Matthew Knowles Scandals, The Judds and Pee-Wee Docs, and a Blake Lively Hair Product Review

Summary

Glamorous Trash: A Celebrity Memoir Podcast
Episode: Matthew Knowles Scandals, The Judds and Pee-Wee Docs, and a Blake Lively Hair Product Review
Host/Author: Chelsea Devantez
Release Date: June 6, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this Trashy Discourse episode of Glamorous Trash: A Celebrity Memoir Podcast, host Chelsea Devantez teams up with co-host Christina Lopez to delve into a variety of sizzling topics that didn't quite fit into their regular book-focused episodes. From shocking updates in Matthew Knowles' personal life to heartwarming discussions about iconic documentaries and candid reviews of celebrity-endorsed products, this episode promises a rollercoaster of emotions and insights.

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Matthew Knowles Scandals

[01:41] The episode kicks off with Chelsea introducing the latest scandalous developments from Matthew Knowles, husband of Tina Knowles and father of Beyoncé. Recent updates from Tina's memoir reveal a tumultuous relationship marred by infidelity.

Chelsea shares a video from one of Tina’s Texas book events where Matthew appeared on stage to deliver a "motivational speech," symbolizing his attempt to mend fences. Christina expresses disbelief over the repeated betrayals:
"I don't know how she put up with that for, what, 40 years. I don't know how long they were together." [02:50]

Delving deeper, Chelsea uncovers that Matthew had not one but two simultaneous affairs, each resulting in pregnancies. This revelation suggests a significant age gap between Beyoncé and her half-siblings, raising questions about Matthew's commitment and integrity.

Christina condemns Matthew’s actions, highlighting the lack of consideration for the women involved:
"The thing that upsets me the most is how much he was putting all these women's sexual health at risk." [05:05]

Further scandal emerges when Takara, a guest and co-host of another podcast, reveals Matthew's admission about his initial attraction to Tina Knowles based on her perceived whiteness. Matthew reportedly stated,
"I only wanted to date white women and light-skinned women. And I only dated Tina because I thought she was white." [06:50]
This admission not only demeans Tina but also exposes Matthew's internalized colorism, stirring significant outrage among the hosts.

Additionally, Matthew's subsequent marriage to Gina Knowles—a former model who prefers to be termed "Mrs. Knowles"—adds another layer to his controversial personal life, prompting Christina to question the authenticity and intentions behind his relationships.

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The Judds Lifetime Documentary

[14:46] Transitioning to the musical realm, Chelsea and Christina discuss the recently released Lifetime documentary on The Judds. While Christina hasn't watched it yet, she reminisces about their favorite podcast episode covering the trio of their memoirs, praising its depth and investigative storytelling.

Chelsea provides a heartfelt recount of watching the documentary during a planned birthday getaway, revealing the emotional impact it had on her:
"I sat on the bed, I cried. It's basically Ashley and Wynonna who've really been split apart by the trauma in their family." [19:08]
She delves into the complexities of their sibling relationship, especially in the wake of Naomi Judd's tragic suicide, highlighting the enduring bonds and unresolved tensions within the family.

The documentary showcases the sisters' journey towards reconciliation and understanding, set against the backdrop of their vast family estate. Christina expresses a deep desire to watch the documentary, acknowledging its profound portrayal of familial struggles and triumphs.

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The Pee-Wee Herman Documentary

[23:07] Shifting gears, the hosts delve into the Pee-Wee Herman documentary available on HBO Max. Christina shares her nostalgic affection for Pee-Wee Herman, appreciating the documentary's balanced portrayal of Paul Reubens' life—capturing both his comedic genius and personal struggles.

Christina praises the documentary for its nuanced storytelling, especially in addressing Reubens' struggles with his sexuality and the impact of societal oppression:
"There's so many men of his age didn't get to make it to 70. And how many of our queer elders didn't make it to 70?" [25:41]

Chelsea expands on the narrative, discussing how the documentary highlights the dichotomy between Reubens' public persona and his private battles, ultimately leading to his untimely death. The hosts commend the documentary for shedding light on the pressures faced by queer artists in a predominantly homophobic society.

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Blake Lively Hair Product Review

[31:07] Injecting some lighter content, Chelsea reviews a hair product endorsed by Blake Lively. She humorously critiques the product's price point and scent, drawing parallels to nostalgic Bath and Body Works fragrances from her childhood mall experiences.

Chelsea shares her mixed feelings about the $25 hair mist spray:
"It smells like a nice department store, which does hit. Like, sometimes you like that if you're a mall kid." [32:42]
Christina empathizes, noting the mid-summer need for refreshing hair products, but both express skepticism about the high cost for what is essentially a hairspray.

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Personal Updates: Chelsea Devantez's Memoir

[43:14] A significant portion of the episode is devoted to Chelsea’s personal milestone—her memoir's paperback release one year after its initial debut. She shares her excitement and the challenges faced during the publication process, including censoring her book and incorporating bonus content.

Chelsea outlines her creative additions to the paperback, such as:

• "10 things that happened after I published the memoir."
• "10 where are they nows from characters in the book."

These lists serve as a "funny time capsule," providing listeners with deeper insights and reflections post-publication.

Christina discusses her role in helping Chelsea navigate the complex emotions and logistical challenges surrounding the memoir's release, emphasizing the collaborative effort required to bring such projects to fruition.

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Listener Messages and Comments

Throughout the episode, Chelsea and Christina engage with listener submissions, addressing various topics:

1. "If Books Could Kill" Mashup:
   Hannah B. discusses Mel Robbins' son, Oakley, linking it to previous viral article episodes about name trends.
   "Another Patreon message. Lee said, I cannot stop thinking about the Roseanne episode..." [34:13]

2. Roseanne Barr's Political Shift:
   Lee critiques Roseanne Barr's transition to MAGA support, contemplating the influence of familial dynamics and external pressures.
   "It's an article about Roseanne, like going crazy, going MAGA..." [35:56]
   Christina adds depth by exploring the societal and personal factors that might contribute to such drastic political shifts, highlighting the complexity behind public figures' transformations.

3. Alec Baldwin's Financial Demands:
   Nicole calculates the exorbitant expenses Alec Baldwin's family might incur, questioning the financial viability of purchasing his latest memoir.
   "So, like, how much money do they need to run a Life? Is like $20 million minimum." [37:19]

These interactions underscore the podcast's community-driven approach, fostering a space for nuanced discussions and diverse perspectives.

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Podcast Production Insights

In an introspective segment, Chelsea and Christina shed light on the intricate process of producing their podcast episodes amidst tight deadlines and evolving content scopes.

Christina explains the balancing act between pre-production planning and real-time adjustments to stay relevant:
"We are producing a future one, editing the next one, and then finalizing our current one..." [48:42]

They discuss the challenges of maintaining high-quality audio, thorough fact-checking, and managing multiple episodes simultaneously. Highlighting the dedication required, Christina remarks:
"And we're trying to also try things and be ambitious and try new production episodes..." [54:30]

Chelsea emphasizes the importance of empathy and precision in their storytelling, ensuring that each episode resonates authentically with their audience while juggling multiple roles and responsibilities.

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Conclusion and Wrap-Up

As the episode draws to a close, Chelsea and Christina reflect on their journey, express gratitude towards their listeners, and hint at upcoming content, including a special Margarita Wedding episode and future Cookie Jar installments.

Chelsea signs off with a humorous nod to Lauren Sanchez’s wedding:
"Don't let her cosplay as an environmentalist. You know the truth." [59:14]

Christina shares a heartfelt message about overcoming personal struggles and the supportive community they've built:
"I want to say I'm so glad I got through this without crying like I did on the last one." [58:44]

The hosts extend their thanks to their production team and promote their Patreon for those interested in supporting and engaging deeper with the podcast’s content.

