← The Nerve with Maureen Callahan
The Nerve with Maureen Callahan
Tensions Rise for Blake and Ryan, Hoda Kotb Gets Comfy at ‘Today,’ & Lena Dunham's Dark Pet Past
01:15:00
Maureen Callahan is joined by celebrity reporter Rob Shuter to dish on the shredding fabric behind the scenes at the Today Show, Hoda getting too comfortable in Savannah Guthrie’s chair and how the morning show hosts perpetuate a facade of being “one big family." Maureen and Rob also dish on Blake Lively showing up to court alone for the Justin Baldoni saga, how that move may have handed Baldoni the winning optics, and why Ryan Reynolds appears to be a liability. They also conduct a takedown of Meghan and Harry, whose privacy crusade clashes with a strategic Instagram reveal of their children, raising new questions about fame, control, and who is leading the charge in that marriage. Then, Maureen eviscerates Katie Couric for her tasteless V-day post, dives into fiery Troublemaker feedback, delivers a certified update on the Nerve-y Valentine mailed to Stedman Graham, and closes with a scorching takedown of Lena Dunham’s latest Vanity Fair feature, calling her out on her dark histor...
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- [00:00]
A
So good, so good, so good. New spring arrivals are at Nordstrom Rack stores. Now get ready to save big with up to 60% off rag and bone, Marc Jacobs, free people and more. How did I not know Rack has Adidas? Cause there's always something new. Join the Norty Club to unlock exclusive discounts. Shop new arrivals first and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. At Strayer University, we help students like you go from will I to why not? For over 130 years, we've been innovating higher education to make it more affordable, accessible and attainable so you can reach your goals. Go from thinking can I? To yes, I can. And keep striving. Visit Strayer. Edu to learn more. Strayer University is certified to operate in Virginia by Chev and its many campuses, including at 2121 15th Street north in Arlington, Virginia. Hello and welcome to the Nerve at Night. I am your host, Maureen Callahan. We have another jam packed show to share with you. Celebrity reporter extraordinaire and author of the Must subscribe substack, Naughty but Nice, Rob Shooter, back from vacation. Joining us for a slew of celebrity updates, rumors put to rest, reported out. We've got it all. Okay, we've got updates on the Today show, what's going on with the Nancy Guthrie investigation, how that's affecting all of the jockeying for position over there, how Don Lamond is making this all about himself. We've got a Bethenny Frankel update, just talking about tons and tons of stuff. Oh, and of course, Meghan Markle. Okay, then we're going to get into also what's going on over at the E. Network and their failures in attempting to replicate the magic, the dark art rather of what goes on over at Bravo. We've got troublemaker feedback and then an offender is going to the wood chipper. Wood chipper. And this is because this person is a danger to animals. And you know how we feel about animals. Here at the Nerve, we've also got a very special update. It's. This is an audio. It's got an audio component. Very special update on our nerve. Valentine, Stedman, you got to go pick up your gift, please. We're, we're, we're really. We're. We're about to hire another investigator, a rookie. Nonetheless, updates on that. Are you ready? Are you ready? Let's go. Your liver does more than you know when it comes to energy, hormones, digestion and even regulating your mood. But Stress toxins and over processed foods are constantly loading it with stress. What can you do? Introducing Peaks Liver Detox Protocol. This this two step system is both gentle and powerful. Peak leverages nature's most potent botanicals, minerals and vitamins and combined with their cutting edge extraction technology creates supplements that make a difference. The protocol has two main parts. A strong Sri Lankan turmeric mixed with cinnamon and black pepper to help your body absorb it better. And a spicy Sri Lankan ginger combined with cinnamon to support support your immune system, improve blood flow and help with digestion. This leads to less bloating, steadier energy and a clearer head. No miracles, just consistent well being. Peak elevates nature's best with cutting edge tech. Pure, effective. Ditch the fads and commit to intentional health. Unlock 20 off and establish your powerful foundation for sustained well being@peaklife.com the nerve that's P I Q U E life.com/thenerve joining us now back from vacation. How did we manage without him? None other than Rob Shooter. Be sure to pre order your copy of Rob's book. It started with a whisper. It's out in April. I saw it's flying up the pre orders at Amazon and that's what we want. Let's all support Rob and we're gonna make it our first official Nerve book club read of 2026. Rob, welcome back from vacation and welcome back to the Nerve.
- [04:45]
B
You're too good to be Maureen. I love the tousled hair today. Very nice, my friend.
- [04:51]
A
Well, thank you very much. You know, I can't be in mourning all the time. So tell me, Rob, what are you hearing? This is the story I've been dying to talk to you about. You know, we've got the tragic ongoing case of Savannah Guth Guthrie's missing mother, Nancy Guthrie. We are now in week three of this unthinkable crime. But over at the Today show, it seems a different crime is being committed and it's jockeying for who is going to get permanent possession of Savannah's chair. A, are you hearing whether Savannah wants to come back? And B, what are Hoda's chances of keeping that thing?
- [05:30]
B
First of all, our hearts break for Savannah. I've been on that show maybe 20, 30 times. The last time I was on, Savannah interviewed me. She's a really cool person and she's one of those people that off camera she's the same. Often during the commercial breaks, whether it be on a TV show or a podcast, that's when you know who people really are. And she's one of the good ones. And she's paid her doers. She started as a local reporter. She's worked all over the country, I think, for a while, too. She was at Court TV with our friend Nancy Grace, who also.
- [06:02]
A
And Ashley Banfield. Yeah.
- [06:03]
B
Who just says the nicest things about her. So I just want everybody to know right off the top, our hearts break. And she's one of the really decent people out there. And there's not that many in the TV business that I can say that about now about the show. This is really, really tricky, I'm told, that is talk about what they should do, which should not be very surprising because the Today show is the cash cow. It makes tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars for NBC every single year. And anybody, any executive, anybody that runs a company that is that big or even small should have a safety plan. Even in these really dark moments. Especially in these really dark moments. So nobody wants to talk about it outright. Nobody's sending out press releases. This is very hushed up. It's behind the scenes. It's whispers. But TV's a business. It's not a family. They pretend it's a family. And they do a really good job of convincing us, all the morning shows that they're all best friends. That's not the case. It is a business. If you deliver ratings, you do very well. If you don't deliver ratings, you're gone, Even if you're really, really loved. And so Savannah is off the show. Understandably so. But we have no idea when she will be coming back. And depending on the outcome of this really awful situation, there is a scenario. Two people, two sources told me there really is a scenario that she might never return, not just to the Today show, but to tv. If something happens to her mom because of her celebrity, because of her TV fame, it's gonna be very hard for Savannah to step back into that. And so there is a scenario where she won't return. And the best scenario is that she will return after an extended vacation, after an extended period, hopefully reuniting with her mother. But now there's questions. Who was going to fill that job? They recently made a big fuss, a big celebration of welcoming Chanel back after the tragic, tragic death of her husband. And she got the fourth hour with Jenna, and then she filled in for a few days in the seven to nine hour. That's where they make their real money. And then, poof, Chanel's being pushed out of that.
- [08:24]
A
She's such a dud, Rob. I mean, I don't want to get you in trouble because you go over there and you need, you know, I'll just say it. I find her a dud. She's punching above her weight even on the fourth hour of Today, which is like Marshmallow fluff with Jenna Bush Hager. So they put Hoda back in that seat. Who, you know, last week we had Mark Bowden on talking about how Hoda was pretty much jumping out of her chair. She was so excited. It's so unseemly. Hoda's comportment. I would like to see them bring in a real, tried and true vet. Like someone like Meredith Vieira will probably never go back to this, but somebody like a Meredith Vieira, somebody with a little bit of gravitas who, you know, also seems like a very. I've heard that she's an extremely decent person as well.
