Mayim Bialik's Breakdown - Frankie Muniz: The Thrill of Dying Keeps Me Alive

Episode Date: December 12, 2023

Frankie Muniz (actor, musician, and race car driver) breaks down the life lessons he’s learned from the psychology of racing, the origins of his concussions and memory loss, plus his mini-stroke misdiagnosis and what the problem actually was. He opens up about the status of a possible Malcolm in the Middle reboot, the anxiety he felt getting back into race car driving after a near catastrophic accident, his career as a professional musician, and why he thinks moving away from the entertainment industry saved his life. He reveals the reasons he doesn’t drink, his meditation practice and why he struggles with it, and why he wants to start therapy. Mayim resonates with Frankie’s explanation of his memory loss as it relates to being an actor and she breaks down aura migraines. Learn more about Frankie Muniz' racing career: https://www.munizracing.com/ BialikBreakdown.com YouTube.com/mayimbialik Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So when I hit the brakes, I went flying. I remember being just so mad that I was out of the race. And your adrenaline's pumping. And I got out of the car and I was just angry. And I got in like the ambulance. They come get you and they have to drive me. They're like, are you a cam? Like, yeah, I'm fine.

I'm fine. I was conscious. I got out of the car myself. I walked to the car, like to the safety vehicle. And it was about 10 minutes later. I was trying to get my helmet off. And this is kind of gross. but I'll tell you anyway.

So I'm pushing and I'm like, why can I get this off? And I take my glove off and I had exploded the joint that holds my thumb on. And it was just dangling, like completely, like almost all, like just being held on by the skin. But I hadn't even realized yet. Like the pain hadn't set in. But then once I saw it, I was like, oh, that hurts. Really bad. And then I was like walking and I was like, oh, my ankle hurts.

My ankle was broken. I had six broken ribs. and I had a compression fracture in my back. It took 10 or 15 minutes for the adrenaline to wear off before I knew how hurt I was. I've never said this publicly. During the pilot of Malcolm in the middle, I got a concussion.

It's easy to kind of correlate the two, right? You know, traumatic brain injuries with bad memory, you know? But I don't know if that's what it is. Some of my memory issues have to do with from when I was eight years old, I was doing so much all the time that you almost stop absorbing, right? Even being on Malcolm.

You know, my memory, my memories become what I see from the outside. So if I watch an episode or I watch a movie I was in, my memory becomes me sitting here watching it. I don't remember what happened on set that day, like with my son. I feel like I'm missing it because my memory becomes the photo

of being there when I look at photos of him and how fast he's grown. You know what I mean? And I go, why can't I remember being in the moment? I remember the photo.

It's my ambialics breakdown. She's going to break it down for you because you know she knows a thing or two. And now she's going to break down. It's a breakdown. Hi, I'm Myambiolic. I'm Jonathan Cohen. And welcome to our breakdown,

the place where we break things down so you don't have to. Today we're going to break down. someone who's an actor, a musician, but what he really wants you to know that he does for a living is he's a race car driver. It's Frankie Munez. That's right. Malcolm, from Malcolm in the middle.

He rose to fame in the early 2000s. Hugely popular. But when Malcolm in the middle ended up playing drums for a band, and what he really wanted to do is be a race car driver, and we're going to talk to him all. about it. You're going to notice through this episode there's a fly buzzing around my head if you're watching on YouTube and I can't get rid of it. So you can play a little bingo game noticing Jonathan swatting the fly. It's hilarious. Frankie Munes also owns an olive oil company.

There's so many things that we get to talk to him about, including a lot of really interesting, kind of mysterious things about his memory, his brain activity, concussions. He talks about all of it. And I think three times says that he's telling us things that he's never talked about before. So I cannot wait for you to hear us talk to Frankie Munez. Frankie, welcome to The Breakdown. Break it down. Thank you for having me. Happy to be here. I feel like our paths have like sort of crossed in some way. I'm sure we've been at something together. but I've never gotten to talk to you. And Jonathan and I are both very excited to have you here.

So thank you. No, thanks for having me. I mean, it is interesting, you know, the fact that we all, we were kind of in the same circles for a long time. But no, I don't think we've actually ever met in person. So nice to officially meet you. Nice to officially meet you. I'm going to start with that you race cars.

Yeah. So there's many things that sometimes when we are child, or teen actors, like, and like we finish the show that we're on and it gives us a certain amount of like success and like this and that. But I've never interacted with someone whose life decision was to start racing cars. It all started because I was an actor, right? Because I got to do the pro celebrity race that they do at Long Beach every year because I was on the show, right? And I won that. Wait, okay. So that's just like a like a charity thing. Like I've never been to, Sorry, I was not one of the cool kids.

No one was inviting me to the long. I don't even know where Long Beach is. I'm just kidding. But so what, tell us what this is. For people who are like, what's he talking about? Yeah. So for 40 years, actually, Toyota put on the Grand Prix of Long Beach. It's an IndyCar event.

It was a card event. And for 40 years, they did a pro celebrity race. So it would be, I don't know, 12 or 14 celebrities and six or so pro race car drivers. and they send you off to Willow Springs for a couple weekends, and they train you to be race car drivers, but it's 100% serious. Like, there's nothing, like, sure, it's, yes, it's for charity. You were raising money for kids,

but everyone there was dead serious on being the best they could be. And, you know, even though we were racing Toyota Celicas or it was Sion's certain years, you know, you're still going 130 miles an hour in a car, you know, racing people on a on a racetrack and uh there is a danger aspect to it so they're they take it very seriously the way they train the drivers and then the race is i don't know i race professionally now and i would say that the the competition in the pro celebrity race was more cutthroat people wanted that victory more than i'm not i'm not being serious but yeah but uh no i so i won that and that feeling of crossing the finish line first i swear was the

greatest feeling I've ever experienced in my entire life. Just, I don't know, the adrenaline, the pure joy. And I knew in that moment that I wanted to chase that feeling. But even in that, at that time, you go, well, how do you become a professional race car driver? You know, I got to do that race. I didn't realize that most professional race car drivers start when they're five or six years old, racing carts and kind of working their way up and they get into cars at 11 or 12. And by time they're 16, 17, 18, they've already been racing for 13 years and have tons of

experience. I was 18 at the time. So I was old to be getting started into that world. I need to stop you, though, because, okay. So sometimes when you're an actor on a TV show, there's certain guidelines that you're supposed to follow. Like, don't go horseback riding. Don't go zip lining. Like, please don't be stupid on the weekends. Like, that's like a thing that Chuck Lorry would, like, look us dead in the eye and be like, don't be dumb. So I'm not saying that you were being dumb.

But to me, there's something about, like, a bunch of celebrities driving 100 miles per hour that doesn't seem like a great idea. I mean, I know, you know, they did a very good job of keeping us as safe as possible. But you're driving 100 miles. You're having 100 miles per hour, Frankie. There's people who have crashed. There's people I saw in my race cars flipped in that race. You could die.

You could. But you could also die going to the grocery store. But I have to go to the grocery store. I don't have to raise the car. I have to win. I have to win. No, I'm kidding. No, I think, you know, yes, I know that insurance for like doing TV shows and all that.

