Danielle Sylvester: Teenage Runaway to Best-Selling Author

Summary

Podcast Summary: Danielle Sylvester: Teenage Runaway to Best-Selling Author

Podcast Title: Dumb Blonde
Host/Author: Dumb Blonde Productions
Episode: Danielle Sylvester: Teenage Runaway to Best-Selling Author
Release Date: March 17, 2025

---

Introduction

In this compelling episode of the "Dumb Blonde" podcast, hosted by Dumb Blonde Productions, Danielle Sylvester engages in an intimate and raw conversation with her sister, Tina. The episode delves deep into Tina's tumultuous journey from a troubled childhood to becoming a best-selling author, highlighting themes of resilience, addiction, recovery, and the power of authentic relationships.

---

Childhood and Family Dynamics

Tina opens up about her challenging upbringing in Maryland, raised by a single mother alongside four siblings. She describes the instability of frequently moving homes and the emotional turmoil stemming from her mother's struggles with race and identity.

• Abusive Environment:
  "My mom was very physically abusive, verbally abusive to all five of us."
  (06:25)

• Racial Tensions:
  "As a white woman in Maryland having biracial children... it just was really hard for her."
  (06:25)

Tina recounts the impact of her mother's inability to navigate complex emotions, leading to neglect and harsh discipline. Social services often intervened, causing further instability as the family moved between relatives and temporary accommodations.

---

Teenage Years and Early Struggles

At the age of 16, overwhelmed by her circumstances and seeking escape, Tina made the difficult decision to run away from home. This period marked the beginning of her tumultuous journey through relationships and substance abuse.

• Running Away:
  "I'm out of here."
  (18:09)

Tina describes walking approximately 10 miles alone in the middle of the night, a pivotal moment that led her to seek refuge with friends and eventually meet the father of her child under distressing circumstances.

---

Relationships and Motherhood

Tina's relationship with a significantly older man while she was still a teenager resulted in an unplanned pregnancy. The complexities of this relationship, marked by deceit and emotional manipulation, are candidly discussed.

• Discovering the Pregnancy:
  "I cried and I cried and I cried."
  (24:55)

Despite initial plans to give her daughter up for adoption, Tina's unwavering love for her child led her to choose to keep her daughter, Theory. This decision was further complicated by family dynamics and the absence of stable support systems.

• Naming Theory:
  "We listened to his favorite band, Groove Theory... that's how we came up with Theory's name."
  (49:09)

---

Addiction and Recovery

Tina candidly shares her battle with substance abuse, detailing how easy access to drugs in the club environment and relationships contributed to her addiction. Her descent into addiction included the use of Percocet, Xanax, and later, harder substances like cocaine.

• Initial Use:
  "I just was trying to find something to see exactly what is going on."
  (25:43)

Her turning point came when she inadvertently left her daughter unattended, leading to a realization that her addiction was jeopardizing her ability to parent. This moment of crisis propelled Tina towards seeking help and committing to sobriety.

• Rock Bottom:
  "That's the last day that I ever touched a Percocet."
  (65:25)

---

Finding Love and Marriage

After achieving sobriety, Tina found solace and support in her relationship with Danielle Sylvester. Their partnership blossomed into a loving marriage, grounded in mutual respect, acceptance, and unwavering support.

• Marriage:
  "We eloped, we went to Vegas and got married."
  (85:50)

Danielle highlights the strength of their bond, emphasizing Tina's authenticity and the unconditional love that forms the foundation of their enduring relationship.

• Danielle on Tina:
  "She accepts that part of me. She doesn't throw my past at me."
  (86:42)

---

Parenting and Authorship

Tina's journey into motherhood inspired her to become an author. Her book, "Not a Doctor, Just a Mom," explores empathetic and respectful parenting techniques, challenging misconceptions about gentle parenting.

• About the Book:
  "It's about parenting with empathy, respect, and boundaries... resolving conflicts without forcing your opinions."
  (98:12)

The book has achieved significant acclaim, topping Amazon's new release charts in categories like child and teen discipline, reflecting Tina's impactful insights and experiences.

---

Social Media and Branding

Leveraging their experiences, Tina and Danielle ventured into social media, creating content that resonates with diverse audiences. Their TikTok presence gained traction by addressing taboo topics and fostering authentic conversations about family dynamics and personal struggles.

• Building the Brand:
  "We felt like there were stories that weren't being told... That's how hey mom started."
  (90:57)

Their content blend educational segments with relatable skits, providing comfort and representation for listeners navigating similar challenges.

---

Future Goals and Conclusion

Looking ahead, Tina and Danielle aim to expand their brand, continue writing, and inspire others through their authentic storytelling. Tina aspires to further her influence as an author and advocate for empathetic parenting, while Danielle continues to support and amplify their shared mission.

• Goals for 2025:
  "I want her to focus on something more beneficial to her where she has a lot more time maybe to do something that she wants."
  (94:10)

The episode concludes with heartfelt acknowledgments of their mutual support and the unwavering bond that has sustained them through years of adversity and triumph.

---

Notable Quotes

• Tina on Her Mother's Struggles:
  "She took it out on us... she was God to me."
  (07:55)

• Tina Reflecting on Addiction:
  "Life hurts harder than those pills."
  (93:50)

• Danielle on Authenticity:
  "I love that you own exactly who you are."
  (105:17)

---

Conclusion

This episode of the "Dumb Blonde" podcast offers a poignant and unfiltered look into Tina's life, showcasing her resilience and the transformative power of love and self-acceptance. Danielle Sylvester adeptly navigates the conversation, providing a platform for Tina to share her story and inspire listeners with her journey from a teenage runaway to a celebrated author and devoted mother.

---

Where to Find Tina and Danielle:

• Tina:

  • Social Media: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat (@Sylvester_Danielle_)
  • Book: Not a Doctor, Just a Mom available on Amazon

• Danielle Sylvester:

  • Social Media: Shared platforms with Tina
  • Current Projects: Continues developing content for their brand and supporting Tina's initiatives

---

Join Bunnie XO each week on the "Dumb Blonde" podcast for more inspiring stories, hilarious discussions, and real-life insights that encourage laughter, relatability, and personal healing.

Transcript

[Danielle Sylvester]

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[Tina]

Bunny EXO.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Bunny EXO podcast and Bunny Rolls like Bunny Bunny. Is this thing on? What's up, you sexy? Welcome to another episode of Don Von Today. I have one of my girls here, and I am so happy to finally sit down with her. This has been a long time coming. She has a great story. I can't wait for you guys to hear it. I can't wait to hear it. Danny Sylvester in the house, baby.

[Tina]

Hi, everybody. It's nice to be here. I'm so excited it's finally here.

[Danielle Sylvester]

It's. Seriously. She was supposed to come on the podcast a couple weeks ago, but I got got the neurovirus for eating some oysters.

[Tina]

Oh, it was from oysters, I. I'm.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Assuming, but I'm telling you, I've only gotten sick. I've been eating oysters my whole life. I've only gotten sick off oysters twice. And that neuro virus virus was the second time. And I didn't know that oysters caused neurovirus until. And then I felt so much better though, because you're like, I've had this. It's all right, I get it. And I'm like, how long did it last?

[Tina]

Yeah. I'm like, oh, God, it was awful. It ran through our house. Our whole entire house had it. And then unfortunately, we gave it to one of our kittens.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah, when you told me that, I was like, oh. Because Chachi had been laying with me the whole time, so I was like, oh, my God, I hope this fudgeing dog does not ever feel like I did.

[Tina]

Look at him.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah, this is why we tell him we're going to work, because he's literally grown up sitting here.

[Tina]

I know. I love him.

[Danielle Sylvester]

No, he's.

[Tina]

I'm a big fan of his.

[Danielle Sylvester]

He's the best. I'm so happy that you're here because I stumbled upon you probably like two years ago. Yeah. And I was like, who is this beautiful beast? I was like, she is so gorgeous. But not only that, like, I just love that, you know, you're married to Tina. You guys are very, you know, like, hey, this is our relationship. This is who we are. If you don't like us, we don't give a fuck, you know, because TikTok can be so fudgeing brutal. And then I also love the relationship with your daughter, too. I think it's just amazing. And so I would like to learn a little bit about you.

[Tina]

Oh, okay.

[Danielle Sylvester]

So let's take it back. You grew up in. You were. You grew up in Maryland, Right?

[Tina]

Up in Maryland by my mother, single mom of five. I'm the middle and, you know, we house hopped a lot as I just came out on that story of showing everybody where I lived. And yeah, it was a. It was big struggles, but I learned how to make a community within my circle. And that was my brother, my sister, and now my younger sister and brother. And I think that helped me become who I am today. But I don't know, I.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Were you close with your mom.

[Tina]

Growing up? I developed this. This type of. I don't know how to really explain it. So my mom was very physically abusive, verbally abusive. And to all five of you or just all of us? All of us. And as a white woman in Maryland, having biracial children and friends, like, not accepting her because she has black children and the black community not accepting her because she's white, it just was really hard for her. So I don't think that she knew how to navigate those emotions and feelings. So she took it out on us. Mom, I'm sorry if you are hearing this because I know we are in a better place today. So this is just.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I think it paints a picture of the journey, though, also of like, the growth. And we'll get to that point with your mom too. But I mean, what happened in the.

[Tina]

Past, when we talk about how we are today, it's just, we're better, but it took a long time for us to get here. It. There was a lot of times where social services were called because we were dirty. We're not fed well. She was a white woman, didn't know how to take care of, you know, mixed children's hair. So we went to school with our hair nappy. Sometimes we went to school with cat pee and cat poop on our. Or clothing.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And was she always gone because she was working?

[Tina]

She worked. She worked a lot. It worked a lot. But whenever social services came, I feel like I'm, like, all over the place. Not, like, tailing in the story, but.

[Danielle Sylvester]

You'Re okay, you're good, you're paying.

[Tina]

Whenever social services would come, we would run, we would hide. And that is where the question of, did you have, like, a great relationship with your mom? Comes in. It's like, I don't know if it was a great relationship. I just knew my loyalty lied to her. It doesn't matter how often she beat us, how often she said horrible things to us, how often we didn't eat. I still loved my mom. Like, in my eyes, she was God to me.

[Danielle Sylvester]

She was all you knew.

[Tina]

She was all me. And my siblings and my mom were all we knew at that time because the outside world didn't accept us as of. I mean, they didn't accept us as much as I would like to say that they did.

[Danielle Sylvester]

But was there segregation? Is that the right word in Maryland during that time?

[Tina]

I don't necessarily want to say that was segregation. I think that was a lack of insight when people's upbringing. I think that I went to school with white kids, Asians and black kids, but being mixed was a different world because you didn't know exactly where you fit, where you belonged. It's. The black kids knew exactly who they were, their upbringing, how to do their hair, how to dress, how to speak. White kids knew exactly what to do in the same. Same elements. But when it came to me, I was like, okay, I have a single white moment, raising me the best that she can. And I lack this part of my identity. And it was hard. It was hard.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Did you ever get to meet your dad, or did you know who your dad was?

[Tina]

I did. So I did get to meet my dad a few times and when I was younger, and every time I interacted with him, it was just chaotic. My mom. My mom has told us horrible stories about my dad. And then when we met him, we were terrified. We were. We were scared. We were like, oh, my God, he's gonna. He's gonna kill us. He's gonna beat the shit out of you. We were told at one point that my dad tried to assassinate us, and that's why we. We left. Or she moved. And it was just. It was very chaotic. And then it's just hurtful for Parents.

[Danielle Sylvester]

To lay that on their kids shoulders at such a young age.

