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The Breakfast Club
Justin Timberlake Reveals A Chronic Illness, Hulk Hogan's Death Sparks Racial Debate.. Can you separate the man from the mess?
00:12:35
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- [00:00]
Lauren LaRosa
This is an iHeart podcast.
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Oregon Home Care/Washable Sofas Advertiser
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Ryan Seacrest
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- [02:38]
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- [02:40]
Lauren LaRosa
I'm the homegirl that knows a little bit about everything and every bond you have. You know, if you don't lie about that, right?
- [02:46]
Ryan Seacrest
Lauren came in hot.
- [02:48]
Lauren LaRosa
Hey y', all, what's up? It's Lauren LaRosa. And this is the latest with Lauren LaRosa. This is your daily dig on all things pop culture, entertainment, news, exclusives and all of the conversations that shake the room. Now hopping right on into it today in the latest. Literally, this news broke today. This news broke July 31, 2025. For anybody that may listen to this after our posting date. Justin Timberlake has just revealed a very serious health issue that he has been battling for some time now. He says he has revealed that he has Lyme disease. Now, Justin Timberlake has been on tour. With the tour coming to the end, he wanted to speak to his fans a bit. So he posted to X. He posted a post with a long caption and he went under the post and he responded in the comments of his post as well. Justin Timberlake says, well, as these two incredible years come to an end and I look forward to the future, I wanted to write something from the heart. It's not an easy task to try and contextualize the world when I'm touring, but I will try. This has been the most fun, emotional, gratifying, physically demanding, and at times grueling experience. I've been doing this for 30 plus years, which feels crazy to say and have given all that I have to this. I could not have done it without my family, my friends, the tea and kids and all of your support. As many of you know, I'm pretty. I'm a pretty private person. But as I'm reflecting on the tour and festival tour, I want to tell you a little bit about what's been going on with me. Among other things, I've been battling some health issues and was diagnosed with Lyme disease, which I don't say so that you feel bad for me, but to shed some light on what I've been up against behind the scenes. If you've experienced this disease or know someone who has, then you're aware that living with this can be relentlessly debilitating both mentally and physically. When I first got the disease, I was shocked for sure, but at least I could understand why I would be on stage in a massive amount of nerve pain or just feeling crazy fatigue or sickness. I was faced with A personal decision. Do I stop touring or keep going and figure it out? I decided that the joy that performing brings me far outweighs the fleeting stress my body was feeling. I'm so glad I kept going. Not only did I prove my mental tenacity to myself, but I now have so many special moments with all of you that I will never forget. I was reluctant to talk about this because I was always raised to keep something like this to yourself, but I'm trying to be more transparent about my struggles so that they aren't misinterpreted. And make sure you guys remember that line. I'm trying to be more transparent about my struggles so that they are not misinterpreted. Sharing all of this with the hope that we can all find a way to be more connected. I like to do my part to help others experiencing this disease too. And he says he's going to continue in a comment. So in the comment he says to every one of you who came to see me on the Forget Tomorrow Tour or JT Live 25 or any other tour show throughout the years for that matter, your energy and love continue to humble me. Your signs, messages and do it yourself T shirts have made me laugh and smile so many times. And hearing and watching you all sing these songs word for word at the top of your lungs will forever leave me at all. You. You have made my dreams come true. To my crew, band, singers, dancers, tour, life really is like nothing else. It takes a special type of person to be able to do it, much less do it well. You all have been such a beautiful family away from home for me, I will always. So he's talking to his team at this point. He says if you've made it this far in the caption, which is crazy because I didn't begin to skip some sentences, if you made it this far in the caption, you deserve a medal. My heart is filled with gratitude. Love each other. Be good to each other. Don't take it for granted. To Jess, Silas and Finn, nothing is more powerful than your unconditional love. You're my heart and my home. I'm on my way. Are his babies with love? JT now the reason why I pointed out to you guys and I said don't forget this line Justin Timberlake says, but I am trying to be more transparent about my struggles so that they are not misinterpreted. Because when I saw the headline of this story, I instantly thought about just the last couple things that we've heard of when it comes to Justin Timberlake in this last year. He's been in the headlines this past year for some things you know, that had been pretty public. He got