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Dax Shepard
Wondry plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now. Join Wondry plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert. I'm Dax Shepard. I'm joined by Monica Padman.
Monica Padman
Hi.
Dax Shepard
Hi. Today we have Alicia Silverstone and we're.
Monica Padman
Looking at, I think 30 year anniversary of Clueless, which is so, so exciting. A movie that changed my life.
Dax Shepard
Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, I was so 30 years ago. That's 95. I got to California 95. And that just seemed like another galaxy. Her in that movie. The notion that I got to sit and chat with her would have been unimaginable.
Monica Padman
And there were so many iconic LA things.
Dax Shepard
Yes.
Monica Padman
In that movie that when you moved here, weren't you? Like, oh, the Valley, the. This, like everywhere in LA takes 15 minutes. That's true.
Dax Shepard
Classic.
Monica Padman
Classic and true.
Dax Shepard
15 or 20.
Alicia Silverstone
I forget.
Dax Shepard
Okay. The crush. Pretty thing. Batman and Robin blast from the past. She has a new series out now on Acorn TV called Irish Blood, which you loved. I loved. This was incredibly fun. So please enjoy Alicia Silverstone. We are supported by Boar's Head. Back to school time means back to lunch packing time. And what hits harder than a perfect sandwich? And not just any sandwich, you can become your kid's lunchtime hero when you pack them a sandwich with Boar's Head premium Kraft Deli meats and cheeses. And of course, Boar's Head is not just for kids, it's for everyone. Nothing beats an afternoon slump quicker than a good lunch. If you feel yourself fading at your desk, that means it's time to take a break and reward yourself with a Boar's Head sandwich.
Monica Padman
I love a Boar's Head sandwich. I love the oven Gold turkey.
Dax Shepard
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Monica Padman
He's an upch.
Dax Shepard
I don't think we've met in the world. Do you have a specific memory?
Monica Padman
Yeah. Oh, save it for the pod.
Dax Shepard
It's always fun though, because you always find out if you're nice or mean.
Monica Padman
Oh, you have the movie bag.
Alicia Silverstone
I do. How fun.
Dax Shepard
Wait, what movie bag?
Monica Padman
Begonia. Oh, oh, oh, oh. It says it on there.
Dax Shepard
Oh, they gave out fun bags.
Alicia Silverstone
They gave out fun bags as like a rap present.
Dax Shepard
Oh, my God.
Monica Padman
I'm surprised they didn't get you a Patagonia something because sounds so similar.
Dax Shepard
They could have done a little play on board.
Alicia Silverstone
Supposed to be a gardening bag, right?
Monica Padman
Oh, yeah, sure.
Alicia Silverstone
Is that what that feels like?
Dax Shepard
You're a known gardener? If they got that specifically for you, I'm not sure.
Alicia Silverstone
I think everyone got it, but who knows?
Dax Shepard
That's not a joke, you know. She's a known gardener.
Monica Padman
I didn't know that. That's exciting. She is. I want to become a. I've read.
Dax Shepard
A lot of interviews with you today and most of them mention your gardening. Yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
Really?
Monica Padman
Still, I really do.
Dax Shepard
Okay. Where do you claim that we met?
Alicia Silverstone
I feel we met. Now maybe I've got it wrong.
Dax Shepard
At the Garden State premiere. No, that's a Zach Braff joke. Cause so many people confuse us.
Monica Padman
Oh, yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
No, I'm not confused by YouTube at all. But there was a kind of private dinner, I want to say, with Jonah Hill on La Cienega. If you go off where that Sally Hirschberger's. There was a restaurant and I feel like James Franco was there. No, not James Franco. Sorry. Orlando Bloom. And I feel like you were there that night. I may have made that up. It wouldn't have been a very meaningful moment.
Dax Shepard
I really feel like I'd remember, of course. But regardless, doesn't matter. When you paint that picture, it sounds very plausible, right?
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah, yeah, it does.
Dax Shepard
Like, all the ingredients are there. Jonah Hill, Sure. I've been to some dinners with him.
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
But I'm not remembering that exact one. And I didn't make a scene. You don't remember that much?
Alicia Silverstone
No, I think you said something nice to me and that was it.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Alicia Silverstone
But that could have been Orlando Bloom, and I just confused the situation.
Dax Shepard
If you confuse me for Orlando Bloom, that's a compliment. He's very good looking.
Monica Padman
Very handsome. Very handsome.
Alicia Silverstone
I was just with Rob on his podcast and he said his memory of our hanging out last was very different than my memory of our hangout last, so.
Dax Shepard
Oh, tell me.
Alicia Silverstone
He remembered us presenting, I think, at the Emmys, which I have no memory of. I remembered us spending a day together. We were both on a show at the same time. I was on Mismatch, and he was on whatever show he was doing at the time 20 years ago.
Dax Shepard
Okay, okay, okay.
Alicia Silverstone
I think we were on NBC, I think. And the two of us both were stars of their shows that were coming out. So they had us pair to do a lot of sort of things together.
Dax Shepard
Right. And neither of us know anything about each other's show.
Alicia Silverstone
No. Right. And so he doesn't remember that day, and I don't remember presenting at the Emmys with him. But we believe each other. I see my magazine covers and I don't remember being there. I know they happened because I see it. The picture looks sort of familiar, but I don't remember being there at all.
Monica Padman
It's so interesting. I mean, memory's weird for everyone, but I do think these environments heighten that issue where it's like, where am I? Also, they're all heightened experiences, like a photo shoot and stuff. Everyone's staring at. Like, maybe your brain just sort of wants to get rid of that.
Dax Shepard
Ooh, that's another aspect. I think in a lot of these situations, you do disassociate. Like in a photo shoot, for instance. I hate getting my photo taken. So when you have those four hour photo shoots, I'm just off in some chamber.
Monica Padman
Lucky you.
Alicia Silverstone
A four hour photo shoot for a boy.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
That's light, isn't it?
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Also, I'm so hard to deal with. We're not gonna get a good one. Just send him on his way. I don't even think he can Hear us. I don't even know if he's here.
Monica Padman
He's mad at everyone.
Alicia Silverstone
I had one of those yesterday where my manager sent me a video of him at a concert with a woman. And he was saying, listen, remember this? And it was Rob Thomas's concert, and he was with his wife.
Dax Shepard
Yes.
Alicia Silverstone
And I had forgotten.
Dax Shepard
You were in a Rob Thomas that.
Alicia Silverstone
I was in a Rob Thomas video. Completely forgot. It was a nice memory. I was like, oh, yeah. And then I showed it to my son, and he was like, that's you.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So right out of the gates. Mom and dad are both from England. They're English.
Alicia Silverstone
My brother and I are the first Americans in the chain.
Dax Shepard
Dee Dee is Mom.
Alicia Silverstone
My mom is Dede, but she's no longer with us. She's been gone for almost six years. But Dad's still here. I'm gonna see him on Friday. Almost 92.
Monica Padman
Wow.
Dax Shepard
Oh, wow. How old was Mom?
Alicia Silverstone
She's eight years younger than him. And she passed.
Dax Shepard
Six years, so 84. Oh, no. She died six years ago. 78. That's bad.
Monica Padman
Yeah, it's bad. Yeah, we don't like that.
Dax Shepard
Did they meet here or did they meet in England?
Monica Padman
They did.
Alicia Silverstone
My mom was a flight attendant for Pan Am.
Monica Padman
Oh, my gosh. This is so, so meeky.
Dax Shepard
Also, that was very elegant.
Alicia Silverstone
She was the most elegant. I thought she was beautiful when she was 78, and she was beautiful when she was my age. And she was just sort of really different than all the other parents, you know? Cause she wore all Laura Ashley. I don't know if it was Laura Ashley, but that kind of thing. Does any of you even know what that is anymore? It's like that really florally floral. When I was younger, it was upsetting. She'd say, why are all your clothes black? So whenever I'd see her, I would try to wear colorful clothes so she could feel good about it.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. You had a green shirt.
Alicia Silverstone
Oh, yeah.
Dax Shepard
I only had four years straight.
Monica Padman
Cause were you trying to be the opposite of her?
Alicia Silverstone
I wasn't at all. You know, I was born in 1976, and that's when we had a revival of female liberation. Right?
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
That movement. And I think it was in the air because my mom couldn't be that way, but people around her were.
Dax Shepard
And you were in San Francisco.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
And I did a show called American Woman a long time ago. I played Paris Hilton's grandmother.
Monica Padman
Oh, wow.
Alicia Silverstone
Which was Kyle Richards, Mother. And in this show, I felt like my mom. They would go to elocution classes. And she wanted to be an actress, the character that I was playing. So all that's to say that my mom, she was elegant.
Dax Shepard
Elegant lady.
Monica Padman
I don't understand.
Dax Shepard
And there was a real pizzazz if you were on Pan Am as a stewardess, we called it.
Monica Padman
That's what we call it.
Dax Shepard
Stewardess.
Alicia Silverstone
Stewardesses nowadays.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, stewardesses. But they met in England, so they.
Alicia Silverstone
Met in the States. They were on an opposite date. My dad was on a date with her friend.
Monica Padman
Okay.
Alicia Silverstone
And she was on a date. And then they switched, apparently by the end of the evening.
Dax Shepard
Oh my gosh.
Monica Padman
Was it a double date?
Alicia Silverstone
A double date.
Monica Padman
Okay. It was a double date that turned.
Dax Shepard
Into a double dare.
Monica Padman
Wah. Double dog dare.
Dax Shepard
Turned into a double dog dare and then a reverse back by the end of the night.
Alicia Silverstone
And that was in Florida.
Dax Shepard
What were they all doing in Florida?
Alicia Silverstone
He wanted to move to the States for the sunshine, for the better life. They were in the war, World War II. And so my dad was dodging bombs in the underground, you know, as a young boy. That can't be fun, right? And then he moved to Florida and he opened up a sandwich shop in Coral Gable. Opened a place called Monty's. He had already done this with the restaurant business with his dad before. They were sort of sandwich dinery kind of places. My mom was a flight attendant for Pan Am and I guess she got stationed in Florida as her base. And for some reason, I guess she chose that. She wanted to get away.
Dax Shepard
All the English love the sunshine.
Monica Padman
Yes, they do.
Alicia Silverstone
I mean, my dad looks really dark.
Dax Shepard
Okay. Like Ricardo Montalban or something.
Alicia Silverstone
He's a sun, sun. Always in the sun. Always.
Dax Shepard
He's a sun guy.
Alicia Silverstone
Our skin types don't make any sense because I'm very white.
Dax Shepard
Is he very white?
Monica Padman
No, he's dark.
Alicia Silverstone
It's not his genuine color. I've never seen his genuine color. I don't think there will ever be a genuine color.
Dax Shepard
Where his tighty whities would be. Is probably quite white is my guess.
Alicia Silverstone
I know, and I don't want to see that. So.
Monica Padman
Yeah, you don't need to think about that.
Dax Shepard
But he wasn't some baiting nude, I don't think.
Monica Padman
We don't know.
Alicia Silverstone
Probably. He always had a Speedo.
Monica Padman
Always.
Dax Shepard
So what took him to San Francisco.
Alicia Silverstone
Because he wanted to get into real estate. And that was my mom's ide. And that ended up being very good for him. They were in San Francisco then when my brother and I came along, we were in San Bruno, then San Carlos. This is all in the Bay Area.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Alicia Silverstone
And then Hillsboro.
Dax Shepard
I'm presuming you're moving up the socioeconomic ladder. Each of those moves. Cause Hillsboro's nice, Right?
Alicia Silverstone
Hillsboro's like Beverly Hills. But we were a little hillbillyish in our, you know, keeping up with the Joneses. Like, we had a nice house. My dad had a nice car, but we were all counting pennies. Not that it was bad.
Dax Shepard
He took on all they could afford.
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah. We went to Sizzler for dinners.
Dax Shepard
I love Sizzler.
Alicia Silverstone
Benihana was the big once a year. So when I was 16 and my agent took me to a restaurant that wasn't Sizzler or Benihana, I was like, what is this?
Monica Padman
Like, I couldn't believe.
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
You thought the options were either all the food was out in a salad bar or it got made at your table.
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah, that was the only option.
Dax Shepard
The third option. That they were going to make it backstage and then bring it out.
Monica Padman
Did you feel like you didn't belong in that fancy environment? Did you feel like. Or pretending we didn't care about that stuff.
Alicia Silverstone
My mom would sow anti materialism. She was an environmentalist without knowing it. She wasn't trying to protect the earth. She just was absolutely anti waste. Cause of the war. She said, remember the war? All the time.
Monica Padman
Oh, wow.
Alicia Silverstone
Because she also went through the war. There's just a different awareness of being responsible and thoughtful about your money, about your resources, which I wish everyone had. And so she had it. Naturally. She would save everything. I just saw that the other friends were a lot more indulging and some had a lot more, but it wasn't really a thing.
Dax Shepard
America's a really unique place where you can be rich and then feel super poor, Right?
Monica Padman
Exactly.
Dax Shepard
Like there's so many people we know that lived in a really nice neighborhood, but they could barely be there or they couldn't be there. It was so stressful. And everyone else seemed to be flying to Aspen on planes.
Monica Padman
There's so much comparison here, too. So that's part of it.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. Just these huge gaps that can exist.
Alicia Silverstone
My dad was doing well. He just was really thoughtful. They were frugal. And my dad had come from very little. So you're responsible. Cause you know what it is on the other side and you know how hard it took you to get there.
Dax Shepard
Whose idea was it for you to start modeling at 6?
Alicia Silverstone
8. 8.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Alicia Silverstone
There was a woman named Pat Forrest.
Dax Shepard
I like her already. It's a solid 80s name.
Monica Padman
Yeah, it is.
Dax Shepard
If you get lost. You forget your keys at school. Just go to Pat's house and she'll look after you for five.
Alicia Silverstone
So Pat Forrest lived up the street in San Carlos. We walked to school, it was just two houses down. And Pat Forrest saw me doing dancing. Like, you know how kids put on shows? I'm sure you put on shows. We all put on shows. Do boys put on shows to their parents?
Dax Shepard
Yeah, but it's more like, watch me jump this thing in the driveway. I set up a ramp.
Alicia Silverstone
Okay. That's the show.
Dax Shepard
The show is generally vehicular in design.
Alicia Silverstone
So the girl shows are dancing or singing, right?
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
Well, we would do dancing shows and it was ridiculous, the costumes that we would put on. One time, Pat Forrest was suffering one of these shows and she said to my dad, she's gonna be a star.
Dax Shepard
Okay?
Alicia Silverstone
And now, whether or not she had a premonition or she was just being very kind, it sounds like a standard.
Dax Shepard
Thing to say to a parody. I think it is.
Alicia Silverstone
But it ended up being somewhat true in her defense. So I think something made them decide that I should go into acting. So I think we got the modeling thing as a way in.
Dax Shepard
Yes.
Alicia Silverstone
But in my mind, I thought I was an actress even though I was 8. The modeling thing was not for me. I didn't like it.
Dax Shepard
But you got a Domino's commerc really early, right?
Alicia Silverstone
That was once I started acting.
Dax Shepard
Yes. How old were you when you got the Domino's? And before we even explore Domino's, you should know Monica and I still swear by we love Domino's. There is a place for Domino's.
Alicia Silverstone
No, not for me.
Dax Shepard
I could have guessed that. But I'm just wanting you to know how well we love it, how we feel. So, yes, Heartwarmed by now.
Alicia Silverstone
Why? Is it the nostalgia, or do you really think they make good pizza?
Dax Shepard
Well, they make a beautiful pizza. Nostalgia.
Monica Padman
The square, thin and crisp, extra sauce.
Alicia Silverstone
So maybe I should try a vegan one.
Monica Padman
You should do it.
Alicia Silverstone
Good job.
Dax Shepard
They have gluten free now, which I get down with.
Monica Padman
I can eat a whole one of those.
Dax Shepard
I did it, by the way, recently. Remember I just said I gained 14 pounds in the last three days?
Monica Padman
And it was from one.
Dax Shepard
It was from a series of days. One of them was a Domino's order. Like, fuck everything. I'm going hard sometimes.
Monica Padman
Yeah. This happened to me sort of recently too, where I got home from a party and I was like, there's only one thing for me to do tonight and it is order dominoes. I have to have it. It's so funny. It was so good.
Dax Shepard
They're not even a sponsor. No.
Alicia Silverstone
They should be at this point.
