The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - Writing A Brighter Future with Michael Allio

Episode Date: June 25, 2026

We got to know Michael Allio as a contestant on Katie Thurston’s season, but he’s lived a lot of life since his time in the Bachelor Mansion, and it’s time to check in!Michael opens ...up about life as a single dad, blending his family with his girlfriend Jade, and the complexities of grief and how it evolves with time.Plus, Michael is talking about his incredible new children's book "Where The Wild Heart Grows," and its important message! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Joy is essential and it's also elusive. But now, there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence. Joy 101. It's a new podcast hosted by me, Hoda Kotby. If you're craving inspiration to maximize your joy, tune into these candid, uplifting, and moving on-air chats. Open your free IHeart Radio app.
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Starting point is 00:00:51 It's lemonade. This is Sweet 305. Here, oversharing is encouraged. Listen to Sweet 305 with Lele Pons on the IHard. radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Chuck from Stuff You Should Know, and we're submitting our most sciencey episodes for your peer review with our new stuff you should know doing science playlist. Out now. You want to know about Occam's Razor? Simplest explanation is usually
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Starting point is 00:01:49 I appreciate that. I'd be seeing it, but I'm like, man, I still got like so much more to do. Like Prince, he dropped like 30 albums. We dropped like five right now. That's the rate we got to be going. Yep, that's a good attitude. No matter the era, Drink Chams brings you the biggest names
Starting point is 00:02:03 and the most unfiltered conversations. Listen to Drink Chams from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man.
Starting point is 00:02:25 Is everyone lying to me about who they? I felt such desperation. I felt it was what I had to do. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Ben and Ashley I, Almost Famous Podcasts with IHart Radio. Welcome back to the Almost Famous Podcast. It's Ben here today, and I get to chat with a fan favorite in Bachelor Nation. We got to know him from Katie Thurston's season and season 8. of Bachelor in Paradise. He's got an incredible new children's book out called Where the Wild Heart grows.
Starting point is 00:03:07 That has a very important and I think relatable message. So let's get into it. Michael A. Welcome back. Hey, thanks for having me on, buddy. It's nice to see you. All right. So, you know, we just celebrated Father's Day,
Starting point is 00:03:20 which is a great weekend to not only celebrate the fathers in our lives, but also the fathers around us. As a single dad, and so much of this conversation, Michael, is going to be around kind of the past moving into them the present. I know you're in a relationship and you've been in a relationship for a while and it looks happy and healthy and full of joy and all the good things. Right. But in relation to this book, obviously the past is revisited, which it should be and remembered. Sure. But as a single dad now, does Father's Day feel different to you?
Starting point is 00:03:56 Yeah. Yeah, I think Father's Day has always felt different every year, regardless if I'm in a relationship or not. And it's mainly because each year in my son's life, as you'll find out too, it requires a different piece of you. And so there is, you know, in the beginning, it's it's showing up, it's diapers, it's putting them to bed, it's, it's making sure that all their basic needs are met. And as they evolve, they develop more deeper needs. And so it's trying to meet them. We're at. And I just had the best father's day ever.
Starting point is 00:04:34 They treated me extremely well. Jade has just been amazing. And it's honestly so great to see their relationship blossom. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, just the noise in the house sounds great. The mess, you know, like James running it. in the morning into our bedroom and running straight to her.
Starting point is 00:05:00 Like all of these things I'm very cognizant of and just feel very blessed this season of my life. How did that happen? I mean, obviously, for those that don't remember, you lost your wife seven years ago, I believe. Yeah. And that obviously started a whole new journey for you. Not only professionally, I remember last time we talked, you were doing a lot in that space to try to care for women well and care for people going through a similar situation. But then also, you know, you had James.
Starting point is 00:05:32 And James was what? Do I remember one? James was two when Laura passed. So Laura passed seven years ago. James was two. You went on the show, obviously. Then you met Jade. How does the process for you work where you bring somebody into your home?
