Joe and Jada - Angie Martinez IRL - Queen Latifah Reflects on Legendary Career, Balancing Fame & Private Life
Episode Date: May 21, 2026Grammy award–winning and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Queen Latifah joins Angie Martinez to reflect on her stunning career as an actor and music artist, what it was like growing up in ...New Jersey and experiencing the New York City nightlife at such a young age, how her relationship with her mother and brother shaped her future, how she's been able to keep her life with her wife and child as private as possible, and whether she still gets a rush out of hosting events such as the American Music Awards. Plus, a very special voice note left by none other than the legendary Patti LaBelle.Visit your nearest Boost Mobile store or https://promo.boostmobile.com/webuilt...All lines provided by Hard Rock BetSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Hey, guys, it's us.
The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe.
I'm Kevin.
And I'm Nick.
And guess what?
We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas.
We invented a podcast?
Well, we didn't invent it.
We just contributed to it.
We're the first people to do podcasts.
We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions.
Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it.
But, you know, tired and sick.
Tired and sick.
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That's the name.
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You may have to live your life like this.
And so you're trying to figure out how do she live her life?
Yeah, they want to know.
They want to know.
Oh, you can't even believe it.
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Go further.
You ain't far enough.
Yes, that's good.
Now, go further.
If it's dangerous, no, it's more dangerous than that.
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Guys, I have a whole introduction to do today.
And it involves Grammy Awards and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and many, many, many accolades.
But I'm going to pause that just to run a list down from like jungle fever, house party juice.
Who's the man?
My Life Set It Off.
Hullam.
Living out a lot, the bone collector, bringing out the dead brown sugar, Chicago.
This is not even all of them.
A scary movie three, barbershop two to cookout taxi beauty shop last holiday, ice age, the meltdown, hairspray, the perfect holiday.
And then I'm talking about like Queen Latifie.
for show and living single and a star and equalizer and cover girl ads and ladies first and
you and ITY and queen Lativa is my pooh!
The buddy, peek, and re got the sugar, got that spice.
He just made this smile up last night.
Come on.
You're such a rapper.
You are such.
Do you think I am?
I definitely think you are.
I know you are.
You know what part of the problem is that you made me believe that I could be a rapper.
You also made me believe I could do a talk show and a this and a this and a.
that and adapt because you did all the things. And me watching you, my whole career, I thought,
yeah. Yeah. I want to do a lot of things. Of course. And it's okay to do a lot of things.
It is okay to do a lot of things. Whatever you think you can do, you should be doing. Right.
And look at you right now. I'm so happy you're here today. Angie, I'm so glad to be here.
Nothing brings me more pleasure than to be right here, right now, a guest on your cast.
on your show.
Thank you.
Come on, you're to go with this.
So it's my honor.
You have been supportive, not of just me.
And I hear so many stories about the way you carry people and show up for people quietly.
And when I hear them, I'm like, oh, I already know.
Because I from my own firsthand experience of like, yo, I'm doing this commercial.
You put me in a cover girl commercial.
Of course.
Look at you.
Stop.
Look at her.
What's not the point?
The point is that while you were collecting some of that list that I'm just talking about,
you were just pulling people into things.
Like, I can't imagine what that feels like.
And then you see all these people doing things.
Like, do you feel connected to so many people?
I do.
Yeah.
I do.
I feel connected to a huge amount of people.
And it's actually, you know, that phrase, what goes up must come down.
It's really a real thing.
And so if you really take that phrase seriously,
as you're going up, you've got to consider
that some of the people who may not be up yet,
if you're going down, they might be going up.
And you can use that help at some point.
You might need somebody to look out for you.
And it's that one person that you said hi to that day
or you held the door open as you should have
and let them go through.
And they may just remember your demeanor
or how you spoke to them with respect
or something like that.
Or you may have given them a job.
And nobody would have hired them necessarily.
They didn't have experience, but you saw something in them, you know.
And then one day they're writing the checks.
And then one day they're the boss and they actually can hook you up.
And so they think, why not you?
But you talk about the lows.
I don't remember any lows for you.
Maybe that's just from the outside.
It's good that you don't remember those lows.
So you're telling me there were something at some point.
There's always lows.
There's always lows.
Life is not a thing that just goes up, up, up, up.
even if it appears that way.
Definitely some body blows along the way.
Big ones.
I want to learn all about your lessons today.
I want to learn all.
I want to get all up in your lessons of life today.
I'm still learning.
That's one of the biggest lessons.
Keep learning.
I will say, though, before we go into details of things,
the one thing, maybe it's not always been highs for you.
I'm sure there's ups and downs and all of that.
But I think what people love about you so much
and what I value you about you,
one of the things I value about you so much,
you so much is that, that, you know, your name is Queen Latifah, right?
And so people call you a queen and you've always been held in that type of, you came into
the game like, this is how you're going to look at me, this is how I want to be treated.
But that crown, it's one thing to say that.
No, and I'm just saying you have worn that crown for a long time and kept it, like, intact.
Like, how do you do that?
I think I've always tried to, first of all, I didn't do this.
on my own. God put me in this position. There's no reason I should even be here. This is divine.
And then the fact that I have the mom who I had, my father, my family, my friends, who I still
work with to this day from high school, that's a rare thing, apparently. I thought it was a normal
thing, but I came to learn that it's not. And so even just having people who actually love you
who are able to critique you is helpful because then you don't you don't get a big head thinking
you're much bigger than you are and then you also don't diminish yourself either so there are
people who can like tell you the truth without really trying to put you down or just gash you up
you know what I mean so I came up in a crew of people who did that and and even my partner
slash manager Shaqam like I've had him all these years so
and he could be a real realist
like brutally honest
you know
I'm like got it
okay
yeah
now let me pick myself
off the ground
and put myself back together again
I don't know
I think I've just been raised in a way
to know
oftentimes
where I am in life
so I don't overcoram
I'm kind of right here
where I'm supposed to be
and if I kind of go this way
I got people to go
or if I go that way
people to move
move me back to center.
And so, and then I have, I could call my grandmother and it's all about church.
Yes, she just turned 98.
Oh, no plus.
So I call from all around the world.
And I know when I call it, it's going to always wind up being, well, oh, trust God.
And we crack up about some things.
She'll ask me what I'm doing.
And I always think to myself, here's someone who has lived 100 years, pretty much.
Wow.
She's still standing.
She's saying way more than I'll ever imagine seeing
And if she can
Figure out a way to be okay in the midst of all these things
And it's been all three years
Then I think I can
I'll just follow her lead
You know, I'll just trust that
Things will work out
And stay optimistic
Rather than just become pessimistic
Or jaded and cynical and all that stuff
Did you always have that?
I think I've been a pretty optimistic person
In general
Like I'm always a happy go lucky
person until somebody takes away from it.
Like I wake up in a
joyful place, generally.
And it's my, like, you know, starts messing with my day
and then I have to get myself back.
Yeah.
How are heavy?
Crowns are heavy.
How?
How so?
Heavy is the crown.
Because when people expect you to, like,
carry something, it could be heavy.
You know what I mean?
Like, you got real actual life to live
and things are not as easy as they seem.
And in spite of and despite of that, you're expected to like stand up.
And you're ready to fall down and crumble and fall apart like everybody else might.
But, you know, when you're expected to get up, you know, you have to figure out how to get up.
And it can be tough.
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That's what I wonder.
like, I don't know.
It's like when people put something on you, like,
people put things on us.
Like, you're the this of that.
And then you have to like walk around the world like the this or that.
Now, you put a thing on you that was a good thing.
Right.
This regal persona of, it's not a persona.
You really are a regal.
You walk around.
People love you because they love you, not because your name is Queen Latifah.
But I don't know.
It's just like a standard that's almost expected.
I just wonder if that becomes like,
It's way too burdensome to live up to that.
I can't live up to what people expect of me.
It's just impossible.
And I'm not that.
That's not who I am.
I live up to what I can live up to
and what my family has expected of me.
You know what I mean?
If I can go for that, then the public should be good.
Because I've got a big family.
If I can make it through them,
I think most people should be okay with everything else.
But also, I'm not Superman.
You know what I mean?
Like I have faults.
Of course.
And I'm okay with that.
And so what I'd rather show is that you don't have to be perfect.
You know what I mean?
But you can still carry yourself in a certain way that allows you to step back into what you want to be.
So for me, maybe I want to get there.
I might not be there, but I have to imagine, okay, this is where I want to be.
So let me start moving in a way.
I'll try to move in a way that can help me move into that space.
what would I be, if I were her, how would I feel if I met me?
Would I like for me to speak when I walked in the room, say hello to everybody or just speak to the person I know?
Well, let's be, you know, let's have some manners.
Let's say hi, everybody.
Have a great shoot, you know what I mean?
I can't imagine through all your years, too, and like being famous and being in Hollywood and, you know, movie sets with really famous.
Like, just navigating the personalities in the world because you seem really well adjusted.
You know, we see people that we knew from young and we've seen them come up and you see people kind of lose it in these waters.
Yeah.
It's hard, though.
And your soul seems to be intact.
Is it always like that?
No, I think I've crashed and burned several times.
I've definitely hit brick walls and was like, oh, that was brick.
Right.
My bad.
I've been protected by those who care about me.
I've been protected by God.
And then I've tried to be a person who
ask for help, you know, or I say, you know, I'm tapping.
I don't have this.
I ain't got this one.
Yeah, absolutely.
And go get help, go figure it out, go talk to somebody
or step away for a second, whatever time I can get.
I've had to make adjustments through the years.
In the beginning, I would literally just disappear.
And everybody would be looking for me.
I have things to do.
I would just blow off everything and just bounce.
And I would call my mother and I'm like, mom, I'm up here.
I'll go to my brother's grave half the time, get two coronas.
You know, one for him, one for me.
I'm like, Ma, I'm fine.
I'm not speaking to anybody.
I need him a minute.
And she would talk to whoever she needed to talk to to let them know.
Back up, give us some space.
