Mayim Bialik's Breakdown - The Real Reason Tyrese Gibson is So Vulnerable Online, Why Men Are Killing Themselves, & Feeling Inspired as an Instrument of God

Episode Date: September 3, 2024

FAST & FURIOUS and Billboard star Tyrese Gibson reveals why he is VULNERABLE online and explains the current Men’s Mental Health Crisis, how his Deep Faith and Connection to God guide him, his grief around losing friend and co-star Paul Walker & Living Through LA's Darkest Times in the 90's!   He also opens up about life in LA during the Rodney King riots and how it shaped him and how the FAST & FURIOUS franchise changed Hollywood.   From his struggles with grief over losing his beloved mother and Paul, to his heartfelt reflections on his recent divorce and how his spirituality has shaped his journey, Tyrese's unique take on legacy, motivation, and embracing life is extremely inspiring!   PLUS Tyrese also breaks down: - His deep fear of owls - How he's turned the pain of his divorce into a powerful work of art - Why he doesn’t judge those who aren’t open about their mental health struggles - How the legendary late Ray Liotta left an unforgettable mark on him, and why Tyrese was scared of him on set - His time balancing struggles, especially when it comes to parenting - Pride in raising his Jewish daughter - Why his past accomplishments don't matter to him & why insecurity is ineffective as a motivator - What he wants his legacy to be   Don’t miss out on one of Tyrese Gibson’s most candid interviews yet - TUNE IN to MBB today!   Check out Tyrese Gibson's New Album: https://tyrese.tv/ AND 1992, in Theaters Now: https://www.lionsgate.com/movies/1992   BialikBreakdown.com YouTube.com/mayimbialik Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most of us as men, we have created an environment where we have almost mastered deception. We know how to make you think and believe that we're actually okay and we're really not. We just know how to fake it. Jonathan looks well-grown. His glasses is nice. He's got on a really nice hat. So everyone would look at this gentleman and say, he looks all right. Jonathan could be depressed right now.

I'm still traumatized about my childhood experiences and I have abandonment issues because my father just decided to leave us and I remember going to the park to play baseball and I would look around and all my friends had their father and mine wasn't there. And it's something that I'm still carrying as a grown-ass man and we're carrying and festering and we don't feel safe.

So I love that they have normalized Mental health awareness and the dialogue around it. Women have already been doing it since the beginning of time. We're just now getting invited to the table. It's Miami-Bi-R-Illics 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. She's going to break it down. Hey, I just found out something astounding. Approximately 63% of those of you listening to or watching Miami-Bi-Alegs breakdown are not subscribed. We know you're listening and we know you're watching because of all of the awesome comments you leave telling us how Maya Bilech's breakdown is helping you lead a happier and healthier life. We love that. But the best way to support our show is to subscribe. It's also the only way to get latest updates and to know when new episodes drops. So anywhere that you listen to podcasts and on YouTube, please subscribe, hit the bell icon so that you know when a new episode drops. Thank you so much and on to the episode. Hi, I'm I'm Bielick. And I'm Jonathan Cohen.

And welcome to our breakdown. This is the place where we break things down so you don't have to. Ever wonder why it's hard to feel grateful for things when life isn't going your way? Maybe you get frustrated easily and you're like, ah, why is this happening to me? Maybe you feel like you know you should have perspective, but you don't know how to have perspective. It happens to so many people. You just kind of get stuck in the thing that you're doing and you want something else and you just feel like it's, a struggle, but there's a way out.

There is a way out, and we're going to talk to someone who has experienced a tremendous amount of loss and challenges in his life, but has a really, really phenomenal sense of perspective and some really good instructive direction on how to reframe, even the most complicated of challenges. Tyrese Gibson, he's a six-time Grammy Award-nominated singer-songwriter. He's been in over 30 feature films. His films have earned a combined total of $9 billion at the box office. He's been in two of the biggest box office franchises in history.

He's in the Fast and the Furious franchise. He also was in the original Michael Bay Transformers. Also, Tyrese is a tremendous man of faith and has a really, really, I'd like to say a really healthy relationship with his spirituality and how it impacts his life. and we're going to talk to him all about that. He also was first known for appearing, singing beautifully in a Coca-Cola commercial when he was just a teenager.

His most recent album is Beautiful Pain. He also has a song with Lenny Kravitz playing on it. He's close with Snoop Dogg, who executive produced his new movie 1992. Tyrese Gibson is a really, really fascinating actor, singer, performer. I wanted to give a little, bit of context for 1992, which is a movie he has out with Ray Leota. It was Ray Leota's last film before he

passed. Snoop Dogg's the executive producer. And 1992, the premise is a shopkeeper is trying to save his son from an angry mob during the 1992 LA uprising after the Rodney King verdict. So just a little bit of background. In 1991, Rodney King was a man who was pulled over by cops and it was caught on camera He was being beaten and almost to death by LAPD officers. And what happened was a huge, huge, you know, court drama where these officers were accused. And eventually a grand jury would not indict these officers. And what happened was it led to citywide rioting. parts of the city were literally burned to ashes, burned to the ground. And so Tyrese is going to talk

about growing up in South Central, how he and Snoop Dog were actually part of 1992, and how making this movie is kind of a different perspective and a different take on that incredibly gripping time in American history and also in particular the history of Los Angeles. So without further ado, let's welcome Tyrese Gibson to the breakdown. Tyrese. Break it down. Well, good morning to both of y'all. Good morning.

