Off The Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe - Shawn Johnson East: Athletes are human

Episode Date: November 16, 2021

Olympic gold medal gymnast, Shawn Johnson East, who last joined Kaitlyn (and Jason) on Off the Vine with her husband on a “double date” after baby #1, joins her again after baby #2! Shawn shares about the chaos of having two littles, what motherhood has taught her, how lucky she got with an “easy” second baby but how no one talks about how hard kids are on your relationship no matter how easy or good kids are. She and her husband have stayed true to their weekly date night ever since they became parents but it’s not all fun wining and dining as it’s often the only time they have together to “air out their dirty laundry” so they often leave dinner as exhausted parents in worse moods than when they arrived lol. Shawn reflects on her time as the world’s best gymnast (retired by 19), the pressures to perform the best and look a certain way and how all had a major negative effect on her mental health, for which there were zero resources provided and how she is struggling with the decision of whether she will put her kids in the sport or not. She discusses how proud she is of Simone Biles for speaking out and putting her mental health first after years of suffering without acknowledgment and after years of gymnasts being treated more like robots than humans. Things end on a lighter note with Kaitlyn and Shawn reflecting on their time on Dancing with the Stars! You can find Shawn on IG at @shawnjohnson CHINET - Chinet Brand makes premium disposable tableware for all of life’s gatherings. Visit mychinet.com to find out more. APARTMENTS.COM - Go to apartments.com. The most popular place to find a place. GEICO - Go to geico.com, get a quote, and see how much you could save. It’s GEICO-easy! MODERN FERTILITY - Go to modernfertility.com/offthevine for $20 off the test. And that means your test will cost $139 instead of the hundreds or thousands it could cost at a doctor’s office. RING - Go to ring.com/OTV to get a great deal on a Ring Alarm security kit today! STRAIGHT TALK - No contract. No compromise. OXICLEAN - Work your magic with Oxiclean White Revive! Visit myoxiclean.com for cleaning tips and tricks. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Hey, everybody, you're listening to Caitlin Bristow's podcast, Off the Vine. Take it away, Bree. Wine. Lots of wine. Hey, be on the mic. Turn it up. Let's go. Hey, ramen. Pino. Ready for the show. Everyone's welcome. So come on in because OTV, it's about to begin. Hey. Welcome to Off the Vine. I'm your host, Caitlin Bristow. She's back on the pod as a mama of two.

Sean Johnson East, who last joined Jason and I on a double date podcast episode with her husband, Andrew, when they had their first baby who was only three months old at the time. Well, she has since welcomed little baby boy to their family to make them a proud little them of four and she shares the highs and lows, the hilarious situations you get into with motherhood, how motherhood has changed her, how her and Andrew keep their relationship strong, but also shares that it's not all butterflies and daisies. We also chatted a little bit about her past experience on the USA Olympic gymnastics team and all of the other news that gained the media attention it deserved this year. Please enjoy my podcast with Sean.

gosh you look so nice thank you I'm like bringing out over light right now oh gosh no you look so cute and like I look like I just rolled out of bed because I did

oh your writing is amazing so you look flawless oh thank you I have a huge ring light you know what's funny is sometimes the dog will cross and like knock off the like the plug

and it'll come out and suddenly I'm like so exposed it's like oh god this is what I'm really look like yeah so funny okay well you look great i mean how does how does a mom of two with so much going on still have time to put on makeup and do her hair for my podcast um what do you have going on today i did my hair three days ago so this it was it a top knot that i somehow just threw it down haven't showered in probably a week and the makeup was like a four minute i hope

this looks fine. You look close. It's a very trashy look. So the answer is I don't have time. I just try to find a couple minutes. You have definitely pulled off the look. Like you know that's like some pro mom shit right there. Like you're like, no, this here is from a week ago.

This makeup took me four minutes. And yeah, you've made it work. You look great. You have two babies now. The last time I saw you, you just have little Drew. Actually, I knew you were pregnant before a lot of people because I came over to your house and you were like, I can't drink. And I was like, yeah. And you were engaged. Congratulations. So much has happened in the last year. It's

nuts. Thank you for saying that. I don't know if you have any wedding tips of planning advice, anything, I will take it all because we just, we just keep putting it off and putting it off and be like, what's going to happen with COVID? Like, where's the world going to be in a year? Or how do we even decide on a wedding planner to get the ball rolling? Like, it's been nuts. There's a lot. I would say a wedding planner changes the game. You don't have to think about a lot of things.

And there are so many things that are such an extra cost that I think are personally unnecessary. Like, I got rid of chair pads. Like, literally, pads that guy, like everybody would sit on. And I saved like $5,000. Stop. Yeah. Chair pad. I was like, no guest needs a pad.