Dax Shepard
Oh, they are.
Alicia Silverstone
It would make sense. This sounds like a full blown advertisement.
Dax Shepard
We've been talking like this for years.
Alicia Silverstone
That's why they earned it.
Monica Padman
Exactly.
Alicia Silverstone
Like they love us.
Dax Shepard
We genuinely love the product. Okay, so how old were you when you got the Domino's commercial?
Alicia Silverstone
I was 14. So it was a big jump. My dad, he took me to the theater all the time. So I loved the theater. And I never had any intention of being in movies or tv. I didn't know anything about that. Just loved the theater. Did some stuff at school. And then he got me into an acting class with this woman, Judy o', Neill, who would come to San Francisco with a group of kids. And I was a young kid and they were like 17 year olds and 16 year olds.
Dax Shepard
Intimidating.
Alicia Silverstone
It was so exciting.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
And like, oh my God, so juicy and therapeutic. Everyone was crying about stuff and didn't like their parents. And it was juicy.
Monica Padman
It was like juicy.
Alicia Silverstone
This feels like my people or something. This is more interesting and deep and crazy. I want to be a part of this. So I just was enjoying those classes. I was terrible. And because there was a boy in my class who I had a huge crush on.
Dax Shepard
Okay, how old was he?
Alicia Silverstone
So Jonah Blackman, Shout Out Jonah. He danced with Bryn Krishnikoff. He was in a Got Milk commercial. He was a star.
Dax Shepard
Yes. And did he have an incredible physique from all that dancing? I imagine he did, yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
He was very much not playing on my team. I thought, like Jonah has said that he has been with women since. So not fully, but mostly likes men. But at the time I thought we were in love. Do you know that song, It Must have Been Love?
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
Do you remember that song?
Dax Shepard
It Must have Been Love.
Alicia Silverstone
That was our song.
Dax Shepard
But it's over now.
Monica Padman
Oh my.
Alicia Silverstone
So Bless him In Love was our song. And I was pining for him when I was in England in a camp, like just dying for Jonah. But Jonah and I were best friends and I would tell everyone he is not gay.
Dax Shepard
Uh huh.
Alicia Silverstone
And then one day, you know, it turned out that he was.
Monica Padman
Did you feel betrayed?
Alicia Silverstone
I did for five seconds. Because we had been friends for so long and I just thought, I've been fighting people on this for like four years now. And he was like, listen, it's not my fault.
Dax Shepard
I didn't know.
Monica Padman
But now you look like a chump. I look like a chump?
Dax Shepard
You're writing checks Your ass can't cash.
Monica Padman
Exactly.
Alicia Silverstone
We also did kiss. I remember that we liked each other a lot. And there's a lot of Jonas Blackman stories, but anyway.
Dax Shepard
But you were obsessed with him.
Alicia Silverstone
I was obsessed with him. So I couldn't pay attention in my class. I just, you know, I would giggle and distract you.
Monica Padman
It was very Cher. Not go there this early, but wow.
Alicia Silverstone
And then one day I got it together and I just got good. And then I went to la. Cause they invited me to come to LA with this Giulio o' Neill group. And I lived on a futon in a room with other children.
Dax Shepard
Oh, really?
Alicia Silverstone
Very interesting, the whole experience.
Monica Padman
There's somebody else.
Alicia Silverstone
Eric Dane.
Monica Padman
Eric Dane. I knew it.
Alicia Silverstone
Me and Eric Dane.
Monica Padman
Yes. We had Eric on the show. And I'm remembering that he was on the futon of somebody's. And you had come and he was.
Alicia Silverstone
There and he and I were together.
Dax Shepard
Yes, as romantic lovers.
Monica Padman
Let's hope I told you.
Dax Shepard
Well, you said we were together.
Alicia Silverstone
No, no, no, no.
Dax Shepard
Oh, you were in the same.
Alicia Silverstone
No, we were in the same. We were in the same group together in the same class.
Dax Shepard
But you weren't romantic.
Alicia Silverstone
No, definitely not. I had to think, okay, he was a lot older than me. I mean, not that much older than me, but. But at the time, no, I think I was more interested in Brandon.
Dax Shepard
Oh, okay. Anyway, is he also.
Alicia Silverstone
No, he's not.
Dax Shepard
Oh, okay. Yeah. Did you like any straight boys at any point?
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah, I did. Eventually, kind of.
Monica Padman
I came around.
Dax Shepard
Who knows?
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
So you'd gotten the Domino's commercial at 14, you moved to LA at 17 and live on the futon.
Alicia Silverstone
It's complicated business. I moved to LA when I was 14 because I'd gone to do this acting camp for the summer at Judy Oneills house where Eric was. We did a showcase and things started happening and I didn't understand what was happening. And so then when it was time to go back to school, I went back to school in San Francisco at my school. San Mateo High School, sophomore year. And I found myself having to fly back and forth for these auditions.
Dax Shepard
Did you know Marshall Tuck by chance?
Alicia Silverstone
Yes. Why do you know Marshall Tuck?
Dax Shepard
Nate Tuck's my best friend in la. His older brother.
Monica Padman
Whoa.
Dax Shepard
You know Marshall?
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah, I remember Marshall. I think he was a senior when I was a freshman. Does that check?
Dax Shepard
Yeah, I think he and I are.
Monica Padman
The seniors because he was in San Francisco.
Dax Shepard
He went to San Mateo, and I think Nate lived in Hillsborough.
Alicia Silverstone
Was not very close with Marshall.
Monica Padman
No, I mean, like.
Alicia Silverstone
Cause he Was a senior, but I remember being invited to parties that Marshall was at with Chad Sparks.
Dax Shepard
These are very California names.
Monica Padman
Mechte.
Alicia Silverstone
These were the boys.
Dax Shepard
Jay, Shredder, Beano.
Monica Padman
Wow.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
Great meme recall.
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah, thanks.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, yeah. Really nice.
Alicia Silverstone
They were all the cute seniors.
Monica Padman
Yeah. So memorable.
Dax Shepard
14 down there.
Alicia Silverstone
So I'm going back and forth and back and forth. It's getting ridiculous. So then we decide to take me and just live for my sophomore year, second semester in Los Angeles.
Dax Shepard
And who's we? Me and mom or the whole gang?
Alicia Silverstone
My dad and mom and I. My brother was older, so he was already in college. And so. So they were like, let's go there. And I got off the futon, and actually Jonah came and lived with us. Cause I'm remembering he made out with a girl in my bed. So I think, Jonah, Jonah. I know, but we were already very confusing. We were already past the whole thing. I'm going to Beverly Hills High now for my second semester of school. And I'm doing the commercial. I did a pilot. I probably did the Wonder Years at this point. And I'm just 15. And then I audition for this so exciting program at Beverly Hills High, which is the dance group. They had a company, I think it was called the Company. And I wanted to be in this dance company so bad. And I got in, but not in the top 10. There's like an alternate song where you get to dance with them, but you're not in. You're just like, if somebody hurts themselves, I guess.
Monica Padman
Sure, of course.
Dax Shepard
And understudy.
Alicia Silverstone
But I was so excited, and I got into the drama department, which I was so excited about. This is for the next year. So junior year, I'm coming back and I'm gonna be in these groups. But during that summer is when I got the crush. All those plans got destroyed, but other good things happened.
Dax Shepard
Now, really quick, how was the transplant from San Mateo to Bever Beverly Hills High? You already said you weren't into fashion. You wore the same Gap T shirt with a pocket on it for four years straight.
Alicia Silverstone
It's true.
Dax Shepard
Did you feel out of sorts?
Alicia Silverstone
Totally. Obviously, the film Clueless is an exaggeration of the people that were there, but some elements are pretty accurate. Like all the girls did have nose jobs, which is so disturbing at that age.
Monica Padman
At that age.
Alicia Silverstone
A lot of them did.
Dax Shepard
And they drove BMW.
Monica Padman
And they did.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. Like Beverly Hills 90210.
Monica Padman
They did.
Alicia Silverstone
They drove the BMW. Amy did some research.
Monica Padman
Yes, yes.
Alicia Silverstone
But I went to that school, and I still wore my sweatpants I still wasn't into any fashion. I still was doing my green T shirt.
Dax Shepard
Did you make friends?
Alicia Silverstone
I did. We were living in an apartment building that is on the very cusp to count as Beverly Hills.
Dax Shepard
Sure, sure. Like on Robertson or something.
Alicia Silverstone
Right off of La Cienega where meets Wilshire. Right there is Lapeer or something. And that street is a little apartment building we lived in. Whereas these girls lived in massive mansions in Beverly Hills.
Dax Shepard
They were going to Aspen at Christmas on a jazz.
Alicia Silverstone
Thank you.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, yeah. Okay. So when you look back, you must have this feeling all the time. I have it so often, which is like I'm watching the Britney Spears documentary and I'm remembering how paparazzi followed her. And I'm watching then on late night talk shows, people calling her a slut on talk shows. Oh my God.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Calling Monica Lewinsky a fat slut. Really going hard. When I watch these docs, I'm like, oh, wow, I lived through that. And it didn't seem crazy at the time and now it seems insane. Right. So similarly, I look at the crush. I'm like, look at the premise of this fucking movie. You're 14, 15, I think you're 14.
Alicia Silverstone
Oh, the character, the character as written. Yeah. No, she's 14.
Dax Shepard
She gets a huge crush on a 28 year old.
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
And tries to seduce him. I mean, this is bonkers.
Monica Padman
But it's like American Beauty a little bit.
Dax Shepard
And there were so many ladies.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
Fatal Attraction in Lolita mixed together.
Dax Shepard
Right.
Alicia Silverstone
That you're saying now this would not be acceptable.
Dax Shepard
Well, it's just you look at it and you go like, this is such.
Monica Padman
A. I mean, they might still make a movie, but probably the takeaways would be much different. I don't know what the takeaways are.
Dax Shepard
It's still such a male fantasy that there's some 14 year old prowling around America that's so horny she's trying to fuck a 28 year old dude and seduce him. I mean, that's madness. That's not really happening. But again, I was that age going like, yeah, this makes sense.
Monica Padman
It might be happening if that person probably has trauma, but most likely the man is preying on that 14 year old.
Dax Shepard
I mean, look, here's a really dicey one. You won't be saying anything. Don't worry, this will all fall on my shoulders. But it's like I'll read a story about someone who got some pictures surfaced and they were in blackface in 85. And I'm like, that's terrible. Also there was a movie out called Soul man that we all went and saw in like 87 was a white guy playing black in blackface to get a scotch.
Monica Padman
Yeah, things have really changed.
Dax Shepard
You at least have to acknowledge the context, which is like there was a movie in 3,000 theaters of someone in blackface.
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah, but in our culture nobody wants context. They want clickbait, they want revision.
Dax Shepard
I mean, it's wrong. Don't get me wrong. I'm very clearly no blackface. But if it's in the Cineplex and you go on that Halloween, you're not at least thinking you're stepping outside of what the morays are.
Monica Padman
Exactly.
Alicia Silverstone
Probably most of what we all did was not acceptable.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
All the time.
Monica Padman
That's also the thing that people pointing the fingers. It's like, well, maybe look back at your own past. I'm sure there's something there to dig up. No one was perfect.
Alicia Silverstone
It's so hard to be perfect.
Monica Padman
It is impossible.
Dax Shepard
But now that we're out of the water, I do look at it and go like, oh, this is bonkers. There was 100 movies with like teenage girls in love with older dudes that I watched.
Monica Padman
Men wrote.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
That men wrote.
Dax Shepard
Even the desire of someone that young is. You have some insecurities. Clearly. I'm sorry, I'm going to go out on a limb and say it. You are very insecure as a 28 year old dude. If what you think you will be matched with as a 14 year old.
Monica Padman
Unless, I mean, I don't know, maybe they've experienced it. I don't know. All these people. So maybe one or two of them. I don't want to just say, oh, right across the board. They're all bad.
Dax Shepard
The writer of this claim claims that this happened.
Monica Padman
Okay.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. Yeah, maybe it did. The crush. The writer claims that this is a. Okay story out of his real life.
Monica Padman
Look, there's all kinds of people.
Dax Shepard
Okay. Anyways, that movie was a big, big deal for you.
Alicia Silverstone
It was.
Dax Shepard
You were immediately newcomer MTV Movie Award.
Monica Padman
Movie Awards. Wow.
Alicia Silverstone
He was. I was very proud of that.
Monica Padman
That's a problem to me that the 14 year old, she was very badly behaved.
Alicia Silverstone
She really stalks him.
Dax Shepard
Oh yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
But he shouldn't have kissed her.
Monica Padman
She's a kid though.
Alicia Silverstone
She's a. Are so many problems.
Monica Padman
Yeah. She's not the villain.
Alicia Silverstone
But she is. She's really badly behaved. She almost kills someone. She does need to go to a mental hospital, but sure, it's all problematic probably.
Monica Padman
I know. She's just sick she's mental.
Alicia Silverstone
She's trying to seduce him. She's taking off clothes. He's not pursuing her.
Monica Padman
Right.
Alicia Silverstone
But he does accidentally, for one second, kiss her back. Which was a big, big mistake.
Monica Padman
Because.
Alicia Silverstone
Then she thought they were getting married.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. She had already demonstrated that she had a little tenuous grasp on reality. Yet he kissed her back.
Alicia Silverstone
She was bad. She hurt her friend. She like made her friend fall off of his horse.
Dax Shepard
She's no good.
Alicia Silverstone
Definitely not normal.
Dax Shepard
She's not good.
Monica Padman
She had some issues. She had some mental issues. I will be watching this tonight.
Alicia Silverstone
It's a good one.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Really? Remember, of course, the Aerosmith video. Were those cast out of la?
Alicia Silverstone
Well, Marty Kallner, the director, who remained my dear friend all the way up until he just passed.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Alicia Silverstone
I love that man so much. Talk about mixing up things. You know, he was a 45 year old man hanging out with a 15 year old girl. Maybe I was 16. We would drive everywhere together. We hung out all the time. Like, I'm sure it looked fricking weird. He was just totally clean. He thought I was his daughter and he wanted to protect me. I didn't know any of that. I just thought he was my friend.
Monica Padman
Right.
Alicia Silverstone
But as I got older, I started to realized, oh, he's been a solid, healthy figure in my life.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
Anyway, he's adorable. So he had seen the crush with, I think John Kolodner, who was a big guy at Geffen Records and said, will you be in this video? And I didn't know who Aerosmith was at the time because I was 16 years old. My kid doesn't know who Madonna or Elvis is.
Dax Shepard
This string of videos you do is actually kind of the rebirth of Aerosmith. So people don't know Aerosmith was enormous in the 70s. They went away, run DMC brought them back for a minute with Walk this Way and they were kind of out of it for. But that kind of recharged. And then now this crop of music is when they come back on the scene. Hard. Liv was in one of those three videos.
Alicia Silverstone
She was in the third one. Yep. So I did Cryin with Stephen Dorff. I bungee jump off of the bridge and flip him off. That was the one that won best video of all time.
Monica Padman
Which is being crystal clear.
Dax Shepard
Yes. And it deserved to.
Monica Padman
What a great beat.
Dax Shepard
Thriller.
Alicia Silverstone
Best video of all time. Isn't that crazy?
Dax Shepard
I've got beef with that just. Cause Thriller is totally.
Alicia Silverstone
You can totally have beef with that.
Dax Shepard
It doesn't make sense, but it's a great Fucking video. I don't know how they'd pick. I'm gonna call for.
Alicia Silverstone
You should do a rev. But I will say that you can totally do that. I think that what made it different was for the first time, a woman was in a video in control and powerful and not, like, just taking her clothes off.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah. On the hood of a car. All the videos were like that. Every video was a girl totally naked.
Dax Shepard
Did you and Liv have a little something? Did you guys.
Alicia Silverstone
We did some stuff.
Dax Shepard
Did you guys kiss? Maybe in that video? Did I just infer that maybe.
Monica Padman
Oh.
Alicia Silverstone
When Marty and I talked about doing this third video and Liv wanted to be in it, he was talking about doing a strip thing. And I said, I'll be the. I don't want to strip. I had the idea that I'll just be a dude watching her, like, viewing it, and that that will be hot in itself. So that's how that part got born. But, yes, the whole video is us, like, romping around and pretending that we're making out.
Dax Shepard
Very exciting. Very exciting stuff.
Monica Padman
This is. What a rock star dad. This is the difference. My dad would not be cool with me being young in. In his video being sexual. But that's like growing up with the ro.
