Dear Chelsea - Minisode: Bringing Delusion To The Table with Aminah Imani, Sydnee Washington, and Marie Faustin

Episode Date: January 10, 2025

  Comedians and besties Aminah, Sydnee and Marie join Chelsea to talk about spilling each others’ secrets, how laughter keeps them together, and why drugs > medicine. * Check out Sydnee and Marie on the Mess Podcast.   * Thanks to LoungeStudiosNYC.com * Need some advice from Chelsea? Email us at [e-mail] * Executive Producer Catherine Law Edited & Engineered by Brad Dickert * * * * * The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the Podcast author, or individuals participating in the Podcast, and do not represent the opinions of iHeartMedia or its employees.  This Podcast should not be used as medical advice, mental health advice, mental health counseling or therapy, or as imparting any health care recommendations at all.  Individuals are advised to seek independent medical, counseling advice and/or therapy from a competent health care professional with respect to any medical condition, mental health issues, health inquiry or matter, including matters discussed on this Podcast. Guests and listeners should not rely on matters discussed in the Podcast and shall not act or shall refrain from acting based on information contained in the Podcast without first seeking independent medical advice.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Jason Alexander and I'm Peter Tilden and together our mission on the Really No Really podcast is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions like why the bathroom door doesn't go all the way to the floor? What's in the museum of failure and does your dog truly love you? We have the answer. Go to ReallyNoReally.com and register to win $500 a guest spot on our podcast or a limited edition signed Jason Bobblehead. The Really No Really podcast.

Follow us on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to Couples Counseling with Chelsea. I'm here with three of my friends. They are not a couple. They're a throuple. They're not romantically involved either. There are three comedians named Amina, Imani, Sydney Washington, and Marie Faustin. And they are a friendship throuple. And I spent some time with Emma Whistler and heard a lot about their beef. So I thought I would bring them onto the podcast.

What about secret keeping? Do you guys keep secrets from each other? Or do you guys have secrets between like two of you out of the three that you keep from the third person? I mean, that must happen. Oh, yeah, sure. Yeah, yeah, I think it would be in their best interest to keep all secrets from me

because I'll either forget that it's a secret. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, I'm the problem. I'm definitely a problem. And I'll say it and I'll be like, oh. Yeah, Maria's good at keeping secrets, from what I know. She's good at keeping secrets. But also she forgets. I think she's mainly like, she forgets things.

So she like, once you tell her,'s in a cipher and it's gone. Sometimes I forget I know stuff. Or sometimes somebody will tell me something and they'll be like, don't tell nobody. And then I'll go tell somebody else and I'll be like, don't tell nobody. And they'd be like, I told you. And I'd be like, I...

Yes, she does do that. I remember I did that to Citi. I was running back information that she told me. But I will say this, if I don't want one or the other to know, I remember I did that to Sydney. I was running back information that she told me, but I will say this. If I don't want one or the other to know, I won't tell both of them. Well, yeah. You think that they're in cahoots?

Oh, 100%. Yeah, I think it's best. I think it's best not to tell either of us. Do yourself a favor and not even mention it. Don't allude to it. Don't even think about it in front of them, because then they're going to be like, what you thinking about?

And then you're going to be like, aw. Well, because if you tell me, I'm going to be like, Sydney. And if you tell Sydney, she's going to be like, no. Marie. Somebody was like, oh, I might as well tell Marie, because I know you going to tell her. And I'm like, hey. I already know.

I already know. I don't know. I don't know. Have you guys ever gotten into a real fight? Like a his fight? No a no no no no like Where you had to resolve it like you somebody had to apologize or Say they're sorry. I mean a quit the knit and that was that was a big one for us That was a big right she when she quit the net. I thought she didn't want to deal with us anymore

she just didn't want to deal with the net and She just didn't want to deal with the knit. And she, I think there was miscommunication and everything. So it was via text. She was on the group chat messaging us. And it's like, if we would have sat down and talk, I think it would have went over better. I had tonsillitis and they was like, you not coming to work? You didn't have tonsillitis. You had COVID. First of all, we already discussed that.

I know. I know. I'm telling you, when we got tested, I fainted out in the public streets of New York twice. And I only know it twice because the man said, she fainted twice. Get her ambulance. And I texted him and I was like, y'all, I'm down bad. And they was like, yeah, so about that lineup. And I was like, oh, Amina, we already went over this. You did not text us that you had time to like this. I did. Sydney's growth. We were with Chelsea when you said this and Sydney's all the way back. I had this story is imprinted in my life, so I can't change it.