Starting point is 00:05:50 and, you know, I'm going to use the wrong words, but like, integrate them into you and James's life. No, no, that's a very good word. I remember when, uh, before Jade moved, she was like, tell me what I'm walking into. And I was like, I don't know what you're walking into because this is the first time that I'm doing these things too. There's, there's a lot of dynamics that go into blending a family together. And there's a lot of emotions. I mean, as a dad and as just a person, I have my own personal needs of wanting to find love again and, you know, wanting to see James grow up with these milestones and share them with somebody and build that relationship. And it's also being cognizant of him and his emotions and not rushing things while still being able to set those
Starting point is 00:06:55 kind of boundaries. It is a balancing act. And I'll tell you what, like looking past the, or looking back the last two years, we've, we've had successes and we've had failures. But through it all, we've grown stronger together because we've been able to get through them together. And it's just, I'm at this place right now where a lot of that worry, a lot of that concern about all of these what ifs, started to get answered. And I am, like I said before, it just feels like a very peaceful, blessed time in my life. One of the first moments in the past decade where I can take a breath and honestly say that all that hard work is paying off and and just enjoy it.
Starting point is 00:07:46 You know, this, this children's book that you came, uh, come out with is, and it comes out, I believe next week. Yeah, I think I will, yeah, it was, it was, it started pre-sale about a month ago. Sales have been amazing. The outpouring and support has been great. And, uh, we're going to start shipping out books, uh, first week in July. Yeah. Again, the book, uh, is called where the wild heart grows.
Starting point is 00:08:12 there's a specific place right now where people can find this book and purchase it pre-sale before it comes out. And then once it gets out into the world, will be in bookstores? Or what's the best way for people to go grab it? Yeah. And the best place right now is the Wildheartgrows.com. And the book really has this old world feel to it. So it's actually 150 pages. each illustration was done with oil on canvas by a professional painter Luke Streeter.
Starting point is 00:08:51 You guys should check him out. James's best friend is his son and they go to school together. So this is essentially a story of two dads trying to find a way to slow time down and be able to connect with their kids and use stories. as a way to start conversations with their children. Because when Laura passed, I didn't have the right tools to be able to engage James in some of these tougher conversations. And I think one of the biggest misconceptions about this book is that it's about grief. It's about growing up.
Starting point is 00:09:33 It's about overcoming these challenging seasons in your life. and I use nature as a metaphor to be able to teach kids in a very simplistic kind of beautiful way because the best wisdom in lessons that I have ever learned have always been the simplest. And a lot of times I found that wisdom in kids books. I'm not sure if you've seen the same, but some of these kids' books that are out there, the way they simplify things, almost things that we were taught a long time ago, and sense have forgotten. And when you're reading them to kids,
Starting point is 00:10:13 you're like, is this book for the kid or is it for me? And I think that's really that space where my book, where the Wild Heart grows, lies, is I think kids are going to see a story of a spider that's whose web keeps breaking. And the frustration that happens with that. A parent, I think, is may, I don't want to tell people. people what to take from it. But my hope is that they see the layers that are in this book. And they will say, well, maybe this is the courage and the determination that I need in order to move forward
Starting point is 00:10:52 from a divorce or move forward from an idea or a goal that I had that is unfulfilled. And so that's really what the book is about. Each story leads into the next. And they're really old world fables that are calming and still using nature. And it's such a, like I'm telling you, it's so beautiful how the whole thing came out. I'm just so proud of it. Radio experience. Weekend gold tickets to Ilson Inc.
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Starting point is 00:12:51 It's like a way to say like, oh, my God, hello, my friend, hello, hello, I never have I've ever with nobody. Except with my my children,
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Starting point is 00:13:10 loves a yellow starburst. It's all right, there's a someone that you like you'd like to collaborate with this person. This is sweet 305.
Starting point is 00:13:21 This is sweet 305. Listen to Sweet 305 with Lele Pons as part of my Cultura podcast network on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And it's an entire because their new star is Javier Cittorito Hernandez. Everyone sees me as a football player, but before anything else, I'm human. Every single day I'm still learning how to live with problems, mistakes, relationships, emotions ever since I was born. And I still have so many questions. Where do we come from? What happens after death?