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Key Takeaways

• Matthew Knowles' Multiple Affairs: A deep dive into the recent scandals surrounding Beyoncé’s father, revealing complex familial and ethical dilemmas.

• The Judds and Pee-Wee Herman Documentaries: Emotional and insightful reviews that explore the personal lives and legacies of beloved public figures.

• Celebrity-Endorsed Products: Candid and humorous critiques of high-priced hair products, reflecting on consumer culture and nostalgia.

• Personal Milestones: An intimate look into Chelsea Devantez's memoir journey, highlighting the challenges and triumphs of publishing.

• Community Engagement: Active listener participation enriches discussions, bringing diverse viewpoints and real-life correlations to the forefront.

• Behind-the-Scenes Production: An honest portrayal of the complexities involved in maintaining a dynamic and responsive podcast.

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Notable Quotes:

• Christina on Matthew Knowles:
  "I am speechless. It's... what a dirty dog." [05:22]

• Chelsea on Her Memoir:
  "It's a funny time capsule." [46:42]

• Christina on Producing Episodes:
  "We are trying to grow. We want to build the business." [57:53]

• Chelsea on Listener Support:
  "Thank you for being on the Patreon." [59:34]

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This episode of Glamorous Trash masterfully intertwines celebrity gossip with heartfelt personal narratives, offering listeners a comprehensive and engaging exploration of the multifaceted lives of public figures and the behind-the-scenes efforts to bring such content to life.

Transcript

[Chelsea]

Close your eyes.

[Christina]

Exhale.

[Chelsea]

Feel your body relax. And let go of whatever you're carrying today.

[Christina]

Well, I'm letting go of the worry.

[Chelsea]

That I wouldn't get my new contacts.

[Christina]

In time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts.

[Chelsea]

Oh, my gosh, they're so fast. And breathe.

[Christina]

Oh, sorry.

[Chelsea]

I almost couldn't breathe when I saw.

[Christina]

The discount they gave me on my first order.

[Chelsea]

Oh, sorry.

[Christina]

Namaste.

[Chelsea]

Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your first order.

[Christina]

1-800-Contacts.

[Chelsea]

I think you're on mute. Workday starting to sound the same. I think you're on mute. Find something that sounds better for your career on LinkedIn. With LinkedIn job collections, you can browse.

[Christina]

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[Chelsea]

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[Christina]

Get [e-mail] jobs finding where you fit.

[Chelsea]

LinkedIn knows how to. Welcome to Glamorous Trash. This is a celebrity memoir podcast that book clubs, memoirs, viral articles, and trashy discourse to elevate your life. And today is a Trashy discourse episode. It is a cookie jar episode where we are talking about all of the things that this community cares about but didn't fit into our book episodes. We got a lot of trash in the jar today. And you know who's with me? It is our podcast producer extraordinaire, senior producer Queen Christina, just rooting around in.

[Christina]

The trash with you, Chelsea.

[Chelsea]

Listen, welcome to the Dumpster. Okay, Today on the docket, scandalous updates from Tina Knowles memoir that came in seconds before the episode published. And I tried to shove them in. But to today, we've got them. We're going to talk just briefly about the Judds doc, the Judds women documentary, the Peewee Herman documentary. We got some juicy messages from the chat. I'm gonna confess that I did buy a Blake Lively hair product. And I'll tell you how it went. I have a little bit of memoir news, and we have a couple questions about the actual, like, podcast production later that we should get into. Am I missing anything?

[Christina]

I think you got it all.

[Chelsea]

Okay, we have a lot of stuff coming today, so first, let's go into the Matthew Knowles, Tina Knowles memoir updates. They're not Tina updates. They're Matthew updates.

[Christina]

How dare we censor a man.

[Chelsea]

I know. Now, if you remember, Matthew is Beyonce's dad, Tina's husband who was cheating on her from. It sounds like hour two.

[Christina]

I was exhausted just hearing it.

[Chelsea]

It was so. I mean, we didn't even.

[Christina]

I Don't know how she put up with that for, what, 40 years. I don't know how long they were together.

[Chelsea]

I mean, absolutely. Too much, too long. And the first scandalous update is that after all of that, I think it was Maria who sent me a video from one of Tina's events in Texas, her book event. And guess who's on stage giving a motivational speech at the end. Matthew Knowles. And you want to be happy. Like, I guess they're happy, but I was like, get off that stage.

[Christina]

Tina seems very emotionally intelligent and mature, and I'm sure she's processed a lot of the trauma that Matthew probably put her through, or, like, errors on the side of being a little bit more graceful and optimistic about things, especially for the benefit of their family. Because she is family rooted. I mean, in her situation, she did get to choose her family member, but, you know, like, Beyonce didn't get to choose her father.

[Chelsea]

Yeah. And I mean, and think about that second husband being like, well, I'm gone, but Matthew's back on stage.

[Christina]

I know.

[Chelsea]

Well, let's get to the two very scandalous Matthew Knowles updates. So we covered in the book, and Tina covered it, saying that she and Matthew had gotten back together after one of these many, many, many, many cheating incidents. He said he had ended this affair, and then he was served paternity papers at, like, a huge event. I want to say it was like the Emmys or something, but I don't. I don't remember the event, but he was served paternity papers, and it comes out that he had fathered a child in this affair and likely knew that when he was begging for Tina back. What I didn't know is that there was another child conceived at the exact same time from a different affair Matthew Knowles was having. So there were two affairs, two pregnancies, and I might get a little bit of this timeline wrong, but it means Blue ivy is about 2 years difference from Matthew Knowles. Two kids from this affair.

[Christina]

Unbelievable.

[Chelsea]

At the same time, two affairs.

[Christina]

The thing that upsets me the most is how much he was putting all these women's sexual health at risk. Also wasn't giving them an option to decide how they would protect themselves from him. I just. I am speechless. It's. What a dirty dog.

[Chelsea]

A dirty, dirty dog. The two things that get me the most are like, okay, the time, sir, how did you have the time to be Beyonce's father? The.

[Christina]

Her manager.

[Chelsea]

Her manager manage the brand. I think he was maybe out as her manager at that point. But you're managing Everything else that comes with what you and your wife built. You are in a full relationship with Tina and you are in two other full affairs. I just think, like, for a man who's now like a business motivational speaker, he might really have something to say about time management that could help us all. Like, he pulled off some phenomenal feats. But secondly, like, why is everything about an affair always so stupid? Like, if you're having an affair, you didn't want to get caught. You would just, I don't know, use a condom. Be like a pregnancy would really blow up my spot. If I happen to pull off this affair, I'll just use a condom. But it's like everything has to be the worst choice.

[Christina]

It's so rooted in ego. Well, it won't happen to me. Like, you know, nothing bad ever happens to me. It's such a narcissistic. Like, it totally is. I like, I say this having like first hand experience watching, or I guess secondhand experience watching one of my aunts go through this. Something similar to this.

[Chelsea]

You're so right.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Chelsea]

And he did. He got away with it for a hundred women previously. Why would Tina not take him back this time? Well, the other piece of scandalous news comes by way of Takara, another guest.

[Christina]

On this podcast, also one of the co hosts of the list, that podcast you need to check out.

[Chelsea]

It's so good. I love the list.

[Christina]

We'll link it in the show notes.

[Chelsea]

Okay, so check out the list. And also, Takara said, did you know that Matthew Knowles only started dating Tina Knowles because he, quote, thought she was white? And I said, what do you mean? Now how do we know this? Matthew Knowles gave a quote himself. Where in a really misguided, misaligned attempt to talk about a project of his, maybe a book you wrote. I really don't know about colorism within the black community, which is a very important topic. He then said, I only wanted to date white women and light skinned women. And I only dated Tina because I thought she was white. But it turns out I found out later she was in touch with her blackness. And I said, why did you just give a pull quote to the entire world? I only dated Tina because I thought she was white. Like, it's demeaning to her. It's demeaning to you. Like, horrifying.