[Tina]

And that is why I am the parent that I am when it comes to talking shit about my child's father. Yeah, I now that I'm a little older, I mean, she's a little older, we can have honest conversations. Cause she's dealing with the adult version of him. But growing up, I did not tell her.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah, because you learned about how that made you feel as a child.

[Tina]

Yeah, it was, it was, it was insane. It was crazy.

[Danielle Sylvester]

But to your siblings, were you like the protector? Who. What was your role in the family?

[Tina]

I am the little big sister. No, I am the little big sister. I am the middle. But my big brother and my big sister look at me as their parent. Parental figure, I should say. And then my little siblings look at me as their big sister. So it's kind. It's a different dynamic with both of them because we come from different litters. My brother, my sister and I, we have the same father and mother. And then my little brother and my little sister have the same mother and same father.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Gotcha. It's all right. I get it. There's four of me and my family and we all have different. My. We have my sister, who's from my mom, and then my brother who's from my dad, different mom. And then I have my younger sister who's from my stepmom and my dad. So I get it.

[Tina]

We're all.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I feel like. When were you born? What year?

[Tina]

84.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah, okay, so I'm 80. So it's like that generation of parents, like, what the fuck was wrong with them? What were you doing? What the fuck was going on in the 80s?

[Tina]

They just wasn't given the tools. No, they weren't given the tools.

[Danielle Sylvester]

It's not even that they weren't given the tools, but even if they were given the tools, they're not going to fudgeing apply them. They're the most honorary generation I've ever met. Yeah, like, they are so honorary. Like they think they know everything and they didn't do anything wrong and they only raised you the best they knew how.

[Tina]

And because life was what it was. It is. It was so black and white for them. Yeah. And now there, there's so many different areas to explore. There are so many different people. There is outlets where you can actually learn and educate yourself. So yeah, they're just like, no, that's, that's, that's new. That new generation is now new age.

[Danielle Sylvester]

They call it like the new age. What are you learning growing up, whenever CPS was called so many times. Did you guys ever get taken from your mom?

[Tina]

Okay, we never, we never got taken away from my mom.

[Danielle Sylvester]

So scary though, to have these people invading your privacy.

[Tina]

It was, it was very scary. But I mean we never were taken away from my mom, but we did get placed on her. Like we were living in hotels or we got evicted. So there was many times where we were living with my mom's best friends or aunts, uncles, my mom's boss.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Just no stability.

[Tina]

Yeah, no, none, none. My brother moved out when he was 15, my sister moved out when she was originally 14. I went with my first family when I was 11 and stayed and then went back with my mom and then I completely left when I was 16. So it was a lot of misplacements. But never taken away in the system, right?

[Danielle Sylvester]

Correct.

[Tina]

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[Danielle Sylvester]

So take me on, you know, a little bit older as you guys are going through all of these hardships, you know, are you in school? You know, how is education like? No, it seems like it was just complete chaos.

[Tina]

Chaos. My mom instilled work ethics.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Right.

[Tina]

And not education. I quit school. 9th grade. I have a 9th grade education which I went back and got my GE day. Yay. Good for you. But school was not a priority at all. If I woke up and was like, oh, I don't feel like it. She's just like, make sure the house clean, make sure that you take the food out. That's it.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Wow.

[Tina]

It was not a priority at all. My daughter is one of the first in my siblings generation that graduated high school.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Oh, I love that. That speaks volumes of the mom that you are. I can't wait to get to her. So you said that you got pregnant when you were 16, so. Or no, I'm sorry. You moved out when you were 16. Take me all the way up to there. So you know you're not going to school. You dropped out in ninth grade, which is like 14, right?

[Tina]

I was 15. Yeah. Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

What's going on in that Whole area of time, nothing.

[Tina]

I just, you know, I was getting suspended every other week. I was fighting. I just didn't find interests in school. Even growing, growing up, it was just hard to even get my homework assignments done because I didn't have anybody to help me with my assignments. I was in speech because I had a crazy lisp, which I still struggle with today. So school was just hard. It was just very hard for me. And there was a point where I just stopped going to school. My mom really didn't care, and I got a job with her at a convenience store. It was a gas station. And I, I just remember my mom always saying, if you work hard like me. My mom's working three jobs. She was working at Cracker Barrel highs. And I, I think it was like a, A cleaning service at this time. It was like, if you work hard like me, you can, you could just have money and you can do this. And I'm just like, this is not living like girl, like, mom, what are you talking about? Is this. And I was working at highs. I came home one day and I was like, you know what, Mom? I'm going to make you dinner. I called her on the phone. I was like, mom, where's. Can I take the ground beef out and can I, you know, make you burgers? And she was like, sure. Just make sure that you clean up. So in my head, and it's kind of crazy because I think about this now, because to this day, I clean as I cook. So do I. I clean as a cook. I, I.

[Danielle Sylvester]

It drives me crazy when people cook and don't clean up after themselves as they're going, like, how do you do that?

[Tina]

It drives me. But I don't even think it's because that's my, it's trauma. I want it. It's because my mom came home that day, I asked her if I could make her hamburgers for dinner, and I presented her with a plate. Apparently, I just did not clean up. I didn't. I know I didn't. But she just said, God damn it, Danielle, it's a fucking mess. Da, da da, da, da, da da. And she's. She took the plate of burgers through it. She and I got into an argument. And I, at that moment, at 16, I was like, I'm the fuck out of here. No, Mom, I'm not calling you. I'm out of here.

[Danielle Sylvester]

In that time, that's what you were thinking.

[Tina]

I tried to call my brother. She cut the phone line, so I couldn't contact my brother because I was like, I'm on my way. And I walked. I walked maybe 10 miles.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Wow.

[Tina]

Like 10 miles. 16 in the middle of the night.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Oh, and she didn't care she let you go or.

[Tina]

She did not ever come for me?

[Danielle Sylvester]

Wow.

[Tina]

No, no, that.

[Danielle Sylvester]

That in a way. That in a sense is kind of a. That in a way is kind of a sense of an abandonment.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

You know, because when your parents don't come after. I. I was the opposite. I would run away and my parents would file police reports to cover their own ass. They didn't really want me home, but it was like if they wanted to look to the, you know, community, like they were caring parents, so they would.

[Tina]

File the fucking performative parents.

[Danielle Sylvester]

But yeah, but it's still hurtful when you leave and your parent is just lets you go.

[Tina]

Yeah. I was already in Philadelphia when she decided that she wanted to come in and see me and see how I was doing. It was probably like nine months after I left. Wow, nine months.

[Danielle Sylvester]

So what did you do when you left at 16?

[Tina]

I walked to my best friend's house call my brother, went to his house. I stayed with him and his wife for a very long time. I ended up trying to sell drugs to provide for me. And I met my child's father, theory's dad. And he was like, you're beautiful. I'm like, I want to be a model. He was like, I'm from Philly. I have these connections. So of course I went with him. I was like, you know what? You're gonna make me a superstar. You're gonna make me a model. You're gonna make me my big dreams come true, like this big Philadelphia guy. And.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And this was how long after you left home?

[Tina]

Probably like six, six to seven months.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay, so it happened all in the.

[Tina]

Same time frame, like the whole first year. Yeah, I was. So it happened.

[Danielle Sylvester]

How old was he?

[Tina]

Okay.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Because you're 16.

[Tina]

I was 16 when I first met.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Him and I heard Tina giggle over there.

[Tina]

I was 16 when I first met him. But when we moved to Philadelphia, I was 17. He told me he was 22. I didn't find out he was 30 until his sister was like, you know he's married. Do you know he. He's. He's not 20 something years old, right?

[Danielle Sylvester]

Oh, my gosh. A 30 year old with a 16 year old. Well, yeah, I just got goosebumps.

[Tina]

Yeah, that's rough. Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Pretty. I don't want to talk, I don't want to say anything bad, but he kind of preyed on you.

[Tina]

Yeah. So him and I, we have talked about it. We. Yeah, we talked about it on my podcast. And. And Theory was kind of shocked about all these details that were coming out. And I was grateful that I didn't tell that story because it was his story to tell about where he was coming from. And I love that you allowed him.

[Danielle Sylvester]

That space to do that.

[Tina]

Thank. Gosh. Because if not, I feel like if I would've.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Because a lot of people wouldn't have given that grace.

[Tina]

I. Tina, I get up here.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Tina.

[Tina]

It was a challenge. It was a challenge. It was a challenge.

[Danielle Sylvester]

How did that. Okay, so. Okay, let's.

[C]

We'll.

[Danielle Sylvester]

We'll get to that in a second.

[Tina]

But.

[Danielle Sylvester]

So he's 16, you're 16, he's 30. You. How long after you guys were together did you find that out?

[Tina]

So hold on. So, okay, so he was 29 when I was 16.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay.

[Tina]

I was 17. And then he turned 30. Okay.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Still the same thing. Danielle.

[Tina]

Yeah, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I love that you're. I love that you are trying to make it sound a little better, but there's nothing you can do to make it sound.

[Tina]

There is nothing.

[Danielle Sylvester]

My dad married. Listen, My dad was 30 something years old and married a 17 year old, so I get it.

[Tina]

I.

[Danielle Sylvester]

36, actually. I think he was 36 when he.

[Tina]

I do that because I do it because I want to protect an image for my child's sanity. You know what I mean?

[Danielle Sylvester]

Of course. And I. And we'll go lightly on that situation, but I do think it's. It's part of your story.

[Tina]

It is.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And you know, people need to see, like, how far you've come in life. And like, this isn't to bash him at all. You know, back then it was like, I don't know, we can cut this out if, if it doesn't fit, if we can't say it on social media, because I know we have to. Anyway, back then, I feel like I'm trying to word this the right way. Older men, right? It was like, if you think about it, little Kim, okay, her hardcore album where she's literally squatting down. She was 16 or 17 years old. You know, like it was.

[Tina]

It.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Men weren't held to a different standard that they are today, and they were allowed to marry young. Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13 year old cousin Presley. Not giving this man a pass. I'm just saying it was a different time.

[Tina]

It was, it was a. It was a different time, definitely. But so when you found out this.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Information, how did this make you feel? Because you've, you guys have been together what, like a year before you found this out?

[Tina]

Probably. Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay.

[Tina]

Around that. I don't, I was so young. Yeah. So I don't know exactly how I felt in the moment. I just felt, I know how I feel today about how I should feel. So I'm trying to not allow that to mess up my, my, my feelings of that. When I found out, maybe I, I probably was shocked.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah, well, when you were lied to, so, I mean, anybody shocked that's finding out a secret like that is like, holy shit.

[Tina]

And we were already going through it. He was already cheating on me. He was already not coming home. He was already not. So I think I was dealing with all of that in the same sense. And that was the time that I found out I had my, my std. And that was, that's what initiated his sister telling me like, I don't know what, what the hell? Like, you know, he's not 20 something years old. He's a 30 year old man and he's married.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Where was the wife and all of this.

[Tina]

So she, they were separated. Okay. Rightfully so.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Right.

[Tina]

And so she would drop little Sean off. Well, we'll drop, she would drop his son off and yeah, she didn't say anything to me, she didn't say anything to Crystal. She wouldn't talk to anybody. She would just drop the baby off and that would be, that would be it with me. No interactions with Sean. It was just, I knew he had a son.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Right.

[Tina]

But I didn't know that he had other children.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Right. Oh, he had other children other than the son?

[Tina]

Yeah. This didn't find, didn't find out that until I was pregnant.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay, so let's rewind real quick. You said that you found out that you had an std. How did this come about?

[Tina]

Okay, so my girlfriend was doing my hair. We were about to go to such a strip club. That's a different story.

[Danielle Sylvester]

We were, Were you dancing at 16?

[Tina]

I was, I was, I was dancing as soon as I was 16.

[Danielle Sylvester]

That is a huge thing you left out, Daniel.