They can be uncomfortable. I don't care. That's how I'm going to be. I feel like I'm going to be, like, cutthroat about what, like, I don't care about the linens. I don't care about, like, wait, what did many say? What kind of, what kind of chair pads are worth $5,000? None. How many people did you have at your wedding?

We had a lot. We had too many. Not too many because we loved everything. Of course. But my husband is one of five, like each of his parents are one of five. So, like, his family alone was like 200. we had like almost 400 people oh okay i thought it was going to be crazier than that i i'm invited to a wedding that's on november 13th well ben higgins who is the bachelor and i think they have like

500 people going to their wedding yeah well it's so it racks up so fast because you have 50 friends and that equals 100 because everybody makes it plus fun yeah and we were those people where we told some people they weren't allowed to bring a friend so that's fine yeah that's Hey, you've got to do it. It's your wedding, not, not anyone else's. So that's, and now, you know, married two babies. I know, like having one, you were saying I was going to test the relationship. How is it having two with the, you know, that's a lot. That's a big job. It's a lot. I actually think that's one of the things nobody tells you about. Like, we prepare you for postpartum and baby and like pregnancy, but nobody tells you that it's actually hard on your relationship. Babies are really hard on a relationship. And it's kind of scary because, like, you're sharing your spouse with someone. And someone told, like, explained it to me the best the other day. They said, when you have a baby, you no longer have to work through your fights with your husband. Because you can go get your cuddles and, like, your comfort from your baby.

Yeah. Yeah. They just be mad at him forever. You're like, I don't even care because I can go snuggle my babies and feel loved. Yeah. So which makes it really hard. And especially now with two, he's got someone and I have someone. So it just takes it.

a lot of work and, like, parenting styles. I don't know if you and Jason fight over your dogs at all and, like, how you raise them or take care of them, but Andrew and I fought over the dog. So we obviously fight over the baby. But wait, okay, well, I think, no, you're right. I do. We do have disagreements on dog stuff. Yeah.

Even just like, you know, if I have to be gone for a couple months, like that is now up to him to watch the dogs and he doesn't have an option. And so if he has to go somewhere, then we have to agree on. where they go and who takes care of them and like there's so much that goes into it so i can only imagine when they're two little humans that you've grown together and that the kind of um things you'd have to work through with children and a dog yep it's it's like a dog times a million i i was the crazy person that thought i wouldn't be able to love my babies as much as i love my dog okay good i'm just as crazy yep okay that was like that was a legitimate fear i have and

I can tell you, you do. And it changes. I still love my dog as my first fur baby and baby in my family. But like my babies are my babies. It does. It just like takes it up a notch when you disagree about like a discipline issue or like which in-laws are going to watch them or which babysitter. I mean, it's a whole thing.

I mean, it is a whole thing. And it's, I mean, two people who even if they get along so well and have the same values and same goals for your kids like it is impossible and I actually wanted to say this it's I have this written down way later in my notes but I'm going to bring it up now because it works with the conversation but somebody was like ask her how like what do they have to work on what struggles do they because on online everybody sees you is like a couple goals and everything seems so perfect and they said but what is what are your guys's challenges our challenge and we try to be like really open with this on like our podcast because I do my biggest

pet peeve is showing just perfection on social media because it's completely false. But I think my husband and I is like hardest struggle that we work on, especially after babies, is we get so disconnected, like so disconnected, especially now that we're like man on man, I feel like I never see my husband. And when I do see him, we're working. So we're coworkers, which makes this like really edgy with each other. And so it's always like, I always tell him I get really tired of feeling like mom and co-workers. and I feel like I get lost as wife.

Wow. I'll see him like hanging out with our employees and I'm like, oh, I wish I had that relationship with him. And I'm like, wait, that's my husband. What? And not like it's a weird one. I don't mean that way. But it's just we get very disconnected.

And it takes a while naturally after babies to kind of figure out how to get back in the rhythm of like being best friends and being husband and I think that's right. Yeah, because, well, I mean, you guys have so many different. platform. So I think some people just see Instagram, which is obviously highlight real for most people, but you have a podcast where you have another platform to talk about and be honest with, you know, struggles or things that are going on in your relationship. You have YouTube, you have like TikTok, you know, you've got so many different avenues to share your relationship. So sometimes people only, you know, see the Instagram and think, oh, it's so perfect. And I know you'd always talked about

implementing like date nights into your routine. Um, when you just had one day, you know, keep the relationship strong and healthy and not let it fall in the back burners for babies. But that's also really hard when you have these two little humans that you've got to keep alive and be parents and show up as parents that it's how do you find time to even implement a date night in there? So we still are doing date night. We still did it right after we had our son. I will say though it's been funny and annoying for both of us. We like will come home from our day night like test at each other because it's truly the only time we get to truly like talk and be together one on one.

