Speaker 1: Hey, there are folks.
Speaker 2: In this episode, we continue our Love Stories series and
Speaker 2: today's couple Lauren and her situation from reality TV to rehab,
Speaker 2: from family to federal prison. Mike and Lauren Sorrentino have
Speaker 2: seen a lot. Welcome every bide you this special Cuffing
Speaker 2: season edition of Amy and TJ and Robes. They've seen
Speaker 2: a lot, but it almost comes through in talking to
Speaker 2: them that it seems like they had don't have a
Speaker 2: care in the world, like we've been there, done that.
Speaker 2: They seemed they were so incredibly strong to me and
Speaker 2: talking to them.
Speaker 3: Can I tell you of all the couples we have interviewed,
Speaker 3: they shocked me the most. You know, you have expectations
Speaker 3: and then you have the reality. And they were like
Speaker 3: a shining light of hope and inspiration in a way
Speaker 3: I could never have predicted or thought. I was taking
Speaker 3: more notes with what they each had to say about
Speaker 3: their relationship, their choices, how they've evolved. It was. It
Speaker 3: was breathtaking. Actually, and they're not I mean they're young,
Speaker 3: they're much younger than me, and yet still they had
Speaker 3: so much wisdom because they have gone through so much.
Speaker 3: As you pointed out something you left out they broke up,
Speaker 3: broke up completely for years in between dating and then
Speaker 3: actually dating again and eventually getting married. But you're talking
Speaker 3: about was it up to eight years of dating on
Speaker 3: and off before they ever actually ended up being serious
Speaker 3: enough to get engaged.
Speaker 2: And people, of course know Mike the situation Sorrentino of
Speaker 2: his Jersey Shore fame. But during that stint, that time
Speaker 2: of their uber stardom, she wasn't in the picture.
Speaker 1: They were together.
Speaker 2: She was not along for that wild ride of his.
Speaker 2: But they've known each other. I can't remember what age
Speaker 2: they said, but they.
Speaker 3: Made seventeen eighteen. It was really young, you know, with
Speaker 3: the Jersey Shore to teenagers. They they said they had
Speaker 3: immediate chemistry. That's one of the questions we ask all
Speaker 3: of our couples, what it was like the moment you met, And.
Speaker 1: It doesn't it's not all the same.
Speaker 3: They were the fireworks story initially, but there was a
Speaker 3: long break and you know, to find out, she came
Speaker 3: back to him at probably one of the lowest times
Speaker 3: of his life and she stuck with him. And it's
Speaker 3: really cool to hear about the foundation of their love
Speaker 3: and the changes and commitments they made to one another.
Speaker 3: But to themselves as well. That led them to where
Speaker 3: they are today. And it was I mean, it was
Speaker 3: inspirational to see where they are today.
Speaker 2: And like we said, I mentioned at the top of
Speaker 2: their federal prison was a part of the story. Yep,
Speaker 2: she made the choice to marry him knowing he was
Speaker 2: about to go into prison. This wasn't a situation where right,
Speaker 2: she agreed to marry him and then all of a
Speaker 2: sudden these everything changed. No, No, they made a conscious decision.
Speaker 2: I'm going to be here when you get out. We
Speaker 2: might as well go ahead and get married. Now, this
Speaker 2: story is a hell of a story.
Speaker 3: Oh I On a lighter note, so we have noticed
Speaker 3: a theme we haven't talked about this yet among our interviewees,
Speaker 3: where they're all happy. That was one of the reasons
Speaker 3: why we wanted to interview them. They had all gone
Speaker 3: through something and they all were happy. There was one
Speaker 3: issue in the household that seemed to throw everybody off,
Speaker 3: tripped everybody out, tripped everybody off up. Sorry, and Mike
Speaker 3: and Lauren have the best answer yet about how they
Speaker 3: handled this particular household chort.
Speaker 2: So men listening and any woman who has a man
Speaker 2: living in the house with you Mike, the situation has
Speaker 2: figured it out.
Speaker 3: Yes, without a doubt. It was a mic dropping moment.
Speaker 4: So they are.
Speaker 2: Now added to the list of our diverse group of
Speaker 2: couples that we are talking to asking the exact same
Speaker 2: list of questions about the relationship, about fights, about household chores,
Speaker 2: about finances, sex, Yes, all of it. We've asked them
Speaker 2: the same questions and the answers are fantastic so far. Again,
Speaker 2: to remind you, we dropping a new episode every day
Speaker 2: of the week Monday through Friday leading up to Valentine's Day,
Speaker 2: and today we had a treat for you, so enjoy
Speaker 2: our conversation with Mike and Lauren.
Speaker 3: Mike and Lauren, thank you for being with us today.
Speaker 4: Yes, thank you for having us.
Speaker 5: Thank you for having us.
Speaker 3: How are you guys doing right now?
Speaker 4: Oh, we're doing amazing.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we are thriving. We are now a family of five.
Speaker 6: They have a family of chickens in our backyard as well,
Speaker 6: eight chickens, so we are just like a busy little
Speaker 6: circus of a farm over here.
Speaker 4: Yeah. We are going on our seventh year of marriage.
Speaker 4: We've been at hometown, New Jersey for about six years.
Speaker 4: I'm also going on ten years of sobriety this year
Speaker 4: at the end of this year was really big for
Speaker 4: me as well. So we are really just thriving. But
Speaker 4: at the end of the day, we take everything one
Speaker 4: day to time.
Speaker 3: Congratulations on all of the above. Seriously, those were all
Speaker 3: individually amazing feeds, so that's awesome to hear that update.
Speaker 3: We're going to start with the questions We've asked all
Speaker 3: of our couples to begin with. I love this first question.