[Christina]

It's wild because he married a woman who loves her blackness so much and is such an integral part of her identity.

[Chelsea]

Yeah.

[Christina]

And it was something that he was seeking to wipe almost from his bloodline. It seemed like, yeah, like, almost like.

[Chelsea]

He got lucky marrying her and undoing all of this. And he was saying. He was like, this was horrible colorism that I held. So, like, I'll give him that. But I'm like, you are Beyonce's father. Like, why did you just do this to the whole family? Yeah.

[Christina]

And airing it out like that. I don't know.

[Chelsea]

All so bad. Now, you had another point about his new wife. Do you remember?

[Christina]

Yes, I remember looking it up, and then I realized her name was Gina Knowles.

[Chelsea]

Which means he went from Tina to Gina.

[Christina]

Yes, exactly. Which to me is just like, if you had a bad relationship or maybe it wasn't that bad, but, like, dating somebody in the proximity of the same name as your ex and marry them and also, like, it just seemed kind of crooked to me. But I also have dated people with the same name as me, so who am I to judge?

[Chelsea]

I mean, you said to me, imagine how many times he has slipped up and accidentally called her Tina. I'm just like, no, I said Gina. She's like, I heard Tina.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Chelsea]

She also was a former model of some sort. Really loves being Mrs. Knowles. Signs everything. Mrs. Knowles. Like, it's a whole thing. Not that I'm judging over here as I scroll everything, but I think that's.

[Christina]

What he wanted and found.

[Chelsea]

And I think that's what Tina said. He wanted a woman to support him, not a woman who could stand alone. She said it shadily in the book, and I give her so much. She said I was too much for him. And she is not. She is just enough. And I said, oop. Okay. We also. I feel like I gloss right over you dating people with the name Christina. That is that hard.

[Christina]

Call me by our name.

[Chelsea]

Was it difficult?

[Christina]

I think we, like, would abbreviate each other's names. Just. I mean, it also just never really lasted that long to, you know, matter.

[Chelsea]

Okay. Okay. I mean, that's the fact that it sounds like it was multiple different Christina's is kind of incredible. It sounds like there were two Christina's.

[Christina]

There were, like. There's also some that come, like, really close in the proximity of my name. Like a Kirsten, you know, like. Yeah, that is so.

[Chelsea]

That's so funny and so tough.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Chelsea]

Oh, I would watch a show about all the Christinas you have dated. Okay. We all. I found out something that has really elevated how I know you, which is that you are a Solange. That was the character you kept identifying with. Will you explain?

[Christina]

There was, like, every time they reference a character trait Like, Solange didn't like being on tour. Yeah. Because Cancers love being at home. That's so important to us.

[Chelsea]

Like, my husband's a cancer.

[Christina]

Yeah. I can understand why she wouldn't want to leave the house and, like, disrupt her routine in her little world. She's also, like, a little regimented in the same way that, like, I love having a routine and even her mom visiting her. She's like, no, I have this, like, church group that I want to hang out with, and that's part of my day. And you're causing a disruption to me.

[Chelsea]

It's such a distinct view on the world where you, like, really know yourself. But. And. But it has, like, boundaries to it. Is that right?

[Christina]

Yeah, I would say that. And also just her being a little bit more emotionally in tune with, like, the fucked upness that was happening around her, it seemed. And being willing to call that out. I think Maria's observation also about being. I am a little sister. And, like, being the littlest sister like you do, you spend a lot of time watching and seeing patterns that people who are living it can't see because you're just, like, so outside of the norm by the time your parents have you.

[Chelsea]

Yeah.

[Christina]

That you're kind of just almost left to your own devices a lot. Because your older sibling doesn't want to hang out with you either.

[Chelsea]

Right. Right.

[Christina]

You know, and so you're just kind of just like, watching everybody and observing and being in tune with people's emotions in a way that. Because her mother's a Capricorn, and my mother's a Capricorn as well, and I almost feel like I have to teach my mom how to feel sometimes. And, like, it took me a long time to learn that sometimes the only way to get over something is to go through it. Sit with your feelings.

[Chelsea]

Yeah.

[Christina]

And, like, actually deal with things. And so much of that is reflective in her music as well. It's very clear to me that Beyonce is informed by Solange's work and maybe vice versa. But that sort of emotional vulnerability, that's like something that a cancer can tune into. Right. Because we are so in touch with.

[Chelsea]

Our emotions that Beyonce is often she. I'm sure she has it, but she doesn't display it to the world in a way. Solange will open. Like, Solange kicks in the elevator. Beyonce stares. Straightforward.

[Christina]

I think that's like the Virgo perfectionism prevents you because you can't. Because being vulnerable is messy.

[Chelsea]

Yeah.

[Christina]

You can't be, like, perfectly vulnerable. It comes off inauthentic.

[Chelsea]

I love when I learn about astrology through celebrity memoirs.

[Christina]

Yeah, that needs to control how something is perceived and executed hinders the raw expression.

[Chelsea]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Christina]

And you have to kind of like shed that to be able to like, get to the core truth of the artistic message and the emotion behind it that you're trying to.

[Chelsea]

You know, I feel like you really shed light on Solange for me. And I love knowing I was like, oh my God, you're. You were like, I'm a Solange. And I said, ah, I love it.

[Christina]

Yeah, I love being at home.

[Chelsea]

Is that also a Taurus quality? Because I also love being at home.

[Christina]

Yeah, I think so. But actually, cancers and Tauruses get along really well.

[Chelsea]

That's why I married one. Okay, so have you seen the Judds Lifetime documentary? Okay, we're gonna take a quick break right now and we'll be right back.

[Christina]

This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. From streaming to shopping, prime helps you get more out of your passions. So whether you're a fan of true crime or prefer a nail biting novel from time to time, with services like Prime Video, Amazon Music, and fast free delivery, prime makes it easy to get more out of whatever you're into or getting into. Visit Amazon.comprime to learn more.

[Chelsea]

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[Christina]

Stop by your nearest Lowe's store and check out the full line of Craftsman tools today.

[Chelsea]

Valid through 618. Wall supplies. Last selection varies by location. Okay, let's dive back into the episode. Okay, so have you seen the Judds Lifetime documentary?

[Christina]

No, but what I will say is that the Judds episode that you did covering all three of their memoirs is one of my favorite episodes ever and was probably the thing that like, made me hooked into the podcast.

[Chelsea]

That is so nice to hear because I don't often hear about that episode. And it's like my entire reason for starting this podcast was like, for that episode. Those women mean so much to me and their memoirs mean so much to me because they're all telling a different story. Like, you truly have to detective through three memoirs to find the actual family history because they're all telling lies. Well, Naomi's definitely telling lies, but it's also like emotional perception and how it went for them. And one person is leaving out One thing. Was it on purpose? Was it not? Like, I could probably do 10 more hours on those books.

[Christina]

I think it also beautifully illustrates how you can have the same parent and get different experiences.

[Chelsea]

So true. I love them so much as a family. I think it is my dream to adapt their life into a show or movie. Except I also know that Ashley and Wynonna probably don't want that because they've been put through so many Oprah soul Sundays where Oprah's like, I'll counsel you three.

[Christina]

That's how I know them. That's how I know them. Like, I didn't grow up with country music. I grew up watching them on Oprah.

