Summary6 min read

The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler #365 — Jessica Michelle Singleton

Main Theme / Purpose (03:12)

This episode of The HoneyDew features comedian Jessica Michelle Singleton. Staying true to the show’s mission—“highlighting the lowlights”—Jessica shares raw, darkly humorous stories from her turbulent upbringing. The discussion covers family secrets, parental trauma, surviving Alaska, grappling with identity, and the resilience required to grow up under trying circumstances. Dry wit and candid reflection set the tone, celebrating the ability to laugh at life’s heaviest moments.

Jessica’s Background: Music, Comedy, and Country Roots (04:12–07:00)

Jessica plugs her new special "Hi, y’all," her podcast ("Hey, Idiots"), and her country music alias, Norma Lee Wild.
Admits to hiding her love for country music while living in California but embraced it during the pandemic by releasing songs (05:10).
She and Ryan bond over old-school country music, referencing Stagecoach festival and artists like George Strait.

“Some people hear country music, they think it’s shifting now... People go, ‘What, your cousin?’ and you’re like—I mean, I tried! What do you want me to do? He said no.” —Jessica (05:49)

Family Origins: Mississippi, Germany, and a Waffle House Trauma (07:00–13:40)

Jessica was born in Germany while her father served in the Air Force, then moved to Mississippi, settling in Ocean Springs (07:12–08:24).
Her family life featured domestic violence, addiction, loud fights, and police visits—normalized until she noticed other families acted differently (09:03–13:05).
Her father became addicted to meth after military retirement and may have been involved with the “Dixie Mafia.”
Major memory: At age eight, Jessica’s father abandoned her at a Waffle House during a one-on-one outing (09:59–12:26).

"He just went to the car, drove away... I saw him drive away and was like, oh, I’m sure he’ll be back.” —Jessica (11:12)

Community members recognized her and gave her a ride home; Jessica repressed the memory until adulthood, realizing its significance much later.

“Not My Biological Dad”: The Sperm Donor Bombshell (13:40–34:44)

During her college years, Jessica learns—via a drunk stepbrother’s slip—that neither she nor her brother are the biological children of the man they knew as their father (16:37–17:54).
Both were conceived at a Beverly Hills sperm bank due to their dad’s Klinefelter syndrome (XXY), which left him infertile and caused significant physical effects (19:10–20:25).
Jessica discovers her true lineage through 23andMe: She’s predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish, not German/Irish as raised (17:22–18:07).

"When you were born, the first thing I said was, she looks like an ugly Jew baby." —Jessica’s mom (18:07, quoting her mother)

Her brother’s donor is different (British, not Jewish), making them half-siblings. Jessica grapples with identity, genetic health risks, and the sense of family legacy.

Confronting Parents with the Truth (33:00–34:44)

Jessica first broaches the sperm donor discovery with her dad, who is ultimately accepting; then with her mother, who confirms it but never told her brother (33:03–33:29).

“Are you going to tell my brother? ... ‘Your mother and I agreed we were never gonna tell you guys.’” —Jessica (33:12)

Dark humor surfaces as Jessica reflects on which genetic traits she inherits: “At least I don’t have the leave-your-kid-in-a-Waffle House gene.” (34:23)

The Sharp Edges of Alaska Life (41:01–60:54)

The Move North (41:01–43:39)

After her father left, Jessica’s mother—newly sober but struggling—relocated the family to Anchorage, Alaska, for a government job (41:15).
The drive out of Mississippi was rushed due to an impending hurricane that ultimately destroyed Jessica’s old bedroom the night after they left (44:33).

“The storm came in, smashed through our house, smashed through my bedroom. I would have died in the night.”—Jessica (44:33)

The “Brady Bunch” Family and School Instability (45:43–47:54)

Her mom marries Terry, a man she met in AA (and who was missing a finger). They form a blended family with stepbrothers, prompting Jessica to attend four different sixth grades in one year (47:10).

Violence, Mental Illness, and Tragedy in Alaska (49:09–61:03)

Murder and Loss

Multiple classmates and friends died violently in high school:
- Friend Delaney was murdered by a peer; Jessica recounts the trauma of the search parties and seeing her killer on “MSNBC Lockup” years later (50:01–53:52).
- Three brothers she befriended were executed by their paranoid schizophrenic mother, who confessed calmly to police after waiting in the house with their bodies (54:18–57:27).

“That’s a different kind of crazy.” —Jessica (58:12)

Other friends: One stabbed over a case of beer, one drowned in a swimming pool (59:56–60:33).
Jessica notes the high prevalence of death and instability fueled her dark sense of humor.

Coping and Reflection

She escapes Alaska via college in Florida, a move partly to be nearer to her estranged father (60:54).

Life Afterward: Survival, Resilience, and Advice (61:03–65:22)

After Jessica left for college, her mother took government contracting jobs worldwide, later settling in Baltimore and eventually retiring (61:03–62:13).
Jessica maintains a relationship with her mother, embracing the dynamic with humor and boundaries.

“You wouldn’t be funny if I was a better mom.” —Jessica, quoting her mother (61:31)

Advice to Young Self & Others (63:00–64:59)

Jessica’s advice to her 16-year-old self: “Just keep going... Lean on people... Reach out, ask for help.”
Ryan underscores this point: breaking the trauma response of hyper-independence, learning to trust and accept help.

“You’re not a burden for needing help.” —Jessica (64:42)

Notable Quotes & Moments

“Left alone in a Waffle House at eight years old”—Jessica (10:38–12:26)
“At least I don’t have the leave-your-kid-in-a-Waffle-House gene.”—Jessica (34:23)
“It’s Alaska. You get nine months of winter... winter, still winter, still winter, and then construction.”—Jessica (44:41)
“My woods in Alaska—bear, murderers, or just a man with an axe... never ran into one, but surprisingly.”—Jessica (49:10)
“Had three friends who were brothers; their mom killed all of them.”—Jessica (54:18)
“You're not a burden for needing help.” —Jessica (64:42)

Key Timestamps

03:12: Episode starts, Jessica Michelle Singleton introduced
07:12: Jessica’s early life—born in Germany, moved to Mississippi
09:59: Father's drug use, abandonment at Waffle House
16:37: Discovery she was conceived via sperm donor
17:54: 23andMe reveals Jewish ancestry; mother’s brutal honesty
33:03: Confronting parents about her lineage
41:15: Move to Alaska, new beginnings (and more family chaos)
44:33: Escape from hurricane, brush with death
50:01: Friends lost to violence; Delaney’s murder and MSNB Lockup cameo
54:18: Schizophrenic mother murders three friends
60:54: College escape, family spreads out
63:00: Advice to her younger self
65:08: Final plugs and wrap-up

Closing Thoughts

Jessica Michelle Singleton’s episode is a heavy but laugh-out-loud journey through the pain, confusion, and oddities of family history. From being abandoned in a Waffle House to discovering hidden genetic heritage and surviving a series of tragedies in Alaska, Jessica’s storytelling—laced with dark humor and honesty—embodies the “HoneyDew” principle that the most challenging moments often make us who we are.

For follow-up:

Watch Jessica’s special, “Hi, y’all”
Listen to her podcast “Hey, Idiots”
Check out her country music as Norma Lee Wild