[Tina]

Yeah, no, I was dancing when I was 16. I was a few months shy of 17. It doesn't matter. I, I, I'm always on this fence.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Danny, Danny, I love you. Let's just call it for what it is, baby. Okay? You shouldn't have been there anyways.

[Tina]

Yeah, it's okay. This little teeter fence, I'm like, I have 60.

[Danielle Sylvester]

So let's, let's get in. Let's get into the STD first and then we'll talk about the club. I just keep. She keeps dropping these. She keeps dropping these bombs on me, and I'm. You know what? You're like me. When I talk about my trauma or shit I've been through, I'm like, oh, yeah, it's.

[Tina]

It's. It's all over the place, girl. I'm writing a one.

[Danielle Sylvester]

No, I'm writing a book right now. And it is the hardest thing that I've ever. I remember something new every time I get, like, a fucking revelation. And I'm like, oh, yeah, that happened too. And, like, it's so hard to recount your life, but you're doing a great job.

[Tina]

It's funny because I. This is how I started my book that I just published.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah, and we'll talk about that.

[Tina]

I tried to do my memoir, and I. It was impossible. I was like, oh, this and this and this. Yeah, I don't know how to push this piece off together. It's done. Let's do a parental book.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah, but you need to tell your story too, because. And you can also get, like, a ghostwriter that can help you, and that way it'll, like, reel it in and stuff like that.

[Tina]

Interesting story. Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I mean, I'm intrigued. All right, let's get back to the std.

[Tina]

Let's talk about you. Dirty. I'm sorry.

[Danielle Sylvester]

No.

[Tina]

Yeah, so.

[Danielle Sylvester]

So, no, I. I want to know about the strip club. Like, I. We have a. A very similar life story. Yeah, it's very crazy to hear. I left home at 4. I don't know if you know, but I left home at 14. Like, I was dancing at a very young age. I was hanging out with pimps in strip clubs at 16. So I get it. I get it, baby.

[Tina]

Well, I was getting my hair done and I. I was like, oh, my God. Like. Like I am literally stringing my. My hoo ha with my tights at this time. And my girl Ebony, she was like, what the hell is wrong with you? And I was like, I don't know. Like, I'm really itchy. Like, I'm. I'm itchy. And Sean came in up the steps, and she was like, sean, did you give my girl std? And I was like, std? No, but you like. No, I just like wearing these tight ass clothes. She was like, danielle, I think that you have an std. So John was like, oh, your trip and get the out of my house. Like, he kicked my girlfriend out and everything.

[Danielle Sylvester]

That's how you know he's guilty.

[Tina]

I was. I should have known.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I mean, you're young, baby. You didn't know yet.

[Tina]

Gullible, you know, Now I believe him. But something in my. My soul was like, nah, listen, you.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Know, when your hoo ha's off.

[Tina]

Yeah, every girl. So I. I went to the clinic. It was so ironic. My sister came up that following. I think it was like, two days later. She just was like. I was like, my cooch is burning. Blah, blah, blah. And she was like, how about. Let's just go to the clinic? Went to the clinic. They were like, oh, yeah, you got chlamydia. I was. I went crazy. Mind you, Sean did not come home after he kicked Ebony out the house. Like, he didn't come home for a week. So the whole time my sister got there to this point, he was not home. So I went to his sister, the only other person that I really knew in Philadelphia.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Sister's the only one who kept it real with you, though.

[Tina]

Oh, yeah. Okay, let's. Let's talk about my big sister. I'm her big sister. But she's. She's still always going to be my big sister. She always protects me. She's my ride or die.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And that's his sister, right?

[Tina]

My sister.

[Danielle Sylvester]

That's your sister.

[Tina]

Okay.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay.

[Tina]

He has sisters, too.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Gotcha. Okay.

[Tina]

And they were like, oh, yeah, you got chlamydia. So my sister's like, this is what you're going to do. This is what you're going to say. You don't have to act crazy, mind you. I'm a psychopath at that age. I am.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah, me too.

[Tina]

Crazy. I don't want anybody to think that I was. Oh, Oh, I was a psychopath.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I mean, and rightfully so, though, if somebody gives you a std, that's your health. That somebody is with. And. And the betrayal.

[Tina]

So when he finally. So I went to his sister and I was telling her what happened, she was just like, danielle, he's not like, how old do you think this man is? And I was like, this. He's 22 years old, 23. And she's like, no, he's 30 years old. His baby mom is his wife. They are not divorced. Da, da, da. And I was like, oh, shit. Like, who the fuck is this man? So my sister's there, and she's like, you know what? I'm gonna stay until you. You figure this out, until you feel better. A couple days later, Sean did come home, and he just was like, that's a lie. You probably was sleeping with this maintenance man. I'm like, we don't even.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Not the maintenance man.

[Tina]

We don't even have a mainten. He was like, you're sleeping with a maintenance man? And I was like, what the hell? Like, no, I'm not. I never cheated on. I never cheated on you.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah, they always try to deflect.

[Tina]

So it was just chaos. My sister just kept on trying to force me to come back home with her and I was like, no, I'm going to work it out with him. Him. And I tried to work it out and then a month later I got pregnant.

[Danielle Sylvester]

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[Tina]

Oh, God. Okay, so I was working at Burke. Working. Let's talk about this. Okay.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And that burger was my first job.

[Tina]

So. You know what? It's crazy. I always wanted to be a dancer. It. I, I did. I watched Anna Nicole. I was obsessed with her. I loved her.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I met her.

[Tina]

You did. Shut up. When we would have family time with, you know, like my mom and. Because Tuesdays, regardless of how crazy and psychotic psychotic my mom was or abusive she was because of the lack of tools that she had when raising children, we still had Tuesday nights. We watched Rescue 911. We did family nights and we did talk. And they were always like, danielle, what do you want to do when you get older? I'm like, I want to be an actress or I want to be a stripper. So let's put this in there before, like, I get it.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Have you heard the intro to my podcast? I literally say, as a child, I just wanted to grow up and be hot. Hot.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Like, that's all I wanted to. I knew I could make money being hot somehow.

[Tina]

We all want to be hot. Yeah. Like, we all.

[Danielle Sylvester]

We grew up in the generation of Playboy and Penthouse and, you know, Hustler for some people. And it's just like Hustler. Yeah. For some people. Listen, listen. We can't. We can't. Yuck. Anybody's yum. But, you know, Playboy and Penthouse, we grew up in an era where, like, glamour, like, guest models, Victoria's Secret models were, like, supermodels, not influencers.

[Tina]

They're not.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Not taking a dig. But I'm just talking like, it was a completely different time. Adriana Limas, the Anna Nicoles, the. Well, who's the girl from Guns N'ROSES his ex, Stephanie Seymour. Like, it's beautiful, right?

[Tina]

Like, beautiful.

[Danielle Sylvester]

We were surrounded by nothing but hotness.

[Tina]

Beautiful, beautiful, sexy, unique looking women. Yeah, everybody looks the same. Like, we all look.

[Danielle Sylvester]

No, I think you're beautiful. You're beautiful.

[Tina]

Tina has to say those things.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Tina, you're just so cute. I can't wait till Tina gets up here.

[Tina]

She's a star.

[Danielle Sylvester]

No, we love Tina.

[Tina]

I fucking love her.

[Danielle Sylvester]

We love Tina.

[Tina]

I mean, so I'm trying to argue with her, and then it's like, yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

So the stripping.

[Tina]

Yes.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Grew up around beautiful women, watching beautiful women. She's so Bailey.

[Tina]

So Bailey.

[Danielle Sylvester]

She's so Gemini. I love, love it. But luckily I have. I speak fluent Gemini, so I get it. Thank you. So I will reel you back in, baby.

[Tina]

Sorry, I need that. I need you to reel me back in because I'm like, ah, I love it, though. So I was working at Burger King when I first got to Philadelphia because Crystal, his sister, was making me work, which obviously, you need to work if you're staying up at my house. You're a little kid. You need to work. You need some kind of structure. She couldn't put me to school. Whatever. And my manager was doing this little ignorant ass thing. He was watching me put onion rings in the onion ring box wrong. And he had everybody in the back of the kitchen looking at me doing it wrong. And then when he confronted me, he confronted me in front of everybody. And I was like, no, fuck you. I don't need this bullshit. You should have told me in private. You should have corrected me when you see me do it. And I'm crying. And I left, and I was like, you know what, Sean? Like, I. I think I want to dance. I want to. I want to strip. I was like, oh, yeah, I can put you onto the rum cake. Like, I know a couple people. My niece. So he put me onto his knees, went into the strip club, and that was it.

[Danielle Sylvester]

So they hired you? They lie about your age?

[Tina]

No, I didn't lie about shit.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And they still hired you?

[Tina]

They didn't even ask me my age. Mr. Epps never asked me. And if. And I know there.

[Danielle Sylvester]

It's such a different era because there's.

[Tina]

A lot of people that know about the rum keg in West Philly. And I think we all were at some point in time under the age.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Was it totally nude or just topless?

[Tina]

It was. No, it was. You didn't take any of your clothes off.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Wow.

[Tina]

It was just like five dollar lap dances around the bar with clothes on. With.

[Danielle Sylvester]

With your little like, lingerie.

[Tina]

Lingerie, yeah. Yeah. I was. I was infamous for my teddies in sportswear. Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Because I know in Vegas we had bar clubs out there that you could be 18, but it was. You had to be totally nude, which made no sense.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

So you could strip if you were 18, but you had to show your butthole, you know, And.

[Tina]

But.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And then all the 21 and up clubs were topless, so it was so backwards.

[Tina]

Yeah, no, so there it was just. You just wore clothing and you just danced.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah. Take me to the first night that you danced.

[Tina]

Oh, God.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Do you remember it?

[Tina]

I do. I want to hear about it. I had this pink little, like, top one, and it had little. Little rhinestones on and a pink little bottoms. I went to. To the candy shop in Philly on South street, which Joe still loves me so to this day, because I went there until my retiring days. And he's actually the one who helped me pick the name out. Rookie.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Rookie.

[Tina]

Rookie was my first dance name. I love that it was Rookie. I was a rookie, but not for too long. And he helped me get a couple outfits and then I went to.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Were you nervous?

[Tina]

I was. I was very nervous. Yeah. So I went in. Sean brought me in. I seen Mr. Epps and he was like 15. The dressing room's upstairs. I got undressed. Everybody was like, oh, my God, your boobs are so great. Your boobs are so great. This is before I had my implants done.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Don't you love strippers? We're always hyping each other up.

[Tina]

I don't literally understand the community. In the strip club, we. I am still adult industry.

[Danielle Sylvester]

In the adult industry, women are so for each other.

[Tina]

Yes, they are. And people are like, oh, no, you guys have no morals, no value. I'm like, girl, the lady at the grocery store is your husband, literally.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And will smile in your face while she's ringing up your groceries.

[Tina]

These women are out here trying to hustle, bustle, make, and don't give a. About your husband, about no. Oh, sorry, Facts. They don't give a shit about no man. You're a man.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Facts. I preach that all the time on this podcast. I always say that the. Some of the most amazing women that I Have in my life still to this day are in the sex industry.

[Tina]

I'm still very close with my. My girls from the strip club days. It's just so cool.

[Danielle Sylvester]

It's like a sisterhood that's just unspoken.

[Tina]

I call it our sorority because I never went to college. It's our sorority, and we still bring up conversations and endeavors, depth moments where we're just like, this was a pivotal moment for us. And it's. It's an amazing feeling. Like, I see all my girls and we're doing all great things. Yeah. Individually.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah.

[Tina]

You know, it's like, we're great people. Yeah. Always have been. I love that people in society have always condemned people in the sex industry as horrific.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Well, it's crazy because the sex industry goes all the way back to Bible times.