[Chelsea]

Oh, yeah. I love can build a bridge. My aunt played it so many times. I did grow up with their music, and I am deeply, deeply obsessed with them. So I have this. Maybe this is a hot tip. I give it every year. And then I also feel embarrassed because I'm like, maybe everyone already knew this, but I always thought you had to be, like, a bajillionaire to use credit card points. I was just like, I don't know. You're just like, that's not for me. And shout out to my friend Bridget, who 2020. So five years ago, you guys. Five years ago, I learned about credit cards. That is not long enough ago. But she was like, use it like a debit card. So you only use what you already have cash for, and you set up automatic payments. Because I was always using a debit card because I was like, I don't want to go into debt. And then you build up the points. And I've been doing that every year, and now I get, like, I don't know, three to five free nights at this hotel that, like, allows dogs, and it has an outdoor bathtub, and it's all from, like, credit card points. So I always tell people to do this because I, like, didn't know this was available for so many years. Is this stupid or is this good advice?

[Christina]

I think it's interesting how we all come to financial education, too. I think about how much financial anxiety is passed on because you watch your parents, like, open bills and be nervous about it.

[Chelsea]

100. And, like, I just didn't want anything to do with it, so I just, like, didn't. Yeah, you're right. I'm. There are people who like, yeah, I know this bitch. But I know there's one person out there right now being like, wait, for reals? Because, like, if you can at least get one free luxury hotel, stay a year from using a credit card. Is that not worth it? So anyways, we make plans to go to this hotel every year because it's free. I would save it at my little points. And I had everything planned out that night, Christina, because, like I said, has an outdoor bathtub. I don't know if y' all are hearing me, but, like, this is top key luxury. It's been a joke in my life for a long time that is absolutely real, which is, like, if there is a hot tub, I have made it, like, everything in my life. Like, I am a superstar when I have a hot tub. And so, like, I love a bath. I love all of it. So I had planned up this night where it's like, I brought the wine to the hotel from Trader Joe's, I brought the cheese from Trader Joe's, and I'm gonna, like, sit in this bath and, like, read this book. I had the whole night planned at this, like, special one occasion. And the TV is on and I look over and I say, I haven't seen those Judds images before. What is this? And I, at my special getaway, like, throw away the entire night, ate the cheese on the corner of the bed as I watched the End of the Lifetime documentary, waited for it to restart, and watched the beginning and Yasser's like, this is how you want to spend your birthday weekend? And I was like, yes.

[Christina]

So I actually saw the trailer for it right before you left, and I was like, I'm not going to send this to her because I don't want to send her work things while she's away. And then I see you posted on your IG stories. I was like, well, I was going to suggest this.

[Chelsea]

You are the best producer. Yeah, I. I mean, I just sat on the bed, I cried. I. It's basically Ashley and Wynonna who've really been split apart by the trauma in their family, which I also relate to, where it's like, all you have is each other, and yet they have not been able to have each other, because also, Naomi really entered into a toxic, codependent relationship with Wynona, and Ashley broke free of it. So it's such a fascinating dynamic. But after Naomi's passing, which was a death by suicide, where she also left notes like, wynonna's not allowed to come to the funeral.

[Christina]

And it was Ashley who found her.

[Chelsea]

It was Ashley was with her, like, in the house, like, was counseling her mom of, like, it's gonna be okay. And then her mom went upstairs and it was Ashley who was the spokesperson for the family as they were going through that. And this is her and Wynonna coming back together as sisters. Oh, my God. I'm, like, getting emotional. Like, they, like, it's still hard for them. And it ends with them, like, on all of this land that their mom owns, they lived in three farmhouses, like, on 10 acres each. And it's like them, like, holding hands on this land, and their mom's gone, but they're finally, like, really becoming sisters and telling the story of what happened with Naomi's death and a little bit more shedding light on, like, the back half of their career. Yeah. It's just if you love them. It is such a beautiful watch.

[Christina]

Yeah. It sounds like it's an incredible. I want to watch it. I just didn't have time. Oh, yeah, I ran out of time.

[Chelsea]

Listen, you've been putting out so many episodes. I should not be sending you work. Just pretend you didn't hear about that documentary. Don't watch it.

[Christina]

No, I think because I saw a scene where Ashley. Was it Ashley or was it Wynonna talking about. I think it was Wynonna. Yeah. Because they were on a TV show together, and she. And it's interesting because this came up in the Mormon Wives episode that we're about to put out by the time this comes out. But she talks about not being as pretty. It's kind of like Wynonna wasn't as pretty as her mother, but her mother was also aging, and so that also became an issue when she was st. Like, it was like these dual beauty.

[Chelsea]

The beauty stuff is.

[Christina]

And I also relate to, like, having a really beautiful mom and also, like, seeing the disappointment in people's faces when they see you and find out that you're her daughter. You're her daughter.

[Chelsea]

Yeah.

[Christina]

And it's like, I just look different. I'm darker. I'm like. I was masc even then, even though I tried my best to, like, not be that way. And my mom's, like, very petite and very femme and just, like, fabulous and, like, you know, I'm just, like, trying to, like, wear a little hoodie and like.

[Chelsea]

Yeah, yeah. Oh, Christina. I. I like different specifics. Exact same feeling. Like, my mom was just, like, tall and thin and blonde and blue eyed, and she's got glossier beauty where it's like, yeah, I'm in a men's flannel and a low pony, and everyone's. You're the sexiest woman I've ever seen.

[Christina]

You know what I mean, and you're trying to be high glam and it's.

[Chelsea]

Like, yeah, I'm like, I've put every pound of makeup in a 20 mile vicinity onto my face. But that is also why I love that family so much. Because of all the issue, like, it's like every issue, unfortunately, is within those three women that any other woman can relate to. In that Wynonna also had the talent Naomi did not. So she needed Wynonna to do the playing, the writing, the singing. Then the way she treated her and parentified her and made her be her best friends and her mom and do all the things she wanted is what leads Wynonna and to have these issues with food and with gambling. But then that becomes the thing Naomi's mad at her about. Just be thin. And then Ashley Judd, extremely thin, looks a lot like Naomi, a Hollywood Oscar winning actress and as we find out, has a different dad than Wynonna, which was kept a secret from Wynonna. And then that's where my issues come in. Of like, there was a reason I was different. You motherfuckers.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Chelsea]

Yeah. Oh, okay. Well, I highly recommend now another documentary that also is just. I can't stop thinking about it. When I get the bandwidth up, I'll watch it again. But it's the Peewee Herman documentary with Paul Rubens and it's on Max. And it's two episodes, but two very, very long ones.

[Christina]

HBO Max.

[Chelsea]

Did it go back to HBO Max?

[Christina]

It's HBO Max again.

[Chelsea]

Okay, so you watched some of that. What were, what was your initial thoughts?

[Christina]

Yeah, so I watched most of Part one and I was a huge Pee Wee Herman fan growing up. I watched the HBO special when I was probably too young to watch that. So much of my life is shaped by things I was probably too young to watch. And I loved the TV show Pee Wee's Playhouse. Even when I was like a preteen, it started running on reruns on Fox Family Channel and I would watch it after school and it was just, you know, and then I would go back as a teenager and watch the HBO special again and like, catch the jokes that like, obviously went over my head as a child and seeing how funny that was. I wasn't a huge fan of the movies, but the documentary is so heartwarming and, like, really masterfully balances things that encompass Paul, including, like, giving levity to the seriousness of the parts that deserve seriousness, like his closeted life and dealing with his sexuality. And also the levity that is Such a central theme of his personality and really letting the subject shine in those moments. It's really hard to balance that, and it does. There were so many moments that I watched in that first part that just really feel. Felt really profound, felt really heartwarming, and just really. I'm glad that he got that, because also, I think this is the other thing that I was thinking of is just that, yes, he passed away fairly Recently, I think 2022 or 2023. But so many men of his age didn't get to make it to 70. And how many of our queer elders didn't make it to 70? And there's a whole part of the first part that talks about him wrestling about going back in the closet after having a relationship, and in a lot of ways, probably struggling with the fact that that kept him safe in some. Some instances. And I'm talking, like, inexplicably about the AIDS crisis that took away so many of our queer elders. All of the history that encompasses that and how they weave that into the story. And yeah, it is just.