Like, they do. They make you fill all that stuff out. Yeah. I won't ride motorcycle. I won't go skydiving. I won't race cars. But, you know, I think maybe I didn't tell them that I was doing this race. I don't know what it was.

And I got through it. You know what I mean? Because I was still doing Malcolm at the time or still on Malcolm at the time. And one of the professional teams that owned an IndyCar team was there. And they came up to me. They're like, oh, we'd love to have you come out. And you could just test our race car just for fun. So I flew to Houston and did like a two-day test.

And I remember sitting in the race car for the first time, like I was getting a seat molded. Like they mold the seat to your body. And I was sitting in the car and I was so petrified just sitting in the car, you know, just not knowing what it was going to be like. And by the end of the two-day test, it ended up that I was faster than their current paid driver that they had. And so they signed me to a two-year development deal. And next thing, I knew I was a professional race car driver. You know, that's not a typical story, but that's how it happened for me. I actually want to know when you first won that celebrity race with the professional drivers,

were you like, in the back of your mind, were they just being nice to you? Like, were they pissed? Like, if I'm a professional driver and all of a sudden this like youngish kid, 18, comes and makes me look silly, I'm going to be like, oh, like, how do you think they're not holding back? Like, what happened? Yeah, well, there's two elements to that. So one, the celebrities start 30 seconds ahead. of the pros, which is a big advantage, but not for the pros.

But then the other thing is there's two winners. Sure, it's a pro-slegged race. There's pros and celebrities, but there's a celebrity winner and there's a pro winner. So sure, as a pro, you still want to beat everybody, but you're in your own battle, right? So I won as a celebrity, and then the next year they bring you back as a pro. If you won the previous year, you come back as a pro. I did that a few times and had so much fun. with that event. But then the 40th anniversary, so this was 2016, they brought back all the,

to answer your question of if the people are taking it serious, they brought back all the previous winners of the race. So I think it was like 20 pros and 20 celebrities who had won the race to do the final year. And it's me and Ellencer Jr. and Jimmy Vassar and Max Pappas, all these like racing heroes of mine. And I ended up, I qualified. I outqualified second. I outqualified Al Unser Jr., who's the king of Long Beach, right? He has the most IndyCar wins ever in Long Beach. And I was so excited that, like, I beat these guys. They were so mad. But then they ended up inverting the grid for the final year. So if you started second, that means you qualified second, you started second to last. I will say, so Jonathan's a

kind of person who's not a very confident passenger in a car. He likes to drive the car. You may not know this. Jonathan's brother was in a very significant car accident, not a professional accident, a civilian accident. And so Jonathan does not like to be a passenger. He doesn't even really like to drive, I don't think. But I wonder if you can talk a little bit about what that, how you convert, you know, fear to excitement. This is like one of the most high adrenaline things that a human can do. It's also one of the least Jewish things that exist in the world. I just needed to say that. Like, there's so many jokes about, like, things Jews don't do, like this. But can you talk about, you know, was there a set of kind of like mental, you know,

exercises you did? Like, what is the self-talk to go from terror to that thrill? Yeah. You know, I, I will say when, you know, just to back up a little bit, so I raced professionally from 2005 into 2009, I got really badly hurt. I broke my back, pins in my hand, the whole nine, stopped racing, always thought I'd go back, but just took a long time to heal. I ended up taking 13 years off until last year. And I said, look, I'm not getting any younger. I still feel like I've unfinished business in the racing world. Let me go back. But this time, instead of doing the IndyCar stuff, I want to go race NASCAR, which is like saying you're an Olympic diver

and you want to go be an Olympic swimmer, right? They both involve pools, but they're different sports, different. I don't want to say different athletes, but they're just very different. What's different, Frankie? You could tell me anything right now. I don't know the difference between Indy and NASCAR. I don't know shit.

Just the style, I mean, the way the cars look, but the style of the racing, the racecraft, the way the cars handled, everything about them is different. So like if you're used to one... Are you going fast? You're going fast. You're going real fast. You wear a helmet?

You do wear a helmet. There's like a pit crew? Pit crew, pit stops. It's the same thing. That's the same thing. Sure. We'll say yeah, but it's different. So after such a long break,

my first race back on a national level as a professional NASCAR driver was racing at Daytona this year. And Daytona, now you're not a race fan, but that's like the pinnacle of, that's like the Super Bowl of NASCAR is the Daytona 500, a racing at Daytona. The feeling I felt before,

even the week before, I was shaking, convulsing. My heart rate was at like 180 beats per minute for like a week. Like it was bad. Like I actually felt like I was gonna, like, I just felt really sick. And the weird thing is the minute I put that helmet on

and you start the engine and you start rolling from the pit lane, I had that feeling of I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. Like it just hit me where I go, this is what I feel like I was actually made to do. And since then, you know, we did 20 races this year. I don't have those nerves anymore before the race. I have a little bit.

It's the unknown, right? You don't know what's going to happen. A lot of it's completely out of your control, right? The cars around you, what happens in front of you, and you just have to react in those in those milliseconds. But when I'm in the race car, I truly feel like way more comfortable than anything else I've done as an actor or anything else in my life.

I feel like that's what I'm supposed to do. My MBLX breakdown is supported by Superpower. We all know the feeling of leaving a doctor's office and kind of feeling like we didn't get anything out of the experience that was useful. Maybe they're like, you're fine, drink more water. There's no real data. There's no game plan. This has happened to me many, many times.

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Make sure to mention my ambiotics breakdown to help support the show. We did skip over. I broke my back and put pins in my hand, and then I had unfinished business in the race on the racetrack. I do want to hear about that part of it, because I think, like, coming back from a catastrophic or near catastrophic injury, like, I assume I don't know a lot about breaking backs. I know that for some people, it leaves you not able to walk again. Clearly, you seem mobile. So I'm curious a little bit about that. But, like, what has overcoming that injury and also just, like, the psychology of racing taught you. you about life that you've sort of brought into the rest of your how you approach things. How do I put this? When you get into a race car, like you know there's the danger aspect.

Like you know it. I've, I've raced, you know, with competitors who have died in races. You know what I mean? Like even these days where it's a, it's so much safer than it was 10 years ago, it's so much safer than 20 years ago. They really make it put an emphasis on the safety, but you're still going 200 miles an hour. the danger element never crosses your mind. And if it does, you should probably stop racing.

You know what I mean? Because it's going to slow you down. And the concept is you have to be fat. You have to beat everybody. You have to be fast. And so when I went in for that race, it was the start of the race. We used to do with the Atlantic cars I used to drive, you did standing starts, which is like Formula One,

where the lights come on and they go off and everyone goes. And we did that. And I think I was starting fifth or so. And the guy who was in first had a really bad start and almost, almost stalled it. So he was kind of coming backwards when we were going. So it put us three wide going into the first corner. And now when you go into that first corner, you're basically playing chicken with everybody. I know where the latest I can go and hit the brakes and make the corner before you crash.