[Tina]

You know, let's talk about that.

[Danielle Sylvester]

It's like, sex sells and it's always going to be here. And it's like, you guys can frown upon it all you want, but the more you do, it just makes people want to be involved in it or know about it. So it's like not saying that it's okay, like the trafficking part and stuff like that. Like that. But the women who are consensually doing this for themselves and for their college education or for their families or just because they fudgeing, want to take their power back.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Let them fudgeing live, man.

[Tina]

It is a vehicle to your next destination of whomever you decide to be or whatever you desire to be. Like, all because you use something that was God given to you doesn't mean that you don't get to utilize it the way that you want to use it. Yeah. All because I'm not using it the way you want me to use my body. Like, man, please. Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I always say you'll. You'll always be. My favorite quote is, you'll always be fond of me because I represent to you the sins you never had the courage took away.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Like Oscar Wilde. It's a great quote. So you're wearing this pink little rhinestone thing.

[Tina]

She said, I know how to reel you back in.

[Danielle Sylvester]

So we're wearing the pink little rhinestone thing.

[Tina]

Yes. Okay.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Take me on to your first. On the floor.

[Tina]

Get on the floor. So on the floor. I didn't even get on the floor first.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay.

[Tina]

They called me to the stage immediately, immediately, immediately to the stage. And it's like a kitty litter box. It was so small, and it had those little wires around it. It was horrible. And they were like, what song do you Want? They ask you right then and there. They don't. It's not like they give you, like, a set list of all your songs that you prefer. They're like, what song do you want? And I'm like, honey by Mariah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

No.

[Tina]

I was doing her dance and everything on the stage. Yes, I was doing. And I made bank. Everybody around that bar gave me a $5 dance.

[Danielle Sylvester]

It's because you were green. Men love the newbies. They love the newbies.

[Tina]

They loved it. Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I tell all my girls that when they first get in the industry. I'm like, you're gonna make a ton of money the first six months because you're green. I was like, after that, love it because. Keep it going.

[Tina]

Like, us as women, we look at sexier women, we're like, oh, I like that. I like that. I want to be that. And we lose that.

[Danielle Sylvester]

The innocence.

[Tina]

Innocence.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Which is disgusting, because men are just fucking hounds.

[Tina]

I feel awful for you.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Men are fucking. Just hounds. And they could smell it, so it's wrong with them. Yeah. It's ridiculous. So did you continue to dance all the way up until you were pregnant?

[Tina]

I danced all the way up until I was six months.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Really?

[Tina]

I did.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Were you not showing?

[Tina]

I was not showing as much, but I did where I was infamous for the little teddies. So the teddies would cover my stomach, and then when it started peeking through, they were like, are you pregnant? I was like, no.

[Danielle Sylvester]

No, I've just gained weight. What are you trying to say?

[Tina]

Because I think I was in denial for a very long time about being pregnant.

[Danielle Sylvester]

When you found out you were pregnant, how did you feel?

[Tina]

So I was in general for a very long time. Yeah. This is how I found out I was pregnant. I feel like I take the long way around.

[Danielle Sylvester]

You're okay.

[Tina]

Thank you, family, for all these, for being the other Gemini. So I. My sister was still in Philadelphia at this time, or she came back. She came back. She came back because we had her son as well, and I felt different. We were smoking a little weed, and I'm just like, oh. Like, it's making me nauseous. And I was like, jennifer, I had a dream that you were pregnant. And she was like, no, I just got off my period. And I was like, no, bitch, I think you are pregnant. Like, your boobs are big. Saying everything that's happening to me. And I was like, just go get a pregnancy test. I'll take a pregnancy test for just. So if you.

[Danielle Sylvester]

If you're pregnant again, not the gaslighting.

[Tina]

So we Both take a pregnancy test. And they came back not negative. They both came back negative. And later on that night, we just got a little bit more weed. And I'm trying to smoke, and I'm trying to eat some chicken, and I throw up everywhere. So my sister goes back in the bathroom. She pulls up the pregnancy test and pulls it up to a light. She was like, danielle, there's two lines. And I was like, no, no, no. She was like, is this mine or yours? I was like, I don't know. I was like, it's probably yours. Because I. I had a dream. You're pregnant. She's like, well, you're throwing up everywhere. You're throwing up everywhere. So that next day, she took me to the clinic, the same clinic that diagnosed me with chlamydia. And they. They told me that I was pregnant. I cried and I cried and I cried. Sean came home, and he was like, oh, we're going to take care of it together. Blah, blah, blah. Disappeared, man. Disappeared. Disappeared. That, like, he kept his clothes there. He. He went to work. Never came home for good at that time. Yes.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Wow.

[Tina]

Yeah. He would call me, and he was supposed to be helping me with Ren, even though I couldn't.

[Danielle Sylvester]

So what did you do when you couldn't dance anymore? To. To.

[Tina]

So I decided that I was going to give my daughter up for adoption to this church. And I was like, if I give her up for adoption to the church, I'll, like, be able to still live, like, sofa to sofa or wherever I need to go. I just don't want to go back home. I could not go back home to my mom. So I just was like, I'll just deliver up for adoption. My sister got wind of that. I was given my daughter up for adoption, and she was like. She came home. She came to Philly because she was living in Maryland. She came to Philly. I was already getting evicted because I couldn't pay my. My rent. She packed my whole entire fucking apartment. And I'm crying. I'm like, I'm not going. Cussing her out. She grabbed me by my hair, who put me in her car. Her Pontiac Grandam.

[Danielle Sylvester]

We love sister.

[Tina]

Blazing snow. Everywhere. It was snow. And if you know Kelly, drive in Philly, it is so dangerous. My sister hates to drive. She was driving like, shut up.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Shut the fuck.

[Tina]

We finally get to Maryland.

[Danielle Sylvester]

She's taking you back to Mom's?

[Tina]

No, she took me back home to me. To her.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay.

[Tina]

Which was not a better living situation. Her boyfriend at the time was a heroin addict. And my aunt caught wind of that, and she was like, hey, how about, like, you come stay with me? I went to go stay with her. I talked to my other aunt and my uncle, and they said that they would take my daughter. And I talked about it with Theory. And Jennifer, my sister, she was like, that's better. You know, she's in the family. You can be able to see her whenever you want. And that's when that adoption process started. And then when I gave birth to her, I was like, oh, nah, I'm gonna keep this little girl. It's my best friend. I seen her little foot. And how did you come up with the name? So me and her father came up with the name.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Oh.

[Tina]

So he reappeared. So this is, this is even before, like, this is when, like, he came and was telling me that he found an. I missed a whole part. So when he first found out I was getting evicted from the apartment, I got in contact with his sister. His sister got in contact with him when he was working at Holyhan. And he came to the apartment and he was just like, we can keep her, and blah, blah, blah. How about, you know, this name, this name, this name, and this name. And we're listening to his favorite band, Groove Theory. And I was like, what about Theory? And that's how we came up with Theory's name.

[Danielle Sylvester]

It's a cute name.

[Tina]

That was like a little Theory. Yeah. I, yeah, that's good. I love that.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I love that name. So you saw her little foot and you're like, her little foot? I'm not giving this baby up.

[Tina]

I, I, yeah, I was like, n. You're. You're going to stay. You're going to stay with me. And I told my aunt. She stopped talking to me. A she? Yeah, she didn't talk to me. They have a ton of kids.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Oh, okay.

[Tina]

They have a ton of kids. And he, the, the family, my uncle and my aunt, the ones that were supposed to take Theory. My uncle was later arrested for molesting my cousin and my cousin's best friends. Yeah. So he's in jail to this day.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I'm so thankful that I didn't go to Grateful.

[Tina]

I'm eternally grateful. And something just told me, like, hey.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Like, yeah, the universe just knew that.

[Tina]

He was my favorite uncle. Like, uncle. He was my favorite uncle. How did I miss that?

[Danielle Sylvester]

He might have been your favorite uncle because he was so sweet to you and, like, made you feel good because that's how men that groom are, you know? But I don't know the situation I don't know. You guys like relationship, so.

[Tina]

Yeah, well, we. I mean, we were. We were. We were very close. And unfortunately, my sister was one of his victims.

[Danielle Sylvester]

No. Damn. So he was just doing this to the whole family? He never did it to you, though?

[Tina]

No, never. And in my other cousin, Snow, he.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Probably could see how strong you were, like.

[Tina]

Yeah. I feel like he knew just because I'm. I was always very vocal.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Right.

[Tina]

Very vocal. And my sister was very quiet. Quiet to herself.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And so is a predator. He knew. He knew exactly who to pick on. So take me on this journey or New mom. You're what, 17? 18.

[Tina]

I was 18 when I did.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay.

[Tina]

When I had my daughter.

[Danielle Sylvester]

You're living with your sister still or.

[Tina]

Yes, I was. Was living with my sister.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay.

[Tina]

And I miss Philadelphia. I missed tripping, I missed the money, I missed everything. And I contacted my best friend at the time and I was like, hey, girl. Like, I gotta get the out of Maryland.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah.

[Tina]

And she was like, hey, you can stay with me and my sister and just pay 500amonth. You're good, you're straight, you got a room. And that's how I got back into Philadelphia.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Did you take theory with you? And where was baby daddy?

[Tina]

Baby daddy just was. What into win. Yeah, just in. In. The guys have so. Guys have it so easy and they.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Can just come and go whenever the they want. Like, it's just crazy.

[Tina]

He did. He did come to the. To the hospital when she was born.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And he's so nice of him.

[Tina]

And he did, like, visit Philadelphia for the first time. First two to three months off and on. He tried to get a job in Maryland as well. I try to always insert positive things that he's done.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah. And I mean, what. People change, you know, People change. And maybe you guys are in a better place now that you're older and like, you guys have this, you know, theories grown and you guys have this relationship now, but you can't erase the past, you know?

[Tina]

And I. I don't. But I'm one of those people that always try to highlight positive things.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Right.

[Tina]

That has happened and. Because it's so easy to focus on all the negative.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah, for sure.

[Tina]

So I try to focus on some of the positive things that has happened and reoccurred in our lives to. To balance out everything else.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah, but so you're back in Philly, you're dancing. How long does this last? Like, the dancing. And did you always only dance or did you take it outside the club?

[Tina]

We had some sugar daddies. We had some good sugar daddies. I even took Tino and some sugar daddy chips.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I want to hear about this. Look at Tina's blushing.

[Tina]

She said, okay, you're done.

[Danielle Sylvester]

You're done.

[Tina]

Five.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I love that. Okay, so you had sugar daddies.

[Tina]

Yeah, so I had sugar daddies. I dated. I've done, like. Like, I did more than just dancing.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah.

[Tina]

And I love that you're willing to.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Be open about that.

[Tina]

Oh, no.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Because a lot of people try to hide that.

[Tina]

No, absolutely fucking lutely not. And if you're saying that you never did, just.

[Danielle Sylvester]

You're a liar.

[Tina]

A liar, I say.

[Danielle Sylvester]

How many times do I say that? They're like, well, she only danced. And I'm like, she's fucking lying.

[Tina]

She's a fucking liar.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah.

[Tina]

And I've always been very honest with Tina from the jump. I've been honest with my daughter as soon as she was able to comprehend what I was saying to her. And so the main two people that I needed to be honest with and them to accept who I am.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah.

[Tina]

Is there's those other people.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Those are your people, though.

[Tina]

Yeah. You're my tribe.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yes.

[Tina]

And I accept me for who I am. I know my truths. I know my values. I know exactly why I did what I did at the time. And if you don't understand it, good luck and good for you. Yeah. Because you've never been in a position.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Because you've never had to.