- [09:07]
B
Really good. Really good. I did her talk show and I, I've been on the Today show when she, she was the co host. Meredith's terrific. She doesn't want any part of this anymore. It's a really, really toxic environment. That's why you just can't believe these TV shows are just happy places. Let's not forget the Today show is the home of Matt Lauer. I need to say no more. That hasn't happened at my job. It hasn't happened at your job, hopefully. I don't think it's happened at any ad jobs, but it did happen there. So while they take a high road of being America's number one family, it's a really dysfunctional family. And this is where it's going to get really ugly really quickly. Hoda, it seems, wants that job. When Hoda left the Today show, she said it was for her children. I'm not gonna doubt that. But it was also to launch this app.
- [09:53]
A
Yeah. Was it for the kids, Rob? I mean, I don't think she remembers their names, ages, or where they go to school right now. We're so laser focused on that chair at 30 effing rock.
- [10:06]
B
You say it like nobody else does. So she said, she said she was leaving to spend more time with her daughters. She really enjoyed getting up and taking them to school and picking them up from school. Her app didn't really succeed, so she thought she was going to have this new app and she was going to turn herself into a new Oprah Mel Robbins type guru. That has not happened. She has now been invited back in this chair, and my insiders are saying she likes it. Like, this is a joke.
- [10:38]
A
Oh, she loves it. She can't hide it. You think she's going to be electrified by school runs in upstate New York?
- [10:45]
B
No.
- [10:45]
A
She wants to be seated next to Craig and asking Chris Hemsworth how it was working with so and so on his latest movie. That's excitement to her. You know, I just wanted to say this other thing about, okay, Hoda and the Joy thing not working out. So, you know, she's. She's got this retreat scheduled out of state, and we at the Nerve. Marlena signed up on her site. It said tickets will be on sale soon. Sign up and you'll get the email alert. A day after Marlena signed up, Hoda's website announced that the retreat was sold out. We went from tickets aren't even on sale yet to it sold out. And I've got a feeling that this tragedy is going to allow Hoda to say, I can't possibly leave right now, not while my friend Savannah is in trouble. Also, Rob, one guess where this retreat is.
- [11:38]
B
I would hope it's not in Tucson, Arizona.
- [11:41]
A
It's in Arizona.
- [11:42]
B
Oh, gosh, of course it is. Oh, Maureen, she won't cancel.
- [11:47]
A
She won't. And, you know, I'm beginning to like her for this crime. Rob, I'm just gonna say it. All the pieces are.
- [11:55]
B
The ratings are up 25%. I'm not sure if that is just Savannah. It's probably the Olympics, too. But this is a really interesting Game of Thrones now, and we're going to see who's going to end up in that throne. And I'm told over there, Craig's uncomfortable. If hopefully Savannah comes back, then maybe it might be Craig. That's.
- [12:14]
A
Oh, Craig's uncomfortable with Hoda or with Savannah?
- [12:18]
B
With Hoda. Because if Hoda's back, he loses his slot. He replaced Hoda. And so if Hoda does come back and Savannah comes back eventually, which is their number one.
- [12:29]
A
Oh, Craig's worried he could get squeezed out.
- [12:32]
B
Squeezed out.
- [12:32]
A
Okay, but what about this? Let's just game this out. What if Savannah says, I will come back, but you have to show Hoda the door permanently because she showed such disregard under being the guise of my best friend while I was looking for my missing mother. What do you think of that?
- [12:48]
B
Then that might happen. Savannah's the queen of NBC. She was before this. Now, it's a repulsive thing to admit, but there's truth to this. Her power has gone up. Savannah.
- [13:01]
A
Her power has absolutely gone up.
- [13:02]
B
Undisputed Queen, not just of the Today show, but of tv. This will Change her life and her career forever. Savannah, after this nightmare is over and we are praying it is soon and it is the result that we all want. Savannah will be a superstar and what Savannah wants will happen at NBC, which was already going on. Savannah was the boss over there. It's Savannah's network. She hired her best friend as the ep. Savannah's the in charge from the, from the day Matt Lauer was kicked out his laser, his ass was kicked out of that door. Savannah moved into that seat very, very quickly and went from being the co host to the host. And then she had Hoda and now Craig. No real worthy opponent there. No real worthy.
- [13:51]
A
So true.
- [13:51]
B
Ho ho. This has changed even that. Savannah now is arguably the most important person on television in America.
- [14:01]
A
So smart. Rob, you're so right about that. But relatedly, what does Don Lamond think of all of this? Because last time you were here, you said he was upset that Catherine Oharas death had stolen his headlines.
- [14:15]
B
Don is such a show pony. I was told that Don now is convinced he's next and I think his mother has had a little extra security. I think.
- [14:26]
A
Stop it.
- [14:26]
B
I'm not. Stop. I think Don is very worried.
- [14:30]
A
You know, Don would die. Don would give his left nut for somebody to abduct his mother so he could get in on this action.
- [14:37]
B
But, but, but, but seriously though, the TV shows are going to have to really think about this. All morning TV shows, and I had one myself for, for several years on VH1, they want to humanize you with the audience. They don't think of you as Mr. Brokaw. You're on a first name basis. You're surviving, you're out. And the way they do that is highlighting your relationships, your children, maybe even your dogs, your pets. They put packages together. Somebody I worked with recently got a job on NBC and they introduced her to the audience not through her work, but that she was a mother of two. That was very important for the strategy of these shows. And now all these shows are having to rethink this. I'm breaking today on my substack that I know one show that has already canceled two upcoming shoots with a sibling and a parent because now they're really, really worried about this. If you think about this, if JLo's JLo's mother has security like Jennifer has the resources and the ways to make sure that her mom and her family are safe, this isn't something we've ever thought about for TV personalities. This isn't something that we think about. And now we're going to have to really think about this. Three months ago, Savannah was in Arizona doing a seven minute segment with her mom in her house celebrating, celebrating the town. They gave everything away. All you had to do is watch that beautifully produced piece, which is not unusual. All the morning shows do this now. Everybody is getting really, really rightfully so. I think cautious about revealing too much, revealing addresses, revealing where people live. And so we're gonna see a real fundamental change. Remember when somebody was murdered after an appearance on the Jenny Jones show and it ended shows, it ended. Those Jerry Springer, those scientists. That was the end of the Maury Povich real era. This could be the end of the morning shows as we know them with hosts trying to be our best friends, with us knowing about their, about their dogs, about their husband, about their wife. It's going to be a big shift.
- [16:46]
A
That would be for the better, I would say. The only person who will probably be inured from this is Gail because we already know Oprah's number one. And those two, you know, she's been space. I don't, I don't know how you walk that back. But let's move on to Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. The latest. They were in court while you were away. I know you get to have vacations, but boy, were you missed. First of all, Ryan Reynolds did not show up to court with Blake. Justin's wife showed up hand in hand with him. Ryan nowhere to be seen. What do you make of that, Rob?
- [17:22]
B
It's really telling. They have figured out now that Ryan is a liability, not an asset. Whoever thought would say that, like Ryan Reynolds, one of the biggest stars in the world, very, very sure of himself. He thinks very highly of himself.
- [17:36]
A
He really does think highly of himself.
- [17:37]
B
He thinks he's a genius.
- [17:39]
A
He burn down your elementary school and get away with it. I guess you would have a high impression of oneself.
- [17:45]
B
I forgot about that. You forget about nothing. You forget nothing.
- [17:50]
A
No, I would like to think that the nerve has had a little something to do with Ryan's popularity fading and Paramount cutting him loose from three features.
- [17:56]
B
Well, I know you've had a lot to do with my popularity rising, so thank you for that. So it doesn't work either way. Thank you. But yeah, Ryan wasn't there. It was a strategic decision in the same way Justin Baldoni turned up with his wife, which I think was a really good look for somebody who's accused of, of abuse towards women to turn up hand in hand with his beautiful wife and to really be caring about each Other I noticed that she got out of the car and he was very attentive. He made sure she got into the court. Blake rocked up like she was a movie star.
