Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - Maria Menounos

Episode Date: March 12, 2019

Maria Menounos (E! News, Access Hollywood, Kick’ It Old Skool) discusses going from size 3 to 14 when she started working at Dunkin' Donuts, how she almost got married on the Howard Stern Show, and helping her mom through her battle with brain cancer. Maria opens up about her own brain tumor, how she reacted when she found out, and how she managed to stay so strong during it all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ontario, the wait is over. The gold standard of online casinos has arrived. Golden Nugget Online Casino is live. Bringing Vegas-style excitement and a world-class gaming experience right to your fingertips. Whether you're a seasoned player or just starting, signing up is fast and simple. And in just a few clicks, you can have access to our exclusive library of the best slots and top-tier table games. Make the most of your downtime with unbeatable promotions and jackpots that can turn any mundane moment into a golden, opportunity at Golden Nugget Online Casino. Take a spin on the slots, challenge yourself at the

tables, or join a live dealer game to feel the thrill of real-time action, all from the comfort of your own devices. Why settle for less when you can go for the gold at Golden Nugget Online Casino. Gambling problem call Connects Ontario 1866531-260. 19 and over, physically present in Ontario. Eligibility restrictions apply. See Golden Nuggett Casino.com for details. Please play responsibly. You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenberg. That's pretty good. Have you ever thought of voiceovers? No. Good. You shouldn't.

Yeah, there's, I don't want to take away your work. No, you do great at what you do. Rob, have you had a good week? Had a terrible week. Did you why? No, I didn't. I had a good week. Did you? Yeah.

I mean, you got a kid who shit on the floor the other day? Yeah, last night he took a shit on the floor. Now, why didn't he have his diaper on? Explain. He's got a diaper rash, so we were letting him air out his butt. How long did you let him air out his B? it was about 10 minutes and in 10 minutes he just cranked one out

I checked an email on my phone and then and smelled shit and turned and looked and it was sitting in the floor do you get upset your reaction first like don't try to act like Mr. Perfect Dad do you ever go God damn it or do you go

oh my God I thought it was funny you laughed yeah I thought it was funny well Irv my dog is my child he went out there but he always like squats around the whole yard like yesterday you were screaming I wasn't screaming no don't

You were screaming, you were yelling. You were upset. No. Not at Irv. He was like, it took me 30 minutes to get the shit off his right paw. I was just like, what are you doing? Why do you step on your own shit? You're too old for this, buddy.

But I wasn't yelling at him. Also, yesterday was a cool day, fat scooters delivered a, they drove six hours. My friend Drew and Peter drove from Vegas, or excuse me, Phoenix, in a van and brought me a fat scooter. If you haven't seen the fat scooters, check out my Instagram. These things are incredible. And I'm going to get, you know, you guys some deals. I'm trying to get some codes and stuff because it's the most fun I've ever had. They get me a helmet and, like, you know, I'm cruising around the neighborhood.

I don't even need to drive my car anymore. I love this. It's got Bluetooth speakers. It's badass. And we also, thanks to all the fans for doing, I did a stage it, Rob. What's the stage? A stage. It's like an online, you know, we perform in my basement online.

Who performed? The band left on Laurel. You have a band? Yeah, you know this. And people like tip for our albums to kind of get our album going. Did you make a lot of money? we just made it a little to go towards the album but it's huge because and then we give prizes like we skyped five fans like we skyped them at their house the whole band for like 20 minutes and then we gave an album signed by the band which the albums are coming out but those will be sent but it's pretty cool anyway let's get into our guest today yeah it's maria manninoa she's an old friend of mine and uh she's a young friend too though what do you mean oh you mean she's not old i mean i've known her like when i say old friend i've known it we did a movie called kicking an old school which was a movie that was so bad daxed text me in the theater during the premiere and said it's so bad,

I can't believe I'm not in it. It's a pretty, you know, but we had a lot of fun. And I, when I met her, I realized, wow,

she is just an incredible woman. And she has an incredible story. You know her from like watching e-news, right, and all that. She's just been around there. She's a great reporter. She's got a great personality.

She's beautiful. She's charming. She's smart. And she went through a tumor. She had a brain tumor. And she tells the story so open and candidly that I think you're in for some real, get ready for a good cry

Michael was sobbing on the couch Well I did get pretty emotional But it's more than that It's about life It's about living And it's much more than just all that So let's get inside of Maria Manunas It's my point of you

You're listening to inside of you With Michael Rosenbaum Inside of You Inside of You Inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum was not recorded in front of a live studio audience. Oh my God, your man cave is amazing. Do you like this little screening room? That comes down, a big screen.

Wait, what's happening? I, like, walked in and got smothered by dogs, and now I'm in a really cool. That's my favorite movie of all time. Isn't she the scariest character of all time, the Wicked Witch of the West? Oh, see, now, I love, you've got to come to my house because we have in our screening room, we have the posters outside, but I really like seeing. Oh, well, you know, you have to come to my house. You have a big one.

You want to put your headphones on? You like hearing yourself? Yeah, I guess I will. I'm sure you do. You're like me. We like... Okay. Well, hi.

Here I am. You got sex here just now. I can hear myself. There's the Fran Drescher. What do you call it? You said it's a cross between... David Letterman said it was like a dolphin. Jeremy Piven said it was a goat mounting a dump truck.

I mean, there have been a lot of... Did you ever try to change your laugh? I love it. I do have different octaves and different laughs. I feel like for different situations. What's a small laugh? Like if somebody said something you thought was kind of. Like I kind of do like that.

Like that was kind of fine. Yeah. Yeah. But if you're hysterical. If I'm hysterical, it could go in like kind of old man like deep. Ha ha ha ha. Something stupid. It depends.

Like my, that's my giggle, I think. Yeah. That's good. You look great. You look the same as you did when we did that movie. Kicking it old school. Probably how many years ago?

Oh my God. So long ago now. That's got to be over 10 years. years yeah 10 years ago shit maria manunas thank you for allowing me to be inside of you today i really i'm excited about this i wanted you as a guest in the show wait how long have you been doing a podcast uh how long we've been doing i mean we did a big relaunch you know it's funny because we were doing this podcast rob and i by the way how old do you think rob is rob 82

mhm ha ha ha ha fucker's 29 already has a kid that's my evil laugh 29 well you know when someone says that it's like they've got to be super old or something or super young. I was like, I don't know which way you're going with this. I'm going to go obnoxious. I don't know. He's got the beard growing here.

He's trying to look older, more mature. I think you're looking dirty a little bit. Rob's like, you should do a podcast. I'm like, everybody does a podcast. So we started doing it, and I just fell in love with it because I felt like it gives me purpose. I don't know. I talk intimately about, to people about their lives and they're open.

So hopefully you'll be open today. Oh, I'm open. Are you an open book? Are you pretty, are you pretty, frigging open? You're not a private girl. I'm pretty open. Have you heard my Howard Stern interviews? Yeah.

Yeah. Didn't you propose? Didn't you get proposed to on that show or something? I did. Yeah. We almost got married on the show too. Now, see, like a lot of people would ask the question. I mean, why would you do that? It was not my choice. No, Kevin was going to surprise me with the wedding. So after, when I was recovering from brain surgery, I was like, we need to get married and let's have kids. And I was just getting like, I was so vulnerable. And I just, this person's like taking such good care of me. And I was like, all the things that just didn't matter all of a sudden mattered. And And, you know, he was like, at some point, he was like, I got something up my sleeve.

And I was like, oh, God. And he was like, don't worry about it. It's for me to know you to find out, like, whatever. And I was like, okay, no clue what he was doing. I had no idea what he was planning. So then New Year's Eve rolls around and working for Steve Harvey and Fox. And they asked me if we would get married on the show. So I at first said no.

I was like, no way. And then I thought about it. And then after they did offer me a million dollars. I was like, wait a second. seems like a great idea. I don't have to worry about inviting people. I don't have to put anything together. This is great. So I said yes. And initially was going to surprise him. So I didn't tell him for a minute. And then I realized I couldn't figure out how to get him into a tux. How do I get him ring-sized? And so I finally let him in on it. And he's sweating

bullets freaking out. He doesn't like the attention that really doesn't. Well, he never did. But Howard was the one who kind of outed him in a sense. And now he had already gone down the line with Howard and Beth and Gary Delabate. They were planning the wedding with, you know, everybody there. And now he had to call them and tell them. Howard would have been there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Beth was like planning my dress and, like, they were all working on it.