Speaker 3: Can each of you give me three words to describe
Speaker 3: the current state of your relationship?
Speaker 1: Michae will start with you.
Speaker 4: Solid. Also, I would like to describe our relationship as
Speaker 4: very loving. And also does true love sat count as
Speaker 4: two words or one word?
Speaker 3: You can make it one?
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I feel that we're love so kind of.
Speaker 4: We have so much history to drop on, so you know,
Speaker 4: definitely rock steady. We've built our foundation on on on that.
Speaker 4: And also we're a very loving family. And also I
Speaker 4: consider us true love.
Speaker 6: All right, lad say, passionate, connected and strong.
Speaker 2: Connected and strong.
Speaker 3: That's amazing. After how many years against seven years marriage.
Speaker 6: Seven years married, about twenty one we've known each other
Speaker 6: for twenty one years, not together for twenty one years collectively.
Speaker 6: But I met him when I was nineteen and I
Speaker 6: just turned forty last month, So yes, I've known him
Speaker 6: more than half my life.
Speaker 2: All right, So what you all are saying now takes
Speaker 2: us directly back into our next question, which is, was
Speaker 2: there immediate chemistry when you first met?
Speaker 4: One hundred percent? We met in college math class, and
Speaker 4: she was the first blonde that I had ever wanted
Speaker 4: to date. I had for burnettes, and we were in college,
Speaker 4: and I was just drawn upon her and I had
Speaker 4: to make my way to somehow sit next to her
Speaker 4: and then eventually try to get her number, which I
Speaker 4: eventually did.
Speaker 6: But we're always opposite, like he said, So I was
Speaker 6: sitting in the front row, he was in the back row,
Speaker 6: but we instantly had a connection and a chemistry.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I like club music and she likes country. So
Speaker 4: it's kind of, you know, we have to make it work.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we have very different music interests as well. I
Speaker 1: love yacht rock and he loves anything else.
Speaker 3: Okay, very cool, love that it can still work. That
Speaker 3: is one difference that actually is surmountable. I would say, yes, Okay,
Speaker 3: who said I love you first?
Speaker 4: It was probably me. It was definitely me. I'm a cancer.
Speaker 4: I wear my heart on my sleeve and I'm not
Speaker 4: afraid to show some of my cards. And she was definitely,
Speaker 4: I think, my college sweetheart, not that I think, but
Speaker 4: I know you were my college sweetheart. And then when
Speaker 4: we had broken up around my Jersey Shore discovery face,
Speaker 4: I was always longing for, you know, our connection, which
Speaker 4: we eventually got back together years later.
Speaker 1: That's so cool.
Speaker 2: I think that's been consistent. It's mostly the guys who
Speaker 2: end up saying I love you first, and most of
Speaker 2: the conversations we've had with the couples, that's been consistent.
Speaker 2: How long give us your timeline line here? How long
Speaker 2: did you date before you got engaged? How long were
Speaker 2: you engaged before you got married?
Speaker 4: Oh? Wow, wow, do you want to answer a lot
Speaker 4: of people get confused with our story. Oh my god,
Speaker 4: you guys were together, you know, your whole Jersey Shore days.
Speaker 4: You know, it's like no, no, no, So.
Speaker 6: We were together for about three years the first time
Speaker 6: around college, and that was in college, that was pre
Speaker 6: Jersey Shore. That was like two thousand and four, five
Speaker 6: to eight, and then he coincidentally went to rehab his
Speaker 6: first time two thousand and eight got out of rehab,
Speaker 6: went right into filming Jersey Shore, so we were not
Speaker 6: together all of that time Jersey Shore started finished.
Speaker 4: We got back together in twy thirteen.
Speaker 5: May of twenty thirteen, and.
Speaker 4: Then we got engaged Valentine's eighteen year.
Speaker 1: Oh Valentine's Day.
Speaker 5: I'd say twenty eighteen.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and then we got married the following year.
Speaker 5: We know that year. We got married November.
Speaker 4: First, that fall, Yeah, a couple of months later.
Speaker 6: Yeah, So we were ready. We knew I think we
Speaker 6: always knew we were each other's person. Yeah, but we
Speaker 6: needed to like have our life figured out. Yep, you know,
Speaker 6: we were kind of going through a lot of different things.
Speaker 4: Yeah, all for those years. All the relationship is definitely
Speaker 4: very battle tested. We've been through a lot of things together,
Speaker 4: and we definitely draw upon that a lot of the
Speaker 4: times because you you can also be grateful and sort
Speaker 4: of understand the big picture and step back that we
Speaker 4: have so much history together and obviously the chemistry as
Speaker 4: well as the relationship is very passionate as well.
Speaker 1: That's so cool.
Speaker 3: So you had three years initially then another five years
Speaker 3: before you actually got engaged, So yeah, that's that's a
Speaker 3: remarkable timeline and the fact that you went and made
Speaker 3: it through all of those years is a testament to
Speaker 3: where you are today.
Speaker 1: That's really cool.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, we got married in two thousand and eighteen. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and then a couple months later they had I had
Speaker 4: went to prison for almost a year, and so our
Speaker 4: first year of marriage, I was inside technically, And you know,
Speaker 4: a relationship really has to be strong to go through
Speaker 4: something like that, where the first year of marriage I
Speaker 4: was in prison, you know, paying my debt to society
Speaker 4: and trying to write my redemption story.
Speaker 6: Every Friday night we had our date night. I would
Speaker 6: drive to visit him and I went just we would
Speaker 6: hang out, we would play scrabble, Yeah, we would eat,
Speaker 6: we would just talk for hours.
