Michael Strahan on How to Reinvent Yourself

Summary

Podcast Summary: “Michael Strahan on How to Reinvent Yourself”

Podcast: Baby, this is Keke Palmer
Host: Keke Palmer (with guest Michael Strahan; joined briefly by Sarah Haynes)
Date: July 7, 2026
Main Theme:
A lively, layered conversation about reinvention, shifting priorities, and authenticity in personal and professional growth. Michael Strahan shares lessons from his multifaceted career—including his time in the NFL, on television, as an entrepreneur, and as a father—discussing how he’s continually reshaped his identity while staying true to his values.

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Reunion & Nostalgia (00:00 – 07:50)

Highlights

• Keke, Michael, and Sarah Haynes reminisce about their time together on GMA3.
• Emphasis on the organic chemistry and the blend of their different backgrounds—motherhood, producing, entertainment, and sports.
• Michael and Sarah praise Keke’s creativity and zest for life:

  “The beauty in both of you is a zest for life that shows up everywhere you’re at.” – Michael Strahan (06:09)

Notable Moments

• Laughter about old clips, pre-COVID life, and learning from each other.
• Sarah humorously claims, “I feel like my little babies are all grown up.” (02:30)
• Teamwork and family vibes are referenced repeatedly.

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Work Ethic, Balance, and Shifting Priorities (07:53 – 16:35)

Core Discussion

• Hustle Mentality: Michael’s motto “hustle like you’re broke” became a guiding principle, but now it’s more about maximizing potential rather than survival.

  “Now I hustle because I just want to see how far I’ll go.” – Michael Strahan (16:37)

• Changing Priorities: As life expands, family, relationships, and meaning matter more than small details or external validations.

  “You can get a job, you can make money, you can do all those things, but you can’t make more time… that’s what they’ll remember.” – Michael Strahan (15:44)

• Balance: Both Keke and Michael reflect on the push to diversify careers—once rare, now required—and ask: What does “hyper-functioning” mean and when does it need to be redefined?

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Reinvention & Breaking Out of the Box (16:36 – 24:56)

Key Points

• Identity Beyond Football:

  • Michael shares struggles with being seen only as a football player post-retirement.
  • Frustration came from being pigeonholed, but “I always knew I wanted to do so much more.” (17:49)
  • Importance of believing in yourself, especially when others already do:

    “You have to see in yourself what they’re seeing in you.” – Michael Strahan (19:42)

• Taking Chances: Michael stresses the importance of saying yes to new opportunities, even if it means facing potential failure or discomfort.

  “By failure, I learned a lot of things that taught me to become successful in something else.” (50:53)

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Leadership, Teamwork, and Authenticity (24:57 – 35:19)

Discussion Points

• Work Ethic as the Driver:

  • Michael attributes success to relentless effort and genuine care for being a good teammate, not just individual accolades.

    “I wasn’t the biggest, wasn’t the strongest… but you were not gonna outwork me.” (25:34)

  • Makes people “who are most likely unseen feel like they’re seen.” (26:33)

• Leadership Philosophy:

  • Emphasizes a leader’s role in sharing credit and valuing the team’s contribution:

    “If you have success, there’s enough credit for everybody.” (27:37) “Sports taught me that you need other people; if the team’s successful, there’s enough credit for everybody.” (28:52)

• Stamina and Relevance:

  • Sustaining success requires ongoing, “extra” effort, not getting complacent after “making it.”
  • Michael describes the necessity of leading by example, especially for younger teammates in the NFL. (30:00-32:25)

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Challenges of Transition, Branding, and Reputation (35:20 – 41:34)

Highlights

• NFL Realities: Gives an insider account of non-guaranteed contracts, cutthroat environment, and the insecurity of pro sports jobs.

  “You’re basically year to year to year.” (32:25)

• Personal Branding & Authenticity:

  • Authenticity trumps attention-seeking; reputation is central for post-sports opportunities.
  • Michael underscores that a bad reputation lingers—“they don’t write you a check no more.” (35:49)
  • Focus on building relationships during playing years: “when you go in there...show that not only can you get in the room, but you deserve to stay in the room.” (38:53)

• Example: Justin Tuck—Tuck’s transition to business after football (with encouragement from Michael) highlights the importance of trying new things and relationship-building.

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Mindset: Adversity, Focus, and Family (41:35 – 54:58)

Inspirational Segments

• Handling Pressure in the NFL:

  • Tells the 2007 Super Bowl story, channeling his father’s mindset (“when, not if”) and positive thinking.

    “Believe it and it will happen.” (43:58)

• Aggression & Maturity: Michael discusses how he’s shifted “the switch” from on-field aggression to focus and adaptability in new arenas.

• Family & Fatherhood: Vulnerable reflections on supporting his daughter Isabella through cancer:

  “That was the worst part, was feeling helpless. I can't fix this...” (61:40)

• He shares what he’s learned about letting go, trusting others, and the long-lasting impact of trauma on families.

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Reinvention Through Business & Expanding Horizons (54:59 – 61:10)

Key Insights

• Reinvention as a Constant:

  • SMAC Entertainment: How boredom and curiosity pushed Michael to co-found and grow a major management company (clients include Deion Sanders, Aaron Andrews, Wiz Khalifa, the Bella Twins, among others).

    “In all these different businesses…you just trust yourself. And I’ve learned…how much experience and how many things you can help people with.” (55:34)

• Trusting Transferable Skills:

  • “Everything’s very similar. The language changes. But the ideas are very similar.” (56:04)

• Next Steps: Michael and business partner Constance Schwartz are developing a podcast to dive deeper and share untold stories, with guests (including Keke) and real, insightful conversations. (56:10–57:25)

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Fashion, Legacy, and Continued Growth (58:00 – End)

Discussion

• Fashion Entrepreneurship:

  • Michael details how his suit-wearing habit for business trips and TV led to the launch of a successful menswear line (“Collection by Michael Strahan”) and its expansion into home goods.

    “I love fashion…I love the suits. Why don’t I create my own?” (59:40–60:18)

• Legacy & Luck:

  • Attributes success to great teams and luck, not just skill or planning.
  • “It’s around the people you put yourself around.” (61:10)

• Grandfatherhood:

  • Playful segment on his new status as a grandfather, relationship with his grandson Onyx, and perspective on family.

• Wrap-up Game: Keke and Michael play a fun rapid-fire game exposing who’s more competitive or likely to spill surprises, reinforcing their dynamic and warmth.

  • Michael on the crew:

    “Crew is family. I always believe in taking care of the crew…if you give the people around you really make it all happen things that they appreciate outside of the job, then they’ll give you everything they have in the job.” (69:19)

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Memorable Quotes

• On Believing in Yourself:

  “Sometimes you’re so close to the trees you don’t see you’re in a forest.” – Michael Strahan (20:04)

• On Reputation:

  “Your reputation is the one thing you have that you need to hold on to that you do not ruin.” (36:50)

• On Teamwork & Leadership:

  “It’s not always the biggest guy, you know. It’s the biggest attitude … It’s the energy you bring.” (47:40)

• On Reinvention:

  “Sometimes you can’t overly design it. You really have to be open to it coming. That’s how you find the legitimacy in it.” – Keke Palmer (51:19)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Reunion Nostalgia with Sarah Haynes: 00:00–07:50
• Hustle & Work Ethic: 13:38–16:35
• Evolving Motivation & Reinvention: 16:36–24:56
• Teamwork & Leadership: 24:57–35:19
• Pro Sports Realities & Personal Branding: 35:20–41:34
• Super Bowl Mindset & Family: 41:35–54:58
• Business Reinvention & Podcast Plans: 54:59–57:25
• Fashion, Family, and Legacy: 58:00–61:10
• Personal Life, Grandfatherhood, and Wrap-Up: 61:11–end (brief game and closing reflections)

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Tone & Style

• Uplifting, candid, humorous, and insightful—Keke and Michael blend deep wisdom with laughs and real talk, making listeners feel like part of their extended crew.
• Language: Warm, direct, and full of lived experience: “You just gotta hustle like you’re broke,” “I love your faces,” “I don’t mess up my primary work for something secondary.”

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For Listeners

If you want moving, actionable reflections on career pivots, the importance of teamwork, responding to adversity, and the courage to embrace change without losing yourself—this episode inspires and entertains. Michael Strahan's story is a testament to reinvention, grounded values, and human connection.

Transcript

[Keke Palmer]

My guest today is an Emmy award winning multi hyphenate who may actually have more jobs than I do. And one of those jobs being my former co host on our talk show, GMA 3. Michael Strahan is a hall of fame and super bowl winning football player, a TV anchor, sportscaster, game show host, entrepreneur, and somehow still one of the most dedicated fathers I know. Oh, and how could I forget? He has literally been to space, y'.

[Michael Strahan]

All.

[Keke Palmer]

When you've lived this many chapters, the real question becomes, how do you decide where your energy really goes and make time for what actually matters? Today we're getting into how our priorities shift as life expands and what finding balance looks like along the way. Because, baby, this is Keke Palmer. No matter what we doing in the car, just chilling pop on Amazon music, sit back and listen. Life, love, sex, science, hovering it all, especially the bad. Cause money always revolves. No matter what it is. We gonna make it make sense. Nothing else to do but kick it with the homies and K to grab you a drink and a snack you enjoy and get into the vibe that only you know it's your girl. This is, this is Kiki, baby. This is Kiki Karma. Yeah. Now, Michael, we are recording this at the new ABC offices. So I thought to myself, there's no way that I can have a reunion with you and not bring in Sarah Haynes. Yeah, you kidding me?

[Sarah Haynes]

Are you joking?

