Broad Ideas with Rachel Bilson & Olivia Allen - Walker Hayes on Finding Music, Marrying High School Sweetheart, and Losing His Daughter

Episode Date: June 24, 2024

Singer-songwriter Walker Hayes talks to Rachel and Olivia about being on Family Feud together, finding the love of his life, and his humble beginnings working at Costco. They also discuss the stillbirth of Walker’s daughter, the following struggles to overcome that trauma, and trying to stay sober.Broad Ideas is supported by IQBAR. Get 20% off all IQBAR products. Text IDEAS to 64000. Message and data rates may apply. See terms for details.Broad Ideas is supported by Blissy. Try now risk-free for 60 nights, at blissy.com/rachel, and use code RACHEL to get an additional 30% off.Broad Ideas is supported by Tropical Smoothie Café. Visit one of Tropical Smoothie Cafe’s 1400+ locations or order online or through their app.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hax is back for its fifth and final season, and so is The Hacks podcast. Join the Hacks creators and showrunners, Lucia and Yellow, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky as they unpack the Emmy-winning comedy series. On each episode, here's stories from the set, what goes on in the writer's room, and how these beloved characters close out their final season. Watch Hax streaming exclusively on HBO Max and listen to The Hacks podcast on HBO Max, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Broad Ideas.

Hello. Hi. Hi. Hi. You look so nice today. He's up to no good. You just complained about your outfit. I know, I know what you're doing.

Walker Hayes, y'all is with us today. Very, very excited. We met Walker at Family Feud. We did meet Walker at Family Feud and our other love shade. Yeah. We met them both. We met them all. And his wife, Lainey, I mean, love the whole crew.

Good crew. Good crew. Family feud delivered. Really. Yeah. Truly. He is a country pop musician. But everyone knows his song Fancy Like.

Everyone knows his song Fancy Like. Yeah. Let's get into it with Walker. Let's get Fancy Like. Let's get Fancy Like. Rachel's little brain All these thoughts are swirling Round and round inside

To join us on this journey As we take a little ride We'll talk about dogs and kids and things We'll talk about chicks and tampon strings We'll talk about boys That'll make you about death Because people die We're so happy to see you

I'm so happy to see you guys We shared such a magical moment We did We really did Like I feel like it was I don't What's the word I'm looking for? Kismet

Yeah Sure We can go with Kismet I don't even know what that word is But the The uh What's Kismet? Is that like special?

Kismet is like meant to be Yeah That's exactly honestly Honestly guys don't Please don't think I'm weird But it was Y'all were such the perfect family of people to have there that day. We were so out of our comfort zone with the whole family feud thing.

And we were just so glad to see y'all. It was great. Y'all were the best. You were the best. I was so when I told so everyone, you know, out there, we went up against each other in Family Feud. That's all we'll say. We're not going to give anything away.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't. Yeah. But just even when they feel. first had us backstage explaining everything and we met you guys. It was just nothing but love. It just felt so nice. And you guys were all so nice. Yeah, I have a lot. I have a lot to say about you guys. I do. Because, you know, it was really refreshing. I met you first in the makeup trailer. Your wife was getting her makeup done. You know what I noticed about her? She was asking everyone in the makeup room about themselves, what they use for their things, what they do, what it's like.

Like, she was so curious about them and their experience that right away, I didn't know who she was yet. And I was like, this woman is like kind, gracious, lovely. And then you walked in and you brought the best vibe ever. And I was like, oh my God, these people are real deal, goodhearted, our kind of people. you're kind and it does i mean lany is just um she's that that human god's given her that uh just the way she's she looks outward you know she's that one of those type of people that's very inspiring to be around like any any show we ever play um the but the bus always leaves late because Lany's always like saying bye to a security guard that she met, you know, and I love it.

And then we get in the car and she's like, that guy has, you know, three grandkids and one is like in the hospital and he has a dog named Cindy. And like, I don't know. She just, you know, she just got that, you know, and she honestly, she wasn't always like that. And I wasn't always, you know, curious. But life, you know, we went through. We've had some tough times, you know, and so that has really changed the way we look at the opportunity to be with people. You know, I think 10 years ago if we'd have gone to family feud, we probably would have walked in and been like, oh, it's a, this is about me. You know, where's the camera?

Put me on it. What a great, you know. And now we both are aware, you know, that you don't meet people on accident, you know. and you're so lucky we get to bump into each other and share our stories and see what maybe struggles and tragedies we can be united by, you know. And honestly, it's funny that if you've never done Family Feud, it's kind of, you know, you are, you're backstage and you're, it's the trenches. You're like, what is this? Like, what are we about to do, you know? And even us, you know, people who who talk.

and do stage stuff for a living, you're like, I'm scared of death. Like, I, you know, and so you're, you're, I feel like right then, you're like in the battle, you're on the battlefield to get there. Oh, yeah. It's no joke. No, I thought I was going to have a panic attack. Like, I was back there in my trailer. And, you know, we've been into a lot of trailers.

You've, like, walked out on stage, whatever. And I was like, I think I'm going to literally have a panic attack. Like, I don't know how to get myself out of this and get here to do this. I was scared. I was scared. Well, because they make it. They make it really serious. It's not like, I mean, I grew up watching it my whole life.

I never, I thought, yeah, it's a game. You get the gist and you go out there. No, guys. No. It's serious. Yeah, when I'm with you, when they, it's not so funny. But Rachel, I'm so glad you said that because I felt silly being so nervous. I was like, man, I am just not cut out for this Hollywood stuff.

But like back there, when they, you know, they put you in a nice outfit, like you're all, you know, and they do your hair and stuff. And then they, when they explain you those rules is when I really freaked out. I was like, well, I thought it was a lot simpler game than this. They definitely over-explained. And I'm like, thank God I've seen it a million times because everything they were saying was like, there's no way that was going to stick. There was so much. Right. Yeah.

When that happened, I think Lainey noticed that my knees started. shaking a lot. And she reached over and she was like, don't listen to any of this. This is not really how it is. You know, so she calmed me down a lot. But I really do. You guys have such a great, a great energy. And that's so valuable. And I mean, to me and my team. And, and yeah, I'm so glad. Yeah. I'm so glad we met. Me too. It really, yeah, it's just so beautiful. And you and your relationship with your wife, you guys. You guys have been together a long time. Yeah.

We want to hear the whole thing. I know. Like, we want to get into it. We want to know. How do you meet? Like, what was, you know, you guys have a real story. Listen, I'm going to tell you, I mean, Lenny and I, we've been through it. I mean, it's a miracle.

We're together. We met when I was 16. She was 17. We were in a school play. No. Yeah. Yeah, and I mean, she was like, it was just like a movie, man. I mean, I was the worst kid in the school, just the last human that your father wanted you to bring home.

I mean, I thought I was so funny and I drank a lot under eight and just partied. But I played sports. And, man, I just, I don't know. I have a lot of apologies. I would love to say to people, you know, in high school. I just, I don't know. I was just trying to fit in. and be cool. I'm the last of nine kids. Oh, wow. And I just, I just wanted to be fit in, you know,

so I just did what you do to cry for help and, I don't know, matter in high school. But Lennie was the opposite. I mean, she was like, she was just golden girl, like beautiful. I mean, I would never have said a word to her if we weren't in the same play, you know, otherwise I'd been too afraid to talk to her. And, but she was like, Miss, she was SGA president, a homecoming runner-up person, you know. And she would say now, you know, that, like, her goodness and, like, following rule, you know, and standing out and all, that, that was as much of an act as my deviants was. You know, we were both just trying to, like, play the matter and make it.

Yeah, just make our parents be excited proud or what, you know, and win, you know, just win at high school somehow. And I know. And so we found, you know, each other. And it was, it was just, it was crazy. It was like, you know, all of a sudden I had a best friend. But at the same time, we were really jealous. She went to college. And so, like, I would visit her when she was.

was a freshman and, you know, I don't like all the friends. She was meeting. And then she, you know, she didn't like all my friends, you know, back in high school. And, and, but we made it somehow. We did the long distance thing. And we made it through four years of college. We, I majored in music. She, she majored in business, which is funny for me to say because she doesn't do any business. She does a lot. She takes care of our kids for sure. But, We, after college, we broke up for a whole year. And I went to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and just went off the rails. I worked at macaroni grill and the restaurant.