Speaker 5: And it was every Friday night.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we were so excited. I was so excited to
Speaker 4: get snacks out of the vending machine. So let's tell
Speaker 4: you how how simple things had gotten at one particular point.
Speaker 4: But we always had love.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what I'm gonna because of that answer,
Speaker 2: I'm going to skip ahead to another question. We have
Speaker 2: a little farther down the list, but it is what
Speaker 2: has your or what was your first year of marriage?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 2: Now you all have already described some of the practical
Speaker 2: stuff that was going on, but also and you all
Speaker 2: describe just emotionally from a family logistics standpoint, from dealing
Speaker 2: with other family members. I mean, it couldn't have been
Speaker 2: all sunshine and rainbows, not all.
Speaker 4: I mean, I was super positive. My wife would take
Speaker 4: the three or three and a half hour drive, and
Speaker 4: I had to be positive for my wife. I had
Speaker 4: to be a leader to let her know that, listen,
Speaker 4: everything's going to be okay at the end of the day.
Speaker 4: And she she was obviously upset. You know, a lot
Speaker 4: of the times, you know, that particular time here was
Speaker 4: definitely uncertainty, but also it was a means to an end,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean. I was sentenced for, you know,
Speaker 4: eight months of prison time to pay my debt to society,
Speaker 4: and once that was over, we can start to have
Speaker 4: not a happy ending, but a happy beginning. And that's
Speaker 4: kind of that was our mindset at the time. So
Speaker 4: we really enjoyed our time whenever it was, wherever it was,
Speaker 4: and we were grateful, We were grateful for each other,
Speaker 4: and that we were going to do whatever it took
Speaker 4: to get out of, you know, that hole that we
Speaker 4: were in and eventually start a family, which we did.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think we.
Speaker 6: Were from my perspective, just like he said, we were
Speaker 6: so relieved that all that legal stuff was behind us
Speaker 6: because he had started on that legal journey in twenty thirteen,
Speaker 6: the year we got back together. It was that fall
Speaker 6: that all of that started. So it took five years
Speaker 6: to get a resolution from that.
Speaker 4: And a million dollars worth of legal fees. Yes, so
Speaker 4: it was definitely a legal odyssey and it was very
Speaker 4: emotionally dreaming for all of us.
Speaker 6: But yeah, we were so happy to get married and
Speaker 6: so happy and ready to move forward in our personal
Speaker 6: life and just start a family and work towards that
Speaker 6: in our future. So that first year was definitely challenging,
Speaker 6: but I think that it was it helped us really
Speaker 6: continue to solidify our foundation.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but we had gone through some tougher times than that,
Speaker 4: which we were very we stay at faith and we're
Speaker 4: very faithful couple. You know. I feel that you know,
Speaker 4: everything that you go through God prepares you for. And
Speaker 4: I had went through addiction a few years before that.
Speaker 4: I'm now, you know, ten years, but at that particular time,
Speaker 4: I was, let's just say around the court case. I
Speaker 4: was what three two or three.
Speaker 6: Well, by the time you went away, you were two
Speaker 6: years I just also started.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so addiction was just so much harder to get
Speaker 4: through that. So once we got through that and we
Speaker 4: started to face the court stuff together, you know, I'll
Speaker 4: be honest with you, it was almost like a muscle,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean. We we had built up
Speaker 4: a foundation to continue to fight together.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's remarkable.
Speaker 3: I mean what the two of you went through from
Speaker 3: just dating and a very public situation, addiction and then
Speaker 3: prison all just to get to your first wedding anniversary.
Speaker 3: I feel like, what else could happen that you couldn't
Speaker 3: handle at that point?
Speaker 4: One hundred percent. We consider ourselves a very battle tested
Speaker 4: couple that has gone through the storm. And you know,
Speaker 4: and and we have turned adversity into our own power,
Speaker 4: you know. And we had used what was meant to
Speaker 4: be against us or for your harm, you know, God
Speaker 4: had you know, turned it for our good. I guess
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, It propelled us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's remarkable. I love that. So do you
Speaker 1: all have an age difference at all?
Speaker 5: He is about four years older than me.
Speaker 1: Yep, has that played a role at all in your relationship.
Speaker 6: I think maybe when we were very young, like when
Speaker 6: I met him and I was nineteen and you were
Speaker 6: twenty to twenty three. But I know, I think we're
Speaker 6: pretty close in age, like given the adulthood of our life.
Speaker 4: Yeah, my wife just turned forty the other day. It's
Speaker 4: a big celebration for us. We booked a trip to
Speaker 4: Sicily in a couple of months. Nice, it was nice. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: we're very excited.
Speaker 2: Tell us now here. Why did you want to get married?
Speaker 2: Why was it important to take that step at something
Speaker 2: some couple's debate, Hey, everything's going fine. Why do we
Speaker 2: need some document or a piece of paper? Why was
Speaker 2: it important to be married for you all?
Speaker 4: For me, I just I always as a young man,
Speaker 4: I always dreamed of being married and having my own family,
Speaker 4: being raised as in the Italian tradition, family is very important.
Speaker 4: So for me, I always wanted to get married and
Speaker 4: have a family, have a big wedding, which we did.
Speaker 4: We leveraged my employer, MTV, and we did our wedding
Speaker 4: on TV, which was a massive, beautiful wedding. Even though
Speaker 4: I was going through all those tough times with the
Speaker 4: case and spending a million dollars on lawyers, I was
Speaker 4: still able to strategically leverage my celebrity and my employer,
Speaker 4: MTV to have this beautiful wedding. So yeah, no, I
Speaker 4: don't know. I loved our wedding was beautiful, and I
Speaker 4: do understand the question of a piece of paper.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, both of us our values were always aligned
Speaker 6: no matter what age we were, whether we were nineteen
Speaker 6: or in our four We both came from large Italian
Speaker 6: Catholic families raised in New Jersey, and he had he
Speaker 6: was one of four siblings. I'm one of four siblings.