[Keke Palmer]

You guys, guys, I'm so happy. Sit your little booty down, please come hang out, my little booty.

[Michael Strahan]

Do you want to invite your little booty?

[Keke Palmer]

Here we go.

[Sarah Haynes]

Right back to where you are. Right back.

[Keke Palmer]

Guys, it's back.

[Michael Strahan]

It's us.

[Keke Palmer]

It's the gang back together. Guys, we had the best time with GMA3. And it happened so organically.

[Michael Strahan]

The clips replay in my head. Do you remember the time I watched this clip over and over when you went to do an intro, but you like said. And I go, what did you.

[Keke Palmer]

We both looked at you go, what

[Sarah Haynes]

did you just say?

[Keke Palmer]

Honestly, guys. So pretty much what you'll do is, you know, you know, you dance, you get into it. But you know, this is the twerking part, but the flirting part is like this. You're like, hey, you know, and then you're out.

[Michael Strahan]

I love that the knocked up woman is the one that's like riding your back, flirting.

[Keke Palmer]

Guys, this was actually life before COVID also, by the way. Oh, remember which was which feels like, you know, a whole different world.

[Michael Strahan]

Feels like totally different time.

[Sarah Haynes]

I honestly cannot believe I'm sitting here looking at you you know what? It's so weird because I feel like my little babies are all grown up.

[Keke Palmer]

It's so cool.

[Michael Strahan]

You're right. Growing up at the same rate as

[Keke Palmer]

us, she became a mama. Isn't that nuts? You had just had your youngest, Caleb. Yeah, yeah, you just had Caleb. And I didn't even have a man then. So, like, then the baby came. Those are small details.

[Sarah Haynes]

I'm not getting into none.

[Keke Palmer]

Was I a new co worker?

[Sarah Haynes]

Huh?

[Keke Palmer]

Was I a good co worker?

[Michael Strahan]

Guys, you were the best. Are you kidding me, Michael? Oh, my God.

[Keke Palmer]

We got.

[Michael Strahan]

No.

[Sarah Haynes]

Keke and I got into one fight one day.

[Keke Palmer]

You taught me so well.

[Sarah Haynes]

You know what really did. No, no, no.

[Michael Strahan]

What was the fight girl.

[Sarah Haynes]

She was incredible. You know what? You were incredible. Both of you were absolutely incredible.

[Keke Palmer]

It was a og to a young void.

[Sarah Haynes]

No, you know what it was? Oh, one day. No, no, no. I was in a bad mood, which is very rare.

[Keke Palmer]

It is very rare.

[Sarah Haynes]

And then I was just like something, and I was not willing to be patient. We kind of snapped. We kind of went at it a little bit.

[Keke Palmer]

We went at it, but he was right. It was one of those situations where it's like, I'm. I mean, I really do walk in your footsteps. Mike, I know you don't like to say, you know, we. Obviously I didn't do football, but, like, you know, that's an entertaining career. I do entertainment, but I want to do. I'm entrepreneur as well. Like, you do so many things. So you were teaching me something about presenting myself, walking into rooms, how to hold myself, conversations to have, how to represent. And so it was important what you said. You know what I mean? I really always remember it, but I never.

[Sarah Haynes]

I'll never forget that. I always feel bad about it because, yeah, we feel bad about that. It's like my. My. Like my family. But then I looked at it, and I'm like, well, you know, siblings or whatever. Your family. You kind of have to. And we were together all day, every day. I was literally coming off of super early GMA and then doubling up on that right afterwards and all the stress of that new show and everything else, I think. But you were an incredible coworker, and you worked hard. You work your part. You were incredibly just like, funny entertaining. You brought it every day. You were creative, and I know. I loved it. I love working with you, too.

[Keke Palmer]

I mean, I love working with you guys as well.

[Michael Strahan]

The laughter, the amount of, like, you guys, you have a job to do. Speeches.

[Keke Palmer]

We got shout out to Rory Albanese.

[Michael Strahan]

I Mean, literally doubled over laughing behind the set before we could ever get in there.

[Keke Palmer]

It's so true. And we had so many diverse conversations. I remember feeling that way coming up with y', all, that I was always able to bring my world and you guys were able to bring y' all world. Cause all of our worlds are so different. Like, at that time, I. I didn't know much about as a mom and also your background as a producer, how you taught me that, like, you guys all were teaching me. And I feel really, we were learning from you, too.

[Sarah Haynes]

I was learning how to dance, yo.

[Keke Palmer]

Not yo, you guys. That is so pre Covid dance sport. Where do I learn it all?

[Michael Strahan]

Not the.

[Sarah Haynes]

See, I'm still doing it. See, I need to hang out with you, boy, so I can know what's free post Covid now with something new. But all that stuff, I'll never forget all that and, like, the terminology and what the. It was like, you brought, like, a different.

[Keke Palmer]

Oh, man.

[Sarah Haynes]

I was old, you know, and you two kind of made me younger. Made me, like, more.

[Keke Palmer]

Oh, my God.

[Sarah Haynes]

Interested what was going on in me. Like, you. You had. You had a pulse on, like, now, and that was important. And both of you, though, I will say that I'm happy that all of us have just continued to elevate.

[Keke Palmer]

Okay?

[Sarah Haynes]

We already have.

[Keke Palmer]

We really have been on our game, all of us. We can't be shy.

[Sarah Haynes]

One thing about you, you were never shy about giving yourself credit.

[Michael Strahan]

Yeah.

[Keke Palmer]

But you. Oh, my gosh, guys, you're hilarious.

[Michael Strahan]

You're creative. You're always throwing ideas in. And I think when you're around people that have that zest for life. Cause the beauty in both of you actually is. It's a zest for life that shows up everywhere you're at. It wasn't just like, I'm coming to this one job. I can't imagine you guys being any different wherever you go, unless it's one minute overtime that Michael's been paid, and then.

[Keke Palmer]

Okay, done.

[Sarah Haynes]

We are, like, talking about. We are like, you know what it is? My mind is like, okay, I got this from this to this and that, from that to that and that and this to that. And I wake up in the morning, look at my schedule.

[Keke Palmer]

That's it, baby.

[Sarah Haynes]

I program my mind and my body to have all the energy I need, but it's like somebody unplugged the socket when I. When it's.

[Keke Palmer]

That's real.

[Sarah Haynes]

And I am. I, like, quiet.

[Michael Strahan]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

I like.

[Michael Strahan]

That's what he calls solitude. We brought the Quiet.

[Sarah Haynes]

But I. But I like. I love working. I love being around people. But I need to recharge because I realize it takes a lot of energy for me to be around people.

[Keke Palmer]

That's kind of actually all that. I'm going to be talking to you about everything that we're talking about here. I know. You got to get ready to go here. I know. Isn't that crazy?

[Michael Strahan]

I love your faces so much.

[Keke Palmer]

And by the way, y' all don't even know everybody that's listening in. We was all just together at Michael's crib. Michael is a amazing party hoster. We was eating some catfish. What y' all had Catfish neck and cries. It was so good.

[Sarah Haynes]

Michael throws the best parties every once in a while.

[Keke Palmer]

He also has one of the most amazing places I've ever seen.

[Sarah Haynes]

Yeah, right. But we had a good time and we had good food. You two drank too much, but that's another story.

[Keke Palmer]

And I was playing. Oh, my gosh. I was playing spade with your friends and they whooped my ass.

[Michael Strahan]

I love your faces. Continue.

[Keke Palmer]

Love you.

[Sarah Haynes]

See you later.

[Keke Palmer]

You the best, Sarah.

[Sarah Haynes]

Hey, have fun on the show today.

[Keke Palmer]

They really whooped me. I was pissed. They did that old school player type thing on me.

[Sarah Haynes]

All I heard when y' all were playing cards was you were in there yelling at somebody about knowing how. Not knowing how to play spades.

[Keke Palmer]

And you, when you got a bad partner, you screwed. My partner was messing me up. I had to blame my partner.

[Sarah Haynes]

It wasn't your fault. It was your partner.

[Keke Palmer]

All right, so you know, like the true diva that Michael is, he didn't do my pre show pull up questions. So I'm just gonna ask you.

[Sarah Haynes]

I don't do pre interviews.

[Keke Palmer]

That is actually a thing. Okay, You're a zodiac sign. You're Scorpio, right?

[Sarah Haynes]

I'm a Scorpio. Well, yeah. I'm on the cusp.

[Keke Palmer]

Do you know you're rising in your moon?

[Sarah Haynes]

I have no idea.

[Keke Palmer]

And when you say you're on the cusp, you're on the cusp. Which way?

[Sarah Haynes]

I guess Scorpio, Sagittarius. Depending on what chart you look at,

[Keke Palmer]

I see Sagittarius a lot.

[Sarah Haynes]

I see a lot of Scorpio, too. And it needs to be.

[Keke Palmer]

There are parts of you that feel very Scorpio. You're really funny. Like a Sagittarius, though.

[Sarah Haynes]

Okay, that part could be Sagittarius, but the Scorpio part of me is if you wrong me, oh, boy. You don't wanna do that. Yes, but it served Me? Well, in football, because I can switch, like, on the field, and I didn't have to be mad at you. I just did the competitive side. Right. So I switch it up on you real quick and get serious. Then I can back off and be the Sagittarius. So, yeah, I think I'm on the cusp.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. On the cusp. Now, what is your love language? I think I know what your love language is, but if you've ever heard of this, it's kind of like either. It could be. It's a couple of things, right? Oh, you already know.

[Sarah Haynes]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I would probably say acts of service, for sure.

[Keke Palmer]

I already know that's number one for you.