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Starting point is 00:14:09 This podcast is like a deep talk with your closest friends. Where vulnerability comes out. Conspiracy theories end up on the table and goals and lessons are shared. All in this life has an order perfect and everything is just. Wait me. I'm going to put up to be able to be. We are here to connect. I'm Jicharito.
Starting point is 00:14:24 I'm Jacharito. And together with IHard Radio, we're going to make the ordinary, extraordinary. Stay close. It's a crack. Wow. Listen to learning to be human on IHad Radio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Keith Giamanka seemed like a mild-mannered suburban dad. But secretly, he became someone else, a master of disguise who went on a crime spree.
Starting point is 00:14:51 At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy, but I felt so desperate that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong on what that might look like? No, I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? that is not the look of an innocent man. This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever
Starting point is 00:15:29 because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Obviously, we're in the season of children's books, and it feels like it's a good checks and balance on our priorities and what is important to us. Like sometimes we've lost it. And it's like these are good also to go back to as an adult and say, okay, when I was a kid,
Starting point is 00:16:10 what were my dreams? What was I pursuing? What was important? Amen. It was not important. And the books, you know, remind us. And I love that you use nature. In fact, I was just looking.
Starting point is 00:16:22 We're cleaning out our house right now a little bit and doing some summer cleaning. And I saw, as a kid, I was a weird kid. I wrote a lot of poems and I still like to write. I love that about you, Ben. Yeah, definitely spoke to my Enneagram 4. Everybody should know I was going to be this like dark, somber, you know, person as a kid. I have this poem that I just read that I wrote, it said, fall. It was called Fall.
Starting point is 00:16:48 And the only line that I wrote in it was, has death ever looked so beautiful? Yeah. Amen, dude. I love that you brought that up because that is capturing what this is about. is who can teach us, or I should say what can teach us more about the seasons of our own life than nature. You look at a tree, for example, like your poem that you wrote when you're a kid, a tree in the summer, it's got green leaves, it's got animals that rely on it. It's got fruit that everything feeds off of. It provides shade.
Starting point is 00:17:22 And then as the season changed, it gets beautiful right before it dies. and does the tree, for example, mourn the loss of its leaves? Does it mourn the loss that squirrels and animals started to abandon it? Because it no longer provided what it needed. Now, we know that trees are wise enough because they know that they have to let go in order to welcome new growth into their life. Why can't we accept those same types of lessons? And so, like, I actually have a story like that.
Starting point is 00:17:57 in this book. Now, imagine this is an era of life that we've never been in, but I know is coming when our kids no longer rely on us. When we get older and they stop coming around, just like the squirrel going to a tree, how are we going to react to that? Well, we understand that season of life. Will we miss this chaotic time in our life? And I know we will. And so it's really all focused on remaining present, even during the most stressful, painful, chaotic times in your life, because one day you're going to miss it. Yeah. You know, you write in the book about the gift of grief is a part. So for the listeners out there, you know, you just kind of walked into it, right? The wisdom of the nature around us for letting go so that they can regrow and have
Starting point is 00:18:54 rebirth and move forward into bigger and new things. Can you walk our listeners through as you look at this season of life for you and kind of where you're at in the grief process? Why a gift of grief was something you wanted to highlight? Yeah, well, the gift of grief was something I wrote on Instagram. It's actually not per se in the book, but I wrote about that mainly because now that, I mean, now that Laura's been gone for seven years, one way that I've been able to make sense of grief, instead of running from it, instead of numbing it, instead of avoiding it, is really to welcome it into my life to feel all of the, you know, the emotions that come around with it. Because it never goes away. It stays with you. It walks alongside new love. And there is new growth and still memories of what was lost. And I remember having this thought that I loved everything that Lord gave me.
Starting point is 00:20:06 I loved the memories. I love James. I love how the fact, I mean, we were together 16 years since we were 18. And she built me in so many ways. So much of who I am today is just that relationship I had with her growing together. And so she also gave me grief because I loved her so much. And so I have to love that too. Just like all of those things.