Speaker 6: I had three girls, one boy. He had three boys,
Speaker 6: one girl. Like the family dynamics, So there was just
Speaker 6: like a lot of similarities there. And for me, it's
Speaker 6: just that's always been my dream, you know, to find
Speaker 6: my dream man and get married. And the timing was
Speaker 6: just the right timing for us in our relationship, and
Speaker 6: I couldn't wait to marry him. We had parted ways
Speaker 6: younger when we were younger, and our relationship was something
Speaker 6: that I always had looked back on that, you know,
Speaker 6: I always felt like a piece.
Speaker 5: Of me was with him. Yeah, and I think it
Speaker 5: was a mutual thing.
Speaker 6: But we had to like do our lives separately for
Speaker 6: a minute, and thank god we did, because if we
Speaker 6: stayed together would.
Speaker 5: Not have worked.
Speaker 4: You know, there is that phrase, you know, he let
Speaker 4: the bird out of the cage. If it's meant to be,
Speaker 4: you know, comes back. If it's not then you know.
Speaker 4: But when we were dating in college, we used to
Speaker 4: drive by these homes in home though, and they were
Speaker 4: just beautiful homes and we would be like, you know what,
Speaker 4: one day, you know, it'd be great to when we
Speaker 4: were dating in college, it would be great to settle
Speaker 4: down and have a family out here. And sure enough,
Speaker 4: twenty years.
Speaker 3: Later, just not on the timeline you probably thought it
Speaker 3: would be. That's really cool though for people who have
Speaker 3: certain expectations, it doesn't necessarily happen when you think it's
Speaker 3: going to.
Speaker 1: But that's exactly really cool.
Speaker 3: Did your relationship, especially given the ins and out of it,
Speaker 3: have the support of your friends and your family?
Speaker 4: You know what. I'm sure that you know early on
Speaker 4: there were some skeptics, you know what I mean. I mean,
Speaker 4: I'm going to this huge court case United States is
Speaker 4: versus the situation. Uh, you know, they're trying to penalize
Speaker 4: me for millions of dollars. I'm sure. And again I
Speaker 4: don't know if this has happened, but I'm sure her
Speaker 4: family was worried about that. You know, that's possibly could
Speaker 4: be in there. But you know, many many years later,
Speaker 4: it turned out to be a good decision.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 6: I think, if any, the majority of the skeptics were
Speaker 6: always kind of the fan base maybe or like the
Speaker 6: outside people that were disconnected or removed from what's really happening.
Speaker 6: I think that our family and our friends, the people
Speaker 6: close to us always saw what we had as a connection,
Speaker 6: including my family. Had there have ever been skeptics, no
Speaker 6: one ever voiced that within our world.
Speaker 3: You know, that's cool and that's what counts. So it's
Speaker 3: awesome that y'all were able to separate those two things,
Speaker 3: because sometimes people get you know, you get sucked into
Speaker 3: whatever the PubL like images or whatever, and that affects you.
Speaker 3: But it's awesome that it didn't for you. Okay, So
Speaker 3: the next question full disclosure. We ask everyone this answer
Speaker 3: it however you'd like. How would you describe your sex life? Oh?
Speaker 4: Wow, I would say active active? Yeah, no, I'm trying
Speaker 4: to be articulated.
Speaker 5: Nice, I would I would say healthy.
Speaker 4: Yes, good word. Yeah, that is.
Speaker 2: The safest answer possible. That's good. Yeah, that's a good one.
Speaker 4: Yes. I mean, listen, we have three babies. We have
Speaker 4: a three year old, a two year old, and a
Speaker 4: one year old, and she does such an amazing job
Speaker 4: sleep training the kids. The kids all go go to
Speaker 4: bed usually six fifteen, six thirty and seven, so around
Speaker 4: seven o'clock is mom and dad time. And we prioritize
Speaker 4: that time for mom and dad, you know what, I mean,
Speaker 4: to have our relationships and to put us our relationship first,
Speaker 4: you know, and also throughout the week besides sex life,
Speaker 4: we always try to implement like a date day or
Speaker 4: date nights where mom and dad go to a restaurant
Speaker 4: and we dress up, we take pictures, we posted and
Speaker 4: and just you know, get more time together.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, next question here, besides sex, how important
Speaker 2: is physical touch in your relationship and specifically something as
Speaker 2: simple as walking down the street holding hands?
Speaker 4: Do you that's good? I think everyone has their own
Speaker 4: love language. I definitely physical touch is is mind but
Speaker 4: I think that's very very important. Also, there's other things
Speaker 4: like acts of service and what's the ones called you like?
Speaker 4: She likes quality time I like the touch and acts
Speaker 4: of service, so very mindful of those things. Also, I
Speaker 4: think what's really important is that both couple get both
Speaker 4: the man or the women or you know, the two
Speaker 4: people in the relationship. They get on the path of
Speaker 4: self improvement, self care, taking care of themselves, trying to
Speaker 4: look good for your significant other, going to the gym, tanning.
Speaker 1: Laundry, GTL amazing. I love that you just got that in.
Speaker 1: It's still alive.
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, yeah. My wife goes to bloodies at least
Speaker 4: three times a week and I usually go try to
Speaker 4: go to the gym five times a week. And we're
Speaker 4: trying to look good for each other, you know what
Speaker 4: I mean. We're trying to you know, eat healthy, work out,
Speaker 4: get good sleep, just being good humans. You know, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: So we'll ask about the flip side as well.