And it really would generally just take that day.
for me to re-center, you know, and then I'll be ready for the world again.
I'm ready for the fight all over again.
But what was it?
What are you battling?
Like, what were you?
Because I appear that I can handle a lot, people throw a lot at me to handle.
And I'm like, I can't handle all that.
There's a limit to how much I can handle.
I may appear to be able to carry that load, but that load is heavy.
And so when do I get to take a break?
And if I say, hey, I need a minute.
I need a break.
But you want a $50 million production.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Which means nothing to me because I'm not materialistic.
It could be a $100 million production.
It could be a billion dollar production.
Guess what?
I will bounce.
You know what I mean?
Really?
Absolutely.
I cannot be moved by money.
It's too dangerous.
You know what I mean?
Like that's not enough of a motivation for me.
What I noticed is when I did things for a check, I hated it half the time.
You know, the check.
Check cleared. The money was good, but I really did not enjoy it. It wasn't memorable. My heart
wasn't in it. So I felt like I needed to do things that really meant something to me.
And I mean, that was literally from my first couple of jobs on. So I learned early and
probably why I even had any type of poise when I came into the business is because I had
already been living. I was running the streets at 15. I was in clubs. I was hanging out. I was hanging
I need to know little, because I ain't known little Dana.
How do you reflect on her now at this age?
When you think of her, you at, I don't know, what age pops for you, I don't know.
I just think about my poor mother.
Why?
Because what the hell was I doing in them damn streets?
What are you doing in the streets?
I was partying.
I was doing it all.
How old are we talking about?
Like from 15, 15, 16, 17.
What do you mean party?
Like local parties, house parties, clubs.
Local parties, but I was going to.
to New York. I lived in New Jersey. I lived in East Orange, New Jersey, which is like a border
of Newark. So it's maybe 35 minutes outside of the city. I'm taking the train, going to New York,
just being cool, dressing, fly, just pretending. At 15. I'm fronting. Yes. I'm hoping enough to get
the phone. So you know, I was in Roseland, too. With a fake ID. Of course. The first night I went,
there was a shootout. Of course there was a shootout. I didn't leave. I jumped under
the table, I waited for it to stop, and then they played Bismarck, and I popped up out the table.
The party continued. And the party continued. And this is why I'm honored to be here with a G,
with a G at this table interviewing me, who has seen some things. I need you to have seen some
things at Roseland. So you were also 15 in the club. I was 15 in the club with the fake I did.
I mean, I remember meeting Bismarkey because he had a biz hat on.
And we were, we took, we took the train into the city to go to Latin Quarter, which was a club that had a hip hop night, the biggest hip hop night that around.
Of course.
You could see anybody perform, right?
And you would always stop at the McDonald's in Times Square before you went to the, to the club, which is a few blocks up.
And we stand outside the McDonald's and my boy Bree says, yo, that's biz.
and I see this kind of guy walking up the street
he got this kind of trucker hat that says biz on it
and I was like
that's not Biz Marquis
I don't know what I expected him to look like
and I walked up to him I was like you biz Marquis
he was like yeah
I said hit the beatbox
he said
I was like
we were crazy then
I was like what
we went nuts
and he was from Jersey too
It was like, yo, so this was the beginning of all of it.
There was no way I could walk away from this hip hop music.
You're already the type of kid, though.
Like, number one, you leave in Jersey, the kids are the streets.
You're in the streets and you're not afraid to go up to somebody like, yo!
Like, this energy that you were talking about how you could walk in a room and feel people like, you already had that.
I had.
I have.
Because I come from a big family, and there's every type of person in my family.
And so, and we taught a lot of things.
And so if you could be an Owens Marsedy, you could make it through.
our family, any of our cookouts, all the stuff we've seen.
I mean, there's every type of person in my family.
So I've seen it all in front of me my whole life.
So you're not afraid of people?
People that I'm supposed to be afraid of, yes.
You know what I mean?
The people that I'm supposed to be afraid of, I'm afraid of.
Or if I get a certain vibe from a person, I'm like, okay, how are you going to get out of this one,
figure your way out of it.
The rest of the angels had the wheel, because it ain't no reason.
I'm in East New York and 16.
What are you doing out here?
What are you doing in East New York, Jersey girl?
You're way out in Brooklyn.
Like, this is last stops on the trains this way and that way.
What were you looking for?
Probably love and...
Of course, I'm 15.
16, this hormones are crazy.
Oh, really? You weren't kidding.
Well, that just happened to be part of it, of course.
Oh, you were looking for something cute.
No, I mean, it comes with the club.
Oh, got it.
But yes, I was in, I was looking.
I was in clubs for the music, for the style, for the energy, for this music called hip hop that I got to be a part of.
I'm looking at my favorite artist in this box on the wall performing, you know, thinking one day, man, I wish I could perform up there.
I mean, I'm hearing, I'm looking at salt pepper.
I'm looking at light.
I'm looking at Koogee rap and polo.
I'm looking at Kaine.
I'm looking at Boogie Down Productions.
Melly Mel is hosting.
I mean, Sweet Tea, Jazzy Joyce.
Anybody who's anyone in hip hop is performing at this club,
you're going to get frisked.
You're going to think somebody cavity searched you by the time you get in there
the way you're getting frisked.
And you love it.
And I'm like, yo.
I've arrived.
I got this.
And your mother's thinking, my child is where?
My mother has no idea.
She doesn't know.
I would have snuck out or either gone to.
I mean, she's a school teacher.
She has to get some rest.
She's a school teacher.
And you're in the house.
It's you, your brother, your mother.
Your parents were together.
Oh, at that point.
It was just us three.
My dad was at his other house at that point.
So my parents weren't together by that time.
He was in Newark.
He was very close, but he wasn't in the house.
He didn't know he was sneaking out.
Yeah.
Not until my mother probably told him.
And then I got the talk from everyone.
And then I tried to get it together.
And it was my brother.
Like my brother and I was so close.
Like I never kept secrets with him.
And then I had a couple of cousins that knew my whole life.
and we, you know, we were a close family, so there wasn't, there was always somebody, you know,
or somebody in the slave unit, the crew in Mark's basement, you know, that was with me.
Like, we're going to the city, we're going to get into something.
So this was like, it became, but what it was, my mother understood it because she was a
cool teacher.
Like I got in my mother's car one day and she was playing leaders in a new school.
It's just another case of that O PTA.
I was like, what?
My mother knows hip hop.
So then I'm like, you know, my mother was like the cool teacher.
So she got that this was like a new form of music.
Like this must have been what folk or rock and roll was to her generation.
But to my generation, this was hip hop.
And she encouraged it rather than, you know, pushed us away from it.
You know, we were, this was our thing.
And we were thinking about how to make it a career, how to how to monetize it,
how to make a business out of it.
And my mother supported that rather than pushed us away from it.
Although you were going to college if you were living in this house.
So...
Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers.
And guess what?
We have some big news.
What's the news, name?
Huge news.
We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.
We invented a podcast?
Well, we didn't invent it.
We just contributed to a...
We're the first people to do podcasts.
Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts.
We're starting a trend.
But this one's extra special.
So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey, John?
Jonas, guys.
I honestly don't remember.
I think it was on a call about what we should call it.
We were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before
Jonas Brothers was...
This is how you guys remember it going down?
Yes.
I have a very different memory of this.
We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast where people could call in and say,
Hey, Jonas.
And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, Jonas, and offered it up as a potential
title for the podcast.
But thanks for me.
Remembering that, guys.
Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Just listen.
We don't care where you hear it.
Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guide, not quite.
Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends.
Me and hilarious guests from Jim Gaffigan to Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman,
help make you funnier.
This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an
a cappella band with their between songs banter.
There's the worst singer in the group?
The worst?
Yeah.
Me.
Is there anything to the idea that because you're from Harvard,
you only got in because your parents made a huge donation.
The group.
The yard birds, right?
That's the name.
The Harvard yard, but they're open.
Do you have a name suggestion?
We're open.
Since you guys are middle-aged.
One erection.
Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app.
podcast or wherever you get your podcast.
Human be.
I need some jokes to make me seem funny.
In New York,
Lorena Borges was the protector of Latinas
that have learned to survive
three times.
As women trans,
as immigrants,
and as a workadouras sexual.
I'm going to get to where
have to get like a perr
to belear with garras and
unias.
But when she
murgio,
to chenar the
sapathes
of the
woman
Lorna
Borne.
I'm Rula
Avila
Munoz
and I
invite to
a world
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and
where
women
three
times
marginated
liberate
a
quarter
battle
not
only to
not only
to be
a mother
to be sure, and you know, and so that's, I'm a world, and so that's and it's a lot of
Reinas of Queens,
as part of My Culture Podcast Network.
In the app of IHeard Radio, Apple Podcasts,
or where you see your podcasts.
What's up, fam, it's Isaiah Thomas.
And I'm CJ Toledano,
and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds.
Like LeBron heading into the playoffs
without Luca and Austin Reed.
And finding ways to win no matter what.
He's the smartest player to ever play the game.
His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before.
And he knows.
Without Luca and Austin Reeves,
I got to manipulate the game.
We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.
I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series
because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup,
he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid.
He has to guard Julius Randall.
And then he has to give us everything he gives us
on the night-to-night basis on offense.
And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson,
we dive into some playoff history too.
Steve Nash would get that thing.
That man, hell get the flying.
He running up the court, licking his fingers,
why he got the ball, like,
After you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick.
Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball.
So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
I did go to college, but I also asked if I could have permission to leave college for a year.
So I could like really put my...
Your mother, the educator, you asked.
The educator.
See, you know, not...
She didn't even call herself a teacher.
She called herself an educator.
So yes, I did have to ask that permission.
However, my mother and I were very close, and she knew I was a pretty honest kid.
My brother would lie, but she knew she's like, now, wait me, you'll tell him he'll lie.
And she would bust him in a minute, but she knew pretty much she could quiz me and in a few questions I was giving up the story.
Because I really could lie to my mother like that.
And so, you know, I just had to, I was, I was.
And she had my number.
