The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - Almost Famous OG: It’s Gonna Be a Great Day with Kathy Swarts

Episode Date: September 7, 2024

Our Bachelor Nation OG Bob Guiney is hanging out with one of the breakout stars from The Golden Bachelor, Kathy Swarts!  There’s no “zipping it” going on here! Bob and Kathy get into all things about marriage, parenting, and why you can’t turn a red flag into a white flag!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious. Wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit. Well, Dakota, luckily, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend's been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone.

Hold up. Isn't that against school policy? That seems inappropriate. Maybe find out how it ends by listening to the OK Storytime podcast and the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Culture eats strategy for breakfast, right? On a recent episode of Culture Raises Us, I was joined by Valicia Butterfield, media founder, political strategist, and tech powerhouse for a powerful conversation on storytelling, impact, and the intersections of culture and leadership. I am a free black woman. From the Obama White House to Google to the Grammys, Valicia's journey is a masterclass. and shifting culture and using your voice to spark change. Listen to Culture raises us on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. The U.S. Open is here, and on my podcast, Good Game with Sarah Spain. I'm breaking down the players, the predictions, the pressure, and of course, the honey deuses, the signature cocktail of the U.S. Open. The U.S. Open has gotten to be a very wonderfully experiential sporting event. To hear this and more, listen to Good Game with Sarah Spain, and I Heart Women's Sports Production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Novartis, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports Network. Hi, my name is Enya Umanzor. And I'm Drew Phillips. And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom. If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes,

we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD... Oh my God, perfect. And want to hear people with mental illness, psychobabble. Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your free IHeartRadio app. Search Emergency Intercom and listen now.

Why are TSA rules so confusing? You got a hood of you. I'll take it all. I'm Mani. I'm Noah. This is Devin. And we're best friends and journalists with a new podcast called No Such Thing, where we get to the bottom of questions like that. Why are you screaming?

I can't expect what to do. Now, if the rule was that, the same go off on me i deserve it you know lock him up listen to no such thing on the i heart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcast no such thing this is the ben and ashley i almost famous podcast with i heart radio all right we are back almost famous to o g's coming to you from san francisco california ashley livermore california today which sounds like a medical diagnosis It does. It does indeed. It's the almost famous golf outing that we're doing today, the famously average. That's what it is. Famously average golf hunting. That's what we're doing. Very excited to be a part of the first annual. And I got Kathy Swartz with me here, which I love. And Kathy, you and I become good buddies over the years. I found out something about you today I thought was really interesting. Okay. And I can't believe I didn't know this. We talked a lot. And I did not know that your goal is to run five miles a day. I figured that part and read 50. 50 books a year. I read that about you today. I don't run anymore. I used to run. Used to do

marathon. Not anymore. I walk. That's still. Yeah. And I walk usually a minimum of five miles a day. Wow. Which, you know, it's just part of my life. And with your life now, your lifestyle has changed so much over the last, I would imagine year, year and a half. How is the 50 books a year coming? So I go in fits and spurts. Literally, I'll read a book and I won't be able to put it down my house goes to hell, the cats don't get fed. I'm just reading the book. And then I'll go a couple of weeks without reading. So it just, it really depends.

Last year, I did not read 50 books. Yep. Well, it's a goal. It's a target, right? The year before that, I think I read 60. Wow. It's just, this year, you know, it's just, it's, I, my goal is to read 50 year. I can't say I was hit my goal.

And is there a particular genre that you're going for? Like, what's the most recent book you read? I've just finished the women. Okay. by the same author that, I'm terrible because I read on my Kindle. So I forget the names of books. But I just read the book, the women, I'm reading, I can't even tell you the name. The word symphony is in it right now.

I'm a big fiction reader. Okay. I love fiction. The women was a great book because it was about the women who served as nurses in the Vietnam War. Oh, wow. So it was based on fact and sort of the unsung heroes of that. of that time. So it was a great book. And it was a love story. And, you know, somebody's got to have love in their life because it's not me. So that's why I read.

You know what? You say that all the time and I love you for it. But I think, I think it's, I think you probably got a lot more dudes lined up than you realize. You know, you always, like you and Susan are always talking about how, you know, well, so-and-so was slid into our DMs with this kind of stuff. Listen, I'm going to give you, I'm going to give you a little scoop here. Susan's got a couple of guys. Just saying, I have not a one. And as I always say, I am not everyone's cup of tea, but I've decided today on that golf course, I'm going to abscond with the beverage cart. Very nice. Right.