[Chelsea]

Yeah, everything you said, it's. We could do a whole series on it. And this is where there's a part of me that's like, if a. If just we got a flood of people joining the Patreon and we hired a second podcast producer so that it didn't break you. I would just throttle this podcast with more episodes because that one deserves hours on it. It is the artistry watching him in the beginning and build it. And then when he goes into the closet, it is truly what helps him and allows him to become a superstar because of homophobia and the MTV era and all that stuff. So it's what allows him to become a superstar. Also what allowed him to become famous is the thing that allows him or the thing that makes it so that he falls so hard from grace, because people not knowing his sexuality, not knowing he was gay, and him having to be closeted is part of the scandal when he's, like, at, you know, a dirty theater, which, like, everyone goes to because he's hiding his sexuality. And these are the places where he's, like, able to experience it. But then it comes into this big reveal of being gay. And then, of course, tying that into perversion and criminals and pedophilia, which is, like, what they would want to do to queer people all the time, that it's like. And that it was able to happen to him because he had not let anyone know who he was. And you'll see it in the second half but when he wasn't Pee Wee Herman, he would let his hair grow out into the hippie ways he came up with in school. And he'd grow a beard and he was just a very, like, smoke weed, you know, listened to beautiful records, dressed as a drag queen. And so the world had never seen what he really looked like. And when the mug shot comes out next to the Pee Wee Herman character, which is this cleaned up, highly made up character, it's like the worst image you could ever see. He looks like. He looks like the dirty old uncle.

[Christina]

Especially in, like, the early 90s. I'm thinking of, like, a Tipper Gore. Like, let's start censoring these rap records. We have to protect the children.

[Chelsea]

Yeah.

[Christina]

To have a child entertainer engaged in that, you know, seemed like ripe for a firestorm.

[Chelsea]

Oh, yeah. And he goes through that one. And then enough people rally and he rallies and you just feel like, so, like, happy that he walked through it. Because then he comes back, begins to build his career back, begins to let people know him as Paul Rumens. It's still coyly in the closet. There's a lot to it. And then a second person accuses him of having child pornography. And it's because he is friends with Jeffrey. What's his face? From Ferris Bueller, the actor Jeffrey Jones. Yes, Jeffrey Jones. And basically, it's a complicated and layered story. You gotta watch the documentary. But because Jeffrey Jones was accused and Jeffrey Jones pled no contest and took on a felony charge and registered as a sex offender because of that, Paul then was investigated and they took 30,000 images out of his house from his art and photography collection. He's a huge collector. You see it in the documentary. There's more to the story. But he could never recover from it. He could never recover from the press and experience of that.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Chelsea]

And there's this, like, voicemail he leaves at the end the day before he died about having, like, his life stolen from him because people put on these, like, accusations on him that, like, weren't true. And the shame that comes around that and, like, having people, like, see you as a pariah. And when you see, like, what an incredible artist he was and also, like, kind of a dick. And he had feuds, but he also cared too much. And he fought with his managers, but he was just such an artist and such a light in the world and did so much good and it got so overtaken and. Yeah, I just. I highly recommend. I highly recommend everyone watch it.

[Christina]

I love that.

[Chelsea]

Okay, let's switch to a Happier thing. What do we have? What do we have? Okay, I bought a Blake Lively. Blake Brown hair product. Okay, we're gonna take a quick break right now, and we'll be right back. Hey there, travelers. Kaley Cuoco here. Sorry to interrupt your music, great artist, BT Dubs, but wouldn't you rather be there to hear it live? With Priceline, you can get out of your dreams and into your dream concert. They've got millions of travel deals to get you to that festival, gig, rave, sound, bath, or sonic experience you've been dreaming of. Download the Priceline app today and you can save up to 60% off hotels and up to 50% off flights. So don't just dream about that trip. Book it with Priceline.

[Christina]

Go to your happy price. Priceline.

[Chelsea]

This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Knowing you could be saving money for the things you really want is a great feeling. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with a personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts, and savings and eligibility vary by state. Okay, let's dive back into the episode.

[Christina]

Chelsea.

[Chelsea]

I know. Okay. Christina, it was so much fucking money for what it was. Guess how much. Okay, let me tell you what it was.

[Christina]

So, yeah, tell me what it was.

[Chelsea]

I feel like if you were a kid who ever had any mall experience growing up, you have a Bath and Body Works urge living inside you at all times. And if the right product presents it to your adult self. But it's like, remember Bath and Body Works, girlfriend? Like, you're like, I gotta buy this. So something. I don't know what I saw, but they were basically like, everyone is so obsessed with the scent of her shampoo and conditioner, and you've all been clamoring for it. I don't know if that's why, obviously that was probably a lie, that we took the scent from that hair care and we just made a hair mist spray with this. With these scents that you all love so much. And it's a hair mist spray. And my Bath and Body Works urge went up. You know where I went back to vanilla sugar, cucumber melon spritz.

[Christina]

Cucumber melon. It's so good.

[Chelsea]

Yeah. And one fun fact about me is that I wash my hair, like, once every five days because I have a shit ton of it. So it takes a long. Everything takes a long time to wash it to air Dry it to style it to whatever. Like, it just.

[Christina]

It's very dense.

[Chelsea]

It's very dense. So I just. So I said, ah, a little spritz, a little freshen up, spray. How fun.

[Christina]

Yeah. We're entering to summer here in Southern California. You need the. Yeah, yeah.

[Chelsea]

When you go on walks and it's all. You're all sweaty out.

[Christina]

Okay.

[Chelsea]

How much did I give?

[Christina]

How many ounces is it?

[Chelsea]

It's like a 16 ounce latte. It's. It's sold at Target.

[Christina]

Is it like $60?

[Chelsea]

No, but it was $25. And that's. That's a lot for a hairspray.

[Christina]

Yeah. Hair mist.

[Chelsea]

It's just a hair mist. Okay. It's not. Yeah, it's just a hair mist. And it's. It was $25 and it was supposed to smell like vanilla and sandalwood. And the best I can give it is that it. It. It smells like a nice department store, which does hit. Like, sometimes you like that if you're a mall kid, sometimes it's like, ooh, like department store. Exactly. I don't know, like walking through the makeup counters at a Dillard's.

[Christina]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Chelsea]

Okay, so you're like, not, not JCPenney's, Dillards.

[Christina]

And you're like, ooh.

[Chelsea]

But like, I don't want to smell like a department store. I want it to smell like vanilla, amber, sandalwood. And now I have a $25 hair mist that I'm gonna be like, I'm gonna fucking use this. I guess I just. Why won't they bring Bath and Body Works back for adults?

[Christina]

Part of me is like, oh, can you gift it to someone? Maybe it's already opened.

[Chelsea]

I've already spritzed. And then I'd be gifting them something.

[Christina]

Okay.

[Chelsea]

At best.

[Christina]

Yeah. But you know what? You're okay if someone's great.

[Chelsea]

All right, Christina, I know what you're getting for your birthday this month. Okay, let's read a couple of messages from the chat. Hannah B. Said, I have a glamorous trash mashup if books could kill. Podcast episode about the book let them theory explains that the author Mel Robbins son is named Oakley. Which ties in with our viral article episode about how one of the most popular red state names are the 19 different spellings of Oakley.

[Christina]

I'm gonna just about to ask, is it Oakley? L, E, E, like what?