Loading summary

Transcript524 lines

[00:00]
Rocket Money Advertiser
The number one resolution for people last year was to save more money, but nearly half gave up by February. Don't let that be you. Download Rocket Money to reach your financial goals this year, track your spending, cut waste and automate savings in one simple app. Rocket Money shows you all your expenses and categorizes them so you know exactly where your money's going and where you're overspending. From there, the app cuts waste by canceling your unused subscriptions and lowering your bills. No customer service needed. With that money freed up, the app will automatically set some cash aside for your goals. Whether it's an emergency fund, paying off debt or saving for vacation, Rocket Money's got you covered. Users love the app, with over 186,000 five star ratings, and on average, users can save up to $740 a year when using all of the app's premium features. Make saving money a priority this year. Go to RocketMoney.com Cancel to get started. That's RocketMoney.com Cancel RocketMoney.com Cancel It's 2025.
[01:02]
Shopify Advertiser
A new year and the perfect time to turn your business dreams into reality. Maybe you've been tossing around a great idea but haven't acted yet. Well, Shopify is how you're going to make it happen. Shopify makes it simple to create your brand open for business and make your first sale with thousands of customizable templates. You don't need coding or design skills, just just drag, drop and go. Plus, Shopify's social media tools help you connect all your channels and create shoppable posts so you can sell everywhere your customers scroll. Managing your business is easy too. From shipping to taxes to payments, Shopify handles the details on a single dashboard, letting you focus on what really matters. Growing your business established in 2025 has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.comdax or all lowercase go to shopify.comdax to start selling with Shopify today. Shopify.comdax VRBO's last minute deals make chasing.
[02:02]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Fresh mountain powder incredibly easy. With thousands of homes close to the slopes, you can get epic pow freshies, first tracks and more. Find last minute deals with the last minute filter on the app. Book a private vacation rental now@verbo.com hey.
[02:16]
Ryan Sickler
Guys, very important announcement. Do not skip this you in two weeks on January 6th, we are doing our best of 2025 honeydew with y' all review and our special guest this time is Tom Segura So here's the deal. We are shifting the start time of that episode to 9:00pm Eastern, 6:00pm Pacific. And I will be live in the comments with you the entire episode. Let's have some fun with it. And Thursday, January 8th, is the episode of the Way back with my brothers. You guys been asking for years. There it is. So make sure you click that link. Now set your reminder. I'll see y' all in the premiere.
[03:00]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
The Honeydew with Ryan Sickler.
[03:13]
Ryan Sickler
Welcome back to the Honeydew, y'.
[03:16]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
All.
[03:16]
Ryan Sickler
We're over here doing it in the night Pants studios. I'm Ryan Sickler. Ryan Sickler.com. ryan Sickler, on all your social media. I'm apologizing my guest and you guys right now for this right here. My Rudolph nose. No, it's not cocaine. I've never done cocaine in my life. You know what this is? This is old age, bro. This is CPAP nasal pillows, guys. That's what this is. CPAP nasal pillows. And I'm not going to say, hey, look, we got to cancel an episode. I got a guest here today. We got to work. So, guest, guess what? I'll do my best to stay down, but we're here to put it in. All right, thank you guys for supporting the show. Thank you for supporting anything I do, especially when I look like this. But I'm very excited. You know what we're doing here, guys. We highlight the low lights, and I always say that these are the stories behind the storytellers. I'm very excited to have this guest on with us today. First time here on the Dude. Ladies and gentlemen, Jessica Michelle Singleton. Welcome to the Honeydew.
[04:12]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Oh, my God. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here. CPAP scars and all.
[04:16]
Ryan Sickler
I apologize. I apologize. I'm a do my best to stay away from your distracting you. But before we get into what we're going to talk about today, please, right there. Plug everything and anything you would like.
[04:28]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Awesome. You guys can follow me everywhere at JMS Comedy on any social media. I have a new special called hi, y' all out on Punchup Live. Jms and I have a podcast called hey, idiots. So it's just mostly me being an idiot. That's. That's that. Oh, and if you like country music, I release country music under an alias normally. Wild.
[04:49]
Ryan Sickler
I was about to ask you. I thought I saw that. Is that right? You really do.
[04:53]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, Yeah. I have a few songs out as.
[04:55]
Ryan Sickler
As a singer songwriter.
[04:57]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. Singer songwriter.
[04:58]
Ryan Sickler
Oh, great.
[04:58]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
What's your Alias called Norma Lee Wild.
[05:01]
Ryan Sickler
Norma Lee Wild.
[05:02]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Still three names. I can't let it go.
[05:04]
Ryan Sickler
And what is that? Where is it on Spotify.
[05:07]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Spotify, Apple Music. You find me. Yeah.
[05:11]
Ryan Sickler
Okay.
[05:11]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I did that in the Pandemic. I don't know.
[05:14]
Ryan Sickler
You had never done that before.
[05:16]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
No, I never.
[05:17]
Ryan Sickler
Always wanted to do.
[05:17]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. Something I always wanted to do. And I think I spent a few years in California being a little embarrassed to like country music. And then I was like, you got.
[05:24]
Ryan Sickler
To do is go 15 minutes outside of Los Angeles. People don't realize this. If you just go north, that's all cowboys and farm. And. Yeah, it smells like cow shit the whole way to San Francisco.
[05:34]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
That party's a bummer. But.
[05:36]
Ryan Sickler
And then you've got all in here, all the inland. You got Burbank. It's all equestrian cowboys.
[05:41]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yes. So many horses.
[05:43]
Ryan Sickler
Yeah. And then Buck Owens and all that stuff from Bakersfield.
[05:46]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I love that shit.
[05:49]
Ryan Sickler
Cowboy. Yeah.
[05:49]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
It just is like. I don't know. There's certain. If people aren't into or they don't know about, like, country music, they didn't grow up somewhere where it's the normal. Some people hear country music, I think it's shifting now. It's getting cooler. People go, like, what, you. Your cousin? And you're like, I mean, I tried. What do you want me to do? He said, no, no.
[06:11]
Ryan Sickler
He said, no.
[06:14]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
It's like, all right, well, just get on the horse then.
[06:17]
Ryan Sickler
I have a. I have the concert ticket stub right here. And out in the studio. But it was called Stagecoach back then.
[06:24]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
It still is called Stage.
[06:25]
Ryan Sickler
I'm sorry. It was before Stagecoach. It was. It's what Stagecoach became. It was at the Glen Helen Blockbuster Pavilions, what they called it back then. Wow. And it was just, you know, wherever they do Stagecoach, it's there.
[06:38]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah.
[06:38]
Ryan Sickler
And it was. God, everybody. George straight, Hank Williams Jr. We've seen them all. Yeah.
[06:45]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Oh, damn, man. I would kill to see George Strait. Love me some king. He's the best.
[06:52]
Ryan Sickler
He is the best.
[06:53]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I love country. I love old country.
[06:55]
Ryan Sickler
That movie Dusty. You ever see Dusty?
[06:57]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
No.
[06:57]
Ryan Sickler
With George Strait?
[06:58]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
No.
[06:58]
Ryan Sickler
I think it's called Dusty.
[07:00]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Damn.
[07:00]
Ryan Sickler
You have to look it up. Okay, let's get into your story, because you have quite a different upbringing. So we start in the South. Is that where you're born? Where are you born?
[07:12]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Actually, I was born in Germany.
[07:14]
Ryan Sickler
Born in Germany.
[07:14]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Born in Germany.
[07:15]
Ryan Sickler
Your dad or mama?
[07:16]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
My dad was Air Force. Yeah. So we lived in Germany till I was about three and then did your.
[07:21]
Ryan Sickler
Parents meet in Germany?
[07:23]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
No, my parents met in Florida.
[07:25]
Ryan Sickler
Okay, so they meet here.
[07:27]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah.
[07:27]
Ryan Sickler
Military. And mom and dad go together to Germany.
[07:30]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, yeah. They go from Florida to California, actually, Victorville. Got stationed out there where they had my brother.
[07:37]
Ryan Sickler
Cowboys.
[07:38]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I know. And then got pregnant with me, then restationed to Germany. So then I popped out in Germany.
[07:46]
Ryan Sickler
Okay.
[07:46]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. In the.
[07:48]
Ryan Sickler
And when do you come back to the states?
[07:50]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I was three. So not 90. 1990. Oops. I mean, what year was it? No one knows.
[07:56]
Ryan Sickler
I don't remember.
[07:57]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
2002.
[07:59]
Ryan Sickler
So. All right, you're back in the States. Where do you go? Is that when you go to Mississippi?
[08:02]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Mississippi? My dad got stationed at Keesler Air Force Base on the Gulf Coast. It's in Biloxi. And then we lived one little town over. Quiet little town called Ocean Springs. It's a little cute. I like to call. I call it. It's like the nice part of Mississippi. I call it Beverly Hills have Eyes. But it was just the beautiful.
[08:24]
Ryan Sickler
Is there an ocean or springs anywhere near this place?
[08:27]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
There's the Gulf of America. Tell you what. Right there. Right there on the coast. Yeah. People getting sprung out on meth. That's. But I mean, as a little kid, it's a beautiful place to grow up. You're right there. There's marshes and you can go to the beach.
[08:44]
Ryan Sickler
And do you have brothers, sisters?
[08:45]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I have one. I had one older brother. Have one older brother, Tom. And then later on, when my mom remarried, got some stepbrothers. But in there, you know, it was me and my older brother, my mom and my dad. In Mississippi. Yep. Yeah.
[08:59]
Ryan Sickler
And then do your parents. They split.
[09:02]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
They split.
[09:02]
Ryan Sickler
They get a divorce.
[09:03]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