Yes. Just bond with it. You get to check all the guys out. I love it. I love it. So I have a saying about my wife that I think when you just said you're not everyone's cup of tea, I had someone one time say to me, I felt like they were being a little passive aggressive about my wife. And I said, well, you know, she's an acquired taste. And the lady goes, yes, thank you.

And I did not like the way she responded. I go, yeah, if you don't like her, acquire some taste. Oh, I like that. And the lady, like, didn't, at first she kind of looked at me. And I'm like, what? You think I'm going to take your side over my wife? Like, I'm not doing that. I'm not crazy.

So I actually thought it was kind of fun. I like that. I don't remember that one. You're acquired taste. If you don't like to acquire some taste. I am one of seven children. Yep. I was the second youngest.

You had to be loud. You know, you had to be loud to get in the attention. You weren't getting stage time if you weren't going for it. So you weren't getting fed. It's like scrapping for the food. Yeah. So, you know, I'm outgoing. I've never met a stranger and I'm now too old to change my ways.

Right. Yeah, I feel the same way. That's who I am. You know? Well, and obviously America resonated. It resonated with America because you go on the Golden Bachelor. You come off of that show and people just can't get enough of you. You know, it's like you're, you're everywhere I am, and I feel like you're everywhere,

way more places than me. Well, you know, I, that show changed my life in that. It just affirmed that life is great. I am who I am. I always say, what I've loved to have found love, sure. Right. But, you know, the friendships and just knowing that I am, I'm capable and I'm a happy person, life is for the living every day.

You know, it's a choice. I wake up every day and say, it's going to be a great day. I love that you're just so, you have such a great energy about you. Like, every time I see you, I'm just excited and happy to see you because you're like, Hey, too bad you're married. Oh, thanks. Yeah, well, yeah, you know, I say this. I mean, my wife is, she's, no, I know, I know.

My wife always says this about me. She's always like, yeah, it's really fun, you know, to have them around. Try living with it. And I'm like, I'm like, yeah, I'm a little high energy. Like, I'm always on. But I bet your wife isn't because my husband. No, she was, she's very subdued. My husband was literally, people would meet me and know me, and then they'd meet my husband,

and they were like, uh, and I just, I knew what they were thinking. I said opposites attract. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, can you imagine we'd kill each other? Yes.

It'd be like, I'm talking. No, you're talking. Well, how am I supposed to talk about? You can't stop talking. I'm talking. That's what that would be. But you know, you and Susan are kind of like that too. You're both high energy, but you guys play off each other very nicely.

It's, I'm telling you, with Susan. I almost know what she's going to say or do before she does it. I just know it so I can anticipate what she's going to say. And we grew up in very different families. Susan is full-blooded Italian. I'm a mutt. You know, I'm a hinds 57. She grew up, she's just from Philly, and I'm from Boston.

So you kind of have that East Coast connection, right? I mean, a little bit. Yeah, well, I haven't lived in Boston in a lot of years, but, you know, once a Yankee, always the Yankee. Of course, yeah, yeah. But yeah, it's, but I'm not dating Susan. We're friends. Right. So. That connection is actually works. Yeah, that connection works.

Yeah. And you guys have a podcast, too, the golden hour, right? And it's doing so great. It's just golden hour. It's golden hour. Yes, I like that. And it's, it is a, it's a jenga puzzle to find it because you have to go to Bachelor Happy Hour. Okay. And then you have to scroll down to the shows. and then that's where we are.

Yeah, almost famous to OGs isn't always the easiest one to find either. I mean, with same type of mindset. But I think it's great because I love that you guys have a platform. I mean, the fans love you. You know, I know they give you a ton of questions. You know, I got to say the interesting thing that I have found doing that podcast is we answer fan questions. Right. And so many of the people that write in are young.