And so it usually ends up like airing out dirty laundry from like the week before. And we're like, ah, I just wanted to come here and hang out and have a good time. I didn't want to like talk about this. Yeah. But it is like our time where we're slowly like working to get back to us. But that it is. We made that rule before we had our daughter that we were going to still do date nights, even if it was hard and even if we didn't want to.

But we have a babysitter every Thursday night to kind of. let us have that time well that do you guys usually just go to a restaurant or like what's your date night look like yeah we usually go to the same exact restaurant which is like a mile from our house and drink wine and have the same meal but it's just like routine it's just what we're yeah but that's that's kind of what life has to become is when you have kids and and and you're both working so much and together and you have to have a routine like even if that even if you schedule sex like that makes sense to me i never i never thought like i'd be one of those people but you actually have to become that person when you have kids otherwise you have kids wandering into your bedroom

you're like prepared it's just like oh shoot i forget like what what is this who are you yeah you really do have to schedule it yeah that makes sense to me i don't even have kids yet and that i was i think about that all the time and i think it's because i'm surrounded with all my friends have kids so like I've just heard it all I've heard everything from like scheduling sex to like you know not some people don't have the luxury of like going on a date night um like some of my girlfriends in Canada they're still on like lockdown in a COVID world over there and both working from home and having kids like it's such a hard time to do that but I love that you guys are still doing that every Thursday and that is tough though when I think about it because

you don't have time to even argue sometimes or disagree and things get buried. Things get buried that you need to air out and that might come out in a date night. But also, when else will it come out? So sometimes that is okay too. Well, and our like number one role within our relationship is transparency. So we don't believe in harboring, if there is anything that bothers you, you bring it up and you talk about it. Because we've seen what it's done to like people when you like truly are bottle coming up. And so, yeah, our date nights have become just venting sessions, which is great.

I feel right for like the waitresses that come over. I'm like, I'm sorry. We do love each other. We really do. That's so funny. Just bring our wine, okay? Yeah. Just feed us wine and our meal and we're going to be okay.

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Modern fertility.com slash off the vine. What is motherhood taught you that maybe you didn't expect? That everything is so small. Like every issue is so small. I remember before kids, I cared so much what people thought of me. I cared so much about like, mistakes I had made. I regretted so many things. I wanted to do life differently. And I was like, oh, I wish I was a different person. And there's just so many thoughts that consume you. And after you have a kid, you just realize, and I don't mean like this an offensive way to anybody, but you remember, you realize just like how selfish you can be. And with a kid,

there's no time for that. So you don't care what you look like going out in public. You don't care what clothes you're wearing if you got puke on you. You really don't care what your baby's think and how to be a good parent. And I also look back at, like, my past and everything that I've done, every stupid decision I made. And I'm like, I'm actually glad I did that because now I can teach my babies to be better. And it just gives a purpose to everything. That's so true.

And that's such a great perspective to look at life that way because who hasn't done stupid stuff? And who hasn't learned from doing that stupid stuff and then been able to process, okay, I don't want my kid making the same mistake that I did. How can I teach them to do better? That's truly what makes a good parent is someone who has made mistakes and gone through it all and wanted to learn from it. So I like that perspective.

That's really good. Between you and Andrew, who plays good cop and who plays bad cop? I don't know. I feel like we go back and forth. I would say probably Andrew, Andrew can enforce stuff easier. I become more of a sucker. And I'm like, oh, but we just don't need you right now. like we're in the middle of taking away our two-year-old's past the fire which is like a whole thing

and my husband's like oh just take it from her today and she'll be fine tomorrow and I'm like no she'll like cry she's sad so I say it's probably under he's just got tougher skin for that kind of stuff yeah I feel like I feel like Jason and I would be the exact same way I can see that dynamic is jet similar to Drew when she was a baby or are they completely different kids I feel like they're completely different he is like an old child I don't know how we got so lucky and really who would have been lucky with any child are you kidding right right of course he is an angel child he sleeps 12 hours at night he doesn't really cry he just smiles all the time drew is in love with him he's an angel child wow oh that's so does drew like

understand that she's a big sister she does and she has been obsessed with him up until like this week i don't know what i don't know what happened this week something something shifted. And she's like all of a sudden really jealous, which she hasn't shown jealousy since we brought him home. But this week, she's been like super, she'll be like, a dadda hold butter. And she'll like, take my hand and like, take me to another room. And she's like, I want mama. And I'm like, really? Yeah. It's so sweet. It's so sweet. Both of your kids are in diapers, right? Yeah. That's a lot. It is, but it also isn't. I only get how people are like, oh, 200 or two is so much.

