Off The Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe - Molly Sims | From Runway to Real Life: Modeling, Motherhood & Skincare Moves!

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

#842. Supermodel, skincare founder, podcast host, and mom of three—Molly Sims does it all, and she’s on Off the Vine to share the real story behind it all.Molly takes us back to her college days and the unexpected start of her modeling career, from Vogue covers to Victoria’s Secret runways. She opens up about building YSE Beauty, the not-so-glamorous moments behind her success, and how she met her husband… outside a bathroom at the Golden Globes.Kaitlyn and Molly also dive into beauty routines, wellness trends, raising kids while running a business, and the importance of evolving with grace.Enjoy this episode—it’s honest, fun, and full of wisdom.If you’re LOVING this podcast, please follow and leave a rating and review below! PLUS, FOLLOW OUR PODCAST INSTAGRAM HERE!Thank you to our Sponsors! Check out these deals!Booking.com For the bookings you’ve dreamed of, list your property on Booking.com!Wayfair: Shop the best selection of home improvement online. That's WAYFAIR.com. Wayfair. Every style. Every home.Progressive: Visit Progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance.Koala : Upgrade your space with the most stylish, customizable and elevated sofa bed available. To get $100 off your new sofa, plus fast shipping, go to us.KOALA.com/VINE.EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: (11:10) – The harsh realities of modeling rejection(20:30) – Wearing the $30 million bikini for Sports Illustrated(29:37) – How YSE Beauty came to life!(46:55) – She met her husband outside a bathroom at the Golden Globes(51:40) – Her biggest “pinch me” moments in modeling and beyondSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Okay, listen up if you love a good slow burn romance, and let's be real, who doesn't? You need to check out the new Audible Original of Pride and Prejudice. It's an intimate performance that literally makes you feel like you're right there swooning with Lizzie Bennett and Mr. Darcy. Marisa Abella as Elizabeth and Harris Dickinson as Darcy, I'm obsessed. So whether it is your first time with Jane Austen or your 50th, this version is such a fresh, fun listen. Go to audible.ca slash Jane Austen to dive in. You're listening to Off the Vine with Caitlin Bristow.

Hey, Vino's, real quick, if you are listening right now, which obviously you are or you wouldn't be hearing this, can you hit the subscribe or follow button on whatever platform you're on? Please, that one simple thing helps more than you even realize it allows me to keep growing on this podcast and making these episodes the best they can. possibly be obviously for you. That's the only favorite I'm going to ever ask, okay? It truly means the world to me. Thank you. Now let's get into it. Hey everybody. Welcome to Off the Vine. I'm your host, Caitlin Bristow. I had such a lovely guest on today. She's a supermodel,

a girl next door. I just was like obsessed with her calm demeanor. I want to be friends with her. We're both Gemini's and she's done it all. She is a supermodel, a bestselling author, Walked the Victoria's Secret Show. She wore a $30 million Bikini on Sports Illustrated Runway. She has her own podcast. She is a producer. She is the founder of an award-winning

skincare brand called Wise Beauty, and she gave me a bag full of goodies that I'm so excited about. She's a mom of three. She's just got stories for days from modeling memories to meeting her husband, to being a mom, to her skincare.

Honestly, she's just a woman of many talents who wears many hats. and I just loved talking to her. I'm so excited to talk to you. You just have so many cool things. Like you've just done so many cool things. You just have this. I don't know if people tell you this all the time,

but I feel like you've got like this really easy aura and demeanor about you. Do people tell you that a lot? People do tell me that a lot. Yeah. You know, I can be quite calming. I'm really susceptible to people's energy. Like within like, you know, when you have a family, you kind of have to, doesn't mean that you don't, you know.

But when you have a family, just that energy that someone brings in does mean more to you, whether it's your friends, your family, your help, your work. But yeah, I try to be, I try to be calm within the storms. Have you always been that way? Well, I'm a Gemini. Me too. So I'm about to have a birthday. I'm May 25th in a couple of days.

Happy birthday. Thank you. You know, I'm very, I'm very passionate. Passionate and adaptable. Very. Yeah. You could put me on an island in the middle of nowhere, and I could probably figure it out.

Yeah. That's so, I love, I always gravitate to Canadians, because I'm Canadian, and Gemini's. My best friend is Canadian. Really? She's from Toronto. Oh, my gosh. I love that. Yeah, there's just something, I'm from Alberta.

Yeah. And then I moved to British Columbia, Vancouver, and then from there, I went on Bachelor, and then I moved to Nashville. But I just feel like I'm saying Gemini. And I went to Vanderbiltz, which is in Nashville. Yeah, oh, yeah. I knew that, which is so crazy for the reason you went to Vanderbilt and where you ended up, which I can't wait to talk to you about all of that because I just find your, your life is fascinating.

You have somehow- I'm like a cat that just like, I'm got like nine lives. Which is great. I'm like a cat that doesn't die. But you're, well, thank God. You also just like have, you're so humble. I don't know you, but I feel like I am the same way with people's energy and just like doing my research and knowing who you are. I feel like in a world where you've done like so much and including. all this modeling and everything that you've done, you've stayed very humble and grounded.

Yeah, which is amazing. So I just want to take it back before all of this, before skincare movies, best-selling books, the college at Vanderbilt that you were talking about, studying political science of all things. I wanted to be a lawyer. Did you actually want to, or was this like a family thing where they were like, you're going to be a lawyer? No, my mom and dad owned a wholesale book company. So no, I actually wanted to be a lawyer. I was president of my pre-law.