And then he had to call them and be like, Maria just took a turn, didn't tell me. Oh, yeah. You know, this is what's happening. And they're like, no, no, no. Because Beth was like, this is not a good idea. She's like, I don't know about this. And then when he asked me, he's like, Would you have wanted, like, the whack pack and everybody?

Would you've been okay with that? And I looked at him and I go, abs of fucking lootly. That would have been amazing. Yeah, you have a good personality like that. You're kind of, you kind of go with the flow. It would have been amazing. It would have been awesome. So much fun.

Now, you've been with Kevin for, since, what, 98? A little earlier than that, I think. So we'll be together 21 years this April. How old were you when you met him? 19. You were doing all the pageants and stuff? No. I did one before.

then one after. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What did you mean? We met in Boston. Because he went to Emerson? No, he came back to Boston to make a movie. So he was headwriter here at MTV. He was working on Singled Out and all of that. And then he came back to make a movie. And my cousin who went to high school with him in Winchester, Massachusetts was like, you know, I got a buddy. When you want to go out to L.A. someday I got this buddy. And I was like, he's blowing smoke on my eyes. I have no idea who he's talking about. And so eventually he came back and my cousin's like, Hey, you want to work on my buddy's movie? And I was doing makeup at the Lord and Taylor Chanel counter in Copley Place in Boston.

And I was like, yeah. And that was it? Was it love at first sight when you met him? Really? Yeah. And you're 19 years old. Yeah. No.

I was obsessed. And then we spent two or three days together. And on the last day, I took him to Logan Airport. And we were chatting as he was waiting for the plane because back then you could actually wait with somebody at the gate. Remember those days? Oh, yeah. And those days.

Yeah. And so he was telling me how he took massage therapy classes to, yeah, to help heal his dad of pain because he was going through cancer. Or he had just passive cancer at that point. And I was like, you're a caretaker in my head. I'm thinking, oh, he's done. I'm going to make him fall in love with me. That's exactly what I need. Why did I think at 19 I needed a caretaker?

I don't know. Are you a bit of a caretaker? I don't know if I'm as good at caretaker as he is. Are you one of those people that somebody scratches your back for 45 minutes? And you're like, oh, fuck, I got to reciprocate. I'm tired. I don't want to. I'll give you a few strokes.

Yeah, probably. Yeah, I do that too. Rob, you got enough fucking pictures here? What do you fucking? This is the longest picture. Have you noticed? I'm just like, gee, one of these pictures is going to be done? Well, he's seen them and he probably thinks they all look like shit.

So he's like, he's continuing. I'll tell you that right now. He's looking out for me. I should shut up. Right, Rob? But I like you on the microphone. He said you should shut up, FYI. You're my go-to guy over here.

It's got to be hard for like to, I mean, at 19. you've been with someone has there been those rocky roads i think there have been moments yeah they've been like oh my god i just want to see another penis maybe um yeah well i definitely didn't have a large collection of those that's what i'm saying that's probably yeah um i kiss my first boy at 18 so i mean there was a very short window for anything to go on right i think that's good though i kind of wish i would have done that um but i didn't i couldn't get nailed in wood shop back in high school uh i was just not you could you could probably sense that but i was the shortest kid in my high school. So I didn't get action until I was like 18. But, you know, I look back and

I'm like, wow, the Midwest, if I would have just stuck around, I probably would have, you know, married quickly, divorced quicker. I don't know. And look at me now. Look at you now. 46, single. I go in relationship. I have relationships. Uh-huh. You're 46. Yeah. I'm getting old. Yeah. You look good. Do you watch 90-day fiancé? No. Greatest show on television. Do you produce the show? No. You produce everything. No, but there's a guy on it who swears he's 40 and kevin and i every time it comes on the screen we start dying laughing because he's literally 65 he looks old he's so old i was on there look up look up 90 day fiance uh not colt oh god he's the wisconsin guy just look up the cast and i'll show you you tell me if

this guy is 40 i'm dying so you think i could go for 40 i could i could be 40 with some makeup some better lighting this is LED lighting this is not great lighting maria hold on let me see this bring it over here do we both look like shit right now no you look great thanks i don't I've ever seen you look like shit. I can. Actually, I look like shit the other day. No, a week ago or so, we went to Whole Foods and I wasn't wearing makeup. My hair was just, just shit.

I just was in my sweats. And who do we bump into? But my very dear friend Wilmer Valderrama. Wilmer, you directed Wilmer, didn't you? And yeah. And so I'm sitting with Wilmer, Kevin, and this girl that was with him, we're all chatting. And Kevin's like, oh, Maria, shit appearance by you in front of Wilmer. And every day he says it to fuck with me.

You know what? You got to embrace it because this is the reality. I'm like, I'm a human at Whole Foods, honey. God, it's so hard, but I don't make it much of an effort. It's hard for me to make a real effort. You're a guy. Guys don't have to care. I like sweatpants. I like this is me. You're going to see me look like shit.

But you, it's different for women. It's harder for women, but it shouldn't be, right? Yeah, it really is harder for women. People should say, hey, that's Maria Manuno. She's beautiful. Regardless. Not bad day. Yeah.

Bad day, Manunas. Oh, yeah. You'd get killed. Do you go out with no makeup? up a lot? I do like on the weekends when you know what I usually have something on because I don't like raw skin with the sun. So I have some you know SPF and then I put like at least a tinted moisturizer on so that I have a little extra barrier there. Is SPF important? I don't really do that. I just wake up. I get one. I use Dermologica. Oh, you do. I use a 50. I noticed it in your

bathroom. Well, they're not an advertiser. But they should be. So maybe they will. Maybe they will be. I do have some upstairs. Yeah. So you use that. How many, how long does it? take you to get ready. I get ready and probably 30 minutes, Max. 30 minutes. Yeah. If Kevin says, I'm going to go, let's go out for a burger. Oh, you know, we do it all the time. I have to be so fly. Like, does he get frustrated? He's like, dude, we're going for a fucking burger. No, I've always been good.

You're good. You're like a dude. You're always been like the girl that could just hang. Yeah. I felt like that when we did back, not back in the day. That's another. Back to the future. Kicking it old school. Mm-hmm. That's where we met. We had a blast. We filmed to Vancouver. Jamie Kennedy. Miguel Nunes, Bobby Lee.

Do you remember Miguel's stories? No. I remember him being stone as shit. He told us a story about crabs one night. By the way, Miguel Nunes was Joanna Man. He was in the movie Life, which is one of my favorite. Look him up. He's the guy that coined the phrase,

Don't be scared. Did he really? Don't be scared. He said, don't be scared. Watch life. He's the one who did it. He always says, I'm the one who did that. I say skirt all the time.

Don't be scared. be scared. And Bobby Lee? I friggin' love Bobby Lee. He showed it all the time. You can never show your penis and said. He always showed his penis. But he said I haven't seen his penis in a while. I've done his podcast. What did it look like? I just remember it being a little purple. I'm colorblind, but he told me it was purple, so it made sense because it looked a little dark. A little dark? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Because can't you only

see light and dark? I really didn't stare at long. Okay. Because he was just bouncing around. It was in my trailer, and I had to kick him out. But go ahead, Miguel Nunes. Okay, back to Bobby Lee's penis. Now, if it was fully erect, how big do you think? I don't know. He's got a beautiful girlfriend, Kalila, she's great.

So I assume he does the work. He's like, he's like pleasing her. He's pleasing a woman, that's important. So you're saying it was small. No, I bet when he's a, I bet he's a grower. He's a grower, not a shower. Yeah, I mean, how many guys, when you take off their shorts look like they're, you know, they're endowed. Not many.