[Sarah Haynes]

Like, I like that's you down, taking care of people, making sure they're good and. And all that stuff. I don't want anything. I would. I would probably say, like. Like physical touch somebody. Like, that's important to me.

[Michael Strahan]

Yeah.

[Keke Palmer]

I feel like knowing you, that is 100%.

[Sarah Haynes]

What are the other ones?

[Keke Palmer]

The other ones are like words of affirma, which you're not. Hard to give out a compliment. You're also not.

[Sarah Haynes]

I know, but I don't like compliments. Makes me uncomfortable.

[Keke Palmer]

Oh, you don't like. Yeah, you don't actually, because whenever I compliment you, you're like, eh, yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

You know when you're saying that, when you get all cringey saying that stuff, I'm like, you really do.

[Keke Palmer]

What does it do to you? Why do you hate that?

[Sarah Haynes]

You know what I think when I was. I don't know. I've always disliked. I'm the youngest of six, and maybe because I. Either I didn't get attention or would I get it. I'm like, mom and dad were like, hell, he's the last one. I don't care about this kid. Well, they were fantastic. Mom and Dad, I love you. So, dad, rest in peace.

[Keke Palmer]

Oh, my gosh, you're hilarious, right?

[Sarah Haynes]

I don't know. I just never liked it. I remember my first year ever, I played football at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. I was 7 and 8 years old. Then we moved to Germany, and I didn't play football until, like, my senior year of high school, but seven years old, playing defensive end for the Falcons. And I was a really good player. Really good. But all the parents would, like, clap and they go, my God. And it made me cry. I just cried the whole game.

[Keke Palmer]

Oh, my God.

[Sarah Haynes]

And I'm not. No, I'm talking about, like, my puppy just got lost in the woods and I Can't find it. Cried ball the entire game.

[Keke Palmer]

That is so interesting.

[Sarah Haynes]

And the coach would pull me. I said, michael, are you okay? What's wrong? And then I go right back in there and start balling. But I just never like that. So when people do it, I don't know, it just gives me a sense

[Keke Palmer]

of, I need to talk to you more about this. Because my son actually does the same thing. My son, he likes. He likes being out in front, but the moment that someone is, like, acknowledging it, he literally will cry or he'll be like, it's whatever this little thing is. He has that same vibe too.

[Sarah Haynes]

Yeah. I don't know what it is.

[Keke Palmer]

What's a question that you wish that people asked you more in interviews? Because you're always interviewing people.

[Sarah Haynes]

I know. What's the question? I wish people ask me more interviews. I don't know. Surprised me.

[Keke Palmer]

Okay.

[Sarah Haynes]

Oh, boy. I'm scared to ask you that. To tell you that. Love you.

[Michael Strahan]

You do.

[Sarah Haynes]

If you do it, I'll hurt you.

[Keke Palmer]

Last pull up question is, who's a star that made you feel starstruck?

[Sarah Haynes]

Oh, man.

[Keke Palmer]

And you can't say me.

[Sarah Haynes]

No. You were number one, by the way. You were number absolutely number one. When you were.

[Keke Palmer]

You done met everybody.

[Sarah Haynes]

Yeah. And like certain people at a certain time. Like Denzel. First time you meet Denzel, you're like, Denzel, like, that's Denzel. First time I met Julia Roberts.

[Keke Palmer]

Oh, she definitely has that vibe, too. I never met her, but I feel that way about her.

[Sarah Haynes]

I tell you, I had the most amazing experience because the first time I interviewed her, I love her. The first time I interviewed her, the Beverly Wilson Hotel in LA in this Pretty Woman suite on, like, the anniversary of Pretty Woman. So I'm filming it with her in the suite, interviewing her where she shot that movie. And then afterwards she said, would you like a glass of. And I said in my head going, well, hell, it's Julia Roberts. Give me that. So, yeah, you're right. So I got the gosh. We drank a bottle of am.

[Keke Palmer]

Oh, my gosh.

[Sarah Haynes]

And we just sat there and talked over a bottle of amazing. And now her birthday is the same as my twins, October 28th. So I send her a case of every year. And yeah. So her. And then the one dude, man, I met him once after he won an Oscar backstage. And I was like, oh, Brad Pitt was some man.

[Keke Palmer]

It was a weird vibe.

[Sarah Haynes]

Legend of the Fall where he's Tristan and he's on that horse and his brother Samuel gets killed and he Goes out there and he back through the camp. And I love this performance. And I'm like, I see why. I see why. The wife's. The brother's wife fell for him. You know what I'm saying? I'm like, I can excuse that. Relationship shouldn't have been, but I excuse it. But, yeah, man, Brad Pitt was another one. I was like, okay, I like this. This dude is cool.

[Michael Strahan]

Yeah.

[Keke Palmer]

Some people have these vibes. Well, when you meet him, you'll just be completely freaking gagged. I was gagged when I met Will Smith, too. I was a kid, though, as well. But I was like, I know it ain't Fresh Prince. I know it ain't Fresh Prince. We're talking about it with Sarah a little bit, but I always talk about this with you. You juggle so many different things, Michael. I mean, career, your family, all of it. At this point in your life, what has stopped mattering to you and what is more important than ever?

[Sarah Haynes]

What stopped mattering to me would be like a little thing that used to bother me. Like, I used to pay such acute attention to everything, and. And it's a gift, and it's a curse. The gift is that it allows me to do things really, like, think quickly on the fly. You know, if something happens, adjust really quickly. Without people, say, in front of a camera, even noticing somebody who's watching, it won't even notice. But in life, that's great. But sometimes it can be very taxing on your energy because you're constantly paying attention. If I'm in my car and my guy is driving, I'm like, dude, come on. Notice the traffic pattern. I'm, like, looking two, three lights ahead. Like, move over right now so we don't get stuck behind that truck, and then we got to stop to move over. Like, all those just little things like that, I just let bother me all this little small detail that most people let roll off their shoulders. So I'm trying to not even care about that stuff.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

Nothing. And the most important thing is family, Especially watching my kids grow up young and old and out of college. In college.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

It's like I'm just looking at all this stuff and realizing just what really matters in life. Because life goes so fast, and you look around and you're on. Somebody reminded me. A friend of mine reminded me today. Like, you know, black men lived in the average age of 72, and you got more time behind you than in front of you. I'm like, just put me in the grave already.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

Like, they literally Go and just quit everything and just go sit in a room, in a dark room by myself and just be depressed.

[Keke Palmer]

I'm an alley.

[Sarah Haynes]

So just like, family matters, friends matter, relationships matter.

[Michael Strahan]

Can.

[Sarah Haynes]

You can get a job, you can make money, you can do all those things, but you can't make more time. You can't make more, like, love for your family and all those things. Cause that's what they'll remember. Yeah, my kids don't really remember a toy that I bought them. Heck, they barely remember anything you buy.

[Keke Palmer]

They remember the memories you make Together

[Sarah Haynes]

time, the time together.

[Keke Palmer]

You've said that your model is hustle.

[Michael Strahan]

Like, you're broke.

[Keke Palmer]

And in talking to you about this, it makes me think about also my life, because I feel like I'm the same way. We both are.

[Sarah Haynes]

Like, you hustle.

[Keke Palmer]

But then now I'm asking myself the question of, you know, what is hyper functioning? I think a lot of people in our generation are asking ourselves that. We're, you know, gone are the days where you can stick with one industry. First it was a unique thing. Now it's a mandatory thing. You have to diversify. How do you find the balance? Is that. Does that model still push you, or has it had to change over the years?

[Sarah Haynes]

I think it's evolved.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

But I still think I'm driven. Not so much for hustle. Like, you're broke. It. You know, I said that to one of these athletes that we manage.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

And this was a while ago when I was still, like, you know, hyper focused on just trying to see where I can go. And I don't. Now I hustle because I just want to see how far I'll go. I almost look and think to myself, if these people continue to trust me with these things, let's see how far I can push them. You know what I mean?

[Keke Palmer]

Right. Let's see what we can do.

[Sarah Haynes]

Ooh, gave me a little more room. So that's really what my motivation is now. Just to see how far I can go. And honestly, to be an example for other people who come from not just sports, for other industries who want to make a change into something else. To see that you're not only able to do one thing in life.

[Keke Palmer]

No, for sure.

[Sarah Haynes]

If you want to change something in your life, you have the ability to change that at any point that you want. And you just don't have to stick with being a football player. Because at first, I always felt I'm the football player. And then when I retired and I wanted to do other things, people look Were looking at me just as this football player.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

And it was frustrating because I knew I wanted to do so much more, and I felt like I could do so much more. And I had.

[Keke Palmer]

That's interesting that you always knew that.

[Sarah Haynes]

Yeah, but I knew it, but I don't think other people saw it. And I would try to do things and try to, you know, integrate my way into things. It was kind of like, eh, you know what? You're a football player. You had enough goodness over there. You don't need enough goodness in another industry because you were successful over there. Just stay in your lane.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

And that was always frustrating to me. But then I got very fortunate in doing several things. Of course, daytime stuff. But that started, you know, of course I went on Live as a guest, and that kind of got some eyeball. I was going to Ellen a lot. I went on Ellen DeGeneres.

[Keke Palmer]

People got to see your personality quite a bit.

[Sarah Haynes]

People got to see my personality. A lot of people don't know. I was actually offered the opportunity to do my own show at the same time that I was kind of doing live. And it just ended up working out that I got the live job.

[Keke Palmer]

Stay at home with Strahan.

[Sarah Haynes]

I'm ready for that today, whatever it was gonna be. But it was. But that was like my first time really cracking the code. And I had a friend. I have a friend of mine. This is. And this is, I guess, a lesson that I learned through that process. A friend of mine who's up for a big job now, like a really big.