They got a divorce. My parents had a few rough years before they just finally called it quits. It was violence. Violence, yeah. It was just one of those things where, I mean, when you're a little kid, I think about this a lot. I had to get much older to go, oh, that's actually not what everyone's parents were doing. It was just a lot of loud fighting, cops getting called because everyone's screaming at each other.
[09:29]
Ryan Sickler
Oh, you're having that. Are you on a military base during this time?
[09:32]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
So we didn't live in military housing. We lived in a nice little neighborhood. And I would just. Just. I think it's a classic kid thing. Just go back to my room, had my little boombox get it. I think it's what helped my creativity in a weird way. Just spend a lot of time in my room in my Imagination.
[09:48]
Ryan Sickler
I agree. Being grounded was actually ended up long term. Good for me.
[09:52]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, it's like short term, I was like, man, you ruining my life.
[09:55]
Ryan Sickler
Long term, I was like, man, thank you for that.
[09:57]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Thank you for the solitude.
[09:58]
Ryan Sickler
I'm glad I up.
[09:59]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, yeah, it taught me a lot. So, yeah, when I was about foreign, let's see, probably from kindergarten through my dad leaving, it was a lot of loud screaming. And my mom's an alcoholic. Recovered now. My dad, I didn't know at the time, but was once he retired from the military, he got into some hard drugs working at a shipyard. May or may not have been getting a little involved with the Dixie mafia, but. So he got into meth and so it's a not a great combination. And then When I was 8, my dad left me in a Waffle House and.
[10:38]
Ryan Sickler
What do you mean?
[10:39]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
He just went to the car, drove away.
[10:41]
Ryan Sickler
Wait, hold on.
[10:44]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Let me go get my wallet by myself.
[10:46]
Ryan Sickler
You're not there with your brother and mom?
[10:48]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
No, I make a joke about it in my special where I go, yeah, it's up. Like how up is my mom? He's like, I better leave her somewhere she'll be better taken care of.
[10:57]
Ryan Sickler
Jessica, you're one on one. You got like a dad daughter day. And he's just like deuces and left.
[11:03]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
You at a Waffle House. Peace out. I swear to God, he just.
[11:08]
Ryan Sickler
When do you realize he's gone? Does he say, I'm going to the restroom or I'll be right back?
[11:12]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, he be right back. And goes in the car, he said.
[11:15]
Ryan Sickler
I'll be right back.
[11:15]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
And then leaves. And then I'm like, you saw him drive away? I saw him drive away and was like, oh, I'm sure he'll be back.
[11:23]
Ryan Sickler
How old are you? Eight.
[11:24]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Eight.
[11:25]
Ryan Sickler
Do you remember what you're eating?
[11:27]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yep. Waffles with strawberries on top. Dude, that's my knob.
[11:31]
Ryan Sickler
Or do you just eat? Yeah.
[11:32]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
You know, there was actually a time I forgot for years. My dad passed away in 2020 and like it. I had all these like years of resentment and anger and stuff because that wasn't the last time I saw him. He was back in my life and whatever. And then he left again. But it was like I buried my childhood memories. Those, like, went away with all my anger. And then when he died, it was like this dump of good memories, which is what happens. People get a rewrite on the script. You go, what that one time? And I forgot. It was like my go to. I get a waffle, Belgian waffle If you're at a Denny's and it's like, it's not Belgian, what is a Belgian waffle? I don't know. With strawberries on top is my favorite breakfast. And then I was like, damn, I quit eating waffles after that.
[12:20]
Ryan Sickler
That was.
[12:20]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
That was my favorite thing. And I was just like, no, I don't even want to look at a pancake. It was eight years.
[12:27]
Ryan Sickler
So who comes to get you?
[12:28]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I just got a ride home.
[12:30]
Ryan Sickler
What are you talking about?
[12:31]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
From a local. The thing is, it's, like, in my.
[12:33]
Ryan Sickler
Small town, so everybody sort of knows. Okay, I get it. I get that. South Mississippi. I get. It's not Los Angeles. Ride home, someone realizes this girl. Or did they kind of know who you were, or.
[12:46]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
It was like a realization, like, this.
[12:48]
Ryan Sickler
Little girl's still sitting here.
[12:50]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Still sitting here. And ride home from what's up is like, this. I kind of didn't. This memory was buried until, like, my 20s. And then I was like, wait a second. That's like. There's things that you forget are, like, so up because they're just part of what happened.
[13:06]
Ryan Sickler
You said it, though. Like, we talk about it on this show a lot. Like, a lot of people don't realize, like, shit's not normal until you go spend a night at somebody else's house and you see how their parents are and wait, there's two of them.
[13:20]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah.
[13:20]
Ryan Sickler
And they're hugging you guys. Cereal up in your cabinets. And.
[13:24]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, y' all pray.
[13:26]
Ryan Sickler
They're saying nice things to you guys.
[13:28]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Good job. They got your artwork on them.
[13:31]
Ryan Sickler
And then you realize, that's not going on in my house, dude.
[13:33]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, My mom's ashes. Yeah, it's wild. And you just go, this is. This is different.
[13:42]
Ryan Sickler
They're not drinking. They're not. Yeah.
[13:44]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
No, they're not rocking back and forth to the Eagles at full volume at 10. Him blacking out on Heineken. Dude. My mom used to do this thing that I thought was normal, and now I'm like, that's like, dude. She would be on the couch holding a Heineken glasses down here. And I don't know, I just. When I said glasses, it turned into Sebastian glasses down here. But, like. And my mom has a lazy eye. She's got, like, a crazy eye. I call it anything but a lazy eye. It's, like, active. But in her 90s, she always had these, like, 90s in holding a Heineken. No hand, cigarette on the lip. You know, these people know blasting Eagles. And she would do. I'M not kidding. This was her, like, dancing, but she'd be like this. And I just saw, like, that's what moms do. And I'm like, that's. Is that schizophrenia? What are you doing, dude?
[14:37]
Ryan Sickler
Let me tell you something. It's wild you just said schizophrenia. Because I do have a cousin. He's older now. He's probably in his 70s. He was my dad's first cousin.
[14:46]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Him.
[14:46]
Ryan Sickler
But we grew up knowing him. And he's a paranoid schizophrenic. And he smokes cigarettes all day long. He smokes a carton in three days. Oh. And has for decades. He has no cancer. His mom.
[14:58]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Really? You have cancer?
[15:01]
Ryan Sickler
He killed her from the second margarita. Cancer. He's still going. He's still like, how do you have a throat to burn itself? You know?
[15:09]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
God.
[15:10]
Ryan Sickler
So he smoked cigarettes. And I never realized that. My brother one time goes, you ever see how Gary smokes his cigarettes? I go, what do you mean? He goes, he never takes it from farther than here. And then I started looking and he didn't. He would just.
[15:21]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
It's like a. It's like a safety balloon.
[15:23]
Ryan Sickler
Power hitting him butt the whole time. He does that.
[15:27]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Mom, take it easy.
[15:28]
Ryan Sickler
He does that.
[15:30]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
What?
[15:31]
Ryan Sickler
That's. That rock. That schizophrenic rock.
[15:33]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. And, dude, my mom. I mean, my mom is wild and it's so funny. She's the same. She doesn't smoke now because she got COPD with. That didn't stop her for years. And then she finally got lung cancer, which they caught stage one and have radiated. And she's doing okay. But like, this bitch tried to be like. Because she. She was a civilian employee for the military for years.
[15:56]
Ryan Sickler
What's that mean exactly?
[15:57]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Like, she. When we lived in Mississippi, she was like the executive assistant to, like, the top commander on base. And then we moved from Mississippi to Alaska because she got a job at the time with Fish and Wildlife.
[16:11]
Ryan Sickler
Okay, can we pause for one second and go back here? Wait.
[16:14]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah.
[16:14]
Ryan Sickler
You go home from the fucking Waffle House. Yeah, but what do you say to Mom?
[16:19]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Nothing. And I forgot because I. My mom didn't know this story for years. Her and my brother were out of town for a soccer tournament. I just let myself in.
[16:28]
Ryan Sickler
They weren't even there.
[16:29]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
No. And they came home like a date later. And I guess the thing that brother.
[16:34]
Ryan Sickler
You're talking about, your older brother, is he biological? Your older one?
[16:38]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
It's complicated because I'm.
[16:40]
Ryan Sickler
Did dad leave two biological kids that day?
[16:42]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Well, here's the up thing. As far as we knew, yes. As far as my brother and I knew. Years later I found out, thanks to a loudmouth, drunk older stepbrother, that actually neither of us are biological kids. My dad couldn't have kids. They tried and he was, you know, shooting blanks or whatever. And so they went to a sperm bank. I'm from a sperm bank in Beverly Hills. No, dude, my dad spent all that money, like 80s sperm bank money, just to be like, ah, never mind.
[17:17]
Ryan Sickler
Two kids.
[17:18]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah.
[17:18]
Ryan Sickler
And because older brother and you are both. Are you both from the same.
[17:23]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
My mom said we were. And then I did 23andMe and I found out I'm from whoever my sperm donor is. I'm mostly Ashkenazi Jewish. And I thought we were going to find out.
[17:37]
Ryan Sickler
Would you grow up?
[17:37]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I grew up thinking I'm German and Irish.
[17:40]
Ryan Sickler
Okay?
[17:40]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
German and Irish and that's it. And then I'm mostly Jewish. Nicole Amy Schreibert, if you know her, she's the first person I told. She's like, I knew it.
[17:48]
Ryan Sickler
I knew it.
[17:49]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
There's no way you're that funny and that neurotic and you're not a Jew. And I'm like, you can't say that. She's like, but I can.
[17:54]
Ryan Sickler
You are.
[17:55]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
It's in our bones. And I told my mom, dude, my mom, the first thing she said, she goes, that's. That makes sense. When you were born, the first thing I said was, she looks like an ugly Jew baby. And I was like, that's the first thing.
[18:08]
Ryan Sickler
What a wild thing for a mom with her cigarette.