And I just had to explain to her what my purpose was.
So once I explained to her, I was like, Ma, I really think I can do something with this.
So I just want to put a, I just want to take off one year.
And I skipped a year.
I skipped first grade, whatever.
So I said, let me just take off one year.
And I'll put my 150% into this.
And if it doesn't work out, I promise you, I'll go back to college.
And I never looked back.
Wow.
You know, all those records started playing.
I got a deal.
Like, the companies came together.
It was just, it all worked.
At some point, though, you thought I want this to, I don't know, you just thought bigger than everybody else.
I feel like you always thought bigger because you could have just been like, I want to be a rapper.
Which is big enough.
You did a great enough job at that.
Like, that could have been it.
But you didn't, you wanted a management company.
And you wanted to act.
And you wanted to have brands and you wanted to, like, I feel like you just have always your whole career, have thought bigger.
Did you always think that from the beginning?
I think so.
And how much of that is, like, the key to what you've been able to do for so long?
I think it's very important.
Yeah.
I think it's very important.
I think I grew up in a very creative household.
My parents were a police officer and who wanted to be an architect.
That's your dad?
Yeah.
Very creative, listen to jazz, play percussion, so a musical household as well.
My mom became an art teacher, but we watched her go to school.
So she didn't already have a diploma when we were kids.
She went to school.
She went to college.
Sometimes she would take us to school with her because she didn't have a babysitter.
And there's a janitor that worked there that will watch us while she took her classes.
So not only did we, you know, we actually got to see.
see the work that went into her achieving this degree.
And so there was a lot of learning, hands-on learning that we got to see.
Also, my grandfather owned a hardware store.
So we got to see business people in front of us growing up.
You know, anybody could get a job.
Any one of my cousins could work at the hardware store where my grandfather and his
brothers owned it.
And a lot of business went through there.
my grandmother was very much a hustler, smart, just knew how to talk to people.
I mean, they just lived at a different level.
So Nork was not the Nork that people talk about.
It was a thriving metropolis with a million plus people.
And I got to see a whole lot of things growing up in a lot of success in our own ways.
I also grew up in Maryland and Virginia where my mother's side of the family was from,
So it was slow.
Got to get away from the city.
Appreciate nature.
Being in the country.
Go to church every Sunday.
You go on a vacation Bible school.
Whether you like it or not,
nobody's sleeping in the house on the Sunday.
It's not happening.
I don't care who you are or your religion.
You're going to be at church on Sunday.
So there was something to that.
Oh, so there's like a lot of discipline in that.
There's faith in that.
There's like how you treat people in that.
Like all those things.
And there's music in that.
And there's music in that.
There's music.
in that. But all those things that you talk about how like they define you, that's, it's all rooted
in that upbringing and that setting and that thing. It's nice to hear you talk about your brother
too, because we always, when he comes up for us, it's always in the sad part of his existence,
but hearing about him in the joyful, how close you were.
I don't know, that was my brother. People thought we were twins because we looked alike.
Yeah. As soon as we saw each other, we were just like puppies. We would just hugged
each other, do something very loving or very silly and people got to see what like a love
sibling relationship looked like, you know?
So it was very normal for us.
And I know at some point my mother was like, listen,
I understand that you, I get it.
It was my brother who actually brought it to my attention
that my mother was stressing about me hanging out
and being in the streets like that.
And he was like, come on, Dio, you're mommy crying.
I was like, what?
Crying.
I made mommy cry?
It was so out of the realm of reality for me.
And he was like, yeah.
I was like, oh, man, I got to talk to mommy.
And I was 17 at that time.
So we were talking about two years of just going at it.
And my mom and I had to talk.
Why do you think she was crying?
Did she think she was going to lose you?
I think she was definitely.
I think she was worried about me.
That particular night, I remember I went out to a club.
I expected my friends to be there.
None of my friends were there.
And I went out with no money.
And I was like, oh, my God, I'm stuck in the city.
By the way, guys.
No cell phones, no beepers.
There's nothing at this time.
You just outside until you're not.
And buses and trains, all that stuff starts running in Jersey.
Yeah.
So I'm stuck in the city.
Like, how am I going to get home?
My mother has a cousin who lives in Castle Hill in the Bronx.
So I said, okay, I could hop this turn to aisle,
and I could just take it to Castle Hill.
Then I walked her house and I knocked on her door.
She was a nurse at the hospital locally.
And I was like, it's Dana Rita's daughter.
And now she's like,
What? Come on in. She led me into a room, let me spend the night.
Call my mother, of course. This is my mother's first cousin. She called my mother,
let her know where I was, gave me train fare and bus fare to get home because she had to work.
And I took the train home. And by the time I got back to East Orange, it felt like I traveled 150 miles.
And it was time to just have a, and that's when I came in and my brother was like,
D, what you doing?
He was drinking some beer.
I could tell.
I was like, he tipsy.
And then we used to wrestle a lot.
So he grabbed me up.
Like, who you got Mommy crying?
I was like, I got Mommy crying.
And I was like, I couldn't believe I had done that to my mother.
And so, you know, I had to talk to my mom.
And she talked, we had a conversation about things.
And she was like, ultimately, it was like, I know you're going to continue to do what you're doing because you have to do this.
I just need you to call me and let me know you safe wherever you are.
And I was like, Mom, I promise you, I will let you know wherever I am.
Because I'm thinking, okay, she's going to let me still go out a little bit.
All I got to do is let her know I'm there.
If I'm in Brooklyn, I'm there.
It got so, it got to the point where everybody would watch.
You call your mother?
Yo, you call your mother?
You call your mother?
No, let me get in the door.
Like, for real.
You really were protected.
I was protected.
Everybody, like, all the whole flavor unit, if I was in Mark's basement,
you'll call your mother.
I'm in my friends, I'm in bedstile, my girl, Gigi's house.
You call your mother?
Call my mother.
I'm in the Bronx.
You call your mother?
I call my mother.
Like, I have to call my mother or somebody.
Ramsey, tell my mother I'm here.
Pass the number long, make sure she knows where I am.
And from that moment on, it was like we were adults.
You know, we were women dealing with one another rather than just mother-daughter.
You know what I mean?
And it was a different kind of cadence in our relationship that really made the difference.
because she knew I needed to do this
and that it was a purpose in it.
She could see it.
She could see it in my friends.
She could hear it because I would play my little songs for her.
I would rhyme for her or make up a song and sing it for her.
So she knew that I was called to make music.
Something was calling me.
And she wanted me to follow my creative path.
She just didn't want to worry about my life.
You know what I mean?
And I can respect that.
I get it.
God bless.
How lucky are you?
How much is that informed?
you as a mom now.
Like, what kind of mom are you?
I don't even know you as mom.
Who, I don't know that I know me as mom.
What do you mean?
I just know.
You've been doing it for seven years now.
I know.
Well, the day he got here, I was like, I'm sorry.
To your mother.
I'm so sorry.
What was I thinking?
Was I crazy?
What?
I'm sorry.
Oh, my God.
Is that how you told her?
I was so mad at me.
I don't.
I do. I talk to it like she's right here. Like, Mom, I don't know what I was thinking. God bless you. How could you so, I love you so much. How could you think to be so nice to me after pushing me out like that? You know, I'm like, I got stuck to. Oh my gosh. Yes. You still love me.
It's, it's, you and mom, you know, it's just one of the most unselfish things you will ever do. And that's pretty much. Like, I don't talk very much about my personal life like that. Because I know.
need that to keep to keep for myself.
And it has served you.
It has.
And that came from my mother too.
You know, my mother would tell me to keep, you know, keep your private seat, your private
things private.
And this house is, this is for you.
This is your sanctuary.
So everybody can't come in your house.
You know, out there is out there.
But here should be like a safe space for you to be who you are.
Because I need to take Queen Lativo off sometimes and sit her at the door and let
just lie, come in the door, Dana come in the door and just be whoever she is.
Yeah, I'm just mama, you know?
Like, I'm bringing whatever I can to the table, you know, where there's, I'm fortunate
that I grew up with a brother who comes up with all kinds of craziness, so I'm never shocked
when my son comes up with some madness or has jokes or wants to do something wild that
everybody is like, and I'm like, yeah, let's, okay, we're going to do that.
But here's how we're going to do it.
We're going to do that safely, but we're definitely jumping, but not from there.
You know what I mean?
So, you know, I bring it.
Isn't that funny?
We become our mothers, by the way.
I don't know.
We really do become our mothers.
Yeah.
The only thing I will say, and I know I also value your privacy, you know what I mean?
And I respect you so much that I would never want to push anything about you.
But I will say it has been really joyful for people who love you to see you just seeing you, just seeing,
and be free.
Like, that's really it.
It's like, I don't even want to know the details
of all the intimacy of whatever,
all the decision-making,
and I know you don't really want to share that.
But you have been more open.
You have been outside.
You have been on carpets with your wife
and everybody knows you have a child.
I know.
It's always been outside to be honest with me.
Yeah, you haven't really been.
It's not a lot of big secrets.
You may have to know me to know.
If you know, and if you don't, you don't.
It wasn't like something I felt.
I've seen people
You know
Some people are really good at navigating
Public life
Some people are really bad at it
And some of my peers, my friends
Like that fame thing hit them
And their anonymity went away
And they were like
They couldn't really handle that
You know
Plus we're teenagers
And we got to grow up still
We're still growing up
So that's really really tough
To grow up in front of the world
But I never feel
I also see people invite the world into their house and then come to regret it.
So I don't really feel the need to put my whole life in everybody else's hands.
It's not like something that's a desire I have for you to know what's going on in my house every five minutes or what I ate or how I sleep or what I'm doing.
That's not for you.
But you never felt trapped or like you felt like you had to hide anything.
You know what I'm saying?
Because I had the bright on a junior.
No question.
Have you ever spent time with the Brat and Judy?
I would like to spend some time with the Brad.
You should absolutely spend time with them.
Especially now.
They are so funny.
No, they are so funny.
