The One With John Michael Higgins and Margaret Welsh

Summary

For Love and Chocolate Podcast: Episode Summary

Episode: The One With John Michael Higgins and Margaret Welsh

Release Date: February 12, 2025

Hosts: Tommy and Tara Gallop

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1. Introduction and Personal Celebrations

The episode begins with hosts Tommy and Tara Gallop celebrating their dog Phineas's fourth birthday in the studio. Decorations such as balloons, a duck cake, and a snow cone machine set a festive tone.

Mr. Truffles (Tommy): "He's a good boy, isn't he? He's the best."
[00:48]

Mrs. Truffles (Tara): "He's very special to us. He was the only attendee at our wedding when we got married during the craziness of 2020."
[00:50]

2. Light-hearted Discussion on Domestic Achievements

Tara shares her recent accomplishment of changing a light bulb, highlighting the theme of recognizing and celebrating everyday successes.

Mrs. Truffles (Tara): "I screwed in a light bulb. It was a major accomplishment."
[01:34]

Mr. Truffles (Tommy): "You did. You changed the light bulb in the hall that we talked about last week."
[02:22]

3. Mailbag Segment: Listener Questions

The hosts address questions from their listeners, offering relationship advice based on their experiences.

a. Advice on Professional Matchmaking

A listener, Amy's sister, seeks guidance on whether to encourage her jilted sister to pursue a professional matchmaker instead of casual online dating.

Mr. Truffles (Tommy): "I think it's money well spent, honestly. And good luck to your sister."
[06:20]

b. Authenticity in Romantic Relationships

Another listener, Buttercup, questions how to discern the authenticity of romance experienced after an intimate evening.

Mrs. Truffles (Tara): "I think this might need a musical answer."
[07:08]

Margaret Welch: [Performs a brief musical response emphasizing belief in love and chocolate]
[07:22 – 08:21]

4. Guest Introduction: John Michael Higgins and Margaret Welsh

The hosts warmly welcome John Michael Higgins, a seasoned actor with over 30 years of experience, and Margaret Welsh, an accomplished actress and yoga therapist. Both guests share a deep, enduring romantic relationship.

Mrs. Truffles (Tara): "Our guests today are so talented. We have Margaret Welch, AKA Maggie, and John Michael Higgins."
[08:30]

5. The Romantic Journey of John and Margaret

John and Margaret delve into their love story, tracing their relationship from their first meeting during a theatrical production to their eventual marriage.

a. First Meeting and Initial Impressions

They met during a table read for the play "Arms and the Man" at the McCarter Theater in New Jersey. John recalls Margaret's warmth, while Margaret reflects on the surprising initial formality.

John Michael Higgins: "I complimented Michael, and he was like, oh, thanks. That was the first time we met. Kind of hot, right?"
[10:52 – 11:32]

Margaret Welch: "I think whatever happened there was probably the result of something that was going on in the room at the same time."
[11:57]

b. Building Friendship and Chemistry

Their friendship blossomed through shared rehearsals, coffee outings, and exploring Hartford together. Their mutual support and shared experiences deepened their bond.

John Michael Higgins: "We just clicked in the exploration of it. It was very where it began."
[15:23]

Margaret Welch: "Part of it is that some people are steely in ways that other people aren't, so they can pick up for each other."
[39:30]

c. The Proposal and Marriage

Their spontaneous marriage proposal occurred naturally during a serene moment on their apartment deck, reflecting their deep connection and lack of traditional romantic gestures.

Margaret Welch: "I just turned to her and I had nothing. I literally didn't know when I started the sentence that it was going to be a marriage proposal."
[32:35]

John Michael Higgins: "That was the moment. There was no turning back. We have been together ever since."
[30:36]

Mrs. Truffles (Tara): "Everyone else does it differently. Everyone does it differently."
[32:46]

6. Insights on Lasting Relationships

John and Margaret share valuable insights on maintaining a strong, enduring relationship rooted in friendship, mutual respect, and shared experiences.

Mrs. Truffles (Tara): "I think our life together is romantic because every time she walks in a room, my heart just skips a beat."
[36:19]

Margaret Welch: "I really did marry my best friend. We were tight, deep, close friends before we were anything else."
[39:46]

John Michael Higgins: "Getting up on stage and doing a play takes balls. It creates intimacy."
[39:30]

7. Conclusion

The episode concludes with the hosts expressing their admiration for John and Margaret's love story, emphasizing the beauty and romance inherent in genuine, long-lasting relationships.

Mr. Truffles (Tommy): "It all adds up to romance."
[35:59]

Mrs. Truffles (Tara): "Your story about how you're on stage with her and she's reciting Shaw, but you've noticed... that just takes over."
[36:19]

Mr. Truffles (Tommy): "Well, how beautiful, too. Yeah."
[34:53]

Key Takeaways

• Friendship as a Foundation: Building a deep friendship can lead to a stronger, more enduring romantic relationship.
• Shared Experiences: Engaging in activities that require mutual dependence, such as acting together, fosters intimacy and understanding.
• Authentic Connections: Genuine, face-to-face interactions are vital for forming meaningful and lasting relationships, contrasting with modern digital dating methods.
• Spontaneity and Natural Growth: Allowing relationships to develop organically without forcing traditional romantic gestures can lead to more authentic connections.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Mr. Truffles (Tommy): "Everyone has their talents, and everyone is void of certain talents."
  [02:35]

• Margaret Welch: "I feel like an extremely lucky person because I really did marry my best friend."
  [39:46]

• John Michael Higgins: "We have been together ever since. Inseparable."
  [30:36]

• Mrs. Truffles (Tara): "It's a perfect time to get into our mailbag."
  [05:15]

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This episode of "For Love and Chocolate" beautifully encapsulates the essence of enduring love, blending personal anecdotes with insightful discussions on building and maintaining meaningful relationships. John Michael Higgins and Margaret Welsh's story serves as an inspiring testament to the power of friendship, shared passions, and authentic connections in fostering a lifelong romantic bond.

Transcript

[Mrs. Truffles]

From deep in the heart of Beverly Hills, you found for love and chocolate with Mr. And Mrs. Truffles.

[Mr. Truffles]

Well, welcome back.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Welcome back. Oh, my gosh, Mrs. Truffles, what's going.

[Mr. Truffles]

On in here today?

[Mrs. Truffles]

What's happening? We got balloons.

[Mr. Truffles]

There's a duck cake.

[Mrs. Truffles]

We've got a magician.

[Mr. Truffles]

Well, it just happens that our ninth episode today.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Yes.

[Mr. Truffles]

Falls on our dog, Phineas. Fourth birthday. Yes.

[Mrs. Truffles]

I didn't expect a snow cone machine, but there it is.

[Mr. Truffles]

Yeah. We're gonna be having a dog party here in the studio later.

[Mrs. Truffles]

I'm so happy for him. He deserves it.

[Mr. Truffles]

Yeah.

[Mrs. Truffles]

He's a good boy, isn't he?

[Mr. Truffles]

He's the best. Yeah, well, he's very special to us. He was the only attendee at our wedding when we got married during the craziness of 2020.

[Mrs. Truffles]

That's right. And he. He played all the parts, didn't he?

[Mr. Truffles]

Yeah, he was ring bearer.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Yep. He was our witness.