And, you know, keep in mind this is all happening in milliseconds. So you're waiting for them to hit the brake first And then you just go a half a beat later And then you'll be in front of them Enough to where you get the corner So we're going 200 miles an hour And I'm like they're not stopping So I go I'm going to hit the brakes

Because they're going to miss the corner And I'll cut back underneath them But our wheels were interlocked So when I hit the brakes I went flying And we all kind of went soaring through the air Because the cars I was racing Have wings on it

that keep the car into the ground. But once air gets down to meet them, they basically become an airplane. And I remember being just so mad that I was out of the race. And your adrenaline's pumping. And I got out of the car and I was just angry. And I got in like the ambulance, they come get you and they have to drive me to the in.

They're like, are you a cam? Like, yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine. You were conscious the whole time? I was conscious. I was conscious. I got out of the car myself. I walked to the car, like to the safety vehicle.

And it was about 10. 10 minutes later, I was trying to get my helmet off. And this is kind of gross, but I'll tell you anyway. So my helmet, you have a Hans device, which is like this neck brace that connects to your helmet. So if you get an accident, it restricts how far your neck can go so you don't break your neck. So to get it off, you have to push the button down and pull it at the same time to, like, disconnect

it. So I'm pushing and I'm like, why can't I get this off? This is 10 minutes or so after the wreck or whatever. Why can I get this off? Like with this hand. And I take my glove off and I had exploded the joint that holds my thumb on. And it was just dangling, like completely, like almost all, like just being held on by the skin. But I hadn't even realized yet.

Like the pain hadn't set in. But then once I saw it, I was like, oh, that hurts really bad. And then I was like walking and I was like, oh, my ankle hurts. My ankle was broken. I had six broken ribs and I had a compression fracture in my back. It took 10 or 15 minutes for the adrenaline to wear off before I knew how hurt I was. So then they flew me in a helicopter to a hospital. I had surgery on my hand and all that kind of stuff.

But I was more angry. Obviously, I didn't like the pain. You know, no one likes pain. You know what I mean? But I was more mad that I was done for the season. and it unfortunately led to 13 years of not racing. But that didn't stop me, like that doesn't, knowing that I had that accident or what happened,

doesn't, didn't, like, restrict me from going back racing. That's not why I had the 13-year break. It was more like it took a year to heal, and then I started doing other things, and life took over, and you just get busier and busier and busier until you make a conscious decision to say, No, no, no. I'm going racing. I want this. And that's where I am now.

So what year was the accident? I'm trying to do the math. 2009. In those 13 years, then, you got engaged, you got married. Got engaged. Had a baby. Got married. I actually joined a band. That's what took over my life. I played drums in a band, and we were on tour 300 days a year. Torn all over, opening for Ed Shearing and Third Eye Blind and a bunch of big bands. Yeah, so I did that from 2010 until 2014. Realized I loved the behind the scenes aspect of the music industry more than I enjoyed being in the band.

I was kind of, I managed the band I was in. I did all the booking and the advancing of the shows. And when it came time to, like, go on stage, it was like a burden. They're like, no, no, I have like the work to do to keep the band moving. And I decided that I kind of wanted to try to just manage bands. I don't know. So I did that for a while. Then I, my wife and I, my now wife and I, we started an olive oil company.

So I did a lot of things in the last, that in between period of racing. But it was actually my son being born. as kind of cheesy as this sounds. I was holding in the day he was born, and I was looking at him and saying, who is he going to grow up thinking that his dad is? Because everything that I had done in my life was in my past, right? Yeah, I used to be on a TV show.

Yeah, I used to be in a band. We used to do this. I used to, you know, all those were kind of dream job things. But like currently in that moment, when my son was born, I wasn't really doing anything, you know? And I felt like I wanted to make sure, that I was a good example to him of like reaching for your dreams or working really hard for

something that that doesn't come easily. And that's why I decided to go racing. I know a lot of people would say like when they have kids, they slow down, right? They don't want to do the dangerous things. They sell the motorcycles. They say all that. I just feel like the racing community is so tight and just with your competitors and the other the wives and the families and it's just like this really fun environment to bring my son up in but also seeing having him see me working really really hard and the highs and lows that come along with it and I don't know that's what I'm doing at least that's what I'm telling myself do you have concern about your safety for you know a lot of people will be like oh I don't want to take risks now that I have a kid I think most race

drivers, like most of my competitors are 17, 18, 19, 20 years old, right? They don't have families. They don't have kids. They don't have any of those things that might make them go, do I want to take that risk? Do I want to, you know, if I'm saying like on track, if there's something that is high risk of potential crashing, you know, the kid is going to take it, right? They're fearless. There's an element, you know, without you knowing, kind of like the tracks of what I'm talking about. Like Daytona and Talladega, those are the super speedways. And they put restrictor plates on the cars, which makes them have less power, but it makes all the cars be touching, basically, 40 cars in a pack going 200 miles an hour. And you could just

be, you're just holding on for dear life, just, uh, like, you know, and something happened in front of you and you're out, right? It can take out 20 cars, an accident that happens in front of you. And you hope not to be in it. I will say this, and maybe I shouldn't admit it, because my next race will be next year at Daytona, when I watch those races now that I've experienced it in person, I go, I can't believe I have to do it again. You don't have to, Frankie.

You don't have to do it. Well, I have, if I want to be a race car driver, I have to, right? But those are those, like they just race at Daytona again in the Cup series. and I was watching, like, shaking for the guys in the car, because I know what it feels like to be in there. And you're waiting, you're just waiting for something big to happen. And when I mean big, I mean cars flipping into the catch fence on fire, like the whole nine.

And yes, so to answer your question, there is an element where you go, like, you know, I would hate for something to happen for my wife and my son. but in that same sense my wife is ultra supportive of what I'm doing and you need that you need the people around you to be supportive but

I don't know if there's a race car driver who gets in at those races who would say anything differently to be honest like I said those are more out of your control than the other ones if that makes sense because you're just kind of like It's a lottery of who's going to finish and who's not.

And you can't really dictate it. Are you an adrenaline seeker in other parts of your life? Not at all. Like I hate heights. He owns an olive oil company, John. Yeah. Living on the edge. I just drink it straight.

No. No, like I've never been skydiving. I like roller coasters, but I've always, it's going to sound like the answer is yes. I rode motorcycles. I just sold my last motorcycle. I have no desire. You know what I mean? Like that danger aspect doesn't do it for me.

But I would say no. I mean, even like me on the streets now, like when I drive, I'm the slowest driver there is because I've realized once you race cars, there's nothing I can do in a street car on my street or on the highway that means anything other than me getting in trouble or hurt. You know what I mean? So I would say no. I'm not a very,

I'm not a thrill seeker at all. I've never been skiing or snowboarding. Pretty lame. It's interesting to not be a thrill seeker yet, you know, race car driving, playing in a band, definitely has,

has some thrill to it and that live performance. The thing about racing is I feel like I'm in control of it, right? I'm behind the wheel. I'm doing it. A lot of like skydiving, I don't know.

I don't, that's scary to me. The band thing, sure. Yeah, like being on stage, people's cheering, you know, all that. That's a cool thing. But that doesn't feel like a scary thing. I don't know. To go back, you ask something about what racing can bring into my life or things I've learned.