Back then, the restaurant biz was just crazy. Just a macaroni grill. Oh, God. Yeah. Oh, I love the food. But, yeah, you know, you close a restaurant and you just go get into trouble with everybody you work with. But we saw each other in a wedding after like 10 or 11 months.

And I was actually seeing somebody else. And I remember telling her, I said, hey, you know, Lainey's going to be at this wedding. And I just want to give you the heads up. You know, I haven't seen her. This is back before, like, MySpace. So we're talking like, you couldn't, like, creep on people socials. Yeah. Like, if you didn't see somebody, you didn't talk to them.

unless you paid like the long distance phone fee, you know, whatever. But so I, so I saw her at this wedding and, I mean, man, I just, my stomach hurt. I mean, when I saw her, I was like, dang, you know, I didn't, I didn't plan on feeling like that, you know. And so I called, I remember calling that girl on the way home saying, hey, you know, I saw a lane and I don't know. It just hurt. And I didn't even know what that meant. But it's crazy. Lennie and I started talking on the phone, and we just got engaged.

It was like, I know, I know you didn't see that coming in the story. But it was wild. It was like we had a year. I didn't know this, but it's like I saw her and was like, I don't know. I just, I think I just want to, like, fight forever. Like, if that's what we got to do. You didn't make me great. I know.

Well, you know what I mean? Well, it was crazy. It was like, and it was sweet. It was really cool. I didn't know she felt the same way, but, you know, I think she had been on some dates and just was like, where's my friend? You know, and that, and so we were good. You know, we got engaged. And then we came home and we both moved back to Mobile.

She was living in Nashville working. And then when we were. engaged, my dad, this was crazy. He sold real estate in Mobile, and I was going to just work for him and just try to have a family, you know, and pay for a house or whatever. And he calls me from this bar.

This is a crazy part of my story. He calls me from a bar, and he's like, hey, I signed you up to play here on Friday, the guitar. Now, the reason I haven't even, like, mentioned the guitar in my story is because I did not play the guitar. Like I did not like, it wasn't like my dad was like, oh, my son's super talented and like, you know, has a gift. He just heard me in the living room one night just being goofy, like basically playing two

chords and singing stupid, like trying to mimic people. And I tried to tell them that. I was like, dad, you don't get it. Like, I was like, I don't even know if I can strum and sing at the same time. And he was like, no, you're good enough. You know, he was so nice. He was like, he was like, you're better than anybody I've heard, you know, down there. You just need to do this.

And so he said the bar manager's lady, lady's lady's name, lady's name was Trudy. And I remember her so well. And so I just, I played this gig, you guys. And it was like, I don't know, just something happened to my soul. It was terrible. Nobody liked it. I mean, like, Trudy was the only person that clapped. I did not have, like, you guys, I was reading lyrics that I printed out from a notebook to four songs.

I played the same four songs for an hour. And every time I finished the song, Trudy would put her tray. under her arm and start clapping. Oh, my goodness. I know. Trudy is amazing. And this is crazy, too. Lainey wasn't even there.

I just called her from, you know, my Nokia. I remember I had a Nokia phone. And I remember calling her on the way home. And I just, we were so naive and just young. I said, man, I had so much fun. Do you want to, what do you, what do you think about, let's move to Nashville? Like, I'll, I think I want to be a rock star. Like, I think I could just do this.

And she, she was like, absolutely, you know, she was like, this sound. I know, she didn't, she wasn't even like, that doesn't make sense. You can't play. No, yeah, she wasn't even. And, and so, you know, I mean, really the only musical, you know, I, I could play piano, which is funny. I never do that anymore, but I'm actually pretty good at that. But I remember going to lunch or dinner. I had to go to dinner at her house the next Wednesday,

and I had to tell her parents and be like, hey, change of plans. And they, man, I mean, God bless them. We're at an amazing place with my in-laws now. And it's been incredible, but it has not always been wonderful. And a lot of that is me. But, I mean, man, that night they were confused. You know, they just, he even said, Lainey's dad said, do you see in front of people? And I was like, I was like, not yet.

I said, but I said I will. You know, I was like, I'll learn how to when, you know, obviously when we get, when we get to to Nashville. So we literally left our honeymoon in a U-Haul and drove to Nashville. And just, we just started, started doing the thing and signing up for open mic nights and just, I remember we had an apartment. It was just one room. We loved it. I remember making pumpkins because Halloween was coming up. It was like, and we were so, you know, it was like, we made our first. pumpkins together, you know. We just, I just remember those holidays.

And I remember going to Walmart and being like, dude, we're going to Walmart for our house, you know, and all those new, just brand new things. And then before we knew it, we were pregnant, which was crazy. And, you know, that didn't make any sense at all because, I mean, I didn't really have, you know, a stable job. or much less like, you know, future or anything. But, I mean, those were, they were sweet times, you know. It's like life wasn't that expensive. And, you know, everything was just so new. But yeah, and then, you know, in the next 12 years, 15 years, you know, we just kept having kids.

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You know, and it got, it got tough. You know, I haven't mentioned yet this part of my story, but I started drinking in 13. And I mean, I'm eight years sober now, but sadly it's a huge, a huge part of that, you know, that time of my life. but I was a little uncoachable, you know, for many of my years in Nashville. You know, I just thought as bad as I was that night at that bar, I came to Nashville. I just thought I was amazing. So, you know, maybe some of that naivity, you know, maybe could have helped me. But I'll tell you what, really what happened is that sad is, you know, y'all probably know

this, like in your lines of work or whatever, like you begin to kind of isolate yourself, you know, you get kind of alienated by reasonable thinking people. And then you, you know, when every time you call, you only call to say you're pregnant, but people are always like, what's going on in work? And you're like, I got nothing. You know, I have nothing. And, and, you know, my siblings and my family started to wonder like, what in the world, you know. And And, you know, I think they would have expected us to give it four or five years and then come home. You know, I think that's what they were thinking. But here we are eight, ten years, 15.

You know, we're down to one car and I'm working at Costco in the morning and we're pregnant with number six. You know, it just started looking like they're not, man, that's sad, you know. And, yeah, and, you know, we would go home and, you know, we would go home and, You know, you could tell there was this resentment because no one would say anything. But, you know, I began to be, I began to get embarrassed to talk about music because mostly if I had any irons in the fire, they never came to fruition, you know. And I would get to where I just would want to talk about it. And then, you know, people, I was working at Costco, but nobody wanted to, no one would be like, how's work? because they knew, you know, they knew that my dream wasn't to work for Costco.

It was a great job, but, you know, they knew that, you know, I wanted to be, you know, I wanted to be a singer or at least a songwriter, but it got rough. And then when I was working at Costco, a crazy thing happened. And by the way, y'all, in the meantime, if I can, just go back to Lainey, you know, I'm me. and just, I mean, I was just such a knucklehead. And my brain is like, I probably need to be on all kinds of ADHD medicines or whatever. But in the meantime, you know, I'm alcoholic chasing this elusive dream. And she's like homeschooling six kids, you know, and she's happy.

Like that's what's the crazy thing is like the craziest. That's what I look back. And I go, my wife, she was so happy. It's almost like she, it's like her brain was perfect, except God didn't put like one screw in that said, like, pick him. Pick him. Pick a right husband.

Yeah. Yeah. It was like, have good tasting guys and have expectations. And it's like she just missed that Lego piece in her brain. And I'm telling you, she is the happiest. Wow. woman that I know. I mean, I could tell you story after story

where you'd be like, and she didn't get mad. I mean, never one time did she ever say, hey, man, we really need, like, I really need you to make some more money. Or I need, you know, you might want to stop writing songs. I mean, she believed, I mean, she just thought I had all this potential.

And honestly, I can't tell you, I mean, shoot, I'm going to start crying. I mean, I just didn't. I just wasn't accustomed to hearing that. You know, and when you hear, whatever you hear your whole life, you kind of begin to believe, you know. And that's just the truth. And all I heard was, you know, I heard it from the church. I needed to be still. I couldn't.

I heard it from the church. I need to behave. I couldn't. I heard it from school. You know, you need to cut your hair. I wouldn't. I heard it from coaches, you know, you need to be this. I just wanted to buck everything.