Hey, bro, give me a favor. Give me my beard back after this interview. You've had this shit for six months. You've gotten all the girls already. Just let that shit go. I'm over here naked. I lined it up special yesterday. I wake up with my face cold, man, until I get my shit back, man.

Like, this is ridiculous. It's awesome to talk to you. You are, you know, one of these people where, like, your bio is unbelievable. You are a six-time Grammy Award nominated singer and songwriter. You've also been in two of the largest box office franchises in history. Also, I'm from L.A. So I have a special warmth in my heart for people who grew up in L.A. and have authentic L.A. experience. But you do. incredible work for the community at large. You're a very, very busy man, and you have this new movie out, 1992, which is so phenomenal, so awesome. I was in L.A. in 1992, and so obviously this, yeah,

I lived pretty close to Western in Santa Monica, which was completely on fire. And so we had ash falling, you know, ash falling on our house. And it was an enormous, enormous year. Can you explain to people who may not know what 1992 was like? And especially if you were living in Los Angeles, what is 1992? First of all, thank you for having me on.

This is your platform. I'm grateful. And thank you for your kind words. I'm grateful. You know what's really crazy? Me and my team have this saying, that keeps us from looking backwards. They always say put your blind photo, that's cliche.

Our favorite saying at our company is you can't get points today for yesterday's game. If you won MVP last week, get over. That was a moment, it happened. What are you doing now? How are you forging your head? So when I started doing like this, when you were mentioning my resume,

my brain is going like, Oh my God, don't go down the list because I'm just getting started and I don't want to be reminded of what I've done because that's almost like, and you did nothing wrong because it's very natural to introduce your guests because we should never assume that people know, right? He's a singer. I deal with that too. Like, you know, yeah, invite me to your wedding. I can hold a note or two. Yeah, me and Marvin Gay are cousins. I'll just play.

So, yeah, it's really interesting to be here. And while other people get five minutes of fame, my career started with 30 seconds from a Coke commercial. And for me to have any type of career, almost 30 years doing something, I matter to somebody. Something is continuing to happen. every day for me still feels like Christmas.

Like, I cannot believe I'm doing this interview. Like, it does not matter if I'm promoting a movie or if y'all just wanted to talk to me. Like, why y'all interested in talking to me? How grateful am I? So just thank you for having me on. And going back to your original question about 1992, yes, I was born and raised not only in L.A.,

but I was born and raised in South Central L.A., which is where the madness was full throttle. Because not they, we. We were fed up. We were completely exhausted with murder, excessive force, having drugs and guns planted on us and having a homie that you play a basketball with no criminal record.

Now he's got 10 years in jail all of a sudden. One minute, we at school, playing on the bungalows and playing basketball or something at school. And then the next week we're freaking trying to wash cars to do a fundraiser to get a hold of some money to bury them because who plans on dying that young? You know, so of course your mama ain't got no insurance policy in place. You're 12. You know, so it's really crazy.

And so, yeah, that's why my life feels like whatever challenges present itself, I look at it as a challenge, but I'm like, well, I feel like I'm not inviting any problems. But I feel like, you know, I've kind of survived a lot of shit and seen a lot and been exposed to a lot. So, yeah, in 1992, I was out there looting and rioting and boycotting and protesting. I was really in these streets. I was scared, but I was out there. I was really scared. Like, really, like, those Koreans on top of them stores with the shotguns and the handguns

shooting people that was breaking into their stores was a real thing. And I don't know if you, who were born and raised in L.A. like me, but I don't think there was ever a trial, a verdict, or anything that had to do with any real criminal charge is being dropped on anybody from what they did to someone during the riots. If you broke into a Korean person store

and they end up shooting you from the top of the store, no one was ever prosecuted. Because it was mayhem. It was like crazy, right? So if you took your SUV and drove through a front window and you have footage of you driving through the front window of a radio shack at the time, no one ever pulled up that person's license plate

and said, that's him. Like people were on camera. There was no COVID mask to hide your identity. So everybody that was looting and rioting and stealing and shooting and killing or doing whatever they were doing, beating up white people throwing rocks, Like whatever was happening, no one got prosecuted. Probably only the people who beat up Reginald Denny, if that.

But nobody else, with the amount of people that got killed, hurt, and harmed, or vandalized, no one went to trial. And that's how crazy it was, especially if you're in the military. So why was I scared? I was scared because I knew that the moment that I got in that truck to go drive into this danger zone, to go steal or riot and loot and whatever the fuck, I knew that my life was literally at stake

because it was open season to shoot, stab, and kill, and defend and do whatever you wanted. And I was now signing up for it like, oh, you know, let's go. And then we were in the back of an SUV too, which is now. outside, outdoors. You know, so yeah, it was wild. It was really, really wild. My NBialy's breakdown is supported by Superpower.

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Superpower. Not only did Superpower reduce their price to just $199, but for a limited time, our listeners get an additional $20 off with the code break. Head to superpower.com. Use the code break at checkout for $20 off your membership. And after you sign up, they'll ask how you heard about them. Make sure to mention My Ambiotics Breakdown to help support the show. Can you explain what this movie is tackling?