But the Brat was explaining to me like, you know, there was a time that she couldn't do certain things and be certain ways.
And that was just it.
That was the law.
And then she got to a point.
She was like, look, I just want to.
I don't give a shit.
Yeah, you stop caring.
You stop caring.
Now, she's way more open with her.
They got a reality show.
She's not like, you know.
She's way more open.
And that's her choices.
Everybody's choices.
But I'm just saying, like,
the feeling of feeling, I don't know, you just, even the little bit that you share now,
you seem happy and free about it. You don't seem impressed about it, but you also, I just wonder
if there was another side of that, if you ever felt tight. Definitely.
Oh, no question, no question. I felt tight from jump. But what I felt was, and I still feel
it. People think they know me and they don't. Like, I'm still not the box you think I'm in.
Like, whatever you think, you're wrong.
nine times out of ten.
And that is why I really can't justify all your thoughts.
Dear public, God bless you.
Dear public, I cannot justify all your thoughts about me by either verifying or, you know,
I don't need to clarify that because my life is much more rich than whatever you think,
my life is way more colorful than all that.
You know what I mean?
I'm a Pisces.
You know what I'm saying?
a full-blooded free-ranging Pisces over here,
and I do what I feel.
You know what I'm saying?
So you may have to live your life like this.
And so you're trying to figure out how do she live her life?
Yeah, they want to know.
They want to know.
Oh, you can't even believe it.
Whatever you thought, think bigger.
You know what I mean?
Go further.
You ain't far enough.
Yes, that's good.
Now go further.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, if it's dangerous, no, it's more dangerous than that.
Okay.
If that's who she loved,
No, no, no, loved more than that.
You know what I'm saying?
Much more of that because it's actual real life.
And again, I think it comes back to my family and just being around.
I mean, it's the reason I can be, I never felt uncomfortable being in a room with different races of people.
I never felt uncomfortable being around people who have had more money.
You could be a millionaire.
You could be a billionaire.
It makes no difference to me.
I'm going to speak to you and treat you just like anyone else in the room.
it came from my family
and what they filled me with
before I even stepped into the world at all
so people are people
but you're comfortable in any
room is what you mean right
like you're comfortable in most
in good rooms and any good room
and most and in some places listen
I'm not perfect I've gotten burned by people too
you know
but I just I have to keep moving
and I have to get up
I got my heart broke I still
choose to love you know
I've suffered unbelievable losses of family members.
I still have to live because apparently I have to live.
I'm still here.
I love music.
I always will.
It's my default.
Music is like my default with whatever I do.
So if I were hosting this show, I would be playing some music to get me in a mood,
to get me in a zone.
If it's a scene in a film that,
I have to cry. I don't have to think of a sad thing anymore. I got to put on a Clark
sister's record and the harmonies alone will make me want to cry. Really? So I'll be right
there. Call action. You know what I mean? And that's a gift. And I've received that.
And the faith that I have has been my superpower in a lot of ways because you're right. Those
who are not walking around with it, they don't have this like invisible person to talk to like I do.
And say, okay, whether it's my mom or one of my other relatives, Winky, you the big brother, you better watch out for me.
I could curse at him a little bit.
You still talk to him that way?
Yeah.
You're supposed to be doing this.
How come I have to do it?
You're the oldest.
It's stupid.
Do you talk to him as Winky that was a kid?
Or do you haven't evolved Winky?
I haven't evolved Winky, too, because Winky as a kid still checked me as a little sister.
Got it.
You know what I mean?
You still check me on something.
So if I catch myself cursing it.
too much, I can hear him say, D. Come on, you're cursing too much.
And I'm like, Dad, how can you make me feel bad from way over there?
Then I laugh, and we laugh about it.
That's so interesting.
It's funny to me.
So I like that I don't have those walls between the realms like some people do.
And I'm not trying to be all spacey, but I just having to confront life and death like that
at such a young age, you know, from the time my grandfather passed away when I was seven.
And I felt like we went to back to back to back funerals.
And so when you lose so many people that you love, you have to deal with the realities that this is a life.
But it doesn't, for me, it doesn't end there.
You know, I can still feel the energy.
I still get the messages and the guidance a little bit to go here, do this, do that.
And I know it can't be me because I don't even know that to know it.
You know, it might just be a feeling out of it.
And so I just might give it to God.
How are you managing, let me be careful how I asked this because I don't want to be too nosy.
I like your thoughtful process.
You like this? Look at me.
Look at me over here with it.
Look at me.
What she's looking at what I'm talking to one of my ancestors up there.
I'm talking about one of my ancestors up there.
No, you know, I'm trying to think how to ask this without being too nosy, but it's like, you know, you have made a shift, a public shift.
Damn, did I?
You did.
What I do?
Stop.
You are a married woman with a child.
you do carpets with your wife.
I met your wife at the Mary J. Blige concert, by the way.
I think I met her briefly before, but I saw her there.
She was going off.
I told me would come up to the pod.
She was like, good, get her.
No, she didn't say it.
Well, maybe she said something like that.
She said, it was great.
But when you've let people in a little bit.
I mean, you went on a stage, the tiniest bit.
So I'm not going to go.
I'm not going to ask about details about none of the intimate home.
Thank you.
I won't.
I promise.
I won't.
But you did.
go on stage, you shout pride, you clearly are living in your truth and your family and your life.
What was pride day? Dana. I can't do just the regular as shit. Stop. They got to be looked
that deeper. It was the damn pride week in LA. What was you? No, I'm saying. No, stop.
You made a choice to do that. I did. Yeah. So what about the, can you talk about that, like,
that decision to just make that choice? In a woman who's had the career that you've had with the
speculation for all those years and the decision to be so private to make a decision to go,
you know what?
I'll just say this and leave it right there.
Like, that's a decision.
Like, so what makes you make that decision?
And then what does that feel like?
I guess is the question.
I was getting a Lifetime Achievement Award and I didn't want to leave out the people who
were part of the lifetime.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Yeah, that's about it.
That was it?
That's it.
Really?
It's really that simple.
Not more complicated than that?
It was so not more complicated than that.
And it's funny because it's not always that deep.
Some people think that if you don't share, it means you're hiding something versus I'm okay
with just not sharing.
I guess maybe that's the difference.
I mean, or maybe it's a combination of both, you know.
When I was growing up, you know, or kind of hanging out, people just, even in this business,
people are just so fascinated about people's private lives.
You know what I mean?
Like so fascinated by what you're doing with your private life.
Why?
Is it because you're curious?
It's because you're intrigued.
Is it because you might, like, you'd be surprised.
I think also sometimes people want to know how you're navigating.
Listen, ask me personally how I'm navigating.
But don't expect, unless it's Angie, I may tell you how I navigate.
I'm on my business.
it's okay to mind your business
and handle your business
I do try to mind my business
do you really yes
I do you know what I mean because I realize
that a lot of people
also like talking about other people's business
and they
when even before it was like
all the pages and everything
when it was like literally National Enquirer
people would bring those things to me or bring gossip to people near me or around me.
And I was, I'm like, what is the point of this?
Why are you telling me this?
Like, what do you think you're doing by telling me that you read something about me somewhere?
And then I got to look at the person who's bringing me the message.
Like, what do you get out of this?
Like, do you care about me?
Do you see I'm about to go do this and you come put this on me?
How do you think I'm going to feel about that?
You know what I mean?
Like there's nothing positive that's going to come from me having this knowledge right now.
So really, this is for you.
This is not for me.
So I told everybody around me, don't bring that shit to me.
If you read it, you read it.
Tell me later, I don't want to hear that shit.
Keep it where you at.
You know?
And so some of it and some of my ability to keep things to myself is me also respecting other people's privacy.
I know a lot about a lot of different people.
But it's not really my place for me to share their business necessarily, you know, because many of them, like myself, we're all growing up.
You know what I mean?
We're not perfect.
And I make mistakes.
And other people make mistakes, too.
When I need to say something else, I'm clear about it.
You know, you step on my toe, I'm let you know.
Say, ouch.
But I don't have to say everything about everything.
And I don't need to say everything about my private life because it's my private life.
And I love the people that are in my life.
Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers.
And guess what?
We have some big news.
What's the news?
Huge news.
We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.
We invented a podcast?
Well, we didn't invent it.
We just contributed to it.
We're the first people to do podcasts.
Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there.
But this one's extra special.
So how do we actually come?
up with the name Hey Jonas, guys.
I honestly don't remember.
I think it was on a call about what we should call it.
Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band.
Before Jonas Brothers was...
This is how you guys remember it going down?
Yes.
I have a very different memory of this.
We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast,
where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas.
And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas,
and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.
But thanks for remembering that, guys.
Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcast.
Just listen.
We don't care where you hear it.
Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guide,
not quite.
Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends.
Me and hilarious guests from Jim Gaffigan to Bob Odenkirk,
to David Letterman, help make you funnier.
This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and headwriters, Streeter Seidel,
help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.
Who's the worst singer in the group?
The worst?
Yeah.
Me.
Is there anything to the idea that because you're from Harvard,
you only got in because your parents made a huge donation.
The group.
The yard birds, right?
That's the name.
The Harvard Yard.
They're open.
Do you have a name suggestion?
We're open.
Since you guys are middle aged.
One erection.
Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcast.
or wherever you get your podcast.
Human be.
I need some jokes to make me seem funny.
In New York,
Lorena Borges
were the protector of Latinas
that have learned to
to survive three times.
Like women trans,
as immigrants,
and as like
women,
and as women are
to get to
get like a perr
to bele with garras and ujas.
But when she
murgoy...
Nobody will be
to be able to chenar the
sapathes
of the
woman
I'm sorry
I'm
I'm
I'm sure
I'm
and I'm
invite
to a
world
feroce
and
brilliant
where
women
women
three
times
liberate
a
battle
not
only
for
to
not
so
for
prosper
in a
world
in a
man
Cacones, lentejuela, and if it's a shot of tequila.
Escuched Central, the Reinas of Queens,
as part of My Culture Podcast Network,
in the app of Aheart Radio, Apple Podcasts,
or where you see your podcasts.