And I know what's wrong with me. But then there's this Lainey, you know, who comes along and is like, I like this. Yeah. You know, I want to make kids with this and I want to do like, you know. And so, yeah, she was amazing. But about eight years ago, I quit drinking. I just woke up one day. And I was working at Costco from four.

A.m. to 11, and I was writing songs, and then I was playing shows. And I honestly, this is stupid, but I thought I was invincible. You know, I had been dropped by two labels by this time, and nothing had really come of my musical career. And it was embarrassing. I mean, I remember stocking strawberries and people from Capitol Records would be shopping, and I'd just have to look them in the face and be like, yeah. It's me. I'm Walker. You remember me? Yeah, you know, and, you know, it was very humbling. But I woke up one day and I knew I was 35, I think. And I woke up one day and I knew that if I, if I got drunk again, something would happen to my body. Like I'm not really like, oh, I have an ailment. You know, let me go to the doctor. But I just woke up. up that day and I just felt sick, you know, and, and it wasn't, it was new. It was not like, it was not just like, oh, I'm hung over. I mean, it hurt. And, and so I didn't drink. And then one day turned into two, and then two turned into a week, and then a week turned into months. And, and here we are, you know, eight years down the road. And, and I don't, I mean, I've helped a lot of people kind of walk through their struggles, but I don't think one road fits all. You know what I think?

I think everybody has a different road to recovery and a different testimony, but that was mine. It was pretty weird. And coincidentally, a month after I quit, I walked into smoothie king and my idol, Shane McAnally, he was on my team. Yeah, he was amazing. Quite possibly one of the best humans the planet has ever seen. And so he's in line, and I tap him on the shoulder, and I just do the thing, that desperate thing, that you honestly, you really don't want to do in this town because you're like, it's so cliche. But I tapped him on his shoulder and was like, look, man, I just need a home. I'm writing songs.

I'm still writing them. I just need a place to write them. That's it. just can I please just have a home or will you just listen you know and can you help and um so he he gave me his email and nine months later he calls me and he says um so every week i had an alarm on my phone that said send Shane a song and i and i would send him a song and he would give me feedback and he would listen and it wasn't all like this is amazing a lot of it was but some of it was like, what if you did this?

You know, and so I tried to, for once in my life, I quit, like, thinking I knew it all, you know, because obviously I didn't. And, you know, and so I, you know, I took Shane's advice, but he calls me nine months later, and he has tried to get all my songs recorded by many artists that he knew and they wouldn't. And he said, man, let's just make a record on you. I love your music so much. And I don't know why these people won't cut this. Can we please make a record on you?

You can sing it. And I remember, I mean, this sounds silly, you know, because there's way more to life than all my dreams coming true. But I remember crying. I mean, I teared up. I was like, I had to hold it together, you know, before I hung up because this was my last chance. You know, I didn't think about that.

But, you know, I went in and I told Lainey and she cried. I mean, she was like, no way. Like, you're going to make a record with this guy. So I got to quit Costco and I began to be able to put food on the table. Did you get to keep your membership? Yeah, we did. I still got the biggest status you can get to. We too.

It's great. Yeah. We're going to lose that. And honestly, you know, I got to tell you, learned a lot of lessons. Like, it's, it's, you, you would think, man, I walked out of that place and was like, peace. But, you know, I had worked there long enough where my benefits had risen. You know, I had gotten a couple raises. And I would honestly, quitting was a lot scarier than I thought it was.

Because I was like, man, I've been busting it here. And, you know, it's, if I leave, I got to start all over. if I got to come back. But we had a couple, we had a couple minor little hits, but, I mean, biggest thing that's ever happened in my life came about the time we had,

I had my first top 10 song. It was called You Broke Up with Me. And I was just skimming the surface, just making a living, you know, playing some club shows, and having, you know, hearing myself on the radio here and there. And Lainey was pregnant with our six kids, and life was wide open. I mean, when you're an artist trying to get on the radio,

you spend the majority of your year traveling from station to station. You know, it's gung hoes, it's guns blazing. You're traveling all the time. And I was supposed to sing on the CMT Awards. So my first public TV, experience. And, you know, I was feeling kind of famous, like, it was pretty sick, you know, walking a room, you know, everybody, you know, singing alone in my song. And I had scheduled to come into town, witness the birth of my six kid, but then hit the road, you know, and Lainey understood.

Lany wasn't like, oh, you're an absent father or whatever. You know, she just, she knew I was doing all I could, you know, to hang on to this career after all we'd been through. And, um, She went into labor the day, you know, when she had carried Oakley nine months or whatever. Actually, she carried Oakley longer than she carried any baby. Oakley was the biggest baby we ever had. And something went wrong. And she went to labor at our house. And we had like, I guess you call her midwife or whatever.

I don't know the correct word. But, yeah, she was at the house and all of a sudden she lost the heartbeat. And, you know, you're just sitting at a house and I'm like, oh, whatever, you know, didn't think anything of it. Well, Lainey just kind of went unconscious. And what's crazy is honestly, look, dude, I've watched Lany have six kids. So I'm no slouch. I mean, I know what she does. I know what she says.

I know what she's like, wait, stop, go. I know like how fast to dry. You know, we've had every kid in every situation you can possibly have. She's had natural birth. She's had vaginal births. She's had V-backs. You know, I know I could probably be a freaking OB. Right.

Sounds like it. And listen, I went to every appointment. I love how life grows. It's insane. And so she goes into labor and she just kind of went unconscious. I mean, she just stopped. Like her, she stopped working and she was just staring like she'd seen a ghost, you know, but couldn't could not communicate.

And ambulance comes and, you know, obviously the TV appearance is off. We get, we go to the hospital about an hour and a half after she goes in the labor. We're at the hospital. I'm never ridden in the ambulance before. You know, that was insane. We left our other kids with the neighbor. I just saw her outside. Like, hey, will you, will you just go to the house?

Please, now, go now. And, you know, my kids aren't asleep, but when they wake up, try not to scare them, just, you know, just say, hey, you know, they're at the hospital. And in our world, man, our life just stopped, you know. I mean, I know when I tell this story, I want everybody to know I'm aware that worse, you know, things have happened. And I know people lose kids all the time, grown kids, you know. And so I'm not comparing this, but it was the worst, it was the worst day of our life.

I mean, I'm sitting in a room at the hospital. They've wheeled Lainty off, you know, in a rush, and I'm in this room, and I get a knock on the door. And it's the doctor. And the doctor just goes, hey, it's a girl. And, you know, but we tried to resuscitate, but we couldn't. And, I mean, I know those words just. sound like they're super simple. Even when I say them, I'm like, it doesn't, they're just words, you know, but I don't know. I mean, even when I re-say them to you guys, it's been six years,

I still am like, man, I don't, I mean, that's just like, I don't know what to do, you know, I just felt, I felt so, I just felt like a kid. I just was like, I was like, well, I want to hold, You know, you don't know. You just don't. There's things you don't know. I was like, I want to hold her. But then I was like, oh, she's dead. And then I was like, I want to hold her.

But I don't want to hold her without Lainey, you know. And then so then you're just sitting in a room. You know, you just said, man that feels like a little boy just sitting in a room, you know. And then she and then the doctor was like, and Lany's bleeding, you know, really, really bad. And I hope we can stop it. So, you know, then it's like, it's. like my thoughts didn't know which were the most responsible ones to focus on, you know. And so, praise God, the doctor came in about an hour later and said, you know, she would come

every 15 minutes and go, same situation, you know, and then finally she came in and she said, I don't know how, but the bleeding stopped. And Lenny's okay, you know. And I'm telling you, I mean, I think that was the first, like, my body, I felt relief. You know, I was like, God, at least my wife, you know. I mean, because in that room, guys, I mean, dude, I did. I thought about it. If you can think that I thought about it, I did. I mean, I was like, I was like, how do I tell my father-in-law I let his daughter die?

I was like, how do I tell my kids, you know, what I, you know, what, you know, You know, they think we're here having a baby. And I'm about to come home and go, you know, I've got a mom no more. And I don't have the kid. The kid that killed her. You know what I mean? And honestly, I don't, that, Oakley didn't inflict pain. You know, I don't see that.