- [18:26]
A
She rocked up like furious.
- [18:28]
B
Yeah, yeah. She furious to be there. She doesn't want to be there. She had a team with her. She arrived as if it was a movie premiere and she was ushered into this really sort of dingy courthouse. I don't know if you've been down there recently. I was down for the Diddy trial. It's not a really glamorous. It's not a movie star place. And she likes movie stars. She likes nice plush carpets. And I would imagine she's the type of celebrities who has to have an all white green room and flowers and all this special stuff. You ain't getting that downtown. So it was much better. It was much better for Justin. And Justin, knowing the process of going through this, he's a much more down to earth, regular type of guy. And if you want to get some candy out of a machine in the hallway, that's the type of place it is. Blake does not roll like that. I've seen her out for dinners. I've seen her out in New York. She lives really, really high. In fact, she. We saw in her emails used to joke that her apartment in New York was Buckingham Palace. Was. It was a place that she called Buckingham Palace. So Ryan wasn't there. You know, there was some speculation. I knew it wouldn't happen, but if Taylor Swift was going to use her power, if she was going to use her clemency, if she was going to use her trump card, I would have loved to have seen them get out that car together. Taylor's having no. No part of this. And so my favorite reporting, though, from the whole situation was Page Six who said that her driver. Her driver turned up with a board game because she got bored, so there was nothing for her to do in the morning. If you've ever been to these courthouses, you sit around for hours and hours and hours doing very little. She has a personal moonjong collection. And so the driver, her driver was spotted slipping in through the side entrance to bring her board game.
- [20:14]
A
These people can't help themselves. I read that report about Blake sending her driver to go get her personal mahjong set, which apparently, according to page six, cost 5, $500 or something. To me, that's her JLO moment. Remember when JLO got arrested with Diddy in that nightclub shooting and the cops put her in an interrogation room and she said, go get me cuticle cream. And they did. Fucking morons. Okay, now what do you make, by the way of the reports? This was your report also that Taylor Blake is a no on the wedding. No, she's. It's over.
- [20:51]
B
It's no. So the invitations are out. I had two SO sources that tell me that. And then Graham Norton, who's a friend of hers, is actually in her music video, her new video. He confirmed it. He said he has got his invitation. And so we know that now the invitations are out. Blake did not get an invite. She is not going. And what's going to make her more angry is this is not a small wedding. If you're inviting people who are on TV who you barely know, they're sort of like show busy friends, they're not real friends. If this was a wedding of 15 people, of 20 people at some private estate, if this was a small family and friends wedding. Now I get it, I'm not on the inner circle. But if you're starting to invite Jimmy Fallon, if you're starting to invite Graham.
- [21:34]
A
Stephen Colbert on the list, he's on the list.
- [21:37]
B
So if you're invited, these people, you know, this is going to be a big celebrity wedding, a big over the top wedding. I know the invites are out, but when I say the invites, it's not actually a lot of details yet. It's a date, it's a location, but not the actual name of the venue. And you have to sign, get this, an NDA to get, of course, the information.
- [21:58]
A
Rob, are you hearing anything out of Montecito about Meghan Markle? Reportedly, allegedly has been inviting herself to all manner of events, whether it's a Balenciaga show or a shitty gala in la. Do you think she's going to try to score an invite to Taylor's wedding?
- [22:11]
B
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely, yes. She, she would love to be there. She'd love to be the new Blake Lively Megan. Like, you know this new video that she put out with a little, little Lilibet's face. We finally get to see Lilibet after the two of them lecturing us for a really long time about privacy. And now their children are very much part of Brand Sussex. I'm told too that she's doubled down with Kris Jenner. We know they are close friends. We knew they were friends. But after the birthday party and after Kim revealed why Meghan was at that big party and Kim said we didn't really know her, it's mom's friends. So we know Kris Jenner and Megan are close Megan is going to follow the Kris Jenner playbook here, which works for Kris. It probably won't work for anybody else, but it worked for a minute. So I'd expect to see a lot more of the children and a lot more of events. I think just a few nights ago, for some reason, we spotted Harry and Meghan at an NBA game in California. Yeah, she's back. I think this year is going to be, at least in her mind, the revival, the renaissance, the resurrection of the Sussexes. Good luck. I think that sounds lovely, but my question would be how and why? Like, what are you doing going to make this year any different from the last year? They like the glitz, they like the glam, they like the show business. They're not going to do any work.
- [23:36]
A
Of course not. It's interesting you say that. We had Kinsey Schofield on Yesterday's Nerve and she said that Meghan's astrologer has told her that 2026 is her year. And by the way. And so she believes it. But by the way, to your earlier point about morning television and then Meghan dropping this photo of Lily on Instagram. Talk about, really think through how much of your life and who in it you want to make public. Because those kids, I'm sorry to say it, their targets. Their targets. You know, you're gonna show their faces. I thought this was why you left the Royal Family. You didn't want to do the post labor delivery. I gotta show the baby on the steps. It's too invasive. It's just a baby. Keep the baby private. It's an innocent little creature. No, not if you can commodify it.
- [24:24]
B
No. No. Yeah. Today's the baby issue with Hoda. I want to spend time with my. My children. What happens?
- [24:29]
A
She also put on the COVID of People magazine. She was whole new Hoda when she left today to go launch Joy 101. Those are really little kids. Maybe don't splay them on the COVID of People magazine.
- [24:42]
B
I have. I have insight into it. I used to be the executive editor of okay. When it launched here in America. And we would pay millions of dollars to shoot your baby. We shot Tori Spelling's baby. We shot Matthew McConaughey's baby. We did Diddy's twins. Without the mother, it was just Diddy. He didn't want the mom in it.
- [24:58]
A
Doesn't that say everything?
- [24:59]
B
He birthed them. It looked like on this picture. And so it's such a fascinating model that doesn't really exist anymore as far as the magazines are concerned because now celebrities that want this attention, want this, want this money, they do it themselves on Instagram, on social media. You got to be careful. Like, I think after Kim Kardashian was, was, was brutally, brutally attacked, tied up in Paris after really flaunting her wealth.
- [25:26]
A
And where she was in the world at any given time.
- [25:29]
B
Yeah, I think, you know, you take a step second about it. I used to love it doesn't exist anymore. But Gorka Stalker, this website that was so tricky, it used to do where celebrities were and I think there was a delay in it. So by the time that they actually posted where they were, it was 20 minutes ago. But these phones tell us everything. They know where we are at Instagram. Celebrities I find so interesting because when we interview them, they're terribly private and they won't give us any information. Then after the interview, I look on their phone and they've spilt the beads for free for the entire world. And so Megan posting this picture, it's a really big deal. It's a really big deal. And it's something that's really interesting because Harry did not want this. I've been reporting on this for years. They're now, what, four years old and I think one is six or seven. Harry had a really tricky upbringing. He had no choice in this. From the day he was born, he was a star. Megan wasn't. Megan fought her whole life to be famous. So they have a different relationship with Fay and it's something that he got free and didn't want, tried to push it back to a certain extent. It's something that she desperately wanted. Being famous was one of her priorities and she did it. I tipped my hat to her. She became one of the most famous people in the world. She wants this for her kids. She doesn't want the life that Harry. She doesn't want that private life. And guess who's won? He has. He has bowed down to her. I read some reporting while I was in the UK about this too, and they were. They were sort of giving Harry a pass, but he was in that photograph. She didn't sneak a picture of her.
- [26:59]
A
He's holding her.
- [27:00]
B
He's holding her.
- [27:01]
A
He's holding her.
- [27:02]
B
He's aware the picture's being taken.
- [27:04]
A
He's a beta male, just wimp, sad sack of a man child.
- [27:12]
B
How do you feel, Maureen?