[Chelsea]

This one is the Oakley sunglasses, which actually didn't make the ones on the list were like, Oakley, yeah, Oakley. This is like, yeah, Oakley sunglasses. And it's Mel. It's Mel Robbins kid's name, which is really, really funny to me. Another Patreon message. Lee said, I cannot stop thinking about the Roseanne episode and what turned her maga. I always admired her show and followed her on Twitter, enjoyed her political commentary and insights. She was decidedly liberal. Then she started taking a right turn. This was before maga and also we know like she put out some like really racist tweets and things like that. But Lee basically found some old tweets from Tom Arnold and one of them says this, how is this not elder abuse? It's an article about Roseanne, quote, like going crazy, going MAGA. Roseanne Barr's 50 year old son, Jake Pentland, who has always lived off his mother, encourages this sad, pathetic, embarrassing behavior by his 72 year old mentally ill mom and films her for cash. It's the only thing he's done for years. If he cared about his mother's well being, he'd stop and get her some real help. This really hit me because at the end of the episode we were talking about how women in that era and still now going through mental health problems are cast off as like crazy bitches. And even still I didn't think to myself, oh, what if all these like weird videos and music videos and social media content she does about Trump and MAGA was maybe coming from someone making cash off her?

[Christina]

I think it's because we want to believe that she has agency. This was a person who like created and starred in like a feminist leading sitcom in the 80s and 90s at a time when that was like hard to do. And so to picture someone with a strong, who we believe has a strong personality like that to be able to be manipulated seemed at and like because I think it was happening so much in people's personal lives too. There's so many people who probably experience in their own families individuals who were previously or believed to be like at the very least centrist, turning far, far right. And so maybe it was reflective of something that was going on larger in society, but how much of it is maybe other issues at play, which I think was discussed pretty artfully in that Roseanne episode.

[Chelsea]

That one's one of my recent favorite episodes. And my friend Jo sent me a text message from her friend that said the Roseanne Bar episode is a must. Listen. I got a speeding ticket listening to it and I said, you know, I need to actually I need to text her and ask her if I can post that as that's the best review for this podcast. They were like driving and they were like.

[Christina]

Oh, my gosh, that's amazing.

[Chelsea]

I know. Okay, here's another message. That was incredible. So after the hilarious Baldwin episode, Nicole, Wait, hold on.

[Christina]

Can we talk about, like, I feel like she created a horcrux out of me with that episode in that book. I don't know.

[Chelsea]

Yeah, talk about it. That book. That. I don't think people realized it. And it's a subscriber only episode for many reasons, but a lot of it was just how it was requested by the cookies, which is why they got it. Two, we didn't want to do it, so we only did it because. Because of our Patreon members and Apple subscribers. Thank you. And three, it was so intense. It was that. That one took so much work for a lot of. For fact checking reasons, basically. Like, so many things had to be rerecorded, picked up or edited around because she had lied in the book. But it took another researcher coming on to unravel all of the lies.

[Christina]

Well, it's also just like, I think I cared a lot too about how we were framing the, like, Latino, Hispanic conversation. And like, nightmares I would have about, like, because I and another cookie talked about this. I understand Spanish, but I wouldn't say that I'm fluent in Spanish. And like, the idea of like, someone like Ellaria telling me I need to speak better Spanish and I should learn about my culture, which did happen to me once in college where it was like this Caucasian woman, white woman, who had gone to study abroad in Spain, came back, was in love with the culture and, like, tried to speak to me. And also Spain Spanish is completely different than, like, Caribbean Island Spanish, which gets dunked on a lot by other people in the Latino community. So, like, that was one reason I could understand her, but she was just like, you should know your culture. And I'm like, I actually know a lot about my culture. I'm like, I know I've read a lot of history books, but the language proficiency part is something that, like, really hangs me up still to this, drop.

[Chelsea]

Her full name, give me this woman, and I'll take a road trip.

[Christina]

She was a Courtney, I'll just say that. So, yeah, so I, like, I cared a lot about getting it right. And so much of the identity also is rooted in, like, having a U.S. perspective. And so much of, like, the wording around it is like, what the United States government was using for census stuff. And I don't want to get too into that, but, like, everybody can come at it in different Ways. And so to try to narrow it so succinctly was like a challenge for me. And I tried to do it accurately and succinctly. Yeah, sometimes don't those don't go hand in hand to, like, as perfect as people see themselves as well.

[Chelsea]

So you're sorry. It was like a whole other topic to discuss. In order to discuss what, like, yes, Hilary was doing. And yeah, I feel this as someone who has a very complicated identity being donor conceived. People have been shitty to me. I've been shitty to myself. Like, I'm also, like, very protective of that.

[Christina]

I think, like, her inability to lay out exactly what her ties to Spain were growing up in a chronological or consistent way, that would lend you to believe that she had spent a developmental amount of time there. Yeah, but from what I've read and what I've seen, it was something that came maybe in her late teens, early 20s.

[Chelsea]

Well, I think from our on the ground sources, from an eyewitness, we can distinctly say it was her 20s, around 25. Listen. Listen to the episode if you want it. But I. The episode was. And the. The book is like, the book gives you the ick. So it's like, not. It took a lot too, because anything. And Chris and I had a lot of fun, but it was like, some books are so bad. You're like, oh my God, hilarious. And then some books are like, really good and you love them. This book was like, ugh. Like, it was. It was like picking up like a piece of dog shit with, like gloves on and trying to, like, explain to you. I'm sorry, that.

[Christina]

And I.

[Chelsea]

And I really, you know, I always try and come with empathy and kindness. We had so many pickups to do of like, like even just being like, oh, they had a violent stalker. And then being like, okay, there's actually a totally different stalker story that I had to tell everyone about in the episode. Anyways, sign up again. If you sign up for Patreon one, it supports this podcast. Two, if enough people do it, like I said, I'll be throttling this podcast with more episodes. But Christina works so hard and I worked. We worked so hard at this that we will break in half if we add more episodes, which I already did with Mormon wives. Okay, so Nicole wrote this in the chat. The Baldwin's needing money. I did the math because I am basically the only person at work today and I don't know how to behave on my lunch break. I am assuming the kids are at a school similar to Dalton or Collegiate, which roughly comes in around $65,000 a year in tuition, not including any fees, trips, uniforms. For the purposes of easy math, I am assuming $70,000 a year per kid from the years 4 to 18, not including nannies, increasing to $90,000 a year for college, based on Yale's estimates, plus tuitions and fees. So 14 years of private education plus four years for an Ivy for seven kids gets you at $9 million, roughly 6.7 million before university, 2.5 million for university. So I guess they really do need the money. And then the comments. I mean, listen, if you want more, it's on Patreon. But the comments. Then someone had messaged me, and they said, I see Alec Baldwin all the time with two nannies. So it's like, okay, there's actually two nannies. That doesn't also include health insurance, Renting a house in New York City or buying a house in New York City. The house in the Hamptons. Like this doesn't include food. It doesn't include transportation. So, like, how much money do they need to run a Life? Is like $20 million minimum. There's no way this book was even. I don't think this book made it.

[Christina]

To a million or even the TV show. I don't know. Yeah, but that goes back to the thing that you said, that, like, they.

[Chelsea]

Should probably move out of New York.

[Christina]

And also bold to assume that all those kids are going to get into Yale.

[Chelsea]

Well, I just. I just assumed. They assumed they would Nepo. Walk their way in, but. Yeah, you're right. You're right, Ivy League. Maybe someone's going to a state school. Maybe one of them is learning a real skill. We don't know. Yeah, but it would still be not including nannies or any other help. It would be $7 million just for private school in New York City. I know, I know. Christina, it is June 4, 2025, one year ago exactly today, my memoir came out.

[Christina]

Yay. I can't. Yeah, I remember the production around that, too. Like your. The episode about your memoir and stuff like that. It's like, crazy that a year has already passed. But, yes, let's dive into this. Let's go deep, deep, deep, deep, deep.

[Chelsea]

If you know that reference, you know. No, I just. I was so. It was so cool to see that we had accidentally planned our cookie jar recording. This day felt really nice, and I talked about it on Instagram. But my memoir is coming out in paperback, which is cool. You don't always. You don't get to that stage unless your book sold Enough copies of hardback.