But, you know, I'm just sitting there and I'm just confused. And I'm like, I'm like, oh, Lord, what do I do for the rest of life? you know, and so it was crazy, but praise God, you know, Lainey lived. And when she, you know, when she came to, you know, she would wake up and she would point to her stomach. And then she would, I would write on a, man, this is a sad, I would write on a whiteboard and hold it up, you know, and say, you know, she didn't make it. And then her body would just, she would uncontrollably convulse herself in pain back to sleep. And then she would wake up 15 minutes later and she would do it again. And man, you know, I'm so confused.

Like I'm asking this nurse that I don't know. I'm saying, do I tell her or do I just say, hold on, you know, calm now? Because if I didn't tell her, she would demand, you know, that I answer her. where is our child. And so I'm telling you guys, I have never, and I pray to God every day that I never have to do something harder than that. I mean, you know, they brought Oakley in, my best friend Craig and his wife, Laura, you know, we passed her around.

She was absolutely perfect. I mean, absolutely perfect. it just wouldn't wake up, you know. It's just literally she felt heavy. She felt healthy. She was cold, you know, and you wanted to make her warm, but you knew it didn't matter. You know, it was just the weirdest thing. And then we held her for, we held her till the next night.

And then, you know, we had to give her, you know, basically give her up to let her be buried, you know. And then we buried her. that Friday. I mean, it's just ruthless, man. You know, I had to go home, you know, after that morning, not to have, you know, focus on only me, you know, what I was going through, but I had to go home, you know, and I had to get the kids in the living room and be like,

hey, I got to explain, you know, today. And, you know, I had to kick all the adults out, you know, because I didn't want to, I just want to do it alone. And I did not see this podcast going this emotional, by the way. You have to stay, et cetera. Broad Ideas is supported by Tropical Smoothie Cafe. Tropical smoothie cafe believes you deserve a little vacay every day, not just once a year. Get on Tropic Time with bright and refreshing smoothies,

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Cafe for a pineapple, mango, and watermelon sworei all summer long. Grab a refreshing island punch, mangoberry Cosmo and watermelon mojito moktail smoothie and meet us poolside. Visit one of Tropical Smoothie Cafe's 1400 plus locations or order online or through their app. Yeah, so we buried, we buried Oakley, and, you know, I had a tough time. You know, that That was a tough day, the day we buried her. You know, me and my son, Chapel and Baylor and Beckett, we buried her. I mean, they let us fill the hole up with dirt and everything, and that was very cathartic just to do that.

And, I mean, that night was insane, though. I drove to this bar and by myself, and I just wanted to fight. I just was so angry. And when I got to this bar, you guys, I didn't have my wallet in the door. And when I came home, a moment I'll never forget, I walked in the front door and Lainey was by herself sitting on the couch in the dark, didn't know where our kids were. And I felt so ashamed. I was like, man, you know, this is when I need to. to help, you know, this is when she needs to be able to count on me.

My kids need to be able to lean on some strength that I can muster. And there I was about to just heap problem on problem on problem, you know, with, who knows, maybe I'd have gotten arrested or whatever, you know. And so she found me an AA meeting that night and that I went to, And it was amazing. I mean, it was awesome. And it was very divine that, you know, that we did that together. But, you know, the next years were crazy.

You know, I grief super pissed off and she grieves very sad. And, you know, so our marriage went through it. You know, my other kids, Lord knows what, you know, what they. will have to heal from those years. But, you know, in time, we became stronger, you know, and, you know, I truly, I tell everybody this, especially because I feel like there's always somebody whose world is stopping today, you know, but I swear to you guys, I can't quite explain it. But, you know, all the success and whatever and fame and family feud and all that, you know, if my life, if my life was a house and it was burning down and God was like, hey, if he was like, hey, you can go in and you can say one thing.

I know it doesn't make any sense, but not change one thing, but just. just save an experience, I would go and get the loss of my daughter. I really would. It has changed my life and everyone around me and Lainey. And I'm telling you, some of that that you saw in that trailer, that kindness from Lainey's soul, some of that came from what we experienced, you know? And so, yeah, I mean, that's, to me, that's really the part of the story I love to share, because, man, life is just so hard.

It just is hard. And it's beautiful. Gosh, it's beautiful. Even though it's so dark. But I'm really grateful for what that experience did to my family. It's made me a more aware father, a better husband. probably just a better person in general. It's really giving me

kind of permission to just to live and say, I'm just trying, you know? I'm just doing my best. I've got it all figured out. I've, you know, yeah, we all have regrets. We all have mistakes. We've made.

We all have things we want to change. But, hey, let's do it. Let's try to do a little better, you know. And love on one another, you know. But, yeah. So now, you know, we're the traveling family. We go. We, you know, I go seeing tours everywhere.

Wait, so that was how many years ago? That was six years ago. So you were two years. You were only two years sober at the time. Yeah, yeah. First of all, I'm really. really sorry. Yeah.

For your loss. Come on. Yeah. Thank you. We, there's a book I want to send you one of my dear friends wrote called She Was Born about losing her daughter. Yeah. In a very similar way.

And watching someone go through that pain and it opening up the people around you, I can, I understand. what you mean by like you would save that experience because the amount of pain has got to be equal to the amount of love like I think that you've probably experienced an amount of love that we couldn't comprehend having not gone through a situation like that which I mean thank God you you stayed sober yeah yeah oh man or your family would not have you no no no we would be yeah it would be just that could that would have been catastrophic it would have been catastrophic but it just goes to show like when you said like you went to the bar that's I'm sober myself I think I shared

that with you at the feud 13 years but no matter what when something goes even slightly wrong my first thought is how can I drink and make this go away right and that's the first thought of an alcoholic. And people would be like, that's insane. You just thought, like, yeah, it's insane. It's insane. It's insane. You know? Yeah. But that is the first thought is like, how can I make this feeling go away? Right. Right. And you didn't do that. You walked through something that most people wouldn't have the strength to walk through. And it just, to me, it points at the human spirit of like, how much more capable people are than we even have access to or realize. Yeah.

And, I mean, and again, it was that night, I mean, she, my, my, I remember my friend Craig. He and I had a phone call, you know, that just, it would be nice to have a friend that I could not have a filter with, you know. I'm sure I said some things where he was like, whoa. Yeah. But, you know, and, you know, he's a believer, and I wasn't at the time. And, man, I just let him, I let him and God have it, man. I mean, I'm pretty sure I pulled the phone away from my face and just screamed at it, you know, a couple times because I just was so angry. And so, yeah, it was definitely, like you said, the love, I mean, I've never seen another grown man, you know, or never, I never cried with a grown man, you know,

till I looked at Craig, you know, holding Oakley, you know, in that hospital room and, you know, his wife Laura. And my daughter, you know, my oldest daughter, she was, she was like 13 at the time. I mean, she was an adult for me. You know, I mean, she was there for Laney and I in ways that I hope later that didn't force her to like have to kind of grow up. You know, I mean, she, but yeah, I mean, I was really, really fortunate to have some people that did show up. You know, also this experience has really shaped how I'm kind of like, hey, if I hear somebody had a heart attack, I literally call their phone. Like I'm not the, I'm not the, well, I'll just wait, you know, maybe so, you know, I'll give them space. I'm that.

And look, I'm okay with them being like, hey, I don't feel like talking or leave me alone. That's cool because I'm just so grateful for the people who were brave enough. To just go, dude, I don't know what to say, but you can shout. Like, what, what are you feeling? You know, because I needed that. I needed somebody to at least just piss me off or something. Like, just bust the bubble, you know what I mean? Because that was, that was healing to me is, because, yeah, I mean, if I get quiet,

I mean, that's when the, that's when drinking becomes, dangerous to me. If I'm quiet and I'm alone, Laney's always like, you good? What are you thinking right now? You know? And that's a dangerous place for me. It's so so much. And I'm like, I went quiet. She's like, I'm going to start drinking. I'm going to become an alcoholic. No, just to go through that. But, you know, like, I had a therapist tell me, like, it's the people that, even though been through it, they still show up in the ring every time, you know? Like, you go back in and you're going to do whatever again and you don't hide from it and you don't, you know, like you face it and you actually go through it. And going through it, you come out the other

side and like, I mean, you just look at like the strength human beings have. Oh, it's insane. It's insane, you know. And then you guys did it again. You had another kid. No, no, no. No, we had. We're, no, we're, that was, that was our last. I thought you did. Oh, okay. Yeah. We have three, we have three girls, well, you know, four with Oakley and three boys. But yeah, I mean, we're, honestly, we, I would never do that again.