- [27:14]
A
No, it's just. It just. It's just like he was just in court in the uk, crying on the stand about how the media has made his and his Wife life a living hell. And then what do they do? They turn around and they go on Instagram and show the profile. Like, as I've said before, this is how, you know, Megan is worried that her fame and relevance is slipping. We will see the children there. She's doling it out in bite sizes. Like it's a big tease and it's really effed up. It's so dark. It's so dark.
- [27:46]
B
Dark. And particularly in a moment in America when somebody's mom is missing, potentially. Because of fame. Yes, because of fame. And this is not the moment. It's not the moment. They're tone deaf. They always do this, don't they? When they went partying on remembrance weekend with their poppies and they wanted Kim to delete those pictures. Just stay home. You don't have to do this. Nobody contractually wanted or needed Meghan to release an image on Valentine's Day. I think she does this because she gets very competitive with William and Kate. Yes, Release images. And so she put out a picture, which I thought was odd, too. It was just her daughter and her husband. And the caption sort of tagged on Archie as sort of like an afterthought.
- [28:30]
A
And so is he the. Is he? Is. Is Lily the golden child and is Archie the red headed? The red headed, quote, unquote, stepchild? Is Archie not as good looking as Megan would like?
- [28:40]
B
It could be Maureen. It could be. There's only one child in that picture. Maybe two if you count Harry.
- [28:47]
A
Very good point.
- [28:48]
B
But I thought, like, it would be like, my Valentine's, My three loves. No, it's her daughter, her husband, and a plus, plus one. Who's Archie? Even that was weird. Everything they do is odd.
- [29:00]
A
You know, it's like. It's not dissimilar to the Kardashians, where the brother, Rob Kardashian, is the one in the basement. Like the Olsen twins, you know, the rumor back when they were like, really, really like famous actors was like, there was an Olsen twin in the basement. Like a triplet. That was like a bait. Like, it was like a malformed birth.
- [29:22]
B
That's what it feels a little bit like here. They're gonna see these. These little people grow up and they are gonna see this. I was just back in Britain vacationing. It was my mum's 90th birthday. She's a big family, so I started with my mum for her 90th birthday. And we. There's five of us, there's five kids. And so we took a family picture, but we didn't realize one of us had to take the picture. And neither. None of us wanted to take it because we wanted to be in the picture. And so when I saw that picture of Meghan without Archie, I was like, did Archie take this picture?
- [29:52]
A
No.
- [29:52]
B
Meghan took the picture because she's not in it. She should have pushed Archie once again, everything they do. And let's just remember, Harry in a couple of weeks has his privacy summit where he's been paid $50,000 to talk about privacy. Privacy can no longer be their brand. It just can't be the brand. You know what we make for a lot of the Kardashians. But what I love about Kris and the Kardashians, they are brutally honest about who they are. They want your money, they want your likes, they want to sell your rubbish. They're honest about it. Kim has said, I have no talent. I have no talent. Megan isn't in on the joke. She's nodding on the joke.
- [30:30]
A
You are so right about that. Before we run out of time, I've got to get to some exclusive reporting. You had that just set my hair back. Bethany Frankel on a downward spiral. She is not for years being outrageous worked. It got headlines, deals, attention. Now it's getting pushed back. There is industry fatigue. You report one source saying the shock factor isn't converting like it once did. What is going on?
- [31:01]
B
Yeah. Bethany's never met a bridge that she hasn't burned. Everything touches, she blows her. She just blows everything up. She even blew up her friendship with Hoda. Hoda and Bethany were once. Makes perfect sense.
- [31:13]
A
I didn't know that. I didn't know they were friends.
- [31:16]
B
I went on a dinner with the two of them once they became really close friends. In fact, Bethany introduced Hoda to one of her boyfriends.
- [31:23]
A
Really?
- [31:24]
B
Yeah. So they would that.
- [31:24]
A
Well, Bethany used to do the Today show a fair bit all the time.
- [31:27]
B
And now she's banned. I think they were saying, why not True. Because she blew up Bravo. Bravo is NBC. Bravo is owned by NBC. And she did threaten legal action. And when you do that, that against an employer, you're probably not going to be welcome back. So Bethany has had this brand where she was really rewarded for it and she was really quite good at it as just causing trouble of just being a nightmare of just being very entertaining with it, which is great on reality tv. When you take it off the TV and you start doing that in the boardroom, in meetings. Bravo is sick of Bethenny Frankel. She'll never, ever be back on Bravo. She'll never be on NBC. She had her own talk show with Ellen as her best friend. They no longer speak. And so Bethany, we saw it a little bit on the, on the Real Housewives. She fell out with everybody on that show, Jill, Sarah, and she fell out. She was best friends with Carol Radwell and they fell out. So Bethany torches everybody. I, I've known her personally for, for a long time. She, she burnt me too. She's burnt several of my friends. And so it's finally, finally the chickens are coming home to roost. And Bethany now is not getting the attention. She's not making the money. She gotta be careful, though, because I don't know where else there is for her to go. And so she's firing off all these messages on social media and they seem to be more unhinged. It has a very Britney Spears type feel to it. If you watch Bethany's TikToks, her social media, she feels unraveling. And so I hit the phones and I said, what's going on with Bethany? They said, she's spiraling. And I think too, it's no coincidence that there's going to be like a reboot of the Housewives on E. E has taken the original cast. Bethany's not in it.
- [33:09]
A
Bethany's not in it. Two things. One, I also think part of Bethany's problem is her content creation on social media, most especially on Instagram, is all about her wealth.
- [33:19]
B
Yes.
- [33:20]
A
She's always in her closet going, here are my thousand. My collection of Hermes Birken bags that cost a hundred thousand dollars per. And you know what? I'm sick of them now. And I'm getting, I'm getting rid of them because they're, I'm just so sick of them. I have so much. I have so much. I have so much. I have so much. And you're just like, I, I like. What hole are you trying to fill that will never be filled with Birkin bags, you know, and, and, and jewelry and designer clothes and all these designer trips. She posted, she posted the other day, oh, Aspen for a minute, you know, like, oh, I'm so wealthy, I can just hop in my private jet and go to Aspen for a minute and show off all the fur. And like, it's disgusting.
- [33:57]
B
Really annoying. It's really annoying. But when you've built a career, when you've been rewarded for bad behavior, which is what Bravo has done for years, you laugh whenever Bravo's PR people or push back with me saying, you know, Andy's just a Family man. He's just a good guy. He's a daddy. I'm always like, you have made a fortune as a network destroying people, literally pulling them through the merge. Your whole brand is about women ripping down women. That's Bethany's brand. And it was really fun five or six years ago. Now we've moved on and Bethany hasn't. She's stuck. She's absolutely stuck. And she is floundering and she is spiraling. And instead of looking in the mirror and figuring out, you gotta find some happiness with yourself, Bethany, which she'll never do. She's gonna keep being Bethany. Not worth it.
- [34:41]
A
She really got lucky with skinny girl. There's nothing else in that tank. There's no other idea in that brain. That's it. That's it. She'll. She'll never get over it either. She'll. Because she'll never be able to replicate it. Last item before we let you go to Bethany's one time compatriot in Real Housewives of New York. Real Housewives of New York. Excuse me, Jill Zarin, who was supposed to be part of this e reboot of the. Of the really beloved original New York City cast. Yeah, that was lightning in a bottle. And then she made some very ill advised comments about Bad Bunnies super bowl halftime show. She got axed from there. But apparently your reporting is. She's just as upset, if not more so, that she's being iced out of the Hamptons, quote, unquote social scene this summer.