Yeah. And they're like, my kids. age. Sure. My kids couldn't, could not care what I think of. I mean, I love my children, but like they're not asking me for advice. These are people my kids age and they're like, we love you, give such great advice. So what I do is print out the questions in the hand of my children and say, somebody thinks I've got something to say. Yeah, exactly. If you guys ever have any questions here, I clearly know the answers. But you know what? I think that's a, it's a testament to you because I think, you know, people might not feel that comfortable going to

their parent with certain questions, but someone who comes off as wiser and more approachable maybe than their own family, that's who they go to, right? So they find you as an outlet that can help them get through some issues. I think so. And I also think Susan and I approach everything with a little bit of humor and heartfelt. And I think the combination, people know that we're going to answer the question, but we're not going to judge, you know, we're not judge it. We're just going to answer the question. We're probably going to laugh about it. But I think our overriding theme whenever we're talking is, you know what, enjoy life. You have one go around.

And if it's not working for you, I mean, we both say it all the time, you're never going to make a red flag, a white flag, ever, you know, those kinds of things. And yet people, isn't it interesting? People continually try. Oh, my gosh. It's the most maddening thing in the world. Yeah, it's impossible because people are always trying to change people or change circumstances. And sometimes it's best to call, you know, call a spade to spade in that moment.

and be like, okay, let's move on. And move on. And then learning to compromise. Yeah, yeah. That's important. That's a big part of it. Yeah, well, I wasn't really good at that in my marriage. No?

No, it's kind of my way of the highway. Well, it worked for you. I mean, you were there for a long time. Oh, almost 46 years. And it really wasn't my way, the highway. I mean, we used to laugh. We used to say things like, I made the big decisions in life, like what we were having for dinner.

And he made the little decisions like where we were going to live. You know, so, yeah, it worked. My wife always likes to say, you know, well, what's yours is mine and what's mine is mine. Oh, no. I think I'm related to your wife. I was like, that's exactly. I can't tell you the time. I said that to my husband.

I love it. Yeah, I love it. She's also, she's currently a stay-at-home mom. She was working before and she's staying home with the kids and she always tells people, well, clearly I'm doing something right. I'm the only one that's retired. You know, you guys are all going to work. I'm sorry. You have young children.

She is not retired. She's so not retired. I mean, that's, that's one fallacy that people think. when you have young kids and you're not working, you're not working. Oh, yes, you are. It is really truthfully the hardest and I'm sure the most rewarding when you can look back at it, but when you're in the middle of it, it feels like the least rewarding job in the world. I mean, like all day long, she's, you know, like I'll come home and I'll have, you know, my life is probably similar to what your life is right now. Everywhere I go, it's like talking

to people, having a great time. I have a tremendous amount of adult interaction. Yeah. I have a five-year-old and a three-year-old who, everything they eat, everything they do from the time they wake up to they go to sleep is mommy. And she even says, she's like, I just need some adult interaction once in a while. I have to be honest, so I have three children and I stayed at home with them.

And I did some writing. I was a writer at one point, and I did a lot of volunteer things, but I loved being home with my kid. My friends called me Captain Kangaroo. I loved planning stuff and doing things with them every day. I cried when they all went to kindergarten. I mean, I really did.

I just saw a video of a mom crying when they took their son to kindergarten, and I sent it to my wife, and I said, you know, we have two weeks left because our oldest is going to kindergarten in two weeks. Wait, your kids haven't started school. No. In Austin, they've been in school a week. Yeah, they start. In Michigan, they go the day after Labor Day.

Yeah. So I think the Michigan Tourism Bureau had something to do with it, where they wanted people to make sure they got that last week of summer. Because, you know, Austin, it's always summer, right? Michigan, we only got three months. Do you know what? I don't know if this is true or not, so anyone who's listening, don't come after me. What I've heard is that the reason that school starts early and gets out early is the camp schedules. Camp is a big thing. And so they start right. Kids get out of school like the end of May.

Yeah. See, in Michigan, it's mid-June. Yeah. So that's, yeah, that's pretty, that makes sense, too, though. They want people to actually get into that camp schedule. It probably generates more revenue. Let's face it. I mean, what's more important education or camp? Yeah, I got to say. I mean, hey, depends on where you're at, I suppose. And then we wonder why Texas is rated 29 out of 50 in the education world, but number one for camps. Hey, camp's a big deal here. My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious.

Oh, wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit. Well, Dakota, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend has been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't think it's a problem. I don't trust her. Now, he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone. Now, hold up.