I mean, I was going to say, because like, I got the numbers because they were wrong with, like, how many? And I'm like, how did you guys go through that again after that? Like, oh, no. Which is a good decision. We taught. Yeah, we always get like the bug where we're like, let's have another kid. But, I mean, we had a doctor who said, you know, they were like, it's okay, you know, but it was just so scary. You know, I couldn't, I couldn't bear it if we got pregnant and something went wrong, you know, and something happened again.

I would just kind of feel foolish. Yeah. And so we're good with six. I mean, six is a lot. I think as you said, our sixth pregnancy, and I knew you had six kids. That's why I thought. Yeah. I got them.

That's where I got messed up. Yeah. What happened? Did you know what happened? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Her uterus just ruptured. That's what happened.

And it's, you know, they don't have like, you know, we look for, you know, when something like that happens, you're like, what? How? No, what? Like, what caused it, you know? And there's none. And, you know, they, we had seen the baby on an ultrasound like two days before. And it was like perfect, you know. And so that, you know, that was unfortunate.

But, yeah, I mean, Lany is, Lany's amazing. And, you know, she, I don't know if I've shared. I mean, she's, we have an incredible situation now, you know, over COVID. So over COVID, I didn't have. I mean, I don't know what we were going to do. We had 400 days without a show. So we're just eating that, you know, our savings. I'm home with the kids.

I have nothing really cool to post because we're in pajama pants. You know, it's like I'm in full dad mode. And, you know, we figured, hey, you know, the world's about to get, like, back, you know, into the swing of things, why don't we put out an EP? And, you know, I wrote that song about Applebee, that Fancy Like song. Sure did, dude. And my daughter, yeah, I know. My daughter was like, we came home from church one Sunday.

And Lila was like, yo, Dad, you know, Fancy Lake needs a dance. And I was like, all right, I'm sick. Let's get on that dance. And, I mean, by that night. It was, I mean, it was, it was like broke the internet. That thing was everywhere. They did it at my cousin's wedding. Like the whole, yes, the whole wedding did it.

Party? Yes. I love that. But yeah. It was everywhere. Oh, it was, I mean, it was, yeah, I mean, I think you could say, I mean, that was the biggest song of the, what, decade? I mean, it was, it was wild.

And to watch it as a family was crazy. But it's wild. We didn't do this on purpose. But my wife, she had been homeschooling all their lives. So she just started that when they were little. And now we travel as a whole family. I mean, they get on the bus with me every Wednesday. And we have four dogs and we just go to the show.

We play amphitheaters. and, you know, we do a family feud. We just, we have the weirdest life. And, but it's vastly different. I mean, than it was, you know, three years ago. I don't think people like, from the outside, you know, all these fans we've made, I don't think they know that. They don't understand that.

But, I mean, it was just three years ago. I mean, nobody would have known who I was. Me and my future in the music biz at least was very uncertain. And now we're like we just travel as a family and play in massive shows. Yeah, it's wild. How happy is Shane that he took that chance on you? He is so kind. He is so kind.

But let me tell, I have to say. I'm so glad you asked about Shane. You know, what I, again, because of the lens, in which I look through life because of some things that have happened to us. It's just not about, I mean, I really just don't even care. I mean, I love music and I love, you know, it's like Family Feud. Honestly, the best part of Family Feud was the people we met. It just really was.

I mean, it's a cool experience, but hey, it comes and goes. And you win or lose or whatever, and you meet Steve Harvey, but you meet meet people, you know, other people. Yeah. And Shane, I mean, when I, when we lost Oakley, Shane paid for her burial. Payed. Shane bought the land and the tombstone and the, you know, and I don't know, man. I just feel like that says a lot about a human.

I'm not really a big, like, gift guy, but that just, I just have to say that. me and Shane, I mean, we're just brothers. That's it. You know, I just know that, I mean, I'm really glad to know him. And I'm in awe of his gifts. And I'm so grateful for how he mentors me. But he's a companion in this life, you know, that I'll have forever. And, you know, he knows what we've been through. He knows what I'm bad at and he knows what I'm good at. And he knows what I'm trying to be better at. And that is just priceless. I mean, forget all the fame and the money or whatever. And just give me that, you know. And that's kind of what has happened with my whole team is the things that we have been through is what we will never be separated. You know, we will all, we've all gone through that. You know, my managers had two kids, his dad, his dad. his dad my manager's name is rob his dad was 22 years sober when he died he died of cancer he got out of bed

a month before he died just to have a lunch with me because he was worried about me you know with my sobriety this did this dude literally got out of bed just to go to lunch ran out of energy and had to go home but he had to have lunch with me just just to say some important things to me. You know, so that's kind of what I've seen God cultivate in my life. And honestly, I have no idea why. Like, I don't know why I get to be the traveling family with the dogs. I don't know why I got to meet Shane and y'all just got to meet him.

You know, I'm so grateful. But we're just blessed. And it's not, I'm not even really talking about the fancy, like stuff, you know, and the songs and the and the superstar or whatever, you know, that all is kind of empty, honestly. I mean, it's cool and all, but it doesn't like hug you at night, you know? Sure doesn't. And the thing, too, is that I think it's like, yes, your music and yes, all of that,

but even more than that now is the message. Like, you have such a powerful message. And I think that what happens to, in my experience of watching people get sober, is especially for someone like Lainey, she saw your authentic self. She saw who you really were. She saw what you're meant to be, right? Because she just kind of was born that way. She could see straight. Yeah.

And the drinking turns off the light. It turns off the connection to God, spirit, whatever you want to call it. Yeah. And there are those people that the minute they put that down, they start living every day into their true potential. And it's not fancy like. That's not what your true potential is. Your true potential is this right here, sharing your story and affecting people's hearts and their lives and changing their lives because of it. And it takes something like fancy like to give people access to hearing this.

completely that's that you you honestly not to toot your horn but no one's ever said it in that sentence and you're exactly right i mean i that's how that's what i see that song as it's it's really just the door into the story and um and it's and that's what you know i mean that's what they that's what we do every night i mean we people show up you know to hear the bangers but they they really leave and they're like, wow, you know, that family's been through it. You know, that's a real life family right there. You know, they're not just, it's not just a gingerbread house. I mean, that's some real roots and foundational stuff, you know, that they've gone through together.

And that's country music right there. Amen. Oh, let's get it. That is country music. That's why I love it. That was exactly what we said. about you when we met you. That was our takeaway. We're like, oh, we're so happy it was them because they were real ones. Like, you're just real full human beings and that shows in what

you're doing and how you show up in the world. Well, I appreciate it. And, you know, God's been good to us. And, you know, a lot of things, you know, like I explained, we've been through and I didn't know why, you know, and it's a good, you know, we're at a good season. Now I'm starting to wonder, like, what our, you know, what my kids do, you know, what are they, honestly I do. I wonder what, what amazing experience will they have and what sadness, you know, will they feel, you know, in life. And, but we're really, we're really grateful and we love the people we get to meet. And I love, I still love my job, so that's a huge gift. You know, I, I, um, I know a lot of people.

No, I wish. Yeah. But, you know, I love, I love, I love writing songs, you know, and I still, I still get to do that. So I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm going to keep doing it. Yeah, I hope so. Everyone hopes so. Yeah. Oh, Walker, you're just, I don't know, I feel very lucky that, I,

like you said in the beginning, like Kismet and everything, but just that we know you now. And I feel, I'm like, we're family. I mean, shit. We are. We are. We are. We're family. Family feud makes you family.

It does. That's what you. Tell me this, were you intimidated by Steve Hart? I mean, you, you're around famous people all the time. Was that like, like, where you just? I don't know if I'm around famous people all the time. But I, you know what? I wasn't intimidated.

by him. I don't think. You know what was interesting? I said I was like having a panic attack, whatever. We went out on the stage and then I was fine. Right. It was the anticipation. Right? Did you feel the same? You were like what like yeah. Were you? Yeah. Intiminated by Steve Harvey? No, no, no. I mean, I, you know, I just, just being, here's the deal and maybe maybe you guys can relate. I mean, y'all are around celebrities. I just am very you know, if I meet somebody in Kroger, I'm instantly friends. You know, I'm like, hey, your flip-flops broken. How's it going?