Starting point is 00:20:37 And we are all going to lose someone. That's the sad reality. And death and being a widow, it's kind of a taboo subject that people dance around. And I do believe that we're at a time right now where we should start normalizing it, having those conversations. No one ever knows what to say. And the truth is that if you're out there trying to take care of somebody that's grieving, you don't have to say anything. You just have to show up. You just have to listen.
Starting point is 00:21:12 And the person who's going through will tell you everything without even asking. the uh obviously this book is um and you know it's it's honoring laura's life and then also at the same time it's meant for all of those out there who need maybe the push to have the conversation or to have the reminders of a story i'm sure at this point james has walked through this book with you what was that process like i mean for i'm just sitting here trying to to put myself in your shoes and I really can't, but I'm thinking, okay, an adult could have a conversation with me when there's a loss in my life and I can handle it, right? I can walk through it in the way that I want to or need to or however, but when it comes to a kid, I would be nervous
Starting point is 00:22:05 about trying to explain it to them in a way that, you know, helps them understand, but then also helps them move forward and helps them honor as well. So for you as a dad, do, this project and then presenting it to your son, who I'm guessing was the motivation behind a lot of this. Yeah. What was that like? It really came from the idea that I really didn't know how to start conversations. And I put myself in his shoes as a kid. And I never liked getting preached to.
Starting point is 00:22:38 The second I felt like my parents were interrogating me to figure out what's going on in my life, what do we tell them? You know, how was your day? It was good. what you do, nothing, how you're feeling, I'm fine. And it's, those aren't the real conversations. And so that wasn't good enough for me, as I know it's not good enough for a lot of parents. And so storytelling, you, I started, I actually made 35 of these stories.
Starting point is 00:23:05 James Hand selected seven for the book. And they all tackle different things. Some of them are about letting go. Some of them are about beginning again and the courage. it takes. There's one story called The Tale of Two Streams, which is about two streams that their entire life, they experienced everything together. They ran in parallel. And then they hit an obstacle and were forced to go their separate ways. And there was mourning for both of them that they had to separate. But each, but by separating, they were able to experience something individually,
Starting point is 00:23:44 something that they never would have been able to experience had they remained on that same path. So all of these components, they have to do with grief, but a larger theme is that it really has to do with growing up and also growing old. It's a book for children. It's a book for adults. And doing this alongside James was just, I mean, Honestly, it was one of the most satisfying things I've ever done. I'm actually upset now that the creative process is finished and the baby is out in the world. It's like I wanted to just keep working on it forever.
Starting point is 00:24:30 But he found it very, very peaceful. And again, it's meant to be a bridge. It doesn't lecture. It's meant to start conversations. Have you ever felt this way, James? Have you ever known anybody that's felt this way? If someone was going through this, how would you help them? And through those kind of questions, you'll figure out what the underlying truth is going on in their head and in their life.
Starting point is 00:24:54 You end up with weekend gold tickets to Lassau Montreal. Thomas Rhett. Mumford and Sons. Well, here's my pride and here's my shame. John Party, Old Dominion, Carly Pierce, and more. And the prize gets even sweeter. With flights from Porter Airlines, three nights at Residence Inn downtown Montana, Montreal and $1,000 cash.
Starting point is 00:25:24 Download the free Iheart radio app. Listen to Pure Country for 10 minutes and enter to win. Lassau, Montreal. Every day you listen is another chance to win. Hey, I'm Hoda Kotby, host of the podcast, Joy 101 with Hoda Kotby. Together, we're going to have meaningful conversations with the world's most fascinating people, like when actress Olivia Munn shared how she overcame fierce health challenges. I've gone through breast cancer and then helped my mother through breast cancer.
Starting point is 00:25:52 and that was more difficult. There's a lot of people who understand postpartner depression. I was not prepared for postpartum anxiety. Listen to Joy 101 with Hoda Kotby on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My first guest is Paris Houghton, Shakira, Luke and Yerrin, Samira and Gracie. I'm so excited. On the bouncy bed. You have surprises?