But you're already in the baby phase, so it's really all we know. That's true. That is all you know. And I also say we're really lucky and I'm really lucky because my husband is so hands-on. I'm so hands-on that it really makes it just like we each have one full-time, which is great. Yeah, that's true. That's a good point. I feel like at this point, you were pretty much a household name for anyone who's ever been

into watching the Olympics, especially gymnastics, obviously. But for anyone who is unfamiliar with your story, can you give us a little recap on when you competed, what you achieved, and then when you kind of, I guess it's called retiring. Yeah. So I started when I was three. I was a psycho child that thought I could fly. I made and had a lot of stitches and stables because of it. I made the USA national team when I was 12. Wow.

The USA Olympic team at 16. I won four Olympic medals. bad that I can't remember. Three were silver and one was gold. That was in 2008 in Beijing, China. I tried to go again and make the 2012 team. I got injured right before, just kind of lost heart for the sport and retired in 2012 at 19.

Wow. That is so crazy. Okay. So athletes live very disciplined lifestyles. Like, how was that being 12 years old? I mean, you'd obviously trained until you were 12, but to go into the Olympics. Like, were you a very disciplined person, or did you have to learn that from being an athlete? I am very type A, so I think part of it is already just wired that way.

Yeah. And then two, I, it's really hard to articulate, but I feel like it's also easier for kids because as a kid, you're so naive to so much. Your brain isn't filled with all the unnecessary stuff that we think about. worry about as adults. Yeah. So for me, my passion at that age was gymnastics. And I truly just loved it more than anything in the world.

Mm-hmm. So you could call it discipline, but it was also just a kid that was obsessed with something. Yeah. Yeah. I guess you'd have to be, in order to fully immerse yourself in that lifestyle, you kind of have to be obsessed with it and enjoy it that much as well to want to do it to that level.

Yeah. And I don't know if it's anything like, like I grew up obviously dancing, not on any kind of Olympic level but it was still like this very like routine like hard work hard on the body and also your your body has to be built in certain ways for me growing up in the ballet world it was like if somebody told you you look healthy they were calling you fat like you were like no I need to be a certain weight was that tough as a gymnast to feel like you needed to have a certain amount of muscle while still going through puberty and, you know, comparing yourself to other gymnasts and women and people of your age?

We could talk about this for the next century. Yeah. Yes. That's something I struggled with a lot. I'm very passionate about. I went to college and learned physiology and nutrition because I got so messed up from it in psychology because I was at such an elite level, and I don't mean that in a bragging manner, but with the elite level comes such pressure.

yes and so much stuff has come out about gymnastics and just elite athletics that is very unhealthy that I think it's changed so this is all good stuff but for me being at such an elite level there were no resources for us when it came to psychology and nutrition and all I knew at that time where the sport was was judges favored very very thin ballet like style gymnasts and I was a type of gymnasts that really hadn't been a part of the gymnastics world yet. I was very muscular. I was very strong. I was very powerful.

And I did not have that ballet look. And I was told it very often. And I was just like reminded on a daily basis that the more I could look like a nausea lukin, the better I'll perform. And at that age, because I didn't have anybody to really teach me and guide me and how to do that properly or tell me like, honey, your body's not. made for that. I took every measure you could possibly imagine to try to look like that. I started myself. I worked out way too much. I would go sit in the sauna for an hour after I worked out for

six hours. And I just did all of these things. And it did. It was, it was just a, it was something I struggled with for a long time because I then became a normal human after I retired. And I had that same mindset. And it took me, I mean, I obviously still struggle with it. You have lingering side effects of that, I think. But I worked with therapists and nutritionists for almost 10 years before I felt like I could truly walk around everyday life and not be consumed by it, which is crazy. Wow. That's actually really fascinating and I'm really proud of you for obviously taking those steps to do that because a lot of people would just bury that or continue or not like to continue to continue to work on yourself for that many years is like probably the most important thing you

ever did in your life until having kids but to invest in yourself like that and like not even just like go to therapy but understand nutrition and how the body works in order to have a whole other perspective on what your body should do and can do and will do compared to what it looks like is really cool that you did that and that it you know some people are like struggling right now in probably listening in their bodies and think like 10 years to work on yourself that seems like such a long time, but really you should work on yourself every year for the rest of time and in feeling like you have a healthy mindset about your body and who you are and what you look like. And it's also tricky because does it bother you or because I know you guys are so you

tease each other about how short you are and how tall Andrew is and you do funny TikToks. Does it bother you at all that that's like become something that you kind of have to just point out anyways for yourselves. Otherwise everyone else will do it for you. Yes. knows like every boundary that I have. He knows basically that I can wave the white flag at any point given like my past. And he's very, very respectful of that. There are times just when I have a weaker day where he'll take a picture or I'll take a picture and he'll post it. And I'll be like, babe, I just, there's something about it that I don't like. And I know you love it. I know you love how I like everything. But it's making me feel a certain way. Can we just take it down?