- [35:25]
B
Yeah, a couple of things here. I find this story so interesting and so I used to talk to Jill every day when she was on the Housewives. She was the. The loosest lipped. Her and Bethany were the ones that did all the talking. They were friends with all the columnists and I quite enjoyed her. She made me laugh. Laugh in where she was so outrageous and pushy and I enjoyed her a great deal. However, she's a very difficult person. So I was told even before her comments, even before she posted, he had sort of had it with her. She demanded that they couldn't film before 10am she demanded that she be in charge of the storylines. She demanded that she gets approval. So she was already on thin ice. And this was, I think, an extra excuse to get rid of a bad apple. No pun intended. And so now that this has happened, the Hamptons which used to tolerate her, they used to like her sort of brassiness, her new money, they thought she was quite funny. That hasn't happened anymore. She's barely in the Hamptons now she's in Boca a lot of the time, but the invites have dried up. The suddenly in the Hamptons, you don't get barred from restaurants, but if you try to get a reservation was suddenly full. And so Jill is getting pushed back and that might hurt her more than actually getting kicked off the show. She loved being Miss Meddler, Miss Matchmaker of the Hamptons.
- [36:44]
A
And she was like, it was like her identity.
- [36:46]
B
It was the enter of the Hamptons. It was very fiddly. And so, you know, Jill put a foot in her mouth. It sort of, you know, breaks my heart. She said it was a mistake and she wished she hadn't done it, but she was just too much trouble. And E. Is very different from Bravo. E is a network now that's owned by the same people as msnbc. So there's going to be a political element now.
- [37:07]
A
Oh, it's spun off.
- [37:08]
B
It spun off.
- [37:09]
A
Oh, I didn't know it spun off.
- [37:10]
B
Okay, so they didn't keep E. So when Peacock broke up, they kept Bravo, they kept NBC. They kept Peacock. E now is with msnbc.
- [37:20]
A
I mean, they're stripping that thing for parts, Rob. You know, E News is like going to die this year. It's, it's, it's going away. They're not going to replace it with anything.
- [37:28]
B
They're not going to replace it with anything. And I had a few friends that did red carpet reporting for a. You weren't allowed to ask questions that were not pre approved by publicists. It's a very, very delicate, very nervous, very, very fragile network. And those are not words that you think about when you think about the Real Housewives. Trust me, Maureen, this show's never going to air. They haven't even started taping it yet. And there's so many problems. They hired the wrong show for the wrong network. If you hire House, you get sloppy. You want sloppy? That's what you, you should really aim for. They want it to be a version of the Golden Girls. They're gonna move the ladies out of New York.
- [38:09]
A
Oh, that's so stupid.
- [38:10]
B
They're moving them to Florida.
- [38:12]
A
Are you serious?
- [38:13]
B
I said the show's not even gonna be shot in New York. It's called the Golden Life.
- [38:16]
A
They can't stop.
- [38:17]
B
Yep. They can't get the headline. They can't get the Real Housewife umbrella brand because it's owned by Bravo. So their genius idea is let's put a bunch of 60 year old ladies and gentlemen in a, in a home together in Florida. And that's what the. That's what the premise of this is.
- [38:33]
A
What a bastardization. What a crappy idea. This is why Hollywood is dying. It's. It's afraid of things. It should be moving into the more nervy parts of, like, these housewives are out of their minds in the best possible way. My favorite celebrity friendship of recent memory. Do you know that Tilda Swinton is such a fan of Countess Luanna?
- [38:55]
B
Luanne. I love. For a minute I'd walk around town with them and it was like being with the Beatles in a bottle. They were in on the joke. It was funny. Times change, you know, And. And these ladies are finding it really hard to move on. I also know, too, that they were earning really good money on Bravo. 3. $400,000 a season. He ain't paying that if he's.
- [39:17]
A
No way.
- [39:18]
B
40. Like, they're not paying it. So they're not doing it for the money. They're doing it for the fame. And nobody. Maybe Bethany. But Jill and Bethany are almost opposite sides of the same coin. Poor Jill wanted this more than anybody. And once again, she's put her foot in her mouth, which I think is what makes her great tv. I would.
- [39:36]
A
That's Jill's problem, though, in a nutshell. Jill will never let herself be really successful. She is always her own worst enemy, and she always does the thing that is so obvious not to do. But I got to ask you one more thing, and then I promise I will let you go. What are you hearing about former Real Housewife of New York, former BFF of Bethany Frankel, Carol Radziwill, who I have noticed has been written out of the JFK junior Carolyn Bessette love story. Her. Her husband who died of cancer. Some guy who she married who died of cancer. He's in it. But Carol is not.
- [40:08]
B
She's not. And I think the carriages. I think that's how they think about her, too. It's not just the TV show. Carol always, always inflated her sense of this story. She married a man on his deathbed and took the name and held onto.
- [40:26]
A
It and the title Princess.
- [40:29]
B
And she. And they're always a little cautious around her. The few Kennedy surtle that I know don't really seem to know who she is. And so after that show, even if they did know who she. She was after that show, they would dump her. They didn't want anything to do with the Housewives, but I don't think they cared because she doesn't know that much about now. She's made a living out of that, though, she is a Raswell. She uses the name very, very glamorously. Almost like it's a Sussex type name. She wants that title. Her first book was a success because it was a Kennedy book. It wasn't.
- [41:01]
A
And it was written by somebody else, allegedly, reportedly. I have it on good authority there was a. It may not have been a ghostwriter that one really hires.
- [41:11]
B
Right.
- [41:11]
A
But.
- [41:12]
B
But. And guess who took the photograph on the COVID of the book.
- [41:15]
A
I know exactly who you're gonna say, I'll let you do it.
- [41:17]
B
Ghislaine Maxwell.
- [41:19]
A
Carol's in some real shit now.
- [41:21]
B
Yeah, they were close. Like, Carol pretends. Oh, I just bumped into her at a party. I don't really know her. She took the photograph. The very intimate photograph that you liked so much.
- [41:32]
A
A book photo. When you choose. You know this. Now that you're an author, when you choose the person who takes your author photo, that is a very big decision you make for many reasons. And one of the things that you really need to do with that photographer is, like, them. Because if you're not used to getting your photo taken, I mean, you've been on media forever, but, like, it can be a very awkward thing. It can take an hour or two to just loosen up. So you don't got to have a rapport with that person.
- [41:59]
B
I'd let you take mine, Maureen, but I don't want to. I don't want to either. I don't like having a selfie taken. Like, it's just not my thing. Carol and Ghislaine Maxwell, I'm told, were like, quote, they were that close. And so Carol now is hiding, too. She's not doing this reboot. I think for a minute she was sucking back up to Andy and trying to be friends with him. That's cooled. That has cooled off, too. And so. Oh, what a den of iniquity. What a bunch of motley characters we.
- [42:31]
A
Know who keep us. Like, just. The content just keeps coming like a tsunami. Rob, we'll never be out of work.
- [42:38]
B
I always get worried about that. Like, when I wake up some mornings, I'm like, gosh, what am I going to do today? No one's emailed me. No one's phoned me. If you just sit there for 10 minutes, boom, they won't stop.
- [42:48]
A
The algorithm delivers always. And, Rob, again, like, I'm reading your substack like it's candy. I can't get enough of it.
- [42:55]
B
Thank you. It's really.
- [42:56]
A
Everybody go subscribe to Rob substack. Naughty. But Nice. And preorder his book, which we cannot wait to do a book club on. And, of course, Rob will join us to talk.
- [43:07]
B
Well, the best. Thank you. Lovely see you, my friends. Good to be back.
- [43:09]
A
Lovely seeing you, Rob. See you soon. That's it. Whoa, whoa. I'm, like, kind of, like, exhausted from that, like, that dish sesh. That was a really, really, really dishy segment. It always is with Rob, but, boy, we have missed him. And it was only a week. Okay, coming up, troublemaker feedback. We are back in a minute. If you are One of the 30% of Americans who wakes up with facial pain, toothaches, and a tight jaw from grinding your teeth at night, give Remy a try. Their custom night guards are clinically tested and FDA cleared to prevent teeth grinding, reduce jaw tension and facial muscle strain, and improve sleep quality. And here's what's so great about Remy. The impression kit arrives at your door. You apply two molds to your teeth, which takes about 10 minutes to to set, and then you mail it back. That's it. Two weeks later, your custom guard will arrive. It's that simple. No dentist appointments, no waiting room. And best of all, Remy offers the same quality night guard you'd get from your dentist, but it costs 80% less. If you're ready to give Remy a try, use code nerve for 50% off your custom night guard at Shop r e m I.com nerve. That's shopremy.com nerv code nerve. And thank you to Remy for sponsoring.