Yeah. Whatever delusion I get the delusion is, okay, you bring delusion to the table. Take it out of the origin story, babe. That's not, mm-mm. Yeah, you have an interesting recollection of things because you kind of do create your own reality. Oh, is that right, Chelsea? Yeah, I mean, listen, some people have to do that

to stay positive and remain upbeat. And so maybe you're using that as a tool for your own happiness. No, no, no, it's not even a tool for happiness. I feel like I remember, I don't even remember her scrolling through, but I feel like I told them I was sick and that just wasn't the conversation. And even though they didn't find that text, that's still the story that you're sticking

to? There's just no way I would have a sickness and not tell them. That's weird to me. Okay. Yeah, so that's- I mean, the way you were saying stuff, it was like, obviously something's wrong. There's a problem. I was direct about that. I feel like I was direct about what was going on

and what was wrong with me. I just didn't know. I didn't know what to pinpoint. No, because then we had a follow-up. We had a dinner. It was almost like an intervention. And there's still a problem. Oh, they intervened.

That was like, you need to start taking medicine. That's what y'all intervention was. And I was like, I'll do drugs, but I don't do medicine. Amina, to be fair, you also made us do the intervention at a vegan place. So everybody was angry coming in. Like, I'm paying all this money for vegan food. I'm still hungry.

Yes. This don't taste like chicken. Well, at the time I was vegan. At the time I was vegan. Yeah, now I'm gonna have some pepper on the pizza last night. It was great. Oh my God.

Are you, I mean, are you good at taking advice or do you solicit advice? Like what's the dynamic between the three of you giving advice or like, how do you know when it's time to actually give advice or when it's time to just be supportive? I think I give advice when I'm asked of it. I think for the most part,

a lot of stuff is not gonna make sense to me and my logic and my values. So I have to just let everybody rock and do their thing. But then if they come and be like, well, what you think, Amina? Then I'll go ahead and impart my wisdom. What was she saying? What was said? She said, it never makes sense.

That's what she said. No, because even Sydney was talking about borrowing money. She let somebody borrow money. They didn't pay her back. And I was sitting there like, so y'all still going to be cool. And she was just like, it's fine. And I was like, oh, yeah, now. So then I had to hold back and let her navigate their friendship.

Sydney, how much money did you lend this person? Well, it was a hundred and seventy five thousand dollars. No, it was not that, but it was a complicated. It was a complicated situation. It was very complicated. And it all worked out eventually. And I just learned to. OK, this is where me and Amina have the issue is like,

she doesn't know what would actually upset me and trigger me to be like, I'm done because I do let some big things happen. And I'll be like, it's fine, it'll work out. And it's something kind of- Small will happen. Little. Sydney would be like, oh, they're dead. And I'll be like, oh, I would have never thought

that this, so many other things were done before this little, oh, they didn't write you a text and now they not friends no more. I don't know, it'd be mad simple. I mean, that's why the, you know, the cereal gate situation was so crazy to me. Oh, tell the cereal gate. They don't they don't know. Oh, Amina knows about cereal gate. Well, Chelsea doesn't know. Okay, so boom. Sidney had a friend who lived up in the apartment above her. Sidney't cook. Sid Sid can't cook.

Sig don't cook. This person feeds her all the time. Like she makes dinner. She's like, hey, come eat. And Sydney just eats and leaves. And one day this person had cereal on the fridge. And Sydney said, this is all you have or something like that. And it was like, dad, who ate all the cereal?

Sydney and no, no, I've never seen her eat cereal, Sydney. So it probably was you. Their cereal there, though, that I don't eat the cereal. Sydney complained about the cereal. The friend was upset. And then Sydney was mad that the girl was mad and didn't talk to her for four months. So that's what I cereal cereal, but not she was

what? Money over a thousand dollars. And she had been feeding Sydney for, I don't know, maybe a year. I don't know how long she had been. No, no, no. Hold on. Wait, you're missing. You're missing points, right? When people do stuff for you and you don't ask, that's on it. You're feeding most of the time. I'll be like, oh, I'm good. Oh, you know, you don't want anything

Oh, you don't you all you're you and a wreck. No, I'm saying how the you're saying most of the time you didn't eat So in a week, how many meals would you eat up there? No, no, no, no, no, no, it's no, no No, hold on. I did not say that. I say a lot of the times it's like it's being put on Hey, you want something to eat? oh I made this this person's making food anyway a lot of times sometimes I don't be hungry at the time or like oh it's later so it's it's not a thing like oh what you cooking you cook it's never an expectation of you cooking for me it's a you're offering and I come fly through because it's gonna be there anyway and if I say no what are you you got an eating disorder so it's like well let anyway. And if I say, no, what are you? You got an eating disorder?

So it's like, well, let me just eat this food so you don't think I'm going through something. And that's straight up what it was. And so when the cereal thing came about, it's like, obviously you must be having some pent up resentment or whatever about X, Y, and Z. And so that tipped her off and was like, oh, absolutely not. When for me, I was like, oh, I thought. And so that tipped you tipped her off and was like, Oh, absolutely not.