What's up, fam, this Isaiah Thomas.
And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast point game is about defining the odds.
Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed.
And finding ways to win no matter what.
He's the smartest player to ever play.
the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and
Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the
playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the
lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has
to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends
stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too.
Steve Nass would get that thing.
That man, hell get the flying.
He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball.
Like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick.
Oh, yeah.
Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball.
So listen to Point Game on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
You know, or maybe I'm getting cheated on, or maybe I'm getting my heart broken, or maybe I'm down in the dumps,
Or maybe I'm drinking too much.
Like, and maybe I need to deal with me.
So what do you want me to tell all y'all that?
For what?
Let me work on this.
Let me go work on this.
Let me work on me.
And so maybe that's been part of it.
Or I talk to the people I know who actually care about me.
You know, I don't go to people who are strangers who don't necessarily have my best interests at heart.
I talk to the people who actually care about me and try to navigate my life with them.
And they also try to try to.
to do the same with me. And so we need to know we have this circle of protection, this
circle of safety, of safe, I don't know what word I'm trying to use, but.
Yes. I mean, even with you, like, there's things I would tell you because we known each other
a thousand years. I would feel more comfortable telling you than I would tell somebody else.
Me, you can have a straight up off-the-record conversation the moment we walk out this door
and they're not here. Well, thank you for trusting me. And of course. But, you know, I know parts of your
life, it's none of their business. You know what I mean? But it's also a lot of
I also understand and somebody who actually cares about you and respects you.
Like, I understand, I was literally sitting in the room earlier thinking about,
oh, I want to ask about this and I want to ask about this.
And then I thought to myself, I think it's really beautiful the way she has navigated
her life this long and just giving people enough to like stand on your business,
stand on your work, stand on your integrity and how you carry yourself.
And that you could even have this moment now where you give them just.
a little. And it's okay. And people are so happy to see it because you're happy. Because you are,
I don't, you seem happy. Like from the outside. I'm trying to be happy all the time. You seem
happy. And I think people are happy for you. I think for the most part. I mean, you can't
everybody listen. This is a sick world out there with a lot of people who are very unhappy.
But I think most people who know you and who have been raised with you and they see you, they're like,
Yeah, we love to see that.
I mean, do you feel that?
I do feel that.
You know what I'm saying?
I feel that.
Even if I occasionally, when I get on, I see the comments that people have and most of the time is always very positive.
And I just stick with the positive stuff and then somebody always goes left out.
Okay.
But even if you take you out of the equation and I think about people watching and in the spirit of like in real life and learning the lessons of that, it's like you're not sharing all of those things.
I think lots of women making this mistake now
because of social media
and because of our need to overshare all the time
and that shit stays with you forever
and then you're walking around
and not only trying to figure out
like how you said
am I drinking too much? Am I doing this?
Like that's the shit we all need to be working on.
But all of our stuff is outside
because we're looking at other people's things.
We're looking at the comments. We're looking at what we should be doing
and what our skin should look like
and what we should be wearing.
It's like everything is external versus what we're managing inside.
Yeah, we lose a lot of our natural instincts, I think.
You know, if we always are looking for validation or even justification,
we're looking for someone else to tell us that we're right.
I mean, there's a lot of gaslighting that can happen.
I'm just seeing so much.
And I've also, you know, I always,
I just, I love smart women.
I always have love smart women.
I've always, I grew up around a lot of smart women.
My freshman year of high school, I went to all girls, Catholic school in Irvington, New Jersey.
I'm still on a group chat with my friends from high school, like my crew.
And they are so smart.
You know what I mean?
And they're mothers and got graduates.
And they're going through ups and downs.
But they just, I just appreciate.
And they have such varied opinions.
you know, they have such different opinions
but they all still have to walk their individual paths
and I respect that.
You know what I mean?
And I think that we need to be okay
with walking our path
and knowing that we'll come out on the other end of things.
Like if I can share some wisdom of my life
to let you know that I fell in a hole so deep
I couldn't find the bottom of it.
And then I was like,
help.
And somehow I came up out of that.
And I was out of it.
And I just put one foot in front of the other.
Then, and that helps you,
then I want you to know that.
That I did go through that.
You know what I mean?
I want you to know that I've gone through hell and back.
I have a reason to smile, you know.
And whenever I get too much in my own head,
I start praying.
I pray. I pray it away. I start saying, hold up. Wait a minute. I don't have this. I ain't got it. I don't got it. Listen, I need you to protect my son, protect my family, protect this house. I just go off.
And then before you know it, I'm calm. I'm all right because then I remember I'm not in control of this. I didn't invent this whole thing. There's no way I could control it all. You know? And once I remember that, I let go with a wheel a little bit, then I get back to just being me.
doing my portion of it, you know, sharing my gifts, you know,
saying the things that only Dana Owens will say.
It's just the, it's the truth, you know, it's the truth.
Because there's so much right now I wish I could control in this world
with what we're looking at.
But I will do what I can.
You know, I will do what I can.
And that's what I can do.
And I can be content with that.
It may not change everything, but you never know.
And every little bit will change something.
So I try to stay positive and keep a positive attitude because I just can't give into negativity.
Like I can't wake up every day like somebody going to die.
This going to happen.
I don't want to hear that shit.
You know what?
Somebody did die.
That already happened.
And it's going to happen.
And I don't want to live in that space.
I want to live in a space that, you know, goes beyond that.
Somebody is also going to take their first steps today.
Somebody is also going to like swim for the first time.
You know what I mean?
And somebody's going to save somebody in the swimming pool today.
It's not just going to be a drowning.
Like, you are telling those stories.
Those stories get a lot of publicity.
Tell good stories.
You know, you'll see some.
You'll find it when you tell good.
If you want to find the good, you'll find the good.
So I try to find the good because I need to keep my head above water.
And the negative is not going to do that for me.
I love that.
Did you hear a good story today?
Let's see.
I mean, this is a good story.
You are a good story.
Angie Martinez.
as came in my dressing room, sat on a giant pillow and levitated.
I did levitate.
She sat in a lotus physician.
The next thing you know, she floated.
And I took a picture of it, and I was like, you know what?
I'm going to look at this picture when I need to get in a good moon.
I'm going to look at you just sitting there.
And I'm going to feel good about something.
And I know that that picture is going to come in handy one day.
That might really be a simple key to life, really.
It's like because right now people are struggling to navigate this.
It is stressful.
Even myself, man, I'm, I'd be struggling some days.
I get scared of shit.
Like I get scared to myself almost because I can't fix it.
I want to fix things.
I want to help.
I want to say the right thing.
I want to be.
I want to inspire somebody.
I want to challenge myself.
Like all I want to do all these things.
And there's so much going on in the world that is hard sometimes.
And so for me, like you, I try to.
Okay.
Hold up.
Yep.
Hold on.
Calm, calm your ass down.
There you go.
What can you control today?
Yeah.
What can you, what is good today?
Mm-hmm.
What you got for me today?
Yeah.
How are you going to use me today?
Yep.
And let's just get through today.
How about that?
You know what I mean?
How about just the next 30 minutes?
Maybe we're going too far with this.
Let's just, you know.
Right here.
Right here.
That just is making me think of one time.
I went to go see you.
You were doing a show, and I was introducing you.
And I think it was your jazz album.
Oh, wow.
And it was here in L.A., the outdoor, what's that outdoor?
The Hollywood Bowl.
Hollywood Bowl.
You were doing a Hollywood Bowl.
I'm introducing you.
Now, I am backstage.
My hair is like not doing right.
I didn't like what I was wearing.
So I'm fidgeting.
I'm listening.
And she's getting ready to go out to perform and sing in a way that you didn't really sing in front of people before.
It's a new thing.
I'm rattled because my hair and my outfit's not really hitting right.
she's calm as a cucumber
and your demeanor
is so calm
and I realize
what you're experiencing
what you're experiencing, what you're expressing.
You had it even then.
Like you have this kind of like
let me just
deal with this moment right here.
You don't like you just
I remember looking at you like
she's mad and this ain't all going right.
There were things going wrong.
Last minute people were running in.
Oh, the light didn't go off.
Hey, I need you to redo it.
hey, and people get scattered.
You were kind of like, okay, all right, well, let me get that.
Like, you just, you had this demeanor about you that people could be throwing the damn kitchen sink at you.
And you did not seem to be rattled.
And I was so inspired by that.
No, really.
Like, I was inspired by it because I think that's part of what it takes to be great.
It's to be able to weather fucking noise and shit.
Yep.
And still operate at a high level.
Yeah.
You know what I'm saying?
I absolutely know what you're saying.
Yeah.
And you do that really well.
I think I've seen a lot going on around me.
And I have to grab onto the things that calm me.
And I also seen people that I thought were that I held in much higher esteem get nervous.
And I'm like, I'm nervous about this.
I just have a process to certain ways that I do things.
Like, I remember actually playing the Hollywood Bowl.
And I think my life got off so early.
I didn't have the history of all the places that we had gone and the things, the doors we had walked through and how people had been through some of these doors.
And some of them were the first black people to even play some of these places I had played.
But everybody was putting so much seriousness on it.
And some people who are really respect who are accomplished.
And I said, I remember taking, I had a show at the bowl on a Sunday.
day, I rode my motorcycle from my house to the Hollywood Bowl on that Saturday.
And luckily, there was no show.
They were on a break at the time.
I was like, yo, I got to perform me tomorrow.
You mind if I, like, pull up for a second and just, so the guy let me in.
I pulled up on the stage.
Because he knows who you are, right?
He knows who I am.
Kind of, you know what I mean?
Kind of knows who I am.
And I just walked out into the crowd.
I walked out into the audience and I just looked at the stage from like way up.
I was like, I'm a body to do you this tomorrow.
I'm going to kill this tomorrow.
Okay, Cleo.
And then I left.
And then I left.
And then the next day I was like, let's go, you know, because I had to even take it in like, okay, it's at least 5,000 people going to be right here.
I got to get it.