Dax Shepard
She had just recently found out that was her dad. It was pretty recent.
Monica Padman
Oh, I didn't know that.
Dax Shepard
She was raised by another great musician, Todd Rundgren, who her mom was married to growing up. This is all public knowledge. And then I'm now nervous I'd be wading into stuff. I know. But all I know is I think she found out kind of later.
Monica Padman
Oh, wow.
Dax Shepard
That her dad was Steven Tyler. They went to a show and they started talking about.
Alicia Silverstone
She was like, you look like they're.
Dax Shepard
Twins, and their vibe is. Their vibe.
Alicia Silverstone
That's weird. She met him and didn't know.
Dax Shepard
Pretty sure that's the story. I'll laugh at her.
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Wow. I think they had a kismet meaning. And then the mom told her, I think.
Monica Padman
Interesting. Wow. Interesting.
Alicia Silverstone
They literally have the same Everything.
Dax Shepard
Yes. Same exact sense of humor.
Alicia Silverstone
I don't know them that well, but, I mean, like, the face, like the mouth.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
The lips.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
I love in the video, when he's doing his, like.
Monica Padman
Ah.
Alicia Silverstone
You know, and then his kick of the leg, she mimics, and it's perfect. Just, like, back and forth.
Dax Shepard
So I did a movie with her, and that's when we became friends. And then somehow she said to me she was at her dad's, and she said, I'm doing this movie with this guy. Who's this guy? And he's like, he was in Without a Paddle, that's my favorite movie. And gave me his stationary. That is a silhouette of him doing that.
Monica Padman
Oh, no way.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. And he wrote like without a battle. Greatest movie of all time on this cool stationary. And I framed it. It was one of the many things Kristin was like, Jesus Christ. When she came into the house. There's so many pictures of yourself around.
Monica Padman
That's a cute one.
Dax Shepard
That was one of things that was up. Yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
That mouth is incredible. Like every time I see a clip, somebody just showed me a clip of it.
Dax Shepard
115. You can see the SM when he smiles.
Alicia Silverstone
It's incredible.
Dax Shepard
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Alicia Silverstone
I turn 18 on set now.
Dax Shepard
Again, I know this is common knowledge, but it wasn't to me. What's interesting about Clueless? Of course I saw it. I loved it.
Monica Padman
It's the first movie I remember being so obsessed with. Have to watch over and over again all our friends Watched it and were being the characters. It was the first, like, real zeitgeisty movie I was a part of.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. Were your friends assigning, like, you're so and so. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Monica Padman
Yes. You're Dion.
Alicia Silverstone
Who are you? Were you sure? Cher.
Monica Padman
No, they wouldn't let me be Cher because I wasn't white. Again, this is the time. Maybe now I could be Cher.
Alicia Silverstone
Kim Kardashian was just Cher.
Monica Padman
Exactly. I was probably putting the Dion, who I love. Great character.
Alicia Silverstone
You can't really go wrong.
Monica Padman
No, but, yeah, it was the first movie that, while I was alive. Hit the zeitgeist.
Dax Shepard
Would you put me in the Paul Rudd one? Or the Best Friend?
Monica Padman
Wait, the Paul Ruddy Rudd character or the gay guy?
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah, that's not.
Dax Shepard
I don't know if we say that now, but yeah.
Monica Padman
Christian. Christian, you're neither. You might be more of the other guy who ends up being a douchebag. But that's not.
Dax Shepard
But that's okay.
Monica Padman
Justin.
Alicia Silverstone
Oh, Jeremy Sisto's part.
Monica Padman
Yes.
Alicia Silverstone
We're gonna give you that part.
Dax Shepard
Okay. Physically, I get it.
Alicia Silverstone
I don't know you well enough, but I think just on first sniff, that should.
Dax Shepard
Well, there was definitely a period of my life, and perhaps that period of my life where I would have been Paul.
Monica Padman
I forget that it's him.
Alicia Silverstone
So wild.
Dax Shepard
Okay, now what's totally known, which I don't know that I did, is you couldn't be more opposite than her, which, again, when you meet somebody in a movie, you just kind of assume that's who they are. I dealt with a different thing, which was I played mostly just dumbasses for, like, the first seven years.
Alicia Silverstone
Wait a second. I love your show. I just remembered Parenthood. No, I don't know that one. The one with Lake Bell.
Dax Shepard
That's a mess. Yes, yes.
Alicia Silverstone
He just completely forgot until just now.
Dax Shepard
That's the. You're only the third person I've ever met that saw that.
Monica Padman
Oh, I love it.
Dax Shepard
Oh, wonderful.
Alicia Silverstone
I love Ed Begley in it. I love all the actors in it.
Dax Shepard
The Dipner is great. Monica was on it. She was the Ferro scene.
Monica Padman
What were you. You play like an egg salesman or something?
Dax Shepard
Competing egg sale.
Alicia Silverstone
Such a good show. Okay, sorry. So you're saying that you got put in a category from what? Oh, just.
Dax Shepard
I played a dumbass. I was in Idiocracy. I played dumb a bunch or white trash. And I think people, when they would meet me, they're like, oh, you're not dumb. That would be kind of the first thing you're taller than I thought and you're not dumb.
Monica Padman
Yeah, because he was also on punk pranking. All these people. There's definitely. I do think, for a lot of people, like, oh, you are not what I expected.
Dax Shepard
Right.
Alicia Silverstone
So you.
Dax Shepard
You have that so much. I wrote down a thing you said which I thought was fascinating. Most of the time, I didn't even know what Cher was talking about. Most of the dialogue was a different language. Amy knew all the street words and had her finger on the pulse of the latest underground everything. I was the exact opposite and knew nothing. You were not stylish at all. You weren't hip like that.
Alicia Silverstone
I didn't go to Hollywood parties. I was really just into the earth and animals and food and permaculture. A theater nerd.
Dax Shepard
Anti materialism. Yes. Yes.
Monica Padman
How interesting.
Dax Shepard
I mean, it's one of the biggest gaps I think I've observed in a popular character. And then the actor playing it, you.
Alicia Silverstone
Experience it like it makes sense to you.
Dax Shepard
See, seeing me, does it make sense? Seeing you? You're very authentically yourself right away. And it's not Cher.
Alicia Silverstone
There you go.
Dax Shepard
That can't be said for a lot of roles.
Monica Padman
She was so iconic.
Dax Shepard
Let me back up. This is how I want to frame this.
Monica Padman
Okay.
Dax Shepard
We've had a few different male actors. I'm going to use Chris Pine as an example where he had cystic acne growing up. He became like an overnight sex symbol. And trying to make peace with that and embrace this thing that is working publicly, but you feel so completely removed from, again, that gap between what people see and think versus what you know you are. And then this sense of fraudulence or imposter syndrome, all these different weird things that arise from that. I'm wondering if that chasm between this character you got so known for and who you were felt like it was going to be problematic for the rest of the world to deal with.
Alicia Silverstone
I can't be responsible for what the rest of the world dealt with. But I do know that at that time, I felt like I was a serious actress and I knew what it took to be an actor. I knew the work that was required. Like, some people are really beautiful, and they act and they're like, okay, but they're beautiful. Maybe because I was in a house with people like Eric and Brandon, who made it clear to me, like, you know, they were big brothers. They said mean things that made me go, oh, I'll show you. You know, like, maybe not Eric, but I didn't come into this going, like, like, oh, I want to be in movies.
Dax Shepard
Right.
Monica Padman
Just sex symbol.
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah. I didn't. Like what? Yeah, like, I was just a baby.
Dax Shepard
It sounds like most of the crushes you had had at that point were with guys that were either unavailable or. Right. Have you experienced a ton of attention that way prior to male attention? I mean, you're obviously beautiful, so I'm sure people looked at you.
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah, it wasn't like that. I mean, I will say that the high school boys who we were talking about, that Marshall group. Yes, they did come over to me when I was in freshman year and ask me, do you want to come to a party of ours? And I. I was like, I'm getting asked to a party by the seniors. And then I thought, oh, my God, that was so fun. I was very dorky and nerdy and didn't have a sense of fashion. I definitely wasn't walking around like Cheris. We can clearly say that she's so much a product of her environment and what I was able to latch onto, because I remember thinking that she's shallow, materialistic. Things I didn't like. But what I remember loving about her was her wanting to take care of her daddy. She felt like she was doing charity with Ty. She was so giving. And in her small little world of money and popularity and everything going her way, she really was very charitable. Right. Like, she was trying to spread the wealth. She was trying to give back a little.
Dax Shepard
It's so ridiculous.
Alicia Silverstone
I remember thinking, I'm not funny. And I remember at the time, my agent, who then became my manager after. But at the time, she was my agent, Caroline.
Dax Shepard
And then my husband.
Alicia Silverstone
And then my husband, Carolyn Kessler. Basically, she said, what I think is funniest about you is when you get very serious, you know? And she's. I'm like, well, that's kind of insulting and also amazing at the same time.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
But how I translated that information. Cause at that point, everything I did was sort of dark. I was in Jeff Goldblum's Hideaway with Jeremy Sisto again. I had been in a movie in France with Le Nouvemonde with James Gandolfini.
Monica Padman
Oh, wow.
Alicia Silverstone
I had been doing these dramas. There was not one comedy in the eight movies that came before Clueless. And like I said, I considered myself a very serious actress.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
So I obviously could laugh about that now. But I do think when they were saying Aerosmith chick, I was like, aerosmith chick?
Monica Padman
How dare you?
Alicia Silverstone
Like, how dare you? Do you know what it took? Like, it's Just ridiculous. You know, you're a kid.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. You take yourself extremely seriously.
Alicia Silverstone
So I didn't have any bad behavior around that hopefully. Well, maybe. But I just thought in my head, here I am doing. I've already forgot what we're talking about again.
Monica Padman
What is wrong with you?
Dax Shepard
That's clueless. We know what's going on with you. We just had an expert on.
Alicia Silverstone
Oh, is it menopause?
Dax Shepard
Perry. Baby Perry. We're virtually the same age.
Alicia Silverstone
I blame it on my schedule. That's probably more that.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. My recall for names. I'm like, oh, it's all really happening.
Alicia Silverstone
You're having perimenopause syndrome.
Dax Shepard
I am. I'm having one over the men.
Monica Padman
He has sympathy. Perimenopause sympathy. Pause.
Dax Shepard
Because everyone in my life claims that seems to happen.
Alicia Silverstone
But this also happens after you have a baby. Your brain goes out the window after baby and then the whole thing. Anyway, where were we?
Dax Shepard
What I was talking about was.
Alicia Silverstone
Oh, not.
Dax Shepard
Although obviously the crush was big and got attention. This was something so humongous and as we now know, permanently in the culture. And right away, like, I watched your first interview on the Today show, which one of the times you were on recently. They showed it and you were 18.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
And you're just quite honestly, in so many words, like, yeah, this is uncomfortable for me. I don't really know how to do this. You were expressing discomfort right out of the gates. And what I was curious about.
Monica Padman
So sweet.
Dax Shepard
It is. I like to. Honestly, it was. But I was curious. Was it a discomfort with fame or was it this tension between I just played this thing everyone loves and America's talking about and now I'm gonna be somebody that is completely different from that.
Alicia Silverstone
I didn't have any care about that.
Dax Shepard
You didn't feel like, oh, that's what they want from me?
Alicia Silverstone
Unfortunately, I didn't care. I didn't like the attention. It's so overwhelming to be so young and being asked crazy questions.
Dax Shepard
Yes.
Alicia Silverstone
And being scrutinized.
Dax Shepard
Someone asked you your bra size?
Alicia Silverstone
Oh, yeah.
Dax Shepard
60 year old guys asking these teenage girls whether they have fake boobs or their bra size, it's crazy to me.
Alicia Silverstone
That's the funny part, the bra sizing. A lot of it's not funny. So I just didn't have any interest in it. I was an activist in my little heart since I was a little girl. And so I really got focused. I just went, fuck all this. We allowed to swear?
Monica Padman
Oh, yeah, please.
Dax Shepard
Yes, it's encouraged.
Alicia Silverstone
Okay, gotcha.
Dax Shepard
Rewarded.
Alicia Silverstone
Financially rewarded. Okay.
Monica Padman
Good.
Alicia Silverstone
I went to Peru to go down the Amazon river with Woody Harrelson in Intentions to Save the Rainforest.
Dax Shepard
Okay. Wow.
Alicia Silverstone
I went to Africa to help with floppy trunk syndrome with these elephants. Made a little documentary with Ted Turner's company. I got into all my socially environmentally sound.
Dax Shepard
And what was the management around you saying?
Alicia Silverstone
Nobody really loved that. Yeah, that was not great.
Dax Shepard
They're probably like, you got to capitalize. You have an opportunity right now. You can work with great directors. Here's what's on the buffet for you. And the buffet will get taken away at some point.
Alicia Silverstone
I don't know that it was as clearly articulated like that, but I do think that activism in general. I remember being on some talk show in the morning, and I never went through media training at that time. And there's no playbook for becoming famous. There's no guidance. I didn't know how to do the press part or the being in public part. So I was on one one morning and they asked me something like, what do you think about Mary J. Blythe? Or whatever? And all I knew was that she was wearing some big fur coat. And I started describing anal electrocution of how they got that coat. Okay, that was an innocent response. Then afterwards, everyone was like this, yeah.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, yeah, no one's here about anal electrocution.
Alicia Silverstone
Why are you talking about annual electrocution on national morning show? They want to hear about Clueless. And I was like, I need to go. Yeah, like, because everybody needs to know. At first I thought I could use the press that I didn't want to be doing to talk about these things, but then I needed to realize that none of them wanted to hear it.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, there's like a bunch of horse trading that goes on, like, yeah, I'll come do this, but I want five minutes to talk about this, this. And no one wants to do that. Five minutes.
Alicia Silverstone
That conversation didn't happen. It was more like, how are you? Well, did you know this?
Dax Shepard
Yes.
Alicia Silverstone
And did you know this?
Dax Shepard
I'll tell you, I'm better than the Amazon rainforest, which is being depleted.
Alicia Silverstone
And I still do it. I'm like, 9 million people die a year from hunger. It's an inefficient use of resources. What are we doing?
Monica Padman
And people were like, who's this weird girl?
Dax Shepard
She's supposed to give us fashion tips. She's got great style.
Monica Padman
Exactly.
Dax Shepard
How to catch a bull.
Alicia Silverstone
So I just sort of went a little bit off.
Dax Shepard
So there was the light switch of fame, which had to be completely disorienting. But Then there was. Do you sign a deal for like 8 to 10 million dollars with Columbia right after that? Didn't you get a massive development deal?
Alicia Silverstone
I did, and I don't remember the amount.
Dax Shepard
Okay. That's what that Internet says.
Monica Padman
Okay.
Dax Shepard
Let's just say it was a ton of money that you probably had never seen. Was that part exciting?
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah. I remember what was exciting at that time because I had seen Jodie Foster direct. I thought, they're asking me to make this movie and I get to produce it. Because I had not been interested in the script many times. And I'd had one experience with that prior with the Babysitter, where I didn't produce the babysitter. But I remember the girl felt really like she had nothing to do. She was just a sex object. So I was able to talk to them about, hey, can we make this more of a human being? And she's still obviously a sex object in the end of the day, but she's more of a human.
Dax Shepard
She's a multifaceted sex object.
Alicia Silverstone
I guess it is about their mind, messed up brains. They are all fantasizing about who she is. So I had her, like, reading Shakespeare and doing weird things that made her sort of different. But I got a taste of, oh, you can adjust things and make things a little different and so on. Excess baggage. They were asking me, what is it that you want? And I liked the idea. It was just not being executed at the time the way that I felt like I wanted to jump into.
Dax Shepard
So I have great curiosity about excess baggage.
Alicia Silverstone
Okay.
Dax Shepard
That was the first movie you developed under that deal. And Benicio del Toro, Christopher Walken. This is like a fucking incredible cast past. Like me. You had seen Usual Suspects, right? And you're like, who the Give me the keys of sucker? And then you flip. You flip you for real. He flip you for real. When's the last time you saw that movie?
Monica Padman
I know. I want to rewatch this.
Dax Shepard
Oh, my God. You can't understand one word he says in the whole thing.
Alicia Silverstone
I loved it. He's brilliant.