It's funny, Michelle Carlson, who's my best friend, and who's also now my legal counsel for WISE. She was the one who never wanted to be a lawyer. And, yeah, it didn't quite turn out that way. But, yeah, I always wanted to be, like, an defense attorney. What made you want to do that? I don't know. I mean, I'm always, like, you know, on dateline covering a trial.

I could be, like, the best defense. Like, I'm following the Karen Reed trial. I'm firing a ditty trial. I don't know. I've always wanted to, like, defend something. You know, I'm good that way. I can get in your corner and let's go. That's so interesting. I wonder, I always wonder if it goes back to, like, you know, birth chart stuff or all of those kinds of things because every one of my exes have told me that I should be in that world. Are you good at debating? Are you good at negotiating? You're good at not giving in. I, that is all things that I am very good at. I always just thought, I don't know why, but I just assumed you either grew up in New York

or L.A. I grew up in Kentucky. I know, but it's like when people ask me, oh, you're from Canada. Is it Toronto or Vancouver? It's like those are the only two places exist. Same thing for like people in your industry is like L.A. or New York. You grew up in Kentucky. What was your, what did like, what did Little Molly look like?

Little Molly. Little Molly was sporty. She was funny. She was engaged. She was kind. She was a little lost at times. I was born in Memphis, Tennessee. We moved to Mayfield, Kentucky.

I went to Murray, which is only a town over in between my seventh and eighth grade year, which was, you know, we've just had the fires, right? And so I was evacuated up until a few weeks ago, and a lot of my friends have lost their homes, and they've had to switch schools. They've lost pretty much everything. But I have to say moving during that time as hard as it was, because, you know, you kind of have to. have to start over. It did give me a resilience of like, okay, I can change. Pivot. I can pivot. Yeah. I can do it. And I think that has served me well. I think my mom was really, you know, amazing at, you know, you got this. Okay, it didn't work out. We move on. You know, one door closes, one, you know, one will open. She was very open and she very, she pushed me to get uncomfortable.

Wow. Yes. And with modeling, as you know, you get really uncomfortable. And so I went to Vanderbilt for a couple years, and then I went to New York on a whim. I had some pictures taken, and I was going to spend my junior year abroad, and I'm like, you know what? I wrote Vanderbilt. I still have the letter. I'm just going to take one semester off, and I went to Germany, and that was, you know,

about three semesters, almost a year, and then almost a year and a half. And then I went to London. Just for, like to travel, just to see the world? No, this was, I was going to. to try my my modeling career oh okay wait why germany because at the time you can't really start in new york so in the beginning of whenever you're a model you have a test book you don't have any tear sheets from vogue harpers mademoiselle what insta whatever it is so over in europe there's you know however many different countries different cities that you can have the possibility

of getting a tear sheet and a magazine and so that's how you make your book and so it Germany, it's a lot of amazing German catalogs. You can make a little bit of money. You can start to survive. You can start to put together your book. And that's really what I did. Wow. And then I moved to London. I was with Models 1, Karen, for a couple of years. And then I went, and then I did it. I went to Paris. Wow. It's so cool because I'm just thinking back onto what we were just saying earlier with, you know, adapting and your mom and how she would encourage change and being uncomfortable. I was just over this past weekend with Sports Illustrated, actually, I was interviewing the girls on stage for like a panel.

And it was supposed to be just like a really fun sink or swim, like hot or not kind of like flipping the board, but I wanted it to be deeper than that. So I was like, I'll make it fun, but I want it to lead to a different conversation. I'm sure it did. And it did. And I was so blown away by these women because growing up, my mom, and I know she's listening and I, she knows this and I love her so much, but it was very much because of what her dad put on to her, it was very much about how you looked and, like, that made you successful.

And I always grew up thinking I had to be a model to be successful. I had to be pretty. I had to be the best at this. And I always put so much pressure on my looks and appearance, and I couldn't follow any models. I couldn't look at, like, this is later in life because growing up, I would study what models look like and I would get you know like the body dysmorphia and all these things and it changed over the years but I had to I had to not follow models because it was so triggering for me and then being involved in Sports Illustrated I was like this is a beautiful empowering family of

all shape sizes and colors of women who now now we've come a long way well that's what I thank God that's what I mean like it was like at this time in my life to see what it has turned into, and to know that I probably wasn't alone in all of these feelings from before because of what magazines shoved down our throats and what I can't even imagine what it was like to be actually in that industry. But it's cool that you were taught to just embrace change. And I remember asking the panel of the models, I said, like, hot or not sink or swim, like reinventing yourself every few years. And I was so impressed with all their answers because it was all about that, like doing what you have to do to evolve as a woman every

few years going to Germany to, you know, build your resume and this to try and like, like the grind is so real and you have to be so resilient. And reinventing yourself isn't like to, but the grind weirdly, I mean, you know, by the time I went back to New York, I went back for Sports Illustrated to meet Diane Smith. And I thought I was on the cover of French vogue and I had made it. Yeah. You know, and I really wasn't an editorial girl. I was more of a catalog girl. But But I thought, okay, I've made it. And then I met Diane, and then I got it about six months later. And as you know, back then, I don't even know now.

They don't tell you if you made it. You can shoot. You can go on the island. You can do ever everything. Oh, you have no idea? You don't know if you actually are in the magazine until about two days before. Oh, so you like get the call and they're like, you did it. You're on the cover.