- [44:33]
B
This episode with Venmo Stash. A taco in one hand and ordering a ride in the other means you're stacking cash back. Nice.
- [44:42]
A
Get up to 5% cash back with.
- [44:44]
B
Venmo Stash on your favorite brands when you pay with your Venmo debit card. From takeout to ride shares, entertainment, and more, pick a bundle with your go tos and start earning cash back at those brands. Earn more cash when you do more with stash. Venmo Stash terms and exclusions apply. Max $100 cash back per month. See terms at Venmo Me Stash terms.
- [45:05]
A
At Strayer University, we help students like you go from will I? To why not? For over 130 years, we've been innovating higher education to make it more affordable, accessible, and attainable so you can reach your goals. Go from thinking, can I? To yes, I can and keep striving. Visit strayer. Edu to learn more. Strayer University is certified to operate in Virginia by Chev and its many campuses, including at 2121 15th Street north in Arlington, Virginia. We are back. Now, before we read your emails, I saw this in my algorithm this weekend and I thought I got to bring it to the troublemakers. Katie Couric on Valentine's Day posted a reel. And it has nothing to do with the holiday or the sentiment attached to has to do with showing how rich Katie is, how much fu money she has. Look at what she posted. This is a real. This is video. It looks like she's taking it from her bed in her bedroom that is larger than the average studio apartment in New York City. And her motorized mechanized shades, which are custom made and very expensive, are rolling up slowly to reveal the treetops in Central Park. And her caption is, happy Valentine's Day. Hope you have a beautiful morning and a beautiful day filled with love with three hearts. And that post exists solely so that Katie can flaunt her wealth, which, you know, again, per our discussion with Rob Shooter, and Katie is most famous as one time anchor of the Today show. You really, really, really, really might want to rethink whether you should show the peons who are struggling in this economy how much money you have and perhaps make yourself. Not that anyone would ever hope for this, a target, you dumb bitch. Now it's time for audience email troublemaker feedback. Okay, love this. And we've got a reel that goes with it because this troublemaker sent it to us. Hi, Maureen. I think Denzel Washington may be a troublemaker. Judging from Tom Hardy's reaction, he might be one of us as well. Denzel absolutely skewers Ryan Reynolds. Psycho arsonist Ryan Reynolds here. Let's all take a look and enjoy together. Thank you. Troublemaker Tracy, co starring with Ryan Reynolds.
- [47:48]
B
Yes. Very talented young actor. Have you read the things he said about you? No. He said working with Denzel was a sort of a lifetime dream. And he said you're just about the best actor.
- [47:57]
A
And the problem working with you was.
- [47:59]
B
That sometimes when he was in the scene, he would forget to act and he would sit there and be watching you. Acting. Oh, is that what it was?
- [48:05]
A
I just thought he was terrible. I have not loved Denzel Washington more and I first fell in love with him in Glory. Okay. Hi, Maureen, longtime troublemaker here watching Love Story this week. I loved this email because this person, you can tell, it says, I'll call you troublemaker. S real deal was a total flashback to me for me to 1997. I was fresh out of NYU with an art history degree, serving as first assistant to someone who shall remain nameless at pace. Wildenstein Gallery or Wildenstein. Excuse me. If the blue chip art world had an Anna Wintour, this guy was it. And the office was crawling with Carolyn Bessette clones, What they called CB clones. Model, esque, clicky. That's code for bitchy. Savvy enough to attract all the right people despite having zero academic death. I'll never forget the artist Chuck Close Parens. A scumbag in his own right. Real reputation as that. The art world is very dark. It is a very dark world. Phoning in one day and telling me, sarah, you're a smart girl. I just gave your name. I think that's okay. Just too nice for this job. At the time, it stung. I actually wanted to be like those girls. Not realizing that their lives, and this is so true, were just a grueling, soul sucking performance that required constant vigilance. I was raised to believe in hard work and honesty, but in that mid-90s ecosystem, NICE was just code for unambitious. And cunning was the required uniform. When I think about these archetypes, I see them as cautionary tales, not icons. So right on. I spent my 20s feeling less than because I didn't have that cunning uniform. But time has shown that the cost of entry into that world is far higher than any of us realized at the time. This is so dead on. Here's another one. Long time listener, first time commenter. Okay. Wisdom comes with age. So here it goes. Number one. I've watched the first few episodes of Love Story. I'd say they're being relatively honest about what a Dumbo John Jr was. I agree how he was very vain and indecisive and also a mama's boy. Yes. And the actor, this is his first real big role. He's playing John like kind of a big dumb oaf puppy. And that's the right call. Okay. I don't know if Carolyn's role at Calvin Klein was as big as they made it out to be. It was. And I'll be talking about this as the show continues. Let's see this show one way or the other. And I agree with you here. This is the one thing this show is getting right. Because I was running around New York in the 90s as a kid, like trying to make my way and downtown New York. And it's really nailing it. It's really nailing it. And they've got a director on the show who was a big part of that MTV indie rock downtown scene. So they made some really good hires. This show brings the 1990s nostalgia strong. It is very evocative of how things were then. The way people ate and carried themselves, what they had in their apartments, how 20 somethings talked at, how snobby the fashionistas were, everything. And it's correct right down to the music. I agree it's a lips. It's a little too literal sometimes and they're a little too frequent with the with it. But I do love what they're doing. The choices this troublemaker rights of old Bjork, Mazzy Star, En Vogue, Portishead, Yaz or Yazoo were so super on point. I agree completely. Troublemaker G oh boy. Maureen, now that the joy queen Hoda is taking over for the time being, tell her that Savannah seat on today. You will have to strap her down so she won't fall over with so much joy. We're all going to need the jaws of life to remove her. Dear Maureen, I just watched Blue Moon on Netflix. It's a must see. It's a must see. I was just completely absorbed and enraptured by this movie. This troublemaker continues. Ethan Hawke's performance was excellent and an exclamation point in Parens. This troublemaker says homage to Oklahoma. It's an inside gag for if you if you've seen Blue Moon. I've always enjoyed Ethan's films, but in this he was incredible. Agreed. The language was intellectual and lyrical. Agreed. Keep up the stead, Muffin updates. We're doing everything we can and we do have an update at the end of this segment. By the way, you're going to die. You're going to die. Okay. Hi, Maureen, Aussie troublemaker here. Number one, thanks for letting us know about the newsreader. You're so welcome. It's coming from an Aussie. In particular, it's an Australian show. They nailed the 80s decor and fashion, even office layouts of the time. Yes, indeed they did. Okay, this writer, she is picking up on the comments I made talking about James Van Der Beek, who died last week and the sudden upsurge in cancers and an oncologist who told a very close family friend that the medical profession is seeing an alarming rate uptick in the rise of turbo cancers and they track the surge to the COVID 19 vaccine. Okay, so her daughter, who exercised, ate well, hardly drank, not overweight, was diagnosed with stage 3 high risk colorectal cancer in October 2022 at age 42. Her daughter is now fine. We are so thrilled to hear this. This troublemaker writes, I asked the nurse if she had seen anyone that young before. She said she was seeing younger patients more and more with this cancer, even as Young as early 20s. This is historically a cancer that strikes people in middle age. Okay, so not even early stages, later stages. Needing a colostomy bag at that age. Can you imagine? Anyway, this troublemaker signs off with the news that her grandsons have been advised to get tested at 32, 10 years before the age before their mother was diagnosed. So everybody get your screenings. She also sends cuddles for Teddy. That is so sweet. And then our final one regarding Death Trap. Like, my best friend texted me the other day was like, should I be watching Death Trap? She's doing the New York Times Hundred 100 Best Movies of all time that you need to see. And I don't think Death Trap was on there. I was like, f, yeah. Yes, you do. Okay. Thank you for highlighting Chris