Dax Shepard
So was it hard to get? Because he seems so elusive to me. I don't understand. I would love to talk with him and understand what the game plan is, because he's just gone for these long periods of time, and then he pops up in three movies right away. I'm like, how's he deciding? He seems hard to get into something. Was it hard to get him in that?
Alicia Silverstone
No. I had a similar conversation with him where we sat down and I was like, the script Sucks. Let's make it good. And he was like, okay.
Dax Shepard
He said, oh, yeah, well, let's flip it.
Alicia Silverstone
He doesn't talk like that.
Dax Shepard
We'll flip it. It's really good. Monica, I know you're cringing, but it's.
Monica Padman
Kind of how it sounds. I know the line. Everyone knows the line.
Dax Shepard
What was it like working with him?
Alicia Silverstone
He and I had an incredible working relationship. I could write a book about that. So we'll just give you the highlights, which is, I think that we had a tremendous respect for each other. I know that he really valued. He always would say, you're so strong. And that was. Cause I was totally unhinged. I did not know any rules. I had nobody sit me down and.
Monica Padman
Go, this is how you get things you want. Yeah, yeah.
Dax Shepard
You're so young.
Monica Padman
In some ways.
Alicia Silverstone
In some ways. But in other ways, I really should have been sat down.
Monica Padman
Okay, that's interesting.
Alicia Silverstone
That said, we had an incredible journey together on that experience that anyone who was involved would understand. And it's really to be left in a vault until I'm like writing a memoir, because it's too.
Monica Padman
You know.
Dax Shepard
That's the second time you've policed yourself.
Monica Padman
Maybe that's why I police myself a lot.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, tell me about that. What's your fear?
Alicia Silverstone
Because I've been doing this for a long time and I don't like how if you and I have a really. I mean, there's so many things we've already said that I can go back in my mind and go, oh, when it's hard, they then take the one little thing and it's all over the news. And it's just annoying.
Monica Padman
It is annoying. But you still care.
Alicia Silverstone
Do I care? That's a good question. My ex husband, who I love very much, always said, I don't know what your problem is. Everything you say is so punk rock. He thought it was great.
Monica Padman
It's great.
Alicia Silverstone
And I can look back and see it that way. But what I don't love is being brought back to me. It's just boring. You know, if every interview you do, somebody's bringing back something.
Dax Shepard
Oh, they bring up some.
Alicia Silverstone
Yes, yes. I just want to stay in. In the now. We're having an incredible conversation. But what could be.
Dax Shepard
And I'm not critical of it. I was just curious. Did you have an event where you felt I paid a big price for that?
Monica Padman
No.
Alicia Silverstone
I also just think there's a lot of things to say that it's no one's business and I don't want to out people left and right. Like, why? There's a million things that have happened to me.
Dax Shepard
I just have no interest in running other people through. Yes, me either.
Monica Padman
Me either.
Alicia Silverstone
I just have no interest. I don't lose sleep over any of this stuff. I have a really good life. I love my kid. I'm fine. So I just feel very well. I don't need the drama. I don't need the drama.
Dax Shepard
I don't say anything here about other people, but I'll admit, I would have been in love with Benicio Del Toro. He's so sexy.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
And I think he looks like Brad Pitt.
Alicia Silverstone
Yes. So that was part of my pitch, so I had to go see. Now, I don't know if this is okay to say.
Dax Shepard
Well, you tell me. You can cut it out.
Monica Padman
Yeah, I don't know.
Alicia Silverstone
Okay. So I just don't know if he'd like this or who would like it. But I had to go into Sony and beg them to hire him. And when I did, I was like, he's the Spanish Brad Pitt.
Monica Padman
Are you fucking kidding me?
Alicia Silverstone
Like, what are you talking about? He's so. I just like blushing and like, I did this whole crazy thing.
Monica Padman
That's correct.
Alicia Silverstone
Yes.
Dax Shepard
Yes. I love that. There's nothing bad about that.
Monica Padman
It's just flattering.
Dax Shepard
You're worried that Beno would hear that he had to get pitched to the studio. But he's realistic. He had three lines that he mumbled in one movie and he wanted to be the co star.
Monica Padman
Thank you for doing that. We had Brad Pitt on recently and it was great. My main takeaway, because I. Of course that happened. People are pulling headlines. They're saying all kinds of stuff. They're saying stuff that didn't happen. They're like, oh, he talked about his ex wife. No, he did not. You know, they're piecing things together that make no sense. And I was getting so flustered every time I saw it. I was like, no, they're lying. But then I was like, but he doesn't care. He came on. He knew this was. Yeah, he's like. He knew. He's like, they're going to do this. But he's obviously at a place that he's just like, I can't control that. I don't care. And I found that so admirable that he's just, like, past it. He's like, whatever. People are going to say it. It's not true. And that's.
Dax Shepard
It's also. I just find it really funny. I'll say something that's nuts. And I'm like, that's going to probably be something. And then I say something completely inane, like, we don't bathe our kid every night.
Alicia Silverstone
Right. Which.
Dax Shepard
And then all of a sudden, like, the mom blogs are like, their kids are filthy. I'm like, that's the thing out of. I'm talking about smoking crack and robbing liquor stores. No one's interested in that. But I didn't wash my.
Monica Padman
Yeah, it's almost fun. You almost just have to, like, sit it aside.
Alicia Silverstone
It's all so ridiculous.
Monica Padman
Yeah. Cause it's so ridiculous.
Alicia Silverstone
Like I said, I don't lose any sleep. I'm just trying to make my life easier.
Monica Padman
Yeah, that makes total sense.
Dax Shepard
Okay, now this falls back under the umbrella of. I think you live through a time that current people would not have to live through. And so if you don't want to talk about it, fine. But I do want to talk about Batman, because I feel like that must have been kind of a scarring experience. Batman itself, just that whole experience of doing that movie. I didn't know any of this stuff. I just read about it today. People are calling you terrible names. Pap.
Alicia Silverstone
I was running through the airport.
Dax Shepard
Yes. That's crazy.
Alicia Silverstone
They're standing there to, like, answer questions and then get you onto the plane. Behind there is a little square box and I would hide in there while they would scream at me. It was horrendous.
Dax Shepard
And you were how old? 22ish.
Alicia Silverstone
No, I was 18.
Dax Shepard
You were quite young.
Monica Padman
I was babes.
Dax Shepard
And people were thinking, it's fine to do a full page article about your physique.
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah, all the time. And I was half the size I am now. It's so, you know, it's so weird.
Dax Shepard
When all that was going on, were you just like, oh, I guess this goes with the territory, or were you like, this is brutal.
Alicia Silverstone
No, that was pretty brutal. But also there's worse things in world. People are dying and things. And I try to keep all that in perspective. That it's a high class problem I supposed to have.
Dax Shepard
I think that's.
Alicia Silverstone
You do.
Dax Shepard
I think that's. I think that's people afraid that someone's going to go, oh, boohoo. You being chased to the airport, being called.
Alicia Silverstone
Exactly. Fat.
Dax Shepard
Fat.
Alicia Silverstone
It's clever.
Monica Padman
No, it's fucking rough.
Alicia Silverstone
It is awful. Do you know what I would say back? I mean, in my head, because I didn't want to talk to them, but, like, how do you go home at night and speak to your children? I know, like Today, your daughter is a huge fan of mine.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
Tell her, oh, I told the person that you love and admire that she's fat today. Does that feel good?
Dax Shepard
I met her today. I called her fat girl.
Alicia Silverstone
And also, what does that tell your daughter she's supposed to be? If this body's not okay, then what body is okay? It's mental.
Monica Padman
Did people defend you, like, in the airport?
Alicia Silverstone
I don't know. I was fighting with a thing over my head. I mean, it was really intense and sucked.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. I don't think you need to make light of that. I think that's a very, like, traumatic. You've lost total control of your environment.
Alicia Silverstone
It definitely had its effects for sure. And I do think now you know how you have bad comments, somebody gets angry at you about whatever.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
And then all these other people come to your fight and they're like, fuck you.
Monica Padman
This is.
Alicia Silverstone
You know. And you're just like, yeah. You don't have to say anything. Other people come back and they go, no. You're like, great.
Dax Shepard
Thank you.
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah. And I've learned over the years, like, if you're on social media, you can't take any of that. Do you remember when you first started doing it, how you'd have 99% be nice and then there'd just be one thing and it would just get under your skin because we are new to it. And then I suddenly went, oh, who cares? This is ridiculous. Yeah. So you do get used to accepting things.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, I do. Terrible with it. I'll say in the moment, I don't care. And then three hours later, I'm driving on the 101 and I'm like, rereading the thing I read and defending myself.
Alicia Silverstone
You're fighting with yourself.
Dax Shepard
Yes. And I'm like, no, this does affect me. I'm like, I'm full of. If I think, well, I don't know who that is. Well, I'm thinking about it three hours later.
Alicia Silverstone
I know.
Monica Padman
I have a question. I was just thinking about. So because of this. That's crazy. Being chased through an airport, being called this.
Alicia Silverstone
Having articles about you by, like, eight men.
Monica Padman
You were preyed on.
Alicia Silverstone
Why were they even allowed in the airport? Like, you can't have people in the airport anymore.
Dax Shepard
I think post 9 11, they were.
Alicia Silverstone
Allowed to come all the way up to the gates.
Dax Shepard
Up to the gate. The silver lining no one likes to talk about. Yeah. Thank God.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
People aren't fair. They're not fair when they talk about 9 11. There's been a lot of upside.
Monica Padman
Yeah. And you're getting praised by people who you respect for calling you strong, which is a great thing. Is it hard for you to be vulnerable and sensitive? Because you take so much pride in being strong? And I'm not gonna let that bother me.
Alicia Silverstone
I mean, I think I'm extremely vulnerable and sensitive. I'm probably too sensitive. Anyone who knows me, I'm an open book. That's why I have to watch my.
Monica Padman
Because I'm so open.
Alicia Silverstone
I never used to pay attention to any of that, and I used to just be completely open. I mean, the thing that I would think before I would get here is I'm gonna have too much fun with. You think that I can just say anything because it's enjoyable.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. Yeah.
Monica Padman
Right.
Alicia Silverstone
When I was a young girl, I thought, well, I have to tell the truth, and I want to be open. Like, that's how I am. So I would never have any way of being responsible for those things. But I've just learned over time that there are some things that are yours. I do think I'm healthy and that I don't need to expose everything. Right. That's for your friends. That's for fun conversations. That's maybe for when you're dying, you want to write a book, or when everyone's dead, so it doesn't matter. I sometimes think we all vomit a lot of details and information out there that I don't know is really helpful or needed. It's this sort of chaotic conditioning.
Dax Shepard
I got a specific background where it was imperative to get sober, to shed that. I've had 21 years of going into rooms with strangers, and they're all dead honest. And like, I like the results of that feeling so much. That to me, to experience that and then to leave there and then have any amount of shame about anything about me felt so incongruous. I enjoy being that way more than I enjoy being protective. And also I recognize it's not for everybody.
Monica Padman
There are things that are yours. We're really open on this show.
Alicia Silverstone
He's not going to tell you the ins and outs of your relationship with your wife. You're not going to feel like you just aren't.
Dax Shepard
Generally, anything that involves someone else I'm very protective of. And then I expose my mom a lot, too, but she's. She's giving me her blessing. Okay, here's what I'm getting at. I'm impressed you didn't just quit altogether.
Alicia Silverstone
Well, now I have a little bit of anxiety. Not real, just a slight thought that you guys think I'm super guarded.
Monica Padman
No, not.
Dax Shepard
I don't find you to be standoffish or anything. I've just seen you police yourself a few times, and I wondered if there was any reason behind it. Just out of curiosity.
Alicia Silverstone
I think the main thing in a nutshell is there's so much going on in my life currently, and I just like to stay with what's happening. I just did an entire press tour in New York. I have four things coming out, and the only thing they're talking about is clueless. And at some point, it's like, if I do an hour interview and nothing comes out of it other than clueless, you're just kind of like, wait a second.
Monica Padman
Yeah, yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
Do you know what I mean? And I'm so happy and grateful that everybody loves it, but these things are great. Begonia with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons is amazing. Irish blood is really, really good. And pretty things, like, these are good things.
Dax Shepard
Yes, yes, yes.
Alicia Silverstone
So if nobody gets to see them because they're so, like, clueless.
Dax Shepard
So I come into with anxiety because my fear is, you must feel that way.
Monica Padman
Yeah, exactly.
Dax Shepard
I'm not dumb. If I were you, I would be like, okay, yes, shut the fuck up about Clueless.
Alicia Silverstone
No, I loved it.
Dax Shepard
I loved it. But also, I don't want to talk about it for the rest of my life.
Alicia Silverstone
I don't mind talking about it for the rest of my life if the other things can be talked about.
Dax Shepard
My thing was punk'd, right. It didn't matter how many years after I had done that. And I'm doing movies and things you're.
Alicia Silverstone
Proud of, that you worked hard on.
Dax Shepard
Yes. There was 10 years where I was like, shut the fuck up about punk and stop asking me what it's like to act. I already was acting on that, you know? Yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
You had to explain to them that you were an actor.
Dax Shepard
Yes.
Alicia Silverstone
Cause they didn't know I had a.
Dax Shepard
Chip on my shoulder. And what I hated about that, when I came to peace with it all, is, like, I robbed the whole experience of that from myself because I just didn't want you to bring it up in an interview. And I was sick of talking about it. And, no, I wasn't friends with Ashton Kutcher. He didn't put his friend in it. You know, like, I auditioned, you know, all these, like, hangups I had about it. And at one point, I was like, dude, you're on the show. That was this cultural phenomenon. You were a big part of the reason, and fuck, yeah. And I've come to Love it.
Alicia Silverstone
My thing is, I don't mind that. What I guess I mean is, like we said, if you put out one thing, you were talking about blackface. Oh, yes, yes, yes. I don't know what word I said, but maybe I said, oh, I don't know what I said, but whatever it was, let's say that went out.
Dax Shepard
Yes.
Alicia Silverstone
Then, like, that's all that. Nothing else gets talked about. And so it doesn't matter. But it only matters because I've just spent a whole year dedicated to my work where that involves family and sacrifices. And, like, this is your living in.
Dax Shepard
Another country for three months for it.
Alicia Silverstone
All to just be outshined by some dumb thing. That's what I guess it is.
Dax Shepard
Oh, yeah, Yeah. I get that.
Monica Padman
I do, too. I think, though, and this is very upsetting, but I think the truth is, currently also, just because the media cycle's this fast, like, so that could be.
Alicia Silverstone
A headline for a second, and then.
Monica Padman
They forget four hours and then there's a new one.
Alicia Silverstone
No, I know.
Monica Padman
Which is awesome.
Dax Shepard
Our president will probably do something that'll take the Definitely temperature.
Monica Padman
But also, what I think is wild is now you see a headline, somebody's name pops up, and then for some reason, they do then see the project. Like, there's this weird thing where it's like, oh, this person's in the zeitgeist again. Oh, there she is in this movie. I'll watch it. We're so fragmented now. And weirdly, again, I kind of hate this. But being out there in general, I think, is positive. It's that, like, horrible old thing. All press is good. Press is gross. And currently, I think, kind of really true.
Alicia Silverstone
I've had things get derailed, though, by things that have come out for sure. And it's just a bummer when you work on something really hard.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
But what I was gonna ask is, you've got the number one hit comedy of the summer, then you're in Batman, the biggest franchise, and we don't even have Marvel yet. If I were you, I was like, okay, I'm doing as good as you can do. And I hate it. Right. Like, it's not me. Like, this is as good as it gets. I'm the lead of enormous movies that are successful, and I hate it. And then I'm wondering if also you're out there shining a light on a lot of problems that need addressing. Were you shocked to find out what angers people so much about activists? How have you synthesized why activists tend to anger people so much? Like what is your conclusion? After years of being an activist, I found.
Alicia Silverstone
Because at first, it's like when you discover what's going on about anything. And I was young, so I discovered what was happening in the animal world and how our food production was affecting people who are starving all over the world and nobody cares, nobody talks about it. And the Earth problems and all of these things that this one thing could affect four big, huge areas, right? Animal cruelty, people starving to death, health and environment, all at the same time. It just seemed like a good. You know, when you're bowling, what's that called?
Dax Shepard
Strike.