Isn't that against school policy? That sounds totally inappropriate. Well, according to this person, this is her boyfriend's former professor, and they're the same age. It's even more likely that they're cheating. He insists there's nothing between them. I mean, do you believe him? Well, he's certainly trying to get this person to believe him because he now wants them both to meet. So, do we find out if this person's boyfriend really cheated with his professor or not?

To hear the explosive finale, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I don't write songs. God write songs. I take dictation. I didn't even know you've been a pastor for over 10 years. I think culture is any space that you live in that develops you. On a recent episode of Culture Raises Us podcast, I sat down with Warren Campbell, Grammy-winning producer, pastor, and music executive to talk about the beats, the business, and the legacy behind some of the biggest names in gospel, R&B, and hip-hop.

This is like watching Michael Jackson talk about Thurley before it happened. Was there a particular moment where you realize just how instrumental music culture was to shaping all of our global ecosystem? I was eight years old, and the Motown 25 special came on. And all the great Motown artists, Marvin, Stevie Wonder, Temptations, Diana Raw. From Mary Mary to Jennifer Hudson, we get into the soul of the music and the purpose that drives it. Listen to Culture raises us on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, my name is Enya Umanzor. And I'm Drew Phillips.

And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom. If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD... Oh my God, perfect. And want to hear people with mental illness, psycho babble. Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your free IHeartRadio app.

Search Emergency Intercom and listen now. Welcome to Pretty Private with Ebeney, the podcast where silence is broken and stories are set free. I'm Ebeney, and every Tuesday I'll be sharing all new anonymous stories that would challenge your perceptions and give you new insight on the people around you. On Pretty Private, we'll explore the untold experiences of women of color who faced it all, childhood trauma, addiction, abuse, incarceration, grief, mental health, struggles, and more, and found the shrimp to make it to the other side. My dad was shot and killed in his house. Yes, he was a drug dealer. Yes, he was a confidential informant, but he wasn't shot on a street corner.

He wasn't shot in the middle of a drug deal. He was shot in his house unarmed. Pretty Private isn't just a podcast. It's your personal guide for turning storylines into lifelines. Every Tuesday, make sure you listen to Pretty Private from the Black Effect Podcast Network Tune in on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Imagine that you're on an airplane and all of a sudden you hear this. Attention passengers.

The pilot is having an emergency and we need someone, anyone, to land this plane. Think you could do it? It turns out that nearly 50% of men think that they could land the plane with the help of air traffic control. And they're saying like, okay, pull this, until this. that turn this. It's just, I can do my icecloth. I'm Mani. I'm Noah. This is Devin. And on our new show, No Such Thing, we get to the bottom of questions like these. Join us as we talk to the leading expert on overconfidence. Those who lack expertise lack the expertise they need to recognize that they lack expertise. And then, as we try the whole thing out for real. Wait, what? Oh, that's the

run right. I'm looking at this thing. See? Listen to No Such Thing on the Eye. Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The other fallacy about women working, and we talk about some of the podcasts a lot. You can't do everything well. And so women, you know, my daughter has a really rigorous full-time job and a child and a home and a husband. And, you know, she's always exhausted. I was like, that's right.

And she's probably feeling guilty when she's not with her kid. I just, listen, guys, I just watched the Barbie movie on the plane here. I cried. I'm not going to, I'm not going to, I'm going to open right up. I also cried during Dolphin Tail. But this was different. And I was like, oh, my God. I guess I just didn't realize.

I mean, I think I'm pretty in tune with my wife and with, you know, I have a strong mom and sister and everything. But I was like, I guess I just didn't realize all the pressures, you know, that come from that. And, you know, feeling like you're never, you're never in, each place as much as you need to be. And even if you're working, oh my God, now I'm not spending enough time with my kid. But if I'm not working, am I contributing? Another little, another little known fact about 50 books reading. Here's another one for you. I really wanted

to go to law school. Oh, I could see you. I could see that. I had done the LSAT. I really, really wanted to go. And when it came down to it, I know me. I give 100% when I do something. And I, you know, if I was going to law school, I was going to be a law review. Sure. Well, you can't do that. race kids. Right. So do I regret it? No.

Do I wish I were a lawyer, you know, kicking ass and taking names? Yeah. But you're kicking ass and taking names in a different way, though. Yeah, I mean, you really are. So tell me this, real quick, before we go, what was one of your favorite things that has come as a result of you sort of, and I hate to say being discovered, but America kind of getting to know you from the Golden Bash? Like, what's one of the favorite things you've gotten to do as a result of that experience?