Speaker 3: How often do you fight and is there something you
Speaker 3: fight about most?
Speaker 4: We don't fight a lot. I feel like we're we're rare,
Speaker 4: rare breed. We don't fight much. If I put it
Speaker 4: on like a scale of like the whole year, it's
Speaker 4: like we don't fight ninety five percent of the time,
Speaker 4: so and a whole year, it's very small there's like
Speaker 4: one here, one there. I'm trying to think what we
Speaker 4: fight about the most. I don't even know some you know,
Speaker 4: we don't have big fights, so it's more so it's
Speaker 4: probably if you put down to it, it's probably comes
Speaker 4: down to, you know, miscommunication sometimes probably, and then also
Speaker 4: just humans have emotions, and those emotions can be tricky
Speaker 4: sometimes and you don't know, you know, what type of
Speaker 4: day your sweetheart is having, and you know, sometimes you
Speaker 4: gotta get context.
Speaker 6: I think that any argument in our relationship has happened
Speaker 6: is almost always a miscommunication where we're truly speaking different languages.
Speaker 6: I mean, get our guard down and explain early, like
Speaker 6: what meant by whatever you were saying. Yeah, And it
Speaker 6: also only happens if, like we're really busy and we're.
Speaker 5: Not making time for us.
Speaker 6: I always recognized that, So it's always a sign that
Speaker 6: we need to slow down whatever we're doing and get
Speaker 6: back into our routine for us.
Speaker 2: Oh lord, lord, I am dying inside because this happened
Speaker 2: to us today. You describe the exact thing we did.
Speaker 2: We were caught up busy in the midst of doing
Speaker 2: something else. We're trying to communicate. She finally said, TJ.
Speaker 2: We're talking about two different things. Like literally we're talking
Speaker 2: about like just pump the brakes for a second. That
Speaker 2: is hilarious. All right, So when was the last time
Speaker 2: next question here, either of you remembered you had to
Speaker 2: say I'm sorry to the other.
Speaker 4: You know, I think it's important to say anytime. If
Speaker 4: if you said to me, give me some advice to
Speaker 4: any couple, I would say to be the first to
Speaker 4: apologize in a fight, you know what I mean, At
Speaker 4: the end of the day, it's really not that, it's
Speaker 4: not really that worth it, you know. So I think
Speaker 4: I think we both take turns, you know, because we
Speaker 4: practice what we preach in our family, and we both
Speaker 4: take turns, Like she's gonna say I'm sorry, and then
Speaker 4: I'm gonna say, you know, I'm sorry. You know what
Speaker 4: I'm saying. It's really not that big of a deal.
Speaker 4: You always revert back to, you know, we have this
Speaker 4: really special love and we have such history together, and
Speaker 4: it's really not that big of a deal. So you
Speaker 4: just got to take a step back, take a take
Speaker 4: a breathe, and realize, like what's happening. A lot of times,
Speaker 4: like she just said, you're speaking different languages and it's okay.
Speaker 4: Sometimes you know it's.
Speaker 2: Okay, Lauren, you remember a time that you had to
Speaker 2: say I'm sorry or a recent time, well, the last
Speaker 2: time you had to say I'm sorry.
Speaker 5: I think I often say I'm sorry.
Speaker 6: I'm a mom of three small beats, so I'm often overstimulated, overwhelmed,
Speaker 6: you know, a lot of just crying with the babies
Speaker 6: all the time. So oftentimes, like I'll be like, you
Speaker 6: know what, I'm sorry. I was distracted with them or
Speaker 6: in the moment with them, I couldn't give attention to
Speaker 6: what we were talking about, what you were asking me.
Speaker 5: So I feel like.
Speaker 6: I'm often doing that, and I'm I'm happy to do
Speaker 6: that because I'm also raising these children and I want
Speaker 6: them to see open lines of communication where you know,
Speaker 6: if you don't react the way that you planned or
Speaker 6: intended to, it's like you need to go back and
Speaker 6: repair that relationship.
Speaker 5: You don't just blaze over it.
Speaker 4: I agree.
Speaker 1: Not as good advice, that's amazing good advice.
Speaker 3: You know how when we look back, I think the
Speaker 3: way we were raised, you know, it's parents had to
Speaker 3: be strong, right, they're authoritarian, and apology or saying you
Speaker 3: were sorry was weak or somehow seating that authority. But
Speaker 3: it's so interesting when you actually have a parent apologizing.
Speaker 3: It teaches you that it's okay to apologize. It isn't weak,
Speaker 3: it's actually really strong to do that.
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we're definitely big on accountability in this family. You know,
Speaker 4: if you're mad, if you're I guess wrong in some way,
Speaker 4: it's not a big deal. You know, we're human, you know,
Speaker 4: we're imperfect human, So it's okay to be like, hey,
Speaker 4: I made a mistake, I'm sorry, I was tired, I
Speaker 4: was angry. You know, my emotions got the best of me.
Speaker 4: Let's talk this out, you.
Speaker 2: Know, all right, all right, next question here. People feel
Speaker 2: strongly about this one way or another. But do you
Speaker 2: all go to bed angry?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 4: No, no, no, I would say rarely. I would say,
Speaker 4: I don't like I do ninety seven percentile.
Speaker 2: No, yeah, but you make it a point to not
Speaker 2: go to bed angry.
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, yes, yes I.
Speaker 3: Do.
Speaker 4: Percentiles because as a family and a couple, is very
Speaker 4: rare that we fight, and if we do, that's why
Speaker 4: I put the percentile on there, because it's like up
Speaker 4: in the ninety something percentiles, that's awesome, But it does happen.