[Keke Palmer]

Good luck to them.

[Sarah Haynes]

Yeah. Thank you in every way. And he called me yesterday and he's so nervous and in a lot of ways. And he's going, well, you know, I think. I take it. But if it doesn't work out, I was like, it's going to work out, dude. It's going to work out. Well, I'm getting more responsibility. And I'm like, yeah, because that comes with growth. You get more responsibility with growth. I said, if you. If they didn't think you could do it, they wouldn't offer you the job. They would hire you. Especially without doing an extensive search. They came to you and said, you're the guy. We're not even looking at other people. So I said, you have to trust and believe in yourself the way other people believe in you. You have to.

[Keke Palmer]

Yes.

[Sarah Haynes]

You have to see in yourself what they're seeing in you.

[Keke Palmer]

That's right.

[Sarah Haynes]

Because a lot of times we don't see in ourselves what other people see in us. So when I was offered to do my own show before I did live, I was like, okay, I'll. You know what I'm saying?

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

And now I look back and I'm like, why was I ever doubting? I just need to trust. If other people are telling me that I can do something, believe in myself that I can do it. Because they may see something that I can't see. Because sometimes you're so close to the trees you don't see you're in a forest.

[Keke Palmer]

Yes, it's true. The constant balance between seeing what others don't see, but then also being able to receive what people do see and being able to expand upon that. Let's take it back to the beginning.

[Sarah Haynes]

Can I say something about you?

[Keke Palmer]

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[Sarah Haynes]

You try to hustle like you're broke. You hustle like you're broke. In five lifetimes, though, I mean, oh, my gosh, I'm turning. I'm watching the burbs. I'm watching this show, and I'm watching that show, and I got this movie coming out, and I got this TV show coming out, and I'm figure skating in the Olympics. Like, what aren't you doing?

[Keke Palmer]

You know what, Michael? We are the same way. Like, we really come from that. And I feel you on the energy or the skill set can remain the same, even if the reasoning has evolved.

[Michael Strahan]

Right.

[Keke Palmer]

Like, in the beginning, it was definitely, like, a lot of survival mode. Like, you just don't realize that I'm out of here. Why do I keep running for that reason, even though I like running, I want the reason to be different now. And for me, it's very similar to what you've said of, well, let's see how far I can take it. You know, let's see if I'm interested in that. If I feel I have a vision for that, why not let it keep going? As opposed to always feeling like you're on a. You know, that you have to. It changes. So I really relate. I relate to you so much, and

[Sarah Haynes]

I'm sure a lot of what you do, you want to make people around you proud. You don't want to disappoint anybody. That's why I think everything that you do and everything that I try to do is, like, max effort. When I'm in it. I'm in it, right? And that. Cause I'm like, I'm in it. I gotta go out here, just put it all in there. Because if it doesn't work, then I could. If something. I've learned this too. If something doesn't work, I could take the criticism of it. If I know I did my best

[Keke Palmer]

at it, that's it.

[Sarah Haynes]

But if I am not putting everything into it and then I get criticized for it, or if I'm trusting somebody else with something, I feel like I know it doesn't fit and it isn't right and then it doesn't work, then I'm mad because I'm like, I should just trust in my gut because I could take the criticism as long as I know I'm responsible.

[Keke Palmer]

That's right.

[Sarah Haynes]

But when I put in somebody else else's hand, that doesn't work and I'm getting criticized for it.

[Keke Palmer]

That's crazy. No, that very much bothers me. But there's something that I'm picking up on that. My mom used to always say this to me. She was like, you weren't. You weren't an athlete, but you think like an athlete. She used to tell me that. Because I feel like it is this mindset of discipline, of max effort. Like, I don't know what you call them. If you one of them people that have. It's the three Cs or whatever it is. But what is. What do you think is the mentality that made you a success, successful hall of Fame Famer, that also makes you successful entrepreneur?

[Sarah Haynes]

Well, first of all, I love your mama, Darren. I love you.

[Keke Palmer]

My mom is the best.

[Sarah Haynes]

She's, you know, And I love your. You always had your family with you, which I think was one most impressive thing too. I always love that. The thing that I think it helped me in football to help me beyond is nothing to do with me. I think everybody has talents like football. I was physically, I wasn't the biggest, I wasn't the strongest, I wasn't the fastest guy. I wasn't any of those things. I had a desire to be great and I had a desire to work. You were not gonna outwork me. You were not. I was not going to quit. So if it's you or me in my head, it's gonna be you going down before I go down. That's just the way that I had it in my head. And that's kind of not saying that I have that competitive of me or you in this business, but I just have the ability to have the work ethic. I've carried ethic over. And I think the biggest thing in success in my life in every aspect, people, I.

[Keke Palmer]

People understand people.

[Sarah Haynes]

Like, I see people. I was somebody who was moving furniture and cutting grass and doing all that stuff, and people just dismiss you. Washing dishes. They just dismiss you. Like, you're not even. Even a part of. Like, this is your lot in life, and you're just unseen. So being in those positions has always made me feel like I need to show people who are often and most likely unseen feel like they're seen by somebody who's in that position. And I don't dismiss and discount the value that they add. Because without them, none of this stuff happens. Everything works together. And I think that gets missed. So I carry over being a great teammate on the football field and making people feel a certain way and understanding people to get the best out of them to television.

[Keke Palmer]

That's an amazing. That's a leader. That's an incredible. To me, that's like. They teach it in school, you know, that quality of what it means to be a leader and how to get people to engage, believe in a vision, but also know that it's a shared one. That's like, really, really remarkable.

[Sarah Haynes]

But, you know, in our business, so it's like, oh, who's the headliner and who's this and who's that? And I always looked at it and said, if you have success, there's enough credit for everybody. And there's gonna be a great. You're gonna have a great day, and it's gonna be great about you. And I'm gonna have a great day. It's gonna be great about me. There's gonna be days you talk more than I talk. Cause I've seen people talk about, oh, you know, I was on the show and this person was counting how much I talked. And then they didn't talk, so they had to balance out who talks the most.

[Keke Palmer]

That's crazy.

[Sarah Haynes]

But I have this philosophy. The less I talk, the less of a chance I can screw it up. Yo, I'm gonna sit right here.

[Michael Strahan]

Shut up.

[Keke Palmer]

But we would have so much fun on the show. We would be like, I ain't got much to say. I mean, we would actually have moments doing GMA3. We'd be like, look, today, guys, take it. Yeah, Because I don't want much to say. And like, it. That was actually a relief.

[Sarah Haynes]

It really was. You don't have to carry everything. And then it's like, I'll be back here tomorrow and Tomorrow I'll be better, but today, like, I've never had that ego. To be like, this is my show, and you're gonna do this, and if this person steps online, I don't care. Like, I've never had that. But it's a. I think sports taught me that. That you need other people, you need to have a team, and if the team's successful, there's enough credit for everybody, man.

[Keke Palmer]

Bingo. I mean, you got drafted by the New york Giants in 1993. Wow. That was the year I was born.

[Sarah Haynes]

You know what?

[Keke Palmer]

That is so funny.

[Michael Strahan]

Thank you, Kiki.

[Sarah Haynes]

I appreciate this. I'll see you later. Oh, how you gonna say that?

[Keke Palmer]

Oh, my gosh.

[Sarah Haynes]

Are you serious?

[Keke Palmer]

When I read that, doing the research, I was like, oh, my gosh, 32 years ago,

[Sarah Haynes]

you were serious.

[Keke Palmer]

The real question is, what fountains of youth are you drinking from?

[Sarah Haynes]

Please.

[Keke Palmer]

Because I felt like you damn near look younger now than you did when you was in school.

[Sarah Haynes]

Back then, I was carrying some baby weight, so I'm a little bit heavier.

[Keke Palmer]

You look so great, Michael. It's insane.

[Sarah Haynes]

Thank you. Thank you very much. Old man who started his professional career the year you were born. Jesus.

[Keke Palmer]

I mean, when that happened for you in your life, somebody could say, wow, you made it. I mean, yo. But what's the difference between landing on that team and then proving that you belong there? I think people assume when you make it to the end of. Cause people assume this about any entertainment. You made it, but it's like, no, no, no. There's a lot of work to sustain it.

[Sarah Haynes]

Yeah.

[Keke Palmer]

What does that look like for you?

[Sarah Haynes]

Work hard, work doing extra. Showing up when other people wouldn't show up, working when people going home and you stay in that weight room or you stay in the ice tub and you stay on the treadmill. And all these things I've noticed from every guy I saw had a very successful career in all the other sports. They always work when other guys stopped working, when other guys went home, when other guys said, oh, you know, I've made it. I've seen so many guys get a contract and go, oh, I'm in the league now. I'm good. I was never that guy. Plus, I always wanted to prove and live up to the contract. Like, I never wanted owners of the team to look at me and think, oh, we paid this guy all his money, and this cat go out here. Now he's just. Just going to take our money and not give us what we believe in him. And I had parents who I never wanted to Disappoint. I never wanted my parents to look at me and think, our son is just out here just going through the motions. That's embarrassing for them.

[Michael Strahan]

Yes.

[Sarah Haynes]

They got friends, they go to church. They stop at the stor people talking, Nah, I can't do that to my parents. But that was always the motivating factor to me. And as long as I played, I wanted to be relevant. Like, I could have kept playing football and just been a guy on the team. But I'm no good at just a guy on the team. I have to be the guy I want to motivate. But it's very hard to be on a bench and then go tell a guy, you need to go do this. So I realized I had to work extra, stay on the field. So when I tell a guy, we got to do this and we got to do that meant something in practice. I have to practice as hard or harder than these young guys, because when we get in the game and it's tough and we're tired and I'm looking at say, come on, let's step it up. If I didn't really put in the work during the week, and they see me over there chilling, going, young guy, you take my repetitions and practice, I don't need to do it because I'm a vet, they're going to look at me and go, he on here telling me this, and he's sitting in practicing doing. He's not doing anything. Always conscious of making sure that I did what I told other guys to do.