I got to do this.
But that was my homework.
It wasn't about being in rehearsal.
It wasn't about being with the band.
It wasn't about...
Again, again.
It was about take this moment and just see where you are.
Because tomorrow it's going to be filled with people.
Imagine them sitting right here looking at you there.
How are you going to project?
What are you going to do to talk to this person with the seats up here?
And this is the stuff my mind goes on.
So I said, okay.
I know what to do for you.
And some of it is just relating to you back there in that seat
rather than what's right in front of you, you know?
And then some of it is relating to what's in front of you.
It's so good.
You know what I mean?
But I was just so grateful because, like, again,
some of the people in my band that do this in their sleep
were like, we're playing the Hollywood Bowl, we're playing a bowl, we're playing a bowl,
we're playing a ball, really a bowl.
I'm like, okay, if you're nervous, should I be nervous?
I'm not about to, no.
No, no, no, no, no.
I'm not doing that.
I've seen things in different ways.
I've been on these roads too long.
I'm going to show up with my crown.
Yeah, let me show.
Let me put my joint on, tilt it a little, yep, there we go.
We got it.
Now let's get out there and give the people what they want.
And that was what we did.
So I'm glad you got to make that observation because that's probably why you saw me looking so gone.
Yeah.
Wow, that's amazing.
That's the backstory.
There's the backstory.
There's the backstory.
It's always a back story.
Yep.
There's always a prep.
There's always an internal process that everybody has to go through to make sure that your crown is sitting away, supposed to say.
You do.
And it's yours.
And it's meant to be done your way.
And you ain't going to find it in the comment section.
No.
You need to just trust yourself sometimes.
And that's the concern with looking outwards for everything.
Like, if you look at outwards to develop something on the inside, maybe, you know.
but it all has to come from here.
And when I look at the chats with my friends from high school,
they're all developed in here.
We haven't been through hell and back,
still going through it.
Like, still can talk about everything that we are going through at our big ages.
But there's just like a difference in the development on the inside,
you know,
that is no different than when we were freshman in high school.
Like, it was already happening then.
So when I see people negate the youth,
voice. It's one of the things that irritates me most. When you don't listen to kids, when you don't
listen to young people, it annoys me. It does because they're not jaded yet. They're not cynical
yet. They haven't learned enough about the world to be afraid of everything, you know, and they have
great ideas. They're willing to do things. And so what do you do? You take your old ideas and you shove it
down there and, you know, noses and tell them who to be and how to be.
And then you kind of, it's like you don't ruin that.
Yeah.
You know, and I think my mother had a lot to do with that too and my father, just watching
my mother pour a little bit of something on so many so-called thugs.
What?
You mean businessman?
You mean doctors?
You mean that lawyer?
You mean that owner of that new company?
You mean that music person?
I watched them.
I watched them come in the room like this and she said something.
And then he just like, the whole posture changes.
They come in with a smile.
Hey, you know, how you doing so?
And I'm like, mm-hmm.
So sometimes you need to water the, you got to water the flowers, you know.
Including yourself.
Including ourselves.
Including ourselves.
So that's what I try to do.
I try to pour some positive energy on myself when I'm feeling like I don't have it or I'm not feeling 100%, which is quite often, you know.
I find something good to read.
I find something funny to look at.
Or I draw.
You draw?
Yeah.
You nice?
I won't know if I'm nice, but I'm nice enough to just draw a square in perspective.
You know, Fadjo is a very good friend of mine.
He's my neighbor.
So I go and his wife is one of my best friends.
I be staying at their house sometimes, right?
So I'll come down in the morning and get some breakfast.
And I go in his office.
And he's, no, he's draw.
He draws.
He has least things of cook.
It says crack.
It's like 3,000, 3,000 cars.
And it's like, whole,
Picasso, Joe Picasso.
And he'd just be in there, just drawing with his glasses.
And I'm like, I love that for you.
I love that you're like a painter.
He just little grab.
He draws art, little graffiti crack.
Yes.
All over the place.
Yes.
Whatever it takes.
That's his piece.
I want to learn how to play violin.
Really?
Anybody got one?
You can do it.
It's not too late.
I know.
What was the last good thing you learned how to do?
What was the last interesting thing you learned?
What's the last new thing you learned how to do?
Damn.
It's something.
Trick question.
Well, be a mom, I guess.
Still kind of being a mom.
You're only seven years in.
Yes, learn to listen to you.
No new hobbies, no new tricks, something for a movie, something to do a, I don't know.
Look, I'm looking through my life right now.
I learned how to golf.
Oh, we should go.
I would love to go golfing with you.
Do you golf?
I hear that I could golf if I actually practice.
No, I have.
You tried it.
And you're okay?
Yeah.
You're decent.
You're friends with Jada.
You're not.
She's a golfer now?
So come on, let's go golfing.
Light is a golfer.
I have to be here.
Light, uh, uh, um.
She can't beat me at everything.
Um, Spinderella golfs.
There's a world out here.
What are we doing?
I'm going to take you.
I'm going to, I'm going to go with you.
I'm not,
the greatest golfer, but I love it. I'm obsessed. And I think there's a beauty in it.
Do you just like the clothes? No, I don't give a shit about the clothes. I go out there and whatever.
I don't care. I don't care. I like an outfit, but I don't really care. Most days I'd be out there,
but myself. I will do a hole 18 by myself in some gray sweatshorts and a little tank top.
And I will golf 18 holes. And I find beauty in the grass. I find beauty in the quiet.
I find, I find beauty in being in my own head.
and trying to figure something out quietly
without any interruptions.
There's no multitasking.
It's just like my painting.
A painting is the same thing.
Anyway, I would love to take you.
I'm going to take you.
All right, we have a couple of segments, okay?
Before you go, we're not going to let you leave here.
No, because I got to figure out what I learned.
You have not learned anything.
Stop.
I know I've learned something.
You are the daughter of an educator.
I know.
That's why I got to really recount these things.
She's going to be pissed if you don't figure this up.
Need it.
First of all, real quick, because I have an in real life
questions. First of all, the Hall of Fame induction is really fucking cool. I had nothing to do with it,
and thank you. What are you going to say in your speech? Do you know? No idea. Okay. I'm going to
practice my tears. Are you going to cry? You're definitely going to cry. Does it make you
emotional these things or not that anymore? That might. Everybody's excited about that one.
I think it's really cool. I think it is too. What does success look like to you right now?
You've done a lot.
personal, what kind of success?
I don't know.
I don't know.
Is there another level of success that you wish to attain?
Is there anything that you're chasing or feel like you have to conquer still?
Always.
Always.
Even, you know, just finishing things.
Just finishing the things that I have started.
Like I told you, I'll play you a bunch of music.
So much music.
that I just need to finish.
I'd be happy to finish that.
You know, I'm happy to finish just basic tasks.
I'm going to be a better parent.
You know what I mean?
Like, to me, I'm going, I want to be a better, I want to cook better.
I want to design better.
I mean, I'm a constant student.
So whatever it is I'm interested in, I want to get better at it.
You know, I want to read more, draw more, paint more.
There's many things.
I want to learn how to fix my car.
You don't know how to fix your car.
No, but I want to be under the hood of that joint.
You know what we think.
You know what we think.
What?
We think that Cleo is inside of you.
Like, that she holds space inside of you.
Cleo knows how to fix cars.
Cleo knows how to do a few things.
Don't get out!
Does she know how to do a few things?
I respect Cleo.
Is she not, is that a myth that we have in our sense?
head? Like, is there any of her in you? Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I just saw clips because I've been,
was perfect hair, I was looking at a bunch of stuff and I was like, yo, no, no, you're so,
and you're such a baby, like your skin looks so, you look like such a baby in that. I don't know,
it's just like, I was like, look at her. She looks so, I don't know, she was like a baby and so
good. You just like, you wrapped your arms around that character in a way that was different. I wanted
to. That was the goal. I was like, y'all can't see. Because people,
People don't see you as you.
People don't always see what you can achieve,
what you see for yourself.
You know what I mean?
And it's something I said to the graduates at North Carolina Ante.
You have to, don't be afraid to drive down that road
that the world doesn't see for you yet.
Because you see it.
You know, you see that, you have that vision,
you have that imagination.
You can see yourself like that.
but the world may not be able to see you in that role yet.
So now you've got to show them so that they, in their small imagination, can now see it in front of them.
And so like there's so many things.
And so whatever I think of that I think I can do, I know I can do.
I just need to put the work in to do it and make the time to do it.
I need to figure that out.
But are pieces of you and all those cadizia and Cleo?
Definitely.
Are there are pieces of you, right?
Yeah, for sure.
I mean, Cadeja is me in so many ways.
Because Yvette literally rode around in a car with me for weeks.
Look and studying my mannerisms and my ways and my lingo and writing for me, you know.
Cleo is comprised of my aunt, some of my former classmates, like a few people that I actually know.
I made her make sense, make sense by figuring out.
who she was because I know somebody
in high school that was nice
with the hands and was just knocking
girls out for what? But that's
one of the girls I found out lost her mother.
So it was really like
she didn't know what to do with those feelings
and that anger and so
her friends who she loved
and who loved her, all he had
to do was point and she was going to handle it.
And I was like, that makes sense.
Cleo is going to go all out for her friends.
She didn't have parents. We'll never see Cleo's
parents in that movie.
This is her family. Her girls are her
family. So she's gonna go all
out for them. It made sense. I had to make
it make sense.
Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers and guess what?
We have some big news. What's the news? Huge news.
We created our own
podcast called, Hey Jonas.
We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't
invent it. We just contributed to our
first people to do podcasts.
Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts.
We're starting a trend. But this one's
extra special. So how do we actually
come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys.
I honestly don't remember.
I think it was on a call about what we should call it.
We were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band.
Before Jonas Brothers was...
This is how you guys remember it going down?
Yes.
I have a very different memory of this.
We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast,
where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas.
And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas,
and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.
But thanks for remembering that, guys.
Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.
Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guide.
Not quite.
Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends.