Speaker 4: You know, it does happen.
Speaker 1: Every now and then.
Speaker 3: Rare real off period isn't a bad thing. What do
Speaker 3: you each love most about the other? Whoever wants to
Speaker 3: go first.
Speaker 4: I love how my wife is. She is strong, she's assertive,
Speaker 4: she's beautiful, and she's the rock to this family. She
Speaker 4: straightened me out. I mean god, I mean she's the
Speaker 4: one that straightened the situation out. She saved my life.
Speaker 4: So I'm I'm forever grateful that I have this beautiful
Speaker 4: woman by my side.
Speaker 5: I would say.
Speaker 6: Mike's strength, his resilience to overcome anything and everything, which
Speaker 6: I've always seen inside of him and it just took
Speaker 6: him a little bit longer to find it on his own.
Speaker 6: But really just how he's our sturdy leader of our family.
Speaker 6: I never, under any circumstances that we've gone through in
Speaker 6: the past or that we will go through in the future.
Speaker 6: I never worry about where we're going because he's our captain,
Speaker 6: Like I always know that he is going to protect
Speaker 6: us and he's going to make sure that we're solid
Speaker 6: in any environment.
Speaker 2: I love this all right. Next question, here's a practical
Speaker 2: one that every couple deals with how do you all
Speaker 2: handle finances? Is all shared account family or are their
Speaker 2: separate accounts?
Speaker 4: Oh? Wow, Well that's because I had some issues with
Speaker 4: finances early on in my career. I let my wife
Speaker 4: handle everything. Okay, there is total there is total trust
Speaker 4: there with my wife. Everything is you know, fifty to fifty.
Speaker 4: And another fun fact was I haven't stepped in a
Speaker 4: bank in eleven years. I've not stepped in a bank
Speaker 4: because when I was going through my case, one of
Speaker 4: the key uh, I guess what was it? The witnesses.
Speaker 5: Uh was one of the only one.
Speaker 4: Yeah, one of the only witnesses they had against me
Speaker 4: was they said, I came into the bank with a
Speaker 4: big bag of money, and anything that's over ten thousand
Speaker 4: dollars you got to fill out a form. Now I
Speaker 4: got nervous because I didn't know, and I think you
Speaker 4: were very high and I probably was also very high,
Speaker 4: and I was nervous. I said, give me back my
Speaker 4: money and here's nine nine hundred. I'll come back at
Speaker 4: another time, and they use that against me. So I
Speaker 4: don't step put in the bank now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, wow, I mean that's a pretty good reason. That's yeah,
Speaker 1: So I get it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I love. My wife handles all the finances. There's
Speaker 4: total trust there. Everything is fifty to fifty and that's it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 3: Okay, how about household chores, Like we're talking who cooks,
Speaker 3: who cleans, who does the laundry?
Speaker 4: Oh? Good, good question. I think that is cooking? Is
Speaker 4: my wife? Cleaning is like fifty to fifty because once
Speaker 4: I come home from work at five o'clock, from five
Speaker 4: to seven, I clean and I help put the kids
Speaker 4: to bed. Yeah so uh. And then seasonal duties and
Speaker 4: things like that around the house the man does. So
Speaker 4: I handle everything from you know, sprinklers to opening the
Speaker 4: pool to the lawn, any additions to the home like
Speaker 4: they put they put up a fence recently, just making
Speaker 4: sure that I handle all those duties. And she pretty
Speaker 4: much handles the kids, the caretaking, the food, grocery shopping.
Speaker 4: And then I come in almost like a picture at
Speaker 4: the end of the game, to help. I'm the closer. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and she my wife's like been with the kids all
Speaker 4: day and she's tired. I'm in a five and I'm
Speaker 4: the closure and I clean up and I put the
Speaker 4: help put the kids to bed, and then clean the
Speaker 4: house to make sure it's ready for the next day.
Speaker 6: It's very collaborative and I'm very grateful because it took
Speaker 6: you know, we have starting your family and growing.
Speaker 5: You have to find your groove.
Speaker 6: So we're definitely in a very good routine now where
Speaker 6: we both do our share because it's a lot maintaining
Speaker 6: the household of five.
Speaker 1: Ye.
Speaker 3: Yes, the one thing you didn't mention. We're just curious
Speaker 3: about is laundry.
Speaker 4: Laundry, Oh, laundry. She does the kid's laundry, the kids laundry.
Speaker 4: She does the kid's laundry, and I get ours, uh
Speaker 4: taking out to make it easier on my life, and
Speaker 4: I take that out so so to make it easier
Speaker 4: for mom. She handles the kids laundry, which is you know,
Speaker 4: is doable. But then I get my laundry in her
Speaker 4: law and dry cleaning, and I handled that and I
Speaker 4: take it to wash and fold and I do try clean.
Speaker 1: We're laughing because this has been the stickler.
Speaker 7: It's hilarious, Like this is the question were compatible of
Speaker 7: all couples that all of them have started to like
Speaker 7: turn on each other when it came to talking about laundry.
Speaker 1: But Mike, I think you've figured it out.
Speaker 5: Yes, I'm telling you that is a very big it's amazing, amazing.
Speaker 4: We started to do it because we had so many
Speaker 4: babies so quickly. We have babies back to back to back,
Speaker 4: so as not a present, but I wanted to take
Speaker 4: certain a load off of my wife to make it
Speaker 4: easier for her. And the laundry definitely piles up, so
Speaker 4: I'm like, okay, fine, so we wash and fold and
Speaker 4: I get ours dry cleaned, and be honest with Jude,
Speaker 4: has been like my secret weapon.