You don't go look at a limp penis usually and go, oh, God, that guy's got a bit. one yeah right do you well you haven't seen any since you're 19 no just one you have one for all I know no I've seen one no I've seen wait a minute what I've seen them yeah yes yes what are we talking about like well I've engaged with another human once oh yeah yeah yeah yeah another well not one time but there was another human well I see a couple penises yeah yeah yeah well what was that about because I just thought of the one that I had seen before and it was quite large it was a large one very large limp no person just walked into her room very erect and large and i was like whoa really yeah those were the college days i look at your career and what you've done and i look at someone

who's like wow that person loves working she loves to work am i right about that yeah before tumor now i'm like i don't want to do anything well i want to get there i have to be careful not saying that out loud because I do want to keep working but much less than my own see I didn't have a tumor but I've had some back surgeries and things like that and uh yeah you know and I just feel like um

I'm at that age where I'm like I want to I want to work when I want to work if I if that's possible yeah I want to do what you direct yeah I directed a movie and that was called back in the day yeah and uh it was a blast I loved it but it was debilitating because I was also the lead role in it and I was in every

scene it was really hard I almost killed myself I mean, not suicide. I almost died. Yeah. I didn't almost die. I mean, I felt like I was going to die. Yeah. But getting that tired, that fatigued for too long is unhealthy.

And I'm not talking about, you know, if you're tired and you worked a couple days, this week, it was a long week. No. When you work every day and you're stressed out every day, eventually your adrenals and all these things. I've read tons about us. I've seen neuropathic people, that naturopaths. Yeah. And everything is compromised. Yeah.

And when your levels all drop and your adrenals and you're, you're, you know, you're, you're your uh what's the other things that go bad i don't know well it's usually your adrenal's cortisol levels when all that's compromise then you're in trouble yeah it's fight or flight then then then it's hard to beat because and people will be like oh well you just need some sleep why are you tired why you always eventually the stress it's that thing where it's like fight or flight for me i had fighter flight and i was doing stand-up for six months straight fighter flight every day i woke up nervous i went to bed nervous i woke up jittery i was always like so so much pressure myself and doing so many things that it's spun out of control.

It's spun out of control. And I look at people like, who's a guy who passed away from the Joker, the Joker guy. Oh, he fledger. You know, I remember my mom calling me, Michael, it's so tragic what happened to him, please. I know you take some sleeping pills occasionally. I don't want you're mixing this shit. I'm like, oh my. But you know, you get so tired we're like, I have to sleep tonight.

I have to. So I have to take a pill tonight. And that's not working. And then you build up a sort of, okay, now I'm taking another two pills. And so I don't anymore. I said, I'm going to figure out how to fucking sleep. I'm going to have to figure out how to eat healthier. I'm going to figure out how not to stress, most importantly.

So what do you do? So now you say a brain tumor, usually they say when something happens, when somebody hits rock bottom, that's when they make decisions, changes in life. Yeah, and you rebuild from there. And you rebuild. So do you think the brain tumor was caused by your over? I think the more I've talked to people, you know, I even had a session with somebody the other day where he told me he's like, you've lived in fight or flight your whole life. He's like 40 years of intense fight or flight. He's like, and it was a lot of thinking. And so he's like,

it's no coincidence. And I know it's no coincidence. And it's coupled with so many other things. But for me, I feel like that's why this was such a gift because I got. the opportunity to change my life and to make those adjustments that I needed and to focus on my health because exactly what you're saying you did starting to change your diet. I didn't know why I was so exhausted. Always. Always. And I didn't want to be somebody who drank coffee. Now imagine everyone else who's doing Coke to keep up. I was like, how do I keep up with them? I'm so freaking tired. And I'm now just starting to have a coffee a day. Now we're talking about when you talk fatigue. I know the fatigue you're talking on. It's the fatigue where you're like, you're not

tired. You're like, I can't get up. I can't move tired. Like, I need all the sleep I can just to get out of bed for a few hours. Like, I've been there. I've been there. And that's kind of like what you were feeling. Yeah. And, you know, part of it was I was always anemic too. And I didn't realize that I just wasn't eating enough of the stuff I needed. What do you need to eat when you're anemic? So you need a lot of iron. A lot of steak. Green. You don't eat steak, right? I do. You do.

But, like, I can't eat, like, this big steak. Like, I can eat a little. Like, I'm not somebody who has this, like, voracious appetite for steak. And even, like, salad, like, I'm going to have a salad, but it's going to be, like, a regular-sized salad. When you look at how much nutrition you really need, I had this guest on my show, and she's, like, a fully raw vegan girl. And when I started listening to how much, she's eating, like, two pounds of kale and tons and tons of stuff, I realized, oh. So I started drinking. two green juices a day and things got so much better because I'm getting more and more nutrients.

So I'm actually going to go test my blood to see if the adjustments I made in this last like month and a half or two months now made a difference. But I know I'm more awake. Do you think you were also maybe being a female in the industry and always worried about your figure and everything and whatever? Luckily I didn't worry about the figure. Like if that was the last thing on my nine. I mean, because I'm wondering a diet like in the beginning. Did you ever think like, never? You never, you always could eat. Yeah. I could always eat. And I also wasn't an actress that had a worry about being in a bikini all the time. Right. But you were like, did they ever say Maria? No, never. If they did, would you just kill them? No. No. My boss used to make fun of me all the time. He's like, she'd say to my husband. He'd be like, she's got a huge ass and she just doesn't care. That's a great thing. And I was like, hello. They're popular. They are popular. They are popular. and they should always be popular. These, listen, for women that are out there listening. And by the way, he was a friend, so it was okay that he said that.

You have to say that, right? But I don't think females understand this because in Hollywood, I think a lot of women tend to, you know, want to be as skinny as possible. And they think that's what guys want. And I don't know about Rob, but every guy I know wants a woman with something. Yeah, but no girl is thinking about that because at the end of the day, it's more about what the girls are going to say do the girls like your hair do the girls love your fashion do the girls love your it's it's the girls that are like oh my god you're so skinny oh my god you look amazing what the girls aren't sleeping with these girls i know but that like you guys i mean some of them yeah but you guys generally are going to love somebody who has it all together and looks pretty or whatever and then when you get into it you might be like oh she could have a little meat on her that would be better or something i don't know i'm i'm more trying maybe i got older when i hit 30 i was booty all the way all of a sudden 30 30 30 30 That's when I was like, you know, I want a woman. Yeah.

I want a woman. I want somebody who can eat with me and have a good meal and not pick a fry off my plate. Yeah. And vice versa. You don't want some skinny guy who just doesn't eat. So those things weren't pressures I ever worried about because if I had a little extra cellulite or something going on, it didn't matter. And you already had a guy.

You already had your man. Yeah, exactly. And he loved me when I was 40 pounds heavier. So it didn't matter. Now, weren't you, you've talked about this, but weren't you heavy growing up? I wasn't heavy growing up. I was thin growing up. Yeah, no, so I started working at Dunkin' Donuts when I was 13.

I'm going to blame Dunkin' Donuts. So I was eating the coffee rolls. And then those bagels were huge. And I'd get the bacon, egg, and cheese. And then from there, I went to the cookies and then the chocolate croissons. And every year, Maria got bigger and bigger and bigger. So I went from a size three freshman year to a five, six, to a seven, eight, to a nine, ten. And then I got to a size 14 in college.

So. Now, did you feel the pressure? Did you feel like, oh, my gosh. Did you think I'm fat? I'm overweight. People are judging me. No, I kind of had this thing inside of me where I knew this was my moment or I could just let go a little. Really?

Yeah, because I was like someday I'm going to have to lose it. So I'm just going to be a superstar. I'm going to be just gorgeous and on all the magazines and doing movies. I was hoping it was going to work out sometime. So right now I can be bigger. Now I can have a little fun. Yeah. I was hoping it would work out.

I have friends who are still waiting for that. You know, one day. But I was also lucky that it was in all the right places. So I was like a double D and I had a full. Yeah, it was huge. And I had a full shelf, but then I still had a six pack. How do you do that? I don't know.

It was just my body type. That was my body type. So some people gain their weight in their stomach. And usually if you gain it in your stomach, you can't ever look thin. So I had no stomach. So no matter what, I would, I still could be okay. I had really chubby face and, you know, my arms were a little thick. But for the most part, I wore it exactly where someone who appreciates that body type would like.

I think, look, overall, after talking to you right now, I'm not going to take away anything I've said, but I will validate. For me, you want to meet someone you just get along with who's a good person, all that shit, right? And be attracted to them. But you do want them to be healthy. Yeah. So whatever that is, just eating, healthy foods, you know, and not obsessing over your weight. Yeah. Like, you know, I wake up in the morning and sometimes I look at my face and I go, wow, how did your face get twice the size it was last night?