You know, is that your kid? You know, I don't know. It's just normal people. Like, those are my people, you know, just people, people. But when I'm in a room of people competing for like a spotlight type of thing, I begin to like kind of close up a little bit, you know, where I'm like, maybe, I don't know, maybe it's an insecurity, but I'm like, maybe I should act cool too. Like, I don't, you know, but when my normal nature is just like, what do you do?

You know what I mean? My husband actually said that. This is not just, this is not just you saying that. My husband was there in the green room or whatever at Family Feud. And he's like, you know what I like about that guy? He came straight up to me. He didn't even know I was with you guys and just introduced himself. and was like, hey, man, how are you doing?

What's going on? And stroke up a conversation with him. And he's like, no one's ever done that to me. That's funny. Well, I honestly, I pray about that. And I have to force myself be like, just be like, it's okay to be you. You know, just go like, just, you know, if somebody doesn't dig it, whatever, who care. You know, just because I think sometimes, you know, in those environments, like award shows and stuff, you, I feel.

this unreasonable need to be like cooler than I am. But it's like, hey, Yolo, we only live once. Like, who cares? Like, go meet the guy, you know what I mean? So, yeah, I don't know. But I was curious, you know, I just don't meet a lot of, like, actor people. And honestly, that whole just, it fascinates me, just the whole, that whole life. I can't imagine, you know, what that's like.

That's crazy. Yeah. I wanted more Steve Harvey. You felt like you didn't get enough? Yeah, I don't really feel like I got enough Steve Harvey in the situation. Yeah. Oh, okay. You know, when he would like leave.

You couldn't hear him. And talk to the crowd. I know. I agree. I was kind of like, come back. Like, I want to know. Right? I want to play.

I want to hear the jokes. Yeah. Steve, I want to know your hopes and dreams. Like, what is your, what are you feeling, Steve? Yeah. Yeah. What are your answers? I know.

So what do y'all have coming up with this podcast of yours? Like, what's been going on? Yeah. We've, I don't know, we've kind of, it's just taken on a new life. Like, we've been showing up places and doing live events. Yeah, it's so fun. We're doing live shows. Yeah.

Oh, wait. So you're taking it on the road. Yeah. Little bit. We're going to come to Nashville. Are you? At some point, we're putting it out there. Oh, my goodness.

I'm coming. Yeah, you're coming. Absolutely. coming. Dude, that's really cool. Honestly, I've never been to a live podcast before. We haven't either. Yeah.

We don't know what we're doing. Well, we're just, you know, we're having fun. Like, right now we're in my house and my guest room. Like, it's just my daughter's in the next room. She's homesick from school. We're just, you know, doing the thing. But the live show is fun to connect with the audience and play with them and, like, facilitate or answer questions and just kind of.

This one was more like kind of like a workshop vibe, which was really fun. But we want to. Yeah, we just want to take. We want to do what you're doing. We want dogs and kids and a bus. Yeah. That's what we want to do. No joke.

It's not for the faint of heart, but you will enjoy it if you like what you're doing now. It's fun. I love, there's nothing better to me than just live, live anything. I mean, I love writing songs, and I love putting them out, and I love to listen to music. But, you know, we're embarking on, like, fair and festival season. And, man, face-to-face with those crowds, it is, it's just, there's a connection. It's incredible. It is so much fun.

So, yeah, I get it. I would think the live podcast life is pretty cool. Wait. What is the biggest stadium you've done now? Oh, that's a better question. You're talking about like numbers-wise? I mean, well, this was a cool moment. This was like a moment where I thought of my dad.

I was like, man, my dad would think this is so cool. It was we played the Houston rodeo, and it was 85,000 people. Wow. I got a, you know, you got your in-ears on, you know, and I'm just running around the stage. The stage is huge, and it moves around. and I'm just like, what in the world are we doing? I'm looking at my drummer and my bass player who played in restaurants with me like 12 years ago, and we're just beaming.

I mean, I'm looking at him like, what is going on? And then I hear my tour manager who's been with me six years. I mean, we started out in a rental car, and he in my ears, he goes, hey, man, I just want to congratulate you. You just sold out the Houston Rodeo. It's fully sold out. I know. And I, I mean, it's funny.

At the end of that show, we closed the show with Fancy Like, and I ran around the arena. I've never been so out of breath. But I touched every hand on the bottom row of that, like, bull riding rink. And it was awesome. I mean, it felt really good. I love it. that you said that your daughter, wait, they're in the show, like.

Yeah. But wait, one, I forget what you said, but there was, they're dancing. Yeah, Leila. So, Leila dances, she's 18, she's in cosmetology school, but she dances on the tour with three other dancers. And then my two little girls, Loxley and Everly, they, and I think they're like about Breyer's age, right? Yeah, right in the middle of them. Right, she's nine, right? Yeah, so they're 8 and 10, and they come up and they sing a couple of songs with me.

And honestly, I don't even matter. The crowd would much rather hear them. They steal the show every night. But, yeah, it's a family event. Y'all need to come out anytime you're near y'all. I'd love to have everybody. Please. We would absolutely love it. We're already there.

It'll be a blast. Oh, Walker, thank you for being so open and just it's so cool, you know, and it's so beautiful just to share like so openly, you know? And you're just kind spirit and it all just shines through. And we really appreciate you. I had a good time with you guys. I'll come back anytime. I love an Applebee's. Okay.

Let's just get to the interview. What do you get there? Well, isn't that where they have the awesome blossom? Oh, I think so. I love any chain restaurant, though, you guys. We know. How do you feel about Applebee's? I don't know when I was in Meadville, Pennsylvania, and I can only order Applebee's.

Oh, yeah. I don't know. That's right. And I was excited for you. Yeah. You were, like, knot down. I was, like, so excited about Applebee. I think I ordered my friend Applebee's first birthday.

As a joke? No, he lives in Joshua Tree. And it was the only place that I could find that had, like, chocolate cake. Mm, I love chocolate cake. Send him a bunch of, like, pretzels and wings and cake. I hate chocolate cake. It's so weird. How do you hate chocolate?

First of all, I don't love cake in general. I know. We've talked about this. Yeah, but, like, chocolate cake in particular, not a fan. What about, like, a warm lava cake? No. I don't like chocolate cake. I know what chocolate cake is.

leave you. Like, when did you decide this and how long have been held on to it? It has been a minimum 30 years. 20? Minimum. This is what I'm saying. I think a 20-year-old made this decision that it wasn't ready to make and you've held on to it and you need to give it another try.

I don't like love cake. I don't love like I will not eat like a rich brownie. It has to be like a packaged brownie. Ew. What do you mean a package? packaged brownie. No, like a box mix brownie. Oh, I thought you meant like the ones that come in like the little like cream made.

What do you think I am? What do you think this is? Here's what I don't understand though, because you like a muffin. I won't eat, I don't eat a chocolate muffin. But yeah, I like a muffin. Which is very cakeish. I'll eat a cupcake. This is what I'm saying.

But I don't like the icing. What about red velvet? Bread. Well, it's okay. It's not super chocolatey. A cupcake will never be my first choice ever. You know what I mean? But like tea cakes. I do like tea cakes. That's cake, but it's the flavor. All time has this really good mochi cake. Oh, she had it. It's good. It's good. There, cinnamon roll? Ooh, that was good. Have you had that? I am in love. That cinnamon roll is the best cinnamon roll I maybe have ever had. When did you guys get All-Time?

Yeah, it does sound shady, doesn't it? Without you. Yeah, it sounds so shady. Why were we there? Because Shane, we went to... Oh, yeah, we did... Their housewives, podcast. Where?

He's so mad. I even thought when we went to Austin. We said it. We said it. Because we didn't know we were going there and we were like trying to scramble and like figure out something to eat real quick. And then when we got there, we're like, it's really fucked up that we're eating here.

I'm like if Rob locks in right now, we're going to be in trouble. Yeah. Yeah, we felt dirty about it. It didn't feel right. We got the goat boat, boat. What is it? You know, the breakfast thing with the egg and the beans and the tortilla, the cassidia, blue corn cassidia at the bottom.