Reeve and his acting talents in Death Trap. His ability was not wasted in Superman either. Agree completely. I was a really little kid when I saw that Christopher Reeve was my first real crush. His performances as Clark Kent and Superman were distinct thanks to him. Yes. And central to that movie's critical and box office success. Yes. I imagine this is such a good, great insight. The big budget comic book movie was quite a risk in the late 70s after the rise of the anti hero film in the 60s and 70s. Yes, yes, and yes. Superman launched the superhero movie era which has lasted almost half a century. This is so Christopher Reeve's legacy. Had Superman not succeeded, there would be no Batman, Spider Man, Captain America, Iron Man, Iron man, nor anti superhero hero Deadpool, who we think is going to be dead and buried once the Nerve is done with psycho arsonist Ryan Reynolds. Now, he also points out. Oh, sorry, she. Sorry. This is troublemaker Joan. Excuse me. That no other Superman actor, no other actor who has played Superman has ever, ever been able to live up to the standard that Christopher Reeve set, let alone surpass it. Such, such. Such brilliance. I just, I. I love everything about that email. Now on to our Stedman update. Here is the deal. We mailed certified our Valentine's Day gift to Stedman, which we. We showed the contents of that gift bag on the Nerve. I think it was Friday's Nerve. And then Saturday's Mini was of course, our Gail Oprah Galentine's Mini. And then Marlena followed up. Because we are reporters here at the Nerve, we take it very seriously what we're doing. We mailed Stedman's Valentine's Day gift to his last known location, the last place he was seen alive. And that was the Costas Inn Seafood Restaurant and Crab House in Baltimore, Maryland. There was a photo taken of Steadman. He had like a lobster bib on, I think, and he was like holding two lobsters and he kind of looked a little like. And. But anyway, that's the last place he's been seen, so we thought we'd have to send it there in the hopes that if Stedman is still with us, he could retrieve it there. So we didn't hear anything back. So Marlena called the Crab House and she recorded the phone call and it's a banger. Here we go. Hello. How may I help you? Hi. I just wanted to make sure my package was received. It's from the Nerve. It should have been there on Saturday. Can you confirm that you received it? Yes, we got a box, but we are not really sure what to do with it. Oh, we were holding, hoping if Stedman Graham came in, you could deliver it to him. Yeah, we haven't seen him here for.
- [58:28]
B
A while, but he does come in sometimes, so I guess next time he.
- [58:32]
A
Comes in I can give it to him. Awesome. Thank you so much. Of course. Alrighty, Take care. Take care.
- [58:39]
B
Thank you.
- [58:39]
A
Bye. Well, thanks to that very friendly staffer at the cost is in. There are two key takeaways from that conversation. One, Steadman has not been seen in there in quite some time. But number two, they're going to hold out hope and keep the box for him and Steadman. You should know there are no perishables in that box. So please show up and collect your deeply felt valentine from your friends here at the Nerve. We are here to help keep your feedback coming. Email me at maureenevilmaycaremedia.com or DM me on Instagram at Maureen Callahan, writer, or at the Nerve show. Remember to subscribe to the Nerve Substack. That is our weekly email. Go to thenervshow.com it's going to ask you would you like to get the sub stack? Once a week, put your email address in and that's it, you're done. And every Friday at 3pm, the the newsletter will arrive in your inbox. Also, there's currently a poll up on Instagram about what to name Teddy's new. I don't know what we would call him yet. He's not. He hasn't been through training, so he's not like a fully ranked detective. He's a rookie. He's a rookie. So what to name Teddy's new puppy? Rookie? The the number One name that we've got going is Steady Van Halen in honor or in loving memory of Stedman. So please vote, let us know because this puppy's coming any minute. Okay, coming up. Cultural offender. It's a real sick, sick person and not in the way she thinks. And we've taken her to the woodshed before and this time I think we just need marching her. We might just be marching her. Excuse me. Straight to the wood chipper for her crimes, in my opinion, against animals. Lena Dunham. See you in a minute. Gaining and losing weight can wreak havoc on the body. Doctors call it weight cycling. That's when you lose 10 or so pounds and then you put the pounds back on plus a couple of more and then they come off. It is so tough on your body and it's also just really a frustrating experience. Bottom line, most people need help losing weight. And here is a great way. Non prescription Lean created by doctors. Lean is an oral supplement, not an injection. The science behind it is impressive. They studied three ingredients. Oh, sorry. The studied ingredients target weight loss in three powerful ways. One, lean helps maintain healthy blood sugar. Two, helps control appetite and cravings. Three, it helps to burn fat by converting it to energy. And burning fat helps to keep the weight off. If you want to lose meaningful weight at a healthy pace and keep it off, add lean to your diet and exercise lifestyle. Get 20 off when you enter code nerve@takelean.com that's code nerve@takelean.com Imagine relying on a dozen different software programs to run your business, none of which are connected. And each one more expensive and more complicated than the last.
- [61:50]
B
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More later from Opendoor gives you cash up front for your home plus all the profit later. That's no chaos now. No cash left behind later. Skip the showings now. Pocket extra profit later. This is so simple now. This is so awesome. Later or sell fast now and pop the champagne later. Cash now, more later. Now available nationwide. Start your offer@opendoor.com radio profits calculated after fees and costs. Eligibility and offer price may vary. We are back now. Lena Dunham is out here slinging her new book. I have a lot to say about this. A lot. It's a memoir. It's called Fame Sick. I find the COVID very alarming. And when I go through this, you will understand why. I don't understand how Hollywood still gives this woman film projects to direct budgets. I don't understand how book publishers give her book deals or titles like Vogue and Vanity Fair continue to feature her in their pages. I'm sure the New Yorker still has her in theirs of celebrity writer, too. This woman is a mess, okay? She is effed up. She is effed up. She is always splattering her medical issues, her emotional issues, her sexual issues all over the rest of us. And it's enough. It's enough. Worst of all, Worst of all of her offenses. And there are some severe ones in here, okay? Like, severe is her treatment of her animals. Now, she just wrote a piece or it's an extract from her new shitty book. Trust me, I will be going through that book. So you guys don't have to. Okay? Don't put a penny in her pocket. She wrote a piece. It's currently in Vanity Fair. And the. The only. The only glee I can take from her getting published in Vanity Fair is that it's in the same issue that Margaret Qualley is on the COVID of. And Lena Dunham's boyfriend, fiance Jack Antonoff, eventually dumped her and got with Margaret Qualley, who he's now married to. And I don't think Lena has ever, ever gotten over it. I think it haunts her. I think it haunts her for all the reasons we know. You know, so that's great. Okay? At least there's that. Now her groundbreaking, riveting edge of your seat essay, how Lena Dunham's cats gave her a reality check. So she's writing about becoming a cat lady and. Or a cat hoarder. Okay? I think she's got a lot of problems and I think hoarding animals, just my opinion, is one of the ways in which she seeks to distract herself. Now she writes about Kel. Surprise. She moved to London for some guy she married. He's like a wannabe dj. He's like a middle aged, like, paunchy guy, wannabe dj. And. And she wrote. She did a whole show about her love story, fictionalizing it, called Too Much on Netflix. I tried to watch it. I tried to watch it. I could not watch it. I got to like episode eight and I finally bailed. I couldn't. It's terrible. Anyway, Lena writes in this piece, we may all be human, but who says our Friends have to be just like. There's always a backstabbing, troublemaking entity in any reality TV girl gang, a cat brings the side eye, the discontent, the flare for the dramatic. I think that they misspelled flair in here. Unless it's just a mistake on the nerves end in which somebody's getting taken to the woodshed. Oh, it was copied and pasted. They spelled flare. Lena spelled flare for the dramatic. F, L, A, R, E. It's F, L, A, I, R. She thinks she's a writer. She goes on. My husband Luis and I were already living with two dogs. Ingrid, California girl and