So we definitely have boundary around that, but I love, that's one of my favorite things about my husband is he truly makes me feel love for who I am and not what I look like or, you know, titles or anything. Yeah. And I think when he and I like poke fun on each other, it's a form of how we love each other. Yeah. And it almost makes me feel more confident if that makes sense. Yeah, because you're like, I know I am loved. First of all, you've worked on loving your. yourself, which is the most important. And then you also know that you are loved from your husband.

I totally get what you're saying. I feel like the more transparent or open you are about your own struggles or insecurities or certain things that people are going to point out, the more you own it. Yeah. Well, there's like a sense of pride in myself when I'm able to like joke about myself. Yeah. Because in the back of my head, I'm like, ooh, I could never do that before. and I actually mean it and I'm like I really get proud which it sounds it sounds crazy but I know that that sounds actually kind of beautiful like that that just shows your growth of like working on yourself you know like that's that there's there's some points I'll have in my life where I look back and I'll be like that used to if that was me five years ago I would have

gone into a spiral I would have not been okay and the fact that I'm not only just like letting it go but maybe even laughing at it or owning it. just shows your own self-growth, which is the coolest thing in the world. Yes, I agree. And that must change your whole mind on how you're going to raise a daughter too. Like, you know, like in the world that we live in, I think our generation of women are going to raise such strong, independent women, which is really cool to think about. I think so, too.

It's one of the things that I'm most scared about in having a girl, but also most excited about. Yeah. I see in her the potential for everything that I went through. And so I'm hyper-focused and, like, hyper-aware of all of that. And so from little, like, we do, like, these little costume try-ons where I'm like, oh, you need to go look in the mirror. You look so beautiful. Or, like, but it's with every different possible, like, even when she wakes up in the morning.

I'm like, you are so beautiful. And you'll have, like, the craziest hair you could ever imagine. And she'll even say it. And, like, it's so beautiful. And I just, yeah, I will spend in my life making sure she is as strong as possible. I love that. And I have full confidence that you will do that. All right.

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I have no idea. I am a, there's so many thoughts behind it. I love gymnastics. I think it's an amazing sport for kids because it teaches so much confidence and body awareness and just like agility. It's just, it's amazing. However, the only thing I worry about with gymnastics is gymnastics is a very small sport in our country. I mean, it might seem big, but I could basically tell you every major.

gymnastics gym in the country and I know every coach personally right if I truly don't believe there's any unbiased gym that I could ever take them to yeah I don't think they could ever go to a gym and not be an Olympic gold medalist kid and have such expectation put on them and I don't think that's fair

they should be absolutely miserable at gymnastics and be celebrated for it and I don't I don't think anywhere in the country would allow them to that's such a good point it is I mean I don't know much about the sport, but I do feel like there's just so, I mean, there's so much to think about as a parent with any sport you put your kids in or, you know, especially that you've been, you lived, eat, sleep, breathe, like that's, that was your life. So obviously you're going to know so much more about it. But, and I feel like, you know, of course, this is still probably a bit of a

sensitive situation, but everything that's come out in the world of gymnastics and the sexual abuse case and everything like that, like what went through your mind when Simone removed herself from the Olympics for mental health reasons because that was so controversial and I was like I mean we wanted to have you on during the Olympics but you were on baby leaves so what were your thoughts during that because I'm sure you've seen or heard so many things through your life of living gymnastics um I was really I was really one sad for her because it was for Olympics I mean she could have fell a million times on every event and still been the best in the world she is by far the greatest gymnastic we'll ever see in the history of our sport wow truly

i don't think she'll be touched but what i loved about what she did is gymnastics for so long even when i was in it i was a very lucky one i larry nassar was my um doctor for 20 years but i was very lucky i was he we were just i was a lucky one yeah i had an incredible coach i was surrounded by incredible people. I truly had a good experience that way, but still within my experience, I learned firsthand that within that USA Gymnastics world, our priorities and our health and our mindset, everything never matter. It was always the least important thing. It was basically if you performed the best and you did good for them, you got praised. If anything jeopardized that, you were just gone. Wow. And something I loved, loved, loved.

seeing with Simone and what she did is she actually showed that she was in control and she was she was experiencing something where she felt out of control but yet she was able to make a choice for herself that protected herself and not to be dramatic but I really don't think any gymnast for a very very long time has had that luxury or ability and wow it was almost like a freedom. She was able to very blatantly express for every girl to come in that sport. I was really proud of her. Yeah, that's powerful. I mean, if you really think about it from that way, that was, I like how you just expect, that's powerful because like you said, in a world where she's felt like everybody's probably controlling her what she thinks, what she does, how she does it, everything for her

to feel like she could stand in her own power and say this is my decision a lot of people aren't going to agree with it a lot of people are going to like be upset with me for it but i'm doing this for myself to almost prove to herself that yeah she does have the power and she is in control of her mind and body and still will be celebrated and so many people did celebrate her for doing that and yeah and it was so courageous and and even especially knowing you know so many people would say you're an athlete, suck it up. Yeah. Oh, no. Yes. So many people, but nobody really knows what she has been through or how powerful that was for herself to do that. Well, and I think in time we'll learn to look at,

again, like you said, there are so many people who are against that and saying you are an athlete, you're made for this, you're selected by a team, you should have, whatever. But I think in time, those people will look back and say, athletes are humans. And she actually showed that for the first time in a very long time. Yeah. And they'll respect her for the courageous decision she made to let someone step up and do the job. Yeah, absolutely. That was really well said.