Or you're in it. Or you're in the magazine. But you might not be at all. Correct. You could shoot all of that. then not so what i mean the resilience part of growing up i mean you moved you had this family that helped you do this but how resilient do you get from the rejection in that world i mean it's there's not a lot you could say that i haven't heard i'm too fat i'm too skinny i'm too tall i'm not tall

about tall enough i'm too blonde i'm too dark i'm too muscular i got that a lot um i you know there's not a lot that you could say to me now that i haven't heard Wow. We know when I made the transition from modeling to hosting and then even to acting, I can remember, you know, I got a manager and I don't know, it was, she just said something. She's like, you know, they're going to give you feedback. And I'm like the casting director. I'm like, of course. Like, girl, I'm good, you know.

But it has definitely, like it's skin in the league. Yeah, I mean, listen, the body dysmorphia stuff, will that ever go away? I don't think so. I mean, I've gotten better with it, you know, I love my silas. know that there is a Taylor named Katie, standing by to make it smaller, bigger, you know, wider, thinner, whatever, longer. The hardest parts have helped me get through a lot of things. It's made me a great founder.

You can put me in a corner. You can, you know, I can pivot, I can bet on, I can go to Vegas, I can bet on black, I can bet on, I can, I can have a point of view. Like, I can, I can crush that in that way. because, you know, I've been so high and I've been so low and, you know, the resilience is kind of, you know, built up. Yeah. I mean, it could go one of two ways, I think, for people, you know. You can use that and channel it into being this powerhouse and saying, like, I can handle anything and learning and growing and surrendering to kind of that whole world. When you're building your toolbox, I think a lot of kids now, not sure they have all the tools to go in the toolbox. I don't think they don't have that's what. what our kids need today. They need not to be coddled, but to build the toolbox, to be able to

get through life, get through hard times, because sometimes it's going to suck. It's going to suck, right? And you're going to have to make a decision that you wished you wouldn't have made, and then you're going to have to come out of that, right? But sometimes a bad decision is a good decision. I always say, like, you know, God's rejection is, I wanted that so badly is, you know, God's protection, right? So I, yeah, the early days were hard, but there's still hard moments. Right. I met my husband later in life. I had kids later in life. I thought I was never going to get married. You know, so there's these, you know, hills and valleys. It's how you come in and out of them. Yeah, because it wouldn't be life without that. And if you're going to choose to, I used to be really

pity party. I used to, I feel like I was a little bit coddled as a child. I feel like I used, and then over, you know what it was, honestly, was I grew up as a dancer, so I got rejected all the time and I wasn't good enough and all of that. That's hard to count on something. It's hard to, but that also, later in life, you kill what you eat. Yeah, yeah, exactly. You were like, okay, I got to figure it out. Like when I would walk, take off my heels, I would put on my tennis shoes, and why I couldn't afford a black taxis in London. Are you kidding me? Like I'd have to walk two miles someone look at your book. Thank you. They wouldn't even look at me. They wouldn't even look, didn't really look at the book. Like all those things do add up though. They do add up to kind of

how did you not let it get a pity party? I had a pity party a lot. Well, yeah. But how did you not let it break you down every time instead build you up to like get the confidence to do it again? My mom and dad. They were great. She was really like, get up. Let's go. Yeah. You know, I had, I gotten broken up with in my early 30s, and I really thought I was going to get married, and, you know, he was the one. And I really, like, I had to speak to a therapist, and then she ended up dying.

And it was like, it was a little bit of a hard moment. And I remember my mom coming out, and she's like, you're either going to go in medicine or you have got to get help. Like, you've got to get out of it. Anyway, she lived with me for a couple of months, and, yeah, it was pretty bad pity party. I have a, everyone that listens, I knows the story about me, but same thing. Like, I thought I had found the one. I was so in love.

I got broken up with. It was the darkest time for me because it felt like, it felt worse to me than him dying. That's what the therapist said to me. Yeah. You're not invited to the party. He, he is, it is like he died. Yeah. Yeah.

And for me, it was. Yeah. He held such a big, now, whether it was right or wrong, it clearly. was wrong. It wasn't meant to be. And I would say that, oh, it's meant to me. That's just something you tell yourself. But yeah, it definitely, it definitely rocked me. It rocked that, you know, when your career is always, you never know, oh, you got it. Oh, you don't. Oh, she got, oh, you didn't. Like, you never can really rely on something. When your personal life tends to fall apart and then both are so, you know, you don't, you're just, you're like on a rocker.

Yeah. It can be difficult. It sounds like, though, you had such a supportive family, and that makes all the difference. It's like, even if it's not your blood, like the people that you surround yourself with that do humble you or that do push you forward and help you learn and grow, what, so I'm assuming your family was very supportive when you dropped out of college and decided to pursue modeling. I mean, she was like, you know, I'd worked really hard to get in to Vanderbilt, but she also, she just was very open. And she was, you know, and that's how I am, you know, Brooks is, you know, graduating from sixth grade. And he looked at me and I, and he goes, did you say I might not go to college? I go, I want you to do what you want to do.

Yeah. And he was like, okay. Like, you know, because he thinks, you know. But I, I don't know. I don't think there's one way. Yeah. I don't. I think there's a million different ways to slice the pie to cut the pie, to eat the pie.

Yeah. I do. I think you have to meet your child where they are. My mom met me where I was, and I think it was a beautiful thing because she trusted me, and she would always say, like, all right, you can go back next semester. And that's what she would always say. Like, okay, I'm like, I'm just going to take one more semester off. And I remember I found a postcard in my bedroom, and I'm just like, I think I can do this.

