Work in Progress with Sophia Bush

Guest: Amanda Kloots
Release Date: November 18, 2025
Podcast Network: iHeartPodcasts

Episode Overview

In this moving and deeply personal episode, Sophia Bush welcomes Amanda Kloots—dancer, fitness entrepreneur, television host, memoirist, and single mom—for an honest conversation about grief, healing, creativity, and reinvention. Reflecting on past hardships and celebrating ongoing transformations, Amanda shares her journey through profound loss and the ways she has found joy, purpose, and new creative outlets in its wake. The discussion moves from childhood memories to the hustle of Broadway, the devastation of losing her husband Nick Cordero to COVID-19, motherhood, and her recent leap into creating an accessible, wellness-oriented supplement brand.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Surviving Grief, Finding the Light (05:31–07:27)

• Amanda’s Current Place: Amanda shares that she’s in a “really good” spot in life, enjoying motherhood and travel after years of hardship and grief.
  • Amanda (05:31): “Elvis and I have the best summer ever... Life is really nice right now. I’m like good, feeling good about a lot of stuff and it’s just nice to be in that place, you know?”
• The New Shape of Goodness: Sophia observes that surviving deep grief changes one’s appreciation of life’s goodness.
  • Sophia (06:19): “There’s a different degree of goodness, I think, after you’ve processed heavy grief.”

2. Looking Back: Embracing All Versions of Yourself (07:27–11:05)

• Inner Child Reflection: Amanda recounts a powerful exercise—putting her 10-year-old self in a chair and talking to her, feeling pride and compassion for all the “19 versions” of herself she’s lived through.
  • Amanda (07:27): “I do see the little girl that just loves to ride her bike around the neighborhood... just had this free spirit of adventure and curiosity and dreaming... I’m really proud of all the different versions of myself.”
• The Nesting Dolls Metaphor: Sophia references Cheryl Strayed’s metaphor—that as women we carry every version of ourselves inside, like nesting dolls.
  • Sophia (08:50): “Can you love yourself enough... to listen to whether your inner self says yes or no to that thing and then continue growing around it?”

3. Navigating Change and Family Dynamics (11:05–16:02)

• Chasing New Chapters: Both discuss the feeling of standing on the “precipice” of a new chapter, unsure but excited.
  • Amanda (11:05): “I’m almost on board because I know it’s coming, but I’m kind of holding on for dear life.”
  • Sophia (11:16): “It’s like when you’re driving somewhere you’ve never been... you can feel it getting close to the destination, but you don’t know what it’s going to look like yet.”
• Family and Trust: Amanda explores how change and adult independence present new challenges for close-knit families living far apart. She emphasizes the importance of “support and trust” when you can’t fully relate to each other's daily lives.
  • Amanda (16:01): “We just have to support and trust each other.”

4. The Broadway Years: Grit, Glory, and Growth (19:33–30:17)

• Family Support: Amanda’s leap from Ohio to NYC, and the support (and reservations) her family had as she bypassed a traditional college path for dance.
  • Amanda (20:14): “My dad was still convinced I should go to this performing arts [school in] Dayton, Ohio... and we sat down with my choir teacher and he was like, I know she can do this.”
• The Rockette Experience: Vividly recalling her first moments as a Radio City Rockette, Amanda shares what it meant to fulfill that childhood dream.
  • Amanda (23:31): “My first move as a Radio City Rockette... was just like a jump kick, right? And I was dead center because I was the tallest... it was amazing. Never forget.”
• Life Lessons: On looking back, Amanda is proud yet amazed she managed 16 years on Broadway, highlighting its demands and the unglamorous, relentless hours.
  • Amanda (25:21): “I’m always like, how did I do this?... Broadway teaches you everything in life, especially resilience and belief in yourself.”
• Comparison to Film & TV: Both discuss the different rhythms and challenges of theater versus film work, how each builds different skills and endurance.

5. Love, Music, and Nick’s Legacy (30:24–35:08)

• Finding Connection Through Music: Amanda describes early days with Nick Cordero—falling in love, sharing music over Skype, and how his eclectic, prolific creativity charmed and sometimes bewildered her.
  • Amanda (31:16): “He was constantly making music, and a lot of it never had lyrics... one song sounded like rock and roll, the next song sounded like a country song... he just loved music.”
• A Full-Circle Moment: Amanda shares the moving story of Nick championing Billie Eilish early on, and later, Billie’s brother Finneas writing her a supportive, healing song after Nick’s death.
  • Amanda (34:14): “The how the world works. You’ve written a song now about... He would roll over in his grave, like, if he knew that you wrote me a song... that’s life though. It’s so beautiful.”

6. Public Grief, Community, and Enduring Trauma (38:42–47:25)

• Sharing in Real Time: Sophia reflects on Amanda’s transparency during Nick’s battle with COVID, how it became a touchstone for thousands navigating fear and uncertainty.
  • Sophia (40:18): “It struck me that you took something so tragic and chose to give to other people. Like, it was such a profound act of service...”
• Processing Trauma: Amanda describes the complicated layers of processing such public, profound trauma—feeling both distance and closeness to it, and the guilt of each.
  • Amanda (42:04): “I’ve processed it so many times and yet I also, like, I have never processed it... It’s just a remembrance of time and, and anytime you can clock that time is, I think, just also a trigger.”
  • Amanda (43:47): “It’s a scar that is in me, that will always be in me. And there’s a lot of beautiful parts about that scar, and there’s a lot of really hard parts about that scar.”
• Honesty Over Everything: Amanda explains that brutal honesty surfaces in profound crisis.
  • Amanda (44:47): “When you’re going through severe trauma or life and death situations, it’s just all the bullshit removed. You’re just being honest... nothing matters other than that if when death is on the table.”