[Mr. Truffles]

He signed the ketuba.

[Mrs. Truffles]

He signed the ketubah.

[Margaret Welch]

Yeah.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Flower girl.

[Mr. Truffles]

He was my bouquet. I tied flowers to him. He was a little baby puppy.

[Mrs. Truffles]

God, his pictures. I mean, his wedding photos are gorgeous.

[Mr. Truffles]

Yeah. We should have a painting made. Maybe we will, but I. I think you're on a little bit of a high from. From something else that. That happened recently.

[Mrs. Truffles]

I like to talk about it.

[Mr. Truffles]

You haven't stopped talking about it since you did it. It's major accomplishment. Mr. Truffles, tell everybody what you did.

[Mrs. Truffles]

I feel like I'm the first one in maybe three or four generations of my family, of the Gallup Men. The Gallup men. To have done this, but.

[Mr. Truffles]

Yeah.

[Mrs. Truffles]

And so I don't expect a parade or certificate or anything.

[Mr. Truffles]

It would be nice.

[Mrs. Truffles]

It would be nice.

[Mr. Truffles]

Yeah.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Yeah. I screwed in a light bulb.

[Mr. Truffles]

You did. You changed the light bulb in the hall that we talked about last week.

[Mrs. Truffles]

I did. And you know, I do. I want to parade. I want a freaking parade. It's a big deal. Because you know what? Some people just. Everyone knows how not everyone wants to. But you know what? It got me thinking, right? Because we have a contractor slash handyman, our buddy Paul. He is the best of the best.

[Mr. Truffles]

Yeah. But he's not gonna drive all the way up from Orange county to change a light bulb.

[Mrs. Truffles]

I'm making a point, okay? He's. There's no better right.

[Mr. Truffles]

As far as the best.

[Mrs. Truffles]

He's the best, right? I don't have that tool in my tool bag, so to speak. I've just.

[Mr. Truffles]

We've talked, you know, that you don't really Use a tool to change light bulbs. Right.

[Mrs. Truffles]

I just figured that out.

[Mr. Truffles]

Sorry. I can't change the light bulb. I don't have the right tool.

[Mrs. Truffles]

I don't have the light bulb. The light bulb changing tool. Where can I get that? Anyway, the point I'm making is that, you know, everyone has their talents, and everyone has. Everyone is void, and everyone is void of certain talents. Right. To be able to put all of those talents together in one person, wouldn't that be something where you. But that's why we.

[Mr. Truffles]

Isn't that. The Six Million Dollar man is about.

[Mrs. Truffles]

I don't know if you can sing a love song, though. That's where you're missing out.

[John Michael Higgins]

Wow.

[Mr. Truffles]

They should have spent that extra million.

[Mrs. Truffles]

See, the Seven Million Dollar man, now that's something.

[Mr. Truffles]

He can sing the love songs and.

[Mrs. Truffles]

He plays a ukulele. But, you know, we all have that thing. We all have that thing that we do that we excel in, and then we all have that thing that we wish we excelled in. For me, I'm not saying that I wish I was more handy around the house. I'm sure you wish that a little bit here and there, but the point is that we can all work on those things that we're not great at. I can work. I can go to a light bulb screwing seminar and figure out exactly how it's done.

[Mr. Truffles]

No, you can't.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Even with. Are you sure?

[Mr. Truffles]

Very sure. There's nothing like that in here.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Really. University of Phoenix doesn't have the light bulb screwing horse. Okay, so maybe not light bulb screwing, but other things.

[Mr. Truffles]

All you need is the right tool, though.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Painting. Painting a house, installing a toilet.

[Mr. Truffles]

Okay, see, now, these are much more major op operations here. Operation install a toilet.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Yeah.

[Mr. Truffles]

And changing a light bulb.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Yeah. They're both pretty hard. You're shaking your head at me. No, they're not very difficult.

[Mr. Truffles]

One of these things is very difficult. And one of these things is easy peasy.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Even our dog, who doesn't have a.

[Mr. Truffles]

Person, who doesn't have a thumb, might be able to do it.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Oh, that sweet guy. Yeah. I'm going to do my best, because now he can sit and he can go potty on command. I'm gonna see if I can't train him to change a light bulb.

[Mr. Truffles]

Well, good luck with that, darling.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Thanks, sweetheart. Anyway, I think this is a perfect time to get into our mailbag.

[Mr. Truffles]

All right, Mr. Truffles. So what have we in the mailbag today?

[Mrs. Truffles]

Well, We've got something, Mrs. Truffles. We got something from Amy's Sister.

[Mr. Truffles]

Okay.

[Mrs. Truffles]

And it reads, Dear Mr. And Mrs. Truffles, after taking a year off from dating, my sister, who was jilted on her wedding day, is finally ready to try her luck at love again. I've suggested she start out casually by meeting people online for coffee dates, but she wants to get back on the marriage track right away by seeking love through a professional matchmaker. It's very expensive, and I think it's too soon. What are your thoughts?

[Margaret Welch]

Hmm?

[Mrs. Truffles]

Mm.

[Mr. Truffles]

It's a very good question.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Okay, Amy. Sister. Well, first of all, it's sweet of you to write in. You obviously care so much about your sister.

[Mr. Truffles]

Yeah. And, you know, but I think your sister knows what she's doing.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Yeah.

[Mr. Truffles]

She probably thinks the dating merry go round part of her life was behind her. And she's ready to be married and build a life with somebody.

[Mrs. Truffles]

She wants to make a commitment. And she's okay if it's a monetary one, too, because these matchmakers, they're professionals. They know what they're doing, and they're at the top of their game.

[Mr. Truffles]

Yeah, I think it's money well spent, honestly. And good luck to your sister. And if I were you, I'd start thinking about what the bridesmaids dresses should look like.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Well, good luck. Amy's s. Amy. Well, yeah, Mrs. Truffles. What else do we have in the mailbag today?

[Mr. Truffles]

Okay, Mr. Truffles. Well, we have a message here from someone calling herself Buttercup.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Buttercup.

[Mr. Truffles]

Buttercup. Dear Mr. And Mrs. Truffles, I love your show and appreciate your oft wise advice and thoughts. My question is a simple one. After a night of beautiful romance and intimacy, under the moon has passed, how can I believe it's real? That's from Buttercup. That's a very interesting question, Mr. Truffles.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Thank you, Buttercup. Well, I feel like.

[Mr. Truffles]

I feel like this might need a musical answer.

[Mrs. Truffles]

I think so. So I'm gonna throw it over to the four Love and Chocolate singers. Take it away, guys.

[Margaret Welch]

Do you believe in love and chocolate? You know I do well, I believe in loving chocolate when I'm loving you. Do you believe in love and chocolate? You bet I do. Well, I believe in love and chocolate when the moon is new so we hugged and we kissed in the moonlight and the moonshone bright as. And we hugged and we kissed in the June night Till the moon glow pass away.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Well, that was perfect.

[Mr. Truffles]

That was so perfect. Oh, my gosh.

[Mrs. Truffles]

The For Love and Chocolate singers, we're gonna have to bring them back.

[Mr. Truffles]

Our guests today are so talented.