Me and hilarious guests from Jim Gaffigan to Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman,
help make you funnier.
This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel,
help an Acapella band with their between songs banter.
There's the worst singer in the group.
The worst?
Yeah.
Me.
Is there anything to the idea that because you're from Harvard,
you only got in because your parents made a huge donation.
The group.
The yard birds, right?
That's the name.
The Harvard Yard.
They're open.
Do you have a name suggestion?
We're open.
Since you guys are middle aged.
One erection.
Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Human me!
I need some jokes to make me seem funny.
In New York,
Lorena Borges was the protector of Latinas
that have learned to survive three
times, as women trans,
as immigrants, and as
women, sexual.
I'm going to get to where
have to get, like a perr,
to belear with garras and unias.
But when she murgoy,
Nobody will
be able to
chenar
the
women
of the
I'm sure
I'm gonna be able to bea
I'm gonna'ucus,
and I'mvitae
and I'mvited,
armades to tachones,
lentejolas,
and if it's
a lot shot of tequila.
Listen central, The Reinas of Queens,
as part of My Culture Podcast Network,
in the app of IHeard Radio, Apple Podcasts,
or where you see your podcasts.
What's up, fam, it's Isaiah Thomas.
And I'm CJ Toledano,
and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds.
Like LeBron heading into the playoffs
without Luca and Austin Reed.
And finding ways to win no matter what.
He's the smartest player to ever play the game.
His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before.
And he knows.
Without Luca and Austin Reeves,
I got to manipulate the game.
We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.
I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series
because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup,
he has to really guard guys like Nasree.
He has to guard Julius Randall.
And then he has to give us everything he gives us
on the night-to-night basis on offense.
And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson,
we dive into some playoff history too.
Steve Nash would get that thing.
That man, hell get the flying.
He running up the court, licking his fingers,
why he got the ball like
after you go through
a training camp with that Isaiah
you figure it out real quick
get your ass up and down the court
and you're gonna get the ball
so listen to Point Game
on the IHeart Radio app
Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts
so good
so legend
yeah man and not great
and we had a East Coast premiere for that
I remember it was like the whole hip-hop
world was at that premiere
and I knew when that kiss came
it was
everybody was like
like
oh
like the whole
theater went crazy
the whole theater
went nuts
what did you feel like
though
I felt crazy
but I was laughing
because I went to see
the movie eight times
in the theaters
because
listen
I was poor
shy
my mother
everybody was like
okay we got
this is here
this is going to happen
I'm like
it's in the script
sorry
it's in the script.
It is what it is.
It's not like I'm missing.
It's in the script.
If I signed up to do this, I signed up to the script.
So, but how else would you see me as an actor if I don't step outside of who you know me as, who I really am?
I have to stretch myself, you know, in order for, for, to even be considered for some other roles,
I have to let you see me in a different way.
So that was kind of the thing.
Definitely part of your greatness, I'm sure.
from acting greatness. Greatness, Boo.
Taking chances. Got to take chances.
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We have a segment called Voice Note.
It's our Boost Mobile Voice Note.
It's a Boost Mobile?
Well, the University.
I don't know.
They'll fix it later.
So we have a second. It's called a voice note. It's usually a friend of the show, whatever. And so I ran into a friend, the mutual friend. I mentioned that you were coming on the show. And she just had a little note for you. So it's just a little quick voice note. And I thought she was perfect because I always hear stories like I had said to you before about how you pour into people. And I remember a story about reading a story about you talking about how this woman had poured into you one time. So it's a quick little voice note, but I'm going to play it in you tell me.
Queen, queen, queen.
Thank you for so many things.
And thank you for being my daughter.
You know, when we did that show star, you're just such a wonderful person for so many reasons,
so many things that you've done for me that you don't know I know.
And it's because you love me.
And I love you too, honey.
Thank you.
And happy Mother's Day.
Oh, God.
That too bad.
very Patty LaBelle.
Patty.
My chest.
I'm feeling right here.
A little weak.
What does that bring up for you?
Oh, my God.
My whole life.
She's been around my whole life.
My whole life.
If it wasn't for Patty LaBelle, you might not even know who I am at this point.
Because when I lost my brother at 22, people were walking up to me like,
make me a lot of tea for her.
Sorry about your brother.
Can I get all the girls?
like one word oh heard about your brother can i get all right like i was like this business people
don't care about me they don't care about how i feel it i'm i was ready to like check out of this
whole thing and patty lebel is one of the people who i talked to who talked to me she has lost
sisters she's been through it she lost four sisters yes so her heavy d um a couple of people
who have been through that were able to talk to me and like how
help reframe my thought, my thoughts at the time and just sort of stuck it out.
Just that I was going to get through it, you know, it's tough just by understanding.
First of all, just by understanding that I'm feeling a pain that is unbelievable, you know,
and there are no words for.
But I pretty much started to get messages not to just don't throw it all the way that I was going
get through it. So don't throw it all the way.
And she was one of those?
She was one of those. And she's been there.
You know, she's been there. And we've, I mean, this is, my mother played her music in the
house. There were mutual friends. She's from Philly. We from Jersey, like where there's,
she's just been there my whole life, you know, and.
She loves you.
I love her. I love her. And she a G. She rides motorcycles too. And can cook.
No, not just can cook. I know. She can get down.
And Patty Pahas, come on.
She's, she, I don't want to say it too soon, but she will be on an up-and-coming episode.
I'm glad.
I can't wait to see it.
And I'm going to be honored to have her on.
But she agreed to do the Pots, so we're going to have her on soon.
You have to have her.
She sent that little voice note for you, and I thought it was so dope.
And I think it really speaks to, like, how you were talking about at the beginning
in this interview.
It's like full circle, really, because you pour into people, they pour back into you.
Patty is about to be 82 years old, and she's still pouring into people.
She pointed to you right now.
I feel you felt that.
Just a note of love.
Like, just a, I see you.
I love you.
Yep.
You know, like, but she said also that you pour into her.
And she said she don't know that I know.
Do you know what she's talking about?
I don't know.
Maybe something one star.
Oh.
Did you get, maybe you helped her get the role?
I don't know, something.
She said that.
Anything for her.
Yeah.
Anything for her.
And I'll make sure people treat her with respect that we're going to have a problem.
You know what I mean?
I love that.
Seriously.
Like, this is, like, she is a national treasure, you know.
So it's like you got to, we got to take care of our queens and kings and treat them like such, you know, treat them as such and make sure they get the respect that they deserve.
And, you know, they've changed the whole culture.
So if she feels like, I mean, I don't even know what to say.
I'm so stuck over that.
I was not expecting that.
You know, it's like the patty of all people, right?
It was a love her so much.
I love her so much
How could you not?
She's such a good soul
She is
And her family
They keep her looking fly
Like
She looks so much flat
And then
Patty to me
She's still on tour
She's got a full brand
In Walmart
Food brand
She's still
Relevant
The 80s is on one
I can't wait
To have my 80th birthday
Really
Have you went to an 80th birthday
She had an amazing 80s
These 80s are out of control.
I'm telling you.
You have no fear about age or no issues with aging or any of that weird stuff, no.
And you know, a thousand people.
And if they're there, you rocking.
Like, it's, it's.
You can't wait?
I can't wait.
So 50 didn't hit you hard?
50, the whole world shut down.
So I was like, yay, I'm home.
Oh, it was COVID?
I haven't been home in years.
Oh.
I was home for six months.
Like, okay, with a newborn.
I was like, okay, this is different.
But it was, for me, it was a, it was a,
break that I probably needed.
The world had to stop because
I was planning on having a 50-hour party.
I was about to tear-ish
up. I had a plan.
Yeah, the world will teach you.
But no, I mean, no fear is about 60
or 70 or... I don't really look
at time like that. You know what I mean? I just
don't, I don't... I just know too many people
older than me. I've always rolled with people older than me.
At least four years older than me.
And I've always had something to look
forward to. And so, to me, to me...
me, you know, my grandmother was like in her 80s and she was funny and spunky and laughing and
enjoying life. And so not that she was without her challenges, but I wanted to be like her.
I was like, this is how you live. You just keep living, you keep learning, you keep doing things,
you know? Maybe you don't do what you did in your 20s, but I don't want to, I don't think I
I want to do everything I did in my 20s. Hell.
I tore them 20s up. You know what I know you did? I do not want to go back to the 20s.
I know you did.
But if I don't leave the door open, I'm not leaving it open for what I still have to learn, like you said.
Yeah.
And what I have to give.
Because some of this, we got to just pass it on, pass it along.
And so, no, I'm going to live as long as I can.
All right.
We're going to do our speed round of IRL questions in the phone.
And we're going to let you go because I know you have things to prepare for.
By the way, the AMAs are coming.
Queen Latifah is our host for this year's American Music Award.
What should I do?
You should do, do you not have this planned already?
You have this plan?
You should just show up with that crown.
Yep.
Bust the crown out.
Maybe I'll talk it to the left a little bit.
Maybe I'll start straight.
Yeah.
Don't let that joint slink a little forward.
This is fun for you at this point, right?
Posting the AMAs is like, like, what is that?
That's just you like.
It's a music show.
How can it not be fun?
I just want to see what everybody's going to do, what you're wearing,
how you're feeling.
I just want everybody to have a great show.
This one's for the people.
You know, they get to vote for the winners.
So I just want the audience to have a good time.
I want it to look great on TV.
I wanted to look great in person.
Oh, my God, you're doing that.
You're doing the voice.
You got a lot of shit coming up.
I do.
Okay, IRO speed round, then you're bold,
and then you're out of here.
So you could go prepare for the voice and for AMAs.
On a scale of...
On a hat, we can't because we have to clear it then.
We don't got to clear this, do we?
On a scale of one to 10.
how happy are you today?
How happy am I today?
Yes.
10!
Yay!
Do you run 10 normally?
Do you run high normally?
You do.
Happy, what is happy?
10!
Okay, 10.
You gotta tell yourself first.
Guilty pleasure.
Guilty pleasure.
I don't like the guilty part.