Yeah. Right. Wow. So the little Molly, you know, as much as she was a dreamer, she, you know, she was a worker. Yeah. you know and i think listen it takes work yeah oh my gosh people were always with my like i literally manifested like winning the mirror i had a picture of a mirror ball in on my mirror before i even knew i was going on dancing with the stars and i won dancing with the stars like i

knew i was so good oh thank you i knew it was a lot of work but it was so much work and people always asked me like, I remember I was speaking at some event and this woman asked me like, I have manifested like leaving my job and doing it. And I was like, it doesn't happen overnight. It takes, just because you manifest it doesn't mean you're not working your ass off to put yourself in a position to be able to do those things. It's not like you just write it down and then you wait. It's, you know, it's a lot of patience and a lot of hard work. A lot of patience, a lot of hard work and a lot of passion. It's also, you know, again, making your own luck, being at the right place, at the right time. It really is like, and looking back on everything, I'm like, oh, like if I, if that guy didn't break my heart, you know, I wouldn't be here.

And if I didn't get that no to all the dancing, I wouldn't have, like my, I'm living and I have to remind myself that a lot of times, I'm literally in the place that I always dreamt of. And although I'm not married and although I don't have kids and I want those things, I'm still. still, like, living out the dreams that I dreamt of. Yes. And that is so cool. And that is when things will come together. Yeah. Because I do think it's, it's, you know, I always say to my kids, dream big.

Yeah. Yeah. Like, dream, like, you can do anything. You can be anyone. And I think, you know what? Sometimes I think children are fed the lie of like, oh, well, you're just going to do this. Or you can just do that.

Or you're not really capable. Like, I don't know. I don't believe in that. I agree. I love that a lot. And you have, tell me your ages of your kids. So I have three kids. I have Gray, who's in second grade.

He's eight. I have Scar, Scarlet. She's 10. And Brooksie, he's 12, about to be 13. We're about to be in a tween. Oh, my gosh. Yes. He is.

They're, honestly, you know, they're crazy and they're animals. And I love them. But they are very, they're very good children. Yeah. They are very kind, considerate. And they work hard. Yeah. Yeah. Well, they come from you. So that makes a lot of sense. I have this written down because I'm like, I need to talk about this when you've covered Vogue. We talked about that a bit. But when you walked the Victoria's Secret fashion show and you wore the $30 million bikini. I didn't. Was it Victoria's See? I think I did the Sports Illustrated. I did the Sports Illustrated. I did the Sports Illustrated. I have it. When I did the Victoria Secrets and let me tell you something. Those wings are heavy, aren't they? Those wings are heavy. They're heavier. I can remember shaking.

going into my my fitting and I'm like wow these are and you're in heels and you know you're basically naked but yeah um yeah the wings are heavy no to self yeah but the 30 million dollar bikini that was that was interesting because you think you know we were in Vegas and you think and I had guards around me and I was like and then I'm like I they bring it out to me they're like so like I'm like can it be 90 million to cover more I'm like can we add some diamonds I actually got a little like I got a little like I don't know it's like real it's like I'm but you know they were so amazing dines to everybody MJ you know it's funny I talked to MJ about it we did the um I just met her she's wonderful she's incredible so we just

had our big anniversary yeah um where we went down to hard rock and it was just it was fun and to celebrate and see all these women's you know who've been with me over a lot of decades yeah But yes, the $30 million bikini was somewhat amazing and scary and just incredible all wrapped into one. Yeah, I mean, to have security following you because you're literally wearing $30 million. And I'm like, can we just add some? You're literally wearing like 30 people's dream houses on your body. I know. That's crazy.

What does the kind of work look like that goes into prepping for shows like that? Like, is it something that you're like that is – I just can't imagine the workout routines, the – I don't want to use the word diet, but it's probably what it was. It's like training as a ballerina or an athlete. I mean, you think, you know, you want to be fit. You want your skin to look good. You also want to feel good. So you can't, you know, yes, there are times when you want to, like, fast or there are times when you want to be really lean.

But a lot of protein, a lot of vegetables, not a lot of drinking, not a lot of, not a lot of soy sauce. But, yeah, you know, I mean, now it takes a lot more than it used to. but to get ready for things but you know it's crazy because I think a lot of people think oh those poor models they don't eat before but really you're like trying to get as much protein as you're working it really is a mindset of an athlete like I think that that models need more credit than that I think so yeah I think they don't realize how hard it is and how hard we work and they think I don't know I I you know my modeling days were some of my hardest

I mean, working at getting ready for Sports Illustrated, like I started at like nine months before. Wow. Right? I mean, again, it's, it's, you know, listen, I was extremely grateful for just even getting the opportunity. Of course. I grew up, you know, Fort's Illustrated, Vogue, like those moments. So, you know, I worked hard and I appreciated, you know, just giving the, you know, being given the chance. But it is hard work.

Yeah. It's stressful. And, you know, everybody's partying. everybody's going out and you're not you know you're trying to get in bed by nine you're trying to get up and work out because beauty sleep is a real thing girl it's a real tape castor oil packs check lip tape check red light check the one thing i did for i did do for myself when we were evacuated because we had to rip up everything and you know remedial we ended up remedying twice but we're so lucky i'm so grateful i would knock but it's going to make a noise but knock on wood that you know

we have our neighborhood and we're back. But I did put in a cold plunge and a sauna. Not a big one, very small. Yeah. But I'm excited. We just got it. And that was the one thing that I did consistently while modeling and acting was cold plunge. This was like 15 years ago. Intermittent fasting, sauna. I've always done that for a really long time, dry brushing. I mean, you look incredible. Well, Lord, I'm 51 years old. But you look. Like, you just, you also just have this young spirit, I feel like, but you're just glowing. You're constantly glowing. I feel like it's also the- Well, I do own a skincare company now.