[Tina]

You know, I was raised on survival. You were raised on privilege. Eat a dick.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah, I get that. Yeah. Tina's over here. Amen. Lumi has been a total game changer for me. Whether I'm on tour or powering through a busy workday, I've used it on my pits. Because, let's be real, we all have that one pit that loves to act up. But with Lumi, odor is no longer an issue. It keeps me fresh and confident no matter how long the day gets. I wasn't sure what to expect at first, but after using it, I'm blown away by how well it works. Trust me, you need this in your routine. Clinically proven to block odor all day and control odor for up to 72 hours. All products baking soda free and paraben free. Choose from a variety of fresh, bright scents like clean tangerine, lavender, sage, or my favorite, toasted coconut. Want to try America's number one whole body deodorant formula right now? Not now. Right now. You can now find them in Walmart, Target and and other retailers across the country. For the best deals, go to lumideodorant.com and use the promo code Bunny XO Lumi Starter Pack is perfect for new customers. It comes with a solid stick Deodorant Cream Tube Deodorant, two free products of your choice like a mini body wash and deodorant wipes and free shipping as a special offer for listeners. New customers. Get 15 off all Lumi products with our exclusive code. And if you combine the 15 off with the already discounted starter pack, that equals over 40% their starter pack. Use code Bunny XO for 15% off your first purchase at lumideodorant.com that's Bunny X O B u N N I E X O at L U M E D E O D O r a n t.com Please support our show and tell them we sent you smell fresher, stay drier and boost your confidence from head to toe with Lumi. I have a new favorite pastime and I have to share it with you. June's Journey if you love a good mystery, beautiful scenery and a little challenge, this game is a must play. Escape reality and immerse yourself in a gripping tale of mystery, murder and romance where every clue brings you closer to the truth. Join June as she unravels the truth behind her sister's mysterious death. Join a detective club to chat and play with others or compete in the Detective League to test your skills against fellow sleuths. Explore stunning hidden object scenes from New York parlors to Parisian sidewalks as each chapter reveals captivating mysteries. I'm deep into the mystery and I can't put June's Journey down. What I love most is the thrill of solving each hidden object scene. It's like training my detective eye with every level. Plus, the 1920s setting is gorgeous with stunning artwork that makes every scene feel like stepping into a vintage mystery novel. And don't get me started on decorating my island as estate. I am hooked. If you love a good challenge, captivating storytelling and a touch of glamour, June's Journey is the perfect escape. Download it now and see if you can crack the case. Discover your inner detective when you download June's Journey for free today on iOS and Android. So you're dancing. You're doing all this. Take me on this journey in the Next, you know, 10 years of your life. Like, what was, what was it like? You know, you're a mom now.

[Tina]

I'm a mom.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Got this dude in and out of your actress.

[Tina]

I was trying to be a model. I never strayed away from trying to be a model. Yeah, and There was a lot of times where my sister was raising theory up until like she was 2 to 3 years old. And I was out late. I was up early trying to get these fashion show calls, acting gigs, and out late because I was working. So.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Did drugs ever come in?

[Tina]

Yeah, I'm trying to like fix in exactly where the drugs came in at or the alcohol first.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Probably like in the club. I think that's when I started.

[Tina]

I know, I know exactly. The day that I was working at Signatures, I had a whole toothache and I was just like, I have a toothache, blah blah, blah. And this girl was like, hey, like I have a Vicodin, you could take it.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And I just was like, I called it getting percolated. That is the same exact thing that got me hooked on pills because I would never take them. I had my wisdom teeth pulled out. My girl was like, I've got a percatasha. Was like, I've got a Percocet, do you want it? And I'm like, sure. So I take it and I just remember when it hit me in my pool, I was like, this is heaven.

[Tina]

Amazing. I was like, yes.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah, yeah. And that's, that's all it takes, this one pill of being able to relax. Relax your nervous system and you're hooked.

[Tina]

Yeah. So. So when I first did the, the Vicodin, I didn't do it again for maybe a year or two. And then I met my, my boyfriend and he was like, hey, like, you're in a club, here's some Adderall and some perks. And he was like, why don't you sell them? So I'm selling them in the club, all the girls are making all the money. They're all happy. Hahaha. That's when I was like, maybe I want to take something to see exactly what is going on. Because I, in the back of my head, I knew exactly what and how I felt the first time I took it a couple years ago. And that's when my addiction really took full force. It. It really did. It just was. I was milk and cereal. Well, like Xanax and syrup. I would take perks, perks, 10 perk, 30s, break them in half. Then if I didn't have that, I would do coke. I would do anything to make sure that I was numb enough to get my shit. Like make money.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah.

[Tina]

And. Or just feel normal. I. There was a, there was a, was a time in my life where I just felt like if I wasn't high, I wasn't, you know. Fun. I wasn't. I wasn't articulate enough. I wasn't.

[Danielle Sylvester]

It brought you out of your shell.

[Tina]

I was. Yeah. And I never needed that, because who I am, I'm just out there and I'm a burst of bubble. I. I don't know what made me think that I needed those drugs to be normal.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I think it's influence. You know, you see all the girls around you. You guys are making a ton of money.

[Tina]

It's almost like a ton of money.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Boredom, too.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

The clubs back in the days were completely different than what they are now.

[Tina]

I go to a strip club today, and I'm just like, yeah, yeah. That would never pass. Yeah, yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I write about it in my book too. Like, it was just so much more glamorous. It was back then. It was so much more taboo. So I feel like people spent more money and it was, like, more quality. I would sometimes, like, I would switch it up because I got tired of working all through the. And I would work at Crazy Horse 2 in Vegas from 1:00pm to 9:00pm all the doctors and lawyers would come in because it was right there off the strip. I made, like 1500, $2000 a day from 1pm to 9pm make bank. Just bank.

[Tina]

Bank. And I tried to tell Tina all the time, like, when I. I would take her to strip clubs or. And she's like, you dance for these. I'm like, no. We would have to weigh in. We would have to weigh in. We would have to get our makeup, hair, everything done. We would have headshots. We would do. It was. We would have meetings on. Elegant classes on how to speak to people, how to mimic people's behavior.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Straight up.

[Tina]

Yes. So whatever's going on today is just a different kind of. Absolutely. I know one thing. We would make a lot of money.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Danielle, are we going back to dancing? What are we doing?

[Tina]

No, I'm like, a lot of money.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I. I mean, just even teaching the girls the game, this. This generation. Because a lot of girls don't know it, you know, and they don't realize that you. There's. The less you do, the more money you're gonna get paid. And I know it sounds crazy coming from an ex hooker, but even when I was hooking, I wasn't sleeping with all of these.

[Tina]

You didn't have to.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah. And. And, yeah. It's just. I'm glad you get it because you were around in the same era.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

So you're on this journey with drugs.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And when does it get to a pro to A problem where you're like, this is an of an addiction and I need help.

[Tina]

Where all my friends were telling me, danielle, you have a fucking problem. And what was your cocktail?

[Danielle Sylvester]

And like, what would you just everything.

[Tina]

So no. So my preferred would always just be perks. Yeah. I would love my perk tens and a shot of tequila at the time. I do not touch that stuff. Yeah. But it depends on my mood. Like, if I was at home, I would want my Xanax and I would want my syrup. So I can just not off chill. But if I was at work, I would want my shot and I would want my Percocet. If I was at the rave club, I would want my coppers. Yeah, yeah. Like to depend on the environment that I was in. My go to was always going to be a Percocet. That was my. That's my boo thing.

[Danielle Sylvester]

How many were you taking a day?

[Tina]

Oh, gosh. 10, 10, 15.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I never pooped.

[Tina]

Oh, girl.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Ever.

[Tina]

Pooping was not a thing.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I never.

[Tina]

When you're my colonic doctor. Like, I was at the colonic all the time.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Oh, I got a colonic one time and I was so backed up from all the pills that I was taking that I could. It didn't even work. I couldn't even. My girl went and got into colonic and whole Lora Tabs, the blue ones were coming through the tube because they didn't digest in her.

[Tina]

That's like. Yeah. And he, he. There was many times where he was just like, danielle, you have to chew your food. Or like, how long is it? Like, like could the building up in your. Your stool. He was like, you got a problem? I don't know. I just don't poop.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Oh, you poor baby. So did you end up getting help when your friends were like, danielle, you need help?

[Tina]

No, I didn't give a what they had to say. They're all alcoholics in my opinion. So I was like, don't tell me what I need. When you're in your own journey. Yeah. What helped me, what stopped me was my rock bottom. And my rock bottom was me leaving my kid in the car. That was my rock bottom. And that was a day I did not take a pill ever, ever, ever again.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Take me on that day if we can.

[Tina]

So. No, no, I, I can. I still remember it. I picked my daughter up. Up from my sisters, which I should not have been driving. And so I just wanted to make sure it was not my daughter. And I was on the phone with my boyfriend at the time that Got me into pills. And him and I are arguing. We argued all the time. I don't know exactly what we were arguing about. It probably was about perks, money, me, my timing, all kinds of things. And I was on the phone with him, arguing with him, all the way up into the apartment, and him and I got into a fist fight. I had bruises on me, he had bruises on him. And I just was like, you. And I went to my room, like, maybe 30, 40 minutes later, my car alarm went off, and I was like, what the fuck? And I see my daughter getting out the car.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Was she in a, like, car seat?

[Tina]

No, she. I mean, she got out. I mean, yeah, she was in her car seat, but she. I mean, it wasn't even a car seat. It was a booster seat.

[Danielle Sylvester]

How old was she?

[Tina]

8.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Was it hot outside?

[Tina]

Cold. It was spring. It was around her birthday. It was April 10th. April 11th. But the last. Last day that I ever touched a percussion, it as my. That's the last day.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I love that that was your turning point, though. Like, your daughter saved you.

[Tina]

Yeah, she is. She is my savior. And that's why I owe so much to her. Because even to this day, when I talk about my addiction or there's been many a times when I talked about, like, you know, if I just. Just had the punk. She was like, do you really want to talk about it? Or, like, you said it, like, more than, like, three times this week, like, what. What the is up? And I'm like, no, I was just saying it in humor. She's like, okay, humor or serious? But there has been moments where, like, I even talked to Tina, and I'm like, I just would just prefer just to take a Percocet so I don't have to deal with what's going on in my life right now. She's like, do you want to talk about it? Do you want to call somebody? Do, like, go all through the things that she thinks is the best thing, which is great. But I always said that you have a safe space.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And Tina, to be able to be like, hey, man, I'm feeling like this, like, because a lot of people don't have that luxury of having a partner who they can go. Like, that's how Jay and I are. If either one of us is feeling a certain way, we can go to each other and be real, you know, and that's not easy to do because, you know, especially being a recovering addict, you know, to be able to go to your partner and just say, hey, I really want to use Right now. And her be understanding and loving is awesome.

[Tina]

Yeah. And, well, Tina, she's not that loving. Nurturer.

[Danielle Sylvester]

All right, when does Tina come into the picture?

[Tina]

She comes in, like, a year and a half or two years after my, like, I stopped dancing. Okay.

[Danielle Sylvester]

When did you discover that you were gay?

[Tina]

Oh, I always dibbled and dabbled.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay.

[Tina]

Tina's not. She won't allow me to say it on the record because everybody I dibbled and dabbled with was not a relationship. Tina is my first outward lesbian relationship.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay, gotcha. But Tina got it like that.

[Tina]

I. I have been with many women before.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Tina, Tina, come up here. Come up here. Because Tina's too funny, dude.

[Tina]

I know. And I'll keep on talking to her like, hey.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I love it. Tina, I'm so happy that you could join us on the couch. Even over there, some hilarious commentary. And so, okay, so you guys met. How long have you guys been together?