[Keke Palmer]

You talk about managing other players and, you know, helping people that are in this field. What would you say is the difficult thing that people don't understand? Right? Because there are a lot of things that the NFL has helped with, like, you know, financial literacy, helping dudes when they leave. You know, there's stuff that's input in the corporation to help. But for us on the outside looking in, what are some of the biggest challenges of being in an industry like the NFL?

[Sarah Haynes]

Oh, no. Guaranteed deals. And now they got some. A lot of guys are getting deals with a lot of guaranteed money. But this. Most of these NFL deals you see, or at least back in the day as well, this guy's gonna make this many millions. That's not guaranteed. He's. You're basically year to year to year. So you have injury, you have the, you know, lack of ability that you may get cut, maybe have a bad year, they let you go. You don't get all that money. So we're year to year, no Guarantee. So to me, that was always a motivator as well.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

You know, and, and so I, I, I, I just think that the game has evolved in so many ways. Yeah. You know, financially, especially for a lot of guys. But I think that really what made me and, and kind of made me focus is that it was, if I wasn't doing that, what was I going to do? When you come into the NFL and you walk into a locker room and you see the other guys, it's not college. I'm on scholarship.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

I'm gonna go out here, I'm doing my little practice thing. I'm gonna go over here and chill on the yard, look at the pretty girls walk by, you know what I'm saying? And the pro, if you don't make it as a pro, you don't have a job, like, and it's grown men. That was the biggest thing. I walk in that locker room, 21 year old kid back when you were born, back in 1993. And I was like, oh, yeah, hey. And then like Lawrence Taylor walks in. I'll go, oh my God, he's a legend. Phil Sam's a legend. You know, all these guys, these legends. But everybody, not those guys, but the guys who were like around my age in the league two or three years playing my position, not everybody's happy you're there.

[Keke Palmer]

Yes.

[Sarah Haynes]

Cause you being there means somebody else gotta go home.

[Keke Palmer]

That sucks, man.

[Sarah Haynes]

And then they got friends who don't want them to leave. Yeah. So as a young guy, the rookie or so, you take a lot of junk to stay in there. And you gotta fight. It's one thing you gotta do, you gotta fight. You never back down.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

And I've gotten plenty of fights, literally fist fights.

[Michael Strahan]

Right.

[Sarah Haynes]

Because that's like part of the survival. But once you earn respect and once you become confident in your abilities, you know, I was always one of these guys. I never worried about them bringing in a guy who played my position because if he takes my job, that means I wasn't good enough at my job.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

Nothing to do with him. That's on me.

[Keke Palmer]

And then I also think about this and I'm curious what your thoughts about it. Because there's playing the game, there's being good at the sport, but then there's also being the face of a brand. Like at the end of the day, the NFL is a corporation. I think people don't understand that even about any entertainment industry is like, there is a whole part of it where it's, this is you're the face of something. So when you're talking to these young dudes that are coming in NFL, what is the conversation around who you want to be and how you want to represent the brand? And, you know, they always talk about football players with the whole helmet thing, making yourself known, you know, becoming somebody that is known in the field. How do. How do you approach that?

[Sarah Haynes]

To me, authenticity is what sells people. You can't try to be something you're not. And then, you know, you see a lot of guys who go out of their way for attention, and a lot don't care if it's good attention or bad attention. I think a lot of guys get a contract, make some money, and think, I'm just gonna act a fool, and I don't care because I got money. I got this, I got that. But we know, and I tell guys all the time when football's over. I was 36 when I retired. When football is over, that's pretty young.

[Keke Palmer]

Or is that.

[Sarah Haynes]

That's young.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah, I'm gonna say that's young.

[Sarah Haynes]

But, I mean, it's a long time. 15 years is a long time to play for football. But it's young in life for sure. And I say to guys all the time, I say, you know, when it's over, they'll let you come to the game, stand on the sideline, and maybe go up in a box, but they don't write you a check no more. So you're acting up now. You're ruining your reputation now. Life goes on so much further than this game. You need your reputation, because no one wants to be around somebody with a bad reputation. No, it just doesn't work. Because if you want to have a bad reputation, maybe a guy who's your level, maybe not even on your level, but who people like to be around, who bring something to the table, they'll bring him in before they even come in. Sniffs being around you. And so your reputation is the one thing that you have that you need to hold on to that you do not ruin. You develop relationships while you're in the game, and now it's a different thing. A lot of guys want to be businessmen on top of being an athlete. And I get it 100%. I was kind of, like, backwards in a sense that. Can't say I had a plan.

[Keke Palmer]

Yep.

[Sarah Haynes]

But football was number one for me. That was my baby. That is where I said, I don't mess up my primary work for something secondary. So I always focus on football until it was over. And then all that Focus went to something else.

[Keke Palmer]

This is important to me with people across the board is, you know, you have this thing where everybody, they want to show you everything they could do. And it's like all I asked was for you to pour the cup of tea.

[Sarah Haynes]

Yeah.

[Keke Palmer]

And it's like you already trying to make a badass espresso and the tea is not even poured. You know what I mean? Cause people will do that.

[Sarah Haynes]

I'm sorry I messed up your order at this coffee shop, Keke. Now you're going to throw me under the bus here.

[Keke Palmer]

That be the thing where it's like, you know, just do the first thing right. You know, do it at least sufficient. You know what I mean? And then add on the next problem

[Sarah Haynes]

is everybody thinks you just walked in and they gave you a job. Everybody thinks I just walked in and they gave me a job. They didn't see the failures. They didn't see the no. They didn't see the no callbacks. They didn't see the oh, yeah, come, we'll meet with you. Just so we can get a. Basically get a picture and tell our kids we hung out with you. Did you.

[Keke Palmer]

Oh, my God.

[Sarah Haynes]

Did you bring the super bowl ring with you?

[Keke Palmer]

That's so true. That is. That one sucks.

[Michael Strahan]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

That stuff.

[Keke Palmer]

Because it's like, oh, this is just a fan party. Yeah, that one's bad. Because nobody respects your mind. They never think you have more to offer to the table. That one stinks for sure.

[Sarah Haynes]

I always tell these guys, now everybody wants to do these businesses and all this stuff, and I got more businesses than basically I can keep on top of. But it's all fun stuff that I want to do. But I tell you, I said, while you're playing, develop relationships, meet people, be nice to people, develop these relationships. And not you're doing it for a plan when you're retired, but when you are retired, or maybe you're developing these relationships and there's some guy who likes you and successful and goes, hey, I really want to teach you something. I really want to be a part of this. Maybe in the off season, because you have six months off, you say, hey, I just want to come shadow you. Go learn something. Show people you're interested in something else.

[Keke Palmer]

Yes.

[Sarah Haynes]

That way, your fame. If I were to call somebody now and say, hey, I'd like to come in and meet, I can get in, right? You can get in the door.

[Keke Palmer]

Yes.

[Sarah Haynes]

I said, when you go in there, if it's something you're interested in, show that not only can you get in the room. But you deserve to stay in the room. So know your stuff.

[Keke Palmer]

Yes.

[Sarah Haynes]

Don't just get in there and blah, blah, blah.

[Keke Palmer]

That's the guy that I was playing spades with at your house that told me he, you know, played in football. I can't remember his name. You know his name.

[Sarah Haynes]

Oh, yeah.

[Keke Palmer]

He was at that. And he stocked.

[Sarah Haynes]

Justin Tuck.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah, Justin Tuck.

[Sarah Haynes]

And became.

[Keke Palmer]

Now he's a stockbroker.

[Sarah Haynes]

Yeah, Justin Tuck played with me with the Giants. Then he went to the Raiders. He won two super bowl rings. He was my understudy.

[Keke Palmer]

With my ass in spades.

[Sarah Haynes]

Yeah, he whipped you in spades. Cause you're partnering. If you're partnering with me. And then Justin retired, and he called me, he said, michael, they want me to go do some common football commentary stuff. I don't know if that's what I want to do. And I'm thinking about going to business school. And I was like, justin, that part will always be there. If you really think you're interested in something else, like business, go try that. I didn't know the guy was gonna go freaking graduate from Wharton Business School. And then now he run the whole big sports thing at Goldman Sachs.

[Keke Palmer]

Exactly.

[Sarah Haynes]

He's. He's amazing. And as a matter of fact, yeah, he turned 43 this year. He hits me young. Went on his golf trip, right? And this fool, hey, man, my birthday's coming up. Milestone birthday, and I'm going on this golf trip. Will you. I would love it if you come. I'm like, absolutely. Milestone birthday. He turned 43. Ain't no damn milestone, right?

[Keke Palmer]

I'm like, 43. Yeah, 45. Maybe even 40.

[Sarah Haynes]

53 ain't no milestone unless there's something going on with you. I don't know.

[Keke Palmer]

Okay.

[Sarah Haynes]

But he's great. And. But I love about Justin is he's very easy to do.

[Keke Palmer]

His wife is great, too. Shout out to her.

[Sarah Haynes]

Lauren is awesome, and she does a lot of charity degree and charitable works and all this other stuff. But he goes for the trip back to Alabama to play golf and then Sunday church. Okay. At the church he grew up at. And I'm like, only go to Alabama for you. I haven't been to Alabama since the Senior bowl back in the day, you know? But I love him. It's great to have teammates like that. And OC's doing great in Europe and England.