What is 1992 kind of tackling? in terms of helping people understand what that was like and also really opening up to a very personal story, meaning you're meeting individuals in this movie. It's not just like, oh, this happened, they were doing that. Can you talk about what this movie kind of means? And also Snoop Dog is the executive producer, right? Yes.

And he was in the lutes and rioting. He was looting and rioting himself, he told me, which is crazy. And then the other significance is that Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre's album, the most legendary hip-hop album of all the time, The Chronic, One, two, three, and to the phone.

That came out in 92. So here he is giving birth to the most important, iconic. That's like Michael Jackson releasing thriller in 92. It's like you're releasing thriller in the middle of the whole world, meaning Los Angeles, burning to the ground. And how are you supposed to have anyone to focus on this album that should drop it?

So, yeah, it's wild. 1992 is different. You know, some people may look at this film, don't hold your breath. You are not about to go watch a movie. about a 1992 documentary. They've done a great job with the Discovery Channel.

If you want to know, if you want to watch a full documentary about 1992, that's not this movie. I just want to make sure I point that out. Ray Leota and Scott Eastwood, they're crazy. So they decided, while the whole city is distracted,

let's go break into this Amazon warehouse and steal $50 million in platinum bars. So they did a heist. which is what everyone did. They did their own version of a heist. They broke in banks, they broke in swap meats, they broke in stores. I remember I went, before it became food for less, they were called the Boy's Market. That's right.

Remember that? Yeah. So I was in the Boys Market, scared. And because of the fires, the fire hydrants has set off. And so you were in there grabbing food, whatever was that. left and you were walking in four feet of water. So you had food just floating everywhere. And, you know, a little too late to the party because I didn't really get much, but it was really scary to be in there, hearing the fire alarms, just literally walking in water. And so, yes,

I'm a criminal. And I'm past a statute of limitations so no one can do anything about it. And in my mind, I was still in meat and chicken and Kellogg's, Frosted Flakes on behalf of my community. So leave me along. So, yes, it was, it was really, really crazy. But 1992 will have you on the edge of your seat. You're not, other than me giving away that one piece of the plot, but it is in the trailer. It is really crazy. And then this is what I'm proud about, I have to say, because y'all ain't black. Colors, menace to society,

boys in the hood, baby boy, poetic justice, straight out of Compton, all of these movies. Whenever you see white people in these movies, they're always racist cops doing really bad things to black

and brown people. This is the most diverse cast in the history of any South Central, L.A., which is my game. I was born and raised in the hood. I got it. I live in this black skin every day,

but I don't sing for black people. I sing for everybody. I don't do movies for black people. I do movies for everybody. And yet there's no one that's more vocal and outspeak spoken about the culture than me. But when I do films, I'm always looking for how do we make sure

that we do something that allows for anyone to see the movie and be like, oh, man, I'm Asian, I'm white, I'm black, I'm this, I'm that, which is why being a part of the most important culturally diverse film and the history of cinema and the fast and the theories has changed Hollywood. Like, you don't even see a movie poster without diversity at this point. And we've been on this train for 20 years, you know? And so when I look at Scott Eastwood and Ray Leota and his, you know, and Ray Leota's other son, Dylan, and, you know,

the other gooms that was a part of Ray Leota's world breaking into this damn thing, you don't even understand how proud I am to be a part of this movie because even straight out of Compton that did $300 million in the box office was a bunch of unknown. actors playing really famous rappers, but none of them had a following

and yet everyone was interested in this story. And still, when you're seeing police officers, it was, after police coming straight, you know, and everything that they did in the movie, and it was always black and brown people versus white people, wearing police uniforms.

So, everything about this film for me, has been like, wow, we really did it. Like, we really figured out a pivot that would have white people and other ethnicities to look at this movie. And it's not that I seek white validation.

That's not what I'm getting at. I just feel like we still live in a world where people want to see someone that looks like them before they go to the movies. And this is the first opportunity to do so without putting white people in a badge and saying you're a police officer. And in South Central L.A.,

the only role you could have is you're either a judge, a jury, a police officer, a fireman, something. Because otherwise, why would any white people be in the hood? You definitely break that cycle with Ray in this movie. He is not a police officer, and he's sort of a next-level criminal. He's not, I don't want to give anything away, but he really embodies a sense of fear and terror that is quite powerful and amazing.

I was scared on set. Okay, so, and let's go even further. Rest and peace to the legend, Ray Leota. We love you. Ray Leota changed my life in life. He also changed my and our life and his passing. No different than what Paul did. We have a film that everybody in the world is about to see

because they want to support and experience the last of this beautiful art that Ray Leota left us with. But speaking to diversity, let's talk about the director, Israeli from Israel. Ariel Roman. Where the fuck did you come from? What does Ariel Roman have anything to do with South Central LA?

I mean, this dude is a Decepticon. Where did you come from, sir? Like, bro, this dude has broken English, man. That is, I want you to, please. This is him on the set. You know, he could not even say. say the N-word. He's like, listen, when you say the word, put some more, some more, okay, I got it. I got it. Okay, okay, got it. Don't dance around the N-word,

bro. That's a fantastic impression of an Israeli accent, which is one of my favorites to try and tackle. Imagine directing me into putting more emphasis on the N-word. It's just like, I want you to really put the, okay, I got it, I got it. Okay, I got you. You want me to say it from the bottom of my soul. Okay, got it. It's the most uncomfortable director's note I've ever gotten in my life. But okay, got it.