Starting point is 00:26:19 Many surprises. Welcome to Sweet 305, where the group chat comes. to life. What a f***? It's like a way to say like, oh my, oh my friend, oh my
Starting point is 00:26:31 never I've ever had I've ever with my my children, I'm Oof Oof That's
Starting point is 00:26:41 incredible, yeah, the only person I know that loves Yellow Starburst It's rumored I'm in there's someone
Starting point is 00:26:49 that you'd like you'd like to collaborate with this person This is Sweet 305 Listen to Sweet 305 with Lele Pons as part of my Culture Podcast Network on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Because their new star is Javier T. Tarino Hernandez. Everyone sees me as a football player, but before anything else, I'm human.
Starting point is 00:27:19 Every single day I'm still learning how to live with problems, mistakes, relationships, emotions ever since I was born. And I still have so many questions. Where do we come from? What happens after death? How do you deal with cancellation? Cristiano or Messi? Do aliens exist? What is love?
Starting point is 00:27:34 Real Madrid or Barcelona? From every day and ordinary to the deep and extraordinary. This isn't a normal podcast. Everything here is spontaneous, real and genuine. This podcast is like a deep talk with your closest friends. Where vulnerability comes out. Conspiracy theories end up on the table and goals and lessons are shared. All in this life has a order perfect and all is just.
Starting point is 00:27:54 Wait me, I'm going to be pressurne me, but me will go to be able to connect. The Chicharito. Oh, Javier El Chicharro-Randes, and together with Aihar Radio, we're going to make the ordinary, extraordinary, stay close. It's a crack. Wow. Listen to learning to be human on IHard Radio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Keith Giamanka seemed like a mild-mannered suburban dad, but secretly, he became someone else, a master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea?
Starting point is 00:28:29 It seemed very crazy. But I felt so desperate that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong or what that might look like? No. I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double-term?
Starting point is 00:28:56 life. That is not the look of an innocent man. This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When did you first, I mean for parents listening who are, I mean, goodness, I don't know if I think parents like to act like we know what we're doing. Yeah, we do, but we do not. We do not. We're figuring it out.
Starting point is 00:29:39 When did you first start having these conversations with James? I started having them as, geez, early. There was a part where, I mean, James was two when Laura passed. James was seven months old when she was diagnosed. And I didn't want to push my. grief on top of him. You know, I wanted him to allow, I wanted to allow him to be a child. And that was a weird balancing act, to be honest, because on one side it felt like I was keeping conversations from him that I should have been having. On the other side, it felt like
Starting point is 00:30:24 I was giving him a chance at just a normal kid's happy life. But I started having those conversations fairly early and looking for the right opportunities to say, you know, your laugh just now. That reminds me so much of your mom. You know, I think about her all the time. Or it's crazy how smart you are because she was smart just like you. And it's bringing up lighthearted moments and allowing and finding ways to make him feel connected to her. And that's really what opened up a lot of the inspiration for the book, too, is if I just lectured about life and death and all of these things, I'm not sure he would have opened up the way he did, and I'm not sure it would have led to some of these deeper conversations than it had.
Starting point is 00:31:24 my assumption is that this book is not only for those who want to open up the conversation and to navigate a difficult season of somebody's life, but it's also for parents in a way preparing, as you said, for the difficult seasons because it's going to happen to all of us, you know, the loss of a pet even, you know, the loss of a move, a loss of a loved one. Like there's so many changes in life that will happen. to everyone that I'm assuming this book is not just for the specific scenario that you have navigated, but, you know, a more holistic, broader conversation. 100%. The forest is a metaphor for life. You're standing on the brink of a forest and you're
Starting point is 00:32:13 looking in and it's dark and it's scary and you are worried about getting lost. That's really the same with life. But once you start walking, you start looking around, you start observing, you meet people, people change your life, you're allowed to take all of these different paths, and some paths that you take feel like their life and death, and they'll never change, and they're going to derail you entirely. And there's always a way back, and there's always a way back. And there's so many beautiful stories. Like, for example, there's a story about a bird who gets stones thrown at her. And the bird decides that in order for me to be safe,
Starting point is 00:33:01 I have to collect all the stones on the ground. So the bird spends all of the time that she has on the forest floor instead of in the air, guarding stones so she never gets hurt again, until she eventually starts letting them go flying and letting them go and allowing them to, to forgive the past and allowing it to be able to move on. And so letting go is just a huge part of life. It's a huge part of nature.