Alicia Silverstone
Strike, yeah. Just can't get it all with one thing. It's so efficient. But I realized when I learned all this stuff that was so eye opening, I wanted to run around screaming rape, murder, fire everywhere I went, right? And nobody wants to hear that. They don't have room for it. So I don't know if it was Howard Lyman. He made tons of money as a cattle farmer. He had crazy heart problems and was in the hospital about to die. He had a moment where he kind of came back. They told him, the food that you're eating is what caused this. And he had this huge revelation, changed his diet, changed. And he's amazing, man. Who's been going around telling everybody his story. Well, at one point, I think I went to an animal rights conference. I think it was in the year 2000. He was there, and I remember him saying something like, it's better to wait to be asked about this stuff rather than sort of going around proselytizing. Yeah, you're gonna have way better results. And also I thought, oh, God, that's such a relief.
Dax Shepard
You'd feel guilty if you hadn't shined a light on that.
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah. And I remember my husband saying, we're not together anymore, but we would go to a party. This is when I was, like, 21 and I was newly vegan. And he sort of would say, is anything you can talk about besides that you seem, like, really stressed out when you leave? And I'm like, I know. So he was right. But I didn't know how it became a relief when I wrote my book, the Kind Diet. Cause I was like, look, I'm gonna write everything I have to say here, and if you wanna read it, you can. And if you don't want to, you don't have to. And now I don't have to talk about it anymore. And so I can promote it. I can tell people when they ask me questions, that's where it all is. And I don't have to answer the stupid. You know, a lot of people are just sort of jabbing you.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. Yeah. They wanna have a debate with you.
Alicia Silverstone
And I can tell right away if they're actually interested in a real conversation or not. So it's sort of like, oh, if you're interested, just read this. I don't need to spend my evening. It's a lot of energy.
Dax Shepard
But if I were you, I think I would be feeling like I'm just saying something to try to help. And everyone's so mad about it. What's going on? Because I've had this experience where we're visiting my mom and my stepdad, who's now passed. And Kristin mentions, wash the apple first. There's a lot of pesticides on the apple. I hear my stepdad in the kitchen. He's like, jesus Christ, now we can't even eat apples. Like, he was just so. And I was like, what's going on in Barton's mind right now? He loves Kristen.
Alicia Silverstone
He feels defensive, he feels judged.
Dax Shepard
We do this, we must think you're stupid for doing that. That's a kernel. That could definitely happen. So you can probably tell by looking at me. I'm into lifting weights and I eat a lot of meat. I have a lot of a accounts. I follow I'm not vegan. But also, I don't care if someone's vegan. What I can't understand is people who fucking hate vegans because they eat meat. I don't understand why vegans hate meat eaters. That makes a little more sense to me. But another one is gas car, electric car. Just don't drive an electric car. I'm super into cars. And people that are into cars, they don't just don't buy an electric car. They hate electric cars. All their posts are about they fucking hate electric cars. They want them to be made illegal. I don't understand hating something because hating.
Monica Padman
The person that's trying to do better is really tough for me. I understand the opposite way more. Again, that's tough because there's judgment and it's just not going to work to judge people. But to be like, how dare you drive an electric car? It's like, it is better.
Alicia Silverstone
What's this so confusing to me because I'm not really dialed into the motorsports community. Yeah. I have experienced people in my years where they're like, you're vegan. Why are those shoes vegan? You know?
Dax Shepard
And you're like, putting you through a purity test.
Alicia Silverstone
Yes, they are. But let's Just pretend they're not for a second. Does the veganness go away? Choosing this way of eating, you save so many animals. Like, I did this. Cause I love animals, period. End of story. But once I did, I ditched my asthma inhaler. I had allergy shots twice a week. I was taking antibiotics two or three times a year for bronchitis. I had acne everywhere. And I. After Batman was what they called a little pudgy.
Dax Shepard
Right?
Monica Padman
Like.
Alicia Silverstone
Or some people said factory. And I changed all of it. All of this went away. My skin was glowing, my eyes were white. My nails, you couldn't bend them. It was like, so strong. Everything changed about my health.
Dax Shepard
All positive.
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah. And then I did research and was like, wait a second. Bruce Lee was vegan? Wait, Narutovo. There were some athletes who did it for performance. It helped with inflammation, it helped with recovery, and it gave you longer lasting performance. And then I started to learn that there was all this science, and that's why I wrote the book the Kind Diet, because there was all this science and medical research that supported this idea. So it was this magical thing that was happening to me, had happened to people who had cancer, who had had heart disease, who had diabetes, who had lupus, who had Ms. So I was like, oh, this is interesting. I didn't know. I remember crossing myself and I'm Jewish, but going, I didn't know if I was gonna be well, but I couldn't look myself in the mirror one more day and say, you're a good person. You love animals, but it's okay with you how they're tortured and mutilated.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, it's completely incongruous with.
Alicia Silverstone
It was too hypocritical for me, and I just couldn't do it anymore. So that's why I changed. But all these things started to happen to me. Then I learned about the environment, which I did not understand that connection at the time. And then I started learning about all the starving children all over the world and the people who are dying. And I was like, this choice is the most efficient way to knock out all these problems at once. You can't solve everything, but you can solve a lot here. And even if people just do it, more than not is better. I feel like it's been great for me. And I loved writing the books kind Mama Helping Mommies Get Pregnant. And I. I just really found a way to harness this thing that I cared so passionately about and dive into that.
Dax Shepard
Stay tuned for more armchair expert if you dare. We are supported By Skims.
Monica Padman
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Dax Shepard
Yes, that's the big challenge. But you're endlessly recommending this to friends.
Monica Padman
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Dax Shepard
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Dax Shepard
I'm impressed you didn't just bail bail. Because if you're getting heat from like both sides, some part of me would what heat. You're getting all the attention at the airport, which is totally unpleasant. And then imagine when you're sharing the causes you care about, people are being critical of your activist work. And how at that point do you go, like, I just fucking give up. I give up on all of it.
Alicia Silverstone
The activism stuff was so crystal clear to me, you know, especially once I wrote my book. It was too rewarding. There was a man who had come to the first signing, and then he came to a signing two, three years later when it went to paperback, and he goes, you don't remember me? And I was like, I'm sorry, I don't. He said, because I've lost a hundred pounds, I'm off every medication I had.
Dax Shepard
Wow.
Alicia Silverstone
And he had changed his life.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
And another time I was at the theater. I mean, this happens. A. But people say they love Cher and Clueless every single day, everywhere I go. And that is really lovely. Or they've seen this movie, or they've seen that movie, and that's really lovely. But nothing is more lovely than a woman who comes over to me and says, I couldn't get pregnant. And I read your book, and I got pregnant, and thank you. We start crying. That's the juice.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
So that I was not gonna escape. And I guess what happened with the acting was that even though there were hard parts of it. Yeah, I did sort of go away. I wrote for a long time. I started doing other things.
Dax Shepard
You did a ton of theater.
Alicia Silverstone
I noticed you did a ton of the. And the theater got me back into the acting.
Dax Shepard
That was kind of my hunch from looking at this from the outside going, oh, yeah, that version kind of sucked. But I love acting. I can go do this here without.
Alicia Silverstone
All that, which I kind of forgot. You forget you're an actor also.
Dax Shepard
Money enters the picture, and that's a very powerful character.
Alicia Silverstone
Complicated. But I did love aspects like Benicio, and I had an incredible. I mean, there was a lot of hard parts of it, but we also had a great experience and being able to learn on the job the way that I did. And then I got to do Love's Labor's Lost with Kenneth Branagh, and I got to do things like that. Now. I made a lot of dumb choices along the way, for sure. That's the only way we can do it. We just gotta learn from the mistakes. I feel like I came back in a different way. I got to do all my theater, and through the theater, I got to just work with really Cool artists.
Monica Padman
And you got to love acting again for what it was.
Dax Shepard
Okay. You did Reptile again with Benicio.
Alicia Silverstone
Yes. That was amazing.
Dax Shepard
Are you guys the same?
Alicia Silverstone
We are. It's so interesting, our relationship. And I don't wanna speak for him, but I know that he trusts me.
Dax Shepard
I would feel very rewarded by that.
Alicia Silverstone
I was so excited when they asked for me to do this. I remember saying to him, are you sure? It was so great.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. In the killing of a sacred deer. Which is incredible. How did that come to be?
Alicia Silverstone
Killing of a sacred deer? I did an audition. I got a call from my agent, who's very good and feisty, and he said, you need to show up in 24 hours or something ridiculous. To this Aud Francine, this amazing casting director, I believe, had seen me in a play I'd done on Broadway, the last one that I was in. And so she brought me in for this. And Brian, my agent, said, now you're not gonna know who this is. Cause you never know anything and you're not gonna know who any of these people are. But just go watch the lobster real quick and be ready and show up to this audition. So I watched the lobster and then I did this audition. And then some weeks later, I got a call that Yorgos wanted to speak to me. And I was in Australia at the time with my 5 year old on the Zoom thing with him. And I thought it was another step in the process.
Dax Shepard
Yes.
Alicia Silverstone
So I was kind of nervous. But it wasn't another. I mean, it was in that I think he was checking. I wasn't awful as a human.
Dax Shepard
He was smart.
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah. I think he just wanted to check. And then in that call he said, I'd really like you to do this.
Dax Shepard
Was it so exciting?
Alicia Silverstone
It really was, yeah.
Dax Shepard
If I had just seen the lobster.
Alicia Silverstone
Because now I went back and watched Dogtooth and have you seen Dog? You need to watch Dogtooth.
Dax Shepard
Dogtooth.
Alicia Silverstone
Dogtooth is his first film and it is so freaking brilliant. It's Greek and there's subtitles. So anyway, that was just incredible. There's moments in your career that just feel so exciting. Oh, yeah. The Crush felt so exciting because it was my first movie and I felt like I was with a family. And Carrie always was so nice. It was such a juicy part. And then I remember Love's Labor's Lost felt like such a big deal to me because it was Kenneth Branagh, it was Shakespeare. And that was such an exciting thing to have happen on Broadway with Laura Linney in this play was an incredible experience. With Daniel Sullivan as the director.
Dax Shepard
Just enough stuff to keep you going.
Alicia Silverstone
And David Mamet. We're doing a play with David Mamet was incredible. That was a highlight. So this was one of those. And then I started to see all his films. And I'm obsessed with his films. And so I'm so grateful to get to be in another one.
Monica Padman
Yeah. How cool.
Dax Shepard
He did the favorite.
Monica Padman
He did Poor Things.
Dax Shepard
Poor Things? Poor Things. That was my favorite movie last year.
Alicia Silverstone
Poor Things was so wonderful and kind of. Signs of Kindness is so good, too.
Monica Padman
I haven't seen that one yet.
Dax Shepard
I'm gonna need to have a Yorgos marathon. Marathon.
Alicia Silverstone
I think it's worth it.
Dax Shepard
Okay. So you are in his new movie. On a Halloween comes out.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
How do I say it?
Alicia Silverstone
Begonia.
Dax Shepard
Begonia. Okay. Irish Blood. I called Monica from Nashville. I was watching it and I was like, you know, I was gonna watch one episode of this because we have Alicia come in and I'm on episode three, and I can't fucking stop.
Monica Padman
He could not stop.
Dax Shepard
Some issues with it.
Alicia Silverstone
And I only say that you can tell me all the issues.
Dax Shepard
I'm gonna tell you why I'm saying that. Because if you're me and you're watching and you have some issues at the beginning, I'm telling you, stick with it.
Monica Padman
Okay.
Dax Shepard
I'm allergic to things that are a little saccharine. I was just a little nervous about how emotional it was.
Alicia Silverstone
Is that with the dad part?
Dax Shepard
Yes, the flashback stuff. When you're a little girl. All right, so just to set everything up, you come in at 10 years old and the house is trashed and Dad's gone, and you assume that he beat mom up.
Monica Padman
Well, there are bruises. The mom has bruises. And so the natural assumption is that.
Dax Shepard
This guy you loved and adored hurt her. So that's a very heartbreaking moment for you. You're a little girl. You grow up, you're very jaded. When we meet you as an adult, you're a divorce attorney. You're an angry woman.
Alicia Silverstone
A little bit tough. She's tough.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. Doesn't believe in love. Can't find a partner she likes.
Alicia Silverstone
Well, she's not even looking, really.
Monica Padman
Yeah, exactly.
Alicia Silverstone
She's got a lot of trauma.
Dax Shepard
Spend the night, you're like, you gotta get the fuck out of here. Get out of here as fast as you can. But you get sent this envelope, and in it is a key, and it is in Ireland. And you for some reason, decide, I'm going to go explore this. And when you get there, it's A key to a box, you discover that your father is dead. I think we can say that. Okay, that's early enough. We need that for what this show's about, I think. Does that make you nervous?
Alicia Silverstone
Yes and no.
Dax Shepard
I think it's.
Alicia Silverstone
I think it's a good sign.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, I think it's worth it.
Alicia Silverstone
If you think it's good, go for it.
Dax Shepard
I'll tell you why. Because now, now we've got a mystery, we've got a whodunit. Dad has been killed and you have been left some clues by dad. Okay? Now here's the gear that it kicked into for me that made me insatiable for it, which was. I love this. Did you ever watch Veronica Mars? No.
Alicia Silverstone
Do I need to see Veronica Alicia?
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
Wait, is that with Kristen?
Dax Shepard
Yeah, that's her first show.
Monica Padman
One of her first things.
Dax Shepard
And let me just tell you, I started dating her. I know she was on a show called Veronica Mars. I know it's about a teenage sleuth.
Monica Padman
I'm like, it's on CW or wv.
Dax Shepard
We've been together for like four months and we're in New York shooting a movie together and I'm like, I'm going to have to watch this show. I got the DVDs. Same thing, fourth episode, she walks in the room, she's like, you want to go out to Spotted Pig? I'm like, shut the fuck up. Ron's about to blast these. I got so sucked. You must watch it because this is very much a grown up Veronica Mars. Because you're not built to be an investigator. You're a lawyer. But you're tough and you're shrewd and you're smart and you seem to be completely fearless to walk into any situation. And then all of a sudden this really good. No, our kind of investigation happens. And it's very Ron Mars, which is a very high compliment. Oh, very. Yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
Oh, I'm so happy that you love it. That makes me so happy.
Dax Shepard
And it's on Acorn, which I didn't know about Acorn. Did you know about Acorn? Aaron's obsessed with Acorn. So Acorn specializes and they just show British shows and Aaron watches every single soulmate, best friend. So Acorn just plays British stuff. And this is an original for them. So Ireland, how long were you there?
Alicia Silverstone
Three months.
Dax Shepard
And had you been prior to that?
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah, I had. I loved Ireland. I had been my. I don't like saying ex husband. It sounds so horrible. The man that I was married to for 20 years.
Dax Shepard
Yes.
Monica Padman
It's a great run.
Dax Shepard
I know I say this all the time. Like if Krista and I ever split up, I would only describe this as still an enormously successful relationship.
Monica Padman
Yes.
Dax Shepard
Because like, we loved each other to death. We had these two beautiful children. We had this great time together. And I would really feel like I was dishonoring it if ever we were not together.
Alicia Silverstone
I will always love him so much. He lives across the street from me.
Dax Shepard
Oh, really?
Monica Padman
Oh, that's wonderful.
Alicia Silverstone
He used to live down the street, but now he lives across the street.
Monica Padman
That's so lovely.
Alicia Silverstone
I will always love him.
Dax Shepard
You can't be together with someone for 21 years.
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah. I love him so much. And sometimes this again, I probably shouldn't say. I was walking the dog. My dog loves him because he gives him meat. Like he just gives him like steaks. So my dog's like pulling me up to his house. I get into the house and he's standing there in his underwear and I'm like noticing all the things.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
And I'm just like, this is so interesting. Like, I'm like still attracted, Like, I'm sure we're both attracted to each other. We love each other.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
And that was my partner for 20 something years. So there I am just like, this is so weird, so funny.
Dax Shepard
Also, if you were like four glasses of wine deep in your house and you looked out the window and you're like, I just got across the street.
Alicia Silverstone
But the reality is we can't. So we won't.
Monica Padman
I will say that's really brave to make a decision like that when it's easier to just stay in something that's not really working or isn't right. But that you've been together for so long and there's love there. It's hard.
Alicia Silverstone
It was heartbreaking decision making. It was heartbreaking. We were both in love with each other when we broke up. Yeah. Just a horrible thing. But we co parent beautifully. Why am I talking about him? What were we just talking about? Oh, he and I had gone on a trip. We went to Ireland. The destination was the MTV Music Awards of Europe. Like Ireland. Dennis Hopper was there and it was wild and fun. We decided to fly into, I think Shannon airport and drove. So we took two weeks to get to the MTV Music Awards. And I remember being like, we need to live here. It's so incredible.