Well, the first thing is it's not, life, it's not easy, right? Just because you say you want to do something. and no matter how hard you work, it all doesn't always come at the right time, right? Or you think, oh, I'm going to go out there and dominate and it doesn't happen. Or like the struggle of it. And it's taught me to have to keep fighting, they keep going, keep working hard. The one thing I love about racing, and I know we're talking about racing a lot, and forgive me for that. But that I really truly love is as an actor, you can put in the most amount of work you've ever put into a project, preparing, really dedicating yourself to a role and all that and working as hard as you possibly can on set.

And then you leave the set. The movie comes out. The show comes out. And people go and see it or critics see it or someone sees it. And they go, eh, it wasn't that good. You know what I mean? It's opinion. It's people's opinions, right, of whether they like a project or your role or whatever.

What I love about racing is it's right there in black and white. If you're the best, you're at the top. If you've got work to do, you're down towards the bottom. You know what I mean? And I like the fact that it's not subjective. And I can kind of see where I stand at the end of every weekend and know how much more work I need to put into or what I need to work on to be better. That makes sense? Yeah, it does make sense.

I want to shift a little bit. We talked about some of the physical challenges that come with this lifestyle and with, you know, the choices that you make. And you have a very interesting kind of medical history that's like peppered throughout, you know, things about you. And, you know, I'm very interested in one of the facts that we have. I'm told that you've had nine concussions, the first one when you were seven playing goalie in a soccer game. This is something Jonathan and I have recently been talking about. And I recently spoke with Dr. Aman, who's, you know, really big in this world of sort of concussions and sort of

the things that we don't realize, you know, impact our brains. And in many cases, like our entire health, what do you know about the concussions you had and how did you come to know this about yourself? Well, yes, I remember being seven years old. I was playing goalie and I dove to save a ball and I hit the head, the goalpost. And obviously was hurt, but then, you know, went home, was nauseous. So, like, they went to the hospital, got CT scans, cat scans, whatever they're called and it was diagnosed. with, you know, mild concussion or concussion. Sure.

That happened a lot when I was a kid, not that specific thing, basketball, football, whatever. I always was hitting my head and I always kind of hurt. During, I've never said this publicly, during the pilot of Malcolm in the middle, I got a concussion. There's a scene where me and my brother, Reese, are rolling on the ground, fighting each other and like just rolling across the kitchen floor and first take, he turned me over and I went, head back onto the floor and got a concussion. You know, I just, I've definitely. I definitely had a lot of them.

I don't know how much, you know, I don't know if you've read that I have like memory issues or something like that or stuff like that. I don't, it's easy to kind of correlate the two, right? You know, traumatic brain injuries with bad memory, you know. But I don't know if that's what it is. Because I've talked to my mom a lot about it. She'll bring up certain things because she was with me

when I first started acting, we were flying all over the world together. And she brought up the other day, she was talking about us going to Australia. And I was like, I've never been to Australia. And she's like, how do you not remember going to Australia? Like, that's something that you remember. And I'm like, and I think back and I go,

is some of my memory issues have to do with from when I was eight years old, I was doing so much all the time that you almost stop absorbing so much of the of the of the of the of the things it's not like that was like my one trip that year and i remember australia it's like i probably was in 50 countries that year you know what i mean you're going here you're going there all the time that it i so i don't know how much of it is because of that like i just didn't absorb as much as i should have um as much as the

concussion element of it i haven't looked too much into it it's something over the last couple years that I've been talked like it got brought up actually originally I did dance with the stars in 2018 the memory thing and they have a a week called most memorable year and they're like what's your most memorable year and I was going to answer and they go yours was 2001 and they're like oh it was the year you were nominated for an Emmy and the Golden Globes and this and that and and I was like like so they started asking me all these questions about it and I was you know you sit down in this interview room and I go I don't have any recollection of any of that like I know it happened right I know I was nominated because someone like I know that right but

do I remember what I thought about or what I was doing in those moments no so I've been trying to talk it through and try to figure out like what it is of why my memory is bad but like I said haven't looked too deep into it well I think I appreciate you, you know, being, being so honest about it, I, you know, I can really relate as someone who had, like, a ton thrown at me, you know, also at a very young age. And, you know, it's kind of like, you are juggling everything. You're living in an adult life and you're, like, doing school, and, you know, all these things. And so I definitely relate to that. And also, I do think that, you know, when so much of your brain is spent memorizing scripts, which is, like, literally where most of my brain,

you know, kind of went. And so I do think that. And, you know, you know, I do think that. And, you know, you know, it's a different kind of emotional taxation on the memory system because your brain is told what to prioritize. And I don't think this is just like a Frankie and Miami conversation. Like I think this is true of a child who's experienced trauma, you know, of a child who's grown up in abuse. Like there's only so much that the brain wants to can handle. And if we're given a task like learn this script. Put your body in the same place for, you know, most weeks of, you know, most. months of your life for the critically developmentally adolescent years, there's not going to be

a lot of room, you know, kind of for other stuff. I very famously shared a hotel room with my grandmother at my cousin Adam's wedding, and I do not remember. And I was like, I was, I was not drunk, like I was not a drinker. I was not on the drugs. And literally, like, there's photos of the event. But I'm like, how do I not remember that we were at a wedding? And it was after Shabbat. I remember that because you can't get married until the sun goes down on a Saturday night. And so it was like the wedding started at like 10 because it was like Long Island. And like at some point, I slept in a room with my grandmother.

And I think I should remember that. So I also have like a bizarro memory for like lyrics. Like I can remember entire Elvis Costello. that like I haven't listened to in like 10 years. So it's almost like my brain was like primed for a certain kind of information and then another kind of information it does not want to know about. But I do have a question in terms of like, have you noticed like other times in your life where you're like, oh, it doesn't seem like my memory works like that of other people?

Like is it something you noticed besides dancing with the stars? No, I do for sure. you know, I, even being on Malcolm, right, even being on Malcolm, you know, my memory, my memories become what I see from the outside. So if, if I watch an episode or I watch a movie I was in, my memory becomes me sitting here watching it. I don't remember what happened on set that day, right? Or if I see a picture, and I think that's my, one of my, I hate so much of, like with my son. I don't hate my son. I'm saying, I'm saying, I feel like I'm missing it because my memory becomes the photo of being there when I look at photos of him and how fast he's grown. You know what I mean? And I go, why can't I remember being in the moment? I remember the photo. Right? So I know, you know, because like my wife, for example, I've been with her eight years and she can she can remember what I was wearing on this. day at this dinner. You know, we had our

anniversary just a week ago or so. And we went out to dinner. And I sat there and I was like, this is going to sound really bad. What did we do last year? You know what I mean? What did we get last year? Like, or what did I get you last year? You know what I mean?

Like, you know, just and I'm like, and she can remember everything. I'm like, how do I not, it's not that I don't take it in because like I love being in the moment and like take, but like, how do I not remember? So I know that there's a disconnect there with my, like my memory. But like you said, like remembering is memorizing a script. I can look at it once or twice and I've got it. You know what I mean? Numbers.