[Tina]

11 years.

[C]

Almost 11.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay, so you. Did you guys meet after you got sober?

[Tina]

Yes.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay, so you got sober while you were still working in the club?

[Tina]

Yes. I love that. Well, no. Well, yeah, I was fired from the club.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay.

[Tina]

Because I got into a lot of fights. I was a violence man. Are. Can we talk about that? Men have a tendency to think that because they're in a strip club and you are working there that they. You. You are owned to them. Right. I never allowed that to happen. Because my fist would meet your face.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah.

[Tina]

I finally got fired for Hinton owner's friend. So I was like, it's time for me to get sober. Got sober, start working at.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And that's how. So you guys met at. On. At working together. What was your first thoughts of Danny when you saw her?

[C]

She was hot. I thought she was out of my league for sure.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And, Tina, so you've always been lesbian or.

[C]

I came out when I was 15.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay, awesome.

[C]

Well, my sister outed me to my mom, but I came out, like, by myself at 15.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay.

[C]

So.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And then, Danny, how did you feel about Tina whenever you saw her?

[Tina]

So I seen. So Tina and I initially met. Met, like, way before, way before that because she's my sister's best friend. Oh, okay. We've been working together for a very long time. Okay. And that's how theory knew of her before I knew of her. I feel like we skipped some stuff. Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah. Let's circle back. So when did you originally first meet Tina?

[Tina]

It was on my birthday. How old? A few years. I was still in my addiction, but my. Me and my sister took Me out to dinner and meant lunch. She was on her lunch break. She was with Gianna. She came across the street to see my sister and.

[C]

Yeah, we went there to have a drink. I didn't know your sister. Yeah, she didn't work there.

[Tina]

Oh, she didn't work there yet. Okay, I'm lying.

[Danielle Sylvester]

All right, Santa, you tell the story.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

What was the first time you guys met?

[C]

I didn't pay her no mind because I had a crush on somebody else.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay, so you.

[C]

I didn't know who she was at the time.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay, and so where did you guys meet? Like, how old?

[C]

I was 24.

[Tina]

And how old were you when she started working there?

[C]

She was 29.

[Tina]

I was.

[C]

We're five years apart.

[Tina]

Depends. No, no.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Oh, here we go.

[C]

When I say that, she gets offensive because I always say it's six years sometimes, and then it's five years.

[Danielle Sylvester]

She's like, I was 28 and one quarter.

[C]

All right, you were 29.

[Tina]

Okay, I was 29.

[C]

Was 29th birthday, I think is.

[Tina]

Okay.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And this was before working. This was before working at Payway.

[Tina]

We. We really don't know.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay.

[Tina]

Exact. So we. Because she was dating somebody. I was dating somebody, and we were being very messy individuals.

[C]

Whoa, I wasn't being messy.

[Tina]

You were a hoe. Stop playing. You were. Stop it.

[C]

Were broken up while we were.

[Tina]

You guys were not broken up. We went through hell.

[C]

I was sleeping on my mom's couch.

[Tina]

But we went through hell. Did we or did we not. Lies.

[C]

She's Catherine.

[Tina]

Are we going through hell with an ex like that? If they're not, they're still in the same home.

[C]

I was sleeping on the couch, though.

[Tina]

She's. It doesn't matter. She still treated you as you guys were together. She was stalking.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Were you still hooking up with her now?

[Tina]

She wasn't hooking up with us, but they were still together.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay, when did you guys decide that you guys were gonna hook up? Because you guys had met when you guys were younger. Trying to decipher maybe bringing Tina in wasn't a good idea.

[C]

She decided for the both of us.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay, so you guys met younger, you weren't interested because you were with somebody else. Danny, you were in your addiction and.

[Tina]

I was with somebody else. I just said that I was gonna marry her. I. I've always said that I was going to marry Tina from a.

[C]

Before we even met.

[Tina]

Before, like. Yeah. Before we.

[C]

Yeah.

[Tina]

Communicated.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Because you had seen her before.

[Tina]

I already seen her.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay. What was it about her that made you.

[Tina]

She's Mean? I mean, yes.

[C]

I'm just very blunt, and it comes off kind of mean.

[Tina]

I love that she's mean. I.

[Danielle Sylvester]

People think I mean, too, so don't worry about that.

[Tina]

There's something that I. I respect. I respect honesty. I respect being authentically yourself, and Tina is it. And I don't run across a lot of people, especially in the circles that I was running in. And I admired her, and I still admire her to this day. Of her authenticity. Authenticity. Authentic behavior.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Dani, turn your. Turn your ringer off for me, baby.

[Tina]

Why are you ringing me?

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay, so when did you guys just think, like, all right, I'm ready to get it on?

[C]

I didn't think that way. I'm a saint.

[Tina]

No, she took advantage of me, so I believe it.

[C]

I believe that I was vulnerable.

[Tina]

Tina was just.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Had you just gotten out of a relationship? Were you still in that abusive relationship?

[Tina]

She was still in a relationship.

[C]

Yeah, she was.

[Tina]

Anyway, so she would blush whenever I would talk to her, and I was like, oh, she liked me. Don't. Don't be acting like that. So I would send her little notes every single day. Like, smile. You're beautiful.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And this is why you guys are working at Payway.

[Tina]

This is while we're working.

[C]

She was a waitress.

[Tina]

Okay. Like a waitress. And every day, I would just make her smile. But she was so mean. She was just like. Like, cussing everybody out.

[Danielle Sylvester]

She gave you a challenge.

[Tina]

Yeah, she did. Not me.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Well, but just any in general. Like, she didn't swoon over you.

[Tina]

Yeah, she was like, you know, Fred and Kitty off of the 70s show. I feel like that's. That's us. Like.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah.

[Tina]

Typically rude to everybody, but she's always soft and gentle with me. Yeah. But I don't know what happened. There was one day I asked her to go to the bathroom, and then I just was like, that's not.

[C]

That's not what happened. I. I love how they both have.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Different recounts of everything. All right, let's hear your. Tina, let's hear your version.

[Tina]

Offer.

[C]

I was. I used to take three buses and an L to work. Oh, so you offered me a ride home one time I was living in Frankfurt.

[Tina]

I offered her a ride, and she.

[C]

Made the first move.

[Tina]

No, I didn't. You kissed me on my. This part.

[C]

You are such a liar. Anyways.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Well, either way, you were sticking your tongue down her throat in the bathroom.

[Tina]

Yeah, we have a picture. We have a picture.

[C]

It's by the bathroom, not in the bathroom. And that's how we got together. And we used to sneak around.

[Tina]

We would go on our lunch break.

[C]

Because she still lived in the house with.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[C]

And I still. My ex still lived in house I was in. Her mom at the time.

[Tina]

Messy.

[C]

And we used to.

[Tina]

We used to hulu in the car. In the car in the parking lot.

[C]

The end.

[Tina]

That's kind of hot.

[C]

It was hot.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I mean, that's hot.

[C]

And then I'm like, I'm letting you.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Guys talk because I want to hear more.

[C]

And then I moved in with my cousin so I didn't have to deal with.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[C]

Because everybody. When we broke up, everybody took her side. Like my mom and my sister and stuff.

[Danielle Sylvester]

How long were you guys together?

[C]

Six and a half years.

[Tina]

Oh, okay.

[C]

But she used to cheat on me a lot, so.

[Tina]

Oh, you know, you don't have to put her business out there.

[C]

It's my business. It happened to me.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay, there we go. There was the bluntness. I get it. And you know, it's. I get it. What? But it's like I was just telling you, like, what? You can't erase the past.

[Tina]

I know.

[Danielle Sylvester]

You can't paint a pretty picture if it wasn't, you know, after a while you just thought.

[C]

And it was always with men, so after a while you just thought, like, not having feelings anymore. And that's what happened. So.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And it's hurtful because how can you compare with a man? You know?

[C]

And I never told my. I'm very private, so I never told my business. So when we broke up, where. When I broke up with her, it was like a shock to everybody. Like, how can you do that to her? Like, she did nothing wrong to you.

[Danielle Sylvester]

So you looked like the bad person because you were hooking up with Danny and they didn't know about that. Oh, they didn't. Okay.

[C]

They just. I just broke up with her and they thought it was like out of the blue and it was like built up stuff.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah. What about you, Danny? When did you leave and move out of his house?

[Tina]

My house.

[C]

He moved out.

[Tina]

Oh, he moved out.

[Danielle Sylvester]

When did you guys know that it was gonna be serious?

[Tina]

So me and Brandon did have a conversation. I believe him. Had a conversation. I told him that I was him and I just wasn't meshing well. We did have a really good relationship when it came to what we want. In the end. I think that's. I think that was literally it. But I think he had a lot of traumas. I also had a lot of traumas, and we wasn't working together to fix either of them together. And he Lacked a lot of emotional depth that I was looking for. I had that conversation with him. He did not fight me. He did not fight me at all. With me moving forward and him moving out. It was, it was.

[Danielle Sylvester]

He just knew that it was.

[Tina]

He just knew. I mean, we both really knew it. There was no love lost or anything. I did reach out to him a few years, like after, and I, I apologize for how it went down. I did talk to Tina about it before I sent the email. Like, hey, I. I do want. Because I don't want karma to hit me.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I get it.

[Tina]

I want to reach out to him and I want to apologize to him for, you know, how it went down because his feelings could have been hurt. He wouldn't have communicated with that to me because he didn't have that emotional depth to communicate that or convey his emotions to me. So I just. Just wants to clear that air so we can move forward the way that we need it to.

[Danielle Sylvester]

So did you move in with her.

[Tina]

After you moved in? Immediately. They actually walked past each other.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Oh, my God.

[C]

He was moving out and I was at her house. So me and Theory left because we saw him coming.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Oh, did Theory always love you?

[C]

Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah.

[C]

He used to call me her best friend.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Oh, you guys seem to have a.

[C]

Really friend she had. Had back then because she used to get bullied a lot.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Oh, really? She's such a beautiful kid.

[C]

She was the best. Yeah, he is the best.

[Tina]

Yeah, yeah, she is. She is a good kid.

[Danielle Sylvester]

So take. Take me.

[Tina]

Awesome.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Take me on this journey with you guys. In theory, you know, becoming a same sex relationship, was it hard? Was, were people accepting, like, it was.

[C]

Hard at first because we actually woke up for a second.

[Tina]

It.

[C]

Because I don't think five. What? That's your safe. We're using your safe word.

[Tina]

Wow. I think you're five.

[C]

You want me to not say no? You're.

[Tina]

You're allowed to say for a second.

[C]

Because I don't think she was ready to like be fully out.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Right.

[C]

Because it was every. It was really new. It was really new to her. Even though she dibbled and dabbled right. In women, it wasn't like out right like that, that. So for like a couple weeks, she couldn't stay away. That's basically what happened.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Did you struggle with the full time lesbian title?

[Tina]

It wasn't. It wasn't. It wasn't the lesbian title. It was her. It was her.

[C]

Whoa.

[Tina]

It wasn't. It wasn't. It wasn't being out in a relationship with her. It wasn't about the. The lesbian title. I think it was how strong she wanted to be committed so fast after I was already in this relationship with somebody.

[Danielle Sylvester]

It's scary.

[Tina]

And I explained that to her multiple times, and she did not process it. So when I still was being a little hoe bag while we were talking, she just was like, I can't believe you're doing this. It's me or it's them. And then I was just like, it's them. And then she left. And I was like, damn. I actually like this girl.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Like, she's a mirror image.

[Tina]

I was like, damn, can you come back? And she was like, no. So I'm sending flowers.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I love that Tina knows her worth, though.

[C]

I was very heartbroken. That was the first person I actually.