whatever. She's got two dogs already. You have two dogs. That's already a lot. Now Lena goes on to write. I figured I could build a friend group as dynamic in its range as any of the ones I was following, replete with the hot girl, the slattern, the upwardly mobile homosexual, the token straight guy and the business bitch. Lena Dunham is incredibly basic. And listen, I'm going to spoil it for you. By the end of the piece, she has five cats. Secondly, Judd Apatow was so clearly the brains and the talent behind Girls because Lena Dunham has done nothing that has ever come close to that. Okay, again, except splatter the culture at large with her vulgarity. Her vulgarity. Now, before I get into Lammy, the dog in question here, who Lena toted around like an accessory, wasn't a dog to her, it was an accessory. My opinion, I would like to remind those of us who would love to forget that Lena Dunham, in the pages of her first book, again, I don't know how a publisher would give a book deal to a liability like this. In the pages of her first book, not that Kind of Girl, she accused a guy named Barry at Oberlin College, where she went, of raping her. Barry is a real guy who is easily identifiable and he most decidedly, assuredly did not rape Lena Dunham. Or. Or she just accused him of. No, no. Yes. She accused him of raping her. Then she had to walk that back. I don't know how you walk that back. I don't know how you walk that back. Okay. She then defended a writer on Girls named Murray Miller, who had been credibly accused by a young actress in New York who is the daughter of a very famous, well regarded, well respected actor. This young girl filed a police report and said that this writer on Girls named Murray Miller had raped her and Lena Dunham, with her then producing partner, Jenny Connor, went to the Internet immediately and said, listen, I'm a feminist and normally we at girls believe all women, but not this time. We know she's making it up. That's what she said in Summon Substance. Guess what happened five minutes later, Jenny Connor dropped Lena Dunham. Lena also had to walk that back. And again, in the pages of her memoir, not that Kind of Girl, she writes about sexually molesting her younger sister, pulling her legs apart, looking up her vagina to find Pebbles in there, masturbating next to her in the bed while her sister, quote, unquote, slept. Basically doing, she said, anything a sexual predator would do in trying to lure a young victim. Lena Dunham is a dangerous, dark fucking person. And if the nerve has its way, there will not be a breeder or a shelter that will ever again allow Lena Dunham to have an animal. Now, this dog, Lammy, she announced in Instagram on June, this was June 2017, that she had to re home Lammy again. You know, she made this story up. By all accounts, she made the story up. And this is where, you know, David Remnick, the otherwise extremely well regarded editor in chief of the New Yorker, loses me because he is somewhat of a star fucker. He gives real estate to the likes of Lena Dunham in that otherwise August publication. You know, that's, that's real estate a real writer could use. You know, she's writing in the New Yorker about her effing dog. Are you kidding me? Okay. Dunham previously claimed in a March 2013 New Yorker essay that Lammy had had three prior homes and a history of abuse and lamented that the dog did not get along with her longtime boyfriend who skedaddled to upgrade to the likes of Margaret Qualley, Jack Antonoff. And by the way, I always thought that Jack Antonoff's dating of Lena Dunham was very strategic. Jack Antonoff state to his high school prom with Scarlett Johansson. Lena Dunham got him close to Taylor Swift and then he dumped Lena. You know, it's like now. Lena then went to Instagram to say she had to give up Lammy after years, again, just praising this dog. This dog's her best friend. This dog is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm going to read it. Last March, after four years of challenging behavior and aggression that could not be treated with training or medication or consistent loving dog ownership. I don't believe you. Lammy went to live at an amazing professional facility in Los Angeles. Lena and her boyfriend at the time were living in New York City. So why this dog was rehomed in la? This Is a trauma. Okay? This is an animal that has been in your care for years. In your home, you are taking care of an otherwise helpless animal who is dependent on you for everything. This is what Lena goes on to write. And it's so overwritten that you know she's full of shit. Lambie. Such an awful name too. Lambie suffered terrible abuse as a pup that made having him in a typical home environment. There's nothing about Lena Dunham's home that's a typical home environment. Trust me, just my opinion. Typical home environment dangerous to him and others. We needed to be responsible to ourselves, our neighbors, and especially our beloved boy. Jack and I will miss him forever. But sometimes when you love something, you have to let it go. That's plagiarism. Especially when it requires. So now the dog is an it. Especially when it requires tetanus shots and stitches. Someday I'll really write about the pain and relief. Relief of letting Lambie go off and really be Lambie biting and peeing in his own mouth. And how does a dog pee in his own mouth? How? Shout out to Jenny Connor again. She's long gone by now. For listening to endless hours of Lambie Payne and especially my partner Jack Antonoff for loving him even when he ruined floors and couches and our life. Ruined our life. This is a dark motherfucker. Jack knows what Lambie means to me and he let me come to the decision in my own time. If you have a similar situation, please know it is possible to responsibly re home your rescue rather than sending them back into the shelters shelter system. Now, she got this dog from a shelter called Bark here in New York. It's very well known, it's very reputable. I know people who have adopted from Bark people very close to me. Now the Bark people pushed way the fuck back on this self report. I think Lena is a pathological liar. I do. I do. You know, listen. Somebody who at this young age eats themselves into morbid obesity and has a hysterectomy against all best mothers medical advice is not a well person. Bark basically said Lena is full of shit. Bark rep Robert Vasquez told Yahoo Celebrity. We checked the records for Lambie. He was owner surrendered not enough time. So we do not know where she got multiple owners that abused that dog. When she adopted the dog from us, it wasn't crazy. I have pictures of the dog loving on Lena and her mom, which is weird. If the dog was abused, it wouldn't be cuddling with her or be in the bed with her boyfriend in quotes. I love that. Savage in the pages of Vogue goes on to say, if Lambie had a bad past or was abused, do you think Bark would have adopted him? To Lena knowing that she's a new star and put her on or the dog in that situation, we would have told her if the dog had issues, he fumed. We are a no kill shelter. We don't lie about the dog's histories because that gets them returned. And mentally it's not good for the dogs. It's just hard to believe the dog was nasty when she took Lambie to every green room with her when girls was still a thing four years ago. Yes, yes and yes. Now, knowing people who are very close to me who adopted a dog from Bark who had been abused, they paid multiple visits to the dog at Bark. They were told the dog's entire history as well as Bark could assemble it. They were told the exact kind of abuse they knew that this dog had been subjected to. This dog as a result was extremely fearful and was going to take a very long time to get used to not only being inside a home. Terrible history this dog, Terrible history this dog suffered, but it would take a long time for the dog to trust the humans in that house. An abused dog is not jumping on your lap and licking your face, okay? And it is a commitment that people, if they are decent and truly love animals, really think through. Because the last thing you're going to want to do is return that dog to a shelter because that dog will experience that as yet another rejection. And it is an unstable feeling for a very vulnerable dog. Lena Dunham can All the way off. And I mean all the fucking way off. That does it. That does it for this edition of the Nerve at night. We will be back on Friday with a full Nerve. If you haven't already, check out our substack@thenerveshow.com be sure to subscribe. Plus nerve merch grab something for yourself or pick something up for a few fellow troublemaker atshopthe nerve.com you can also listen to the Nerve every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9am Eastern on Megan's Podcast Playlist. You can find that over on Sirius XM channel 111, the Megan Kelly channel. We will see you back here on Friday for a full episode of the Nerve, where you will never guess what we're about to say next.
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