You know, I can remember like every credit card number I've ever had. You can show me your credit card and I'll know it forever. You know what I mean? So it's weird how I can remember numbers and stuff like that. But things that I actually feel like I want to remember, like things that I consciously say like, man, I want to, I want to, I don't want this. end, I want to be in this moment forever, leave me. So it's weird.

But going back to something you said about how maybe, because we were learning so many scripts and so many things, when you're an actor, you constantly are doing things that aren't your life, pretending them for it to be your life, and then you forget about it as soon as you're done filming it, right? You go on to the next scene or the next thing or the next project. So maybe it just trained, you know, maybe this is like an actor question, but. Maybe you're trained to kind of like just not fully let things sink in. I don't know.

I don't know. We haven't heard any of the actors who were child. The actors talk about that. No one had put it in that crystallized a form before. No one had suggested that is the relationship. And I think, you know, I'm no doctor. I play the sidekick here, but that makes a lot of sense to me. So I think this is dumb, but this is just like my life.

I tweeted, X, whatever it's called. This was a few years ago. And I was like, I've never seen The Matrix is what I tweeted. And people have photos of me at the premiere. They're like, no, you did. Maybe you just went for the red carpet

and the popcorn and you went home. No, no, I never did that. But I'm like, how do I, like, I don't know. I mean, it's cool, though, because I can rewatch the same shows and the same movies all the time and go like.

That's the Alzheimer's. joke. Everybody's a new friend. Yeah. You know, I'm not quite where like my wife has the 51st dates me and like, you know, say, you know, give me a book every morning and say, this is your son. I'm your wife. We met doing this. But does she write stuff? Like, is this something she's aware of in that she like wants to help you code things? Is that a thing that actually happens? I'm not calling her out by saying this. The first three years of our relationship, yes, every single day is in a book. And now she's like, I don't care if he remembers. Just I hope he comes home.

I don't care. Yeah. When you're watching a movie, this is interesting. If you rewatch a movie that you have seen a few times, even if you don't remember it, will any part of it feel familiar? Will there be any sort of recollection as it comes up? Like sometimes I'll do this.

I'm like, oh, I don't really know if I've seen that movie, but I'll get far enough into it. I'll be like, oh, yeah, that kind of part seems a little familiar. Yeah, I will have that all the time. But at the same time, I'm like, how do I not know what's going to happen next? You know what I mean? Like, I can still enjoy it as if I haven't seen it again. I'm not talking like a week ago.

I'm talking like something I saw five years ago, you know, six years ago. I know there's weird things like you said about like remembering lyrics and stuff like that. I heard a John Cicada song. No one remembers those, Frankie. I haven't heard since I was eight. and somehow I was singing every lyric. And I'm like, how do I know this? How do I know?

This is not something I need to remember. Song lyrics sit somewhere else in the brain. It's fascinating. My brother, who is now 47, he had a very traumatic brain injury when he was 17. And he has a lot of word retrieval problems, very difficult memory issues. But if you put on music from before his accident, and the words come out of his mouth and he's surprised. I do want to ask about another, you know, interesting thing about you.

You kind of had, you know, a series of, I don't want to say mysterious, but complicated events that, you know, that as happened with the kinds of things that you were experiencing can often be misdiagnosed. And, you know, you're sent for like this scan and that scan and, like, doctor. Doctors are just people and they're humans and, you know, sometimes they mess up or don't get something right. And, you know, originally you were, you were told you were having like TIAs transient ischemic attacks, which are, you know, kind of like little strokes, like basically like, there's not enough information getting the blood variety and the oxygen variety. And eventually after, it sounds like kind of several years of this sort of like back and forth and like, what do you do? you talked about what a migraine with aura can mimic. And I wonder if you can talk a little bit about sort of,

is that the diagnosis that you know, that you have? I do get migraines and I do have migraines with aura. I don't only get them with aura. My older son gets only the aura with no pain, which I did not even know. It's called a painless migraine. So there's so many, so many, you know, mysterious and complicated aspects of this part of the brain. But I wonder if you could talk a little bit about sort of how this came about and how you arrived at where you're at now.

I remember the first time I had an episode, we'll call that, right? I was actually riding my motorcycle and I was trying to switch lanes. And I realized, like, wait, why can't I see where the car. cars are. I can't see what's right here. I turned my head and it would kind of, and I pulled off and I all of a sudden realized like I couldn't, I could see, but I couldn't tell what things were. My brain wouldn't register what I was witnessing. And then I had like numbness down my body, like my body and tingling and my tongue and I ended up calling my, this was, a long time ago, my ex-girlfriend to come get me.

And she picked me up and I knew it was her, but I didn't recognize her, but I knew it was her. Right? So like all of these weird things, she said I was like trying to, in my brain I was talking, but I wasn't really saying words. So like those sound like stroke symptoms. Yeah. So rush me to the hospital and, you know,

I'm not talking bad about hospitals or the medical field at all. You can. This is a safe space. They're like, ah, we'll go have this, check this, check that, go to this doctor, go to that doctor. No, we didn't find anything. Go here, go there. And nobody would really give me like a definitive answer. But they were saying it sounds like, or you experience a TIA or mini stroke. So I kind of went with that. Like what's causing it usually like there's a small hole in, the heart that can cause a small clot for the mini show. I didn't have that.

So I was doing everything and I didn't fit the criteria of people who normally would have that. I've never drank. I've never smoked. I work out every day. So I kind of kept trying to figure it out, but I kept having it. And it almost became so frequent that I was, in my head, I had 30 of these episodes over a six month period.

Wow. But it got scary because I was trying to even figure out what what brings it on. Like what am I doing that brings on this episode? Is it something I ate? Is it something I did? It was the helmet too tight. I'm just like trying to figure all these things out. And I started journaling it just to see what was similar.

And really nothing kind of, there was no direct correlation to having one. So I unfortunately, because it's what you do, came out and said that, oh, I was diagnosed with these TIAs. I say unfortunate because it's restricted me now. This, I think, happened in 2011, 2012, you know, around then. I know I lost acting gigs because of it. You know what I mean? Because they wouldn't insure me because they thought like it was something. big thing. I can't currently, and haven't been able to for the past 10, 15 years, get life insurance.

You know what I mean? I race cars professionally. I don't have life insurance for my family if something happens. You know what I mean? Because in my medical history, even though it's been fixed now, it says TIAs, you know, or these brain, these things. So finally, after a year, of kind of giving up on getting a true answer of why I was getting these things. I was just so, once again, I'm not talking bad about doctors, but I gave up on doctors in general. You know what I mean? I felt like every time I ever went in for anything, I'm never given like a true, it was

kind of like, I don't know, go see this person. I'm like, I'm tired of going to see more people and just getting more bills. You know what I mean? So I gave up. But after years, finally about three years ago, I went into a new doctor and kind of explained it. And he goes, oh, that sounds like aura migraines with aura. Have you heard of that? I'm like, no.

And gave me the symptoms. I'm like, how did the 30 other doctors I went to never even brought that up as a thing? And he gave me a pill. And he said, if you ever sense when it's going to because I know when it's going to come. Like, I literally can feel it in my face. I know that in 30 minutes or whatever, I'm going to have it. He's like, you take this pill and you won't have it. I haven't had one since.