[18:11]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. She goes, well, you look like a tiny Billy Joe just rocking and squeezing you out. You just get it out of me.
[18:19]
Ryan Sickler
Get that ugly new baby out of me.
[18:21]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. She's like, it's fine. Then your hair turns on.
[18:24]
Ryan Sickler
That's not just a, you know, casual thing. That's a process you go through. So mom kept that hidden the whole time? Yeah, I guess it's a lengthy process for her.
[18:35]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah.
[18:36]
Ryan Sickler
Or whoever it was.
[18:38]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah.
[18:38]
Ryan Sickler
Yeah.
[18:39]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
That's so wild to me. And people, they go, you know, we're only getting top tier donors. And I'm like, the top is tier that needs money for coming in a cup. Like, how high could that tier possibly be? But yeah, they. I guess they tried to have a kid and then wasn't working. They did a bunch of fertility testing, found out my dad has something called Klein's Felter syndrome, which is. It's a genetic mutation. When you have an extra sex chromosome, yet xxy, I Think it's xxy.
[19:10]
Ryan Sickler
So what the hell does that do to you?
[19:12]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
It does a lot of things. Makes you shoot blanks. I can't confirm this, but from what I've read, it makes you have extremely small balls.
[19:22]
Ryan Sickler
Tiny balls.
[19:23]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. And by the way, my older brother.
[19:25]
Ryan Sickler
You got an extra chromosome.
[19:28]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
All those chromosome and no balls. It.
[19:32]
Shopify Advertiser
He.
[19:32]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Oh, this is what's crazy. He had a big midsection, was a bigger guy as soon as when he retired from the military, really put on weight in his stomach. It makes the men have, like, more hips, they're more hippie, tall, often lower intelligence, anger issues, you know, these are all things. It's like maybe everyone doesn't have them. But here's the crazy one is you don't get adult teeth.
[19:55]
Ryan Sickler
What?
[19:55]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
His baby teeth fell out? No, I'm not kidding.
[19:59]
Ryan Sickler
Because this extra chromosome, you don't.
[20:02]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
So my stops teeth, it stops teeth. So. So my whole childhood, he had dentures. And as a little kid, I thought, you know, men get older, 31, 32, they got to get dentures. Like, I thought, when you're little, that seems so old. And now looking back, I'm like, dude, of course he got into meth. He already didn't have teeth. Who gives a.
[20:25]
Ryan Sickler
He's got female hips.
[20:27]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
He's like, who wants.
[20:29]
Ryan Sickler
Yeah, let's just do it.
[20:31]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Just a wild animal. And so when they figured that out, they started going to a sperm bank. I mean, I've had friends go, your mom seems like a pretty wild guy. Was a sperm bank. Are we sure she wasn't just hitting the bars?
[20:43]
Ryan Sickler
But let me ask you this, though, because how long did your mom know your dad? Like, how long they date or whatever?
[20:49]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I don't think it was long.
[20:50]
Ryan Sickler
Okay. But he comes without teeth. She knew he comes with. You know what I'm saying? He's rolling up. When they meet before you guys are.
[20:59]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Born, you must have figured out the dentures at some point.
[21:02]
Ryan Sickler
Something had to happen because he puts.
[21:03]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Him in a bowl of cleaner every night at some point. And you thought, I should have a.
[21:09]
Ryan Sickler
Kid, Watched everybody else's teeth fall out, knew it's growing and mine didn't. You would think somebody look into that.
[21:15]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah.
[21:15]
Ryan Sickler
You know, your mom would be like, that might be a genetic thing, that maybe. I wonder. And then your body's a little different and.
[21:22]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, even not.
[21:23]
Ryan Sickler
What was the other. Oh, and then she's definitely playing with his balls. At some point, they're trying to have a baby.
[21:27]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I wonder how blind she was. I'm like, damn, how bad is your vision that you didn't even notice?
[21:32]
Ryan Sickler
She might have been smoking the whole time. The smoke would have just, you know, made her.
[21:35]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Is it cloudy? Squint it up somewhere.
[21:42]
Ryan Sickler
Okay. So his little balls didn't make babies.
[21:45]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, there's no swimmer.
[21:46]
Ryan Sickler
Mom gets a sperm donor.
[21:48]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. She goes to. At the time was. She told me, Beverly Hills Cryo bank, which doesn't exist anymore. And you can do. I guess I. I don't know if it's called, like, a closed. That's what's called with adoption. But.
[21:59]
Ryan Sickler
But your brother was first.
[22:00]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
He was first.
[22:01]
Ryan Sickler
Okay.
[22:01]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
And my mom had like. The thing is that she goes. Your dad was shooting blank. It's like, if you also had, like three or four miscarriages from the sperm banks. Let's not just put this all on dad, dude. God was running defense on these people. He was like, you.
[22:14]
Shopify Advertiser
You can't.
[22:15]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
You're not gonna do a good job. You know, like, he's like, just something else, dude. So she has my brother in 84. And then I think they had a miscarriage in between me and then she got pregnant with me from the sperm bank. And as far as I know, she was told to. It was the same sperm donor, but, you know, they probably were like, no one's ever gonna know.
[22:39]
Ryan Sickler
But you still have me from the white bucket.
[22:42]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Well, I got. That's the thing is, at first it was just me, and then there was, of course, you know, 23andMe had a sale, like, tell your family. And I got my mom and my brother, 23 and me, and then they did it. And it turns out he's my half brother.
[22:56]
Ryan Sickler
He is.
[22:57]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. So different donors. He's. I thought when my mom got 23, I thought we were going to find out. Actually, the Jewish is from my mom's side. Because you don't know until you have a parent. It just shows you, like, it's your mix. And I thought we'd find out. Oh, their. Their family had buried it because they came from Germany. Their last name is Fink. And my family is very, like, just kind of some stereotypes that in my mind are Jewish, but I think it's just New York. They're from Long island. Just loud and funny. And I don't know. I'm the only Jew in the family. My brother's sperm donor is British, much more British. And I'm like, that explains the teeth. But yeah. Yeah, it. So it was just like a weird. And what's weird is I found out about my dad being a Sperm donor from my older stepbrother from my dad's second marriage when I was in college. And I told my brother, and I think he just thought I was, like, being absurd.
[23:53]
Ryan Sickler
When did you find out?
[23:54]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I found out when I was 18. How?
[23:56]
Ryan Sickler
You said. He blurted it out. Where are you guys? You had, like, a party or so.
[24:01]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I went to college in Florida. This is actually. It feels kind of pathetic. My dad left. He went to Florida. Then we would do, like, you know, in the summertime, we'd go see him.
[24:10]
Ryan Sickler
We From Alaska. You're going all the way?
[24:12]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, like, well, in Mississippi. Then we moved to Alaska. I think we. I went and saw him once, and then I remember I was supposed to go see him for Thanksgiving in high school. And I was, like, so excited. I was like, I'm gonna see my dad. And I got to the airport and I'm a freshman in high school, and I hated my stepdad. I hated Alaska. I was depressed. I was miserable. I get to check in and they go, oh, minors can't fly alone. And I was like, what? And like, yeah, you have to have someone accompany you for some reason, I don't think. I think it was Delta Airlines. And I was like that. That you didn't bring that up in the purchasing of the ticket. So I couldn't go. And I was, like, heartbroken because I know it's too early to cry. No fudgeing. Hell, I just. I loved my dad. It, like, it took a long time to go, like, oh, like, see all the, like, fucked up shit. But anyway, he lived in Florida. I went to college in Florida. I was like, I'll be closer to dad. He was like, two hours away.
[25:17]
Ryan Sickler
Do that on purpose? Kind of.
[25:19]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Maybe it was a combination. First of all, the college I went to, I didn't even apply to. My mom applied because she's like, you have family in Tampa? She knew I was going to go somewhere. My mom knew I wanted to get the out of Alaska. We had no money for college. So much so that there's too much to tell you, Dude. When in my senior year of high school, my mom. I came home and she was trying to kill herself.
[25:43]
Ryan Sickler
How?
[25:44]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
She was drunk on nyquil and she'd been sober at that point for like, five or six years. And, well, I don't even know. I don't think she knew. She was like, up. I got a call from my stepdad. I'm driving to hockey practice, and I get a call from my stepdad.
[26:00]
Ryan Sickler
You played hockey? Yeah, like ice hockey.
[26:03]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Just. Yeah. Dipping on the bench. I was so bad too. I was on the team because they didn't have enough girls. It was like, girls team. And my friend Ashley, who was really good, was like, we need more bodies to have a team. So I was like, fifth line. And they would only put us out when like we were way up or like it was hopeless. So we'd get out there. It was just me and actually another comedian who lives out here now. She does Alyssa Yeoman. She was in Seattle for you. But we were on the same line in high school hockey and just fucking out there. Like, we're doing it. But I'm driving to practice, I get a call from my stepdad, and he's like, hey, I got a weird message from your mom. Can you turn around and check on her? And in retrospect, I'm like, why didn't you go home to your wife? You. I get home, she's drunk on Nyquil. And I'm like, what's going on? She's like belligerent. And she goes, well, she was like looking for her keys. She's like, I just need my keys. And I'm like, why you can't drive? And she's like, well, I was gonna run the car in the garage.
[27:12]
Ryan Sickler
Just saying.
[27:13]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Just. My mom is so casual and like.
[27:16]
Ryan Sickler
I'm gonna go pick up some groceries.
[27:17]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. She's like, but then I realized that, like, the gas might leak into the house. That might affect you. And I was like, excuse me, What? What are you talking about? And she just goes, well, I know that you. I cry all the time. I know that you. I was getting all these letters from colleges. I was getting into, like, I over applied because I was afraid I wouldn't get in anywhere. And then I was getting, you know, into. Into every school I applied to. And she goes, I know that you don't want to stay here because I could do in state tuition in Alaska. I think I had a scholarship. Like. She's like, and I don't have money for you to go to college. I thought if something happened to me, you little life insurance. And I was like, what?