Okay, you were in L.A. recently. Yes. Filming something. Are we allowed to know what you're filming? I think so. It was really fun and you have to do it. What is it? It's a new game show coming to the United States.

Oh, fun. It's from the UK. It's called The Wheel. Okay. What do you do? It was so cool. Okay. It is very complicated, but really fun.

There are six celebrities that sit in chairs, and they're basically on a wheel. It's like Wheel of Fortune meets Jeopardy. Yeah. And you actually, like, help a contestant, like, win money by answering trivia questions. Oh, cool. But, like, they spin the wheel of celebrities and whoever it lands. on gets to actually like help the person try to figure out what the trivia question is. Wait, I live for Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.

Yes. And the fact that it's combined, I mean, I would have to be on like Kids Week because those are the only Jeopardy questions I ever get right. But like random categories too. It was so much fun. It was really cool. Oh my gosh. Did you feel so much pressure though to like win money for your person?

Yes. And not just like, this might be a spoiler. but one of the categories that I had to like help with was gymnastics and I was supposed to be like the expert in it and I didn't know the I didn't know it I didn't know the answer I was like I need to be fired and kicked off this debt right now I was like I had this part out yeah that's so funny oh that's see that's the one I would feel the most pressure is when you're supposed to know something yeah and you don't you're like oh my gosh yeah I was mortified but that's a fun did Andrew do you it with you or was it just you it was just me he let me we took like a couple trip it was our first trip away from the babies both of that yeah so we did like a three-day trip and got to see friends and kind of oh that's fine that's that's awesome that's a nice little date weekend then for you guys yeah not just a date at night um are you watching dancing with the stars I am oh my gosh okay so many questions first how devastated were you when sporty spice got sent home I

Yeah. I feel like every season there's always like some dramatic vote off that doesn't make any sense. And that was her for sure. That was her. I felt the same way. I was like, wait, wait, wait. She was in like my top three and I wanted her to win. I was so devastated. Okay, who do you think is going to win this season? Georgia Siwa. You do? I do. Yeah. Okay, Georgia Siwa. Yeah, that would be obviously an incredible story. I was wondering, I'm like, okay, so they have two females dancing together. Cody Rigsby is gay. Why didn't they have two males dancing together? Yeah, I feel like hopefully going to be a new option given to the celebrities, like, do you want to dance with same sex? Do you want to dance with opposite? Oh, that's a good idea. Maybe they just finally opened up a door that now could be a thing in the, in the, that's a good point. Yeah. Because you were on, you won dancing with the stars. We have that in common. Yeah, yes, a mirrorball. You want, you are a mirrorball champion. Also, you were on the all-star season. Didn't you come in second on that? I did.

to Melissa Rycroft. Yes, to Melissa, former bachelor contestant. That is so wild. Okay, so because I think about my experience on Dancing with the Stars doing it once, how did you mentally prepare yourself to go back and do it again the second time? Oh, it was.

I think it was so much more fun the second time. Oh, really? I was in a completely different phase of life. So the first time was right after the Olympics. I was an infant. I had never danced with a boy. I had never, like, had a boyfriend. I had never done anything outside of gymnastics.

And I felt so just out of my comfort zone. Yes. And you're with Derek Kuff, right? The first time I was with Mark Valles. Oh, right, right, right. Yes. And he was amazing. He was a perfect partner for me when I was that age.

He was like a big brother. He held my hand the whole time and kind of like comforted me through it. Yeah. And it was amazing. But I think the second time I was just more comfortable in my skin. I had kind of gone through all my therapy or started. And I was just in a better place. And I was then partner with Derek, who was very intense, but also like a brother. And I was able to truly just enjoy it more and see it more of a competition. And I think since it was all-star,

everybody who came back had the same mindset. Yeah. You're like more competitive, but also more supportive of each other. It was just fun. It was a really fun experience. That's what is your most memorable behind the scenes Dancing with the Stars moment. I feel like, I don't know if this was the same experience as you, but behind the scenes is like a whole new show that needs to be its own thing

sometime. A thousand percent. Yes. So all the people showing up maybe naked and doing pranks on each other and I'll say this the second time around because I was like legally of age, it would never happen the first time around from me. Yeah. Yeah. But all

like the pranks and it's truly just a family. And they're just buffoons, all of them. And it was just so much fun. They really are. It could be a whole other show, the behind the scenes are dancing with the stars. Like everyone has like funny personalities, big personalities. It's also, it goes from like being like, like you feel like family, you're pulling pranks, but then like you also want to like punch each other in the face and it's so intense.