Okay.
Pleasure.
Okay, pleasure.
Biggest greatest pleasure right now.
What's giving you the greatest pleasure?
Ooh.
Those sweet smiles and laughs that I'm going to get when to get home.
Oh.
Baby kisses.
I love that for you.
What are you most proud of
about yourself?
Oh, most proud of.
Wow.
I think I'm most proud of all the people
who I've helped through my career
that would otherwise have been overlooked
by using my power to
empower other people.
Pet peeves or triggers.
People who are disrespectful
to women.
Word.
Feel the way to that?
Okay, stop the violence and hip-hop.
While.
Yeah, or children, or old people.
And men.
What should be?
Basically everything.
Don't be a bully and don't be an asshole, basically.
I can't stand a bully.
Don't put your bully.
Can I get that on a T-shirt?
Don't be a bully and don't be an asshole?
Yes.
Yes.
It's good.
There's a Hawaiian, what is it?
Pono.
I don't want to mess it up.
There's like a Hawaiian term.
When I went to Hawaii, they were like,
Pono?
Is it keep it Pono or keep it, something like that?
And I was like, what does that mean?
Guilty pleasure is a hawk dance.
They do in New Zealand that traditional.
It's like a traditional dance slash chant
that they do to celebrate things or if it's a wedding happening
or somebody's coming home from somewhere.
And everybody knows it's from the kids to the old.
old people, and I'm telling you, I put that thing on, I got goosebumps right now.
Hard day at work, running low on energy.
I just put it on.
And then somebody said, we're going to dedicate a hawker to black people right now online.
And I was like, let's go!
Now you have to watch.
That's your pleasure right now.
It's always.
That gives you joy.
It does.
Cure joy.
What do you pray for most?
Oh, what do I pray for most?
forgiveness and family.
How often do you think about your legacy?
Not that often.
Really?
I don't think about it that often.
When I'm reminded of it.
Hmm.
What do you want it to be?
Or what do you want,
even if you walk out of a room,
you leave here today?
What do you want to leave people with?
What do you want people to say about you or feel when you walk?
I hope people feel like, you know,
inspired in some sort of way.
I hope they feel like there's something they could take from this conversation we've had
and apply to their own lives in some sort of way, shape, or form in a good way.
And to give to other people, help other people, you never know when you're going to need
some help yourself.
So that comes back around.
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One last question.
In the bowl.
You're going to go in the bowl before we let you go home today.
Can't wait to see you on the AMAs.
Can't wait to see you on the voice.
I don't put my hand in that bowl.
The bowl's a good bowl.
Do you want me to pick it for you?
I want to.
I don't need you pick it for me.
I want to.
No.
All right, you'll pick your own.
You'll be both picked one?
Yes.
You pick one and you answer it.
You'll make one for you.
You did have, you know what was it on there?
Was the Queen Latifah for show at the beat?
You had a talk show.
You could host this pod.
But I'm not.
You're a better talk show host, so do keep doing this.
No, you're learning from you for many years.
What would you ask me as a talk show host?
When is one time when you thought you were going to quit that you decided that you couldn't?
Me?
Yes.
And what made you get up and keep going?
After my car accident, I was tired.
I felt disconnected.
I felt like I didn't want to talk about the same shit.
was talking about, I didn't, I felt, I just didn't feel useful in the way that I had been
useful in the past. So if you're not useful in that way, then how do you show up? And then also,
I was like, I was not well, my body was not good. You know, I was like struggling. So I was
like, maybe I just, maybe I'm done and maybe I should just, and then two, number one, you know,
you got to pay, you got to pay. You got to, you still got to figure out what work's going to look like.
Right. But then also, I realize God gives you those type of moments because you were a little stuck and you needed to be shaken up a little bit.
Even though it feels harsh at the time, you're like, did it have to be this hard?
You think, like, did it have to be like this? And they're like, kind of. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You got to hit you up to that.
And then, you know, then it's uncomfortable the transition into whatever the new version of you is about to be.
Right.
And so, yes, I had to go through that.
And then once I got to the other side, I was like, wait, I do have some ideas.
I do have some things I want to.
And that's how the pod actually was launched because I wanted to have more meaningful
conversations for somebody who's sitting home feeling that to feel inspired by like when you get knocked down or you need to, like you, you how you, that visual that you showed alone could literally pick somebody up today.
You know what I'm saying?
So that made me want to look how good you are.
You asked me one question.
And I'm enjoying it.
Keep talking.
And I'll stop.
You go in the bowl.
Stop.
Look, I talk so, got to talk so much.
She gave me the bowl.
You take the ball.
She gave me the ball.
Take the last question.
And then I have one in the bowl.
That's my face.
I did that.
What?
Got back up.
Thank you.
Seriously.
You come with, like, such a different wisdom and a handle that is so, like, so sure.
It feels so sure.
And maybe because I've been listening to you on the radio for many, many years.
but it's just
and you've been in front of the mic,
not just behind the mic,
you know what both sides
are both sides and your parent.
Like you've got a lot to offer.
Thank you.
You know everybody.
You've been through a lot of things.
So it's just like a certain handle
that you have on this
that to me just feels very relaxing to watch.
Very easy to watch you talk to your guests.
And I like the personal way
you're able to do these interviews.
I'd love to see you on a huge,
with a huge audience and lots of cameras.
You think does it still place like for that in the world?
But I don't think it would be any different than this.
You know what I mean?
It's the conversation that you're able to generate.
That's just is what everybody will be looking at anyway.
Thank you.
I love you.
Thank you.
And then you have a special room for Joe and his art and me.
Can I come in your room and do art?
Yes.
That's a good question.
What is it?
Tell me.
If you had a chance to live forever, would you take it?
I think that's a great question for you.
That's a long-ass time, right?
You did a lot of shit already.
Wait, do I got to age in this forever time?
Or do I get to, like, stay right here?
So you have too many questions.
That's why I said I can't answer the question.
Can I ask you the question I like?
I'm going to ask you the question I like from the ball.
How many of three hundred and nine?
I can't find that.
I'm just going to read it to you.
Ready?
Well, this is my favorite one in the bowl.
So take it.
A nice bowl.
Before you leave, first of all, I love you.
Thank you for today.
I love you too, Ange.
You are a gift to us all, for real.
We appreciate you.
It's mutual.
And I know you don't like people in your business,
and you let me go in your business a little bit today.
No, we're going to cut all of that.
No, you better not.
So I hope you enjoyed, everyone.
White?
No, first of what?
So I don't know what she was talking about.
Don't get in trouble.
Don't go home and get in trouble.
Not AI.
Not AI.
I was very gentle today.
I didn't.
I know.
I didn't violate in that way, did I?
No, I didn't.
Stop.
All right.
This is my favorite.
I love this question for you.
And I love this question in general.
What's my favorite?
If God were to text you right now, what would it say?
Are you wearing your reading glasses?
Stop.
You know you wear reading glasses.
Put your reading glasses.
Or you're reading glasses.
That's the reason I invented reading glasses.
Ooh.
Oh.
Was this here all that time?
It was, yeah.
Wow.
Oh, wow.
You can see all the questions.
Would you want to ask me that shit?
For real.
You know I'm not answering that one.
What do you mean?
I'm just joking.
First of all, she would say, I am a woman.
I got too many jokes for this answer.
God has the biggest sense of humor because God invented humor.
So, no worries.
So she gets it.
Oh, I got to go.
I got a child at home.
That's what God just told me.
Got it, God.
Thanks.
Fine.
You got a child at home.
You got to go.
I'm watching this child.
Okay, fine.
I got other people's child to watch.
Okay, fine, we'll go on that.
I got other people's shells to watch.
That's what my God had said.
You want me to watch your child.
How long?
Do you know how expensive my time is?
There's go.
No, you got to go.
Thank you for that.
That's what God said.
That's it.
That's your answer.
That's your answer.
God said you're doing all right, kid.
Pat on the back, go home.
Both of you girls did a great job.
We did.
She did amazing.
She's Queen Latifah in real life.
She did great.
She did great.
Cross the board.
In life on the pod.
That's all around.
Damn.
See what they're amazing at the Hall of Fame and on the voice.
All the things.
Thank you.
I know we kept you deep.
This is Queen Latifah in real life.
Hey, guys.
Thanks for watching.
Make sure you subscribe, like, comments, and check out all of the other episodes we have on Andrew Martinez, IRO podcast.
Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.
We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. Oh. We're the first people to do podcasts.
We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions.
Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick.
tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your
podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy,
not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Jim Gaffigan to Bob
Odenkirk to David Letterman, help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and
head writer Streeter Seidel. Help an Acapella band with their between songs banter. There's that worst singer
in the group the worst yeah me is there anything to the idea that because you're from
Harvard uh you only got in because your parents made a huge donation
the group the yard birds right that's the name the Harvard yard but they're open do you have a
name suggestion we're open since you guys are middle aged uh one erection
Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends
On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Humor me!
I need some jokes to make me seem funny.
In New York, Lorena Borjas
protectia the Latinas that have learned to survive three times.
Like women trans,
as immigrants, and as well,
I'm going to get to where you get to like a perr,
But when
Mewy,
but when he was,
it was a
quarter
battle to prosper
in a world
full of
a menaceas.
Escuches
Central,
the Reinas of
Queens,
in the app
of IHeart
Radio,
Apple Podcasts,
or where
you see your
podcasts.
This season
on Dear Chelsea,
with me,
Chelsea Handler,
we have some
fantastic guests,
like Amelia
Clark.
When like
young people
come up to
me and
they want to
be an actor
or whatever.
And my
first thing
is always,
can you
think of
anything else?
that you can do rather be disappointed in.
Do that.
David O'Yelloo.
I love this podcast, whether it's therapy or relationships or religion or sex or addiction or you just go straight for the guts.
Dennis Leary, Gaten Moderato from Stranger Things, Tena Monsu, Camilla Morone, Carrie Kenny Silver, and more.
Listen to these episodes of Dear Chelsea on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get.
get your podcasts.
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