the DUI arrested in Hamptons. Was video going viral of him on social where he was having, you know, some sort of like verbal back and forth with one of it looked like a stage hand or like, you know, something like that. You couldn't really tell what they were talking about. So it's kind of not, it's kind of unfair to make it a verbal back and forth because I couldn't tell what they were talking about. But it was, you could tell it was a pretty tense, intense conversation. But the DUI and, you know, just, you never know what people are going through. I think what a person like Justin Timberlake, who has been doing it for so long, and he says, you know, he was raised to keep things like this private, but also to. Justin Timberlake comes from that era of celebrity where you don't take people along your journey for real. For real. Celebrity is celebrity, your real life is your real life. The two are typically separate and they're typically very private. And fans are fans. There's three, there's three elements to celebrities that come from the era that a Justin Timberlake comes from. When you look at like a Jay Z, a Beyonce, I mean, shoot, and she's younger, but even like a Rihanna. As much as we feel like we know Rihanna right out of all of the people I just named, as much as we feel like we know Rihanna because she's on social with us, she get busy in the comments. She might shoot a couple clapbacks at you in the tweets or, you know, in the shade room comments. You don't know her step by step. You don't know her day by day. She's not taking you along. Celebrities like a cardi b, however, are completely different and have been allowed to be completely different because of the social media heavy based and vlog and streamer culture that our world now is in. But Justin Timberlake is completely different. So for him to open up like this, I say all that to say huge deal for him, but it really did make me think about how, how much of a breath of fresh air it must be to be a celeb like Justin Timberlake come from that era of number one, you don't let nothing outside your house. But also two, as a celebrity, you keep those worlds separate of here's my life, here's what I'm really dealing with, and here is the, the brand and the, you know, the Fairy tale of Justin Timberlake. To be able to, like, shed all that in front of your fans and the people that are coming to see you, the people that are already reading these headlines about you and all the things, it has to be a very like. Like a very relaxing, you know, let it all out. I can now breathe moment because his career has not been like that for majority of his big, huge career. And I don't think that, you know, he definitely couldn't directly point to the DUI and say, hey, I've been going through some things. Because he said medical issues, but then other things as well. I've been going through some things, so, you know, show me some empathy. No one would do that because as we know, you know, driving under the influences, it hurts people, it kills people. So there's never an excuse for that. But I think, you know, when things happen in the public eye, when these. These people who are names and are celebrities and, you know, have all of these, the following. And, you know, they do have that curtain up that we just talked about. I'm learning that when a lot of times when these things happen, it's like, what else is going on? What else is there? And not making an excuse, but just wanting to understand the person and not the. You know what I mean? And trying to separate the person from the celebrity of the person. Now, speaking of this, there has been a lot of conversation about Hulk Hogan since his passing. And one of the biggest conversations I keep seeing happen every time a headline hits with him is, can you separate the man from the celebrity and from the actions? Right, because of the N word being used. Right. So today a story broke. It was the cause of death for Hulk Hogan. So a heart attack, according to several reports, is what caused the death of pro wrestling icon Hulk Hogan. Now, authorities said this week, this is a week after his passing, he passed away in Florida, that his cause of death was formerly listed as an acute myocardial infarction. I may be saying that wrong, but it's a technical term for a heart attack. That is according to the District six medical examiner, who is the medical examiner who did autopsy for Hulk Hogan. Now, his manner of death was listed as natural, but I knew when the story broke, so. So, you know, getting away from separating the man from all the troubles. I knew when the story broke, there was video of emergency responders responding to his home. You saw in the video the. The stretcher being taken out of his home to an ambulance. And There was about 10 medical professionals actively attempting to get his heart back. Going and you could just tell by the way that the emergency responders responded that this was something that, like, was, like, sudden, that it came out of nowhere. And then they kind of talked about how fast things e. Later on when police, they released a statement and they mentioned that they got a call for cardiac arrest at 9:51, which, you know, cardiac arrest instantly, you're going to think heart attack. And then at 11:17am Hulk Hogan was pronounced dead at a hospital. Now, the reason why I tied these two in together, not that I think Justin