Monica Padman
Oh, lovely.
Dax Shepard
When you were in those Hollywoody scenes, could you enjoy yourself and drop in and be a movie star? Could you pop on that Persona? Like if you're at the MTV movie Awards. Could you have fun?
Alicia Silverstone
Music stuff was fun. Cause everyone's more wild and feisty and I'm like a hippie punk rock weirdo. My husband was in a punk rock band.
Dax Shepard
Yes.
Alicia Silverstone
And so we were rock and roll mixed with my environmental. I call it political. But my entire thinking of wanting to know the truth and being dedicated to love and kindness and trying to make this world better, that's my rebellious fucked upness. So I had this sort of hippie punk rock and I don't know how to do small talk. So I'm useless in a situation where I have to engage about, you know, like I to go deep right away.
Dax Shepard
And I want to know same.
Monica Padman
Right.
Alicia Silverstone
And so I did well at music things because it feels like there's a more gritty. It's more gritty, it's more wild. I did well at things like, I remember I went to the GQ awards in London and I brought Timothy Spall with me as my date.
Dax Shepard
Who's he?
Alicia Silverstone
He's an amazing English actor and he was in Love's Labor's Lost with me. And we are dear friends. He came to our wedding. He's a lovely man. But that's who I wanted as my date. And if you have a visual of Timothy Spall, he's now sober and still the sweetest man on the planet. But like, you know, we were little odd coup at this thing. He's a lot older than me. I wasn't showing up with Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt. Not that I wouldn't have been open to that. It just didn't work out that way.
Dax Shepard
You don't have to say names. But after Clueless, did you get any random calls from like an agent, like so and so wants your number. You don't have to give any names. But did you have those calls?
Alicia Silverstone
Well, by older gentlemen, sure. Oh, actually, hang on.
Dax Shepard
Older gentlemen.
Monica Padman
I can tell you about the later.
Alicia Silverstone
There was one.
Monica Padman
One, two.
Alicia Silverstone
I think. Oh, three.
Monica Padman
Three.
Alicia Silverstone
I'm gonna go with there's three. What? I'll tell you when we get out of here.
Dax Shepard
Lovely.
Alicia Silverstone
But it wasn't like, it wasn't gross.
Dax Shepard
It was just like.
Alicia Silverstone
No, it was fine.
Dax Shepard
Let's have dinner.
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah. Some of them were under the guise of let's work together.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the move.
Alicia Silverstone
But there was nothing inappropriate with any one of them.
Dax Shepard
Okay, so now this is back to your husband. I was with a woman for nine years before Kristen. And I had this huge fear when we broke up. Oh, man. That's the Last person I'll ever date that knew me before. Oh, I liked the notion that I had been with someone that had seen the whole thing, that really knew me and still liked me. Did you have that fear when you got divorced at all? Like, man, the one person on earth that knew me from the jump.
Alicia Silverstone
Well, he didn't. I met him when I was 21. He kind of caught me at the highest of the moments. Yeah, that's true.
Dax Shepard
Congrats to him.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, what a stuff.
Alicia Silverstone
But I did have the feeling, and still do of how do you find that partnership and that love ever again? He's my emergency contact. I'm his emergency contact.
Monica Padman
You know, he's your soulmate. Really.
Alicia Silverstone
I think we're going to be something forever. I don't know what soulmate really is or means because if we were soulmates, wouldn't we be together?
Monica Padman
Well, not necessarily. I think soulmates take lots of different shapes and I think you can have multiple. But I. I also think it's just like we're connected and we're gonna be connected forever.
Alicia Silverstone
I remember dating after having been separated for a long time and thinking if I liked someone, it felt I was betraying our relationship.
Dax Shepard
Right.
Alicia Silverstone
Even though we were divorced.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
You know, I would get teary eyed like, oh, I like someone. This is crazy. I'm betraying our love. It's insane.
Dax Shepard
How about would you feel guilty, like I remember with Kristen and be like, I want to tell her this story about Brie when she was a little girl and found a tampon in the toilet and came running out and was screaming, there's a bloody bone in the toile. I looked at her whole family like she had never seen a tampon. And there's like a hundred of those. There's all these funny stories you accumulate and you're like, is it cool that I tell my new girlfriend this adorable story about my ex girlfriend?
Alicia Silverstone
Or you have like, I think it.
Dax Shepard
Is jokes that are fun, but it's.
Monica Padman
Complex across the board because does Kristen want to hear about this story? Maybe not. Also, is it fair to breathe? It's like that's my thing with this person. Do I bring it over? Like it's complicated.
Dax Shepard
But if it's like Aaron, of course.
Monica Padman
Well, there's no question complication there.
Dax Shepard
I know, but what feels crazy is. Yes, of course. Anything Aaron and I have worked on for the last 30 years, that's now part of my vernacular is going to come out and I have no issue with it. Cuz he's a plutonic Friend. But also, I have nine years of this stuff with Bri. That's part of who I am. And it feels complicated at times.
Alicia Silverstone
I feel like each partner has to kind of hear about all the partners eventually.
Dax Shepard
Right. I don't mind at all, personally. Like, I'm just. I've not been jealous of her, actually.
Alicia Silverstone
Just your life?
Dax Shepard
Yeah. Okay. So were you in Dublin shooting?
Alicia Silverstone
We were shooting all around Wicklow. In Dublin. I got to live in this really cute little village that I love so much. I love Ireland. I've always loved Ireland. And getting to work there was really, really incredible. The people are very different there. They're so warm. They're so generous of spirit. They're very happy. And when they're not happy, they're funny. There's just so much character. Something's going right in Ireland, you know, they had the potato famine, for God's sakes. They should be pissed off, right? But they're, you know, like, you go to other countries and you can really see the hardship on people at times. And they don't feel that way to me. They feel just so alive, so grateful and so funny, and they're so clever.
Dax Shepard
You did six. When do you get a sense if you'll get to do more?
Alicia Silverstone
I don't know. We started tinkering. I was lucky enough. They came to me this really early, so I got to be involved with all the key creative elements. So I worked on the edit extensively. I worked on every script extensively. We're doing it differently this time if we get to go again so that I can just focus on the acting when I show up. Because it was really a lot.
Dax Shepard
Well, I was hooked, so you should feel like that was time well spent.
Alicia Silverstone
I'm impressed that you watched it at all.
Dax Shepard
Oh, no, I loved it. I loved it. In fact, it's rare that I call Monica, if ever, and say, like, oh, I'm fucking hooked. You gotta turn this off.
Alicia Silverstone
I love that so much.
Dax Shepard
Well, Alicia, this has been lovely, and you gave us so much time, and I really appreciate it. And I don't know if I was at that dinner, but I like to think I watched a new worst. Or were. Yeah.
Monica Padman
Cause I feel like I remember it positively. So we'll pretend like it did happen.
Dax Shepard
Okay? Okay. All right. Well, Alicia, I want everyone to watch Irish Blood. And then also get ready for Halloween. Begonia.
Alicia Silverstone
And if you have any interest in an erotic thriller, it's out right now. Pretty thing.
Dax Shepard
I do like erotic thriller.
Monica Padman
Great.
Alicia Silverstone
It's Justin Kelly. He's a great Filmmaker.
Monica Padman
Awesome.
Dax Shepard
So everyone watch Irish Blood. Thank you so much. I hope we get to do it again. This has been a blast.
Alicia Silverstone
This is so much fun.
Monica Padman
Thank you.
Dax Shepard
He is an armchair expert, but he makes mistakes all the time. Thank God Monica's here. She's got to let him have the facts. I'd like to begin with an update.
Monica Padman
Okay.
Dax Shepard
This was sent to us by Rob, and Rob received a message that said, hi, guys. I just saw this week's episode with my wife and saw that you were talking. Talking about gwar. I can make that date for Monica happen for real. Next week at the VIP opening of GWAR's art show, September 12th. I love this. Blothar was just. Blothar is, I guess, the lead singer. The new lead singer. The old one died in, like, 2014.
Monica Padman
Oh, no.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Monica Padman
Sorry for his loss.
Dax Shepard
What an incredible name named Blar. But we're told. Oh, here we go. Here we go. Blar the Berserker is the current lead vocalist and occasional bassist in the heavy metal band Gwar. He appears as a stout horned pig faced goblin.
Monica Padman
Just my type.
Dax Shepard
I'm. Now that's what I want on my headstone. Here lies Dax Shepard. A stout horned pig face goblin. Holy shit. How hard would you laugh if you were walking through a cemetery? You saw that?
Monica Padman
Okay, so looks like you're in business. Might be percolating here with the Berserker.
Dax Shepard
Bl are the Berserker.
Monica Padman
So I guess I'll keep everyone.
Dax Shepard
Age. There's an age gap to contend with.
Monica Padman
There is.
Dax Shepard
There's 56. Rob. Yeah, he's 56.
Monica Padman
Yeah. But.
Dax Shepard
Oh, 57 this month. Okay, so he's still within the 20.
Monica Padman
Yeah. Look, age actually doesn't bother me to a degree. Right, To a degree.
Dax Shepard
But you want to spend more than a couple years with someone. Depends on before they pass on.
Monica Padman
Speaking of that, I have an update.
Dax Shepard
Oh, my gosh. I can't wait.
Monica Padman
I am days away. Days from becoming a billionaire.
Dax Shepard
Oh, my goodness.
Monica Padman
I know.
Dax Shepard
Boy, a lot happened in the five days since I saw you.
Monica Padman
I know. I'm sorry, I.
Dax Shepard
What? Tell me.
Monica Padman
I will be winning the lottery on Saturday.
Dax Shepard
Oh, okay. And it is for a billion bucks.
Monica Padman
Yes. Okay, so I've never participated in the lottery.
Dax Shepard
Right.
Monica Padman
And now I'm a gambling addict.
Dax Shepard
Okay, how did it start and how did we get here?
Monica Padman
So on Labor Day, we were at. I was at a friend's, the Hanson's. And you know, everyone was chatting, bunch of people there. And someone in a store instantly brought up that the Jackpot.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
Was at one point, maybe just 1 billion.
Dax Shepard
Oh, my God.
Monica Padman
Okay, that's crazy. Crazy.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
Right? And I was like, oh, that's silly. But then we all started talking about it, and. And people were like, oh, yeah, I'll buy tickets.
Dax Shepard
And these conversations all go the exact same. Right. There's that thing. Someone goes, it's 1.1 billion. Someone's like, so 550 million after day, someone.
Monica Padman
Right, exactly. So that means lump sum, five hundred and something. Million, and then taxes. So really, it's this.
Dax Shepard
Okay. Oh, right, right, right. So we're down to 265, which is billion.
Monica Padman
This is.
Dax Shepard
I mean, it's a lot of money, but. Whoa, what a hit.
Monica Padman
Okay.
Dax Shepard
But giving up 750k.
Monica Padman
I'm very. I'm. I'm. Or you don't have to. You could take the billion over the 30 years. Yeah, you could.
Dax Shepard
You could. Should you? I don't think so.
Monica Padman
Well, I can't, because now I'm in a pack. So.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Monica Padman
So we're all discussing this, you know, and then the next day is the last day you can buy tickets. The drawing was that night. So it was Monday. Monday night was the drawing. Sorry. Sunday was Labor Day. Hey. Monday night was the big drawing.
Dax Shepard
You were preparing to win a bill.
Monica Padman
Yeah. Getting excited, you know, the whole, like, what are you gonna buy? What would you do? Who's gonna change? Which one of us is gonna change?
Dax Shepard
Yeah. The movie. Most everyone's going to change.
Monica Padman
Who's going to change the most and in what way? And what are you going to do with the money? What are you going to buy?
Dax Shepard
It's so fun. That's the fun of a lottery ticket.
Monica Padman
What would you buy?
Dax Shepard
It's a. It's a. It's like a justified dream session.
Monica Padman
It's free money. What would you buy if you won?
Dax Shepard
I might. You know, I grabbed a Southwest flight out to Nashville the other day.
Monica Padman
Yeah. Great. Flies into Burbank.
Dax Shepard
We love that D money. Appreciate the direct flight. I'm in the middle seat. It's tight. Y fight a billion dollars. And I. When I flew to Nashville, I could charter a jet. I think that sounds really, really nice.
Monica Padman
Okay.
Dax Shepard
I mean, I would mostly. Before any of that. Let me be clear. I would give a bunch more money away to a bunch of people that I know and love.
Monica Padman
Yeah. So we all have different opinions on that, too.
Dax Shepard
Like, what are you gonna do?
Monica Padman
I'm just gonna, like, keep. Get my pool. I'm gonna throw money at a situation that's currently happening at the house. It's stressing me out.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Monica Padman
Just gonna throw money at that.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
And not try to figure it out. We'll just like take care of that.
Dax Shepard
That's right.
Monica Padman
And then I'm, I'm like, good. I'm gonna save it. I'm fine.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
But no, I do. I really want to go to a hotel in Los Olivos, which is a couple hours away. It's an Aberge hotel. I've been really wanting to go there.
Dax Shepard
Is that in.
Monica Padman
You just said no here in California?
Dax Shepard
Lo. What is it?
Monica Padman
Los Oos or Loos.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Monica Padman
It's like a little wine town.
Dax Shepard
Okay, great.
Monica Padman
Cali's been. She says it's great. And it's just been on my list to go for a while. Not be hotel.
Dax Shepard
And so for me, hotel for me.
Monica Padman
That'S first thing first. I'm going there.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. Yeah. Okay, great.
Monica Padman
And I've convinced everyone, like, if they win, can we please just go there? They. Everyone said yes to that.
Dax Shepard
Okay, great.
Monica Padman
So then it's Monday. Okay. And we are at.
Dax Shepard
How many tickets do y' all buy?
Alicia Silverstone
I'm not there yet.
Monica Padman
So there's me, Charlie, Erica, Anna, Jess, and Jess's friend, who I don't know well enough to know if I can out him. So we're all hanging out. It's Jess's birthday.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Monica Padman
And talking about the lottery. This is when we decide on our pact. Okay. Here's what we're gonna do. We're all. Jess was turning 49. We're all going to buy 49 tickets. And that's great. Right? Then we've got. We're looking at 300ish tickets.
Dax Shepard
Yes.
Monica Padman
And we're going to go to different places. We're all doing this. If you win, you have to give everyone in the pot $3 million.
Dax Shepard
Okay. That's nice.
Monica Padman
Right? We pinky switch war on this. It was basically a blood pact.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. That's legally binding, I think.
Monica Padman
Yeah, big time. Charlie and Erica leave and you decided.
Dax Shepard
To kick them out.
Monica Padman
They had to go. They had to go. And we had a couple hours until like the. It was closing at 7.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
And it was like 5:30. And. And we're like, okay, well we gotta go walk to go get our tickets. And Jess was like, okay, yeah, here's my $20. And we were like, no, it's 49 tickets each.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Monica Padman
And he was like, I didn't hear that.
Dax Shepard
Oh.
Monica Padman
And then his friend also hadn't heard that. So already there's a fight brewing.
Dax Shepard
Uh huh.
Monica Padman
Okay. Because no, you can't give 20.
Dax Shepard
No, no.
Monica Padman
You have to give the equal amount.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. If you give 20 year, we are not getting $3 million. You get getting like 1.3.
Monica Padman
No. You just can't be in it.
Dax Shepard
I agree. But even best case.
Monica Padman
Best case. But that's what they would probably say, like, well, we'll just get less. No, that's not how it works.
Dax Shepard
In for a penny, in for a pound.
Monica Padman
That's right.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
The whole point is to increase our odds.
Dax Shepard
That's right. Yeah.
Monica Padman
So fights were starting, and it was his birthday, so it was like, can't be in a big fight. But Ana and I were getting mad. And also Ana was like, we've been saying 49 for so long. Like, why? What's happening here happened? So a rift happened in the group. We kicked them out. We called Charlie and Erica. I said. We said, this is what's going on.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. Are you under the understanding.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
That it's 49 and are we go.
Monica Padman
Yes, yes.
Dax Shepard
Obviously it's 49.
Monica Padman
So we left Jess and his friend in the lurch. Anna and I walked down the street. We got our tickets.
Dax Shepard
Oh, God. Saw me tickets.
Monica Padman
So. So we got 296. No, $100 each. So. No, no, sorry, it was 100.
Dax Shepard
Oh, tickets are $2.