[Mrs. Truffles]

So talented. Today, we have just. I love these two so much. Dear friends, Margaret Welch, AKA Maggie, and John Michael Higgins, veterans of stage and screen. Now, John Michael Higgins, certainly you will recognize his voice. This guy has been working non stop for the last 30 years. And Maggie, in addition to being an incredible actress, is also a yoga therapist.

[Mr. Truffles]

Yeah. Helping people to heal. It's so beautiful.

[Mrs. Truffles]

It really is. So when we come back, guys, we're going to bring you Maggie Welsh and John Michael Higgins, and we'll be right back. For over 40 years, toyshare has been a staple in the Beverly Hills community. Like so many other families in the community, our family has had a long standing love affair with Toyshire Chocolates. Over the years, we form traditions and memories around these extraordinary Swiss chocolates and the enchanting wonderland of fantasy truffle boxes inside our store. Today, our family is proud to be carrying on the toy shoe tradition in Beverly Hills. Oh, Mrs. Truffles, I cannot contain my glee. And it's not just because I was in the Glee club. And I was.

[Mr. Truffles]

Nor should you.

[Mrs. Truffles]

No, the Glee Club. We were tough. We were a tough group.

[Mr. Truffles]

That's what everyone says. That's what they all say the word on the street.

[Mrs. Truffles]

But I mean, come on, I've got Michael and Maggie here. John Michael Higgins and Maggie Welch, who I'm to say it. And I said it. I've said it before. 30 years. I've known them for 30 years, and I've liked them for 14 of them. Anyway, it's so, guys, thank you for taking the boat, the train, the bus, the hovercraft you got here, all three. You're here.

[Margaret Welch]

Thank you.

[Mrs. Truffles]

And we couldn't be happier. You guys are like a. It's like you're a bit. I just want to hug you both. You're just too far away. Anyway, welcome to our podcast.

[John Michael Higgins]

Thank you.

[Mr. Truffles]

Welcome.

[Mrs. Truffles]

It's such a treat having you.

[Mr. Truffles]

Such a treat.

[Mrs. Truffles]

And, you know, if you don't get. If we don't get to the good stuff, we never will. And so let's. Don't let me stand in your way, because I just want to hug them.

[Mr. Truffles]

I told you you could.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Okay, well, maybe later.

[Mr. Truffles]

Okay. Well, it is such a pleasure to have you guys here, and we are so excited to hear about your romantic story. So maybe we could take a little trip down memory lane now and you could tell us about the very first time the two of you met.

[John Michael Higgins]

I remember it. And I don't think Michael does.

[Margaret Welch]

Really, I do. I know it's a controversial question.

[John Michael Higgins]

Okay, so I went down to the McCarter Theater in New Jersey. To see the Double Inconstancy. A play which was the precursor to a play that I had just done in New York. And I wanted to see this production. I had a couple friends in this production. Michael played this Harlequin character. And he was amazing. Amazing. Blew my socks off. Went backstage to meet my friends and tell them what an amazing production this. Everyone was amazing, the whole thing. I stepped up to compliment Michael. And what a cold mother. Ice, ice, baby.

[Margaret Welch]

Ooh.

[John Michael Higgins]

I was like, oh, my God. Like, this is so amazing. And he was like, oh, thanks. That was the first time we met. Kind of hot, right? And then I got on the New Jersey Transit train home. Folding my arms like their production was better. Why was he so rude?

[Mr. Truffles]

Can I ask you what I ask a lot of people?

[John Michael Higgins]

Sure.

[Mr. Truffles]

Is there something that you knew in that moment that he was the one?

[John Michael Higgins]

No.

[Margaret Welch]

He was the one. She was not married.

[Mrs. Truffles]

There's a meeting. Do you remember the first meeting differently, Michael?

[Margaret Welch]

I don't remember the meeting well. But I think whatever happened there. I've never been cold to anyone in my life on a first meeting. I think it was whatever. Whatever I did or said. Was probably the result of something that was going on in the room at the same time, is my guess. I take pride in not treating people badly. I can't imagine talking to someone that way. And there it is. So she remembers it that way.

[Mrs. Truffles]

But to be fair, you just finished your play. You're probably exhausted.

[Margaret Welch]

I don't. Doesn't matter. You know, it's not an excuse if someone comes up and you compliment you. It's not. I'm not. He was just a little cold.

[John Michael Higgins]

I wasn't expecting the cold formality of it all.

[Margaret Welch]

Okay, I may have been formal. That's possible. Maybe we should work this out on this very couch here. It's possible that I was trying to be contained and calm. Or something like that.

[Mr. Truffles]

Is it possible that you were just so overwhelmed by her beauty and her loveliness. Tried to play it cool.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Just possible. Say yes.

[Margaret Welch]

It's possible.

[Mr. Truffles]

Just say possible. Because I could see that.

[Margaret Welch]

That she was a really pretty girl coming up to me. It's possible that I was dealing with a pretty girl. Yes.

[Mr. Truffles]

You had your pretty girl armor on.

[Margaret Welch]

It's possible. Yeah.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Pretty girl armor can mean so many different things. Anyway, so when was the first actual meet? Who made the move? How did you actually connect?

[Mr. Truffles]

Yeah. How did it all come back together?

[Margaret Welch]

Table read. We were cast in the same play.

[Mrs. Truffles]

And did you think, oh, that's that. Some bitch that wouldn't talk to me.

[John Michael Higgins]

And I was with Belina, my friend Belina, who she and I had met. We become fast friends. We're sitting at the table read. We're like, love festing with the other actors. And here's this guy over here, inward and shy and not hanging out with other people. And we're like, what's wrong with him? Why is he no fun? That was the second time we met for our listeners.

[Mrs. Truffles]

By the way, that's Bellina from Slopes and Slurpees.

[John Michael Higgins]

Slopes and Slurpees. Palm Royale. Bellina.

[Mrs. Truffles]

That's right.

[John Michael Higgins]

That one. I met Bellina when I met him on this play.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Okay.

[John Michael Higgins]

We all met at the same time.

[Mr. Truffles]

And what was the name of the play?

[John Michael Higgins]

Arms and the Man.

[Mr. Truffles]

Arms and the Man.

[Mrs. Truffles]

I was Bluntschlee.

[Margaret Welch]

So was I.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Did.

[John Michael Higgins]

He was Blunt.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Chocolate Cream Soldier.

[Margaret Welch]

Circle the chocolate cream Soldier.

[Mrs. Truffles]

What in the world was that?

[John Michael Higgins]

Chocolate Cream Pusher.

[Mrs. Truffles]

You have this table read. He's still holding.

[John Michael Higgins]

Michael's very remote cast is bonding. He's holding back.

[Margaret Welch]

I'll concede to that because I was the most miserable I've ever been in my life in that moment.

[Mr. Truffles]

But what's going on?

[Mrs. Truffles]

Dark Place didn't feel like fraternizing with anyone.

[Margaret Welch]

And it was the first day of work, and I wasn't quite sure what the director was up to. I had had a conversation with him right before the table read. And I was like, hmm, not sure I can do that. Yeah, it wasn't. You've been there.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Sure.

[Margaret Welch]

My mind's going. It's like, how do I do this? So I probably wasn't paying much attention to anything else. I think I'm better at that now.