Speaker 2: It is it is that is really really cool. Again,
Speaker 2: I mentioned tease at the top, but this is the
Speaker 2: one thing laundry that has been the most interesting answer
Speaker 2: we get from everybody. All right, next question here, how
Speaker 2: much time do you all find you need, if any
Speaker 2: apart just a little time, a little break from each
Speaker 2: other over time.
Speaker 4: It's over a period of time of of a year,
Speaker 4: it's ninety eight percent. Probably we're never really apart. I
Speaker 4: work a lot, but I'm away, but when I'm home, Yeah,
Speaker 4: there's it's really not like that.
Speaker 6: Yeah, we're one of those couples, which it doesn't work
Speaker 6: for everybody, but we are each other's best friend first,
Speaker 6: and I think that's why we love spending that much
Speaker 6: time together, because while we can be intimate and passionate
Speaker 6: and have that part of our relationship, we also are
Speaker 6: truly interested in like our everything, like everything about each other.
Speaker 6: We're just kind of about each other's best friend. And
Speaker 6: I really don't like time apart. We miss each other quickly.
Speaker 4: But also it's important to note to note that, know,
Speaker 4: my wife, she goes to her pilates classes, she gets
Speaker 4: her nails done, her hair done, you know, throughout the day,
Speaker 4: and I'm pretty much, you know, also doing some of
Speaker 4: those things as well. And then we come back to home,
Speaker 4: you know, with our kids and our family, and I
Speaker 4: don't know why we would be a part at that point,
Speaker 4: but you know, some.
Speaker 5: People do in space, but we are with each other
Speaker 5: a lot, like Yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean, listen, if I want to watch a movie
Speaker 4: in the living room and she's in the family room,
Speaker 4: I don't count that, you know.
Speaker 5: Yeah, all right.
Speaker 1: Have you guys ever gone to couples therapy?
Speaker 6: No, actually, couples each done therapy like individually, but not couples.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I've done various forms of therapy over the years, but
Speaker 4: not couples. You know.
Speaker 2: Well, all right, next question, here. Have you ever threatened
Speaker 2: to break up, leave, or even get divorced in the
Speaker 2: middle of a heated argument.
Speaker 6: Oh no, that's good, that's wonderful.
Speaker 1: I love.
Speaker 3: That is amazing. You know.
Speaker 4: That's like on the in the book of What You're Not.
Speaker 4: You just can't go there. You just cannot ever go there.
Speaker 4: And if you think you're going to go there, go
Speaker 4: take a shower, go take a walk. If you say
Speaker 4: something that you don't mean, sometimes some of those hurtful
Speaker 4: words can come back to haunt you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, successful couple seem to know the answer to that
Speaker 2: question immediately.
Speaker 1: Really really interesting.
Speaker 3: We'll switch it up and ask each of you what's
Speaker 3: the sweetest thing the other has done for you?
Speaker 4: Well, my wife, I mean listen, she used to drive
Speaker 4: three and a half hour to spem in prison. Okay,
Speaker 4: so that's one way. So we're talking seven hours to
Speaker 4: see me in prison on a weekly basis. I mean,
Speaker 4: just her taking a chance on me was probably the
Speaker 4: sweetest thing that anyone can do, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: I was going through so much trouble, and I was
Speaker 4: going through addiction and again this woman saved my life.
Speaker 4: So you know, she's my true love. You know, so
Speaker 4: she has my heart. So I think I listen, I
Speaker 4: can't think of anything sweeter than that. I mean, you
Speaker 4: used to drive three and a half hours each each way.
Speaker 4: It's seven hours. That's crazy. Yeah, yeah, to visit your
Speaker 4: felon of a husband in for instance.
Speaker 6: So I think that for me it changed. It has
Speaker 6: changed over the years because so much has changed with us.
Speaker 6: But I used to always like to reminisce on our
Speaker 6: engagement because it was on Valentine's Day and it was
Speaker 6: during a very chaotic period of our life, and he
Speaker 6: just made sure to make all of my dreams come true.
Speaker 6: And he made note of all of these little things
Speaker 6: that I had said over the time that we were
Speaker 6: back together in those five years, and all the things
Speaker 6: that I envisioned, and including down to our wedding, like
Speaker 6: really making sure all of those things happened, and amidst
Speaker 6: all the legal stuff and like the recovery stuff and
Speaker 6: everything else that was already on his shoulders. For him
Speaker 6: to make sure that these little things were made to
Speaker 6: happen to make my dreams come true was very sweet.
Speaker 6: And I think that he's kind of carried that over
Speaker 6: into when we have our kids.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I do that on a daily basis.
Speaker 5: I just, yeah, just cute little thing.
Speaker 4: I text my wife every day at eleven eleven the
Speaker 4: heart eleven and then eleven, and then I love you
Speaker 4: every day at eleven eleven.
Speaker 1: That's really sweet.
Speaker 4: Way because I'm like, I don't know if that's superstitious
Speaker 4: or what, but eleven eleven and if it's eleven twelve,
Speaker 4: but it don't count. It's got to be eleven.
Speaker 1: Eleven any time zone, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 4: I yeah, I listen. I catch her usually eleven eleven.
Speaker 4: I never thought about it if I was in Cali
Speaker 4: and she was in But for the most part, it's
Speaker 4: been working.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: I do the eleven, then eleven, then another heart and
Speaker 4: then I love you and I all try to make
Speaker 4: it fit before it turns eleven twelve.
Speaker 1: Really cute.
Speaker 2: We had a good story going, are you.