Starting point is 00:33:30 It's a part of growing up, growing old. And it's something that I have personally found, one of the hardest lessons to learn. And that's why we try to, that's why I'm trying to deliver it in a simplistic way through kids language. Because it's a difficult one. It's an easy concept, but it's difficult, at least for me to accept in my life, but I'm learning. Before we get into kind of where life sits now, again, it's where the wild heart grows.
Starting point is 00:34:04 And you said the website is the wildheartgrows.com. The wildheartgrows.com. Yeah, the wildheartgrows.com. and we're going to be available. We're really looking at independent bookstores. We already have a handful taking it on. This whole thing's just beginning. But I think it'll probably be on Amazon maybe in a year or so.
Starting point is 00:34:29 I'm trying to hold off. I really want to award the mom and pops that are out there doing the old school experience. Yeah. And the book's really meant to be kind of an heirloom that you return back to at different seasons in your own life and pull different meanings from it. You know, switching gears a little bit, but, you know, you are sitting in a different season where, you know, you've talked about Jade. She's in your life.
Starting point is 00:34:54 Two years, I believe, you've been together. Yep. You know, you're living together. What's the future look like for the two of you? I'm sure everybody's wondering and curious. Yeah. But, you know, from the outside perspective, it looks promising. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:35:11 It's very promising to say the least. I mean, I don't think we would have made it this far if it wasn't endgame. And so if it was up to me, it probably would have happened already. Like I said before, blending families, making sure everybody's good. And, you know, being gentle with that kind of integration, as you would put it, it has always been top of my mind. But we are at a place where life is, life is exactly where it needs to be. And I think, I think there'll be some exciting news around the Ben. Goodness gracious, man. You come out with a new children's book. You have exciting news around
Starting point is 00:35:57 the corner. Everything always lands at the same exact time. Spread this stuff out. The book was supposed to be out in January. And, you know, you've written books. books, you know how it goes. It just kind of trickles over and edits and all of this. But yeah, everything's landing at once and, you know, that is life. Hey, as the good scripture says, we mourn when morning is necessary and we celebrate when celebration is necessary. Poor drink and toast to a season of excitement and newness and really good things. Michael A, again, it's where the Wildheart grows, and the website is the wildheartgrows.com. You can find in some really cool mom and pop bookstores.
Starting point is 00:36:48 I love that idea. And then also you can go to the website and purchase it there. Congrats on everything, Michael. Thanks for jumping on. Enjoy the ride. Enjoy the experience. And then hopefully you'll come back soon with some good news that we will also be talking about. Absolutely.
Starting point is 00:37:08 Thanks. It's so good to see you. And how's being a girl dad? How are you holding up? I'd have a thousand girls, man. I love it. You're made for it. I love being a girl dad.
Starting point is 00:37:19 It is a joy. It is full of laughter. I just wish they let me like coddle them a little bit. Winnie is just not a cuddler. And I just want to cuddle that little girl. Yeah. Hold her close. Oh, she wants her space.
Starting point is 00:37:38 She's pushing you. Oh, she's an independent woman. Well, that's good, too. That's good. You're going to like that later in life. Yeah, I just wish I had a little more, you know, cuddled time now. But it's been the best thing. It's changed life in the only the best of ways.
Starting point is 00:37:54 And I'm very thankful for it. You were made for the role, man. I remember meeting you and just thinking you're going to be the best dad in the world. And I'm so happy for you and Jess and wish you guys all the blessings. because there's going to be a lot of seasons, brother. And, yeah, buckle in and enjoy the ride. I'll tell you one thing, Michael. We both can relate with I'm married and it sounds like you're on the path.