[John Michael Higgins]

But somehow a week passed, and I don't remember the exact moment, but like a little chick coming out of an egg, Michael appeared. And he just perked up and became the funnest person ever. We just had fun. We started working together. That's what it was. We started rehearsing and getting to know each other. And in that play, it's those two characters. Ry Bluntschli, on stage for the entire first act. Alone.

[Margaret Welch]

The whole thing.

[John Michael Higgins]

So we were just working together.

[Mrs. Truffles]

I'm gonna take a leap, and I'm gonna say, clearly, you're maybe. If you don't even recognize it, you're starting to maybe fall in love a little bit. There's a chemistry. There's a connection. And I'm guessing. Cause you had seen him work.

[John Michael Higgins]

Yes.

[Mrs. Truffles]

You thought he Was incredible.

[John Michael Higgins]

Yes.

[Mrs. Truffles]

He had never worked with you.

[John Michael Higgins]

Right.

[Mrs. Truffles]

So now all of a sudden, he sees you not only for the woman you are, but for the actress. And the talent is a very attractive thing. And all of a sudden he's drawn in and it's game on. Yeah, right.

[John Michael Higgins]

We just clicked in the exploration of it. I think we worked a little differently, but it just worked. I think that's really where it began. And then all of a sudden, we're just having fun. And we're having fun as a cast. And we were stuck together in Hartford, Connecticut. Nothing to do. We started going to this coffee shop together. There was only one coffee shop that turned into the one bar at night. So it was this one place called Zuzu's Coffee, run by these young guys who were in their first business venture. So here we were, actors together, these business guys together. All of us bonded and we just sort of had this synergistic kind of relationship where we saw them in the morning, we had coffee together, we would go rehearse. We would go do something fun after rehearsal, then we would go to their bar at night and see how they were doing. And then we would go home and do stuff after that.

[Mr. Truffles]

What kind of fun things would you do after rehearsal?

[John Michael Higgins]

Michael had a car and he was like, let's go exploring.

[Margaret Welch]

We went everywhere, people.

[John Michael Higgins]

Mark Twain's house.

[Margaret Welch]

Mark Twain's house was there nearby.

[John Michael Higgins]

Donuts. We'd go find donuts.

[Margaret Welch]

Donuts. Cider donuts. I have to say I'm going to backtrack on her story a little bit. I think that is all accurate. That's the way I remember it. But I think. I think part of me coming out of my shell, it was definitely that Mags and I were working together before that, though, I would say even at the table read. Let's say it was the second day. She was reading the New York Review of Books at the table. I'd never seen an actress do that. And I was. I'm a subscriber. I was like, okay. My eyebrows going up. Interesting conversation about something else. Something outside of us, something outside in the world. It's unusual. It was for me at least to meet.

[Mr. Truffles]

So what you're saying most of the really attractive young actresses you met were kind of daft?

[Margaret Welch]

I wouldn't say they're daft. I would say that they weren't much interested in what was going on elsewhere, maybe outside their own careers. And this is the age we were to. Partly, yeah. To this day, Margaret Welsh is by far the most interesting person I know. In any conversation, it's an incredible aphrodisiac.

[Mr. Truffles]

Wow. I bet. I kind of want to be your best friend after hearing this.

[Margaret Welch]

Okay, but.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Break it up, you two.

[Margaret Welch]

But you're pretty. The. But I would say also this is something just. As an artist, which we both are once we. And you were talking about this. Tommy. Once we're rehearsing. When you're doing Shaw or Shakespeare, everything you say is fantastic. You're like the most interesting people on earth. Every time you open your mouth, a garland of flowers comes out. And that's enough to fall in love anyway, even if you know it's fake, which is like this person didn't say it. Shaw said that. But it doesn't feel that way. When you're in the room and you're talking, you're looking at each other's eyes and you're saying the most incredible things people have ever said. Literally, it's magic. If you get it going, if you get the engine running, it's magic. It doesn't mean everybody falls in love with their co star all the time.

[John Michael Higgins]

It was a very kismety production because Bellina and I met and we became best friends, you know, still are to this day. To this day. It was one of those moments cosmically where everything was open. And so she and I were together. We met and we bonded and our whole cast got along. There was no discord, nothing. It was just beautiful.

[Margaret Welch]

Very new.

[John Michael Higgins]

And spring had come in Hartford and we met these young business owners and it was just one of those moments. I look at that as the beginning of. I did, you know, an undergraduate degree at nyu, but I began what I consider my master's degree when I worked with Mark Lamos for the first time in that production. And then we worked subsequently many times. And with Marguerine was Hartford stage. And so it was just like this incredibly enlivening with this brilliant actor. All these, you know, Berlina and I could go on and on about the entire cast. Just hugely talented, open hearted, wonderful, creative actors.

[Mrs. Truffles]

So the stage is quite literally set right. And everything you've done now has been kind of as a company, you're rehearsing together, but. But it's a company and you.

[John Michael Higgins]

We have the whole first act together.

[Mrs. Truffles]

I'm wondering when you had your first moment or date outside of rehearsal in the play. That felt like, okay, well, this is. I guess this is a date. This feels like a date.

[John Michael Higgins]

I don't ever remember having a date to be. I remember. I remember becoming more interested in Him. I had a boyfriend in Greece at the time.

[Margaret Welch]

It was Steve.

[Mr. Truffles]

Steve.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Steve the Greek.

[John Michael Higgins]

Steve the Greek.

[Margaret Welch]

Stefanos.

[John Michael Higgins]

So I had this. My mind in this other place in terms of voice. Boyfriends.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Yeah.

[John Michael Higgins]

And Michael was completely outside of any experience I had had in that way. He was much more cerebral, much more interesting. He was an artist. He was much more fascinating, to be.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Fair, it sounds like. But the difference between. What was his name? Steve.

[John Michael Higgins]

Well, his name was Estratios.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Really?

[John Michael Higgins]

Yeah.

[Mrs. Truffles]

So the difference between Estratios and Michael was Bach and Bach. Lava.

[John Michael Higgins]

Hello. Well said.

[Margaret Welch]

Is that fair?

[John Michael Higgins]

Thank you. You're a poet.

[Mrs. Truffles]

That's right.

[Margaret Welch]

Thomas. Thomas.

[John Michael Higgins]

So we were kind of in this sort of, like, creative orbit. Then. He touched me in a way that made me feel pretty comfortable.

[Mr. Truffles]

He's like, put his hand on the smell of your back. What was the moment? What was that moment?

[John Michael Higgins]

Let's go with that, sweetheart. It was an unsolicited massage and yet welcomed.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Mikey's got his hand on the small of your back. Had you kissed yet?

[Margaret Welch]

There's basically an old shibboleth about the theater. You don't screw with people that you're working with. Cause you bring it on stage with you and it screws the world up so you don't do it. I really believed in that. I know many people meet working actors. What's weird about the situation, this type of situation, is that, of course, we had kissed because Bluntschli and Rihanna kiss.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Right.

[Mr. Truffles]

So you kissed in your roles before you kissed as.

[John Michael Higgins]

Oh, for sure.

[Mr. Truffles]

So we're familiar.

[Margaret Welch]

Actors do this. They touch each other. They're. You can smell each other.

