gotta go

762
00:40:14,719 --> 00:40:17,040
Speaker 1: out here and be a beast, like come on, can't

763
00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:22,120
Speaker 1: be crying. But it was just it felt good, like

764
00:40:22,600 --> 00:40:26,400
Speaker 1: having that warm welcome back from everybody, because I mean, honestly,

765
00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:29,560
Speaker 1: I didn't know, like not everybody was happy I came back,

766
00:40:29,640 --> 00:40:31,879
Speaker 1: you know, I'll say that. So I didn't know going

767
00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:35,240
Speaker 1: into some of these arenas like am I gonna get booed?

768
00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:39,319
Speaker 1: You know, like you know so, But it was it

769
00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:42,719
Speaker 1: was all positive from you know, the fans and every

770
00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:46,840
Speaker 1: arena and every organization that you know, we visited. The play.

771
00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:51,960
Speaker 6: And the w NBA has taken off. You know, we're

772
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:56,880
Speaker 6: seeing incredible engagements, leadership, talent, dunks, everything. But you know,

773
00:40:56,960 --> 00:40:58,920
Speaker 6: one of the things to note again is why you

774
00:40:58,960 --> 00:41:00,840
Speaker 6: were in Russia in the first place was because the

775
00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:04,919
Speaker 6: pay disparity between what was going on for the male

776
00:41:05,560 --> 00:41:08,080
Speaker 6: NBA players and then the w n B A. Can

777
00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:11,280
Speaker 6: you speak to that pay disparity issue in your mind

778
00:41:11,360 --> 00:41:13,640
Speaker 6: and what needs to be done to help address it?

779
00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:14,560
Speaker 7: Uh?

780
00:41:14,760 --> 00:41:17,480
Speaker 1: Well, one, I'm just I'm so glad to be a

781
00:41:17,480 --> 00:41:22,360
Speaker 1: part of the league that with the players that step

782
00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:24,400
Speaker 1: up and we use our voices and we use our

783
00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:30,400
Speaker 1: platforms to advocate for ourselves and for others. And then yeah, no,

784
00:41:30,520 --> 00:41:32,520
Speaker 1: I mean I was going. I went to China first.

785
00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:34,399
Speaker 1: My first year was actually in China. My first year

786
00:41:34,440 --> 00:41:36,439
Speaker 1: was in China, and then after that, I was first

787
00:41:36,480 --> 00:41:38,000
Speaker 1: two years in China, and then I was in Russia

788
00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:39,799
Speaker 1: the rest of the time. And like I said, it's

789
00:41:39,840 --> 00:41:42,600
Speaker 1: for the pay, the pay gap in between the male

790
00:41:42,719 --> 00:41:47,359
Speaker 1: and the female. You know, athletes a lot of times

791
00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:49,120
Speaker 1: they like to throw numbers at you. They like to

792
00:41:49,120 --> 00:41:53,440
Speaker 1: throw you know, ratings and viewership, and we're not bringing

793
00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:57,320
Speaker 1: in enough ticket sale. And we have put in the work,

794
00:41:57,560 --> 00:42:00,120
Speaker 1: the product has put in the work, and we have

795
00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:03,520
Speaker 1: changed that. You see it across the board in college

796
00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:08,520
Speaker 1: and in our sport All Star the tournament. We have

797
00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:11,920
Speaker 1: the viewership, we have the numbers now and the demand

798
00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:16,839
Speaker 1: is there, and we're just you know telling them, hey,

799
00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:19,200
Speaker 1: you know, like we are the product. There is no

800
00:42:20,160 --> 00:42:22,759
Speaker 1: there is no league without us, and you have to

801
00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:27,319
Speaker 1: respect us and pay us the right way for us

802
00:42:27,320 --> 00:42:29,920
Speaker 1: to continue doing what we're doing, so we don't have

803
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:33,480
Speaker 1: to go into these other countries, be away from our

804
00:42:33,520 --> 00:42:38,480
Speaker 1: families for six months at a time, putting off starting families.

805
00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:40,960
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a lot that goes into it. So

806
00:42:41,840 --> 00:42:43,439
Speaker 1: I think we're in a good spot though right now,

807
00:42:43,560 --> 00:42:47,080
Speaker 1: and I just hope we just keep making this progress.

808
00:42:47,239 --> 00:42:50,920
Speaker 3: It's not the argument that I always see, which is

809
00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:53,880
Speaker 3: there say we want to make the exact same dollar

810
00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:57,200
Speaker 3: that our NBA counterparts are making. That is not it.

811
00:42:58,160 --> 00:43:01,640
Speaker 3: I think the biggest takeaway that they're asking for is

812
00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:03,560
Speaker 3: that they want what BG said, they want to be

813
00:43:03,600 --> 00:43:06,600
Speaker 3: paid the right way, meaning they want the right percentage.