Well, you must have eaten a lot of salt. Yeah. Whatever it is. And then some days I'm like, hey, I look okay. And that's just kind of how it is. Inside of you is brought to you by Quince. I love quince, Ryan. I've told you this before.

I got this awesome $60 cashmere sweater. I wear it religiously. You can get all sorts of amazing, amazing clothing for, for, such reasonable prices. Look, cooler temps are rolling in. And as always, Quince is where I'm turning for fall staples that actually last. From cashmere

to denim to boots, the quality holds up and the price still blows me away. Quince has the kind of fall staples you'll wear non-stop, like super soft, 100% Mongolian cashmere sweaters, starting at just 60 bucks. Yeah, I'm going to get you one of those, I think. I like

to see you in a cashmere. Maybe a different color so we don't look like twins. They're denim is durable and it fits right and their real leather jackets bring that clean, classic edge without the elevated price tag. And what makes Quince different, they partner directly with ethical factories and skip the middlemen. So you get top tier fabrics and craftsmanship at half the price of similar brands. These guys are for real. They have so much great stuff there that you just have to go to Quince. Q-U-I-N-C-C-E. I'm telling you, you're going to love this place. Keep it classic and cool this fall.

with long-lasting staples from Quince. Go to quince.com slash inside of you for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com slash inside of you. Free shipping and 365-day returns. Quince.com slash inside of you. Inside of you is brought to you by Rocket Money. I'm going to speak to you about something that's going to help you save money, period.

It's Rocket Money. It's a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors you're spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. This is just a wonderful app. There's a lot of apps out there that really, you know, you have to do this and pay for and that. But with Rocket Money, it's, they're saving you money. You're getting this app to save money. I don't know how many times that I've had these unwanted subscriptions that I thought I canceled or I forgot to, you know, The free trial ran out, Ryan.

I know you did it. That's why you got Rocket Money. I did, yeah. And I also talked to a financial advisor recently, and I said, I had Rocket Money, and they said, that's good. This will help you keep track of your budget. See? See?

It's only, we're only here to help folks. We're only trying to give you, you know, things that will help you. So Rocket Money really does that. Rocket money shows you all your expenses in one place, including subscriptions you forgot about. If you see a subscription you no longer want, Rocket Money will help cancel it. Rocket Money will even try to negotiate lower bills for you. The app automatically scans your bills to find opportunities to save and then goes to work to get you better deals.

They'll even talk to the customer service so you don't have to. Yeah, because I don't want to. Press 1 now if you want. Get alerts if your bills increase in price, if there's unusual activity in your accounts, if you're close to going over budget, and even when you're doing a good job, Rocket Money's 5 million members have saved a total of $500 million.

and canceled subscriptions. With members saving up to $740 a year when they use all of the app's premium features, cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Download the Rocket Money app and enter my show name inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum in the survey so they know I sent you.

Don't wait. Download the Rocket Money app today and tell them you heard about them from my show inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum. Rocket Money. I can't, I see the rock on these fucking Instagram videos. Oh my God. The rock makes me feel so bad about myself. Fuck the rock.

Fuck the rock. I love the rock, by the way. I'm just saying fuck the rock because he can't be that happy working out every day. No, he is because he's in his cycle now. Like once you get in, it's like runners high. Really? I think so. I mean, I've never done that, but I have to believe it's like runners high where once you're in it,

now it's like your thing. and you just love it. Oh, my God. No, he's been in his thing for since he's... How about Mark Wahlberg? I'm at like 2.30 in the morning. I can't imagine that's fun. I just can't imagine these guys are having...

Look, they're billionaires. They can do what they want. But his persona is he has to be built. No one wants to see a fat marking mark, I guess. No one wants to see a fat rock. Rock decides I'm not working out for about a month. It's over, rover. He's big.

He'll get big. So he probably knows it. And he goes, I don't want to do that. I have to do this. Mm-hmm. But wouldn't it be nice? Like, we don't, I don't think, I don't have to, I don't worry as much. I just kind of just go with the flow.

Maybe I'd get more roles if I worked out, more. No, I don't think that's it. I think everybody has their thing. Do they? I'm like dying over here. What's the matter? You want another cup of coffee? Water infused with watermelon.

Hint, are they a sponsor? They, they hook me up, but they don't, you know, but yes, they're awesome. You know, we can give you different flavors. They have the pineapple. But there's no sugar in there. No, no gluten. If that's what you're in. In two or not into it.

Do you like it? I love it. See? I just didn't know what I was going to drink, so I checked it out. Marie-Lamannunis loves hint. Send her 25 cases immediately. Wow, that tastes really good, actually. You want it? They'll send you 10 cases next.

Hell, yeah. Is it good for you? What's all the... Yeah, it's been going on for a long time. No calories. No juice. No carbs. No sodium.

Well, they say no juice on a fine water bottle. No juice. Oh, no juice. I'm into it. All right. I'll have a bunch of cases sent to you. This is full. fun this is really getting to know you yeah i like this you know what's funny i don't feel like

we haven't seen each other in a long time i mean i've seen you out and about once in a while but i feel like no time is past yeah yeah i feel that way too i used to be invited you don't have those big parties anymore maybe i just haven't been to one in a while i haven't done one in a while you used to have the shit fucking smash right rob these parties were immense you name an actor they were there i think i saw meldibson at your party yeah yeah yeah we dirty danced yeah i remember that was there So wasted. Dude, you were wasted. It was so much fun.

Great house. You don't live there anymore. I do. Same house? With that big, like, place where the party was in the house was to the right, big gate. Yeah. Oh, dude, beautiful house. How much is that house worth?

A lot now. Probably about $8 million. I got an indecent proposal for $10. And I was like, no. Well, I said yes, and I went to Kevin. He said now. Wait, somebody offered you $10 million. Someone was like, I'm going to give you $10 for this.

And I was like, whether. he's serious or not like really serious but he's a trust fund person so i was like maybe he is um he's he's like okay let me see what's out on the market just for shits and giggles and it's really hard to find a house like that and kevin's like where's my screening room at this i'd like find a house he's like where's my screening room where's my basketball court where's my this where's my that i'm like okay point taken honey you have everything you need there yeah but we were we were lucky because i found that house right before the housing market crash So it was 2007 mortgage crash in eight right eight yeah so then it's been 12 years yeah okay so I found it and it was really run down and it was definitely below value what you get it for so I got it for two three so we're two million dollars and but it was it was below value because it had been run down and let go so you put a lot of money into it so the the

realtor, Kevin comes in and he's like, and my parents come in. He's like, yeah, we can do this. We'll do the work ourselves. And the realtor pulls me aside. He goes, your husband's crazy. This is not something you guys can handle. He's like, please don't do this. You're going to regret it. And he was like trying to talk me out of it because he actually really believed that my family was crazy and that they were going to totally like make a mess of this. And of course, within a month and half, like all the aesthetics were like done, bathrooms were redone, whatever. I'm like, we're Greek. This is what we do. Yeah, I love it. You could. I love it, yeah. Who cooks? Well. You have somebody, you have a chef, you have a private chef at your house. No, no.

I'd have a private chef. I would if I had that money. Well, my housekeeper was like a chef before, so she can whip up stuff when I need her to. But I use this thing called Home Chef. Have you used it before? Yeah. They send you everything in the box. Yeah, that was pretty cool.

It's amazing. So in 30 minutes, you make something and you look like Rachel Ray. And they're friggin' delicious. Wow. So I do that and then I do enjoy cooking, but it took me a while to get back into it after surgery because I was just- Yeah, when was the surgery? Last summer. It was last summer.

Yeah. How do you, like what symptoms? Like people are listening out there. What were things happening? What was going on with you in the beginning where you're like, something's off and how did it progress? Okay. So I was exhausted for life, as I told you earlier. So I wouldn't have noticed that being a symptom.

him. And my mom, eight months before, was diagnosed with brain cancer. So she had a brain tumor as well. Oh, my God. So now I'm taking, I'm quarterbacking her care. So I've been responsible for my parents for the last 16 years, financially, medically everything. So she gets brain cancer. So now I have to be her Tom Brady. She doesn't even know anything. Like I was in charge of every decision, period. And she just was like, okay, do whatever you want. Like, it's in your hands. So it's a massive, massive position to be in. It's scary because you have to make decisions in its life or death.