[John Michael Higgins]

You literally spit.

[Margaret Welch]

You spit on each other while you're on stage. Otherwise the audience can't hear the words. If you don't start spitting.

[John Michael Higgins]

You make mistakes and cover for each other. You know, there's all that.

[Mr. Truffles]

You've already got each other's. All the dynamics of a relationship before you even.

[Margaret Welch]

It's all in play.

[Mr. Truffles]

Yeah.

[Margaret Welch]

And it doesn't have an emotional component in the same way, but the characters are having an emotional component. And you know what? If your character's having an emotional component, it's a good chance you're having one, too.

[Mr. Truffles]

Interesting.

[Margaret Welch]

That's just the gig.

[Mrs. Truffles]

That's the way it is on that thread. Was there a time that you remember thinking, oh, I've kind of gone away from Bluntschli, my character, for a minute. I'm feeling something other than what my character was feeling. This could be something. Did that happen?

[Margaret Welch]

A tiny story takes two sentences. The Director Mark. Those two characters actually don't kiss. Shaw does not have them kissing at the very end. At the very end of the play, one of them says something slightly personal to the other one, and that's it. The sexual tension and control that Shaw has written in is what he wants. He wants the lights to go out with something bubbling. And Mark knows his modern audience, and he just. You're dying to have the two of them kiss in some way or somehow.

[Mrs. Truffles]

And he wasn't wrong, was he?

[Margaret Welch]

He was not wrong. Do you remember this?

[John Michael Higgins]

Yeah.

[Margaret Welch]

He had us had a very chaste.

[John Michael Higgins]

Kiss after she says, my chocolate cream soldier.

[Margaret Welch]

My chocolate cream soldier. I think I have my arm around your waist. And then we do a brief kiss. Because it's three acts of this teaser. The audience is almost apoplectic.

[Mrs. Truffles]

You get paid off.

[Margaret Welch]

Yeah, I would love to have done it without the kiss, because I think that's kind of. There's something about that that's outrageous, you know? And frankly, I think our relationship kind of mirrored what it was like on stage.

[John Michael Higgins]

I think, I feel, frankly, for myself that I met Michael and I was doing this play. And it's a classical play, it's wigs and corsets. So it's very different than modern life. And then we were having this other experience. Experience which was very. Just us in jeans, you know, that it was like a real growth spurt for me. Like, I had been kind of biding my time in my love life, not being serious. And then I met Michael. He was too big a thing for me to not take seriously intellectually, creatively. You know, all of that was just. I'd never had that kind of partner. It wasn't really what I was chasing when I was young. Yeah. You know, I was being very rebellious. I made sure that to piss my father off, that no one I dated went to college. I made sure of it. I dated one boyfriend who went to an Ivy League school. And I lied about it, you know, very rebellious. And then I met Michael, and it really coincided with, like, brain growth, honestly. It's late 20s, right? You just start getting grown up a little bit, right. And he was there. He was. He was like this very complete, intellectual, creative artist that was, like, put in front of me.

[Mr. Truffles]

So how did your dad like.

[John Michael Higgins]

Oh, he loved Michael. Except, you know, Michael was raised as a Catholic and went to a private college. So. My father's a Protestant who taught at a public university. So he loved Michael. He was so relieved. It was like a cliche, like the darker the hair, the Crazier the boy, the more interesting to me.

[Mr. Truffles]

Yeah. You know what? When you're a little bit mad at your parents, that seems to happen.

[John Michael Higgins]

I just was ridiculous. And then he was so funny. Just funny, funny, funny, funny, funny. Up one side, down the other. All we did was laugh.

[Margaret Welch]

Listen, I was having a bad time right at the beginning. It was a rough time in my life, and I certainly was not looking for Margaret Welch. I remember the first time we were on our feet. You know, you'll understand this, Tommy. It's like your script's still in your hand. You're fumbling around, you're running into the poof, and you're knocking chairs over, whatever. But I just remember, like, me saying something. My character saying something to her. And she looked. She just whipped her head around, looked me dead in the eye, and did, like, the most perfect line reading I'd ever heard in my life. And I was like, that's a little moment in time that I'll never forget.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Smitten.

[Margaret Welch]

Yeah. I was like, whoa. Is the best actress I've worked with, you know, and just couldn't believe her concentrate.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Her.

[Margaret Welch]

It's all concentrated and really well executed, but it really comes in from. From the side dory. And I'm so excited by it. Yeah. So sexy. Everything she says is just slightly. It's not the normal way. It's just a little bit to the left. And I couldn't believe she could do it. Time after time, everybody. Single line. I was, like, just throwing these curves and sliders on. And I just like, man, this is so exciting. And then we break for rehearsal. And she's the most fascinating woman I've ever met in my life, honestly. We can talk about anything.

[John Michael Higgins]

I remember him sitting on the couch in my actor housing, kind of brooding, you know, he would get into these broody states. It's so funny because Bellina and I were, like, in such a playful mood at that time, and I had these crazy boyfriends. And so Michael was taking himself, like, so seriously as, like, a problem somehow in his own head. And I just. I laughed it off. I don't remember, like, he was on the couch. He was like, well, you know, I'm a lot. And I was like, that's hilarious. You have no idea who my boyfriends have been like. I just was like, look at you. You're the brilliant, lovely person on the couch.

[Mrs. Truffles]

You were saying I'm a lot to her to kind of just set her back.

[Margaret Welch]

I think probably the conversation between me and Bellina and Maggie, we were Driving all over the eastern seaboard.

[John Michael Higgins]

You know, we were this bar together all the time.

[Margaret Welch]

We were 24 hours a day together, you know, all of us.

[John Michael Higgins]

And Sebastian, the other guy, it probably.

[Margaret Welch]

Turned to like, what are your relationship? Because everybody, you know, when you're doing regional theater, it's a pause in your life. You leave your apartment, you go off to St. Louis or Milwaukee or Minneapolis, whatever, and. And you. You're there for two months.

[John Michael Higgins]

You fall into this foxhole situation with other people.

[Mr. Truffles]

Yeah, right.

[Margaret Welch]

And it's. It's all artificial. It's not part of your life. It's not real. You're playing characters and no one cares when no one saw it. The only people who saw it were some people from Minneapolis. The whole thing is like. It's like growing orchids on Mars or something. You just. It's like pointless and beautiful, you know, that's what a regional. Regional actor's life is. I met Margaret and it changed my life. It was like. And I brought it back in.

[John Michael Higgins]

We kind of fooled around when we were there. You know, we didn't have sex or anything like that. We kind of fooled around. We were definitely clinging to each other in some way. But I was like, I have a boyfriend in Greece. And then summer came, and Bellina and Michael and I all lived in my studio apartment together because he had no apartment and she couldn't pay her rent and I couldn't pay mine. So the three of us lived together in one room. This was just the beginning of the three. Yes. And we lived together all summer.

[Margaret Welch]

Take a knock at my door.

[John Michael Higgins]

And then Michael went off and did. Played David Letterman in the middle of the summer. But I remember he was choosing between that and a regional theater gig in Ohio in that apartment.

[Mrs. Truffles]

We were like Jay Leno.

[Margaret Welch]

It was a weird decision because it was going to be dangerous.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Yeah.