[Tina]

Like, letter loved, like, that I was calling her.

[Danielle Sylvester]

How long were you guys split for?

[C]

Not very long.

[Tina]

Like, a couple weeks.

[C]

Oh, not very long.

[Tina]

That was a couple weeks.

[C]

But she was texting me all the time, and I just didn't want.

[Tina]

She ignored me at work.

[C]

I was heartbroken at the time. I fell fast.

[Tina]

But you.

[Danielle Sylvester]

She threw up boundaries, baby. But she can't blame you.

[Tina]

Yes, she did. I didn't know anything about those at that time. I mean, actually. And she also wasn't respecting those boundaries because I put those boundaries in place. Like, I was not ready for a relationship. She contacted the girl that I was messing with. They. They met up. No, I know. It was shitty. You could tell your side of the story. You could tell your side of the story.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I feel like I'm a therapist right now.

[Tina]

It was. It was very good.

[Danielle Sylvester]

It was good.

[C]

What, girl?

[Tina]

I have to pee.

[C]

You don't have to say your name, my friend.

[Danielle Sylvester]

You can go to the bathroom.

[Tina]

It's right here.

[C]

She was my friend.

[Tina]

So while.

[Danielle Sylvester]

While you're peeing, I'm gonna get the rest of the story out of Tina.

[C]

She was my friend.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Tell me the story.

[C]

She was my friend, and she was. I considered her a friend. She considered me a friend. I only. I always looked out for her. When she moved to Cali, and she. Her. She used to have, like, a lot of problems, so I used to always, like, be there for her. And then I found out that them too. And how I found out was shitty because I was still staying with her. And then one day, I was at the house hanging out with theory because I used to hang out with her. She didn't have, like, nobody, whatever. And she was texting me something, and she was acting really weird. I was like, something's not right. And then she had. She lives in a condo. So like it was just like all windows. And she said she was like pulling in or whatever. And I looked outside and I seen her and the girl in the car. But when she came up to the apartment, she was by herself. So the girl had went to like the balcony booth and was like hiding up there, I guess, waiting for me to leave so they can. And that's how I found out. Also I do text in her phone because I'm like, oh, like that. I just knew something was weird.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[C]

Like I used to date a serial cheater. So like I know when something's like.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Oh, that that triggers your trauma.

[C]

Yeah. So I was like. So it made me more suspicious. And then I found out and then me and the girl got like into it or something, but she wouldn't come.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And that's when you guys split for a little bit again. You started.

[C]

I wasn't going to take her back at first.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[C]

But that was like you said, I know my worth is like that shitty. If you didn't want to be with me, you could have just said that.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah.

[C]

And her being my friend, like you knew. And then you're still my friend. Still, like you're still in my face and you're sleeping with somebody that I'm involved with behind my back.

[Tina]

Back.

[C]

So, yeah, really shitty.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

No, and that's who got into.

[C]

Was not. It was not a good time.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Why did they get into it?

[C]

Because she was like blowing up my phone and like sending me screenshots of messages that her and Danielle were saying to each other. And then I guess they all got wind of it and they were arguing on the phone. So I wasn't there. I was at work at the time. No, wait, I'm spilling all the beans.

[Tina]

Wait, you're skipping a whole.

[C]

No, I'm not.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah, you're skipping.

[C]

I'm not skipping anything.

[Danielle Sylvester]

So you guys decide to get back together after this mess with the. The friend.

[C]

Yeah.

[Tina]

Of.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Of each other.

[Tina]

The associate.

[Danielle Sylvester]

The associates. So you guys decide to get back together and you were fine with being monogamous and just being in this relationship and being in a full on same sex relationship. When did you guys get married?

[C]

Two years ago.

[Tina]

Yeah, two years ago. Yeah.

[C]

Yeah, we eloped, we went to Vegas and got married.

[Tina]

Yeah. So when I moved to la, that's when I was just like, okay, this is my girl. I mean, I already knew that you were my girl.

[C]

We were together like nine years already. When.

[Danielle Sylvester]

When you guys got married?

[C]

Yeah. When she told me. I thought it was a joke. She's like, do you want to just go to Vegas and get married? And I was like, haha. Like, we've been together so long, we've been engaged for seven years. I thought she was like lying. And then we really drove to Vegas and got married that same day.

[Danielle Sylvester]

What do you think the secret to you guys's marriages? Because, I mean, 11 years is nothing to scoff at.

[Tina]

Especially nowadays, I think acceptance. I don't know, I. No, I don't. No, no, I'm not gonna lie. I don't even gonna lie. Acceptance, accepting of who she is for us, I think it's just like. I don't know. I don't know. I don't.

[Danielle Sylvester]

You guys are like best friends sometimes.

[C]

When you know, you know, sometimes you can't explain. You just can't explain it.

[Tina]

So for me, for this is me, I can only speak for myself when it comes to Tina. She allows me to be who I want to be. And it. As I grow, she adapts and she sees who I'm becoming and she's just like. She accepts that part of me. She doesn't throw my past at me like a lot of people do. She loves me. This is what makes it work for me. She loves me unconditionally. She wants best for me. And I don't know, she just.

[C]

What about I love theory?

[Tina]

Yeah, that's. That's a big part. Yeah, you do love theory. But she, she goes on these, These mental trips with me. It doesn't matter how ugly that they get. They don't. It doesn't. It don't. It don't discourage her right away from wanting to be with me. It doesn't matter how ugly I get. And I.

[Danielle Sylvester]

She sees your dark side.

[Tina]

Yeah. And I, I call it my ugly. For. For reasons that I. I don't show a lot of people because I feel like a lot of people won't appreciate how my brain operates. And I don't know, but she, she does. And so does theory.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And how do you feel? Tina.

[Tina]

In therapy helps too. Come on, Tina.

[Danielle Sylvester]

No, that was beautiful what she said about you. What do you think makes you guys work and having have been able to last for 11 years?

[C]

I don't know.

[Danielle Sylvester]

A woman of few words.

[Tina]

She's like. She does all the fighting, she does all the working. No, I don't.

[C]

I don't really know. I don't know. I can't think of anything why you put me on the spot like that.

[Tina]

I didn't Funny. Did.

[C]

You're a talker. I'm not. So you can express your feelings more than I can.

[Tina]

It's okay. You're fine. I understand. Understand that you're limited to.

[Danielle Sylvester]

She's nervous.

[C]

I am nervous.

[Danielle Sylvester]

So let's get into when you guys got on Tick Tock. Like, how. When did you guys get on tick tock? 2020.

[C]

Yeah.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And take me on that journey.

[C]

Been on social media, though.

[Tina]

Yeah, she's been on social media since she was a kid.

[C]

She has, like. She had music, Levon and all that type of stuff.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah.

[C]

And then she would never be on it. We would always be, like, sharing videos and, like, laughing with each other. Like, what are you laughing at? We're like, tick tock. It's so funny. You should download it. She's like, no, I'm not downloading that. Stupid. And then one day, she just downloaded it and she did this video and it went viral, and she was hype, and she was like, I like this. I'm gonna do it more. And then that's how she.

[Tina]

Yeah, because, like, they were leaving me out, like, at dinner, because we were a very traditional kind of like, family where we sit at the table and we have conversations. We talked about our days. We. We do these things that a lot of people don't assume that lesbian couples do with their children.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah.

[Tina]

And they were leaving me out of the conversation. They were leaving me out in who they were becoming. And I was just like, the. Are you guys laughing at. It's not funny. Get off your phones.

[C]

It was very. TikTok used to be very fun.

[Tina]

Dumb. Yeah. Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Well, TikTok used to be a great place.

[Tina]

I love TikTok. I loved it.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And now I still do love TikTok, but I just feel like now everybody just. Everybody wants to expose everybody. Nobody wants to tell the whole story for anything they say.

[C]

Serious. It used to be like funny dancing. Yeah. Facebook people are ignorant.

[Tina]

I'm scared of Facebook.

[C]

I almost go to jail every time I'm in the comments.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I stopped reading Facebook comments. I just. I refused.

[C]

I love a good argument.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah. Every now and then, if I'm feeling froggy, I will go in and choose violence.

[Tina]

But I'm a great debater. I. I love to do a great debater.

[C]

But you say things in a certain way.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[C]

That'd be pissing me off.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[C]

I just wanna.

[Tina]

I'm political.

[C]

You can't say that. I said, why the not. I'm not on social media. I can say what I want.

[Tina]

That's why I love it.

[C]

I was talking about people's mamas and everything, Tina. I do.

[Danielle Sylvester]

So you got on Tick Tock.

[Tina]

I did.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And that's when you guys started going viral and building your brand.

[Tina]

Yep.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Take me on that journey.

[Tina]

That was a hard journey. I just, I. I just felt like there was stories that weren't being told, especially coming from a black woman, a black family, a lesbian family. And I felt like there was a lot of topics that needed to be talked about and brought to light. And that's what we did. And it was real. We recreated so many conversations. There was a lot of times that we were all sitting there and was like, you remember that time? And I was like, we should recreate that conversation. Let's try to remember exactly what we said and how I reacted. And that's how hey mom started. Hey, that's how hey mom started. And it's literally how my child walks into a room. She was like, hey Mom.

[C]

And it just took off.

[Tina]

And that's what she literally took off. And that's. It started with a lot of controversial conversations. And now I think that we swift it into more educational and more marketable.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I love you guys's content and especially like when you talk about the step parent stuff, because that resonates with me also. But I love like the little skits you guys do. I think it's necessary.

[Tina]

Thank you. I think it helps a lot of people.

[C]

I don't think she serious sometimes. How many people it does actually help.

[Danielle Sylvester]

No, it's. It's comfort. It's comfort how I sleep content, you know, and it's like, it's feel good content. Like, like it's no drama. It's never anything controversial. It's just really like raw and real family situations that a lot of families have to deal with. And like, you know, even when you were being open about your facelift and about, you know, taking the pills for whenever you were healing from your facelift, like, people need to know that that's actually a struggle.

[C]

Like, and it's hard because she was in so much pain and she would not take anything.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah.

[Tina]

But I think once your determination kicks in, I feel like you're going to be like, like it.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Just tear my.

[Tina]

You know what?

[Danielle Sylvester]

Don't care.

[Tina]

Life hurts harder than those pills. Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah.

[Tina]

Like anything that came with my drug addiction hurt harder than what relapse will feel like. Like I, I think about those moments when, like, when I talk about I just rather have a perk. It's those hard bottomless moments. That makes me like, nah. That, like, I can, I can do this facelift, I can go through a BBL with, without taking any pills just because I know that hurts. That, that feeling of having a pill in my system, I know that's going to hurt worse than what I'm going through physically at that moment. Yeah.

[C]

So you have more to lose now, too. So it's like you have to think about that.

[Tina]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I've always had a lot to lose, but mentally. Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Did you guys ever picture you guys would be where you are now? Me, 11 years ago? Yeah.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Danielle's like, I manifested this vision.

[Tina]

I, I am, I am. I want to be further where I, I, I want to be great. I, I want to be places where I know I deserve to be. And I have a vision for my family and empire and, and I expect them to want the same things as me. But everybody's timeline looks different. And I'm here waiting for everybody.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Let's talk about.

[C]

I make it hard.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Go ahead.

[C]

I make it hard sometimes. I'm very stubborn. She's like, you don't need to work. I work two jobs. I'm like, always working. She's like, you don't need to do that.

[Tina]

You don't have to work two jobs. I want her to be my manager. I don't want her to be my manager, but I want her to do something that I know she's, she's passionate about and I know she's on her own schedule. On her own schedule. So I hate, I loathe that she works two jobs and she refuses to break that generational cycle, but that's probably.

[Danielle Sylvester]

One of her traumas. Like, did you come from a family that argued over money or.