And you're like get into this relationship where you're almost like, like there's no romantic connection but you're almost dating like you're spending all this time with this person and you're fighting and you're getting along and ups and downs and challenges and everything it's so wild i remember with both mark and derrick there were times where i wanted to strangle them i was just like get it together you're supposed to be the coach and i'm the coach what are you doing you're the one like disciplining them that's so funny imagine they did another all if they did another all-star season and asked you to come back would you do it oh a thousand percent I think that would be awesome.

Okay, let's put it out into the universe. I'm into that. Okay, some vinyl questions from listeners. This person wants to remain anonymous. So they want to know advice for athletes struggling with their body. Oh, if you're an athlete, stop worrying about your body. There's no reason. Your body is your, it's your weapon.

It's your tool. So one, take away of the emotional science. to it and just say how can I make my body and my tool performance best and then two get help and I don't mean that in like a dramatic way like therapy but nutritionist psychologists sport psychologists coaches anybody who knows your like sport um better than you do is who you want to ask for help because they can they can help you kind of navigate that as best as you can yeah that's it's always i think it's important in life and like everything you do to have somebody that feels like a Yes.

Yeah. Jackie Farm O4 asks, do you think you would have met Andrew had it not been for his brother? Okay, so this is a whole crazy coincidental. I don't think I would have met Andrew had I not retired from gymnastics.

Really? Yeah, it was retiring from gymnastics was this whole big thing where I had so many people pressuring me and saying, just finish it, just go to the Olympics, just muscle through whatever. Yeah.

That was a big, like, stand-up moment for myself where I had to tell everybody now. Ended up going to the 2012 Olympics to watch instead of compete where I went and watched a USA cycling event. And I met Guy East. And I got to talking to him. And he was like, you know what? You need to meet my younger brother.

So I think, I truly think it was just all I hate to say meant to be. But yeah, yeah, things are meant to be. That's, I totally believe. even that my trishi asks why are they remodeling another house so we did uh we we remodeled a content house for like shooting any content and podcasts and like anything in Nashville one it was like a really fun project that we've wanted to do we wanted to remodel a house and sell it just for the heck of it and then we kind of got attached to it throughout the process and we're like we should maybe keep this and we have so many friends that are like influencers

and we want to host events and stuff that it just kind of became something that just like a passion project yeah oh that's cool that's fun wait do you already told it though no we still on it we're going to keep it oh cool on it oh cool on it it's just like it's like this little house that we have and we rented out to like podcasters and like influencers and if they that's so good to know yeah if you ever need a space i do sometimes okay good i will call you out but it's It's almost there. That's a good idea. Okay, Lexi Schaefer and also fellow Iowans asked,

what does she miss about Des Moines, Iowa? Oh, a lot. I feel like I was a different person when I lived in Des Moines, just because I've been here 12 years already. Right. But I just miss the people, and it's just where I grew up. It's every memory that I had up until I was, you know, 18 years old. Yeah.

Yeah, I just missed my hometown. I miss the people. I've been, I've been there, you know. Yeah, you've been to Des Moines? We went there on the Bachelor, on the season of the Bachelor that I was on. Yeah, with Chris Souls. Yeah. You didn't go to Des Moines, though, did you?

Yeah, we did. Why, doesn't he live in like a small? I mean, you could go there, but you were like, there's nowhere to stay or anything to do. No, but we went to Des Moines and another D word. Davenport? no why you've been davenport Des Moines and oh shoot I can't remember

I went to a hockey rink and I had a skating date oh fun yeah I feel like this was a lifetime ago but Megan Chill asks what has podcasting taught you about yourself well I mean our podcast is all about couples

and all the stuff that they go through and I think if it's just taught me anything it's just taught me how every single relationship in the world is different and I love that because the world tries to tell you that relationships won't work unless they're done a certain way and we've just been proven over and over and over again that you can make it through literally anything and you can do it your way and that works and I think it's beautiful that is that's I like that too for people who don't know your podcast I'm sure

they do but where it's called couple things is that the sign behind you yeah I've we've been on it It was really fun. Yeah, I didn't even know that. No, Brett. I usually have an off the vine sign right here. It's in my Jeep right now from doing interviews. No, it's, you should be promoting that. I didn't even know that.