Monica Padman
Yeah, exactly.
Dax Shepard
I thought they were a buck. I'm back in the 80s.
Monica Padman
I know.
Dax Shepard
Sorry.
Monica Padman
So, anywho, we didn't win.
Dax Shepard
Okay, okay, okay.
Monica Padman
But guess what? Tell me nobody won.
Dax Shepard
So what is it now?
Monica Padman
So then yesterday was another draw.
Dax Shepard
Oh, my goodness.
Monica Padman
And so, okay, no one won on Monday. On Tuesday, we have to have another discussion. The pact has to come back together. Are we doing this again?
Dax Shepard
Reconvene.
Monica Padman
Charlie's like, I think, you know, the rule is if it's over a billion, like, we got to do it. But for how long? It's like, yeah, this is the dilemma.
Dax Shepard
Conundrum.
Monica Padman
And I said, look, will match whatever you decide you want to put in.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Monica Padman
So he decided they're going to. They wanted to do half.
Dax Shepard
Okay. So now on the second round, you can augment the pack.
Monica Padman
Well, as long as we're all doing the same.
Dax Shepard
That's right.
Monica Padman
Then.
Dax Shepard
So now we're down to 25 or what are we down to now? 50.
Monica Padman
50. 50 tickets total for.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Monica Padman
For all of us, $100. Yeah. And same thing. We were in Pasadena. We walked down the street to our chef.
Dax Shepard
You didn't side by.
Monica Padman
No.
Dax Shepard
Because you thought it would give you bad luck.
Monica Padman
That's unethical.
Dax Shepard
I thought you may feel that way.
Monica Padman
Okay. And also on the phone, we were talking to Charlie and Erica, and we were discussing the situation with Jess. I heard Erica say, okay, and then we'll Jess buy. And I was like, no, no, no, no.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Monica Padman
And they're already changing by the second.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, yeah.
Monica Padman
You know, before they even.
Dax Shepard
Bull's integrity. You're. You're running one of these game theory.
Monica Padman
I know.
Dax Shepard
Experiments.
Monica Padman
I know. And I'm proud of myself. It's like a beast game, you know, I'm proud of myself the way I've handled things.
Dax Shepard
The way you've carried yourself.
Monica Padman
Yeah. So we said, we'll do what you do. We went to Pasadena this time. Onto the shelf. It's also so fun.
Dax Shepard
What's the total, though? You're holding out the total of how many we bought. If it was. Well, if it was over a billion on the first time, what's it at now?
Monica Padman
Okay, so it was at 1.3. Yeah. Yesterday.
Dax Shepard
Oh, boy.
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
I'm surprised they didn't shoot up way more.
Monica Padman
Or I think it was.
Dax Shepard
I think a lot of people do what you do. It's like they just spend a lot. Now they actually feel like they need to protect their initial investment.
Monica Padman
Exactly, Exactly.
Dax Shepard
For the lottery.
Monica Padman
So then we didn't win again.
Dax Shepard
Oh.
Monica Padman
Oh. I should say. I should say the first time, one of my powerballs was right. So I think we won $4.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Monica Padman
Pretty good.
Dax Shepard
Put that on the leisure.
Monica Padman
Exactly.
Dax Shepard
All right.
Monica Padman
Okay, then, yes, we. We didn't win again. Although.
Dax Shepard
Did anyone win?
Monica Padman
No, it's still in play. And guess what? It is now. 1.7 billion. Then I was texting with Eric about something else, and I was like, oh, well, you know, I'm about to be a billionaire tonight, so, like, none of this is relevant. And then he was like, oh, yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
Oh, no.
Monica Padman
I. My. He said, my rule is to play if it's over a billion. Joe's like, yes, this is a good rule.
Dax Shepard
A lot of people's rule, I think.
Monica Padman
So I asked Charlie and Eric and Anna if we could include. Include Eric in the pact.
Dax Shepard
Okay. But you know, he's gonna do a side, so.
Monica Padman
Exactly. So. Yeah. Because Eric said he wants to put 500 in.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Monica Padman
So I said, that's fine. But if you. If you join the pact, put in what we're putting in and have that separate. Like, those tickets have to be separate.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And you're only getting 3 million off of that.
Monica Padman
Exactly. He's just happy with that. And then he's gonna.
Dax Shepard
Well, your thing doesn't make a ton of sense.
Monica Padman
Why?
Dax Shepard
Well, in your pack, doesn't everyone pool all the tickets that were purchased?
Monica Padman
No, like, we still have our.
Dax Shepard
You hold on to your.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Interesting.
Monica Padman
Why?
Dax Shepard
Well, because I think generally a pool would be everyone put in the equal amounts. These are all of our tickets and we split it evenly. I know yours is like, I'm gonna buy 25 tickets. You buy 25 tickets.
Alicia Silverstone
Yeah.
Monica Padman
It's increasing our odds, but it's still like this is more of a money.
Dax Shepard
It's more of an insurance benefit on a 21.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Okay, that's good. Yeah, yeah, it's fine. It's fine.
Monica Padman
I personally would be fine. Us doing it your way or we put it all in.
Dax Shepard
And I want to be clear, I don't know that it's my way. I just think that's the conventional way of pulling.
Monica Padman
Yeah, it is. But I think some people are like, no, if I. It's my money, I'm not going to feel comfortable splitting it evenly. And that's fine.
Dax Shepard
What if someone just disappeared? Like whoever had the winning ticket, they got so greedy they didn't want to kick out the nine million bucks.
Monica Padman
It could happen.
Dax Shepard
It could happen. You've watched Mr. Beast. I haven't, but I know that was displayed on there, wasn't it?
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Can we address the, the fact like, what if you read that Robert Downey Jr. Won the Powerball?
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
You'd be like, you people would be.
Monica Padman
Like, you people would be mad. I, I wouldn't be mad.
Dax Shepard
So like, here's what I'm thinking right now. Like, I obviously want to go by a thousand.
Monica Padman
Do you want to join the pack?
Dax Shepard
Hold on a second, hold on a second. But I'm thinking through how angry I would be. Of course I was broke and I saw that Ben Affleck just won a billion dollars. Listen, so I, it might be to. It might be a big law, you know, it might not be at all ethical for me to. I don't participate.
Monica Padman
I, So I, I feelings on this. Give it all away.
Dax Shepard
But you won't most of it away.
Monica Padman
Yep.
Dax Shepard
Okay, now listen, I want a little something too. We all.
Monica Padman
I know something I know. And this is, this is a dilemma because I feel mixed on this. I feel like, I feel like, yeah, you're already rich.
Dax Shepard
Like Letterman won the lotto. Come on, come on.
Monica Padman
I know, but also I feel like, so what's he supposed to do? Not participate in fun games? Cuz he's rich. This goes back to White Elephant that's right.
Dax Shepard
I knew it was all not the original wound.
Monica Padman
It all circles back to white elephant. Why am I even going?
Dax Shepard
Why would I play? Yeah, yeah. If everyone's going to be so mad I got the good gift.
Monica Padman
Exactly. Then why even go? And then people are like, oh, she. She's too good to come to my party. Party like this.
Dax Shepard
But hold on, hold on. I'm gonna. I'm gonna say for myself, okay, yeah, like, you know, yeah, you got. You got a ton of good luck. The one thing that you're not gonna be able to do is like play the lotto. It's like, you know, part of me is like, it feels unjust, but then also like, yeah, it feels. That's okay.
Monica Padman
Well, somebody has to win. And if you win and you give most of it away. Yeah, that's better actually, in theory for the world than then somebody is going to keep it all.
Dax Shepard
Stay tuned for more armchair Expert if you dare.
Alicia Silverstone
Candice Rivera has it all. In just three years, she went from stay at home mom to traveling the world, saving lives and making millions. Anyone would think Candice's charmed life is about as real as unicorns. But sometimes the character truth is even harder to believe than the lies.
Monica Padman
Not true. There's so many things not true.
Dax Shepard
You gotta believe me.
Alicia Silverstone
I'm Charli Webster and this is Unicorn Girl, an Apple original podcast produced by Seven Hills. Follow and listen on Apple Podcasts.
Monica Padman
Okay, so what. What is the amount?
Dax Shepard
Yeah, how.
Monica Padman
How much money does someone have to have before they can not play the lottery?
Dax Shepard
And what percentage do you have to give away to not be a piece of shit?
Monica Padman
And you have to give away to strangers or.
Dax Shepard
Well, I would give. I would really want to do something in the foster world.
Monica Padman
Yeah, that's great.
Dax Shepard
Okay, so.
Monica Padman
But are you going to join the pact? Because actually, I feel like you not joining the pact is bad. Like.
Dax Shepard
Oh, because really?
Monica Padman
Yeah, because I kind of feel like that is even more selfish. It's like, I'm not joining your pact. I don't want to give you guys 3 million each. I'm just. I'm just in it for myself, you know? See, that's tricky.
Dax Shepard
I agree. But. But I might also tip your pact into no shot of winning because the sim and universe are gonna be like you already want. Let me. You already won the lottery, Buckle.
Monica Padman
I know. So did I.
Dax Shepard
And so there's no way we're letting you win. So do I fuck up your pack?
Monica Padman
But. But Eric said that this is a good test of the sim because if one of us wins, then like the Sims confirm. Yeah, definitely real. But I said, no, I don't think the sim's that obvious.
Dax Shepard
Right.
Monica Padman
We are not gonna win because it's a sim. And then he said, it's gonna go to someone who thinks their life is gonna get so much better, like that they're all their worries are going to go away. They're going to be happy. And then he said, so it might go to Charlie. And then he said, okay, so it was good for you to partner with him, huh?
Dax Shepard
Okay. Yeah.
Monica Padman
And he did make. Charlie did make that clear. He does think it's going to fix all.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. Yep, yep. Yeah, yeah. It'll solve a lot of them.
Monica Padman
It will solve a lot, but it won't solve the existential ones and it won't solve lots of loved ones.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. But I've, I've. I'm coming now more full circle.
Monica Padman
Okay.
Dax Shepard
I'm coming more for about what? Well, it's like. Yeah, didn't care. My thing. That was my first realization. It didn't cure my existential dilemmas.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
My self esteem wasn't elevated by it. Which is. Which I was hoping.
Monica Padman
Well, and it shouldn't be.
Dax Shepard
It shouldn't be. But I thought it would be to now I'm in this place of like enormous gratitude. And I go, no, like, in fact, we were just saying this on our trip, like talking with Molly and Eric and it's like wherever you go, there you are. That saying's true. But being in an environment where it's like 136 degrees outside and the wind's blowing sand across your face the whole time, versus being somewhere like Hawaii where it's just very calming and lush around you. That app that has to have an impact. Impact on you.
Monica Padman
Yeah. Your environment's definitely environment has a huge impact on you.
Dax Shepard
So that's part of. But money does make you happier and that you can be in an environment that you 100 much calmer and happier in.
Monica Padman
Yeah. Money definitely increases happiness. There is no question about that. But it is capped.
Dax Shepard
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Monica Padman
It is not. It cannot buy you. I mean, it can kind of buy you people, but those are not real relationships and those aren't ones that are. Are actually fill anyone up.
Dax Shepard
Have any value.
Monica Padman
Yeah. Yeah. So at the end of the day, I believe that's the only thing you really need is people in love in those relationships. And. And money really cannot buy you honest relationships.
Dax Shepard
You can be awfully miserable with.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. But if you have a baseline.
Monica Padman
Yes, of course. It makes your life so much easier. I mean and, and, and yes and no. Because even like, yeah, you have more money and you buy more things and you owe more money and you stress out about that and then it's all, it's all relative like, because most people aren't smart enough, including me, to have money and then say like I'm just not gonna spend it. I'm just going to buy exactly what I need and let the money a bit.
Dax Shepard
My fear.
Monica Padman
Yes. That's not what we do. We buy more things and have more things that cost more money and require you to have more money.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
And it's a treadmill, really awful treadmill anyway. But like when I win the bill.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
I think I'll finally feel good.
Dax Shepard
Will you fly private ever?
Monica Padman
No, you know, I don't. I mean if I have.
Dax Shepard
Because you're scared. I don't let like, yeah, it scares you.
Monica Padman
I mean if I had to, I, I would. But that's not how I would spend it. I would definitely spend it on first class travel.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Monica Padman
Maybe an Emirates.
Dax Shepard
Uhhuh.
Monica Padman
That was, that was ideal.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
Safety. I want it for safety. I know, I know but I, but every. I want everything for safety and it doesn't work. It does not work.
Dax Shepard
Right. You just, you have to, that's a crazy that you have to decide you're safe. Speaking of which, Man's Search for Meaning. Man's Search for Meaning is one of the most popular books heralded books, always on everyone's top five recommendations. I was positive. I read it and I'm like, I've forgotten most of it. I'm going to reread it. I don't think I've read it.
Alicia Silverstone
Oh, but it is, it's.
Dax Shepard
I'm just starting, but it's incredible.
Monica Padman
Oh.
Dax Shepard
And yeah, the. Here's a man who was a psychologist who was put into Auschwitz.
Monica Padman
Oh my God.
Dax Shepard
And his like even sidedness of the experience is so fascinating. And again how he finds meaning.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
And how you identify yourself. And he's talking about how people. Since once you got in there, they shaved your head, took all your belongings and now when you're meeting people, you're kind of free to say you were anybody. Yeah, it was, you could say you're a doctor. Well, you can actually inflate your previous status. But I was like, oh, that's a, that's like a detail I wouldn't have thought of. Like oh, people are like, oh, I kind of can say I'm anybody I want now. Is interesting.
Monica Padman
That's interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, as we're talking about a billion dollars, it does feel crazy. It feels crazy that there are things happening in the world. There are so many things starving people and then there's like a billion dollars someone's going to get.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Monica Padman
Also, where does the California lottery money go to?
Dax Shepard
In theory? Education. All of these lottery bills that were passed across the country really in the.
Monica Padman
80S, I think go to education.
Dax Shepard
That was the premise. But you know, what percentage goes to education? Well, in Georgia it funded your college.
Monica Padman
That's right. So I feel like I owe the Georgia lottery some money back.
Dax Shepard
I think they have varying rates.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
In.
Monica Padman
Well, it works there. I wish they would adopt that here.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. The casino proposition hasn't really bore. Bore the fruit they were hoping that was also how they sold casinos in. In states is like it's going to go to education.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
In my experience in some of those casinos is like I think much more kind of preying on the people who vulnerable are most broke already. And. And I don't know if. If that's how we get our education. That can't be right. If that's how we fund it.
Monica Padman
Okay. Do you think if you win you should give everyone who contributed to the lottery, like at least a dollar?
Dax Shepard
I think logistically that would cost probably $3 for every dollar you distributed. Could be costly. I hope I didn't yuck you your yum on your pack.
Monica Padman
No, I would love you to join the pack.
Dax Shepard
Okay. What's the buy in tonight?
Monica Padman
We haven't decided yet. We have till Saturday. Saturday is the next straw.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Monica Padman
I would like to go back up.
Dax Shepard
Well, you know I'm going to want to go up and we're going to play.
Monica Padman
See, this is going to be tricky because I think now it's. Okay, well, I'll put in a pile to the pact.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
And then I think at this point, people want to do side money. They can do side money.
Dax Shepard
Okay. Everything's on the table.
Monica Padman
But there is going to be a certain amount. My. My guess is going to be it's.
Dax Shepard
$100 if we show up on the next fact check. What outfit should be? We be we like are we in superhero outfits? Are we in pilgrim outfits? I think we should just have a visual n that Just. We don't want to trigger anyone, but if you're watching, looks like they won a billion dollars because they're both in sailor outfits.
Monica Padman
Okay.
Dax Shepard
So you can pick.
Monica Padman
I'd love to go ballerina.
Dax Shepard
Great. Yeah. If we're both in full.
Monica Padman
Two. Two leotard onesies.
Dax Shepard
Singlets.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. Okay.
Monica Padman
Okay.
Dax Shepard
One, do some facties.
Monica Padman
Yeah. Facts for Alicia Silverstone. Yes. Now, this is sort of a ding, ding, ding to earlier, because Alicia, you'd be surprised she married someone in a punk band.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
And you'd probably be surprised, except not really when you get to know her.
Dax Shepard
Once you get to know her. Also that her best friend is what he Harrelson's a surprise. If you're just basing everything on clueless.
Monica Padman
Exactly.
Dax Shepard
There's a lot of surprises that come your way.