It was really good. With the snap apple to a piece at the... I'm making it into a Walker-based song. I love Walker. His whole family, same. Like, I am... I really feel. feel like we did family feud just to meet him and his family and his people and Shane.

Shane. Yeah. Like that was the point of it. Don't you feel the way, Rob? Yeah. I was going to say the same thing before he said it. No, I know what you were going to say. What?

He's still stuck on all time. He's so mad about all time. I want that cinnamon roll. The cinnamon roll. Rob, will you bring it to us sometime? We'll see. Wait. He doesn't bring us stuff anymore.

No, he doesn't. He's even wearing a Courage Bagel sweatshirt. Just to rub it in our face. That you don't bring us Courage bagel. He used to like us. Yeah. It's close today. Have we let you down?

Big time. Oh. He's so upset with us. He's so mad about that. We didn't feel right about it. No, I didn't. I actually felt. And then did you do anything to remedy it?

We ate the food and was like, oh, Rob would like this. I got you a really good burrito today. Right? And what are your thoughts on the Haley Beaver smoothie? It's good. Is that the first time you've had it? Yeah. Do you never had it before? I'm not a big aeron smoothie guy.

Well, it's the thing. I mean, someone complimented my skin and I'm like, it's because I've been drinking my Haley Beaver smoothie. Because it's called a skin glazed movie. Do you actually credit it to the smoothie? I did. As a joke or for real? Well, I don't know.

I mean, my skin, I have been like, you know. I've been glowing. I've been really into it lately and I did get that, you know, compliment recently. So I'm just saying. Correlation. Skin glazed smoothie? Come on. Fair.

Yeah. You know? Yeah. It could be glaze. Does my skin look glazy? Lazy. Lazy. Guys. Applebee's on a date, not. Sorry. It's going to be stuck in my head too.

Forever. Did I take notes on anything? Let's look. I got one. You took a note. He took a note. Rob took a note. Calvin's been doing this thing where

he's been sneaking chocolate. He's only allowed chocolate on the weekends. He's only allowed dessert on the weekends. Wow. That's insane. That is discipline. But he asks for it every single night still. Yeah. And last week, Natalie went in to check on him

to take the dog out and bring her back because he sleeps with the dog. And she found a milky way. in his bed. Where do you get a Milky Way? We have like a drawer that we keep like his candy and desserts and stuff. Oh. So he snuck it. And it was not.

They start sneaking it. It was in the wrapper still. He did not eat it. But he had it. Little guy. He wanted his chocolate. What happened? How did you guys handle it? I just asked him casually in the next morning. We've had to have a couple conversations with him about trust and lying. So when I asked him, I was like, so your mom found something in your room last night, and he owned up to it.

He did. Good. But then, so the next day, they were going on a walk, and he had to run inside to change into shorts. Yeah. And then go back outside of me, Natalie. He went inside, ate some chocolate, went and brushed his teeth. This is my dog. I love him.

And then went back outside and Natalie caught him. That's so cute. There was chocolate all over the toothpaste. Which he was using Vincent's toothpaste for some reason. So the like nozzle just had chocolate all over it. Oh my God, that's holy moly. That is really funny. That's really funny.

You should just tell him if he keeps chocolate in his bed, if Huxley eats it, be like you will kill her. That's a good one. Yeah, traumatize him. Yeah. Do you know when you're supposed to eat your sweets? In bed? I didn't say where. Right before bed.

So they say that sugar is the worst for you in the morning. Like nothing you eat in the morning should have sugar, which is really hard. If you think of most of the breakfast things, it's got sugar. It's good sugar in my coffee. And if you have like a yogurt or if you have any sort of cereal or pastry or or matcha or whatever. It's best after a meal. That's when it's the best for your metabolism and your blood sugar.

I always crave sugar after. Me too, every single time. That's sugar addiction, I think. A.k.a. No, no, it's sugar addiction. Yeah. Yeah. I actually have sugar addiction.

I have that. I mean, I think anyone that consumes sugar gets it. I have that sugar addiction. It hits the minute I'm done eating the meal and eat something sweet. 100%. Yep. But like right after, If I don't do it right after, it'll go away after a little bit.

And then I won't want it. Oh, my brain will get me to leave the house. You guys, we go to ice cream so much. I'm starting to get embarrassed. Where do you go? We go to McConnell's. Oh, yeah. They have the flavors that are the non-dairy for Elliott,

and they also have like a cookies and cream that's gluten-free and non-dairy for him. So it's like a slam dunk. The salt and straw is good. We go to salt and straw all the time. but it's always a line. I'm not a big fan of, like, fancy. Why don't love ice cream? Yeah, I don't either.

I mean, we, the boys get, the boys get ice cream a lot, and I almost never get it. And I, my friend Amar came with me when I had Vincent and Calvin and got ice cream, and he got ice cream, and he's like, I don't know how you're not. Yeah, I just won't do it.

There's only certain things, like, I will fuck with a banana royale at Baskin-Robins. Hard. Crave it even. the things she goes hard for that come without a knowing. And so, I'm so passionate about them. Passionate. 100%.

And it's like nobody goes to Baskin Robbins. So when does that happen? One night I was ordering. And this other person was like trying to order like really good ice cream. Yeah. I'm like, no, no. I got this. And it was like not even.

There wasn't even a Bats. Baskin-Robbins, like, close? This is what I'm saying. It had to travel so far, and they were like, I was just ordering, like, jenny's or whatever. And I'm like, no, Baskin-Robbins on Pico is going to come. And that's what I did. And you know what?

Comfort. Like, that'll have it with Dairy Queen for me. Oh, Jeff lives for Dairy Queen. But I like, the only reason I go to Dairy Queen is if they have Orange Julius. I like the peanut butter buster. I do a vanilla cone dipped in chocolate. And sprinkles. Jimis?

Or you have Ducombs? Do you call them? Sprinkles. Sprinkles. Me too. Well, yeah, it's East Coast or Jimmy's. Jeff has, last night.

He said Jimmy's, right? He said jimmies, and the guy looked at him. And Jeff went, sprinkles. He was like, Jimmy's this one. But no, it's getting to the point where I do feel embarrassed. Of Jimmy's? The amount of ice cream. So how many times are you going?

a week. I mean, I know I'm going to get a lot of shit for this. Like three to four days a week. But you guys go out. Go out. But it's cute. It's like an activity. It's a family thing.

We love it. We'll do it maybe once a week. Yeah, that's appropriate. Vinny only gets an ice cream cone. That's what he calls ice cream. That's cute. And every morning, because we pass Jenny is to go to Maru. He asks for ice cream at like seven in the morning.

Yeah. They're closed, but he wants it every time he sees up. I get it. I do too. Baskin-Robbins, guys. Four is a lot. It's a lot. I've tried to cut it down. She is a problem with ice cream.

I'm actually lying to you right now. I'm lying. It's more than four. No, no. Every day. If it was up to me, I would go seven days a week. You know what I thought? So most of the time, it's me pushing it, not the children asking for it.

Well, you guys both said that you do desserts every night. Yeah. So it doesn't really, if it's the same dessert every night, it's not a big deal. Yeah, and they just get a single little scoop. I'm like, they need the calcium and the fat. I can't have too much of an ice cream scoop with my cone. Like, I will take half of the ice cream off just so I can like have a little bit ice cream and mostly cone. That's my move too. I'll try to ask them and they like never. I get a child scoop every time. And that's still a lot.

Yeah, it's too much. Give me the smallest amount possible. I ate mine and then finish Shepherds usually. Because he doesn't even finish his child scoop in the night. Have you had a banana royale from Baskin-Rombs when I was four? No. Dude, you guys, I was talking about it yesterday. It was the one on Pico delivered here?

No. There is Baskin-Robins somewhere in here. There's one by our moms. Oh, I know. That's where I was going to go yet. I was in that hood two days in a row. In both days, I was like, I'm going to go to get a banana Sunday other places. You can't get a banana split, but see, Baskin-Robbins does, it's a cup, and they slice the banana.

Yeah. So it's like a banana split, but it's not like huge and three-skinned like this. It's in a cup contained. You pick your flavors, hot fudge, you get the nuts, the whipped cream, the cherry, and they slice bananas. Never a cherry. What? No. Oh, you don't like cherry?

Maraschino cherries. I like real cherries. Yeah. I don't like the fake ones. Well, I mean, it's just part of the thing. Okay, I don't need to eat the cherry. It's just on it. Could you eat it?