Timberlake is racist or said the N word. And I'll leave my comments about what I think about Hulk Hogan personally out of this. I'm gonna leave it up to you guys. The reason why I tied this in, though, is because there has been a lot of conversation around. Do you think of and look at Hulk Hogan as the man, the wrestling icon, the legend, or do you look at him as a person who had a troubled past, who did not get along with, you know, his. His kids all the time? There's stories out right now about his daughter Brooke, and, you know, her wanting to be taken off of the wheel at one point. And she received, you know, according to an exclusive report, she received nothing after his passing from his will because she had actually chosen to take herself off of his will because she wanted to stay all the way out of the legal proceedings. This is something that she had done back in 2023 just because of how much issues they had in their relationship. And a lot of it, too, was she felt like the people around him were taking advantage of him. But, you know, she. She will receive some small amount of money from, like, an insurance thing that Hulk Hogan had taken out. But it's. I mean, and not that it's all about money. And she's actually said. She said in this report, it was. It was an exclusive that TMZ did. She said in this report that it's never been about the money for her because this was her dad. But I do think that there's something to being the kid of somebody who's worked so hard for their children to be able to be okay after they leave this earth. And she will be fine. She has been fine. But I think that there's something to that. And I. I brought her into this because it's very clear that at some point she couldn't separate her father from the issues that they had amongst themselves. Right? And she decided to separate herself a lot of times. And. But right now, the conversation, every single time a headline breaks is, do we separate the man from the troubled past. And not even the past, but like, just the troubled lifestyle. Because some people would argue, you know, even if these things happened whenever ago, that, you know, actions or actions and things recently, even if it's not you screaming the N word, right, about who your child is dating, but other things, political things, and just, you know, stances that people take will remind you that this is not a past issue. This is a current issue, but the man is gone. Right? And that is my point. So I would love to hear from you guys, because this has been a conversation I've been watching online a bit with most people feeling like you can do two things at one time when it comes to Hulk Hogan. You can say that he was a wrestling legend. At the same time, you can remove the trouble, troubled history, the racist remarks to be able to do so. A lot of times, like we talked about with Justin Timberlake, there's no separate anything. When you're a celebrity, it's like whatever people deem as your real life, your real story, your real narrative. That's what it is. You don't ever get the chance to kind of like step away from that mask and be able to be a regular person. It just doesn't happen. I mean, because once people get to know you, they know you. And when you're as famous as a Hulk Hogan was or Justin Timberlake is, it's impossible for you to be able to step away from any of that, right? No matter where you go, what you do. But my point is, I think it's pretty interesting how people deal with celebrities in death versus when they're here in real time. So, for instance, Justin Timberlake has had a lot of conversation around him this year, and, you know, a lot of things have happened, and when they happen, it sticks to you. And Hulk Hogan, there's been a lot of things that have been conversation around him for years, but now in his passing, people are really trying their. Their best and their hardest to memorialize him in a way that removes him from the things that Hulk Hogan, the celebrity, became known for. Are we able to do that? Honest answers only. Take it outside to the streets in the tweets. I want to know how y' all feel. This is the Latest with Lauren LaRosa. I am Lauren LaRosa. I've been all up in a white man's business today, y'. All. I want to hear from y'. All. I will see you in my next episode. Another daily breakdown of all things pop culture, entertainment news, and all of the conversations that shake the room. Ah, come on.
- [15:14]
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Lauren LaRosa
Whoa.
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- [15:50]
Ryan Seacrest
Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Now through August 26th, it's back to deals time, where you can enjoy storewide deals and earn four times points. Look for in store tags to earn on eligible items from Califia Farms, Pillsbury Crescent, Yoplait, General Mills, Prego, Bertoli, Heinz and Kraft. Then clip the offer in the app for automatic event long savings. Shop in store or online for easy drive up and go pickup or delivery subject to availability restrictions apply. Visit Albertsons or Safeway.com for more details. Hey, it's me, Earhart.
- [16:22]
Lauren LaRosa
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- [16:39]
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- [17:06]
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- [17:39]
Lauren LaRosa
This is an iheart podcast.