[28:13]
Ryan Sickler
Are you serious? She's saying this to you?
[28:15]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, and I'm also.
[28:17]
Ryan Sickler
I don't think you get it if.
[28:18]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
You know, probably bold.
[28:21]
Ryan Sickler
I'm losing to.
[28:23]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Dude, it's.
[28:24]
Ryan Sickler
There it goes, mom and the money.
[28:26]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, it's like, it's Alaska. You can't have. Just go slip on the ice. What are we doing?
[28:31]
Ryan Sickler
Anything.
[28:32]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Go up. There's a bear.
[28:34]
Ryan Sickler
Bears are hungry as.
[28:37]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
But like, she's just like, I, I know you don't want to be here. It was like she didn't know how to handle her grief of me leaving. And it's just so funny that she was having like empty nest panic attacks when it's like, you, you have been neglecting me the whole time. And now you're like, what am I gonna do? It was just her up way of either trying to help or trying to be like, wildly manipulative and make me feel bad about wanting to go out of state. But all that to say all that, we'll just brush past that. And then I just had to stay there and sit there with her and be like, no, it's. I would rather, I'd rather have a mom. And she's just there like. But, ah. And then when I look at those loans. No, I'm kidding. But she had applied for me to go to usf, which was in Tampa, and all of her siblings live in Tampa. So she's like, you know, you'll have family there. And plus my dad, I didn't know this till I was getting ready to go to college. He was in Florida, but their whole divorce, he had gotten to claim me as a dependent. For some, that was in the fucking divorce deal. I don't know. I didn't live with him. Was like, why is he claiming me as a dependent? But because of that, I could get in state tuition.
[29:48]
Ryan Sickler
I see.
[29:50]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
So anyway, I ended up. So it was a combination of things, but I did want to go closer to my dad. So I'd go every couple weeks. He was like two hours away from the college. I'd go and like, see him. So I was hanging out late night at his place, you know, I wouldn't visit him for the weekend. I'm hanging out with my older stepbrother. We're just drinking Bud Lights and shooting the. And I said something about how somebody said that I look like my brother Tom. I like at that point, biological. And he's like, you don't look anything like your brother Tom. And I go, yeah, I don't feel like I look like anyone in my family. I always kind of thought I was adopted or something. And he just made a face. It was like a. He like a.
[30:29]
Ryan Sickler
Like, you don't know like that.
[30:31]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
And I was like, what, what was that? What was that? Because I did always have this, like, I. Something doesn't click. And then he told me, he's like, you can't tell me, but I overheard your dad telling my mom. And then he made Me promise never to tell you, but you're from a sperm bank. And now I'm like, right in this moment, I'm like, was he going to his new wife and be like, they're not even really my kids from up. But I was like, what the. He's like, you can't tell him I told you. And I was like, maybe I can't tell him you told me. What, I'm supposed to just carry that in my heart and not mention. Because I had also had a seizure at my first football game in. And it was because of heat exhaustion. I get like, dude, I have like an old Jew body if I'm in Alaska. I break down to hives if I get too cold. I learned that within a week. Living in Alaska. And then I go to Florida because I'm gotta get out of this cold. And then I just, like, have a seizure at a football game in a giant bow. I was like, I've been going, oh, well, dad. My dad's mom has epilepsy and a cousin has epilepsy. And I'm like, that's important. None of that is in my health. What the. And I did eventually, like, bring it up to my dad, but I tried to do this roundabout, like, I'm taking a genetics class, and so I need one of your cigarette butts because they're gonna show us how our genes, you know, how we're related. And he didn't even think twice. He's like, all right. And then I was like, dad, listen. I know. And he was like, it doesn't make me think, you know, I still think of you as my daughter. That's why I didn't even think about it, like, you're my daughter.
[32:11]
Ryan Sickler
I mean, listen, that day I left you in Waffle House when you're eight.
[32:13]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah.
[32:14]
Ryan Sickler
I would have done it no matter what. Yeah. Hey, you were from.
[32:18]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Even if you had my eyes, my tiny. If you had my teeny tiny balls.
[32:23]
Ryan Sickler
I would have been out of balls. I still would have left you.
[32:26]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I still would have left you there with your big ass glasses in your bowl. Cut. Eating your waffle.
[32:32]
Ryan Sickler
That's insane to leave a small child. Not a 16 year old or something. 12, 13 years old.
[32:41]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Cut and big.
[32:43]
Ryan Sickler
It's crazy. It's crazy.
[32:44]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
And I didn't know. It breaks my heart.
[32:46]
Ryan Sickler
I can't. My daughter's in fourth grade. I couldn't imagine just going to breakfast, be like, I'll be right back.
[32:50]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
And I'm just never coming back. It builds character.
[32:56]
Shopify Advertiser
Okay.
[32:58]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah.
[32:58]
Ryan Sickler
So that you Find out.
[33:00]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah.
[33:00]
Ryan Sickler
And then you confront who first, dad or mom?
[33:03]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Dad. And then it took me a little while. I had to, like, work up to bring it up to my mom, because I was like, I don't know why.
[33:09]
Ryan Sickler
He didn't call her and be like, hey, heads up.
[33:11]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
No.
[33:12]
Ryan Sickler
Okay.
[33:12]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
He's just like, yeah. And I'm like, well, I. I mean, are you gonna tell my brother? He's like, your mother and I have an agreement that we were never gonna tell you guys. And I'm like, so, no. And then I go to my mom, you got to tell.
[33:23]
Ryan Sickler
You got to tell her. Tell him.
[33:24]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
No, she didn't.
[33:25]
Ryan Sickler
She didn't. So you had to do it.
[33:26]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah.
[33:28]
Ryan Sickler
And what. How did he feel about it?
[33:29]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
He was like, what are you talking about? He just.
[33:31]
Ryan Sickler
Blown away. Yeah.
[33:33]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
He's like, what? Because I'm just so. I'm always. I. I don't know. I was such a weird kid growing up. And also, he is a drug addict, and I don't know, because he's always in and out of allegedly being. You never know when someone's an addict. I have no idea where he really was in terms of his cleanness, sobriety, when I told him that. So I think he just thought it was like, some weird Andy Kaufman bit I was doing. And he's like, okay, yeah, okay, yeah. I remember in fourth grade when you told everyone you were an alien from Venus. Okay, sure. But then I think the 23andMe made him like, oh, oh, damn. That's crazy. But it's just such a wild. I don't know. I guess there's a part of me I feel like, bad being like, well, at least I don't have the leave your kid in a waffle house gene. True.
[34:23]
Ryan Sickler
You don't.
[34:23]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Probably a good.
[34:25]
Ryan Sickler
What about what you do have, though?
[34:28]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Jerk off in a cup. Dude, I'm documented Jewish, which could not be a great thing to have documented.
[34:35]
Ryan Sickler
Just what you are. But now you got to go get. Get. You need to go get genetic testing and figure out what you got going.
[34:42]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
On in there with the health stuff.
[34:44]
Ryan Sickler
Yeah, and it's a. Listen to me. I. We talk about on this show all the time, too. Like, if you don't talk to your family or whatever anymore, figure out what the. They have, because what they have, you probably have, and that's important. And they're gonna get older, and then it doesn't hit. Sometimes cancer, leukemia, whatever. And you're like, oh, I have that, and I might get it in my 60s or seven. Like, it's important and you don't even. Except for your mom's side.
[35:12]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
My mom's side, which is just.
[35:13]
Ryan Sickler
But you don't know the, the, the whole side.
[35:17]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
And that is.
[35:18]
Ryan Sickler
Can you or do they have that information?
[35:20]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
No, there's no way for me to get all that information. Other. I mean 23andMe does show you like some genetic predispositions and of course. But they go like if you pay more and you're like, you guys, you're keeping that behind a paywall. But I, so I do have like a couple, you know, they have a Rolodex of things they test for. So there's a couple things that I have like a gene for like late onset Alzheimer's and I have no idea where that, what side that comes from or if it will. You know, they say, they say it and they're very clearly like, just because you have the gene doesn't mean it'll express whatever. And then like a slightly increased chance of glaucoma. But yeah, there's so much I don't know. And it's like that to me is the. I don't need to find this guy and be like daddy, you know, but there was a while when I was single where I was like, well, this is dangerous. He was in Beverly Hills. I'm, I'm a older Jewish guy. We don't know what if I my dad. But I mean, what if I ora's a brother?
[36:17]
Ryan Sickler
As the holidays creep closer, the days get busier. Routines get thrown off with parties, feast and endless to do's. That's when I reach for Tempo. Real meals already cooked, ready in minutes and actually good for you. Helping me stay balanced while still enjoying the celebrations. Each meal is perfectly portioned for lunch or dinner, ready in just two minutes. That means real food, real fast. With 20 new recipes every week. Made from nutrient rich ingredients, Tempo keeps things exciting and helps you stay consistent with healthy habits. And no matter your goals, there's a Tempo meal for you. There's protein packed meals with up to 30 grams of protein. They got calorie conscious, carb conscious, even fiber rich. Check out Tempo. I love their meals. It's fast, it's convenient, it's done right. I got them in the fridge. Now if you're someone like me that's on the go during the day and then you want to eat something at night, boom, they're right there. They're healthy, they're good, and they're ready quick. For a limited time, Tempo is offering my listeners 60% off your first box, go to tempomeals.comHoneydew that's Tempo Meals.comHoneydew for 60% off your first box, Tempo Meals.comhoneydew or Rules and restrictions may apply. Now let's get back to the deal. I have to tell you this because now you're bringing it up.
[37:38]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
So when your dad.
[37:39]
Ryan Sickler
I fuck my dad a couple times.
[37:42]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Big old boss.