[Keke Palmer]

I love going to any of your parties that you host. You have such an incredible group of

[Sarah Haynes]

friends and good mix of different things. Soak up everything, different industries.

[Keke Palmer]

Oh, my Gosh. From across the board fashion to media to sports, it's.

[Sarah Haynes]

It's really a little bit everything.

[Keke Palmer]

That real estate ain't no joke. Let's set the scene. Okay. 2007 Super Bowl. 45 seconds left against the undefeated Patriots. The giants are down 4 points. People on the sidelines have said you were running up and down the field telling everybody, we are going to win this.

[Sarah Haynes]

Yes.

[Keke Palmer]

There are two versions of me at any given moment. There's the version that is on the way somewhere, locked in, unbothered. Do not interrupt me. I have a purpose. And then there's the version that sees a Starbucks and just turns mid stride with absolutely no hesitation. The second one is my favorite version. Especially in the summer. I'm the one who orders a Tropical Butterfly Refresher. Guava and passion fruit flavors, these mango pineapple flavored pearls that pop in your mouth. And a butterfly pink, a pea flower infusion on top that just shifts the color of the whole drink right in front of you. And I stand there watching it happen like it's the most important thing that happened all week because it might be one small choice can lead to a old shift. Unlock your best summer memories with the Tropical Butterfly Refresher from Starbucks. Order now on the app. How do you think you learned to respond to adversity? Team situation.

[Sarah Haynes]

Willie Strahan, sr. My dad. My dad was a man.

[Keke Palmer]

Yo. Military, right?

[Sarah Haynes]

Military. Retired. Major, 82nd Airborne Division, commander of the 1st CEC, which is combat Equipment company in Mannheim, Germany. And my dad was amazing. And he was just positive. And I say this all the time, but I'll say it here again. When, not if. My dad never said if to me as a kid. He always said when. So it was like, when this happens, when that happens. I mean, I'm a kid growing up in Germany. I'm 13 years old. I'm little. I'm big boned, you know, I can't work.

[Michael Strahan]

Big bone.

[Sarah Haynes]

My brothers and their friends, like, making fun of me. You know, they called me Bob, right?

[Keke Palmer]

Oh, my God.

[Sarah Haynes]

Booty on back.

[Keke Palmer]

Booty on back is crazy. The girls are paying for that now.

[Sarah Haynes]

Yeah, they paying for it now. So I started working out. So I started doing like Jane Fonda. I bought Jane Fonda tapes.

[Keke Palmer]

Oh, man, I did.

[Sarah Haynes]

Herschel Walker was doing push ups and sit ups. That was the big thing back then when he was at University of Georgia, the football player. I started doing all those things, started working out with my dad, and by the time I was 16, my dad said, you wanna play football? I Watched it on TV at that point, hadn't played it. He's like, yeah, sends me to Houston live with my uncle. And he said, I'm send you back. You're gonna stay with your uncle and you're gonna get a football scholarship.

[Keke Palmer]

Dang, that's crazy.

[Sarah Haynes]

I hadn't played. I'm like, okay. I was just so naive. And then when you make it to the pros, when you do this, when you do that, when you win the super bowl, he was always when. He never said, if. So when the time's running out in that game and we go down by four points now, I literally go say, hey, fellas, 1714 will be the final score. Believe it and it will happen. One touchdown and we are world champions. Believe it and it will happen. And it was literally channeling my father. And I didn't realize until after we won the Super Bowl. And a little while later, I'm sitting around going, how the hell did that happen? I was like, man, my dad and Gene. Gene was always like, preaching that. And he was 100% on the money. But I think it helps me in life now. Cause if there's something I really want to do, nothing. I don't believe I can't do something I really tell my mind to do.

[Keke Palmer]

But you have this. Even you just looking at me, reliving the moment and saying, I believe that I could win the super bowl, like, that is crazy.

[Sarah Haynes]

That I'll get you a tryout right now.

[Keke Palmer]

You aren't going. The fierceness of you saying, I can just imagine what was going through the veins of your teammates. Because you're literally like, it will be like that. Certainty is powerful. And that came from your dad, man.

[Sarah Haynes]

Came from my dad.

[Keke Palmer]

That's so dope.

[Sarah Haynes]

Came from my dad.

[Keke Palmer]

When you think about your pro ball years, what parts of your character remained that helped you be who you were in the sport? And what things did you say? Okay, that's gotta go. And I think about, like, a lot of these athletes that we see and obviously love Tom Brady, Respected Tom Brady. But it's a different thing. Shifting from being someone that's playing and deciding, I'm gonna retire everything that went along with me being somebody that was playing. What was that journey like for you?

[Sarah Haynes]

That was tough at first.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

Cause you're just so used to. That's what you did, like, all those years. Yeah. And I was never. I learned to channel aggression. Right. So we could sit here and have this conversation on the bench, and I'd have been like, oh, defense, hold on kk. I'll be right back. I get my helmet off and then all of a sudden, switch and become like a lion in the jungle where I have no love, no concern for anybody. You're on the other side. I will hurt you and not feel bad about it in one second, but then come back, sit, take my helmet off, sit down, and have the most loving conversation with you. That was just that switch.

[Keke Palmer]

That's so cool.

[Sarah Haynes]

I use that switch in a different way now. It's not just channel aggression or anything like that, but I use it in a different way to like, okay, I gotta be ready. Then I can get myself together and come back and be ready. So. But that I've had to leave. I guess the. You have to. You do have to have a certain amount of macho.

[Keke Palmer]

Mm.

[Sarah Haynes]

Mm. Like you in that locker room. I'm in here with 60 dudes.

[Michael Strahan]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

Somebody gotta be an alpha.

[Keke Palmer]

That's a lot. That is a lot. Also. I'd love to be there

[Michael Strahan]

also.

[Keke Palmer]

Maybe we should have done this there.

[Sarah Haynes]

That may be the funny thing you ever said to me.

[Keke Palmer]

I'd like to see it. Oh, my gosh.

[Sarah Haynes]

Oh, gosh. So you know what? You can't say that to me. Stop it. Stop it. So literally being in that locker room with 60 guys and somebody's gotta be the leader. Somebody's gotta be the macho. Somebody's gotta be the man. Somebody gotta be the one that's like, yo.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

And I do miss that part, and I love that part. But it's really interesting because it's not always the biggest guy, you know?

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah. It's the biggest attitude.

[Sarah Haynes]

I guess it's just the attitude. It's the energy that you bring. It's the fact that somebody knows when you look at them, like, I'm watching my language here. But it was a different. That was a different. Like, I remember I gave all the pre game talks and. And all that stuff, and one of the networks came and said, hey, they asked the PR guys, could you. And the PR guy comes to me and said, michael, they want to air some of your pre game speech on the network. So could you not curse within the first 10 to 15 seconds? Give him like 10 to 15 seconds of no cursing. And I was like, get the out of here. I'm gonna cur.

[Keke Palmer]

I just.

[Sarah Haynes]

You know what? I'm a different thing. This is not, you guys, entertainment for me. This is life or death. And that was the mentality. So that I leave behind. But I do channel the switch on, switch off in Order to juggle everything and to compartmentalize it in the focus. Because what I realized, what I loved. You could be in a Stadium with 80,000 people. It's like you filming a show in front of a studio audience, right? Yes, 80,000 screaming. But I get out there, and I'm so hyper focused. And it shows how focused you can really be if you really want. I don't hear 80,000 people. I hear the linebacker changing the play for us if he needs to. I hear the quarterback over there saying whatever they're saying. I can even hear the guy in front of me breathing. I can't hear 80,000 people until the play is over. And then it's like they crank up the stereo, and all of a sudden you hear the people. But in between those seconds that you're focusing, all that's gone. Hear any of it? It's amazing.

[Keke Palmer]

Oh, my gosh. That seems so thrilling. I mean, how do you. Obviously, you've done so many different things. How did you approach defining yourself beyond football? And how much of it was intentional of rewriting the narrative or integrating the narrative?

[Sarah Haynes]

I don't think. I don't think that it was intentional in certain ways. I knew when I was done playing football, I had a job in football, you know, working at Fox that was already done. Actually had a contract a year before I retired. But everything else, I never looked at kind of defining the narrative. I just kind of felt like I wanted to do more than just talk about football for six months and then have six months of sitting at home, like, wasting away. What am I gonna do? I can only play so much golf. I was wrong that golf be having

[Keke Palmer]

y' all a chokehold.

[Sarah Haynes]

Yeah, it still kind of got me in chokehold, but there's only so much of that you can do. And I felt like I still had a lot of too much energy and too much creativity to just sit in the house. So, I mean, I just started trying different things, asking to try different things, putting myself out there. Instead of worrying about being embarrassed, I would just say yes to stuff that I knew probably wasn't gonna do, or at least I should try to say I did it. And by doing that, learned a lot of things along the way. By failure, I learned a lot of things that I didn't think at the time I wanted to do, became successful or taught me something that helped me become successful in something else. So getting out of my own way, not worrying about being cool, failure, success. But just try different things and say yes instead of saying no. Because I'm scared to try something new.

[Keke Palmer]

Yes.

[Sarah Haynes]

And I think that that kind of rolled itself into people seeing me do things in a different way. That was not what they usually saw us athletes do. So they said, huh, let's try them here, let's see if it could fit here. Let's see how outside of a sports audience do they really like them outside of sports?

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

And then it gets kind of snowballed, all from saying yes and being uncomfortable and taking chances on myself.