And so I was really stressed. And I thought what I was feeling was stress. So as the months progressed. What kind of stress are we talking about? So do you get jittery, like your arms, your body feels like just? I was having a lot of headaches. So I was on set. I was hosting e-news.

I had my radio show on Sirius, and I'd started slurring my speech and reading prompter all of a sudden became hard. Like majorly? Yeah, like vision issues. And I mean, I was like one take queen. And now all of a sudden I was like, blah, oh gosh, hold on. Like I couldn't get the words out sometimes. So you knew something that was wrong.

Was that making you more? No. No, no, no. So this is what I would do. I'd be like, guys, sorry, it's my stupid brain tumor. Let me do that again. So I'm on set having these issues. headaches. I was so exhausted. I was getting this ear pain. So my mom got diagnosed in September.

By January, I'm having this awful ear pain. So I thought I had an ear infection. So busy with my mom just disregarded it by February. So it went away. And then February comes back. And I was like, oh, maybe my body healed itself. And now it's back. I'm finally going to go to the doctor. But wait a minute. Weren't you at any time going to a doctor for a checkup or maybe blood work? Who is? I'm a hypochondriac in a way. I want to go to the doctor at least twice a year and get work done. Everybody should. Everybody should. And now I do.

I'm getting a colonoscopy. They just lowered the age to 45. And I'm getting one. I want go in my ass and see if there's anything in there that doesn't look right. Rob? Go for it. All I'm saying is like it's scary. And so, okay.

So I wasn't doing physicals. I was like not happening and just didn't have time. But if something like major was wrong, I would go get it checked. Like whatever. So I was having headaches. slurring my speech my vision was becoming problematic and then the ear pain my neck was going out all the time like what with your neck it would just go out and i'd have to get adjusted it was crazy so i finally scheduled an appointment to go get my ear infection like i've been air infection

i'm 38 this is so weird this makes no sense not a fear not a care in the world you're like okay i'm going to go in i went in had a new doctor and it was my first time with him and so i said, I think I have an ear infection. He checks my ear. He's like, your ears are actually too clean. He's like, can you lay off? And what else are you feeling? So as I started listing the symptoms, I was like, well, I'm like, I am getting headaches and my vision's kind of going and I'm slurring my speech. And then I just went, like the light bulb went off in my head and I go, oh my God, I know you're going to think I'm crazy, but I think I have a brain tumor like my mom. And he's like, I don't think you're crazy. but I also don't like what you're saying. Let's get an MRI to rule this out. So then in the meantime, my mom's tumor, they tell me, is growing. So now I was like, I must be crazy. I started hydrating on set. I was drinking coconut water thinking, oh, it's a hydration issue. I started to feel a little better. I was so focused on my mom and what we were going to do next with her because when you have glioblastoma and they say it's growing, it's like a death sentence. And so I was panicked.

And I had to work fast to figure out what we were going to do with her. And so in the meantime, I kept pushing the MRI. And then finally was like, you know what? I'm not wasting resources. This is silly. I'm crazy. And then one Friday night, my assistant was like, you know, you have an MRI tonight at 930, a UCLA. And I said, what?

I'm like, what am I going to do that on a Friday night for? And then I was like, you know what? Might as well go get this done. And we went. And that was it. Wait a minute, let him. That was right. Don't just say that was it.

That was it. I went in, I put the hospital gown on, I took a picture, and I was like, this is the moment I become a patient. I knew it. And then I went in for the MRI, and they ordered it without contrast. So you can get one with or without. When you get it without, it's like simple. When you need it with contrast, that means there's something wrong.

So they ordered it without. I come out of the tube, and they're like, hey, we're so sorry. We're going to have to put you back in and do another one with contrast. And because I've gone through this with my mom, I know what they're talking about. and I said, huh. Are you not scared right now? I'm scared right now hearing this story. Yeah.

I'm like actually getting anxiety, Rob. I was kind of like, honestly, I didn't care. At that point, I was like, whatever. So they give me the injection. I go back in. And when I come out, I tell Kevin, I said, we're going to get bad news. I want you to start preparing. And then we went home.

And then we had to pack my mom because I was sneaking her off to Mexico to do some like cleansing and holistic treatments because I wanted to treat her tumor. as if it was side effects of chemo and not regrowth. And I was right. And the day we checked her in and my dad to Mexico, we, you know, unpack them, set them up for success. My assistant keeps calling me. And she's like, Dr. Aronanan wants to talk to you right away. He wants to see you in person.

And I'm like, I'm not going to see him in person. I know exactly what he's going to tell me, pretty much. And I said, tell him I'm in Mexico for two weeks. I need him to call me. So he called me and he's like, so I don't know how to tell you this because I know you're going through so much with your mom, but you were right. You have a brain tumor. And I was by myself hidden in a part of the apartment. So my mom couldn't hear or my dad couldn't hear. And I said, okay, I started taking notes down. I was like, okay, you think it's a meningioma, blah, blah, blah. All right. And he's like, schedule an appointment with a neurologist right away. So I hung up. I had a pee. So I texted. I ran to the bathroom and I'm texting my best friend. I'm like, I have a brain. tumor don't tell anybody i gotta wait to tell kevin holy shit are you not like it seems to me like it hasn't hit you yet has it no and then kevin comes home he was at the corner story comes home i go we need to go outside right now and we went outside and i turned the camera on and i started filming instantly

because i'm such a like you know i document everything and i said so um dr erin and called and i have a brain tumor too and he just went and his head went down and he just we're in a parking lot in mexico he's crying he just no he just was in like total shock and I'm like what are we going to do we can't tell anybody I'm like we can't tell my parents right and he goes no we can't tell your parents because they were like that would kill them yeah my dad was a shell of a human at that point he was so tired from everything and so my next call was to my lawyer who's like my best friend I was like what am I what am I going to do no one's ever going to hire me again that's where my mind went and he was like

keep it close to the best for now he's like let's go see what what's up for first. So call my doctor who is my mom, I call my mom's doctor's office, Dr. Black at Cedar Sinai, who operated on her and scheduled an appointment. And they're like, wait, this is for your mom, right? I go, no, it's for me. And then we went and saw him. And I was like, so surely this is going to be an easier surgery than my mom's, right? Because if you think it's a meningioma, that means it's probably benign. And he's like, nope. And I'm like, what? And he's like, well, it's located is really dangerous and difficult. It's in this place called the Mechle's Cave and it's wrapped around the trigeminal nerve. So the trigeminal nerve controls the whole right side of my face.

So my face could have been paralyzed. My eyes would have been all crazy if anything had gone wrong, which for a minute it was. And you had to go in through the back of the brain and out through the middle and behind the eyes. And it was a whole thing. And I was like, how long is I going to take and he thought it was going to be about four and a half or five hours ended up being almost eight hours and when I came out of surgery my eyes were going crazy like fluttering back and forth and everyone started like crying and freaking out and I was worried about the woman like screaming next door and I always deploy Kevin like when someone needs help him I'm like honey go help her or if we're in a plane and someone can't lift their suitcase I'm like honey go help him

go help him go help her so I deployed him in some I kind of go help the lady next door she needs help she's screaming. No. And he's like, Maria, you just woke up from surgery. Please stop. And he goes, I'm like, honey, no, she needs help. Go help her. And he literally told the nurses, he's like, knock her out.

First I quoted Rocky. And then all of this happened. What would you, let me guess. Let me guess. Go for it. No. It ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take.

It ain't about how hard you can hit. It's about hard you can get hit. They keep on getting it. What is you saying? Good. Good. job yeah so he knocked me out and well your family doesn't know anything right now at this point no I told my parents so the way we finally did it was three nights before surgery so two nights before

surgery I was throwing myself a little birthday party and I wanted to go into it with like love and my whole take on this tumor was it's probably benign and I'm going to take this on in the most comedic of ways I'm just going to be funny about it and we called her Debbie It's not the tumor. The code word for the tumor was Debbie. I'm like, oh, fucking Debbie's killing me today. And so that was what I would say all the time. And I would crack jokes.