814
00:43:06,719 --> 00:43:11,200
Speaker 3: So the reason why the NBA are making X amount

815
00:43:11,200 --> 00:43:14,200
Speaker 3: of dollars just because they're getting X amount of percentage

816
00:43:14,520 --> 00:43:17,160
Speaker 3: from all the money that is being made. So the

817
00:43:17,320 --> 00:43:20,640
Speaker 3: w b A players are saying, Hey, we just want

818
00:43:21,200 --> 00:43:25,480
Speaker 3: X percentage of everything that's made, and if everything that

819
00:43:25,520 --> 00:43:29,719
Speaker 3: we bring in, if you give us this percentage and

820
00:43:29,760 --> 00:43:32,879
Speaker 3: the MAC salary is one hundred thousand dollars, will shut up.

821
00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:37,880
Speaker 3: And that's what they're saying. So God are saying it

822
00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:41,279
Speaker 3: like what y'all saying is her we just want the

823
00:43:41,360 --> 00:43:44,200
Speaker 3: percentage and we don't we won't say anything about the

824
00:43:44,239 --> 00:43:46,840
Speaker 3: dollar value at that point, and that what they're arguing

825
00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:49,200
Speaker 3: is right. And it's just and it needs to be

826
00:43:49,840 --> 00:43:52,600
Speaker 3: very clear because I see so much people they don't

827
00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:54,800
Speaker 3: deserve that that type of money. That's not what they're saying.

828
00:43:55,080 --> 00:44:01,600
Speaker 6: They need a high power lawyer working with them to

829
00:44:01,760 --> 00:44:03,000
Speaker 6: create another movie.

830
00:44:03,239 --> 00:44:07,680
Speaker 5: Exactly. Now we see where this is going. That's exactly

831
00:44:07,760 --> 00:44:10,720
Speaker 5: because you just made it playing. You just made it playing.

832
00:44:10,760 --> 00:44:13,040
Speaker 5: So I think everyone understands, and I.

833
00:44:12,960 --> 00:44:16,759
Speaker 4: Think we've all loved watching the two of you. The

834
00:44:16,760 --> 00:44:19,680
Speaker 4: fact that this entire interview for the audience who doesn't

835
00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:22,560
Speaker 4: see this, you have not let go of each other's hands. No,

836
00:44:22,600 --> 00:44:24,480
Speaker 4: but we alt to shut that out. You have literally

837
00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:26,919
Speaker 4: not let go of each other's hands this entire time,

838
00:44:27,160 --> 00:44:31,279
Speaker 4: And just the vulnerability, the openness, the journey from childhood

839
00:44:31,320 --> 00:44:34,080
Speaker 4: to love. I love the quote It's okay to go down,

840
00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:37,440
Speaker 4: but you cannot stay there. And Brittany, I love the

841
00:44:37,520 --> 00:44:41,480
Speaker 4: quote everyone deserves to look in the mirror and be happy,

842
00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:45,160
Speaker 4: and that the greatest wins are how hard you fight

843
00:44:45,480 --> 00:44:50,200
Speaker 4: for someone you just love. So thank you both for

844
00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:52,840
Speaker 4: giving us this great privilege and honor for your first

845
00:44:52,960 --> 00:44:54,600
Speaker 4: interview together in this way.

846
00:44:54,920 --> 00:44:57,520
Speaker 5: Thank you both, And I think that is that's your theme,

847
00:44:58,880 --> 00:45:02,160
Speaker 5: never letting each other's hand and go so literally how

848
00:45:02,200 --> 00:45:06,920
Speaker 5: you all physically held hands, You all have held hands

849
00:45:06,960 --> 00:45:10,200
Speaker 5: throughout the decades and like that is your your thing,

850
00:45:10,560 --> 00:45:12,560
Speaker 5: holding each other's hand.

851
00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:17,600
Speaker 1: You heard it right here.

852
00:45:18,840 --> 00:45:20,120
Speaker 3: Thank you for joining us.

853
00:45:20,440 --> 00:45:24,359
Speaker 2: If you enjoy today's conversation, subscribe, share, and follow us

854
00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:28,120
Speaker 2: on at my Legacy movement on social media and YouTube.

855
00:45:28,719 --> 00:45:32,840
Speaker 2: New episodes drop every Tuesday, with bonus content every Thursday.

856
00:45:33,520 --> 00:45:36,040
Speaker 3: At its core, this podcast.

857
00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:39,200
Speaker 2: Honors doctor King's vision of the beloved community and the

858
00:45:39,239 --> 00:45:43,640
Speaker 2: power of connection. A Legacy Plus studio production distributed by

859
00:45:43,680 --> 00:45:48,320
Speaker 2: iHeartMedia creator and executive producer Suzanne Hayward Come executive producer

860
00:45:48,360 --> 00:45:51,719
Speaker 2: Lisa Lyle. Listen on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you

861
00:45:51,760 --> 00:45:52,680
Speaker 2: get your podcasts.