[Keke Palmer]

I love what you're saying too about trying things because I think there's something that people don't often think about when it comes to evolving as a person and evolving as in your career, sometimes you can't overly design it. You really have to be open to it coming. That's what actually how you find the legitimacy in it is that, you know, I didn't try to pre program this. I found myself inside of this. And you actually have your own company. Smack. We got smac, SM A C, SMAC Entertainment. What made you say, okay, now it's time to actually take it one step further outside of now becoming this, you know, media personality, but to actually building a business.

[Sarah Haynes]

Well, I think not playing football, growing up not thinking football was my life work made me come into football, but also having a mind for something else in life. I just kind of felt football is what I did at the time. But after that I always wanted to do more. I always, and, and so when I retired I, I, I had a manager here in New York from the football side. But then football was over, so I lived in la. I was doing Fox and I would go by Constance Schwartz is my business partner now, but I always go by her office. And we had been friends with, been friends now for 31, 32 years. But she was at the NFL for 10 years, moved to LA to work and we always stayed in touch. Every time I went to la was, wasn't very often I would go to her offices when she was working for other companies and hang out. Well, now she had started her own company. I would show up, she'd be talking about some what she'd be talking in their office doing some work. And I asked what are you working on? She work on this and that. And I always had opinions, why you should try this or maybe this and that. And she finally after a while, cause I was bored like I had all these months and you didn't have no schedule and I had nothing. Like what do you do with nothing? She finally said, michael, I love you, I appreciate you coming in Here. I appreciate you trying to help out, but you either gotta be a part of this company or you gotta stop coming in. Cause I can't take it no more. Basically, you know, paraphrase it, that's what she said. So I said, okay, I'll be a part of the company. So we end up having smack. It's been like 15 years now.

[Keke Palmer]

Oh my gosh.

[Sarah Haynes]

Shout outs to Constance and it's just been amazing because I think she is so brilliant, so smart, so forward thinking and she's a great cultivator of relationships and people.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

And through that, you know, management company, myself, Deon Sanders, Aaron Andrews, Travis Hunter, Common, Wiz Khalifa. Wow. The Bella Twins. So just, you know, kind of keep on.

[Keke Palmer]

The Bella Twins. I love them. We talked to them at GMA3. I just saw them recently at the Super Bowl. Love those girls.

[Sarah Haynes]

Yeah, they're fantastic. So just in a smorgasbord of other, you know, Kurt Menefee and DeAndre Jordan and just let's just keeps on growing. So that is kind of just been something. It's kind of funny. I remember I was like, this is really weird. Constance calls me and said Wiz and Snoop are going on tour. And she managed Snoop for seven years at one point and she said, they're going on tour. You need to come down to Florida, watch the show. And then I want you to give notes on the show. I'm going with and Snoop. You want me give notes. So I go down to the show and I watch the show and then I go backstage and Con basically is like. And I'm like, huh? She go, you're managing now. Like you, you got. So I'm very honest in the notes. But it was interesting to see these guys go, okay, yeah, you're right. All right.

[Keke Palmer]

Because you know what you talking about.

[Sarah Haynes]

And that's the thing. You know what? Sometimes because it's not something that you grew up doing or you've been in the whole time, but you get into it late, you think, oh, I, I gotta sit back. But a lot of times what, what I know I've had to deal with in sports and in entertainment television and in all different ways from contract to finances to just, just pr all these things. You've gained so much experience that you can use to help other people or give advice and you got to trust yourself that you freaking know it. Because we come in home or management. There you go.

[Keke Palmer]

I just came up.

[Sarah Haynes]

I'm telling you, with a new job, you'll be amazed at how much experience and how Many things you can help people with that you may not have felt comfortable with, but you've experienced so much wow. And that you just trust yourself. And I've learned in all these different businesses. Finance business. I'm in the finance business now.

[Keke Palmer]

Real estate. You taught me so much on real estate.

[Sarah Haynes]

All these things that I knew nothing about, and I just had to go in and found out, hey, you know what? It's very similar to sports. It's very similar to this business. Everything very similar. The language changes.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

But the ideas are very similar.

[Michael Strahan]

Yeah.

[Keke Palmer]

And now you and Constance Shorts are getting ready to do Yalls podcast together.

[Sarah Haynes]

Yeah, we got a podcast we're working on. I don't have a name of it yet.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

But it's going to be.

[Keke Palmer]

It's gonna be so good.

[Sarah Haynes]

It's gonna be great. And it's gonna be funny. It's gonna be. We're gonna talk about everything. Business.

[Keke Palmer]

When you think about your top three guests that you like, what would be their type? What type of person. Person would you be wanting to talk to? Obviously, I'm sure many. Okay, me.

[Sarah Haynes]

You be perfect. No. And I say that in all sincerity, not because I'm just sitting in front of you, but in all sincerity, because I think you encompass so many worlds in one. And very few people like you, Keke. That's what I'm saying. I'm watching you on this and I'm watching that, and I'm watching this. And you can do everything. And it's very tough to do one thing right and be great at it, but you're great at all these things. So you're a perfect example of someone who doesn't limit themselves. And so I think for our podcast, it's gonna be a lot of fun. Trust me. Constance and I, you know, it came about because both of us would sit here, we'd get in these meeting rooms and we would just kind of. We meeting with people about serious things that we kind of go at it on our. Like, this should be a show.

[Michael Strahan]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

I'm like, we're not doing TV shows, you know, but we'll get around to a podcast maybe. But I think talking about interesting conversations, motivating conversations.

[Michael Strahan]

Yes.

[Sarah Haynes]

Insightful conversations is what it's really all about.

[Keke Palmer]

I mean, people getting a chance. I think obviously people love you and they get to see you on TV shows. But as always, when you're doing daytime in the structure that it actually is, you can only go so far. The conversations are you. The segments are three minutes, five minutes, you know, there's only so much you can say.

[Sarah Haynes]

Tell somebody your ear gonna rub.

[Keke Palmer]

You know what I mean? But you, me having had so much unlimited time with you, you're gonna be able to inspire so many people because you are a wealth of knowledge and you are such a great leader. So it's like, you know, again, I just feel like people gonna love this podcast.

[Sarah Haynes]

But I'm silly.

[Keke Palmer]

And you're funny. Crazy and funny, too.

[Sarah Haynes]

And it's funny because when I get, like, I go to work and I can. When I'm at GMA and fox, I am like the cut up. I'm like the. I'm like the class clown. And then I'm also like the guy who will poke at people and, like, get on people.

[Michael Strahan]

Crazy.

[Sarah Haynes]

Then when I go home, sometimes I'm like, man, I gotta be serious. And my kid probably look at me a little bit more serious than I am half the time. But. But yeah, it's a little. It's a little weird thing, but I absolutely like your podcast. Like doing this. Yeah. And this is like your natural element, but it's good because you have more room to breathe.

[Michael Strahan]

Yes.

[Sarah Haynes]

Tv, you don't have much room to breathe.

[Keke Palmer]

It don't.

[Sarah Haynes]

And you can show a little hint of personality, but not all your personality. You can say a little of this, but you can't say a lot of that.

[Keke Palmer]

It's true. It's true. Also, I want to talk about your menswear collection. Obviously, you have your collection by Michael Strahan.

[Sarah Haynes]

Yes.

[Keke Palmer]

But you've been doing the fashion thing for a while.

[Sarah Haynes]

Ten years.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah. You've always, you know. So I mean, what are some of your favorite things that are getting ready to come out that you have on your line? But also, what made you realize that this was. Elaine. That you also could dominate because you have been dominating it?

[Sarah Haynes]

Well, I think it's when you. When you start out off in football, obviously you gotta go on these road trips and stuff. It can't show up looking like a bum. Man, you gotta come, right? I mean, but I gotta say, some guys, they think they come in right, but they ain't coming right. They got suits that wearing a suit is clean, but then they move and it's like a chameleon. It changes colors with every reflection of the light on the sun. Like, dude, I don't know what fabric that is, but you need to go ahead and take that back to the lizard you got it from.

[Keke Palmer]

I'm howling, not the lizard.

[Sarah Haynes]

Well, it is. It was crazy. So just being in sports and Being and all that stuff. It's like a presentation.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

I learned I would dress well going on the road and put on a suit. Cause you're going on a business trip. And I always loved these coaches like Tom Coughlin, who was like, yeah, wear a suit on the road. It's not going in your sweats. Like, we're going on a business trip. He was teaching us more than just being an athlete. Teaching how to be a man when sports was over. And so being on TV every day, suit, suit, suit, suit. I'm wearing suits all the time. And it's like, well, you know what? I love that. Like, I love fashion. I love the suits. Why don't I create my own? You know, instead of depending on somebody else to go in and try to create something. Thinking than my style. Yeah. So with that 10 years ago, we created Collection.

[Michael Strahan]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

By Michael Strahan. And it's been doing, well, 10 years now. We're going into 100 Belk stores.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

And Belk online. And belk.com online. So. So the business just continues to evolve, Continues to grow. We're doing home goods. We're doing all these. Yeah. All these crazy things. And it's kind of fabulous. Blows my mind, Kiki. Because here I am, this kid who just was happy to have a job and not have to move back in with my parents. And I look back and I'm going, wow, life is crazy. And you never know where you're gonna end up and just how. How I feel, like a lot of it. I could say. I. I would love to say I've made all the right decisions and I'm brilliant on it. No, I'm very fortunate, very lucky to make the right decisions when they were made. But more than that, around the right people to help me along the way.

[Keke Palmer]

Amen. Because it takes a team.

[Sarah Haynes]

Yeah. It's around the people you put yourself around.

[Keke Palmer]

And with all that said, life can still throw so many uncontrollable things our way. And this is. It's a good thing. Right. Because Isabella's now back at usc. She's feeling better. She's cancer free. But she did have cancer.

[Sarah Haynes]

Yeah.