Thank you, Ariel. I will do it. Going back over there. Let me take care of this N-word for you. I got you. I wonder if you can talk a little bit about, I mean, obviously, It comes up in the movie. It comes up in what you just spoke about with Ray.

It comes up even in what you were talking about sort of growing up. You know, there's kind of this thread of kind of understanding grief and loss and being able to transform it. You know, you've been very, very public, you know, when you lost your mother recently. You know, you've been very public about grief and about showing these vulnerable parts of you. I wonder if you can talk a little bit about why you choose

to be vulnerable publicly and, you know, are there upsides to it? Are there downsides to it? It may be downsides to the people who wouldn't make that choice, right? Because this is not a black thing at all. So let's get that off the table.

People talking about their problems. You get shamed about it. women have done an incredible job of creating communities and safe environments where they can get on the phone, they can do a lunch and a dinner, they can just talk about their marriages, their kids, challenges, teachers at school that are annoying them, but you feel like it's picking on your kid. Any little way of venting and getting the stuff that's on your mind, off your mind, women have done an incredible job of venting and talking. Jonathan looks well-grown. His glasses is nice. He's got on a really nice hat, right? He's got his crispy-looking t-shirt.

It's not one piece of lint on his shirt. So everyone would look at this gentleman and say, he looks all right. Jonathan could be depressed right now. He's always depressed, Irese. And Jonathan does not, like most of us as men, we have created an environment where we have almost mastered deception. We know how to make you think and believe that we're actually okay when we're really not.

And I'm not saying you're not okay. But you cannot look at Jonathan and be like, I just seen Jonathan. He looked cool. He was good. We was laughing, talking. We just know how to fake it when we're really thinking and feeling and carrying. So I love that they have normalized mental health awareness and the dialogue around it. So when you have anxiety, when you're suffering from depression, when you're dealing with things that you're feeling and carrying,

we have normalized the dialogue around it as men and women. Women have already been doing it since the beginning of time. We're just now getting invited to the table like, oh, I can talk about the fact that. that I suffer with depression and I am still suffering as a grown man with a full beard. I'm still traumatized about my childhood experiences and I have abandonment issues because my father just decided to leave us. And I remember going to the park to play baseball and I would look around and all my friends had their father and mine wasn't there. And it's something that I'm still carrying as a grown-ass man and we're carrying and festering. And we don't

feel safe. So yes, my answer is I am not doing this with any intention other than the fact that I am completely comfortable with talking about my divorce, talking about the things that I'm feeling and caring, talking about the things that's on my mind. I'm not seeking validation. I don't need you to agree and I don't care if you disagree. You know why? Because this is my truth. This is how I feel. This is what I feel. This is what I felt. This is what I felt. This is what I experienced. This is what I'm uncomfortable about. This is what I'm still trying to emotionally navigate through.

You may have dealt with that and gotten over it. Oh, man, I've got past that. That's your story. Don't downplay my stuff that I'm still carrying because you gotten over it 10 years ago. You know? And your relationship with your mama may not have you to ever get over the fact. she passed. God forbid, you know, if your mother is still with us. But my mother died on Valentine's Day two years ago. And I'm now her last child, two girls, two boys, and I'm a motherless child,

and I'm 45 years old. So happy Mother's Day feels differently from me now. And is it okay to still talk about it after two years? Are you going to shame me into silence? you still posting about your mama? Yeah. And you know, another reason I vent and I talk and I post so openly because I don't want nobody to come to my house. I don't want nobody at my house. I don't believe in inviting people to the pity part.

So I'd rather talk about my stuff and put it out there and write the longest captions ever and leave the longest videos ever about all the things that's on my mind and then I go to sleep at night just knowing that I got it all off and then I'm going to go to sleep tonight because somebody out there in the world

is going to be able to say, oh my God, I'm going through that exact thing right there because I don't just vent and unload. I give people perspective and I get people just like, hey guys, I just want y'all to know, oh my God, I've been thinking so hard about the blah, blah, blah,

and I think I've finally figured out how to get to the other side of this. Because there's people who worship me and don't worship Jesus. There are people who look up to me and idolize me and they're starstruck and their fans and their supporters and their followers and they're whatever they are

and they're holding on to my every word and I'm going to direct everybody to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. Oh, you look up to me, I want you to know. There's somebody that helped me to get through all of this. You ever heard of Jesus? And they're going to be like, why does Tyrese keep talking about God? I think I need to go on.

I mean, he's making Jesus sound like the coolest person in the world. He is. And if you look up to me, I am a resource. God is my source. So the reason that I talk about this is because I'm not going to be known for the square footage in my house when I die. Not going to be known for materialistic things because when I pass away, Jonathan is going to buy my watch at an auction.

So I go to my watch to hit much. None of these things matter. So what did you do to impact the world while you were here? So that's why I'm so very proudly, publicly, about just whatever. And the thing is, I don't make anybody feel bad who's not as vocal about their stuff, You know, it's my journey, it's my stuff. You know, like how much can you listen to Tupac? You know, with all of his stuff.