That's true. I'm like, wink, wink. I honestly just got like turned on by this bag of goodies that we're going to talk about. I'll walk you through it later. Oh, my gosh. I just, that's what I would like to get into because I'm so passionate about skin care. That's why I wanted to come on. I'm like, Caitlin loves skincare.

I love it so much. And I'm like, I want to hear all. about, like, how you came up with it, why you came up with it, the ingredients that are in it, like, yeah, just building your brand. Yeah. What got you into this? Honestly, building wise, it's called Wise Beauty, Y, S-E. It's, it's, the company's called Wise.

It was named after my mom called Wisdom, you know, she was just so wise, like I told you. She was such an important part of your life. Amazing. You know, growing up, I had really good skin, but I had cystic acne, like, late 20s, early 30s. And 10 years later, I'd, you know, figured it out. Tetracycline, dicyclin, minocycline, I could say, and all the different things. I kind of figured it out. Yeah.

You know, and back in the early modeling days, it was really difficult because there wasn't, you know, you could just not, you know, erase something. It was just, it was by hand. It was retouched. It was complicated. Again, there was that added pressure of always having your skin clear. So I've always get stressed about it. But I figured it out. I got married.

I had my first baby. I think I turned 40 or 41, Brooks. And with that baby came a thyroid problem and really bad hyperpigmentation in the lasma. Elasma, yeah. Uneven skin tone. Just like something triggered. It was my late 30s, early 40s. And I really went on this roller coaster of trying to make my skin even, right?

But then being able to go in the sun. So I was on these really harsh actives. I would do hydroquinone. I would do lasers. I would do peels. And again, I got even. but then I was red. I was dry. I was irritated. I was thinning my skin. And that lasted a really long time. So in 2019, I'd done everything. I always said I went to Orion and he charged me

$10,000 for a fucking laser. Simon, man. That's Simon. I love him. But I'm like, I wish you would have told me that before we did the laser instead of going through the back door and gone through the front door, figured out the price and then done it. But again, you know, a great a great, a great surgeon, but it just didn't work for me. And what I found, that everything that was really harsh, really derm, really, you know, was good, but there was serious downtime and serious barrier havoc, like, all those women who were doing the microderm abrasion and just basically, you know, thinning their skin by every, you know, microdermeration, that laser that they did.

And then there was all these products that. were really cool and fun and beautiful but there was absolutely no efficacy yeah and then I just noticed that I was just in this cycle in 2019 my husband said I had a little dirt on my face and I would take this matte concealer and I'd try it like I was the queen of no makeup makeup yeah yeah until I wasn't and he was like you have a little dirt and I'm like I have got I've got to stop so I started with one product it's not on the market unfortunately anymore because it's not it wasn't great for you It's called Biologiq Research P50, 1970. Oh, I remember those.

Yeah. Yeah. Super, super strong. And then I had an IS clinical and a Glyton product. Then I would do skin food by Walita. And then I did a Karen Herzog product. I would have this kind of like 15 products. And after about six months, I was like, huh, my skin looks better.

And I wasn't dry. Yeah. And I wasn't peeling. and I wasn't read. Around that time, I was three babies in. I really didn't want to go back on the road. I really didn't want to go sit in a trailer. I wanted to act.

I wanted to be an actress, but I really, I'd written two books. I'm like, I wanted to do something and be a part of something from the inception. And I just, I didn't know what, but I wanted that I, vision board, like you, manifested it, I just, I just wanted something different. And I wanted to be with a certain manager. And I was with my manager for about 14 years. She's amazing. She's, her original office was around, but I wanted to do more brands. I didn't want to be just an actress. And Nicole King, who has this incredible company called Lyndon Entertainment. I'd known her, you know, we'd been friends all these years, not super, super close, but I'd known her. And, you know, I got up the

nerve to go and talk to her. And I thought, for sure, she's going to sign me. And it was right after COVID started. And she goes, listen, I think you're great. I think you have a lot of potential. I think you have a lot going on. I just think you don't know what you want to do. And she said, come back to me three months. And I want you to sit down and give me a five-year plan. I was like, what the? I was like, I don't know how much time. And I'm like, I don't think she's design me and so I don't know the next day I woke up and I'm like well what do I want to do and it made me take a really hard Caitlin a really hard look about who I was who was my audience what I wanted to do and I literally like about a week after that I met a woman named Kim cruisberger who has an

incredible company called pivot projects and she helps now people pivot and find their projects She helps actresses, celebrities, models. And she just left Goop. And she's like, you know, I'm going to consult. I want to start a company, like, helping people figure out what they want to do. I'm like, I'm your first girl. I'm your first patient. I'm your first guest.

And so she and a woman named Danielle Pergamon, who's an incredible writer, came over to my house for about two weeks. And they went through my entire life. At the very end of the two weeks, she was like, is there anything that's, like, white space? and I'm like, I love design. I just had built an incredible home, and I love real estate, but I never met a couch. I didn't like, but I'm like, I love to bake. I'm not a cook.

Like, we went through everything. I'm like, I guess I could go back on the road. But then she said, I go, hold on one second. I went upstairs, and I brought down probably 17 products at the time. And I go, I don't know, but for the past, like, 18 months, I've been doing this. And I know it sounds weird, but I know it sounds weird, but I, I haven't seen a derm, I haven't done a laser, I haven't done a peel. And, like, look at my skin.

It's, it's, like, good. Yeah. And I started doing my neighbor, Annie Belanger. I gave her a box. And my girlfriend, Robin, I go, I don't know what this is, but this works. Yeah. And she was like, okay, let me think about it. Came back with me, like, two weeks later.