And my best friend, of course, hated me for it. But I remember, like, I was telling my housekeeper Violet, as she was one of the first people I told because she was home. And she's like a second mom. And she was like, why aren't you sad? And I'm like, because I'm so done. I don't care anymore. Isn't that something when you get to a point where you're just so tired, you just really

don't care? You didn't care. I really didn't. Just put me under. Honestly. I want to go to sleep. It would be the best sleep I've ever had. It would have been amazing.

Isn't that messed up? That's how I was thinking. I've cut, yeah. Because I didn't want to live that life anymore. And I was just stuck in it. Yeah. Don't you think that that's how people,

a lot of people easy to jump the gun and say, oh, I can't believe that person killed themselves. Why would they do that to their family? People don't understand what certain individuals are going through. And what's in their mind and mentally, issues and pain okay i've had five back surgeries and people have been a lot worse pain than i have been in such pain where i've went and locked myself in a room and cried while i have people downstairs hanging out at the house yeah i haven't been so much pain that i'm like i don't

fucking care now accentuate that with depression and other things that people go through anxiety and toxicity and the business and yeah things can just go get so bad in your own mind that people don't understand and it's just like it's it sounds macab but really it's just it's just you I don't know what the word is you sort of withdraw you kind of just come to terms with like I remember there was there were moments from just like I don't you know I just want to drive right out the road right now I do not even give a shit I mean there's not all the time you make it sound funny sorry I didn't mean to laugh at you the way it sounds like sometimes I just want to drive off the goddamn roll of my dad died i just remember tommy boy and the guy's like get out i didn't mean to laugh but

it was like you're too funny no but it's true i was i'm not dwelling on how but i'm just saying you had to have broken down at some point no you never broke down so nothing no she i just was kind i was just tired and i was like if this is god's message and it's time for me to go like i've lived a great life it's all good and i didn't and i was nervous that i didn't care so i met with a kinesiologist. And I said, he was like, how are you holding up? And I'm like, I'm just dying to be me. And he goes, have you read the book? And I go, I didn't know there was a book. Anyhow, I was like, I don't know if I believe myself. Am I like one of those people that saying I don't care and that I'm just so tired that it, you know, whatever happens happens and I'm not afraid is test me

and tell me if I'm being real with myself, right? Because you just never know if you're being tough and maybe subconsciously, like, you are nervous. And he tells me, he goes, no, you're not scared. And you don't care. He's like, that's, we got to fix that. And I was like, okay. So anyhow, we kept it from my mom and dad. And so I knew that we were having this little birthday party two nights before.

And someone could accidentally tell them. So I was like, we'll tell them the night before. So we waited until like 9.30, just at bedtime. So that we could just kind of get it done. and they could go to bed and we walked into their room and sat with them and said, hey, so we have to talk to you guys about something. And you could see their eyes perk up. And I'm like, no, we're not pregnant. And so I said, first, before we get in anything, I'm like, I want to talk to you about what you have, Mom. I'm like, you have a brain tumor, but yours is cancerous. I said, there are

other kinds of brain tumors that are not cancerous. I said, so we just found out that I have one of those that's probably not cancerous. I said, no big deal. We're going to go in for surgery on Thursday. Dr. Black's going to do it. We've already been there. We know the waiting room. We know everything. All good. And my mom's eyes are welling up. My dad's eyes are welling up. But I confused them so quickly with positivity and like just kind of like made it so routine that they didn't really feel it. And I was like, it's all good. No big deal. Like you did it. Okay, we're out. And that was it. So the next day, they were kind of like a little zombieish, but we had a prep for the party. So now I had distractions.

So we were prepping for the party and we got that, you know, done. And then the night before surgery, I had committed previous to the diagnosis to coming and supporting Dr. Black at this brain tumor event that was honoring him. And so he was like, are you still going to come? I'm like, sure, of course I'm going to come. So the night before surgery, we're at the Sabon family house in Beverly Hills. Isn't it the Sabon? Sabon?

Yeah. And we're sitting there with like all these people and they're showing brain surgeries that Dr. Blacks performed on big screen. And you're seeing like this is what I'm about to do. And I'm like, T minus like six hours. He's going to be in mine and no one here knows. And so and I looked at him. I go, I'm watching you. You're two drink maximum buddy.

Did you, uh, see, did you not say, oh, by the way, he's doing my surgery tomorrow? No, I didn't tell anybody. Were you tempted? Were you thinking about it? No, we didn't, we kept it really, really tight because I didn't know what was going to happen on the other side. And so I wanted to wait until per my lawyer was like, and my friend, he was like, Maria, just wait until we get to the other side. Let's see what you're dealing with. What if there are complications?

So when, you know, we didn't tell anybody for like two weeks, I think. I started telling like my close, close friends, like, I think the. day before People magazine came out so that they didn't find out from the magazine. I mean, I had some close, close friends that knew, of course, but then like the next layer I started telling, like, I didn't tell any family or anything because I have a huge Greek family. Once you tell one, every other than he's going to know. When did you know it was benign? After surgery. So you don't know until they actually biopsy. Right. And so he's like, I've been tricked before, so I can't guarantee you. But I'm pretty sure yours is benign. And then

when we had the biopsy than we knew. And then what happened? So you have to shrink it, right? Or they take it out completely? No, he removed as much as he could, but there's a part of it that's wrapped around the nerve and it would paralyze me if he did anything in there. So I already had an issue when I came out of surgery. I told you my eyes were going crazy.

So they brought in an eye patch for the worst one. And he's like, I don't know how long you're going to need this for. He's like, I can't predict. Well, did he say like an hour to two? No, he said it could be an hour. It could be days. It could be weeks. And so I instantly, I remember not being about a C, I was seeing triple.

And I remember saying to myself, okay, if this is going to be your new normal, we got to design the coolest fucking costume. I'm just going to be like a character from now on. So I started designing these like thigh high boots in my head. And I'm going to like bedazzle the patch. And I was going to be like Sasha Fier. I was going to have my Sasha Fier's. But that was going to be my every day.

Solutions. Always. Yeah. You know, I passed out once They put a needle in me And I got Vaser Vagel So I passed out What's Vezer Vagel

It's when they don't tell you about this But it happens to some people And I had had a lot of needles in me Not because I'm a heroin addict or anything But they put a needle in you And well, I saw my arm Was a little swollen I was like she was trying to get the vein

And she kept going Something connected with my brain Everything just drops Everything just drops you and it's like fight or flight kind of like all the blood goes right to your heart to keep it beating and i i lost my vision for like a minute i was blind and then i just remember her hovering over me the nurse say michael wake up michael michael we're with you with me i just got the chills and i look up and i can't see anything on black and i'm like and after about

20 30 seconds i'm like all right close your eyes okay you're blind right now you're blind you're gonna there's and what you're saying is i felt like millions of things were speeding it i mean it was so fast where like you'll go to doctors you go to specialists she'll do this you'll do those they'll figure it out they'll figure out this is not the end of the day it's not the end of the road it's almost like everything's saying hey stay stay stay stay you're going to be okay and it was so scary but then your mind kind of just I don't know it manipulates you or tells you I started thinking positively in a way I was very calm I go hey I'm I'm blind so I think you probably should go get the doctor and they're like are you sure I go yeah yeah my eyes are open I'm

I can't see anything. And my assistant was with me, Jess. And I remember she had a friend that died in front of her and it happened just sort of like she says my body was twitching. So crazy. It was really crazy. And she was crying and I was like, oh my God. In fact, when the nurse left the room,

I just like looked at her and I went, I just started crying. I just was a mess, man. I was a mess. I mean, I just got really emotional. So, you know, I'm wondering like, You haven't, you never really had that emotional. You're fucking tough as shit, Manunas. The only thing, actually when I cried, I forgot to tell you.

So I didn't cry the whole time. I cried when I told some of my closest friends because I was almost embarrassed. I don't know why. Embarrassed that you had a tumor? I was embarrassed that I had to call them up and bother them in their day and tell them like, oh, what was me? I have a problem. And their reactions were so beautiful.