You want to look at Tupac. You look at all of his interviews and all of the things that he spoke up and spoke out about. You know, that's the stuff that pulls at your heartstring about Tupac. He stood for something. You know, and I don't think neither one of you guys can tell me what Dr. Martin Luther King's net worth was when he got assassinated on that balcony

or the size of his rim. or the square footage of his house. And you could also Google, when did Dr. Martin Luther King start his journey from Coretta Scott King until he was assassinated? That's a very small window. And yet, look how much he did within that time.

Look how much he changed things while he was here. And I'm not looking to be Tupac or Dr. King. But I do understand that none of this shit matters. You know, so that's why I speak up. Sorry for my long end. No, it's awesome. It's so, I mean, it's so well said. And I think we both, and I think everybody listening

is really going to receive it the way you intend it. It's so powerful. Did you always have this notion of kind of a spiritual connection as like, that's what, no. Where did it come from and when? To be honest, which you, answering that question for me, it was just like asking you,

Did you ever know you would have a podcast? Like it's just kind of these pivots happen, right? So you look at where your career started at the top of your Wikipedia page. And then you look at these pivots. Like, you know, Jonathan looks like, you know, no, no stereotype. He looks like a surfer guy. He looks like a guy that could be out in the middle of the woods, fucking hunting bears and like, you know,

He looks like he's in the guns. No, he's a Canadian Jew. Wow. Well, Canadians, they're some hunting motherfugglers. They be out there shooting the shit out of them, muses. I mean, skiing maybe a little bit more than surfing. Put me on a surfboard. I don't really know what's up.

But I have the hat for it. Wait, skiing. Like, like what, explain it different. Like downhill. Yeah, downhill skiing. Skiing. Got you. When I heard ski up,

they have those too in Canada, but yeah. Yeah, when the water's not frozen, yes. Yeah, we got a lot of lakes. You know, I have to tell you something, Jonathan, David Foster produced my whole new album. Speaking of Canada, I was just on the phone with David Foster yesterday. Wow. He executive produced my entire album.

and this is a text message. Can y'all see this? That's a long text message. Yeah, yeah. Do you see that? Yeah. That's the text that I got yesterday from your Canadian comrade. My buddy. My buddy, David. And he also produced my current single dedicated to my mother called Wildflower, which, speaking of Canada, again, here's a little Canadian history for you, sir.

Have you ever heard of a group called Skylark? I haven't. Wait a minute! I got to look them up right now. That's how David Foster started. Okay. Jonathan, what are you doing? You are not representing the Canadian history.

A little tragically hip, I understand. Neil Young? Wildflower was a top 10 hit in 1973. Tell us about your single, though. This is the beauty. The first ever group and band that David Foster was in with his first wife was called Skylark. They're all Canadians from Canada. Canadians trying to do R&B.

It was a reach. It was a reach. But it was a smash. They got to number nine on the U.S. charts. was number one on the Canadian charts. Fast forward 50 years later, every version of wildflower that had ever came out after Skylark released wildflower,

none of the original members or David Foster had nothing to do with any other rendition until mine. David Foster got back in the studio to do Wildflower. For me, with Brandon Bamhodge. 50 years later, and it is my current single that is out right now dedicated to my mother, rest in peace. And so that is the Canadian history of the day. I wonder if you can go back a little to telling us sort of when your spiritual journey

began and when you sort of discovered that as a source of strength. I mean, I grew up in the church, you know, that was my gateway. And so I think if your mother takes you to church or Mormon or to the synagogue or to the mosque every single day and saying, you know, we are this and you should be this and you are this and you were born into this, I think most of our journeys is trying to figure out, well, how does this apply to me? How does this belief system apply to me? I know what you are. I know what you grew up as. I know what you are. But what does that have to do with me?

And how does that help me to get through my day-to-day life? How do I apply what's in the Bible into my life or the Quran or, you know, whatever? How does going to Sabbath every Friday at dinner apply to my life? Like how? Like my daughter is Jewish, right? Her mother's from London. My daughter's first language is Hebrew, second is English. And she's a lice-skinned black child, and she will out Hebrew most Jews in L.A.

I think anybody can keep up with my daughter. And then, you know, there is a Jamaican and then there's a Jafakin, right? So you got people that are born American and they're Jamaican, but they grew up in Brooklyn. So when they speak with their Jamaican accent, it ain't the authentic Jamaica. My daughter speaks Hebrew like a true Jew from Israel. Rabbis get around my daughter and they just want my daughter to keep talking because she speaks Hebrew literally from Israel. like the authentic thing. So I got about 300 family members in Israel.

I've been to Israel like three times. I got literally you can Google Tyrese praying at the Great Wall. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. So I wore my kipa at the wailing wall. I actually, you know, I put my prayer. Yeah.

Like, is this inappropriate? Because you're supposed to put your prayer on a piece of paper and then stick it into the wall. And the only paper I had on me was $100 bill. I wrote my prayer. I was like, well, look, I'm praying for a financial blessing. And this is the holiest, it is a piece of paper technically. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm off the hook, man. So get us back to when sort of you, you grew up in the church, but was there a moment that you really, kind of felt like, oh, this is what's guiding me in my life and my success. Like in your earliest success, did you feel touched by God or did that come later? No, it was not, it was not a specific moment for me. There was not, I'd be lying if I said, I had an awakening. I was kind of woken out of my sleep. I went through something that was so dark and unbearable. I was not close to God.