And she was like, I want you to meet. I want you to meet these DM. And I was like, what's a CM? She was a contract manufacturer. I was like, okay. And that is how Wise started. Wow. It's a brightening line that, you know, when you have access, like you and I, you can go to the best.

You can go to the best surgeon, the best term, the best, you know, you have, you know, you're given PR. It's like more. That is not always better. Yeah. You know, again, there is a time and a place for surgery. There is a time and a place for whatever. I do Botox. Like, yeah.

But what I found. that consistency, that magic with really good actives that were balanced. That is why. So when I had that baby, what happened, whether you're 30, 35, that triggered that melanin. Yeah. And then it's hormonal. And so you're always going to be able to balance it with a not messing up your barrier. Because at 51 years old, I still have thick skin, but I exfoliate. I didn't realize that all these lasers and everything are thinning my skin. shitballs shitballs

I know I know I know I know that's how I started lipstick on the rim you know it was very strategic which is your podcast

which is my podcast on Sony and you can get it anywhere like Caitlin and what's been amazing is that I have learned so much through this podcast I get to meet

the Stephen Levine's of the world the best faces the you know actresses Derms, moms, like, you know, we answer a question, and it's not how I found this, how I built this, is we try to answer this one question. What are we going to take away from this hour?

And it's with my best friend, Emisha, Gormornelly, who has an addiction to fashion and beauty, which is phenomenal because it's R&D, all wrapped up in a one. But for three years, three full years before, two full years before we even launched, I had this podcast and that you know you know with wise has that's i think we we know we know our girl we know what works but for me it's the even skin tone it's these the the sun spots the the dark spots the big pores the fine lines and wrinkles the evenness the texture in mine was so it was so bad i like don't even believe you i know because your skin is so perfect you know i don't know about I don't see one four.

I would never have done, well, I'm very consistent. When you turn 30, and I think, listen, I think exfoliation has been, it's like a dirty word. It's given a bad name, but like when you turn 30, your cell turnover starts to slow down. So every 10 years you've got to exfoliate. How you exfoliate, you have to do it in a very balanced way. So if you're taking off layers like I was with something really, really strong, like Biolichik-Rish-P-50 that I could use two times a week, and I would burn when I would do it. That's why that skin food, that's why that paste, that cyclophate, I would put on to balance it.

Now, with your favorite X-pads, which are my very famous pads, that you can use every single day. It's the perfect amount of exfoliation. A lot of juice. There's a pocket you use it on your face, your neck, your deck, and the back of your hands. And it will just gently buff. You'll be like, why does my makeup look better? because you're kind of just gently buffing on. We have X-Gel.

So the X-Gel, your favorite X-Gel, came from my years of modeling because I'd have so much makeup on. It had sunscreen. I'd have makeup. I'd have everything, sweat. And I would do it like three or four times, like, a scrub. So the scrub is enzymatic.

So it's like, it gets it off in a very, like, easy way. Yeah. The pads are chemical. So you have chemical or you have, you know, enzymatic plant. extracts. You leave on your skin for about a minute and a half, two minutes, takes it all off gently. You're not red. And most importantly, you're not dry, red, and irritated. And then we do the morning cocktail, which is your vitamin C. How many times have you sat in a chair? I'd say, Caitlin, can you please remove all your skincare? Because I don't want it to peel.

Literally two days ago. Literally two days ago. That's so great. So we, if you're going to, if you want to be bright, if you want that glow, you've got to use vitamin C. I use, vitamin C, every day. Every day. So if you've got your vitamin C, stick with it. For me, I wanted one that was weightless, didn't smell like a hot dog. Why do they smell like hot dogs? Because they do.

And I didn't want something that was tacky, right? That I felt it. But most importantly, I didn't want it to peel. So I use that. And then I have a very famous product called Skin Glow, because if you use vitamin C, we use a triple stabilize, you have to use sunscreen. So I made Skin Glow, SPF30, and I made it because I did. have that cystic acne. I couldn't be like a grease ball. And there were amazing products on the

market already. But for me, I needed that adult glow. I needed that something that I didn't look too shiny. I mean, that's great when you're 20, but not after like 35. You're like, can't really look that shiny. Why are people saying that sunscreen is so bad? Why is there this like trend going around where people are saying sunscreen's bad? Have you seen that? I think certain ingredients of sunscreen are bad. I think, you know, there's mineral. There's pros and cons to mineral, but there's pros and cons to chemical. Yeah. And then at night, we do our last call, which is our gentle retinal, and people, you know,

again, I will get women say to me, listen, I'm good with retinal. I love my prescription. Retinal, retinae, retinoid. They're like, I'm getting used to it. And I'm like, well, how long have you been using it? Almost a year. I'm like, well, don't know if that's the best thing for your skin. You're taking layers of it off.

For a year. For a year. And then my ode to hydrochronone. is the problem solver. It's the gold tube. It got called by Harper's Bazaar as the magic eraser. I use it every single night. That is wise. And then we just have our eye patches because I'm a mom of three. I'm always on the go and I cannot, they always would slide off of me. And I love the gel ones. I do. But they're called the overachiever eye patches and they will not move. We just, we sold out the bandana patches in two days.

So we just launched the new bandana. Their mic bandana prints are super fun. Cool. And then we just launched lip tints, which they're back now, thank God. We just did our first. I've never been on an influencer trip, but we threw our first influencer trip, which was so cool. We had women in their 60s, 50s, 30s, 40s. It was so fun in Cabo, and we just celebrated two years.