[Christina]

Congratulations.

[Chelsea]

I know. So I was like, I found out a couple months ago from my editor, Grace. Shout out to Grace if she's listening. Yeah. It was incredible news. I'm so proud of this moment. I didn't know if it would make it here or not. You never know. And then really dorkily of me, it means I get to do bonus content. So the paperback is gonna have a bunch of new stuff I've written. So I again, I was on Instagram doing polls, asking the cookies where I get my best ideas, and I need to turn in my bonus content soon. Have I told you yet what I'm gonna do in the book?

[Christina]

No, I want to hear about it.

[Chelsea]

Okay, I'm gonna pull up the document I have up right now. Grace, if you're listening, I swear, I'm almost done. I've just been busy with some other scripts.

[Christina]

Grace is gonna be in the comments. Like, what the heck?

[Chelsea]

She's like, you said June, bitch. So I wrote an essay with a year distance on it of what it was like to choose to censor my book and why, which I've been able to write about a lot better now that I'm not in the middle of it. And people have asked about the experience of both when it happened, when it came out, and what it was like afterwards. So I wrote about that, but then. And then pivoted and set up what I think is kind of the surefire way to know that a memoirist has just lost it and they're just trying to hit the word count that they start making lists at the end of their memoir.

[Christina]

Yes. You've criticized so many.

[Chelsea]

Yeah, like, my morning routine, it's just like, oh, this bitch is out of stuff. Okay, wait.

[Christina]

Did you take a page out of Vanessa Williams and her mom's memoir and have your enemies list?

[Chelsea]

Right. I am including right now. It's 15 lists, but I'm sure they'll get cut down. I'll tell you some of the titles of my list. 6 people whose names are real in the book. 10 titles I almost gave the book, but we'll give something else in my life. 10 mistakes that made into the book. 10 things that happened after I published the memoir. 10 where are they nows from characters in the book? 10 things I'm working on now. Will you ever hear or see them again? And, like, at the end of Dolly Parton's memoir, she was like, guys and gals. Like, I got a TV show coming. I got a lingerie line. I got this makeup Product. And, like, none of those things ever happened. So it's just this incredible time in her life where she was really trying to get a lot started. And, like, it took, like, 30 years for now she's like, jolene's a cupcake mix or whatever, but, like, at the time, her memoir, I think, is the 80s. Like, none of those things happened. And so I truly wrote out every single thing that I have in the works right now that's in development or at a green light. And, like, by the time the book comes out, I'll know if three of them. Like, I could be printing three things that, like, never fucking made it. But I don't know. I just thought it'd be like a funny time capsule.

[Christina]

Wait, did you write all those lists out already?

[Chelsea]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Huh?

[Christina]

Oh, yeah. Okay, wait, like, offsides. Like, some really good Patreon bonus content.

[Chelsea]

Oh, yeah. Trust the Patreon will get everything first. I have a list of 10 ways I would rewrite the book now that I've calmed down.

[Christina]

And now that, you know, I think a little bit more about the process having gone through it.

[Chelsea]

Yeah.

[Christina]

You know.

[Chelsea]

Oh, yeah.

[Christina]

Especially all the legal stuff.

[Chelsea]

Exactly. Yeah. I have 10 new anti acknowledgments, I have five new enemies. I have 10 celebrity castings of people in the book. And then this is what I'm ending with. And I fully owe this to the cookies, where every week on Instagram, I go through an Us Weekly, and I only pull out the good stuff, but I always, always, always do the dress quiz, and I go through the 25 things about me, and I judge the person on how good they did. So the Last list is 25 things about me, even though you just read a whole fucking memoir. And my goal is to try and do a brilliant 25 things about me, even though I already gave you a whole book to show these motherfuckers how it's done. Okay, if there's one thing I can do, it's an interesting factoid.

[Christina]

Yes, that's for sure. Yes, exactly. Oh, my God. I can't wait. I'm like, literally. Oh, my gosh. But then, like, what if you do get big and you're gonna have to do one, A whole new one from scratch?

[Chelsea]

I could do it, baby.

[Christina]

I'm 50. Interesting thing I am.

[Chelsea]

This is one skill set I believe in myself is like. It just crushes me when people are given two seconds and they don't choose to offer something interesting in those two seconds.

[Christina]

And so Chelsea's favorite book, the Alchemist.

[Chelsea]

Yeah, the four agreements. I love pizza. I really like to travel. It's like, bitch, tell us something interesting. So if you have a request, listen, I'm a little past my deadline, but if you have another list idea for me and you want to drop it on the Patreon comments, I might have time to turn it in. Hey, Grace, how many. What's my word count? Can I print a whole second book in the bonus content? Okay, Christina, last thing is we got a question, which is how do you produce the episodes and how do times when we turn them around really fast, how do we pull that off?

[Christina]

Okay, you're constantly booking and also recording and constantly trying to feed the beast that is the podcast. Yeah, right.

[Chelsea]

Yeah.

[Christina]

So just as you get like a month and a half clear and you like can focus on the content sometimes, then that month and a half turns to like a three week lead and you're like, oh God, I gotta get the booking ahead again. And like, get farther out and like, yeah, keep going. And also because it's that balance of like, you want it to be relevant to what's going on in culture. So there's only so much you can plan ahead. Like some memoirs, you can like plan ahead. But if it's something that's coming out and you have to get an early copy and like, depending on how early you can get the copy, like that all impacts we have to shift the calendar. Sometimes you're also dealing with different audio situations. So like Chelsea and I have professional podcasting mics. We're in places that are like, you know, we can sweeten the audio and it still sounds fine. There are other instances where somebody might have laptop audio and that takes a little bit of time. Between Marcus and I talking about how we want to filter it or adjust the sound so it sounds much better. And so that's a better listen for everybody all around. And so that takes time. And so I edit it down. Sometimes I take the first pass. That takes me anywhere from depending on how long the original tape is, 90 minutes or like 2 hours to 4 hours, depending on how long the episode is. If it's a two hour episode, that's like six hours of editing, hands down. Just because you're also managing and the fact checking like the holler. And then when the fact checking stuff comes in, then it takes a little bit more time. Then Chelsea will take a listen and she does more content cuts. I like to leave stuff in because there might be something that bumps for me. But Chelsea loves and we she keeps in it. You know, so Chelsea would do her.

[Chelsea]

I have a question for you. So I learned I have worked with three producers on this podcast. I always cut way more than every producer. So, like, and this is the other two producers, like, they would turn in. They're like, this episode's done and I always go in and I take. I'm really cut heavy. Would you say that's true?

[Christina]

You're not the most cut heavy podcast hosts I've ever worked with.

[Chelsea]

Okay.

[Christina]

Some that is like, very. Would lecture me on like, comedic rhythm, but, like, he could not dance to save his life. So I'm like, how are you gonna tell me about rhythm? You know, full name. Drop his full name. I'm just kidding. But like, so more so it's just like, because you have such an intentional way of how you want it to flow, it's almost like leaving more for you. Like fabric. You leave more so you can shape. So you have more room to shape. Like a pleat. Yeah, it has more room to shape the thing how you want it. And I think it's like, I could take out things, but it's so much your show that I want to make sure you're satisfied with what's there. And there's also, like, you know, sometimes there is a looser format that a lot of other podcasts do that they don't do that much editing. But you're very intentional about the economy of people's time.