And then I was like, well, how do I get through this? And God helped me to get through it. Obviously, God helps me get through everything, but I don't remember having a specific moment and breakthrough that was like, oh my God, I'm atheist, and God showed up in my dreams. And, you know, that's not my story. I've always been team Jesus.

And it's how I grew up. Like, I even entertained one time converting to Islam. For no specific reason other than this is pretty cool. Right? Because where we lack in Christianity is we lack community, you know, even when it comes to the Jewish community, everything is community. We're meeting up every Friday. We're eating, we're talking. Everything is about investing and pouring and showing up for each other. And everything is community. I wonder if you can talk to us a little bit about sort of being a dad and what that, like how you, how you, how you, how you sort of of give that its proper weight. You know, your life is so busy, so exciting, between music and movies and all the things that you have yet to do,

as you said, you're just getting started. What is that balance like for you as a dad in terms of your attention and your energy? You know, I feel like I can do better in that department, the balance. You know, I have to remind my daughters and everybody in my life, including my girlfriend. I'm like, look, I don't think I'm going to die anytime soon.

But there's definitely a clock in my head that's ticking. And let's go. You know, just like everything is, there's a level of aggression that's on my spirit to do and execute and implement and get things done. Who put that there? Who put that clock there? probably living in the ghetto and being in the hood and you know just feeling like you better hurry up and live because we are dying out here often and you don't have to be involved in gangs or you know

via selling drugs or you know your life can be taken like that so Although life wants to create a balance, right? You want to be able to say I'm an entrepreneur, I'm a great husband, I'm a great father, I'm present, I put my phone down. Listen, man, I tell people, if you stay at home, you'll lose your home. So you got to, I'm a lion. I'm out.

I'm on the hunt. I'm trying to turn over every rock. I'm sniffing out every opportunity. And for the fathers, they get to do this every single day, doesn't matter if they're making 50,000 or 50 million a year, if you have figured out a way to be more balanced where you're like completely overly ambitious and you know how to tap out and be fully present as a father, that's what I aim to be more of. I know I could do better in that department because I'm just like there's nothing about my success thus far that's

to generational wealth. Like if it ended tomorrow, my kids would probably be okay for about three to five years and then daddy did all this work and then leave us shit. So, you know, if I'm being honest, like not everybody gets to Elon Musk

in life and say, well, if it ended tomorrow, I really set my kids, kids up to take over the whole thing, you know? Johnson and Johnson should be followed by Gibson and Gibson. If you had to choose, what would you like to be known for?

Meaning you sing, you act, you advocate, you do so many different things, and you do them all with so much attention. Like, there's so much weight to all the things that you do. What do you feel is sort of your identifier? Like, who is Tyrese?

I think what you said earlier about me being so vocal and outspoken and you know, there's really nothing off the table as far as topics that I'm willing to unpack. And I do, there's a difference between like

just rambling and just saying some shit versus like, you know, that was 45 minutes of nothingness. So yeah, I really love to communicate. I really love to share. You know, it's like I have this thing where if I go to lunch

and the lunch is like three hours and I leave the lunch the same person that I showed up as it would be like give me my fucking three hours back like I didn't learn anything you didn't put anything on my mind you didn't give me no perspective this is just small talk and goofy

that's not who I am so I try my best to surround myself with smart people and I believe in like iron sharp and iron moments where it's like, man, I feel like I left that meeting or that moment, a very different person than I showed up as. Like, that's what I'm about.

What are you like as an actor? Do you like taking direction? Do you have a really specific idea of how you want to do things? Obviously, when you're part of a franchise, there's a kind of a built-in character, but I'm curious what you're like on a set. All depends on the role, but just like my singing,

there's no need to come into the vocal booth and tell me that I just killed it. Oh, that was incredible. I don't need to hear that. I'm waiting for me to hear that I actually hit all the right notes myself and I want to feel good about what I just did. So I am not an insecure person

that seeks this validation on a movie set. It doesn't, like a co-star can't walk up. to me and be like, oh, my God, that was. And then because they say, oh, my God, I feel oh, my God, about it myself. And I'm not in my head. I'm not an overthinker. But I will ask to direct it a heartbeat. Can we do that again?

Oh, it was great. Dirties, like Ariel Roman. It was great. No, I could do it better. So that's how I feel on a movie set. I'm very, I'm very, I'm, I'm coachable, not some like, like, ah, get out of here. I know what I'm doing.

It's not that. It's more so like, can I do it again? Even if you use the first two takes at the stronger option, can I do it again until I feel as good about it as you feel about it? Tyrese, I want to circle back to something you said about communicating and sharing because, you know, it really struck me when you talked about that we're all caring things that are impacting us, often without anyone seeing it, especially men have been taught to put a mask on.

That stuff is coming down now with the level of openness that's happening. But it's still, I think we still block it off, you know. We got long ago, yes. The least helpful question is, how are you? Because no one wants to ever say anything authentic. And I think a lot of men are taught to just, we don't want to be told it's not the case. Or we don't want to, you know, to be.

be fixed. You know, we don't have the experience of just holding space for one another. My question, though, for you is if you could speak a little bit about, you know, loss, we all lose people. You've experienced loss, you know, obviously with your mom, but just growing up, you've experienced a lot of people you've lost. People say time heals, but, you know, that stuff stays with us. You know, I've lost a couple of close friends. Do you have advice or ways of thinking about loss as you continue. Because, you know, I've experienced where I'll celebrate something, something positive will happen, but they'll still be like,

oh, that person isn't here. There's the flip side of that sometimes. Yeah. Well, thank you for asking that question. Truth is one of my processes is to confront it. Go back to that bench that you sat on with your mom. Go back to the elementary that she used to take you to. to high school, go hang out with the friends, family, and loved ones who knew your mom so well.