And we are announcing a little home that mid-June, that we will be a part of on the shelf? I mean, you clearly know what you're talking about. It's like there's a lot of people that could slap their name on a skincare line and sell it. But it's one thing when you can sit here and speak to the ingredients. Oh, my God. Everybody needs actuarine. Everybody needs beta glucone lactone.

And I know that's like a really slippery word, but it is you need it in your skincare. You need certain squaline, licorice root. Like you need some active that are not too harsh and then you need some power. you need some heavy hitters yeah yeah so when you heavy hit you've got a plump you've got a you know you don't want to look older yeah as you will do you get thinner naturally yeah yeah it's like what the makeup you could wear in your 20s and now that you're you know in your late 30s yeah you can't wear the same makeup oh gosh no you can't do you know I used to in my 20s I would use my fingers and just put on Mac face and body we have to of course we all did it and I would sleep in it I know and I'm like how do

I have, and you know why? Because it's, it is important to use good skincare. Now, what do you think the biggest scam out there is when it comes to beauty skin? Like, listen, I'm a hero driven person. That's how I buy. That's how I think about movies. That's TV. You know, if this had a baby with this and it was this experience, like this is, this is how I develop product. Like, this is how I produce movies. I'm like, what is the experience? Like, the eye patches. There's a million amazing eye patches on the market. it. I just wanted ones that really brightened, had a little bad caffeine. I have dark circles. I'm a little bit plump in the morning. I don't know why. I wanted something that did not fall to my boobs.

And again, it's, you know, why we sold out of Wide Awake, I have this brightening eye cream because everybody was like, you need an eye cream. And then I'm like, you bitches, do you use an eye cream? And they were like, well, I want to use an eye cream. So instead of making it night, I used it during the day. So I put it on, and it acts a little bit like a concealer. It's got like these microspheres that kind of blur, but they kind of brighten. And it's, you're putting your skin can I put it on like two or three times a day. So to make this not look old. Like you walked in and I went, damn, her skin.

Well, I have, listen, I, again, I think, I think having a problem too and being so, so self-conscious when I had this, you know, I was that girl who, you know, I might have been heavy, but I had good skin. You know, I always led with my face. Like, I mean, my ass will always be bigger and like, you know, but I don't know. It definitely, it definitely took me down. Yeah. You know, with modeling, definitely, you know, I, you know, was very insecure. And I think I had the baby. I was overweight. I had an undiagnosed thyroid problem. And then, you know, my skin just, I don't know. I'm like, what the f*** happened to me? When your whole body goes through like the craziest ups and downs during like pregnancy, I don't know.

But like it's science. Your hormones, your thyroid, everything just is like, who. And I think the biggest retinal being one, but I think more doesn't always, like I've done less in the last five years and I did the first. It's weird. I think less is better. It's got to be balanced. You see these women who are constantly injecting and are constantly, you know, the CO2 laser. And yes, the CO2, we've grown a lot. Like, I'm getting better with it.

My friend has had a baby, CO2. But I just think it's a slippery slope, right? You know, I do believe in cutting. I do believe in a facelift. I do believe in Botox. I do believe in, you know, micro-nodling. And people, like, I believe in all of it. I think it's just, it's a time and a place in the downtime. Wise for us, it's skincare for women too busy for skincare. Tell me what to do and tell me how to do it.

And that's what my girl wants. She loves a tent. She wants to exfoliate. She wants to be bright and she wants to glow. There's something instant about my company, right? Like, you know, if you feel good, you look good, if you look good, you feel good. I don't care how great your skin is. I don't care how, you know, much you've worked out. If you don't feel good in your body, if you don't feel like, I don't know, a whole, like, girl, it doesn't matter. Like, it's, I agree. I mean, I feel that way about every hair, clothing. Like, same thing. It's just, it's losing your hair, neuterful is great.

Nutriful is amazing for that. Yeah. Monocidal. I've been on neutral for three years. It's so good. There's so many lars. Like, there's so many, I mean, you just, again, just try to do as much as you can. Yeah.

And you kind of figure out your system. And where can people get? all of your skin care products. Wise beauty, it's yscebeautcom. You spent two and a half years doing your research and development and what was it that you were so stubborn about about getting it right? I think the, I think of my formulas because I was a celebrity or someone in the business and I was so worried I would be judged. Oh, you're not a derm. Oh, you don't know what you're talking about. And so I spent a lot of time in PD and product development and I spent a lot of time with clinicals and I you know as much as those pads would burn my skin off something about it worked

and I took what worked and then I made it so someone could do it every single day yeah yeah but it takes a lot of time yeah we originally started the company 2021 and so it's really five years even though we just went to market only two years ago but it's uh yeah I think it's like you made it right you did it right I think it's like anything you got a someone said why they thought my my company was going to work and they're like because you're literally and complete another psychopath. I think you also have to believe in that. And I think, you know, there isn't just one way. Like a lot of people think, oh, I didn't know you had your babies late in life. I didn't know you met your friends late in life. I didn't know when I, you know, yeah, I mean, it did. It took a lot of work. I'm not going to

lie. I had to shift focus, shift gears and, you know, put myself out there, commit, stop running away to New York and like, you know. And you met your husband outside of like the bathroom, what was it, golden globes or something? Yeah, the sunset on sunset at Tower Bar. What is a beauty wellness trend that you're current loving and what is a trend that you wish would die already? Exfoliation. Yeah.