And they were so kind and amazing. like everybody just first of all I feel like I had a funeral without having a funeral right so I got to hear what I meant to people I had no idea what people thought of me or that they thought of me at all and so hearing what people thought of me and who I was to them was like crazy amazing and it made me so emotional because you just think you're nothing and then you hear your something and you're like oh wow that's pretty cool I should have one of those Rob yeah a brain tumor no no I hope I don't have that. Throw yourself a funeral. I throw myself a funeral. I'm going to hear some fuckers up to say, man. I need some, uh, okay. So I cried then and then I cried.

And so before surgery, I was cracking jokes and the whole thing. And I had my Rocky theme song ready. So we rolled in with Rocky. And, um, and I, only time I cried was I pulled the nurse aside. And I said, listen. I said, I'm really shy. I said, if Dr. Black and these people see me naked, I'm going. to die. So I need you to cover me. I said, I know you're going to have to put a catheter in. I want

to die at the thought of a catheter going in me. And I never have had surgery like that. I had, well, I had IVF surgery, which is even more vulnerable. What's IVF? Where you, you know, grow your eggs and have them retrieved. Oh, that's what it's. IVF, yeah. So that was mortifying anyway, too. But I was like, did you know that? Nope. Really. In vitro fertilization. Edgimication. that's how do you say it in Greek. Wow, it sounded Spanish. It's a big word. Anyhow, so I cried when I told her that.

I was like, I'm so embarrassed, please. And so she was like, I got you. She's like, I had to have surgery here. And my colleagues were the ones who were doing this. She's like, I was mortified. So that was the only time I like kind of wept. And then that was it. Wow.

I'll show you a picture, actually. So you can see how kind of fucked up my eyes looked at that time because it's kind of creepy. How fast did you start to feel better? Like no headaches, the fatigue went away. Did that take a while? It took a long time. So there were different, like, levels. Do you still deal with it?

Yeah. There's always going to be some kind of pain or headache. This might be when I talked to my rocky quote. Let's see. Oh, you can hear the lady moaning in the back. It's a hard chicken egg. I get it. I'm surprised they haven't.

you move forward how much you get to take that how does that make you feel when you hear that I'm like such a different feeling of you yeah right yeah right yeah I feel like you hear that I get emotional I look at this poor girl I'm like she suffered that was really hard but I have like such a different feeling of it yeah it doesn't even look like you yeah right yeah I feel like for me because I went through it and such a positive way. I didn't feel it. I mean, like, this is, I mean, this is so creepy. Like, that was me. I'm, like, laid up in a bed with the leg compressors and keep the blood circulating. Yeah. And you probably lost a lot of weight from all those. I was so, so skinny. Right. So when I was recovering, I was in, um, at my house, I was eating snicker ice cream bars like they were going out of style. I mean, what? But I have like a crazy eye picture too, which, because this is when he made them put me to sleep. Because I couldn't, I was just so focused on that lady.

Was he pretty confident, though? Like did he say, hey, you're not going to die? Kevin? Or the doctor? The doctor. No, I don't think the doctor ever thought I was going to die. So look at my eyes. That, like, really shows you how fucked up my eyes were in the moment.

He, I don't think he thought I was going to die. But when you're having brain surgery, you can't, he's not going to say that. But he said, I had another top surgeon in the country who looked at, he said, he said, he said, I had another top surgeon in the country who looked at, he said the um he said that uh it could be catastrophic he if he used the words catastrophic i don't like that word yeah it could be catastrophic what the complications and you know so they can make this isn't done yeah yeah and dr black was very honest with me about everything and it was it was just kind of like okay but i've definitely gone through so much in my life that i feel like i didn't realize how strong I was until I went through this. And I think, you know, I always say to people,

if you go through things with a positive mindset, I only can see from this example. I went through it super positive. I saw it as a gift. And I used comedy. We always have a saying in our house, comedy must rule. And so I used comedy. And I think that's why I look back on this. And I'm like, that wasn't that bad. It was okay. But then you look at the pictures in the video and I video of me walking my first steps and I can't walk and I had to use a walker for the longest time around my house because I had no balance.

So it was also the balance nerve. So I was holding on a Kevin for months. You look like a different person. Like it really hit me. Like the story is emotional and real and raw. And I was a little emotional hearing the story. And then I see the pictures and that just puts my mind. Like, whoa, that is a really sick girl.

The way you speak, it makes you sound like you win in there. Just you look beautiful. Got my nails done. You know, and I look at this picture. I'm like, no, you, which makes you have to look at that and go, look at yourself and go, wow, I really was not in a good place. Yeah. I am really lucky. I really am.

It was really hard. But like I said, it would have been so much more hard if I was in a different mindset. And I was lucky, like I had Kevin, who's the most incredible nurse. I had my best friend, Alyssa, took time off of work. and didn't leave my side. My best friend Rachel came out and visited me often, my friend Anastasia, like I had a lot of people that were around me and literally the outpouring of love in the industry. And I had, you know, former president sent me notes.

I mean, people were really. Pushing for you. Yeah, because it's a crazy story to have a mother, daughter, brain tumor situation going on. And everybody who knows me knows how dedicated I was to taking care of my mom. And that was something that was scary to me was having to kind of let go of her while I take care of her. Yeah. And so I made sure Kevin was up to speed on everything. And, you know, there's, I have footage of Kevin.

You know, I have friends who, um, have cryotherapy chambers and stuff here in town. So they brought over a portable. I go to the US one on, US cryotherapy on, um, uh, Ventura and Laurel. I was going to suggest it for your back. It's really good. Amazing. So they sent over a machine, you know, that they can do the, you know, that they can do the, The wand.

The wand. And he would do me and then he would do my mom because we're both on the couch. Jesus, yeah. I'm both recovering from brain surgery. But I'm doing a whole documentary on it because I filmed every step of it. And I filmed every step of it. A, because I wanted to know, I wanted to remember my reactions because my life moved so fast. And so I love documenting everything.

And then B, I was thinking, well, maybe I'll edit a video on YouTube because I wanted so much information that I couldn't get about what this all looks like. And I know if someone else is going through it, they're going to want that too. So I did it for that reason. In the meantime, Kevin took my footage off my phone and him and my COO of AfterBuzz TV edited the whole thing into a dock. And now I'm going to morph the dock. So it's not just like, oh, poor brain tumor girl. It's going to be a message to women and all the new perspectives I've gained. and how we can all change our lives without getting a brain tumor, basically.

Wow. That's pretty damn amazing. Also a shout out, by the way, AfterBuzz, my friend Jen Golden and Lauren Leonelli have a show in AfterBuzz. It's complicated. I've done that a few times. That's your studio, right?

Yeah, absolutely. So what do you do now? First of all, on a scale from 1 to 10, if one was the worst, where you were obviously a one at this time. Yeah, yeah. What are you now? probably 7-8 it's hard because the fatigue is still there like kind of fatigue do you still have that

horrible fatigue sometimes not it's getting better um and then the headaches still come and i have like on the right side it sometimes it feels like it's like four inches thicker than the left side if that makes any sense it's just a lot of pressure here yesterday i was getting my hair cut and i thought someone was electrocuting the back of my head So I felt like, I'm like, is this what a stroke feels like? Because this sucks. Well, what do you do for stress? What do you do?

What do you? I meditate as often as I can. I'm going to implement a new routine. I'm like my whole life is changing right now. And so I'm adjusting my schedule and creating a whole new routine. So right now I only have my guitar classes and my Pilates classes scheduled. Once I get back to my desk, I'm going to sit down and figure out, you know, getting in my acupuncture and getting in my, you know, when I'm going to meditate so that it all

is a routine, because I really like a routine. So you do acupuncture, I do acupuncture. You do meditation. Your diet is pretty healthy. You take, you're drinking two green juices. I'm actually going to, oh, I got to get going. I have to go to a nutritionist I'm seeing. This is my first time.

I just get overwhelmed with all this stuff and it's just like so much to do. I wish somebody would just like make it so easy. This is what you want for breakfast. This is why for lunch. These are your choices. That's it. Yeah. Keep doing this. Keep eating. Good luck to you. What I've learned from my show, shameless plug,

conversations with Maria Manunos, the podcast. I had this girl, like I said, she was fully raw, vegan. I've had, you know, nutritionists and stuff like that. But what I realized is I eat the same things every day. Do you eat the same things almost every day? Yeah. Yeah. Eggs. So Uncured bacon, avocado, gluten-free toast, sometimes not, and some decaf coffee. Is that not good? No, it's not that. It's just where's the variety that's going to bring you different nutrients? So before I went on my honeymoon, I was really depleted and tired and, you know, some of that is from the anemia or whatever. But I realized, oh, I'm, I've denied myself fruit thinking it's too high in sugar and I can fall into type two diabetes very quickly, so I have to be careful. And I was again in that moment. So I stopped eating fruit. I'm really, Like, I eat the same things. So I realized I need more green. So I started implementing the green juices at least one or two a day.