[John Michael Higgins]

And the good.

[Margaret Welch]

The Letterman job was, and it was going to change my life. And it did.

[Mr. Truffles]

What was the Letterman job?

[John Michael Higgins]

You played every Letterman.

[Mrs. Truffles]

What was it called?

[Margaret Welch]

Late Shift.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Late Shift.

[John Michael Higgins]

You really wanted a play gig in Ohio.

[Margaret Welch]

I did.

[John Michael Higgins]

It was like a real Sophie Stewart moment.

[Margaret Welch]

I know. It's like. It was so crazy life, you know, Actor, high diddle. Dd it's ridiculous. You know, I was dying to play this thing in Ohio because it was like. It was a big. It was a big Tony Randall.

[John Michael Higgins]

Tony Randall, Yeah. So he goes off to Letterman. I go to do a play in Princeton. Bellina goes off into something else. And we all come back to Hartford, same theater. We're asked all of Us to come back in the winter to do another play together, another classical comedy. And that's really when it began. Michael decides that he really wants to be together. But I'm not ready yet. He confides it in Bellina. Bellina says she doesn't want you as a woman.

[Mrs. Truffles]

You're still with Mykonos.

[Margaret Welch]

I was in New York. We were between those two shows, right. We finished Arms of the Man. We all had this big experience. We all went back to New York, back to our real lives. I called up Bellina. Maggie might have been in Greece, I think.

[John Michael Higgins]

No, I went to Greece in the fall.

[Margaret Welch]

Okay, Right. So I saw a picture of him. Yeah. Shirtless. He's extraordinary. He's like the most beautiful man who ever lived.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Like an Adonis.

[Margaret Welch]

So my head is, like, out. I'm like, well, she's got this. Literally a Greek God of some sort. She's that she's with. None of this. This could never happen. It's not real. I call Bellina in New York. I just said, can we meet at Starbucks down in Springs Peak? So we meet down there, and I say to Bellina, I don't know what to do. I cannot stop thinking about Margaret Welsh. I can't. It's like, 24 hours a day. I can't sleep. I just. It's her. I know it's her. Bellina says, not happening now.

[Mr. Truffles]

Wow.

[Margaret Welch]

She says, I think it'll happen later. Oh, you should get Belina in on this, too. She knew something from something Margaret had said or the way Margaret was. Think. Said something about me or something. I'm not sure what it may have been. It's what a best girlfriend would know. And I walked away from that Starbucks thing. I was like, okay, fine.

[John Michael Higgins]

I'm still with Mykonos. Okay, okay. Break up with Mykonos. We all go up to Hartford together. My aunt has died, and I'm in my apartment cooking grim food in honor of my Scottish aunt. Potatoes and. Yeah, like, bland meat or whatever. And Michael's been out running in shorts. He's got really nice legs. And he comes knocking on the door. He comes in as we did. Right. Was so intimate. It was like a family just comes in. And he lies down on the couch. And all of us are gonna get together and party later upstairs at our friend Rob's apartment. And I'm looking at him. I broke up with Mykonos. And it's like winter. And he's lying there, and I see his legs looking so good. And I think to myself, and I'LL never forget it. I'll go, why not?

[Margaret Welch]

Oh, why not indeed.

[Mrs. Truffles]

That was the moment.

[John Michael Higgins]

That was the moment. That was it. There was no turning back. No moment that we weren't together. From that moment, he comes in with.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Dolphin shorts and you're like, that's the one after running.

[John Michael Higgins]

And I think, literally, why not? It's so unromantic.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Oh, no, it's fantastic because it was.

[John Michael Higgins]

Such a departure from the time that I had been wasting with all these other people who were wonderful people, but just in terms of any kind of eye relationship. And then we just were kind of fooling around. We had to be at this party upstairs. Went upstairs. But literally, that was the moment that we got together. And we have been together ever since. Inseparable.

[Mr. Truffles]

Just inseparable.

[John Michael Higgins]

And we're also, by the way, having yet another blast with this cast.

[Margaret Welch]

Great show.

[John Michael Higgins]

Such good juju up there. Great production, great cast. Epic snowstorms. So it's like super romantic. And we're all playing in the snow together and we get on the train from Hartford to New York and it's like a scene from Dr. Zhivago. And we are just glued to each other, Michael and I. Glued to each other. Glued to each other. That was really the beginning of all of it.

[Margaret Welch]

Yeah. By the second show was like, game on, game over. You know, there was no turning back. And I think all that magic part ended, you know, because we went back to a different type of life, you know, and we ended up being both in la, living together in some cheap apartment, some stucco apartment. Just flash forward a couple of years, sitting on this deck of the stucco apartment. And it was like Tuesday. Tuesday was about 7. It was. The sun was kind of setting and we were just sitting there and I turned to her and I. And I just thought, I don't know how this gets better. I wasn't thinking yacht. I wasn't thinking ski trip. I was just thinking, how does it get better that I'm. I'm sitting here with this perfect person? I had this lovely day where everything was pleasant. And I turned. I produced some sort of odd half paragraph of a long sentence with a lot of subordinate clauses and a couple of semicolons. And she said, did you just ask me to marry you? And I was like, yeah, I think that's what I meant.

[Mr. Truffles]

And so you hadn't planned that? It just came out?

[Margaret Welch]

No.

[Mr. Truffles]

Wow.

[Margaret Welch]

Didn't plan. Didn't have a ring. I didn't have anything. Is that what you're supposed to do? Get on the Knee. Did you produce. Do you produce a ring?

[Mrs. Truffles]

Everyone else. Everyone does it differently.

[Margaret Welch]

All right. But I think that's the traditions, right?

[Mr. Truffles]

Yeah. You ask the dad, you buy the ring.

[Margaret Welch]

There's a bit, there's a routine. There is none of that happened. It was mostly because I was just. I couldn't remember being happier in that moment. And I just turned to her and I had nothing. I literally didn't know when I started the sentence that it was going to be a marriage proposal. Turned out it just. The sentence kept going. It kept going. And she said, did you just say, did you want me to marry you? And I said, I laughed. She laughed. That was her first response.

[Mr. Truffles]

But did you. So when did you say yes? How did that happen?

[John Michael Higgins]

After I laughed nervously. I was like. We were out on the balcony and I kind of couldn't believe he was proposing.

[Mr. Truffles]

Right.

[John Michael Higgins]

I actually thought I would propose to him because I told my sister in law, Suzanne. In the summer I was up in Maine with my family and we were digging in the garden, me and Susanna. And I was like, I'm gonna ask Michael to marry me. And she was like, you should. You should.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Have you discussed marriage?

[Margaret Welch]

No.

[Mrs. Truffles]

No, it had never been discussed.

[John Michael Higgins]

Never.

[Mrs. Truffles]

And you've been together how long at this point? Point?

[John Michael Higgins]

We met in 95 and then we got married in 99.

[Mr. Truffles]

Wow. So you said yes?

[John Michael Higgins]

Yeah, I laughed. And then I said no.

[Margaret Welch]

She didn't. And then you said yes. She did not say without laughing. She said it while laughing.

[Mr. Truffles]

While laughing.

[John Michael Higgins]

It was nervous laughter.

[Mr. Truffles]

Nervous laughter. And did you go shopping for a ring after that? How did.