Wow. And how often have you felt one coming on? Maybe only two or three times. But I've caught it with that pill that he gave. And it's nothing. So he, like, officially diagnosed me with migraines with aura. Wow. And it eliminated that TIA.

You know, because like I said, nobody could find things that tied it to the TIAs exactly. But when you say the symptoms, they go, it sounds like that. It must be. So, yeah, so it was an interesting, interesting time. You know, I feel like when you have, I've been vocal or not too vocal, but I've talked about my memory issues. I've talked about my concussions. I've talked about these supposed TIAs now aura migraines. And I think people have in a sense

Not felt bad for me I think like oh there's something wrong I live my life as I don't know I just live I'm just me I don't know what it's like to be anybody else Right I don't know if my memory I know that people have better memories in me But I don't you know what I mean like

It's not like I let it hinder my day Or things that I do or things that I want to do Or plans or goals and stuff like that So I don't know Does it impact you? on a daily basis? Like, obviously, it's challenging if there are events in your life

that you can't remember, but like on a daily functioning basis, how does it impacted you? No, it's not that at all. Like, it's not to that level where I'm like, you know, like, sure, I have the moments like everybody where you go into a room,

you go, wait, why'd I come in here? What was I coming here to get? You don't know what I mean? Or, you know, but no, not in the, in the sense where I feel like it hinders, it hinders me at all. It's more, I hate, I've always hated since I was a kid, time.

I hate time because I feel like time is going so fast. So when I was, you know, I've always woke up before 5 a.m. Because like I don't want to waste any of the day. You know what I mean? I want to live as much as I can and do as much as I can in a day. But I think the thing that does affect me is with my son, you see time more because how fast. they grow or how fast they change. You look at photos, like how, you know, so I hate the fact that, I mean, I'm hard on my wife about taking tons of photos, so at least I have them.

You know what I mean? At least I have that, but I don't want to lose those memories because they're so special to me. But I feel like I do lose those. And that's, that's the one thing that affects me. You know what I mean? Is I'm like, why am I so bad at that? I don't know. Even races, like races.

I did a 300 lap race. And the next day, I know I did the race. And this isn't like, but maybe it comes you're just so folks, you're in it. But I go, I can remember like one or two things that happened in the race, but I don't remember the other 298 laps, right? You know what I mean? Like where there's other drivers who can specifically like, they can go, oh, on lap, 149, I had a slight vibration and I passed this guy and I saw up in the stands. I'm like,

who's looking up in the same? I don't know, but no, sorry, maybe I'm talking about it too much. No, I don't think it affects me on a day-to-day basis. It's just, you know, an interesting thing of what I, what I absorb and what I don't. I have a question that's related to time. You know, I wonder if you have any sort of reflections on the way people remember you because you know, you were a really important part of so many people's lives. And, you know, your show was so special to so many people. And it really had a very specific kind of humor. And, you know, you were adorable. And, you know, really a very charismatic, very, very appealing, you know, persona. And I would imagine that, you know, so many people, like, you're frozen in time for them in so many ways. So I wonder,

I'm especially curious when you were younger. You know, I'm not sure if you ever like went to therapy or if like this was something you ever like dealt with, you know, on a more like kind of higher level processing kind of level. You know, to be honest, no. I never like on a professional level talked about it or kind of went through it in my past. There are things now at 38 years old

that I think of and I go, Or my wife, she's pretty good at kind of, she's not a professional, but like, kind of bring it up my past or things that happened or it goes, maybe that's why you think this way. Or maybe that's why you do this or maybe that's why you do that. I think now, this is something I've never said publicly, like, I realized in the last month or two that I would love to dive into that stuff with someone on a professional level. You know what I mean? I didn't, I don't think in my entire life I've ever really thought about it. You know what I mean? Or allowed myself to like, the words not make excuses, make reasoning behind some of my personality traits or stuff like that.

But to be honest, when I was on the show, when I was in it, I was excited to be on the show and in it. Right. I loved being an actor. I loved being on set. I hated the child labor laws at the time because they would send me home. And I just wanted to like I wanted to keep going. I wanted to do it. But I never fully got involved in the Hollywood aspect of being on a TV show that I think takes people down a bad path. Not bad path. You know what I'm saying. Maybe the wrong path. I remember. just feeling like I was me. And that's all I knew. I wasn't trying to be different for anybody else at the time. You know what I mean? I wasn't trying to do anything for anybody else. But I remember people always being like,

you really have to make sure, you know, you do this or you do that. Or, you know, the next role you pick has to be a certain thing. Otherwise, you're going to be typecast as a certain character. You've got to do this. You got to do that. And I kind of remember I was being like, yeah, well, send me the scripts that are, the options for the movies for us to do this summer and I'll pick which one ever seems the most fun. That was kind of me. You know what I mean? I don't know. I don't know if I'm answering

your question. But I think like these days, like now, me now, there's times where I think back at the things I got to do when I was a child actor or I was acting my early years of being an adult having stepped away from the entertainment world, from that business, kind of in the height of my career. Like right when Malcolm ended, I was like, thanks. I'm going racing. You know what I mean? And it allowed me to have a greater appreciation for life in general.

Little things, as dumb as it sounds, of like moving to Scottsdale in 2008, I think saved my life. And I don't mean that in the sense like where I was, I'm 38, I've still never had a sip of alcohol. I've never done drugs. I've never done anything. So I don't mean in that sense. I don't mean in that in like the sense of like, oh, I'm going to go off off the deep end like so many child actors do. I meant I realized when I moved here that I started looking up.

Like I started realizing like this is so cheesy like me saying it. Like I'm sorry. But like I look at the sky. I looked at the tree. Like I went hiking. I started doing more life things. But in that sense, it made me look back at what I did in my past and have such a great appreciation for it that anything I do now, I dive in 100%.

Because I don't want to look back at anything that I do and go, I could have tried harder. I could have been nicer, right? I could have, you know, gone out of my way. I'd make sure, like, this might sound really dumb to you. I hang up my clothes. I hang up my wardrobe every night and put it, you know, and hang it back up. Like, whereas as a kid, I just, oh, it's there. You know what I mean?

You know, like on the couch, bye. So I don't know. I don't know if I'm answering your question, but maybe I'm just rambling a little bit. But I know that there's things that I do need to dive into, to figure out about myself. And I'm admitting that now, which I never did in my life until recently. So I'm going to work on that.

I have to ask, were you raised in a tradition that did not drink? Do you not want to drink? Oh, no. You don't have to. Every family member in my family drinks, and that's what they do, like, for fun. You know what I mean? I think as I've tried to figure out why I didn't.

because I don't have a reason. It wasn't like a religion. It wasn't a, you know, it wasn't. But I, maybe it goes back to my hatred towards time. When I was 15, 16 years old, I felt like I was so old. Like I had experienced so much. And I had experienced a lot of my life in comparison to most 15 or 16 year olds. And, but even though I was in the entertainment business,

I never saw it, meaning the drug use, any of that stuff. I somehow just stayed away. Like, I don't know, I just didn't. I went to the set, did my thing. And I think the first time, like, I grew up thinking the only people who smoked pot were criminals on cops, you know what I mean, on episodes of cops. You know what I mean? I don't know why.