Monica Padman
Yeah. I really liked her.
Dax Shepard
I enjoyed her a lot, too.
Monica Padman
She was so cool. Very self assured.
Dax Shepard
Yep.
Monica Padman
She's been around for so long, obviously, and you could, like, feel it.
Dax Shepard
Yes. And again, just the gap between who she is and what she got famous for is one of the more enormous gaps I've ever witnessed.
Monica Padman
I know.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
It's kind of fun. It's really fun.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. Patrick. To think who else I might put in that category. Oh, I know. Also, who is Handmaid's Tale?
Monica Padman
Elizabeth.
Dax Shepard
Elizabeth Moss.
Monica Padman
That's so true.
Dax Shepard
Elizabeth Moss was so fun and playful and light, and every role is like she is going through it and she feels so dark. It's tortured.
Monica Padman
True.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. That's a.
Monica Padman
That's an actor right there.
Dax Shepard
That's an acted right there.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Alicia Silverstone
Ah.
Monica Padman
Okay. Now some facts. What show was Rob Lowe on when Alicia was on Mismatch because they had to do press together.
Dax Shepard
Right.
Monica Padman
I found is the Lion's Den. It was in 2003.
Dax Shepard
Oh, film or show?
Monica Padman
Show, show.
Dax Shepard
Was he a lion?
Monica Padman
It's L, Y, O, N S. Oh, okay. Okay. She mentioned got Milk commercials and it was a real throwback for me because I used to collect those ads.
Dax Shepard
I know.
Monica Padman
And I had such a good collection. Oh, it's so fun to collect things. Oh, you really got in my head. Ding, ding, ding. So today. Today's episode. That's out. Sorry. Not for the listener. Go back a couple. We had Amanda on who wrote the book Destroy this House. A memoir.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
And she talked about hoarding.
Dax Shepard
Yes.
Monica Padman
So we get into a lot of hoarding and that Just really wild.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
And interesting.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. And I feel like I'm suffocating as soon as I think about hoarding.
Monica Padman
Yeah. And I think on maybe a fact check after that or something. You said that I'm like, I could be a hoarder, except that I'm good at giving stuff. Stuff away.
Dax Shepard
That's right. Yeah. At the rate you collect, it could easily Tip. But you're great at expelling.
Monica Padman
So I've been in my head about hoarding a little bit.
Dax Shepard
Okay. This is why you gave my daughter an outfit yesterday.
Monica Padman
Yeah. So? Well, I let her borrow some shoes.
Dax Shepard
I know. I saw.
Monica Padman
She. She needed to borrow some shoes. We're the same size.
Dax Shepard
Are you guys the same size?
Monica Padman
Yeah. That's why she had to borrow. She wanted to borrow.
Dax Shepard
Oh, wow.
Monica Padman
It's really cute. For probably only a very short time, so she should borrow as much as she can now.
Dax Shepard
She should. She should go crazy.
Monica Padman
But, yeah, I did a huge closet clean out because of the conversation.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
And the girls came over. All the girls, and they took stuff. And that's always so fun.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
And then I had to clean out all my vases. I started to feel like, oh, my God, I do. I have so much stuff everywhere. Oh, my God. And I asked a few people, but most people said they felt. Felt like I wasn't a hoarder.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Monica Padman
So that was good assurance.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. I don't think you are.
Monica Padman
Okay.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. You're not.
Monica Padman
You know, I'm just prone to thinking I might have things.
Dax Shepard
You're a real dichotomy. No peer pressure. Can't be convinced of anything. Might be fun. But you could be convinced you're a man.
Monica Padman
Yes, that's right.
Dax Shepard
That you're a hoarder.
Monica Padman
A man. A hoarder. Real, like. I don't really know.
Dax Shepard
It's dichotomy. Maybe that's why you're so opposed to purebred sugar. Cause, you know, you're a little vulnerable to suggestions.
Monica Padman
Yeah, maybe. Maybe. Do you think I could sell my collection of Got Milk ads for, like, $40,000?
Dax Shepard
I don't. I really don't know. I mean, people collect some bizarre stuff, but I think you might have been one of the few. Yeah. People who had a Got Milk collection.
Alicia Silverstone
I think I actually. Very rare.
Dax Shepard
I collected them, too.
Monica Padman
Oh, my God. Maybe it's a millennial thing. What was your favorite one?
Dax Shepard
I. I would just take them out of Sports Illustrated.
Monica Padman
How many do you have?
Dax Shepard
Not that many.
Monica Padman
I had a lot.
Dax Shepard
What are the odds? I'm sitting with two people who had a gut.
Monica Padman
Maybe it's an age thing.
Dax Shepard
I think it might be whatever the connective tissue is that makes this whole thing work. Like, I think if I had to hire anyone new, I would be like, first question, did you collect Got Milk ads? If they said yes, I'd be like, you're hired, Rob.
Monica Padman
Did you, like, ha. Or do you have them in A binder.
Dax Shepard
I think I had them ripped out in a binder.
Monica Padman
Yeah, that's how you did it.
Dax Shepard
That was the move.
Monica Padman
Yeah. Now please look on ebay and see what like binders of these are running these days.
Dax Shepard
They're just like 15. To buy a print.
Monica Padman
One print.
Alicia Silverstone
I could really make some money.
Dax Shepard
How many do you have?
Monica Padman
A lot. No, a lot.
Dax Shepard
A hundred.
Monica Padman
I don't remember. Okay, next time I'm home.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Monica Padman
I thought I brought them back, but maybe I didn't. I have like really cool ones. Like a Sarah Michelle Geller.
Dax Shepard
When you finally move into your house, you're gonna have to get a U Haul and like unload your parents house.
Monica Padman
I know, we've talked about that.
Dax Shepard
I bet you have.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
I bet they're like, when are you gonna unload some?
Monica Padman
They are tick tocking.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. Are they gonna downsize?
Monica Padman
No, they already live in a shower.
Dax Shepard
They live in a big house. No, they live in like a 4,000 square foot house.
Monica Padman
Oh my God, you love square foot footage.
Dax Shepard
How else do we. How else are we gonna talk about how big a house is? It's the metric.
Monica Padman
They already. They could have gotten a bigger house and never did. So they're like happy where they are. Even with their room is on the first floor. So they, you know, that's key. Yeah, they're good.
Dax Shepard
That's why I can't die in this house. The stairs.
Monica Padman
Why? There's a room and there's a guest. There's a million places where you don't have to do that.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, I would have to move out of the bedroom. Master bedroom.
Monica Padman
You already said you were going to do that. Anyway, I was thinking about.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, I haven't yet though.
Monica Padman
Okay, that's a good update. Okay. Beverly Hills High dance group. It's called Dance Company.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Monica Padman
She was really close.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
Or right.
Dax Shepard
Almost got her.
Monica Padman
Okay. Best music videos of all time.
Dax Shepard
Top 100. No, no, no, no, no.
Monica Padman
It's my birthday. Video killed the radio. Star 100.
Dax Shepard
Video killed the radio.
Monica Padman
99. Okay, fine. I'll do top.
Dax Shepard
Thank you. You can do top 20. How's that feel? Good. Birthday compromise.
Monica Padman
No, it's like either it's all or nothing.
Dax Shepard
Top 25. You could do top 25. That's a good one.
Monica Padman
I'm gonna do top 10 because it's my birthday, but I like giving gifts to others. Okay. Now this is from Rolling Stone. I'm gonna go 10 to 1.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Monica Padman
You're gonna be mad, okay. But I don't want you to argue. This is rolling Stone.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
Okay. Number 10. Michael Jackson. Billie Jean.
Dax Shepard
Great video.
Monica Padman
Number 9.
Dax Shepard
That's dancing on the tiles that light up.
Monica Padman
Oh, yeah. That is a great video.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. Great.
Monica Padman
Number nine. Guns and Roses, November Rain.
Dax Shepard
Can't remember it. Okay. ZZ Top better be on here.
Monica Padman
Eight. Peter Gabriel. Sledgehammer.
Dax Shepard
Sure. Iconic. The Dancing models Set.
Monica Padman
Seven. D'. Angelo. Untitled. How does it feel? He's naked.
Dax Shepard
Oh, sure. Yeah. He's got great obliques.
Monica Padman
Six. Beastie Boys. Sabotage.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. Incredible. Directed by her director.
Monica Padman
Oh, Spike Jones.
Dax Shepard
Spike Jones.
Monica Padman
Really?
Dax Shepard
Yeah. Great video.
Monica Padman
Okay, five is New Order. The Perfect Kiss.
Dax Shepard
Oh, wow. I loved New Order. And I don't know that video.
Monica Padman
It's not ringing any bells.
Dax Shepard
Oh, okay, I gotta watch it. That's part of my homework now.
Monica Padman
Ooh, great. For Childish Gambino. This is America.
Dax Shepard
What a video.
Monica Padman
Incredible.
Dax Shepard
What a video.
Monica Padman
Oh, look at him.
Dax Shepard
Oh, yeah. So sexy.
Monica Padman
Three. Madonna. Vogue. Yes.
Dax Shepard
Gotta. You gotta have that in there.
Monica Padman
2. Johnny Cash hurt.
Dax Shepard
I wouldn't put it there, but I do love that song. And it's a cool video.
Monica Padman
Number one, Beyond Beyonce Formation. Okay, you're mad. I know. I already know you're mad. I told you you'd be mad.
Dax Shepard
Just can't believe. Thrillers.
Monica Padman
I know you're upset about that thing.
Dax Shepard
At a budget bigger than a Hollywood movie.
Monica Padman
Let me look to see where it is. It's got to be on here somewhere. 11 is George Michael. Freedom.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, that's.
Monica Padman
That's big. That has the supermodels in it.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. There's a theme here. You put supermodels in your video, and.
Monica Padman
That'S going to make Nirvana take on me. White Stripes. Right?
Dax Shepard
Ooh, that's my current obsession. Right now. I'm so obsessed with Jack White, I can't stop. I'm reading about him nonstop.
Monica Padman
Ooh, I really want to have him on. Okay, Kiss is on here. Duh. 18, though. You're not going to. I'm not. I'm at 20.
Dax Shepard
That's crazy.
Monica Padman
Ooh, 99 problems. 23. That's a classic. Okay, 25.
Dax Shepard
Oh, my God. Something's wrong here. They forgot about it.
Monica Padman
California Love. Great one.
Dax Shepard
Or maybe they're protesting Michael Jackson.
Monica Padman
Maybe.
Dax Shepard
Ah, yeah. Maybe they felt Dicey was 10 at 10, but maybe they felt Dicey about putting him at number one.
Monica Padman
Well, but they would still include him in.
Dax Shepard
Like. No one's gonna put. The Cosby show is the top five comedy of all time. And it is.
Monica Padman
It is. Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Thousand percent. But it would never make a top 10. No, but sitcoms of all Time.
Monica Padman
He made the top 10. So we can't say that. It just didn't. They picked Billie Jean. Oh. Britney Spears, baby. One more time. That should be 5:30. All right. Well, I'm sorry to tell you.
Dax Shepard
That's crazy. Yeah. That's really something. Write in the comments if you think that. If you're outraged by that.
Monica Padman
Okay. When did Liv Tyler find out Steven Tyler was her dad?
Dax Shepard
Great question.
Monica Padman
She was 11.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Monica Padman
At an Aerosmith concert in August 1988, her mother brought her to the show and revealed the truth.
Alicia Silverstone
Truth.
Monica Padman
Which Liv had suspected after noticing her resemblance to Steven. Yeah. She confirmed the paternity through a test around age 11 or 12 and publicly changed her surname to Tyler when she was 11 or 12 as well.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. So I had it pretty right.
Monica Padman
Yeah. Floppy trunk syndrome. Very bad. Very bad.
Dax Shepard
It just feels so synonymous with erectile dysfunction.
Monica Padman
I know, but it's not. It's a condition affecting African elephants where their trunks become paralyzed or severely weakened, hindering their ability to eat, drink, and communicate.
Alicia Silverstone
That's really sad.
Dax Shepard
I know. There's some weird fact about how many muscles they have in their trunk, and it's an insane amount.
Monica Padman
40,000.
Dax Shepard
40,000 muscles in that trunk.
Monica Padman
It says this makes it one of the most muscular structures in the animal kingdom. Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Great.
Monica Padman
I love elephants.
Dax Shepard
I love them the most.
Monica Padman
No, I love them the most.
Dax Shepard
Okay. I love them second most.
Monica Padman
You can't love them the most because you love children, primates, the most. I'm always teaching you about most.
Dax Shepard
I know. Man and best.
Monica Padman
Yeah. Okay. I do want to say people are gonna notice this, probably. And, like, don't comment. She said Mary J. Blythe. I kept it because it was. Normally, that's something I would cut. Because she didn't mean to say that. She meant to say Mary J. Blige.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
But it was uncuttable because it was important for the story. And for me, I was like, it's just telling because she says, like, I don't know anyone.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
And the whole point is that she didn't know Mary J. She was talking about the animals. And so it was actually in keeping with her sweetness.
Dax Shepard
Yes.
Monica Padman
But it is Mary J. Blige.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
When did Marvel start and when was that? In the timeline of the Batman movie. So Iron Man 2008 can claim the banner as the first of the Marvel Sim Cinematic Universe. 2008.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
Was 97. All right. That's it.
Dax Shepard
All right. Love you.
Monica Padman
Love you.
Dax Shepard
Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondry app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to every episode of Armchair Expert early and ad free right now by joining Wondry plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey@wondry.com survey.
Date: September 8, 2025
This episode welcomes Alicia Silverstone, iconic actress known for Clueless and advocate for environmental and animal causes. As the conversation marks the 30th anniversary of Clueless, Dax, Monica, and Alicia delve into her unique upbringing, meteoric rise to stardom, the challenges and scrutiny she faced (especially in the Batman years), and her passion for activism. The episode also covers Silverstone's more recent projects, her perspectives on fame, and refreshing candidness about personal growth and privacy.
Quote:
“Obviously, the film Clueless is an exaggeration… but some elements are pretty accurate. Like all the girls did have nose jobs, which is so disturbing at that age.”
— Alicia Silverstone ([21:43])
Quote:
“My mom would sow anti-materialism. She was an environmentalist without knowing it. She wasn’t trying to protect the earth—she just was absolutely anti-waste. Cause of the war.”
— Alicia Silverstone ([12:15])
Quote:
“Most of the time, I didn’t even know what Cher was talking about. Most of the dialogue was a different language.”
— Alicia Silverstone ([38:14])
Quote:
“There was 100 movies with teenage girls in love with older dudes… Men wrote that. Even the desire of someone that young is… You have some insecurities.”
— Dax Shepard ([25:02])
Quote:
“I would hide in [an airline phone box at the airport] while they would scream at me. It was horrendous.”
— Alicia Silverstone ([53:30])
Quote:
“I was an activist in my little heart since I was a little girl… I just went, fuck all this.”
— Alicia Silverstone ([44:35])
Quote:
"We were both in love with each other when we broke up...but we co-parent beautifully."
— Alicia Silverstone ([81:27])
On public perception:
“You’re not dumb. That’d be kind of the first thing—‘you’re taller than I thought and you’re not dumb.’”
— Dax Shepard ([38:04])
On being misrepresented:
“Most of what we all did was not acceptable… It’s so hard to be perfect.”
— Alicia Silverstone ([24:50])
On Hollywood body shaming:
"How do you go home and speak to your children? Your daughter is a huge fan of mine. Tell her, ‘I told the person you love and admire that she's fat today.’ Does that feel good?"
— Alicia Silverstone ([54:36])
On activism fatigue:
“It’s better to wait to be asked [about activism] rather than sort of going around proselytizing. You’re gonna have way better results.”
— Alicia Silverstone ([64:08])
On personal boundaries:
“There are some things that are yours… I just learned over time that there are some things that are yours.”
— Alicia Silverstone ([57:05])
On finding value in work:
“Nothing is more lovely than a woman who comes over to me and says, ‘I couldn’t get pregnant, I read your book, and I got pregnant, thank you.’ That’s the juice.”
— Alicia Silverstone ([72:08])
The conversation is candid, warm, and “armchair” in true Dax and Monica style: intelligent, irreverent, and unguarded. Alicia Silverstone comes across as thoughtful, deeply empathetic, and self-aware, with gentle but pointed insight into the evolution of Hollywood, fame, and adulthood.
Listeners will come away with:
(Summary ends here—episode moves into unrelated fact checks and onscreen banter.)