And I started eating more fruit and variety of things. Like normally, if I saw a salad that had all the weird stuff, I'd put the weird stuff off the side. Now I'm eating it. I don't care what it is. That's variety. So I'm just trying to do that. I like it. So.

Well, you know, it's amazing. We talked about this the whole time. And I didn't plan to. I was going to just breeze by the tumor. Yeah. But I think it was so inspirational to hear this that, I mean, you went through, I mean, taking care of your mother with cancer and a tumor and then finding out, you have a tumor and then being strong and having the people who really love you. And it's also nice to see that people really do love you. I mean, it's hard sometimes to comprehend that because you're so busy.

Everybody relies on Maria. Everybody relies, you know, my family, in the sense, me, but, you know, you're always happy. You're doing this. You're going out and covering this. You're doing this. You're doing movies. your people love you but they don't feel like they need to tell you because like oh she hears it all the time yes it's sort of like you don't but you need to hear it you need to know you're loved

yeah because the funeral i say to people like we've gone from being human beings to human doing and that's the thing that i've changed in my life is now i'm making time to be a human being and to have those moments and so it's i don't want to be a human doing that's like attached to my phone and you know just going to the next thing and that's why i was done documenting everything because my life was just going so quickly. Yeah. I want to hear, I'm going to email you every once in a while for just ideas on how to do that more. Like Rob and I are doing this thing.

Chris Sullivan from This Is Us came on the show. And he was like every, he started this thing that he's been doing it. We got involved and we're on this text where just every morning say what you're grateful for to you. Just a quick, hey, I'm grateful for this. I'm grateful for having Maria Manunos on my show to tell me, you know, more about life and how to be aware of things. Just being present. Do you pray? I do pray.

I don't pray enough, but I do pray. Do you pray? I do. So I pray every night and I feel like I pray all day long and I'm always saying thank you for everything and praying for everyone's health around me. But I think that's also something that helped get me through too is because I have such a strong belief that whatever is happening is happening for me, not to me. And whatever is coming is for a reason.

And I think if you can think like that, everything gets better because of it. so that's why I was kind of like oh if this is it this is it if it's not it's not it's like I'm just going with the flow and it's so much easier to live like that it is you don't want to live stressed your whole life you don't want to be 80 years old and go what was I what was I doing yeah I wasn't enjoying things you're kind of going through the motions I'm taping everything but I'm not in the moment no never because you're always thinking oh gosh I got to advance to the next thing and what's the next thing I mean blah blah blah blah uh quick quick answer quickly Emily Seudal, Ian Sue, who was the best break dancer in the movie, Rosenbomber Kennedy.

I have to go back and watch. I know Jamie worked really hard on it. He did. But I don't remember yours, so maybe Jamie. Fuck you. At Joseph Ruiz Jr., how is it working with the WWE fancing to have turned on you for some reason? The greatest. Is that true?

I don't think they turned on you? No, no, they don't turn on me. But I listen, I get it. But I have wrestled and I'm 4 and O. and so they've also accepted me and loved me for it. You don't know about my wrestling career? I don't know about it. Damn, Michael, you got to go.

I wrestled at WrestleMania 28 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami. It was crazy. Sunset Fort is my signature move. Oh, full on. They're all over YouTube. Yeah. I actually, it was the highlight of my life. Dude, I got to check that out.

I love the WWE. They're my family. In fact, I was talking to Kevin this morning. I was like, I feel like we need to interview Stephanie McMahon for the doc. And he's like, Maria, he goes, that was the only. only place you felt at home. It was the only family that welcomed you and loved you in terms of like in this business where I felt like safe and I felt like they got me. And so I was like crying this morning. I love them. So yeah. Well, look, this has been an honor. I mean, I know you. We

haven't seen each other, but it does seem like time hasn't, even though it's been many years, I think, right? Yeah. We just kind of picked up where we left off. Thanks. You do a great job, by the way. This is fun. I just kind of, I just, you know, I just want to have a conversation. with you and I learned so much and I think when people I always think what do people want to hear that's sort of like what do I want to know yeah because I'm sort of a simpleton that's how my mind works I just want to know these things like what was the abbreviation for the eggs thing the eggs the EVB oh IVF yeah whatever I learned that didn't you Rob yes we're learning how do you say it in Greek guys oh I told you I taught you exosomen

X so much like a Harry Potter spell My Greek friend was teaching me it because, of course, that's too complicated of a word I didn't know. So I had a lot of fun learning that one. Exos, I'm thinking you're a little bit more busy. You're really animated when you do like that. Because I had to learn. It's such a lot. I had to like create a whole thing for it.

You've got so much going to. You got conversations with Maria, right? Maria Menunos. Yeah, on Apple Podcasts. On Apple Podcasts. It drops every Monday. It just dropped. Um, what's your Instagram and Twitter, all that stuff?

At Maria Menunos, which is me, noun, O, Yes, right? You've got AfterBuzz shows going on. People are doing lots of shows there. What else? You're doing a documentary on your, on your brain tumor and all that. Yeah, AfterBus TV, we produce after shows for your favorite TV shows. So if you're a fan of 90-day fiancé, which you guys are soon to be, you will listen to our after show right after the show on AfterbustTV.com or you can subscribe Apple for that as well.

I love it. Anything else you want to talk about? Anything else you got going on? You're trying to keep right now. I feel like you're taking care of you. Yeah, I am. It's funny. People always ask me,

so what do you got going on? I say nothing. Does that mean that I'm not important enough for you right now? I think you just got to say, I'm just doing it. Yeah. I'm doing what I want to do. Because I think my real power is in that I know what I am and what I want,

and I'm focusing on myself and then the things I really care about, rather than just doing everything and being everything. Yeah, well, it's not how hard you hit. There's how many times you could be hit. No, how hard you could be hit. Wait, what is it again? You've got to watch Rocky Balboa. Have you not seen it?

Of course, I've seen every Rocky. I just work with Stallone. I was doing an impression with him. No way. To him. When? Are you doing an impression of me right now? I'm in the room?

No way. Where did you do this? I did Guardians of the Galaxy, too. And then I was meeting because I'm having neck surgery and I was meeting with my surgeon. He goes, oh, Stallone's outside. I go, tell him to get in here. He's like, okay, hey, Sly, you're two hours early. He's like, hey, I could be as early as I want.

I go, Sly, what's up? He's like, what are you doing here? I'm like, I don't know, my neck's fuck. My neck's foot. My back's fucking. Everything's fucked. Oh, my God. This is whole thing.

We talk forever. And I can't believe you nail him so well. He's the best. Yeah, yeah. I love him. Do you know he wrote me the most beautiful note after surgery? Really? Because I said, can I guess what he said?

Hey, Maria. Hey, beautiful tumor, no tumor. You're beautiful. No, he said, I sent him the video of me quoting Rocky. I said, if you didn't know how much your words inspire me and move me, now I think you will and it happened to be his birthday when I sent it and he wrote me back this beautiful letter and at the end he said P.S. Rocky would never, ever, ever want to fight you. That's awesome. It was really cute. Yeah. That's beautiful. I love that family. Well, thank you

for allowing me to be inside of you. Thank you for being inside of me. Great response. Great response. Yeah, this was a real treat. And I wish you the best always. Thanks. But I keep in touch. Yes, absolutely. Hi, I'm Joe Sal C. Hi, host of the stacking Benjamins podcast. Today, we're going to talk about what if you came across $50,000. What would you do? Put it into a tax-advantaged retirement account. The mortgage. That's what we do. Make a down payment on a home. Something nice. Buying a vehicle. A separate bucket for this addition that we're adding. I'll buy a new podcast. You'll buy new friends.

And we're done. Thanks for playing, everybody. We're out of here. Stacking Benjamin's follow and listen on your favorite platform.