[John Michael Higgins]

Yeah, we were super daffy about it. We were like, oh, we went to Nordstrom. So we're like, we'll take that. You know, like it was fairy.

[Margaret Welch]

Like that's a ring. Try that. We liked it didn't occur to me. And then we got so we got so much shade about the ring and I was like, I guess we should have gotten a better ring.

[John Michael Higgins]

Yeah, we didn't take time. We didn't know.

[Mrs. Truffles]

But the ring happened. And then when? How soon after?

[John Michael Higgins]

Okay, so the ring happened and we got married in the be a year later. We got married August 3, 1999. A family only ceremony at the cabin in Maine on the lake with a justice of the peace and sort of a Quaker style ceremony. And then one of my oldest friends made the dress and then we had a couple parties.

[Margaret Welch]

The cottage on the lake had is in Maggie's family for at that point, 40 something years or so.

[John Michael Higgins]

Yeah, since we were little so it's a.

[Margaret Welch]

It's a. It's a deeply meaningful.

[Mr. Truffles]

Yeah.

[Margaret Welch]

Spot.

[Mr. Truffles]

Well, how beautiful, too.

[Margaret Welch]

It's extremely beautiful, but it's not something we rented out because it was beautiful.

[Mr. Truffles]

Right.

[Margaret Welch]

The family was there because it was beautiful.

[John Michael Higgins]

Yeah. We just were, like, in the cabin with our brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews. No shoes by the lake. Beautiful dress my friend made. My father kind of walked me down the aisle, and my sister here and his brother there. Best man, maid of honor. And then we had a party at Barge Music in Brooklyn with friends from New York. And then we had a party in LA with friends.

[Mr. Truffles]

Yeah.

[Margaret Welch]

Yeah.

[John Michael Higgins]

Just to celebrate.

[Margaret Welch]

People wanted to celebrate with us, but the Wedding only was 18 people.

[John Michael Higgins]

No honeymoon. We got married and I went to Philadelphia to help my mother.

[Margaret Welch]

Vietnam trip.

[John Michael Higgins]

No, we took a Costco vacation.

[Margaret Welch]

Oh, that's right. Hawaii. Right.

[John Michael Higgins]

When. When. Once.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Wait, you literally bought it through Costco?

[John Michael Higgins]

Yeah, we found. We saw it in a magazine and we bought it. It's great.

[Margaret Welch]

It was wonderful. Why? It was beautiful. That was sort of our.

[John Michael Higgins]

That was like more of a honeymoon, a bit.

[Mr. Truffles]

Oh, wow.

[John Michael Higgins]

We got married. We got on with life, back to la. Very un. We're not romantic.

[Mrs. Truffles]

That's not true.

[Mr. Truffles]

Well, I heard nothing but romance since we've all been in this room here together.

[Margaret Welch]

I guess it doesn't. I don't know.

[Mr. Truffles]

It all adds up to romance.

[Margaret Welch]

It does, I suppose. Though it doesn't look quite like a rom com or anything, but I think our life together is romantic because every time she walks in a room, I got excited still. I mean, this is after 30 something years. It's like a little thrill inside me. It's like, she's here. She's here.

[Mr. Truffles]

That's so beautiful.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Your story about how you're on stage with her and she's reciting Shaw, but you've noticed. Not you. You're just so gobsmacked by how she's. It's all of a sudden, I mean, that. That just takes over. That's. Yeah, you kind of. All the thoughts and words go out of your head, and now you're just consumed with whatever this beautiful, passionate entity is, you know? And like you said, you couldn't get her out of your mind. Right. And even when Belina said, yeah, just let it go. Maybe let it go, you're like, I. I. Okay, but I'm not going to, and I can't.

[Margaret Welch]

Yes. I feel I was consigned to my fate. I real. I understood that.

[John Michael Higgins]

But I remember when we were rehearsing in Hartford. And it was Christmas break, right? Everyone was going away for the holidays. Michael was catching a plane or a bus or something. So he was leaving a little early. And I remember watching him walk out of the rehearsal room. It was snowy, so he had these boots on and jeans or whatever. And I remember him walk out and just my heart sank when he left. And I was just so sad that he wasn't there. And I remember after that play was done, Mark Lemos offered me Ghost to stay on and do a play. And the idea of being there without him, you know, I was like, there. It's just. I was so emotional about it. I was like, there's just not one minute that I could spend here without him here. Oh, I couldn't do it.

[Mrs. Truffles]

I am getting misty eyed because this.

[John Michael Higgins]

Is so beautiful and it's a little sad. When I think about acting, I don't miss acting as much as I miss that part of our lives together. Yeah, like, it was something that was so profound between the two of us. But like, I do look back on acting as like a spiritual experience that I had and I'm very grateful for it.

[Margaret Welch]

Well, I think about our own children, you know, what, what advice I would have for them. In my experience, I feel like an extremely lucky person because I really did marry my best friend. That's really, that's the simple headline of this whole interview. We were tight, deep, close friends, friends, friends before we were anything else. It eventually turned into what it turned into. And I can't even. I don't even like to say it out loud because I don't think it's very likely that it's an easy situation to, for people to get into, particularly with the Internet and everything. What I would wish for young people is that they'd be forced together physically to make, to do and make things. That's how you can do and make an incredible relationship that has legs, that lasts as opposed to swipe left or whatever they, Whatever it is now where it's all you're talking to a cold object with a mirror in front of it.

[John Michael Higgins]

But I would add to that getting up on stage and doing a play takes balls. It just does. There's. There's a lot of courage involved and mutual dependence of the other people on stage. So, like, that creates intimacy. And I think when that works, part of it is, is that some people are, are steely in ways that other people aren't so they can pick up for each other. I think that that is something that works between the two of us. Our Nervous systems are just organized very differently. The things that I'm really afraid of don't bother him. Things that really upset him, they don't faze me. You can find that out doing something like a play. These little problem solving things that feel high risk because you're in an audience player situation can really be a crucible, I think, for relationships. It was a real template for why we were gonna.

[Margaret Welch]

We also are, I will immodestly say, good conversationalists. We. We can talk hours together with no one else in the room. But it's true. It's like we can talk alone together in a room or in a car or on top of a mountain forever.

[John Michael Higgins]

That really sweet couple that you had on that, they were talking about Disneyland.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Mark and Roberta.

[John Michael Higgins]

Yeah, exactly. I was listening to them. They were saying, well, we plan, right? We do this once a week. We do that once a month. We do this once, once, once a year. Right. So they, they have a vision. They create vision together is what I heard. But they also go to Disneyland because they go to enjoy themselves and have fun. I think that that's. That's a different way of saying what we're saying, which is that. I mean, that is a kind of a conversation.

[Margaret Welch]

Yes. It's just an amazing.

[John Michael Higgins]

It's a curiosity, it's an openness to doing stuff, you know, it's being a part of the world. And it's.

[Mr. Truffles]

It's something special too. When you, when you have someone who know you're just laying there in bed at night and you start talking and you find yourself like when you were young and used to have a sleepover with your best friend and you can't go to sleep because you can't stop talking.

[John Michael Higgins]

Right.

[Mr. Truffles]

And you find yourself keeping each other awake just talking.