No, it's good. It's smart. You're a businesswoman, even when you're not even realizing you are. But is that what? So if people want to tune in, do you think a lot of couples could take things away from that podcast? Yeah. We've actually, we've interviewed a ton of couples, a lot.

a lot of celebrity couples. We've interviewed, like, marriage therapist, counselors. We've interviewed people who have gotten divorced, who have adopted kids, who are in just like every situation and scenario you can imagine. We pretty much covered the basis. So what do you think it is that makes you and Andrew work? I would say that we both don't have another option. And I don't mean that in like a bad way, but.

no i know we chose when we chose to go married um we chose to yeah to get married to get married why can i not form a sentence um we chose that day that no matter what we would make it work and even in our nastiest fights we're like you know what there's only one way out of this which is to figure it out and i think it's just that's what makes it work is we're both working for it yeah you're committed. I like that answer. Okay. Confession time. Yes. What do you need to get off your chest? What do you need to tell me that's embarrassing that we can all just like come together and support you on? There have been multiple like, I call them pooplosions that I've conveniently not been around for.

I was around for them. Actually, the other night, my husband and I were asleep, and since it's now like male-on-man, wait, he took a baby monitor. Yeah. I hope he can't hear it. I see something the other. But in the middle, he keeps his baby monitor down really low. Yeah.

Our daughter had started to, like, wake up, and she, it seemed like she was on the track to, like, needing soothes, which means to go upstairs and, like, take care of her. And that was his monitor. And he sleeps like a rock. yeah through anything and i acted i quickly woke up and i turned his monitor all the way up and like put it next to his pillow and then i like ran and got back in bed and acted like i was asleep and i like woke up a couple minutes later and he was pissed because he's like because it woke him up and everything but it's very sneaky but i like it yeah you got to get

creative when you're apparent on how to get sleep like you have to find even if it's like an extra five minutes. You're like, how do I achieve this? Oh, 100%. Like, what's an ideal night of sleep for you? How many hours would you be like, I got a good sleep? I mean, I cannot complain. Both my baby's sleep amazing. I was very blessed. But I would say like a solid eight hours would be great. I, on average, get probably six or seven, which is great. Yeah, that is great. Yeah. That's, I mean, that sounds ideal, actually. Yeah. Okay. I have. one last little game for you. It's called gold, silver, or bronze. And it's really easy. You just have to tell me out of the three things I give to you, what gets gold, silver, or bronze. Okay.

Pancakes, waffles, or French toast. Oh, shoot. Yeah. This is my language. This is like my language right there, all three of those. Yeah, I hear you. Fun fact. I ate pancakes every day for breakfast for like the first 12 years of my life. Oh, I did that with waffles. Every single day, every morning my mom would have waffles ready before school. Yes, mine was pancakes. I would say, okay, gold medal goes to, I'd say maybe like French toast, waffles, pancakes.

Just because it's like more staple in my life, the french toast and the waffles are more than luxury, yeah. Yeah, luxury. Okay, that's good. Okay, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter. Twitter by far is in Bronx. Yeah. Not a tweeter.

I go down a black hole on TikTok, so that's probably gold. And then Instagram is silver. Good answer. Good answer. Kevin Jonas, Nick Jonas, Joe Jonas. Well, one of them I always forget about. Is it Kevin? Probably.

Yeah. Probably. I think he's wrong. I mean, he's still on the podium. Yeah. Nick, gold, and Joe is silver. Okay. Okay.

Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Oh, Thanksgiving definitely is gold. Okay. I love Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving. I love Christmas, Halloween. But I love Halloween now that I've kids. It's so much fun.

Well, I forget loved catching up with you, and I love that we're, like, in the same city, but in different houses, podcasting right now. But, I mean, you're a busy woman. You've got it all going on. let everyone know where they can find you, your podcast, everything that you've got going on. A couple things on any platform that streams podcasts. YouTube, we are the East family. Yeah, it's so fun. Social media, I'm Sean Johnson across the board.

Yeah. You guys TikToks and like everything. I don't know how you even have time to be that creative. Like, I mean, I guess that's part of your job. But it is, you guys are so fun to watch as a couple and as a family. And I'm just so happy for you. And you're just so lovely. Thank you. It's good to catch up. And congratulations. If you want any other ways to cut money from a wedding, let me know.

I'm going to be hyper aware of the chair pads now. Yes. That's awesome. Thank you so much, Sean. Of course. Thank you. I'm Caitlin Bristow. I'll see you next Tuesday. Thanks for listening to Off the Vine with Caitlin Bristow. Get new episodes every Tuesday exclusively on podcast 1.com. Podcast One app, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts. Alrighty, I'm no magician over here, but lately I've been feeling like one when I do my laundry because I've been using OxyClean White Revi, Laundry Whitener, and Stain Remover, and let me tell you, it really does work like magic. I've just been organizing my closet for fall and winter because I know the colder weather

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