Go and embrace the world. And you have no idea how uncomfortable and how unbearable that is, but how healing that is. Because the thing is, what is a nightmare? A nightmare is something that you keep replaying in your mind about a classroom. about a car accident that you witness in that intersection and you're losing all of this sleep, just thinking about what happened when you witness that tragedy,

go back to the corner. And I promise you, nothing about the energy of what happened on the corner on that day that you cannot stop thinking about will be the same. So confronting it, talking about it,

unloading, creating an environment where you feel safe, we're talking about, even if you don't feel safe, talk about it anyway. You know, and prayer, spirituality, understanding that you are literally not capable of getting through it yourself. So they say prayer without works is dead. What does that mean? Prayer without works. Okay, you got to pray and invite God in. But you still got to do the work, right?

Because no one's going to hire you while you're on your knees praying. You got to get up and go seek and find the job. You got to go put on your best outfit and go secure the opportunity that you're praying about. And then I often say, here's the flip of that, right? people right now, or literally right now, as all three of us are speaking, people are on their knees right now praying for what we already have. And so to never lose perspective about what you want, what's your heart desires, what is going to be fulfilling for you, that's nothing to do with what's fulfilling for your significant other or anybody in your family. The things that keep

you up at night, even if you explain it to you blue in the face, people are going to be like, what the fuck are you talking about? But you got to go for it. See, my high is not money. I've been making money for so long. Who cares about money? I need money to get all this shit that I got bouncing around in my head out of my head.

So it's just that there's a whole cocktail and a whole gumbo of a lot of different things that I pull from to help me to get through my losses and to help me to get through just like the things that keep me encouraged. Like when I'm in this house, you know, which I'll show you.

So look at my living. Look how cool my place is. Oh, it's a beautiful piano. Yeah, that's awesome. You know, when I'm walking around in my house, I'm walking around and answer prayer. I'm physically in an answered prayer. What does that mean?

Well, before I got the keys, before I closed on this house, I prayed about it. And now I'm physically experiencing an answer prayer every single day. Do you see it that way? Or do you think you're just rolling out of bed in some shit? Do you realize that most of the people in the world don't have what you have? When I pray, I said, God, thank you for allowing me to eat what I want, when I want, where I want. with who I want, because most people don't have that as an option. Right now, Jonathan, if you said I'm hungry, you can finish this interview and you can get in your car or you can postmate

and anything that you want to eat will show up to your door. You understand that that's not normal, right? So those are the things that I never lose sight of. That's why every day my life feels like Christmas. That's so it's beautiful. I mean, the notion, of physically living and answered prayer. I woke up kind of crabby this morning, and I was really trying to figure out why am I crabby? Like, I could find something every minute

to be like, this didn't go my way, or the cat did throw up on my leg this morning in bed. That was my wake-up, but in the scope of the universe, I don't really have a right to be crabby like that. But the cat's not dead. Right. You didn't wake up to a dead cat.

will throw up in your bed who just ate something really bad that you didn't know about it and you got to go rush to the vet trying to save it like I'll take some throw up in a minute as long as my cat is okay it's all in the way you see it it's all in the perspective come here angel what what is that cotton ball that's a cotton ball with legs this is our guardian angel okay I don't want you to lick me on my mouth too much, okay? I'm from the ghetto. I just don't, I don't want you compromise on my ghetto hood strife. Okay, you got three in, leave it alone. Angel is our Pomeranian, and he is literally the joy of all joys. And just like his dad, he loves a good head rub, and he is just an angel. He is like, he is so protective. He is to,

so sweet and he is a boy and he is so great. Angel, say hi. Give him a high. That's ridiculous. It's an unbelievable creature. Okay, I think you were on the talk and they revealed that you don't like owls. You have a phobia of owls? Oh, she just got serious. Well, the reason I'm asking is because I have a house and we were selected to be an owl release home because it has a a yard that owls like. And they came to the house and I don't have it with me. I'm not going to show you an owl.

But they're fascinating creatures and two of them were released on the property, a boy and a girl. And it's just, I love owls and I've never met anyone who doesn't like them as much as apparently you don't. She really wanted to have a dialogue about

owls like this. Like, no, I got, I don't want to hear no stories. I don't want hear about the boy versus the girl versus the yard versus the location. I don't care about none of it. Because, you know, have you ever see Ace Ventura pet detective when he's just all freaked out about? Yes.

Yeah. Yeah. That's me. That's, no, I don't, I'm sorry. I have. You have boundaries. Yeah. Well, I'll give you a story.

I'll give you a quick story to end on a super light note because, so me and Paul Walker, my brother, rest in peace. Me and Paul Walker, first day on the set for Too Fast, Too Furious, two years ago, they had this demolition derby scene where he's showing up

trying to scout me and get me to be a part of his mission and I'm ramming cars, you know, too fast he feared. I think a couple of y'all seen it. And as he had these sporadic people in the audience, in the middle of the desert, looking at us doing this demolition derby.