[C]

No, but my mom was work all the time and my dad wasn't around, so.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yep.

[C]

I didn't. We were home a lot by ourselves.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[C]

And my mom worked two jobs, so.

[Tina]

I worked two jobs till this.

[C]

Oh. To this day, she works a lot. Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah.

[C]

And plus, I feel like I don't want my financial burdens to be on her if I was to quit because, like, they're my, like my car. My car, like all that. I feel like she would have to. That's a lot for one person.

[Tina]

But do I ever.

[C]

No, but that's not the point.

[Tina]

I, I wouldn't never complain myself, so I would prefer I would. And I tell you this all the time. I prefer me having to deal with, with every financial situation then you having to go into that place and Be so miserable because I'm getting half of what you are capable of doing because you're so bright, you're so intellectual, you're so smart. You retain. And I tell you.

[Danielle Sylvester]

You guys want to make out right now?

[Tina]

No. She, like, she's. Tina is probably the smartest person. She's so smart. She's so smart. She does not need to be working two jobs.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I can see both sides of the. Of the coin because I'm a sugar mama like you. Like, I. When I first got with Jay, I was like, let me take care of you, you know, like, let me do this. But when he. When the roles reversed and he started making a lot more money than me, he's like, don't work. I'm like you. I'm like, I'm gonna work because I. I'm never gonna put my financial burden on him. I want to always. So I get it. I see both sides of the coin.

[Tina]

And I don't want her to put her financial. It's not even a burden, but her financial. Her finances on to me because I. Oh. I know she's an independent individual. I know that where she comes from, I know what she's capable of doing. So I just want her to focus on something more beneficial to her where she has a lot more time maybe to do something that she wants and.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Sort of a compromise, maybe work one job and then try to help Danielle with what it is that she wants you to help with. Do a trial run, and then if it doesn't work out, you can always go back to having that second job.

[C]

I guess you never know.

[Danielle Sylvester]

You might thrive and make double the money that you're making at both jobs.

[Tina]

She will thrive.

[Danielle Sylvester]

See, I love that. I love it. We have a game plan for 2025.

[Tina]

She's incredible. You're. You're.

[C]

Well, I did put on my vision board that I want to quit the second job.

[Tina]

There you go.

[Danielle Sylvester]

And we just came up with a game plan. I am you guys's therapist now. All right?

[Tina]

I mean, unless you want me to go back and having sugar daddies, and you could be sitting at the dinner table across the hall.

[C]

I don't like that idea. That was not a good, fun time.

[Tina]

That was great.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Also, you used to go on dates with her while she had sugar daddies. Yeah, I love that.

[Tina]

So I didn't leave my sugar daddies back to the sugar daddies. I didn't leave my sugar daddies until, like, maybe two to three years after we were dating.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah, I get it. I didn't stop. I didn't get out of the sex industry until 2020.

[Tina]

Yeah. Okay.

[C]

Even went back to dancing for like a little bit when we first got together.

[Tina]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

So, I mean.

[Tina]

I mean, I didn't care. I think we're natural born survivors and we're always going to do what we have to.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Hustlers. Yeah, we're hustlers. We're gonna hustle, baby.

[C]

Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Let's talk about this book that you wrote.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah. What's the name of it? What's it about, and where can people find it?

[Tina]

Okay. Not a Doctor, Just a Mom is on Amazon. It was written by me. It's about. I. I want to say gentle parenting, but it's not about gentle parenting. It's just about parenting with empathy, respect, and boundaries. I feel like a lot of people look at gentle parenting as is if it's. You're a doormat. And it's not that. It's. You have to understand that your child is not a reflection of you. It's a reflection of who they're supposed to be. You're just there to guide them and love them and nourish them into the individual that they're supposed to be and not the person that. That you want them to be. So it just deals with a lot of conflict issues and how you can resolve them without forcing your opinions. You can. There's a lot of insight on loving and adapting to your child's uniqueness without forcing your opinions and all that other kind of things on them. I think it's a very important and informative book on just parenting in general. I. I was told many a times by many managers that this book was not like it couldn't come to life, and it did. Yeah, I was. I love when people tell me I can't do something. Yeah, I love it. Tell me I can't do it. Okay. Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

But watch me.

[Tina]

I've been told I was not marketable over and over and over. I've been told over and over, I'm.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Not marking your guys. Entire brand is marketable.

[C]

That's what I. That's what I was telling a biracial.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Lesbian couple raising, you know, with a baby. Not a baby, but a child is. And she's not a child. But you know what I'm saying? Like the whole family dynamic.

[Tina]

Human.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah. You know, like, you guys are super marketable.

[Tina]

Yeah. So I was told that I wasn't able to do it, and so I did it.

[C]

Yep.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I love it.

[Tina]

I'm proud of you and I love It. And it's number one on Amazon. Number one new release. Number one on child discipline. Number one on teens discipline.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I need that. I'm gonna buy your book. Look, I need you. I'm going through it with a 16 year old right now.

[Tina]

And it doesn't. It doesn't have to necessarily be about. Even with children. It could be with any kind of relationship. Like this is just basic knowledge.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah.

[Tina]

When it comes to relationships and accepting people for whom they are and you know your position in their life. Yep. Your position in people's lives is a privilege. Not. It's. You're not obligated to their. Their life existence. And we have. As a parent, we have 18 years. 18 years to make a great impression on them. To want you to be in their lives.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah.

[Tina]

Like me.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Amen.

[Tina]

My mom, she blew that one. I mean. Love you today.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I'm glad that you and your mom have a good relationship now though.

[Tina]

We're getting there. Small dosage. Small dosages. Small increments. I still put up a lot of boundaries with my mom.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Same before my mom passed away. And their forgiven forgiveness is for you, not them.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

So it's. That's just all you have to always keep telling yourself.

[Tina]

Yeah. It was a journey. It is still a journey. But I'm happy where I am with her.

[C]

Well, because he lives far.

[Tina]

Yeah. You need to sit down.

[C]

I feel like that's why she. It's. She's not so, like close. So it's like.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[C]

Easier to not be.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[C]

Under each other.

[Tina]

Yeah. That's why my brother moved here.

[Danielle Sylvester]

So 2025, what is this year gonna bring for you guys? As a brand, as a couple, as parents.

[Tina]

As a brand. As a brand. As a brand together.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Because you're her person.

[C]

She's the creative one, though. She's got a lot of ideas up there.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah. But you make it her feel safe enough to do it.

[Tina]

Thank you, honey.

[C]

Whose side are you on?

[Tina]

Both.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Both of you guys. Sides. I'm on both of you guys. You need to realize how, you know how important your role is in this relationship too. She can't even make a freaking sentence without staring you in your eyeballs. Okay.

[Tina]

I know. She is my. My person.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I. Yeah. And Tina's over there. What are you pointing at me for?

[Tina]

Tina is literally my. My rhythm to my heart. She really makes things work for me. She gives me that space to be creative. She's given me the courage to actually get up every day. Even when I'm like, I'm not in there. And she's like, who the do you think you're talking to?

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah.

[C]

By the way.

[Tina]

But she. She does. She gets. She. She is. She's. She's literally the person that I. I turn to and want to turn to when I am in hardship, and I need that motivation, and I want her to understand her importance in that role. So 2025 looks like getting Tina harder.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Getting Tina to manage you.

[Tina]

I want. Yeah. I want her to understand how important she is, because I don't think that she listens to me. And sometimes I feel like I'm fighting the fight by myself because she does not take my words and my actions seriously because she has a lot of work to do.

[C]

Yep.

[Tina]

And that's. And that's. And I'm.

[C]

I said I'm gonna work on it.

[Tina]

Yeah. And I believe you. I believe you. Yeah.

[Danielle Sylvester]

What do you want for 2025, Tina? What's a goal that you have for you guys for 20?

[Tina]

Do not say, I don't know.

[Danielle Sylvester]

You're not allowed to say, I don't know.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[C]

I want to buy a house, and I want to quit one job. At least one job.

[Danielle Sylvester]

That's good.

[Tina]

That's really good. That's a step.

[Danielle Sylvester]

That's really good. That's two.

[Tina]

She goes.

[C]

My car.

[Tina]

I do love that. And I. I.

[Danielle Sylvester]

That's three.

[Tina]

That all three of them are realistic and doable. And doable. Every single one of them. And I love that. Thank you for.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I'm happy you guys came on the podcast today, and I'm so happy we got to finally do this and sit.

[Tina]

Together, and I'm so sorry that I'm all. I am such a.

[Danielle Sylvester]

No, you're fine. You're totally fine.

[Tina]

It.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Trust me, it all. It seems like it doesn't come together, but when you listen back, you're like, oh, I was a lot more on track than I thought I was. Okay, why don't you shout out where people can find you guys? Shout out your socials, shout out website, shout out your book, whatever you want to do right now so that people know to find you.

[Tina]

And I love your hand movement.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Where can we find that?

[Tina]

So you can find me on tik tok, Instagram, YouTube, YouTube, Facebook, and Facebook. Well, they all have different ones. So you can find me on Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, Snapchat, all of the socials. Socials at Sylvester underscore, Danielle underscore. And you can find my book. Not a doctor, just a mom on Amazon.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Not the eye contact with the camera.

[C]

You look at the Camera the whole time.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I have to tease her. I have to tease her about that.

[C]

She wants them to know.

[Danielle Sylvester]

What about you, Tina? You want to shout out yours? Are you gonna say, I don't know?

[C]

I do know.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Okay.

[C]

But it's long because I have a lot of hands in it.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Just tell them the most important one.

[C]

T I n, n, n N. It's like a long thing.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Well, if you go to Danielle's page, you'll be able to know that you'll find the right one.

[C]

Yeah, I'll be tagged in there somewhere.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah.

[Tina]

Also, I'm writing another book.

[C]

Oh, she is writing another book.

[Tina]

It's a fictional book, though, but I love that. It's good.

[C]

I read some of it.

[Danielle Sylvester]

I think I want to do fictional too. I love writing, so I want to try it.

[C]

She's so good at it.

[Tina]

Yeah. I always tell her that. I never thought that writing could actually be a thing of mine. And then it's therapeutic.

[Danielle Sylvester]

It's cathartic, as.

[Tina]

But I get in a zone. I'm like, no. Like, the house is on fire. I'm like, what?

[Danielle Sylvester]

You're like, leave me alone.

[Tina]

Yeah, but it is great. But no, I appreciate you guys having us. This. This has been one of my. It's when my. What is it called? My vision board.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah. Well, I told you we were gonna do this whenever.

[Tina]

You know, it's something that I really wanted to. To happen, and I am very appreciative that you. You had us on your show because you are a amazing. And when I say I'm a big fan of yours, I am a huge fan of yours.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Well, we're a fan of each other.

[Tina]

So you're just amazing. I love that you own exactly who you are. You never hide from any of the bullshit that comes with social media, because social media comes with a lot of.

[Danielle Sylvester]

It's crazy.

[Tina]

I cuss a lot.

[Danielle Sylvester]

It's all right. So do I.

[Tina]

You are image, and I. I appreciate it.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Thank you. I love so much. And thank you for your.

[Tina]

Somebody with a similar background. I'm just like, you rock.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Yeah, so do you. And so do you, Tina do. Yeah. Well, I can't wait to see you guys at another show too. So you guys are gonna have to come whenever.

[Tina]

We're.

[Danielle Sylvester]

Wherever you guys are, you guys are always welcome. Jay loves you guys too. He loves Tina.

[C]

Not to love. Yeah, Literally.

[Tina]

Tina is such a stinker.

[Danielle Sylvester]

All right, thank you guys for being here. Thank you guys for tuning in. I will see you guys next week.

[Tina]

Bye.