[37:46]
Ryan Sickler
When I was. I was living. My. My dad actually died, and I'm living with my grandmom, his mom, and I'm 20. And at the time, I'm 20. So this would have been 93. There is a. It's just such a recession. I'm. I'm legitimately applying everywhere and anywhere for a job while I'm in community college. I'm applying at the record stores at whatever.
[38:07]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah.
[38:08]
Ryan Sickler
And it gets to a point where I go home every day to my grandmother. I'm like, I'm 200 and 21. And she's like, I want to know. I want you to know I'm watching you. I know you're putting time in or whatever. And my grandma's an older Catholic lady. Oh, my grandma. I. I really think I'm gonna donate sperm. You can't donate sperm. Those are still your children. And, you know, she's very Catholic and all this, and that's not right, and blah, blah, blah. I'm like, I don't care, Grandma. I'm gonna research it. So I do. I call a couple places, and what I learn immediately is that they will only allow you. They're only supposed to allow you. Let me say that two donations in a certain mile radius, because of exactly that, there's. It's not probable, but it's possible that you and a sibling could marry. Whatever. And now you got all that going on.
[39:03]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah.
[39:04]
Ryan Sickler
And however, I say there's only supposed to. Because I believe we had a. A young lady on our Patreon. Come on here. Who was the. Her father was a sperm donor in. I want to say it was San Francisco. I'm wrong a lot. And. But she did a 23andMe. And at the time, I want to say it was something like 20 some siblings.
[39:26]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Oh, she was one of those. That happened to my friend.
[39:28]
Ryan Sickler
And. And they said they were letting that guy, you know, weekly.
[39:33]
Shopify Advertiser
Weekly.
[39:34]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
He's got a good seed. And.
[39:35]
Ryan Sickler
But it's like, then you do have a damn good chance that these people could.
[39:39]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
You're gonna run into somebody.
[39:40]
Ryan Sickler
So you had a friend that had that happen.
[39:42]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. Well, she Just had a sperm donor father and she did it and found out she had this whole like, like plethora of siblings. And they actually all got together and met him. All from him.
[39:55]
Ryan Sickler
And they all got together and met him. How they find out who he was? Can you find out?
[40:00]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I can't. I've tried. I think there's. It's something in, like, I don't say the registration, but you can either make yourself like, open to having the contact or close.
[40:09]
Ryan Sickler
And I does that. Yeah.
[40:10]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. And I. Mine is not available. But I also have never had a sibling, other than my brother being a half sibling, pop up. And when I am in a serious relationship with someone, I go, have you done 23andMe? And they're like, yeah. I'm like, okay, let me see it. Take a little peek. Make sure we don't have any overlaps or something. Or I'll like search their name in my. Because you can search your relatives.
[40:30]
Ryan Sickler
Oh, you can?
[40:30]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. And I'm like, okay, your last name didn't pop up at all. We're good to go. Yeah. Like, it's just. It's crazy.
[40:38]
Ryan Sickler
And then you wonder like, if you know your dad's a sperm donor and you're left handed, then I'm wondering, like, is he in there left handed jerking in the car?
[40:48]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. From downtown.
[40:52]
Ryan Sickler
And you're a lefty. You don't even know why.
[40:54]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, I'm like, I'm a squirter. I probably get that from him.
[41:01]
Ryan Sickler
From him?
[41:02]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. It's ridiculous.
[41:05]
Ryan Sickler
Oh, okay. Let's. Let's go back to Alaska. You're going at 8 years old, you leave a Waffle House, and mom is now a single mom with two kids.
[41:15]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah.
[41:16]
Ryan Sickler
And she's like, alaska, why Alaska? Is there a job opportunity there?
[41:20]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Job opportunity? I think she really. It was a small town and I think she was.
[41:25]
Ryan Sickler
What town do you go to?
[41:26]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
We. Well, Alaska was Anchorage. That's a bigger, big city for Alaska. But Ocean Springs was a small town everybody talked about. And I think I have a lot more empathy for her now that I'm getting close to the age she was when all this happened. Because I'm like, dude, she had two kids. She was in the throes of alcoholism, got sober a few years before we left Mississippi, but was just struggling and manic and mentally ill. And I think.
[41:48]
Ryan Sickler
What does she do for work?
[41:50]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
So she works for the government. Some of my friends are like, I think she's in the CIA. But, like, because after I graduated high school, I won't jump Ahead again. But she went to a lot of very precarious places for work.
[42:01]
Ryan Sickler
But did she continue to do that sort of work in Alaska as well?
[42:04]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Well, yeah, so she got a job initially with the Fish and Wildlife and that's what moved us up there. They paid to move her. And then after we were there a couple years, she moved over to like the army corps of Engineers. And I don't really know what she was doing. I just was like paperwork or something. I don't know. She quit bringing me to take your daughter to work day. I don't have the details, but yeah, she drove us. I think we were in Mississippi for maybe like a year or two. Like two years more. Two and a half years more. And then got a job and said, we're moving to Alaska. Kids packed us up and drove us out like a day earlier than we said. We were all packed up, so we were supposed to leave a certain date. And she's like, well, we're packed up. There's a storm coming. Let's just hit the road. And I was like, leaving. What's the rush? This is crazy. We didn't know this for like it was a two week drive from Mississippi to Alaska. And my mom in my mom's Subaru, she's chain smoking. My brother's in the back just listening to his, you know, Walkman. And I'm just spending. I'm in the front seat, like ruining.
[43:12]
Ryan Sickler
My life eating her smoke.
[43:14]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. And she's just hopped upon Noto's doing 14 hours a day. And we found out. So we drove west first because she had a. Had a sister in Dallas. So she's like, we'll go see aunt Chris, say hi. I haven't seen her in a few years. See her kids and then roll up. We got on a ferry boat in Bellingham, Washington. Three days on a ferry boat. She's like, it's like a cruise ship. I'm like, this is a Greyhound bus.
[43:39]
Ryan Sickler
Three days. Is it that long?
[43:41]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, three days on a cruise ship. And I'm like, this is a Greyhound bus on the sea. It's not. It's sad, mom. And she's like, it's an adventure. Kids drove us through the Alcan highway up to Anchorage. Spins out in the parking lot because she doesn't know how to drive on ice. And I'm like, my life is over. We find out from the landlord of our house that we had left. She called her, you know, she's like, let me know when you make it. She calls her. So the Storm that was coming was a hurricane called Hurricane Jorge, George, whatever. I think they called it George's Mississippi. People were like, I don't speak Spanish. And it wasn't supposed to be a huge store. It was supposed to be like, you know, category two. It got a little bigger. There was an oak tree in our front yard of the house we rented. And we left a day early that night. The storm came in, smashed through our house, smashed through my bedroom.
[44:34]
Ryan Sickler
No.
[44:34]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I would have died in the night. I would have been smashed by a tree.
[44:37]
Ryan Sickler
Holy crazy poltergeist.
[44:42]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, that's like, what in the. My mom's crazy, but psychic. I don't know what that is. And I was like, oh, good. Now I have to think I have a bigger purpose or something crazy. But we get to Alaska and within a week, like, we were living in. It was temporary housing, but it was a one bedroom apartment with two like, cots and a couch. It was the grossest apartment. And my ex. It just. It's freezing. I hate cold weather getting up there. End of September. So winter has come in Alaska. In Alaska you get nine months of winter. Yeah. They go, winter, still winter, still winter. And then construction. That's the joke. But like just immediate cold. It didn't snow in southern Mississippi. My memory of winter was Germany. And I'm like, it was a vague memory of me crying in the snow and going, I hate this. I. Within a week I found out I break out into hives when I get cold. It was just miserable. And then she met my stepdad.
[45:44]
Ryan Sickler
How'd they meet?
[45:44]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
A. A. Oh, that's what he. Yeah, we just go. He's sober. I remember meeting him. He. He's like, hey there, young lady. I'm Terry. Nice to meet you. Sticks out his hand. He's missing a finger.
[45:57]
Ryan Sickler
No, bro, that's kid, you gotta fist bump me for that. Let's ease into that.
[46:03]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
And he goes, I'd like to take your mother on a date. And I go, absolutely not. I was just so mad.
[46:10]
Ryan Sickler
I was like, you've got to be first date there.
[46:12]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Do you, little buddy? And he used to. He would point with that finger. Come on, dude. He'd give people butter. Remember the bunny ears and photos with his knob? I'm like.
[46:27]
Ryan Sickler
Stop. Terry.
[46:28]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, dude. Terry is such a stepdad name.
[46:31]
Ryan Sickler
It is Terry.
[46:32]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Just immediately I was like, we have five minutes. Terry business. Yeah. I'm like, this is it. This is what we're doing. Moving to Alaska and settling down with Terry.
[46:48]
Ryan Sickler
So Terry has how many kids?
[46:50]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
He had two he has two boys.
[46:52]
Ryan Sickler
Are they older than you?
[46:53]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Younger? Nathan and Keegan? Nathan was actually exactly nine months to the day younger than me. And then Keegan was five years.
[47:01]
Ryan Sickler
And are you all just like, boom, instant family.
[47:04]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Pretty quickly ram together, you could tell everyone was like, great.
[47:08]
Ryan Sickler
Brand new to everybody. We're not easing into this.
[47:10]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah.
[47:10]
Ryan Sickler
We're like, okay, and where are you moving from that apartment? Where do you all stay now?
[47:14]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
So we had moved into a two bedroom apartment. And when. By the time my mom and stepdad started dating and then, then my mom very quickly, I realize this now. Like, I was like, that's just normal timelines, the same thing. But like, at this point, I was in sixth grade. I had left middle school in Mississippi, sixth grades in middle school. And all the cool girls were starting to be my friend. And I was like, all right, I'm gonna be okay, you know? Then we moved to Alaska. It's still elementary school already. I'm like, I'm above this. The temporary housing's in a different school district than the new housing. So I moved to a different sixth grade. Then she moves in with my stepdad in the same year. So I went to four different sixth grades kids.