Starting point is 00:38:23 Esteticians know how to care for us well. So keep your skin healthy. Oh, yeah. Keep your skin healthy. We do have that in common. Yeah. When Jade moved in here, like we had an extra bedroom upstairs, is she has a full spa up there.
Starting point is 00:38:39 I mean, lasers, like crazy things going. It's a science lab. That's why we're cleaning right now. Yeah. As part of the process. We have more skincare than any Sephora in the country. I say the same exact thing. It's my nieces live down the street and they're, you know, 12.
Starting point is 00:38:59 And they come over, like, pretending that they're checking up on us. Yeah. And then they'll- Why do you have these. empty bags. Yeah. Yeah. It's like trick and treat for preteens.
Starting point is 00:39:10 I see that and I get excited. I say, yeah, please go up there. Me too. The amount of boxes that are coming. How old are you now? 37. Okay. I just turned, I just turned 42.
Starting point is 00:39:24 Yeah. And it's crazy. It was one of it. You know, I've never been one for the number. Yeah. It's always that. Forty-two is weird because it was almost as though, yeah. I mean, God willing, but it almost felt like halfway.
Starting point is 00:39:39 Yeah, you're like starting the clock, yeah. Yeah, it was just like, wow, this second half comes at perfect timing with everything going on in my life. And there's so much more life to live and it feels good. But it was a moment we're like, man, I got to start stretching more. I got to drink more water, like get more sleep or something. It doesn't repair the same as he used to. Yeah, sunscreen, pop the bones, get ready for the. the day, Michael. That's all I'm doing. Well, hey, it's good to see you. We appreciate you again
Starting point is 00:40:11 where the wild heart grows. Great project. Thank you. Help so many. I hope that the fanfare pours in messages of support and love to you because I know this was, this came from your heart, and it's always great to hear that it helped others as well. So, hey, thanks for jumping on the Almost Famous Podcast, and we'll have you back soon. All right, see you. See you, brother. The Ben and Ashley I, I almost famous podcasts on IHartRadio, or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Joy is essential and it's also elusive, but now there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence.
Starting point is 00:40:52 Joy 101. It's a new podcast hosted by me, How to Coppe. If you're craving inspiration to maximize your joy, tune into these candid, uplifting, and moving on-air chats. Open your free IHeart Radio app. search Joy 101 and listen now. Joy 101 with Hoda Kotfi is presented by CVS. My first guest is Terence Hilton, Shakira, Luke and Yerrin.
Starting point is 00:41:18 You have surprises? Many surprises. Welcome to the Sweet 305 podcast where the group chat comes to life. What on? You're the only person I know that loves a yellow starburst. It's lemonade. This is Sweet 305. Here, oversharing is encouraged.
Starting point is 00:41:35 Listen to Sweet 305 with Lillipons on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. June is Black Music Month, and on the Drink Chams podcast, we're speaking with the hottest names in the culture, like Sway Lee. Do you realize how legendary you are? I appreciate that. I'd be seeing it, but I'm like, man, I still got like so much more to do. Like Prince, he dropped like 30 albums. We dropped like five right now. That's the rate we got to be going.
Starting point is 00:42:01 Yep, that's a good attitude. No matter the era, Drink Chams brings you the biggest names and the most unfiltered conversations. Listen to Drink Chams from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. Is everyone lying to me about who they are? I felt such desperation.
Starting point is 00:42:33 I felt it was what I had to do. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Chuck from Stuff You Should Know, and we're submitting our most sciencey episodes for your peer review with our new stuff you should know doing science playlist.
Starting point is 00:42:56 Out now. You want to know about Occam's Razor? Simplest explanation is usually the right one. We got you covered. wondered what chaos theory is ever since the first time you saw Jurassic Park will come on down. So distill a nice pot of tea, everybody, turn down the gas
Starting point is 00:43:09 on your Bunsen burner, and slip into your most comfortable lab coat and listen to the stuff you should know doing science playlist on the IHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.

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