Literally the moment I got to the set, I looked up in the audience and there was this huge hooters sign up on the wall. And it had the biggest owl face ever. It was literally the biggest sign. It was, you know, the whole wall was full of sponsors, you know, gas stations and this and that, whatever. It's like NASCAR, logos, galore.

logos galore. But the biggest sign up on this wall was Hooters. I got to the set and I said, I am not going to shoot one scene in this movie. This is day one of filming until y'all tell the Hart Department to go up there and take that sign down now. Because I've never been to Hooters in my life. I don't like people with necklaces with owls.

I don't like people that's got owls as statues in their house. I don't, most cases, if you got an owl on top of your house as a deterrent to scare birds away, you've now scared me away. Dinner is canceled. I'm not eating dinner in your house that's got a big ass owl perched up on the edge to scare birds away. It ain't happening. So, yeah, I don't like owls. And I'm over here looking at your desk.

I see the heart, the pig. There's no owls there. There's no alas there. There's a llama and there's a cat with a cape. Oh, by the way, I'm releasing this album, Beautiful Pain. It's a double album, 16 songs total. The first album I've ever done that's live. Every instrument is live. I've never done an album like this.

It is the most important. album of my life. I want you all to hear, so I can write this down. I don't think you ever loved me. L-O-V-E-D, featuring Lenny Kravitz. Another song called Love Transaction, I want you to hear that. And then another song called I Would Still Say I Do. I would still get married, even though I've been through a divorce. So you go to Tyrese.tv.

And if you order the limited edition version of the album, it's going to come signed with my autograph to you. And I need your love and your support because I'm doing this alone. I'm doing this solo. Like I feel like I'm in the 60s selling albums out of the trunk of my car. And I feel like I've created the most important piece of art I've ever created in my life. About my divorce, about me finding love again, about my mom. about all the vulnerabilities that we've talked about on this interview,

which I'm grateful that y'all have me on again. And I think this is going to be an album that's going to confuse everybody, because how do you release the most important album of your life, and yet I don't have a record deal, and yet I did it with David Foster? Where do they do that at? So, again, like the cat that threw up this morning, and I hope the cat is okay. I don't have a record deal,

but I got David Foster. So I win. You know what I'm saying? Like, we're in touch. Like, I might be doing dinner tonight with David, and he's just got back to L.A., like things is different. I don't think any of the rappers and singers,

little Taitay, little Ray-ray, will ever have David Foster in the same sentence as their album or their project. So that's something that I would love y'all support. Go to Tyrese.tv, and it's all done to Shopify. You can pre-order the album right now, and I'm dropping this double album on the same day that I'm dropping 1992, Friday, August 30th.

Wow. It's going to be a long, long Labor Day weekend. Well, Tyrese, thank you. It's been really awesome talking to. to you and we'll link to everything so that everyone can see the movie, hear the album. Thank you so much. Really awesome to get to talk to you. And thank you for all that you do. My honor and pleasure. Thank you for having me. I need an artificial intelligence system that is Tyrese explaining to me while any one of my

problems is either not really a big deal or actually is an answer to one of my prayers. Like the fact that your cat is not dead. It was an enormous revelation. It literally didn't even occur to me, to be grateful that, like, I have a cat who loves me and wants to be on the bed. I was just like, that's wet on my leg. We've gotten so used to, like, nothing breaks,

and my food is here anytime I want it. And if there's a problem, I just need to go on the Internet and it should be solved momentarily. Like, the friction in our world has been reduced so much that when we do hit natural occurrences, a pet getting sick, something happens, some unexpected thing. I think we've lost our ability to

have perspective about it or, you know, we have to work extra hard to put it in its right place. Well, one of the things that, you know, that Tyrese obviously uses as an anchor for that is God, you know, and is religion. But we've talked about, you know, meditation being that sort of anchor. That's one of the reasons that we talk about it. It's one of the reasons that we talk about it. it's one of the reasons that it's so strongly recommended. You know, mindfulness and really, you know, having a gratitude practice, right? Having a self-compassion practice. You know, these are forms of meditation that we encourage people to learn about because it is.

It's sort of trying to place all those positive chemicals, you know, in the stew that is you. So that in theory, you know, they're stimulating more release of those. chemicals as well. One of the things I certainly didn't expect was for him to have a Pomeranian. That was unexpected. And also, he seemed surprised that the dog was licking his lips. He's living in answered prayer. He has this adorable little dog who loves him. If you're only listening to the episode, it may be worth going to YouTube scrubbing to the end just for that moment. That dog is probably the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life. Well, and I think, like, if that's not the thumbnail for this episode, I don't know what is. Because there's something about, you know, he's, he's like this,

you know, big handsome guy and he's holding this tiny little dog that literally looks like a cotton ball with legs who's licking his lips. And it's, I mean, it's quite adorable. And he said this is my guardian angel. Also, it's definitely clear that that dog is the boss of that house. I'm sorry, Tyrese, you say that that dog shouldn't be licking you, but I think that dog, is absolutely in charge. Please check out 1992. Check out Tyrese's music at Tyrese.tv. Yeah, from our breakdown to the one we hope you never have.

We'll see you next time. It's my and Beallelix breakdown. She's going to break it down for you. She's got a neuroscience PhD or two. One fiction. And now she's going to break down. It's a breakdown. She's going to break it down.