[47:55]
Ryan Sickler
Damn.
[47:56]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. And it's. That's a hard year. That's a hard, tough one. Yeah. And. And by the time she moved into my stepdad's stepdad's house, it was his mom's house. I'm like, he's living.
[48:08]
Ryan Sickler
She there?
[48:08]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
No, she lived. Dude. My grandma was in Australia. My grandma was like og Internet dating. She would meet men on America online. She's on her eighth husband. This woman doesn't around. So she was in Australia. And basically he's just living in her house. And now in retrospect, I was like, this man was. Didn't have his life together. He's living in his mom's house, not paying bills like in Alaska. Yeah, but my mom's like, oh, a house. My mom has like this obsession with houses. I can't get her to stop buying a house when she moves to a new place. It's like, you don't. You're old rent. You don't need to put all that money into something. It's going to be fine. But there's something about. I think she feels that, like this. I haven't achieved success as an adult if I don't own a home. But I think she was just like, he has a house. So we move into this house.
[49:00]
Ryan Sickler
Is it a nice house?
[49:01]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
It actually was. It was like a cool House. And it was in a cul de sac that in. I didn't appreciate it enough as a kid, but it backed up into the woods.
[49:09]
Ryan Sickler
Oh, I like.
[49:10]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
And dude, I was a woods kid.
[49:11]
Ryan Sickler
Except Alaska woods are legit. Bear.
[49:14]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, bear. Or just murderous murder? Yeah, just a man in the woods with the. I mean, I never ran into one, but surprisingly.
[49:22]
Ryan Sickler
Was there. Was there murder. Oh, really? Oh, dude, while you were there, like, you knew.
[49:29]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Not in my woods, but people got murdered. Dude, I have so many dead friends.
[49:35]
Ryan Sickler
What friends?
[49:36]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Friends I.
[49:38]
Ryan Sickler
From what. What are they? Is it drugs?
[49:41]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Sometimes. Drugs Sometimes. So when I was a sophomore in high school, a. This. My friend Delaney, who I just met, like, friend of a friend because she was a year younger, went missing and like, to this day, I cannot watch. Like, they, like, organized a search party and we were all like, searching through.
[50:11]
Ryan Sickler
The woods looking for part of it.
[50:12]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, like, all of us, like, went.
[50:13]
Ryan Sickler
Out and like the high school.
[50:15]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, just like all her, like, friends and family, and we didn't know until, like, her, like, we ran into like, her little sister in the mall going, have you seen Delaney? And we're like, what are you talking about? And to this day, like, if I watch a murder documentary where they go, a search party starts, I like, shut down. I like, can't. She was found not. Not by me, thank God.
[50:39]
Ryan Sickler
During that search, during.
[50:42]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Eventually during. There were several searches, she had been murdered by one of our, like, one of her classmates.
[50:50]
Ryan Sickler
What?
[50:50]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Who?
[50:52]
Ryan Sickler
Like, was he part of the search party?
[50:55]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I don't remember. No.
[50:57]
Ryan Sickler
Seeing on like that.
[50:58]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I don't think so.
[50:59]
Ryan Sickler
Oh, so you did you know this kid too, then? Classmates?
[51:02]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I didn't really know him.
[51:03]
Ryan Sickler
You know who he was like, when they said his name, you know, of him at least.
[51:06]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
You know what's so funny is I'm just realizing this. My. He was right next to my brother in the yearbook. I'm just remembering this right now because my. My younger stepbrothers, their last name was Longshore or. Yeah, Longshore. And this guy's last name was Ling. And I remember, like, seeing him because they were. I saw him in the like, middle school yearbook from the year they were in middle school. And I. I didn't go to that school, so I just hadn't met him yet.
[51:29]
Ryan Sickler
Were they dating? What was their.
[51:31]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
He was like a. In the friend group and had like, come over. This is what, as far as I know, had come over to, like, sneak her out and like, escort her to like, a party reference meeting up and stuff. And it had been like, she had called her boyfriend at the time and like, oh, he's here. I'm going to come over. And then, like, she never came over. And it was like, that's when the. You know, what's going on? He had, like, brutally, brutally murdered her. Stabbed her. Like, Jesus.
[52:05]
Ryan Sickler
Did they say why? Did they find out why?
[52:07]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Well, here's what's.
[52:08]
Ryan Sickler
Did they get him?
[52:09]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
They got him.
[52:10]
Ryan Sickler
They did. Okay.
[52:10]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
And they tried him as an adult.
[52:13]
Ryan Sickler
Oh, yeah, I didn't think of that. He's what, 15, 16?
[52:17]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, but what. What's crazy is, like, I have a. When people go. The things you watch video games, porn, you know, horrendous. If you watch, like, crazy dark movies, they don't. That doesn't affect you. They found like, a ton of, like, murder porn, like, on his. I don't even know what that means. I just remember hearing murder porn. And now I don't know if it's.
[52:43]
Ryan Sickler
Just like, Dateline episodes.
[52:44]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I don't know if it's Dateline episodes. Like, in my mind, it was porn.
[52:49]
Ryan Sickler
Dark web.
[52:50]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Dark Web. Like actual. On his computer. And then there were a couple girls who, like, later came forward and was like, oh, yeah, he, like, once showed up at my house and, like, was aggressively knocking on my window. Was like, let me in type of thing.
[53:01]
Ryan Sickler
It's also quite a young age to be that up. Yeah.
[53:07]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
You know what's crazier is years ago.
[53:09]
Ryan Sickler
I mean, to act out on it, you know, usually your serial killer is a little older, stronger and twenties or whatever.
[53:15]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, yeah.
[53:16]
Ryan Sickler
And it's like, this is a kid.
[53:17]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
This guy, like, just went in and then he just.
[53:20]
Ryan Sickler
Then did he go back to school while they're. You know what I mean? Like this kid back. The normal, so to speak, while everyone's looking for this.
[53:26]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, I think so.
[53:27]
Ryan Sickler
Jesus.
[53:27]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
And then they, like, brought him in and just. He had done it. And years later, I was actually crashing on a couch at a Chicago comedian's place. I was like, going through town in Chicago. You know how it is. Early days, road dog and 200 bowling alleys. Being like, I'm living the dream. And MSNBC lockup comes on and it's the maximum security prison in Alaska. And jokingly I go, but I know a couple people in there. They cut to this guy.
[53:52]
Ryan Sickler
No.
[53:53]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Swear to God, him going, you know, everyone thinks we're monsters. We're not monsters. And I was like, that guy's a monster. He's a. He is a monster. What? And they're talking about how he's like he's working on a degree. And I'm like, I never had this. Like, I would see those shows and go, yeah, see, they're. That's different. And I'm like, oh, these people are so fucked up. But there's just so much mental illness. Ida. I had three friends who were brothers, and their mom was a paranoid schizophrenic. She killed all of them.
[54:19]
Ryan Sickler
Did she rock to the Eagles, girl?
[54:21]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I think she did. Well, I'm running down the road and I'm killing my kids.
[54:27]
Ryan Sickler
Wait, she killed all three of them? And herself too?
[54:30]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Nope.
[54:31]
Ryan Sickler
No.
[54:31]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Killed all three of them.
[54:32]
Ryan Sickler
They were in high school with you too?
[54:34]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
In high school. What the.
[54:35]
Ryan Sickler
Going on up there? Yeah. Is this the 24 hour darkness?
[54:38]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yes. It makes people crazy. And the saddest part of them is they were about to go live with their grandmother because she was, was. She was really unwell. She would like beat them.
[54:46]
Ryan Sickler
Listen, this is three boys.
[54:47]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah.
[54:47]
Ryan Sickler
They could have took their big boy. So how did she do it? She do it while they were sleeping.
[54:51]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Or gone With a silencer. Yeah. So here's what happened.
[54:53]
Ryan Sickler
Geez.
[54:54]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
One of them, the oldest one was. He had had a surgery, so he was on painkillers. And they, they was her and her three boys. They lived in a two bedroom apartment. Mike slept on the couch. And the other two, Joey and Chris. Joey's the youngest. Chris had just graduated high school the year before. They shared a bedroom. It early in the morning, before anyone's up, she goes to Mike on the couch, gets him, shoots him, covers him up with blankets. Joey comes out.
[55:25]
Ryan Sickler
Silencer. For real?
[55:26]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. Which is. I don't know. I don't understand. What. I don't.
[55:29]
Ryan Sickler
Wildly premeditated.
[55:30]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Wildly.
[55:31]
Ryan Sickler
How crazy this is when I start to question how crazy people are when they're crazy like you did all that.
[55:37]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I was like, how did this mentally ill woman get a gun with a silencer?
[55:42]
Ryan Sickler
Figure out how to go execute it? I mean, I didn't mean it like that, but literally, I mean, execute her plan by executing her kids?
[55:49]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, kids. Her kids. Covers him with blankets. Joey gets up in the morning and goes, come on, Mike, get up. And she's like, mike's not feeling well, he's gonna stay home today. And I ran. We saw Joey at school and he's like. And he said Mike is pretending to be sick to sneak out because his girlfriend coincidentally wasn't at school that day. She was also sick.
[56:05]
Ryan Sickler
Wait, she didn't shoot all them at once?
[56:07]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
No.
[56:07]
Ryan Sickler
What?
[56:08]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Joey's gone at School. Chris is in bed hopping on painkillers.
[56:11]
Ryan Sickler
To cover down and look, nothing to see blood.
[56:14]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Or she just went, leave him alone. And because she was so mentally ill and violent, it was just kind of like they were like, do whatever she says.
[56:22]