I think is a trend that's on its way back. I think it's been given a really, really bad name. A trend that I wish would never come back, microderm abrasion, just taking layers and layers with just like sandpaper on your face. Yeah. I hope that never comes back. Okay, that's so good to know. That's when you get all the hair off, though, too.

That's dermapaining. Oh. And dermapalining, again, that's, it can be a great thing. Okay. That is a type of exfoliation. I just think you have to be really careful, again, not to take too much off. Yeah. Because then you kind of trigger, I don't know.

You know, I've had it, I've done it like three times now. The first time it was amazing. The second time she went too deep. and it caused, I had to actually go on antibiotics. Oh my gosh. It caused peri-oil dermatitis. Oh, Lord have mercy. So you can trigger certain things.

It's like all these kids using skincare that shouldn't, they should not be using. They're like giving themselves acne. They're giving themselves. I know. I'm freaking out watching my niece, 16 or 17 now, doing all the skincare. And I'm like, and even 12-year-old girls doing skincare where I'm like, Scarlett has more. what do you do about what about i'm like i've steal from her yeah um she knows she knows what she knows

she's like can i and i'm like where i was trying to find my lip cloth my new lip tints and i only had like one i'd like one sample i was stressing and i had to go meet and i'm like scar and i find them all like she's just like a little a little drawer full of them a little drawer full she's like a spy coming in and just like taking them Of all the things you've done, writing a book, being a model, doing the skin care, what else have you did, movies acting, what is your, like, what was the most pinch me favorite moment in your whole career? The Sports Illustrated call, yeah, the French vogue call. The Las Vegas, I played Delinda for many years on NBC with Josh Demel and Jimmy Kahn and Vanessa Marcel. You know, it was so like, oh, you know, I didn't know.

they were like, oh, it's going to only be three episodes. And then right before they're like, it's all or nothing. I'm like, all or nothing, what are you talking about? They're like, oh, don't worry, it's only going to go a year. Right? So, again, but I look back and I think that was a pinched moment. It was a real growth moment. Yeah.

Getting cover girl. Yeah. Like, I can count them on my hands. Yeah. That's cool. Having babies. Yeah. Getting married.

But I have to say, you know, being a producer, even though, you know, I'm married to one. but taking something from an idea, whether it be wise beauty, whether it be a script, I got a script from my elementary school teacher that my kids go to school with her name is Julie Piva. She's an incredible writer. And Brooke Mahan said, you've got to read this script. I'm like, our kindergarten, our first grade teacher is a writer? Anyway, and to four years later starring, you know, Amy Schumer, Netflix just came out,

$60 million film like, wait, what one kind of pregnant? Oh my God, yes. Yes, that was, that was me. Oh, that is so cool. And then having the balls to send it to my husband's friends who said no, and then having the balls because I've been in a ton of happy Madison, Adam Saler movies, having the balls to send it to him. And he wrote back and he was like, I'm going to make this movie.

Yeah, it came out in February. It's on Netflix now. It's great. It was so fun. She's phenomenal. And then we just got Jennifer Lopez attached to the Last Mrs. Parish, which is a book I read about seven years ago about a woman wanting another, a thriller, about a woman wanting another woman's life.

And then we got Scott Robert Zemeckis attached to direct it for Netflix. He's castaway, Forrest Guy. He's amazing. I'm so excited. Yeah, yeah. You really do it all. Holy shit. I mean, we work hard.

While being a mom of three, you're my hero. I work hard. You are. You are my hero. That is, Adam Sandler has been like, like, he's the best. He and Jackie are, you know, he is happy Gilmore too coming out. Oh, I'm not. You don't know the excitement I have. You know, he's just, he's solid. He's professional. He's kind. He's giving my husband's worked with him for so many years as I, I've never met just a better human. Wow. That makes me so happy. I could. I could reenact every single one of his movies. I quote all of his movies. I'm, like, obsessed with him. I can't wait. Also, just thank you so much for taking the time to come on my podcast. I'm so happy.

I was so, you know, I've been kind of, I wanted to come home for the past year. And someone's, if you're ever in Nashville, I'm like, but I'm always going through Nashville. Yeah, I'm glad this worked out. And then my parents died, and then, you know, we had to sell the home. And then I lag a leave, like, outside of that. So it was, like, kind of sad. But I'm super happy to be here. Thank you so much.

You're welcome. and also tell everybody where they can find you on social. Molly B. Sims, S.I.M.S. with a B. Wise Beauty. We have lipstick on the rim, and I have a substack, weirdly, which is really good because it's kind of what I do, how I wear things, where I go. It's a little bit kind of a little bit more intimate kind of look into my life. But you have to come on our podcast. Oh, I would love to.

We want to know all your hot girl tricks. Oh, my gosh. You know, it's all about wellness and beauty. And we've got some great people on. Stephen Levine was one of our best episodes. We got Victoria Beckham. You had Michelle Pfeiffer. Michelle Pfeiffer.

I'm obsessed with Michelle Fiper. I'm interviewing Chrissy Brinkley tomorrow. Oh, cool. That's a good one. She has a new book out. Yeah, I saw that. And it's fun. It's fun getting, don't you feel like you get to go to school sometimes?

You get to be like, pick someone's brain. You're like, wait, I want to do that. Or I want to like, I didn't know about that. And I get skincare out of it. I love it. You have skincare for life. I looked in there and I was like, oh, hell yes. Oh, yeah.

You got your eye patches. You got your extremely. It's moisturizer. You'll love it. You'll love the line. It's very edited. It's fun. It's been a, I mean, I don't know if it's fun, but I don't know about it's the edit of it. But it's, it's been an adventure. Well, I'm so excited for you and just thank you so much for your time today.