[Keke Palmer]

So that was crazy. I mean, I remember when I saw that news and I was blown away, man. And I already know you and your character, how much. How helpless you probably felt. What did you learn from that situation? And. And how are you feeling now? Because I imagine the trauma of that.

[Michael Strahan]

It.

[Keke Palmer]

Even when you've moved past it, it still kind of.

[Sarah Haynes]

Oh, yeah, yeah. That goes. You know what I Learned that in life, sometimes you gotta let go, you gotta pray, you gotta depend on prayers, you gotta trust in doctors or whoever can handle the situation because that's one of the things completely out of your hands. And that was the worst part, was feeling helpless. I can't fix this, you know, something goes wrong at school or I need this or that or that. All right, you know your needs to take it to this concert. You can't get him, daddy help you out. You know what I'm saying? You can fix whatever needs to be fixed. In this case, it was no just fixing it. And you wake up in the morning when it first happened, for the first month or so, I'd wake up and go, oh boy. Oh, the dream sucked.

[Michael Strahan]

Yeah.

[Sarah Haynes]

And you realize, oh, this is not a dream, this is real. And it was devastating. Very devastating and very scary because you don't know the outcome come if it's going to be positive or not. You know what you're hoping for, you know what you're praying for. And even now she's, thank God, cancer free, back at school, crushing it, doing well, loving back to her, her tea or her 21 year old life.

[Keke Palmer]

Yep.

[Sarah Haynes]

But at the same time, every three months she gets a scan and you still worry, you know, you still worry even though doctors feel very good about you still worry. I mean, it's never far away from your mind. And.

[Keke Palmer]

And she changed.

[Sarah Haynes]

I think so, yeah. And she was always a sweet kid, but I just think that this gave her some sense of appreciation, a little bit more her age. And I think that she has, she really wants to help people because she did the whole documentary on ABC and she was vlogging at first about it because she couldn't find anybody her age when she was going through this. So she just thought, I'm a vlog about it. And she found one kid, Greg, who didn't hit her back when she reached out to him because she saw this young kid had it. And Greg was the captain of the LSU football team, safety. But she didn't hear back from him. So she kind of said, I'm a vlog and just throw it out there, kind of get it off her chest. And one of the ladies that she connected to was like, oh, my grandson had it and he had it, he had surgery, he's this and that. It ended up being Greg's grandmother. And the reason Greg didn't reach back to her, because Greg's situation of surgery wasn't as successful in a sense that that, you know, it gave him some impairment and other issues. So he was battling back to come back from that. And. But yeah, so that was like, to understand that and see the community that she was able to build, I think gave her a great feeling about what she was doing, and she knew she was on the right path. And I think it gave her this whole thing about giving back and really helping people. And I've never seen a documentary that she did. I mean, I've heard people say, michael, it's great, man. So proud of your daughter. And I'm like, thank you. Is it hard, you think? I mean, I lived it. I lived it once. I think at some point maybe I'll go back and I'll watch it. But it would be tough to watch that because this is like real life. It's your kid, and you're watching them go through it. And to me, it brings back memories of some of the experiences that I had with her and watching how she was and some of these situations that it would just break my heart to see it right.

[Keke Palmer]

Right now.

[Michael Strahan]

Yeah.

[Keke Palmer]

I'm so thankful to God that she's good that you guys have gotten through that and that they had you to lean on.

[Sarah Haynes]

Thank you.

[Keke Palmer]

Other exciting news is that you. You're a grandfather.

[Sarah Haynes]

Yeah, I am. I'm old, man. My grandchild was born in 1993.

[Keke Palmer]

Oh. So what do they call you?

[Michael Strahan]

I mean, you.

[Keke Palmer]

You. You was joking.

[Michael Strahan]

Joking.

[Keke Palmer]

You. You was joking about them calling you Big Papa?

[Sarah Haynes]

Yeah, I'm. I'm. I got to come up with a cool name, you know? My little man, Onyx.

[Keke Palmer]

How old is he? The same age as Leo or older than Leo?

[Sarah Haynes]

No, he's younger than Leo. Leo's what? Three?

[Michael Strahan]

Three?

[Sarah Haynes]

Well, Onyx is going to be two. He's gonna. He's going on two. But he. He just got a haircut. Like, he had a big, buff, puffy fro. And then they cut it down, and then they left it for a few weeks and they cut it down some more. Now he looks good. He's got a nice little fade. But he looked good before. He looked good. All different kind of hair, but. Yeah.

[Keke Palmer]

So cute when a little baby's had a little haircut.

[Sarah Haynes]

Yeah, that's so cute. But he. You know what? He's. He's already a kid after my own heart. He loves cars.

[Keke Palmer]

My son loves cars, too. I actually thought it was so unique. Apparently, that's what all the boys do, you know? Well, I'm like, really?

[Sarah Haynes]

I'm hoping.

[Keke Palmer]

I thought my son was, like, unique, but then every little boy is like,

[Sarah Haynes]

not every little boy loves cars. Let me tell you right now. Our kids, our kid, your kids, my grandkid, are unique week. Every.

[Keke Palmer]

My son is obsessed with. And he loves Lightning McQuaid. Anyway. All right, I gotta come to an end because you're a busy guy. You gotta get back to your other jobs. Are we done before we leave the building already? We're gonna play a game. Are you ready for a game? I do it with all of my guests and, you know, pretty much you

[Sarah Haynes]

gonna ask me questions on all those cards. Is this rapid fire?

[Keke Palmer]

This is kind of like rapid fire. So basically, it's time to say what we really think about each other. I'm gonna throw out a prompt and we'll decide if it's giving Kiki or if it's giving Michael, okay?

[Sarah Haynes]

Oh, Chris is either.

[Keke Palmer]

Okay, who's more competitive, me or you giving Kiki. I cannot believe that you're saying that. And you play the most competitive sport.

[Michael Strahan]

That's crazy.

[Sarah Haynes]

No, no, those days are long. That was survival. As I said, trying to make a

[Keke Palmer]

living like a was so fake. Okay, who is more likely to be going off in a group chat? Me or you?

[Sarah Haynes]

Like going off.

[Keke Palmer]

I think both of us are quiet. We're both watching.

[Sarah Haynes]

Yeah, I'm kind of listening.

[Keke Palmer]

I'll never say much in a group chat.

[Sarah Haynes]

Nah, that's me then. Oh, Michael, that's me.

[Keke Palmer]

That's you.

[Sarah Haynes]

Cause usually I start something in the group chat and I kind of. I do like the homer sensing in the bushes. I throw something out there and I slide back and let everybody else fight it out and sit back in the corner.

[Keke Palmer]

Yeah, you're crazy. Who is most likely to accidentally reveal a surprise? Oh, Keke.

[Sarah Haynes]

Kik. Absolutely.

[Keke Palmer]

I get too excited. Yeah, I get way too excited. Okay, who talked more in the commercial break? Me or you? Obviously me. I don't even know why I asked that. Michael will be so tired of me. But can we just talk about that schedule and how it's actually the most undefeated schedule. You have to get up at like 3, 4am but you're done by noon.

[Sarah Haynes]

Who, me?

[Keke Palmer]

Now? You're not now with GMA3. That's how it was.

[Sarah Haynes]

Oh, GMA3. Yeah, we would finish. What time would we shoot that show? No, we would finish about 10, 11 or so.

[Keke Palmer]

Done. Yeah, done. I missed that life.

[Sarah Haynes]

Yeah, I know.

[Keke Palmer]

I mean, it was crazy to get up early. And then Michael got me so on point that I would work out before I came. You hooked me up with your trainer. I would wake up at 3:30am I would go with your trainer. I would work out before coming to the set at 5am Doing my glam for two hours. We on there at 7, do the two shows out at 11. That was.

[Sarah Haynes]

It was. It was a great. It's a great schedule. Great work if you can get it.

[Keke Palmer]

Okay. Okay. Last. Last one.

[Michael Strahan]

Hmm.

[Keke Palmer]

Which one of us was the crew's favorite? Be honest.

[Sarah Haynes]

You want me to be honest? You sure you want my honesty?

[Michael Strahan]

Yes.

[Keke Palmer]

Honestly. I'll admit Michael's everyone's favorite. He just has this quality.

[Sarah Haynes]

I did not say that he has

[Keke Palmer]

this quality about him. He's just so lovable. I love him. You love him. And no, you know what?

[Sarah Haynes]

Crew is family. We get all the credit. Cause we sit here in front of the camera, whatever microphones, but the crew is the family. So I always believe in taking care of the crew. I believe in, you know, springing for lunch, springing for breakfast, doing anything. Who did that? Just. We just had. I just sent a whole group to. I got a box at Barclays so they can go see New Edition, Boyz II Men and Toni Braxton. And I wasn't even in town, so I was like, here, here's a box, here's food, there's drink. You go enjoy yourself. Because I believe that if you give the people around you really make it all happen. Things that they appreciate outside of the job, then they'll give you everything they have in the job. And that's important.

[Keke Palmer]

These are the kind of people that I get to call mentors. I'm so lucky to have you, to know you as a friend, as a collaborator, and happy to have you as a guest on Baby, this is Kiki Poppa.

[Sarah Haynes]

And as a grandfather, because you were born the year I started working, I love Kiki Pop.

[Keke Palmer]

Michael has done so much, but what stands out is how in intentional he is about what actually matters. This isn't about chasing more. It's about how you spend your time, who you show up for, and what you carry forward. Because success may open doors, but your values decide which ones you walk through. I'm so glad that he showed up and showed his heart. Until next time. Baby, this is Kiki Palmer. Baby, this is. This is Kiki. Baby, this is Kiki Palma. Yeah.