You know, now I talked to my dad about it, my mom, and they're like, we smoked pot every single day. You just didn't know what I mean? Like it's just a it's a weird it's a weird thing to think back at. But at 18 years old was the first time that I was really kind of around it. And in my mind, going back to the time thing, I felt like I had made it so long without it that I was kind of like, I'm not going to start now, even though like I was only 18 or 17 or 18. You know what I'm saying? and I couldn't believe everybody's reactions when I said, oh, I don't drink. They'd be like, oh, we're at a club. You want to, we have a bottle.

You want to drink? No, I don't drink. I'm going with water. Everyone would have always was either shocked, like either appalled that I didn't drink or they'd be like, wow, that's so power. Oh, he's so strong of you, you know what I mean, that you don't. And I was always kind of like, it's so weird that people have such a strong reaction to me not drinking.

Like, who cares? Right? I don't care what you do. I don't care. You know what I don't mean. why do you care so much about me that I was almost like, I don't know if I made a conscious decision,

but it just stuck with me that I just was never going to drink or do anything. But now I'm 38, I think I'm going to start tonight. No kidding. Do you want to talk about that there's been discussion of a possible Malcolm in the middle reboot? Yeah. I want to say it was 2014.

I had just watched maybe, I don't know when it was, sometime a long time ago. I'd watched Malcolm for the first time ever, like all the episodes. They were on Netflix or something. And when the show was on, I never watched it, you know. But it was really interesting to watch because I really got to watch it as a viewer because I didn't necessarily remember what was going to happen in the episodes.

I didn't, you know, you know. And my perspective of the show completely changed from what I thought the show was to what it actually was when I watched it. Like the show we were, what I thought the show we were making was compared to what it was. Even characters that when we were filming the show, I was like, I don't really like that character. They became my favorite characters as a viewer. And I think I tweeted like, man, I just finished watching the thing. I would love to know where Malcolm and his family are now at that time. time was 10 years later.

You know what I mean? Now it's almost been 20 years since the show ended. And everyone kind of was like, oh, he'd be so great. And then Brian Cranston and Jane Casameric and all the cast started kind of sending emails together. And everybody was like, we've got to do this. We've got to do it. And the only, I don't want to call it a hiccup because it's not a hiccup.

But the creator of the show, Linwood Boomer, when we contacted him, he was like, I think it would be amazing. He's like, but I don't want to do it. He's like, because I just don't have time because I'm focused on my, you know, my charity and I'm focused on this. He's like, but if you get these two writers to be involved, it'll have my blessing if what they come up with is good. So really for the last couple years, Brian Cranston and these two writers have, Brian's been heading kind of pushing it because he really loves the idea. of putting together a script and figuring out what it could be. And we'll see what happens.

I mean, I would, like I said, I would love it. Especially, like I said, I have a greater appreciation of even what the show is and was and would love to dive in with all those people again to do it. In that same sense, that was 2014 or whatever when we originally started talking about it. So many shows have been rebooted. and so many shows shouldn't have been rebooted. So I don't want to be like just one of those shows that gets, like it has to make sense.

It has to be good. But I don't know. So we'll see. I would be into it 100% if it happened. But we'll see. I have one more question. You posted something really, really sweet. No, it was a picture of you and your,

and your son, and it said that you were teaching him meditation early. Was it a joke or do you have a meditation practice? I need to become, how do I put this? Nobody needs meditation in their lives more than I do, right? I'm a very, very high stress. Like I'm out of 10 always with like, I've been up since 2.45 this morning. You know, I did two hours of my race simulator. I went to the gym at 5 a.m. to 6.30.

You know, like, it's just my personality is to always kind of be on the move. But I allow myself to stay really high stress, like really worried about the things I need to continue to do and want to do. So my wife suggested starting to do meditation more on a regular basis. And I'm going to be honest with you, I haven't done it on a regular basis. I've done it here and there, but I need to get better at it. The problem is I don't know how to turn my brain off at all. So even when I do the meditation, I'm supposed to be like focused on my breath and all that,

but I'm thinking of the seven million things that I forgot to do or I need to do. And it's also like an issue for me with sleeping. I can fall asleep. Like I'll fall asleep. But if I'll wake up at 1 a.m. with my mind just racing and I can't go back to sleep. I'm up. So I think I'm the perfect candidate to make it a regular part of my life.

And today, I'm not just saying that because I'm having this interview, today is day one of my preparation for the 2024 race season, as dumb as that sounds. But first race is the middle of February. But I'm on a whole new mind frame starting today to make sure I'm as prepared as humanly possible. And I put meditation in as one of the things that I'm going to spend you know, if it's 10 minutes at first, every single night before I go to bed doing.

So, you know, I'm using it as motivation to be a better driver to make myself do it. But I think I definitely need it as just a human in general. All I'm going to say is if you're going to have a race, I don't want you waking up at 2.30 in the morning. I want you to wake up like at maybe six. Yeah, I know, I know. So it's been, you know, I wear like this heart rate monitor all the time that tracks my sleep and all that. And I was looking through it the other day and it's like my average sleep is like four hours

and 12 minutes. You know what I mean? We need to work on this. I know. I know I do. I'm exhausted, but I'm, look at me. You know, I got too much to do, too much I want it to do and accomplish. I can't sleep.

It's why I'm also only like five foot four, right? They say you sleep when you grow. Sorry, you grow when you sleep. And I didn't really sleep as a child. So, you know, here I am. Frank, I want to offer you a little perspective on meditation when I heard you mention that, you know, you're not good at it or your thoughts are racing and you're thinking about the 7,000 things. First, it's cumulative. The effects of meditation grow at and compound over time.

Secondly, there's no real ability for us to silence our mind. That notion is like a real misnomer. So a lot of people think they're not doing it right when just sitting in your thoughts and beginning not to follow them is the practice. So allowing them to cycle is totally great. And then you'll notice that, oh, wait a second. I'm thinking I'm going to just come back because our thoughts will lead us somewhere. So one thought will lead to the next thought.

all these chains. So all you're trying to do with the breath and with focus and with relaxation is just say, for a tiny moment, just like a little millisecond, can I give space between all the 7,000 thoughts or that one thought, how it quickly spirals to the next? And if you're starting and it's a practice for you, I think it's really interesting to experiment with time. You know, instead, some people like 15 minutes is like, feel like a lot, five minutes, a couple times a day leading up to maybe extending and incrementally often has a really big difference. But most importantly, you're never not doing it right, sitting down and you've done it. Yeah. Interesting. Well, I'll keep that in mind for sure as I

as I start on day one, you know, day one again, but day one of every day tonight. I'll, because I do, I always feel like, I'm like, what am I not getting? Like, how can people, how can you do it? Yeah, it's kind of like, it's like weightlifting. Like the first time you try and lift a heavy weight, it seems impossible. But Jonathan's right. There's definitely a cumulative aspect. And those voices get quieter and quieter.