Ryan Sickler
Yeah.
[56:22]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I mean, she'd, like, beat them with golf clubs before. And what happened was they were gonna move. They were gonna leave state and go live with their grandma because it was not safe. This, like, breaks my heart. But they. They felt bad for her. They didn't want to leave her alone. They're like, she can't take care of herself. So they stayed. And then while Chris is in bed on painkillers, she goes in, does it to him. He's not even, you know, out of it already. Yeah. And then this is what I was told. So I. You know, now if people dramatize repeating or. I don't remember if I read this or someone repeated this, or. She waited next to the door when Joey got home. He opens the door. She's standing behind the door. He walks past the door behind his head. Boom. And then she waited an hour for some reason, walked across the street to cars, which is the grocery store. It's a Safeway. That's just the, like, kind of what the chain's called there. And from a payphone, called the police and said, I just murdered my children. And they were like, what? She's like, yeah, I'm just gonna go sit at home if you want to come get me.
[57:27]
Ryan Sickler
And then walk back and sat there.
[57:28]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Just sat there.
[57:29]
Ryan Sickler
All three of her kids dead in the house.
[57:31]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah.
[57:32]
Ryan Sickler
Jesus Christ.
[57:33]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. And I got a call on my little Nokia.
[57:36]
Ryan Sickler
Three of these.
[57:37]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
All three of them. We all like what we start. I mean, I had really just become friends with them earlier that year. We'd all hang out. What's crazy is one time we were at their house, like, you met the mom? No, she. Or, no, she wasn't. Now I'm like, was she sleeping? But that seems like rolling the dice. I think she was out for some reason. We were there, like, playing cards and, like, drinking beers. It was one of those, like, killer bad kids sneaking. And. And we all started talking about, like, oh, yeah, my mom's crazy. And they're like, yeah, our mom's, like, really crazy. And we're. And, you know, I'm going, me too. And then that happens. I'm like, oh, oh. That's a different kind of crazy.
[58:12]
Ryan Sickler
That is a different kind of crazy.
[58:14]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I do remember my mom coming into my room the night that I heard about It. Because I heard I got a call at soccer practice from my friend who put her grandma on the phone. She didn't know how to tell me. And they were like, here's what happened. And then I'm crying. It was soccer tryouts. And the coach is like, suck it up about that.
[58:34]
Ryan Sickler
Did he know what you were crying about?
[58:36]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I don't remember. He must not have. But he's like, get it together. This is tryouts. And I'm like, my friends are dead.
[58:42]
Ryan Sickler
Triple homicides.
[58:44]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah.
[58:44]
Ryan Sickler
Family.
[58:45]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah.
[58:46]
Ryan Sickler
Mother, kids. Like, that goes against every. Mother nature. Goes against everything.
[58:50]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Oh, yeah. And in court, she. There. The whole story is her. She. She is paranoid schizophrenic, and she thought that the world was bad. And so I have to get them out of it. I have to save them. I have to get them out of here. And she's, you know, in prison for the rest of her life. My mom comes in and my mom, like, at the. At this point, I was self sufficient. After my dad left, it was like, well, I better figure it out. You know what I mean? Lived off ramen for a few years, and mom would pop in every once in a while and go, like, why is the house dirty? You know, or whatever, you know? But she comes in my room to, like, try to comfort me, I assume. She walks in the room and just goes like. She breaks down.
[59:32]
Ryan Sickler
That was her.
[59:34]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
And she was like, how could a mother do that? And I was like, are you asking how she did it? You looking for some tips or who do we. And I'm like, how. Why am I comforting you? It was just. It crazy.
[59:49]
Ryan Sickler
That is. That is horrific. Yeah.
[59:51]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
It's the darkness up there.
[59:52]
Ryan Sickler
It makes people and other ones too. You knew that? Got murdered as well.
[59:56]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I mean, I had a friend get stabbed over a case of beer and die. Yeah, I don't think the guy meant to kill him, but it was this guy. He was a big guy. My friend Nick. Someone pulled out a knife on someone else. They're fighting outside of a party, drunk. And he goes to stop the guy, grabs his arms to hold him back. And the guy, knife in this hand, goes behind him, stabbed him straight through the chest, right through the heart.
[60:21]
Ryan Sickler
Oh, no.
[60:23]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. Over a case.
[60:24]
Ryan Sickler
I'm thinking maybe bled out. He got him right there. And it was.
[60:27]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I don't even know if it was good beer, man. I was like, what the. The. And then I had a friend just drown in a pool. It was crazy.
[60:33]
Ryan Sickler
It was just like all that in high school.
[60:35]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Oh, yeah. And so I Like had a up. It took me a long time to realize, like, oh, most people my age don't know dead people. And that's why I think that. I mean, that's. I'm. I got a up sense of humor. I'm. Sometimes my humor is really dark and I'm like, oh, yeah, no, that checks out. I don't know.
[60:54]
Ryan Sickler
And then. So your escape from Alaska was college?
[60:58]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. Yeah. I was like, get me the fuck out of here. All right.
[61:01]
Ryan Sickler
Is mom still up in Alaska?
[61:03]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
No. So as soon as I went to college, she started getting contract jobs with the government. She went to Iraq.
[61:10]
Ryan Sickler
Oh, wow.
[61:10]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Afghanistan, India. Then she lived in South Korea for seven years.
[61:15]
Ryan Sickler
Damn.
[61:15]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, she was everywhere. And by the way, this chain smoking when she gets. I mean, I love her. We get along now as well as you. Can you just go, okay, I don't have to rely on you and I accept you for where you are. You accept me for where I am?
[61:29]
Ryan Sickler
And, and she'll go, my genetics are now though.
[61:32]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
She goes, you wouldn't be funny if I was a better mom, you know, but this, I mean, I watched her. How's these cigarettes? And she goes, you know, there was a lot of burning of stuff in Afghanistan and the soldiers are, you know, they're getting. They're able to like sue and get like money. And I'm like, don't try to blame Afghanistan. I saw you house multiple marble reds a day. Just hacks. You can be like Afghanistan. But she just, she would do these contract jobs now she lives in Baltimore.
[62:01]
Ryan Sickler
Does she really?
[62:02]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yes.
[62:02]
Ryan Sickler
Working for government.
[62:04]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
She was. She retired right at the end of last year. I was like, I think you got out right in time. They would have cut you. She was at Fort McHenry. Yeah, she was just doing the budget there for the last two or three years.
[62:13]
Ryan Sickler
Star Spangles banner was written.
[62:15]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah.
[62:16]
Ryan Sickler
McKen, we set to do our field trips there every year in elementary school. Oh yeah, my mom fold the big flag.
[62:21]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Patriotic. Oh yeah, she would. I mean, she loves being American. She'd be like, I got to go do the.
[62:28]
Ryan Sickler
The flag today was her Betsy Ross flag and all. Yeah, I know. I field trip there every year. Every year we're doing it.
[62:35]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
That's so funny. When I went to Ms. Zip, we had a field trip to Jefferson Davis's plantation. Complete, complete opposite.
[62:44]
Ryan Sickler
Thank you for doing this. This is a really great episode. Before we wrap up though, advice you'd give to 16 year old Jessica Michelle Singleton. Cuz, where are you now? You're in high school. Friends 16, murdered and dying.
[63:01]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Everyone's dropping like flies up there. Driving a Ford Ranger stick shift.
[63:06]
Ryan Sickler
Nice.
[63:08]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Just. Just keep going. Just, you know, keep do. I mean, it's so silly to keep doing what you're doing, but, like, you're gonna be okay. Just, like, stick to your friends and. Yeah. Lean on people. Lean on your. I don't know.
[63:27]
Ryan Sickler
I mean, listen to me. That's great, because younger me was, I'll do it on my own. I'll do it on my own. It took me a minute to realize you need to reach out, you need help. You're not doing this on your own.
[63:40]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah, I didn't realize that until the last couple years.
[63:42]
Ryan Sickler
Honestly, it took me a minute too, but just, like, it's like, finally it's okay to. To ask for help.
[63:50]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yes. It's like, I can't even imagine how different my career, my life would be if the people who just grow up and they know that that's okay. I don't think they'll ever. You'll ever. You'll never know what a privilege it is to. To not. You have to do it on your own.
[64:04]
Ryan Sickler
That's the other thing too, though. It's a. I, I 100%. I'm sure it's a trauma response from people like us where we're like, I'll just do it my self. Everyone lets me down. Everyone fucking leaves at a while.
[64:16]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
I can't trust anyone.
[64:17]
Ryan Sickler
I'm just gonna fucking. If I want it done, I'm just gonna do it myself. I can't trust anybody. It takes a while to build trust, to let your ego go and be vulnerable and be like, hey, can you please help me with this?
[64:27]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Yeah. Like, it's also. Most people, if they can help, Like, I love helping. I love if I can help a friend out. If I have a piece of info, advice, can I show up and help you with your thing? Like, if I have the time. I. It feels good to help, but, like.
[64:42]
Ryan Sickler
I was about to say the same thing.
[64:43]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Like, you're not a burden for needing help.
[64:45]
Ryan Sickler
That's right.
[64:47]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
That'd be it. Call people more. Call your friends. You're gonna get old and you're gonna. That's gonna be like, remember when we used it? Just call, answer the phone.
[64:59]
Ryan Sickler
Please, one more time. Promote anything you'd like.
[65:03]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
You can see me on Dateline. No, I.
[65:07]
Ryan Sickler
High school.
[65:08]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
My entire high school class. Jesus Christ. At JMS Comedy, my podcast is, hey, idiots. If you like country music normally, wild. And watch my special. Hi, y' all at Punchup live. JMS awesome.
[65:21]
Ryan Sickler
Thank you very much.
[65:22]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Thanks for having me.
[65:23]
Ryan Sickler
You got it. As always, Ryan Sickler on all social media. We'll talk to y' all next week.
[65:34]
Jessica Michelle Singleton
Ram.