Speaker 3: Some times I was thinking I went to like a
Speaker 3: place like what happens when you travel and you.
Speaker 4: Are and now I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have
Speaker 4: to accommodate that. When I am in l A. I
Speaker 4: have to be like, Okay, eleven eleven is.
Speaker 1: Eight eleven is what?
Speaker 4: Eight?
Speaker 1: Eight eleven?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Eight eleven.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's and above.
Speaker 4: And beyond another time zone, you know, like, all right,
Speaker 4: you're doing calculations in your brain. All right, it's eight eleven.
Speaker 4: Now I got a minute to get in.
Speaker 2: All right, last few week got for you here. I
Speaker 2: don't want to use the word warn, but if it applies,
Speaker 2: let it. But what would you warn or make sure
Speaker 2: you told another couple to consider before marriage?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 5: Wow, I'll start it. I would say your values on
Speaker 5: raising children.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you're so right.
Speaker 6: You're so right children Because some people, I think you
Speaker 6: might not always have that conversation and get married, and
Speaker 6: then one person might think you know kids and no
Speaker 6: kids or whatever.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 6: So I think though, I think it's always important to
Speaker 6: have a conversation about family and values.
Speaker 4: Yeah, what was the question? Sure?
Speaker 3: What would you what would you tell a couple who
Speaker 3: was considering marriage, What would you warn them about or
Speaker 3: ask them to consider before actually getting married?
Speaker 4: I think, I mean, I think I do this a lot.
Speaker 4: I always say, like, communication is key, be the first
Speaker 4: one to apologize. And I also say, have the couple
Speaker 4: get on the path of self improvement, whether mentally, physically, spiritually, personally,
Speaker 4: or professionally. You just have their own goals and then
Speaker 4: they come together together usual I say that.
Speaker 1: Yep, I love that.
Speaker 3: So everyone always focuses on, oh, you're in the honeymoon phase.
Speaker 1: How long did your honeymoon phase last?
Speaker 3: And what would you just describe the phase you're in now? Oh?
Speaker 4: Wow? You know what I'm going to say that that
Speaker 4: I don't really put us in like a box, you
Speaker 4: know what I mean? As in, you just described like
Speaker 4: a hunt emon phase. I mean, you know, so I
Speaker 4: wouldn't even like put us in a in a box
Speaker 4: right there, as as it relates to who's to say
Speaker 4: we're not always in the honeymoon phase? You know what
Speaker 4: I'm saying? You just don't. I don't know, you know.
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm We're always happy, and I feel like
Speaker 4: we've been through so much that we are so grateful
Speaker 4: for each other that like again, we are just so
Speaker 4: happy that we have each other, our beautiful kids, the
Speaker 4: life that we worked so hard for. So every single
Speaker 4: day we are making positive decisions to build upon that
Speaker 4: two for for us and our children. So it's almost like.
Speaker 5: Like a solid box.
Speaker 6: Like it's like the honeymoon phase turns into the solid
Speaker 6: box and it's both together.
Speaker 5: It's almost like it should be like the old I feel.
Speaker 4: I feel like it's almost like we're working on our
Speaker 4: happily every after type of box. What I mean, like
Speaker 4: every single day we're bold, like I'm devoted to my
Speaker 4: wife and my children, and every decision I make is
Speaker 4: for the betterment of us and our family. And the
Speaker 4: same applies to my wife in every area of life.
Speaker 4: So you know, and there's so many areas of life
Speaker 4: you know that you can and there's mentally, physically, spiritually, personally,
Speaker 4: professionally negativity we kick aside. So I think the box
Speaker 4: that we're working on is the happily ever after box.
Speaker 1: You're in your happily ever after face. That's really cool.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: The last one here is obvious. It's to be expected.
Speaker 2: It's a little cliche, but it has to be asked
Speaker 2: because anytime you come across a successful couple, everybody that's
Speaker 2: in a relationship ask the couple this question, what's the key?
Speaker 1: What's the secret.
Speaker 2: To relationship success? So if somebody came up, yes, you
Speaker 2: all don't have twenty thirty, forty fifty years of a marriage,
Speaker 2: but you got an that you all could steal, what
Speaker 2: would you tell somebody who had Hey, man, what is
Speaker 2: the key the secret marriage success?
Speaker 5: I would say you have to remember mindful.
Speaker 6: You have to be mindful, yes, but I think you
Speaker 6: have to always remember that you're on the same team
Speaker 6: and that there's no stronger person rooting for you in
Speaker 6: life and in your relationship than the person next to you.
Speaker 4: I think the most important two things I'm going to
Speaker 4: try to simplify it is being grateful. Being grateful attracts
Speaker 4: more abundance, and being mindful. You know, you could throw
Speaker 4: being loving in there as well, but those three.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's so good, and we are writing everyone's advice
Speaker 3: down because it's so true and you.
Speaker 1: All have lived it. You have walked the walk. You're
Speaker 1: not just talking to talk, so we really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Thank you. It takes a lot to.
Speaker 3: Be open and vulnerable about all the intimate detail tells
Speaker 3: about your day to day life, the things that people
Speaker 3: don't necessarily see on cameras. So thank you both for
Speaker 3: sharing that with us. We really appreciate it. We love
Speaker 3: getting to know you better.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I think that everything in life takes work, you know,
Speaker 4: and and relationships do as well. Successful relationships take work.
Speaker 4: But I think A good phrase is the grass is
Speaker 4: only green or wherever you water it, and that lies really.
Speaker 2: Thank you all so much, Mike Lauren. We will see
Speaker 2: you all plenty down a row and congrats on everything,
Speaker 2: all right, yes, thank you guys.
Speaker 4: Have a great day.