7. Claiming Joy, Moving Forward (47:25–52:16)

• Courageous Joy: Even with tragedy so present in her story, Amanda pushes herself to live and find joy, knowing Nick would want that for her and their son, Elvis.
  • Amanda (47:25): “I am proud of how I’m living my life... I know that Nick would want me to live that life as beautiful and big and as full as possible.”
• Navigating Public Perception: Amanda recognizes the tension between public expectations and her own path forward, choosing to focus on “living her life.”

8. Building a Wellness Business: Proper Supplements (52:16–60:55)

• The Spirit of Creation: True to her entrepreneurial core, Amanda describes her journey into launching Proper, a line of affordable, tasty supplement powders available at Target and Amazon.
  • Amanda (53:54): “My first creation was my jump rope with my fitness company... and then a CBD muscle relief pain cream. I love creating products that I believe will be beneficial and helpful to people.”
• Meeting Real Needs: Amanda wanted wellness that was realistic for everyday people (not just for “LA people getting NAD injections”), especially for busy moms like herself and “Linda in Ohio.”
  • Amanda (57:03): “She doesn’t live in New York City or LA... She’s going to Target, and she’s trying to find one thing that’ll help her feel better in her day.”
• Wellness Without Guilt: Amanda and Sophia talk about how Proper aims to remove guilt from wellness—emphasizing flexibility, approachability, and inspiration rather than rigid routines or shame.
  • Amanda (59:53): “In wellness, we don’t make ourselves feel guilty... I don’t ever want anybody to look at my supplement line Proper on your countertop and walk by and feel guilty. I want you to feel inspired.”

9. Parenting, Perspective, and Looking Forward (60:55–66:57)

• Motherhood and Connection: Amanda shares a touching anecdote about her son Elvis’ empathy, seeing glimmers of the adult he’ll become.
  • Amanda (62:17): “He lifts up his arm and he goes, come here, Mom... he was trying to, like, console me... Like, he knew that I was sad and he knew that I needed a hug and love."
• Work in Progress: Amanda keeps many projects burning: growing Proper, continuing her fitness community work, acting, and hosting—and she revels in the freedom to pursue them all.
  • Amanda (64:43): “I’m very much... casting a net of like 10 different things... If you see me teaching a fitness class or acting in a show or hosting a red carpet, like, I am equally passionate about all of those things.”
• Rejecting One-Lane Careers: Both Amanda and Sophia reflect on being told to “pick a lane” early in their careers, and celebrate the multi-hyphenate opportunities of their present lives.
  • Sophia (67:03): “I remember thinking, why am I supposed to reduce the subjects that I’m interested in... The things I find fascinating. Why shrink that?”
  • Amanda (67:36): “I think so, too... I think [the world] still needs some shifting, but we’re getting there.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Amanda on the Journey of Healing:

  “Healing is such a journey and it never stops... it’s going to process so many times in so many different ways because we keep growing and I keep living and Elvis keeps living... It’s a scar that is in me, that will always be in me.” (43:10–43:47)

• Sophia on Joy After Grief:

  “I think it actually takes some, like, ferocious courage to claim your joy in, in public, out loud." (47:09)

• Amanda on Public Perception and Moving Forward:

  “At the same time... I’m also a 43 year old woman that has a lot of life to live. And Nick would want me to live that life as beautiful and big and as full as possible.” (47:25)

• Amanda’s Entrepreneurial Ethos:

  “I love creating products that I believe will be beneficial and helpful to people.” (53:56)

• Sophia on Rejecting the One-Lane Requirement:

  “Why am I supposed to reduce the subjects that I’m interested in... The things I find fascinating. Why shrink that?” (67:03)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Amanda reflects on current happiness – 05:31
• Discussing connecting with her inner child – 07:27
• Family support and trust as an adult – 14:03
• Broadway beginnings and family’s reaction – 20:14
• First time as a Rockette – 23:31
• The grueling Broadway/work-life balance – 25:21
• Nick’s musical legacy and the Billie Eilish/Finneas story – 34:14
• Processing public grief and trauma – 38:42, 42:04
• Creating a wellness line for ‘Linda in Ohio’ – 53:41, 57:03
• Motherhood and raising Elvis – 62:17
• Refusing to “pick a lane” in her career – 67:03

Tone & Style

Throughout the episode, Sophia and Amanda maintain a tone that’s warm, vulnerable, resilient, and empowering. Their conversation blends laughter, tears, and practical wisdom, with Amanda’s openness about struggle and growth serving as continual inspiration.

For anyone navigating change, struggling with loss, or seeking courage to carve out new paths, Amanda’s story—told here with Sophia Bush—offers moving testimony that it’s possible to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress, all at once.