[John Michael Higgins]

We have that for sure.

[Margaret Welch]

We definitely have that. In fact, that's a very big component of our relationship.

[Mr. Truffles]

Well, I think that this is a great time to break out our. It's the gift bag portion of the program where we present you with a giant red twice your bag.

[Margaret Welch]

Oh my God.

[Mr. Truffles]

It's what I call a romantic weekend in a bag. And so there's all kinds of presents in there.

[John Michael Higgins]

Can we go in and look?

[Mr. Truffles]

Yes. It's time to dig in.

[Margaret Welch]

We're gonna.

[John Michael Higgins]

The original chocolate cafe Felix.

[Mr. Truffles]

So that is our cracked chocolate cocoa. And you have never had cocoa like.

[Mrs. Truffles]

That sipping chocolate you've ever had complicated to make. Not at all. Yes.

[Margaret Welch]

It's not easy.

[John Michael Higgins]

Oh yeah, that's good. I love that, that I want to bring that into our.

[Margaret Welch]

It's easy to screw that up here.

[John Michael Higgins]

Because our children love coke.

[Mr. Truffles]

So Toyser actually has their own in house made jams in the factory in Zurich made with Swiss and European fruit. And this is my favorite flavor.

[John Michael Higgins]

Oh, so fancy. Some of that beautiful goat cheese or something, right?

[Mr. Truffles]

Oh yeah, it's. It's lovely. Tommy makes an apple galette with that out of the soil.

[Mrs. Truffles]

G. Yes.

[John Michael Higgins]

Oh, these are so fancy.

[Mr. Truffles]

Yeah, those are our. That's what we're faint for in our chocolate shop.

[John Michael Higgins]

Oh, the truffle champagne truffles.

[Mrs. Truffles]

These are the Toyscher champagne truffles made exclusively with Dom Perignon.

[Margaret Welch]

Really?

[Mr. Truffles]

It's a recipe our factory has been making for 75 years. 77 years. It's what we're famous for.

[Margaret Welch]

So if I bite into one of those things, is it liquid?

[Mrs. Truffles]

It's not liquidy.

[Margaret Welch]

It's a ganache with Dom Perignon garland fragrance.

[Mr. Truffles]

So this is. This is a fragrance that was gifted to you. It's from Vincenzo. Vincenzo Spinato's fragrance is a tribute to Judy Garland.

[John Michael Higgins]

I see this.

[Mr. Truffles]

And the fragrance is actually made from the Judy Garland rose.

[John Michael Higgins]

Wow. Can I smell it?

[Mr. Truffles]

Absolutely. Yeah. It's lovely.

[John Michael Higgins]

I'm wearing some I love fragrance. Oh my God, look how fancy this is. Oh, wow.

[Mr. Truffles]

Isn't that beautiful?

[John Michael Higgins]

Oh my. That's beautiful. Thank you.

[Mrs. Truffles]

There's more mags.

[John Michael Higgins]

Okay. Sorry.

[Mrs. Truffles]

My favorite thing.

[John Michael Higgins]

The big one.

[Mr. Truffles]

The tin crackling fire. Oh my God.

[John Michael Higgins]

With a wooden wick.

[Mr. Truffles]

Yes. It sounds like a crackling fire.

[John Michael Higgins]

This is. Oh, I heard that on the other.

[Mrs. Truffles]

They're fantastic.

[Mr. Truffles]

That is the last of the crackling fire candles for this year.

[Mrs. Truffles]

My favorite thing.

[Margaret Welch]

You're really hitting a lot. Yes.

[Mrs. Truffles]

This.

[John Michael Higgins]

This is cream.

[Mr. Truffles]

That's the love and chocolate body butter that I made.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Tara's Mrs. Truffles body butter.

[John Michael Higgins]

You have no idea. Sense and cream.

[Margaret Welch]

Yes.

[Mr. Truffles]

What is a romantic weekend without a fancy bottle of French champagne?

[John Michael Higgins]

This is gorgeous. You guys. This is crazy. This is as romantic a bag as we've ever had.

[Margaret Welch]

You guys should really save this for people who have romantic stories to tell.

[John Michael Higgins]

This is like a.

[Mr. Truffles]

It's.

[John Michael Higgins]

I'll tell you. I can tell you right now. It's a foreign television show with subtitles.

[Mr. Truffles]

Uhhuh.

[John Michael Higgins]

Michael snoring first and then me falling asleep. Although lately with your. Your glasses slipped down your nose and me watching shows where people are like, aye, it's a one lane bridge.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Okay, well, this has been more fun than you can shake a stick at Ms. Truffles. Look, you're grinning Ear to ear. You're having so much fun, aren't you?

[Mr. Truffles]

I'm having so much fun. Mr. Trelfa, as much as you like to, like, joke that it's not a romantic love story. That was a very romantic story.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Yeah, very. Are you kidding me? There's so many beautiful kernels in there that show both of your hearts.

[John Michael Higgins]

It's actually a really sweet opportunity you're giving people to do that. Thank you.

[Mr. Truffles]

You know, I think it is nice. You know, people been married for 20, 30 years, you know, there's a lot of stuff. Things laying around. So when you kind of polish it down to like, the very, like, real story, it's always very romantic.

[Margaret Welch]

That's a good point.

[Mr. Truffles]

And it's a. And it's a great thing, I think, to hear it played back. Back to you. Yeah, and you hear it back, and it's just like, you know, we know.

[Margaret Welch]

All of that detritus. We know what it is, you know, and it doesn't change anything, really.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Well, guys, like the words of George Bernard Shaw, your love is both epic and incredible. And we'll be right back with more for Love and chocolate with Mr. And Mrs. Truffles.

[Mr. Truffles]

We'll be right back.

[Mrs. Truffles]

This podcast is being brought to you by Beverly Hills Toyshare Chocolates of Switzerland. Beverly Hills Toyshare at 371 North Camden Drive in Beverly Hills, has been serving up truffles, pralines, dipped fruits, marzipans, and our world famous chocolate bars for over 40 years. So next time you're in Beverly Hills, why don't you come by and visit or shop [e-mail]. oh, wow. I mean, I love those two so much.

[Mr. Truffles]

That was so much fun.

[Mrs. Truffles]

And you know what? What's so surprising, a little bit surprising for me, is as because they're both so brilliant and they're so funny, but there's a lot of love and romance there.

[Mr. Truffles]

Oh, they are deeply in love.

[Mrs. Truffles]

They really are. I mean, I love how every time, even today, 25 years later, every time Maggie walks into a room, Michael's heart just skips a beat.

[Mr. Truffles]

It's so sweet.

[Mrs. Truffles]

It's so sweet. You know, just like when you walk into a room. Sweetheart.

[Mr. Truffles]

Aw, thank you, Mr. Truffles. Anyway, we are so happy they joined.

[Mrs. Truffles]

Us, and we're so happy you joined us. Guess what, guys? We're gonna do it again next week. But until then, say goodbye, Mrs. Truffles.

[Mr. Truffles]

Goodbye, Mrs. Truffles.

[Mrs. Truffles]

This show is brought to you by Beverly Hills toyshare. Chocolates of Switzerland, home of the world, first and finest champagne truffles. Join us next week for more adventures in everlasting love.