But I've found that, you know, at anxious times of my life, those voices will get really, really loud again. So it's apparently just this ride called life. So, yeah. Well, I appreciate you. I'm curious, you have an older sister, correct? Yes. Are you similarly wired?

Is she also a high-energy person? Is she a race car driver too? No. To be honest, I was just with my sister this past week. And I don't think that her and I could be more different. She can be loud. And I don't mean that in a negative way. So she could be like, whew, but she's also, maybe she's just smart.

she doesn't take on as much as I try to take on. I'm not good at divvying up responsibility, right? I, even with like the olive oil company, my wife and I, we bought it and we hired all these people, but then we realized I kept taking responsibilities away from our employees because I was like, I'll handle it, I'll do it, I got that.

And then I realized I was just doing everything. You know what I mean? She does a better job of kind of doing what her strong points and then allowing other people to come in and handle the rest. She's a really, really, really good mom. She has twin daughters. But no, we don't look alike. We don't like the same things.

You know, if you told me that this is going to be controversial, but it's not. I'm joking. I'm joking. My uncle, I saw, my grandmother, unfortunately, passed away last Saturday. So we all came together for the funeral this past week in New Jersey. And my uncle came into the weight and I go, that's my dad. That's my dad. We have the same personality.

We look alike. I mean, he's my dad's brother. But I don't look anything like my dad. My dad looks like my sister or my sister looks like my dad. I joke with my mom. I'm like, mom, did you hook up with Uncle Al? Are you sure? I need to go on an episode of Mari to get this figured out.

Well, Frankie, it's been so much fun talking to you. Where can people find out all of the things that you want them to know about you? Do you have a site for your racing? Like, where are you on Instagram? Tell people where to find you. Yeah, I'm on Instagram. That's the kind of the most... I'm not very active on social media at all.

But if I was going to be active anywhere, it'd be on Instagram. It's Frankie Munez 4. Frankie Munez, Frank Munez, Frank Munes 1, 2, and 3 were taken. It's Frankie Muse 4. And then for my racing, it's munis racing.com. I'm about to announce what I'll be racing next year, the series, and got tons of cool Frankie Minas Racing merchandise. You can check it out and support.

It means honestly the world to me because it's the thing I'm the most passionate about and I'm working really hard. So when I have support of my followers and stuff for the racing, it honestly means so much more to me than anything I've done. so hope to see you guys at a race. Drive safe, take care of yourself, and hopefully our paths will cross again. Yeah, for sure. Thank you guys so much.

Have a good one. You could not get me in a race car. It wouldn't happen. What was the sound that he made when he was... That's what you hear when I'm talking? I mean, honestly, it seems that the thing that I really am happy for him about is that it really feels like that's a very comfortable place for him, you know, for whatever reason.

and, you know, he shared with us so much about challenges that he has with memory and, you know, a history of significant concussions. And it seems like that's a really comfortable place for him. And that does. It makes me happy for him. I just can't imagine feeling safe, calm or at home in that environment at that speed. No, it's terrifying. I think that his story about, you know, having this medical conundrum that, you know, he was, you know, he was, really didn't receive, it sounds like, you know, proper care for. It's so frustrating. I think, I think a lot of people can really relate to that, you know? I think that he had a situation also where this diagnosis is like negatively impacted him. It was very interesting to hear about.

Tell us a little bit about migraines with aura. They can feel and sound a lot like a stroke, you know, but typically that kind of thing is assessed by, by, you know, a scan. And, And, you know, migraines, like, they tend to run in families. They are often triggered around hormonal events. So women, you know, tend to experience them and, you know, often around your period. Men can also get them. I think all the women in my family, like in three branches of my family, all the women get migraines and some of the men. And as I mentioned, you know, my older son gets just what's called the aura. So the aura is a disruption to your visual field. and there's actually some incredible art that has been drawn by artists or, you know,

just people who have migrains who literally illustrate what the aura is like. It's often described as a shimmery, silver, you know, kind of apparition, you know, just outside of your visual field. But when you move your head, it moves with you. It doesn't exactly exist in space. It's literally, it's an artifact that your brain produces. I often have trouble forming sentences and making sense. It takes a tremendous amount of mental energy to function when you have any kind of migraine,

but in particular a migraine with aura. You know, I often get sound sensitive, sound sensitive, light sensitive, like that notion of like, I just need to cover my face and put, you know, and cover my ears and sleep it off. That typically comes more with an aura migraine, but can happen with migraines without aura. My mom has experienced paralysis during these kind of attacks. It's not pleasant. It really feels like a stroke. And often it can be a silent stroke.

These are often risk factors for each other. But as I said, you can have just the aura with no pain. And the pain of a migraine is not just a bad headache. It typically activates, I think it's the trigeminal nerve. And it can go, like when I get it, it feels like it's in my nostril and in my teeth and my gums, like my mouth hurts. And it's like a very specific projection of pain that that comes with migraines. Mine stopped when my lady cycle hormones stopped. I'm really grateful for that. I get them once in a while. But yeah, what he described was a super, super frequent incidents,

which, you know, I kind of wish that I, you know, could hang up a shingle and get inside the brain of Frankie because I think there probably was a lot of other stuff going. on in his life that might have been contributing to a level of stress or anxiety or just tension that might have, you know, led to that sharp of an increase in migraines. I didn't get my first one until I was in college. I was 19. A few things that came to my attention that I would want more insight into. The sleep issues or not sleeping more than four hours a night, especially since he was a kid. I want him to get more sleep. I also want him to get more sleep. But also, if that's been going on since he was a kid, it's going to have some cumulums.

little of effects. Also, the concussions, concussions breed a higher tendency to have more concussions. So, you know, that's an interesting bit of information in his medical history. And the falling asleep and waking up at one with racing thoughts, recently I got my brain scanned. And not in a big MRI advice. but with EEGs and it shows the map of brain activity that's happening.

And I won't go too much into detail about what it said specifically about me, but you can tell how much anxiety you have or fight or flight activities going on. And so I would imagine if I had to make an educated or semi-educated guess about what's going on for him, I would imagine that he's in a very revved up state and can't really get into deeper relaxation. States, and I would be super curious what his brain map look like. I think it's safe to say that Frankie lives a really interesting, very high adrenaline lifestyle. Admittedly, has not been in therapy and sounds like is interested in exploring some of these things.

And, you know, I think anyone with, you know, the sort of interesting features of childhood and adolescents that he had would probably really benefit, you know, from doing some of that exploration. And I think, I think especially now that he's a dad, and I think for a lot of us when we have kids, a lot of that stuff kind of comes into focus in a new way. I really appreciated his, um, both the, the challenges that he has with time and also his appreciation for time. I thought that was kind of a really nice, those dovetailed really nicely for me. Well, it was good spending time with him. If people want to spend time with us, they should do so by subscribing to the

YouTube channel and, uh, clicking the little bell notifications for new episodes and find us everywhere you get podcasts. From our breakdown to the one we hope you never have. We'll see you next time. It's my and biolics breakdown. She's going to break it down for you. She's got a neuroscience PhD or two. Fun fiction was. And now she's going to break down. So break it down.