When for me, I was like, Oh, I thought I thought everything was cool. Yeah. The way you telling it now is different. How did you resolve this with your neighbor? How did you guys start speaking again? I don't know. I like how did it happen, Marie? I think she I mean, well, because the friend, the girl called me and I was like, Oh, Sydney is wrong. And Sydney was like, Sydney? I think she. I mean, well, because the friend, the girl called me and I was like, oh, Sydney's wrong. And Sydney was like, Sydney didn't think she was wrong.

And I think she wrote Sydney a letter. She got her a gift basket. Sydney didn't want any parts of this girl. Sydney had a birthday dinner. We all got dressed. Sydney walked by her in her birthday outfit, didn't invite her. I did not.

It was crazy. I don't know how they remember that. I think COVID happened and that's how they started talking again. And Cindy really that COVID COVID together and brought us apart. You needed more food. You're like, I do agree with that, though. If people do stuff for you, you do you do you do. That's on you.

Don't be trying to pull up asking me for favors because you done did and did and did. Like the Italian is crazy. Or if you have a problem, nip it in the bud. Don't wait for something big to pop up. And then you come at me and I'm like, I don't know where is this coming from? Yeah.

Yeah. I agree with the, I'm not asking your offering, I'ma take. Cause I'm a taker. I'm a take till you ain't got nothing left to take. But the the taking and then being like, what's happening here? I don't even know what you're like. Are you poor? Where's the cereal?

I don't know what you said exactly. I think the thing that you said in the way that you said it, that it wasn't like she was like, I always think it was. I don't know. I don't know. We will, that'll be a different talk for a different time. But the point of that is she'll cut somebody off for some cereal, but not $1,500. Yo, Amina.

This is why we be going back and forth, Amina. It be yours. I just wanted us to remember what we was, what the core was. That's all wrong. It was just a bullet point. To wrap this all up. No, no, no.

Chelsea, Chelsea, this is what I, no. This is how I am. I feel like I'm very, I'm an open book. I'm very honest with my friends. I'm very emotional. It is very see through how I am with my friends, right? If you have these random problems with me and you do not speak, you know what I mean?

And then you're sensitive about stuff and things be bothering you. I can't go further with that because we're friends. There's gonna be some issues. I don't like people tiptoeing over stuff. It's like, just talk to me, tell me what's wrong. I don't wanna have to be guessing. I'm not a mind reader.

I'm not a magician. I'm too old. I'm too grown. I don't want it. to be guessing. I'm not a mind reader. I'm not a magician. I'm too old. I'm too grown. I don't want it. So I will cut somebody off if I think it's a personality trait. If I think it's like, oh, this, you can't have a real discussion

about something that's bothering you. So you'll let something blow up and then I got to deal with it. Everybody's silent. Everybody's silent. I bombed the room. Whatever. No, no, no, I can relate to what you're saying. I get pissed off about little things. I get pissed off about little things and sometimes don't get pissed off about the bigger things.

Sometimes I can be like that too. So I can relate to what you're saying, even if these two girls can't. Yeah, I shut it down. I'm Jason Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden. And together on the Really No Really podcast, our mission is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions like... Why they refuse to make the bathroom door go all the way to the floor. We got the answer. Will space junk block your cell signal?

The astronaut who almost drowned during a spacewalk gives us the answer. We talk with the scientist who figured out if your dog truly loves you and the one bringing back the wooly mammoth. Plus, does Tom Cruise really do his own stunts? His stuntman reveals the answer. And you never know who's going to drop by. Mr. Brian Cranston is with us today. How are you, sir? Hello, my friend.

Wayne Knight about Jurassic Park. Wayne Knight, welcome to Really No Really, sir. Bless you all. Hello, Newman. And you never know when Howie Mandel might just stop by to talk about judging. Really? Good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening,

good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening, Well, really, and you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So I know you said laughter is the thing that keeps you guys together, right? I mean, but there's gotta be other things that you've learned from Marie and from Cindy in the time that you guys have all been friends. Oh, I gotta get to this, yeah. Okay, things that I have learned.

Either learned from them, well, learned from them, definitely. Either about them or about yourself that you've learned from them. Well, you know what I will say? On the border of people pleasing to non-people pleasing, I feel like I found a good balance in between from watching how we all kind of interact. Right. So like my Sydney wouldn't she will attest to this Sydney wants to be like everybody friends. She wants to make everybody happy and Maria just be like, it's about me. Right. Like girl, I mean, you could, if you add a little sprinkles to this, it's cool. So I feel like as far as like pleasure and like putting self first, a hundred percent%, I feel like that's something that I admire greatly

about Marie. Like, I don't think that's a bad thing. I feel like a lot of people have a hard time doing that and you just do it so well. And so I feel like that's something that I do admire. You like, you're not with the drama, you wanna have a good time. You like, if it ain't adding a good time,

then we should have no parts to it. And I know that's a hundred percent you. And then Sydney is, yeah, I feel like what I learned from Sydney is support, unconditional support. Like she even talks about this in her One Woman show about like her family giving her this grace of how she burnt down a family's house and then they still loved her.