That I've gotten to do? Yeah. Sit here and talk with you. Oh, you're so sweet. Okay, what's one of your top five? No, I will tell you the most fun thing. I mean, I always say meeting the women making friends. But honestly, I love doing the wedding with charity.

You did a great job, too. If anyone's out to listening, I would love to do more live TV. To me, it doesn't make me nervous. I think fast on my feet. I think you have to have that ability to do anything. live. You do. Yeah. So that to me was extraordinary. I remember when the producers came to me and said, you know, we want you to chit chat and do some color commentary. And then they decided sort of at the last minute to put a, the IFB in your ear. Yeah, exactly. And I didn't know. I was like, okay, you know,

an earring would have put it wherever you want my ear. I didn't. But there was one point in the wedding where I knew what I was going to say and do and in the earpiece they're saying Kathy do so literally in real time in that moment I had to completely change and I could do it and so I love doing that

that to me is probably the highlight of the whole thing doing Gary and Teresa's wedding and I think I did such a great job they decided they couldn't stay married one day more yeah because you just set the bar so high he was like how can I not be with this beautiful woman no I will say

Like, it's, it's such a fun experience. You're right. I love live TV as well. But, I mean, that's a thing. Like, with your guys' podcasts, that is essentially, you're keeping that sauce sharp, right? So the next time an opportunity comes along, I'm sure you'll get it. I am absolutely ready to do it. I, it's just, I think what I like about it is it's always something different.

It's not rote. There's a fun energy about it. Yeah, if there's fun energy, it's, it takes, it takes focus. Yeah. But it's also fun. I always say how lucky are people to, have a job that they love. You know, go to work.

That's why I said to my kids, grow up. My whole thing was give back to your community and if you can find a job that you love, you have made it. Yeah, you'll never work a day in your life, they say right? And, you know, that's what they've done.

So I did something right. Thank you so much for joining us on almost famous DOG. I'm looking for you to kill it out there on the course today. When I win the new, let's call it JAG today, do you all right? I do, just a quick spin. Yeah, quick spin.

I got to get on the red eye tonight. Play your cards right. let you sit in the driver's seek. Thank you. Nope. You know what? I'll go passenger. I'll be passenger.

I'll ride shotgun. You'll do shotgun. All right. Always with you, Kathy. Okay. Well, thanks for having me. Thank you so much. We got to do this again next year.

We do it once a year. We could do it twice a year. We'll do it. What the hell? We'll do it weekly. Weekly. Let's do it. Well, I love you, Kathy.

Thank you for being here. Let's get a whole in one today. Okay. You too. All right. All right. Almost famous to OGs. We'll be back.

My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious. Wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit. Well, Dakota, luckily, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend's been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone. Hold up. Isn't that against school policy? That seems inappropriate. Maybe. Find out how it ends by listening to the OK Storytime.

podcast and the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The U.S. Open is here and on my podcast, Good Game with Sarah Spain. I'm breaking down the players, the predictions, the pressure, and of course the honey deuses, the signature cocktail of the U.S. Open. The U.S. Open has gotten to be a very wonderfully experiential sporting event. To hear this and more, listen to Good Game with Sarah Spain, an IHeart women's sports production in partnership with deep blue sports and entertainment on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Brought to you by Novartis, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports Network. Culture eats strategy for breakfast, right? On a recent episode of Culture Raises Us, I was joined by Valicia Butterfield, media founder, political strategist, and tech powerhouse for a powerful conversation on storytelling, impact, and the intersections of culture and leadership. I am a free black woman. From the Obama White House to Google to the Grammys, Valicia's journey is a master class in shifting culture and using your voice to spark change. Listen to Culture Raises us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, my name is Enya Umanzor. And I'm Drew Phillips.

And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom. If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD... Oh my God, perfect. And want to hear people with mental illness, psychobabble. Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. open your free iHeartRadio app search emergency intercom and listen now welcome to pretty private with ebony

the podcast where silence is broken and stories are set free i'm ebeney and every tuesday i'll be sharing all new anonymous stories that would challenge your perceptions and give you new insight on the people around you every tuesday make sure you listen to pretty private from the black effect podcast network tune in on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. This is an IHeart podcast.