[Chelsea]

Yeah, it's interesting because I. I do. I have this wish that I could be one of those podcasters where I just go like, blah, blah, blah, and I turn off and I walk away and you take it from there. I think that would, like, lift 20 hours of my life a week, but I can't. And I know you feel the same way, which is why I think we work so well together, which is like, obviously I get some things wrong, but we try our very best not to. And that takes a lot of, like, pre prep and a lot of post prep. You fact checking. Like, we really try. But then also sometimes I'm doing so many episodes at once and reading the whole book. Plus, don't forget, this isn't my full time job. So I have. I have another job I'm doing that I will not have as much prep time and I have to go off the cuff, which means, like, sometimes more mistakes are made. But, like, if we really need the episode to come out fast and turn around the next day, it means I have to go in so prepped that I don't make mistakes, which Takes a lot of work.

[Christina]

Yeah. And then there's also, like, so while you're editing another episode, I'm, like, cracking into another episode and, like, trying to get started editing that. And so it's like, you're not continuously just working on one thing that we can dedicate an entire week. It would be nice to be able to dedicate an entire week to an episode. Right. And just work on that episode. But we're producing a future one, editing the next one, and then finalizing our current one and fact checking our current one between Chelsea and I. Yeah. And like this cookie jar episode, for example, we're recording just she said June 4th, and it comes out June 6th. So, like, for this one example, Chelsea might take the first pass just so that I have those deep content cuts up front. And so it's less finessing. And then I will, like, you know, finesse more things. Especially what I want to say. Cause I'm on the episode and that's like another element of it too. And then we would, like, turn it in. And so, like, I do listen to the episodes, I would say at least three times before they go up on the feed. And sometimes I might miss something because I can still hear the tape that was there, but I had accidentally, like, cut out something or I edited it out. So, like, I might not catch myself on some things that you might catch. Or I catch the next day when I have time to, like, sleep on it and then listen to it again.

[Chelsea]

Yeah. So I think our. Yeah, there's a. I'm like, this is a lot.

[Christina]

There are a lot of improvements we can make. And obviously, like, part of it is, you know, we have a small team.

[Chelsea]

Yeah.

[Christina]

And we're trying to also try things and be ambitious and try new. New production episodes. Types of production episodes that we're doing. We're always experimenting with what we're offering in our Patreon stuff too. But it's all feeding this creative thing that I think it's creative rewarding for us, but also to, like, makes other people happy. Like, just reading the comments on the so gay for you episode that came out on Tuesday and like, just seeing people just so happy to have that episode and like, being a queer creator and like, being able to put that out during Pride Month and what's happening right now with, like, queer rights and stuff like that, it's just so act of, like, it's a very small, simple act of rebellion.

[Chelsea]

Yeah. I love that, Christina. And yeah, that's my favorite. Like, basically, once Christina are done, Christina Sends it to Marcus, who makes it sound good. And I think we have. I'm gonna say we have one of the top audio sounds.

[Christina]

He's very good.

[Chelsea]

Yeah. Like, it's. And he really. Especially with guests who, like, have crazy stuff. Like, he really is just so incredible at cleaning it up. And then instinctually, I know the next morning when I wake up, one of the first things I'll do after I touch some grass and do some stretches is I open the Patreon because it is so fun to have done all that work and then immediately read the comments. So I always. Yeah, I always read the Patreon comments, like, the day an episode comes out.

[Christina]

Yeah. My relationship to that varies. Like, sometimes I. Sometimes. Well, first of all, I'm just like, did the episode. I, like, wake up in a cold sweat at, like, between. Between 3 to 5am every episode day where I'm like, did it make it to the feed okay, or did I. Like, one time I did post a Patreon post with no audio, and people were like, hey, I think something's up here. The audio's not there. And I was like, oh, I caught it at, like, 5am and I was like, oh, the audio's there now. So there is like. So then I have to check, like, okay. And then, like, is the mid roll. Like, is the advertising that we have playing? And, like, going through that? And then, yeah, sometimes I'm just like. Like a kid on Christmas looking at, like, oh, I wonder how. Especially in certain episodes, I'm like, oh, I wonder what the cookies are gonna say.

[Chelsea]

Yeah, it's cool talking the process out with you. It does put into perspective. I think our next goal is to bring on more staff or another staff member so we can just do more, smooth out the process. Also, I have to take on some more projects soon that will really limit me. So I think that's our next goal. We switched advertisers this year. We're still getting into, like, that flow. And then. Yeah, Christina actually proposed a new Patreon tier with some stuff that's, like, so exciting. So, like, I think that'll come this summer.

[Christina]

I think the. The frustration comes at, like, seeing the possibilities of how much we could do.

[Chelsea]

Yeah.

[Christina]

And being very limited to our, like, corporal body. Like, you know, like, what our bodies and brains can have.

[Chelsea]

No, it's so true. I'm like, I wanted to do every single episode of Mormon Wives, but, like, I cannot put that production work on you. I also can't take away any book episodes. And also, I love Our viral article episode series. And then you were like, oh, well, Chelsea, do you want to put the Mormon Wives episode in instead of the cookie jar? I'm like, well, no, we have to have a cookie jar. Like, I'm very greedy. But, yeah, there's just only so much time and space. And I do want to address one thing. Someone made a nasty little comment where they were like, what even is this podcast? Like, I thought it was books. Like, now you're doing articles and they're doing Mormon Wives. First off, I guess you're new here because your girl been talking about the Bachelor and the Ultimatum and Love Island. I mean, I've been talking about reality TV since the beginning of this podcast, so welcome. But secondly, we have not taken away any book episodes ever. We have only added extra content, viral articles, extra content shows, and documentaries when they come up. So it's like, if you only want the books, just listen to the books. This stuff we're doing is extra on top of that, because we want to grow. We want to build the business. And honestly, there's a demon inside me that can't stop myself from talking about stuff I'm interested in. And I'm like, everyone needs to talk about this. And so I can't really. It's a literary women's stories elevating podcast. Okay.

[Christina]

I think that, you know, there. It's always going to change and evolve. And yeah, like, the memoirs will always be a core, but we are talking about stories and storytelling, and we rebranded.

[Chelsea]

To glamorous trash so that we could include other stories. That was the whole point. Christina, I have wanted to do this viral article series for years. For years I have had this idea because I have this friend shout out to Chris and Ali where, like, you know, cat person, bad art friend, like, where you just go nuts talking about this article. And so, like, this, for me, is like a little dream come true of, like, oh, my God, I get to talk about articles, too, because they love reading. I don't know.

[Christina]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Chelsea]

Okay, Christina, let's. Let's wrap it up. Did we miss anything?

[Christina]

I don't think we did. I think I do want to say I'm so glad I got through this without crying like I did on the last one.

[Chelsea]

But I cried this one.

[Christina]

Yeah, but I didn't. That's what matters. No, people were so. The cookies were so kind to me on that last one. I think I was talking kind of struggling with, like, not living up to the dreams that you inherit from your parents. And so many people were like giving me virtual hugs and just know that I didn't respond to all of them, but I did read every single one and I appreciate, appreciated it very much. So I just want that out there.

[Chelsea]

That episode meant a lot to me too. And thank you all for listening. Thank you for being on the Patreon. And listen, as our live show predicted, the Lauren Sanchez wedding has begun. Don't let her cosplay as an environmentalist. Okay, you know the truth. You've seen the show. You know she ain't it. And we will see you soon for a Mormon Wives episode, another book episode, and next month, Cookie Jar. Bye.

[Christina]

Bye.

[Chelsea]

A huge thank you to our podcast producer, Christina Lopez, our executive producer Jordan Moncada, our sound engineer Marcus Hamm, and our amazing associate producer, Jaron Padre. I also want to let you know that if you love audiobooks but you want to support independent bookstores, go to Libro fm where it is easy to download audiobooks and support local bookshops. And right now you get two Libro FM audiobooks for the price of one with your first month of membership using code TRASH. That's right, trash T R A S H. Two audiobooks for the price of 1 at Libro FM. And if you have questions, go to the Patreon Chat Lounge and I will see you there.