Of course I eat it. I can tie a cherry stem. Oh, you can with your tongue? I grew up in a bar. I remember trying as a kid, like my dad's girlfriend could do it, and I couldn't do it. I could do it. Can you do it? I spent a lot of time working on it.

I can't say? I cannot. Have you tried? Not tried. Would you try a banana royale? I mean, not tried. He would try a banana royal. Sure.

Doesn't that sound good? I would never order it though. It's so good. Yeah. I don't understand this whole. I don't like cake and ice cream thing. I know. It's weird.

It's like really a... It's not my go-to. There's this place in a time where I'll be like... You know what's really weird because I don't have chocolate cake. Chocolate's not my go-to. Chocolate peanut butter ice cream, though. I fuck with. And you like chocolates?

You love these candy. She doesn't believe me. I just, I feel like it's like you decided and then you never work past it. No, I don't like it. It's like how people are like, I don't like sushi. And it's like a corny deal. I didn't eat my brother's birthday cake because it was chocolate on Saturday. From where?

Porto's the Persian cake or something? Or Parisian. Well, I don't know. I forget. It's one of those names. But it's supposedly really. good. I don't like chocolate cake. Where are we going to sushi? People like when you're like a teenager, you're like, I don't like sushi. It's weird. Weird. Yeah, it's a whole like cuisine though.

Yeah, but then you get past it. You keep trying it until you like it. You can not like a certain kind of sushi, but to globally not like sushi. That's how I feel about cake. I agree with that. You know, I'm like, you just haven't pushed past the... I think there's plenty of cakes she would eat. It's just not her go-to is what she's saying. She seems quite passionate about the fact she doesn't like it I don't like chocolate cake All time has a really good chocolate cake I'm sure you would like

But if I don't like chocolate cake How can you be sure I would like it? Well there's certain consistencies And like war Okay I would like take a bite of it But I'm not gonna be like You're not gonna order it It's my mission

I know it's so annoying But like even if you're attacking me with chocolate cake Portillo's chocolate cake Chicago But even if you do like it like her you gonna admit it? I'll tell you if it's like, okay, like not bad. I'm not ever gonna love chocolate cake.

I don't like it. Does Breyer? She does, yeah. She eats chocolate cake. I'm sure there's a version of a chocolate cake you would love. The one my mom makes is amaze balls. There's just so much you can do to a chocolate cake. Oh my God.

It's a lot of chocolate cake. I don't love chocolate cake either. But I'm sure there's one that I would love that... Yeah. Like there was this really good chocolate cake dessert at Mindy's Hot Chocolate in Chicago that had like a pretzel crumble and... Yes. And a caramel sauce.

Have you ever had a cone of pie from Islands? Nope. Yes. Delicious. Delicious. That's an ice cream cake, though, yeah. Love it. But it has like the Oreo cookie crust.

And it's coffee ice cream. Love it. Love it. Islands would always give my tummy hurt. Yes, that's not good. The food isn't good, but the fries with your pantry. But did you make you go to the bathroom? Guys, I love that all my favorites are like these

made regular, like, chain restaurant. Yeah, I wonder why that is. I don't know. It's just what I like. But it's not like you grew up with a bunch of, like, you didn't grow up in like... No, in chain restaurant? Like, your father was.

Like a chain restaurant man? No. Your mom wasn't? No, I don't know why that is. Maybe because they weren't. Maybe it felt like a special thing for you or something. I don't think that's it. Oh, here comes the question.

Guys ready? Yeah. All right. Option one. My pregnant daughter is going to marry an incarcerated man. How do I go about this situation? She has advice. My husband wants me to lose more weight

Before I try to get pregnant How do I move forward Boyfriend come to inside of me without letting me know Oof Surprise One more I may need to break up with my girlfriend Over a large argument

She had with my sister What should I do next? So which one of those What was the first one again? Carcerated man That's rough lose weight before we get pregnant. Nutting inside.

Nutting inside. Oh, okay. All right. Me and my boyfriend have been together for five years. He's 34 and she's 24. Hmm. Huh. A little gap there.

I'd like to be a mom when I am 28, 29. He knows that and we always talk about it. He told me to stop taking the pill about a year ago because he knows it has negative effects for the body. We're always very very. careful when doing things. However, a few weeks ago, he come inside me on purpose without letting me know. I felt betrayed. He told me, well, we're not going to be doing things without trying

to get you pregnant. Wait, see that? What? Last sentence again? Well, we are not going to be doing things without trying to get you pregnant. I was shocked. My first instinct was, think about the morning after pill, but he made me feel so guilty that I can't even explain it. He also spent the days after with me 24-7, so it's not like I could have gone and bought it. Red flags. Which would have had to have been behind his back because he would probably leave me if I took that.

My period is still quite far ahead and I don't know if anything has happened and if I'm pregnant. I feel so helpless and so alone, I feel this relationship has turned to the most toxic thing I've ever experienced. I wake up wanting to... Yeah, goodbye.

First, like, sentences of this story. I wake up wanting to die and go to sleep with the same thought. I am extremely depressed and only have a friend who lives very far away. Yeah, she's pregnant. But I'm completely isolated. I told my sister and my friend that was an accident, but it wasn't.

I know him, and he said he did it on purpose. I just want to feel understood. That's crazy. Well, I'll tell you what you're going to feel. Pregnant. Yeah. Oh, are you pregnant? She's making a real funny joke.

She's taking that smoothie down like a pregnant. person? I have been eating like a pregnant person. I can't get enough. Are you pregnant? All right, so what do you... Leave him. He sounds like a psycho.

Yeah, it doesn't sound like a great situation. Anyone who would do that to you without your permission? I'm not laughing at that. Are you sure? You need to take a minute? What are you laughing? I don't know.

She needs to release. Oh, really? Yeah. You've been doing so good. Oh, no, but I fell off pretty hard. I mean, there's not much to do with that question, but leave him. Yeah, it doesn't sound looking great. I want to know the follow-up if she was pregnant.

What's the word violating? Sorry. No, he is clearly, like, right when you said, he said, get off birth control. It's not good. you know, like a year and they're not trying. It's like, oh, I don't think that's that crazy. No, it's a controlling thing. But it's a sign.

I would say. A lot of guys feel like that, though, because it's true. It's not good for your body. No. Yeah, I don't think any guy that says that to his girlfriend is controlling. No, no, no, I just mean hearing the whole thing as a whole. And then hearing that, I'm like, oh, these are signs of like controlling scary. She included that.

She included that bit for a reason. Right. I mean Yes, Rob He sounds crazy I mean think about that That is so messed up That you're trusting someone

To be intimate with them in that way Having this understanding That we're not trying to get pregnant And then then just going Has that ever happened to you Or a guy like came inside without asking Also But she needs to just

She I mean She needs to just make him wear condoms When happened? What? Clearly pulling out not a method that she should use with this partner either. You know what they call people who use the pull-out method?

P-out? P-out. Parents. Oh, parent. I knew it was a P-word. All right. Well, yeah. Hopefully she can get out of that situation. I just wish there was a follow-up to know if she was pregnant. She just posted it, so I think we need to wait a little bit. Okay. Can we respond to her? You can create a Reddit account, yeah, and comment.

You don't have one? You don't have one? Nope. If I'm not hard to believe, you're lying. You're lying. You're not using my account to write back to these questions. I'm also on your computer, so. Oh, I don't have an account.

I know. Okay. I didn't write it. I didn't write it. It's not me. It's not me now. This is going to be our last post for a little bit. Yeah, we guys, summertime and kids and traveling.

I know. We're just going to take a couple weeks off. Yeah. Of posts. Still interviews. Just the post. Oh, yeah. Still interviews.

Just us. Because we're the three best friends that anyone. I know it's sad, but it's true. I kind of love tons to talk about. Yeah, we will. We will. I'm going to have my pod note subject line matter in my phone. It's going to have so many things.

So many. So many. And write in and tell us. what you want us to talk about, right? That would be fun. Instead of us just talking about what we eat. Banana Royale. Tell us how to make this show, please. What? What? We'll be back. We'll be back. We'll be back. We'll be back. All right, guys. We'll see in a little bit. See you in a little bit. Bye. Bye. That was a head gum podcast.