And I was like, that wouldn't happen. And my family, you burned that house. You burned down your connection to your people. And so that is one thing that I admire about Sydney is she really, really does extend, extend, extend the grace. And so I feel like even Marie would agree to that. I feel like that is something that I not only admire about her, but I've had to learn to do because before I was like,

no nonsense, get out my face. But now I'm just like, okay, you got to let people be people and then give them room to, to figure it out. Why are you laughing? All right. That was a great answer. That was nice. That's why we're,

we're wrapping it up on a high note so we can, so our listeners can learn about female friendship. Marie, and also actually telling your friends what you love about them is a very important thing to do. So Marie, what have you learned from these two women or what do you admire about these two women? What have you learned about yourself through them? I mean, that was a really nice answer. Wow. I really like that. Don't speak again now. I would say that from Sydney,

I probably learned something similar. Like friends have never been something that's been very important to me, but Sydney really is friends with everybody. She's calling people, she's remembering things that people say. She's following up. I'm like, how do you know everybody's business?

And she's like, because I listen. And I'm like, oh, oh, I have to listen when people speak to me is crazy. Well, she's also sober. So that's also an added benefit to listening. That's what it is, Chelsea. That's what it is. Yeah, weed marijuana takes your memories away. That's what it is, Chelsea. That's what it is. You know, weed marijuana takes your memories away. That's crazy.

But yes, I learned about, you know, just being friends. Have a friend, a good friend from Sydney and Amina. I feel like Amina taught me that it's OK to be honest and, you know, use your words in a way that people can actually hear what you're saying. Because sometimes Amina will say things and I'll be like, huh, I never thought about it that way. But, you know, it seems like, you know, friend, you're doing the work. I don't know what work,

but I feel like you're doing some of the work. That's crazy. That's crazy. It's okay. You don't think you're doing the work? Before the podcast is over, just know I'm a mentor in this friendship. You said a mentor? Yeah, you heard me. I told you to stop talking after you answered it.

But I feel like you talk about a lot of adults and stuff from Reed. Like you'll call me, I'm like healthcare, finances, fitness, but it's okay. You said I got healthcare because of you? That's what you said? No, I said that I feel like we talk about those things. Like, I feel like those are the conversations that we have.

Sydney, it's your turn. Go ahead, Sydney. Close it up, Sydney, with your favorite things about Amina and Marie. Let me look at my notes. Oh, was this supposed to be the favorite? No, no. Amina is a human being growing through.

She will show you all parts of her as a being in her growth, in her journey. Like, I really do feel like I've been there through so many things with her that I see her. I see her and she's she's open. She's not close to being like, well, this is what it is. And I'm working through it. And so she has reminded me to be nicer to myself, that it's OK to to work on yourself. It's OK to to even ask for help. Maybe not financial help, but it's OK to ask. So it's OK to ask.

And yeah, I need money. She'll she'll find some things that you can do to make the money that she's not going to give you. And she has shown me the importance of family. She is down for her family no matter what. And I'll be ready to cut them off. So I love that. Marie has taught me to put yourself first, that a lot of things, it's not that serious. Everything should be way more lighter to have a purpose of like fun and what makes you happy. It's like the pursuit of happiness without the homelessness, that's Marie, in terms of like getting what you want

and working towards it and knowing that it's gonna happen for you. And it should be, you should work smarter, not harder. Like everything that you're doing, it shouldn't be a, every day is a fight, you know? So yeah, and confidence and just like believing in yourself and whatnot is, that's what I always see when I see her,

is just like always putting your best foot forward. Nice. Nice ladies. Way to end on a high note, girls. I love it. We did it. We're wrapping it up because Sydney's taping her half hour special tonight in Vegas. Break a leg. Yeah. You're going to crush it. We saw the 30. Okay. We saw something. And thank you ladies for making this work today. Thank you for having us. This was really fun.

Glad we did it. I'm glad you did too. Thank you. Have fun tonight. And that's all for this week with Amina, Sydney, and Marie. You can find them on Instagram at justsidbw, that's Sydney's, at Reezy, that's with three E's, R-E-E-E-Z-Y, and then at Amina Imani. If you want some good Instagram stuff, go follow them.

And you can join us next time as we continue couples counseling with Chelsea. I'm Jason Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden. And together our mission. On the Really No Really podcast. Is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions. Like. Why the bathroom door doesn't go all the way to

The floor what's in the museum of failure and does your dog truly love you We have the answer go to really no really calm and register to win $500 a guest spot on our podcast or a limited edition sign Jason bobblehead the really no really podcast follow us on the iHeart radio App Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts