The Bossticks - Former NYC Police Officer, Celebrity Bodyguard, & Author Thomas Fitzsimmons On The Current State Of The US & The Days Before Donald Trump's Presidency

Episode Date: February 4, 2021

#328: On today's episode we are joined by former police officer, celebrity bodyguard, & author Thomas Fitzsimmons to discuss the current state of the US and the life of a former police officer. We als...o discuss what it means to be a celebrity bodyguard and what Donald Trump was like back in the studio 54 days before he became president.  To check out Thomas Fitzsimmons books click HERE To connect with Lauryn Evarts click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) This episode is brought to you by Skillshare. Skillshare is an online learning space offering more than 25,000 courses. Join the millions of students already learning on Skillshare today with a special offer just for our listeners: Get two months of Skillshare for free. That's right, Skillshare is offering The Skinny Confidential listeners two months of unlimited access to over 25,000 classes for free. To sign up, go to www.skillshare.com/skinny This episode is brought to you by RITUAL Forget everything you thought you knew about vitamins. Ritual is the brand that's reinventing the experience with 9 essential nutrients women lack the most. If you're ready to invest in your health, do what I did and go to www.ritual.com/skinny  Your future self will thank you for taking Ritual: Consider it your 'Lifelong-Health-401k'. Why put anything but clean ingredients (backed by real science) in your body? This episode is brought to you by Tatcha We are super excited to incorporate Tatcha's newest treatment, The Dewy Serum, into our skincare ritual. This 3-in-1 serum resurfaces, plumps, and locks in moisture for smoother, plumper, dewier skin, and who doesn't want that? The Dewy Serum helps replenish components of healthy skin lost over time, so don't be surprised when your friends ask why your skin looks as soft as a baby's. use our code SKINNY at www.tatcha.com for 15% off you order! Produced by Dear Media

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Starting point is 00:00:00 The following podcast is a dear media production. One of my favorite subjects to talk about, and that is Woo MorePlay. Boy, oh boy, do they have the Valentine's situation for you? You guys, they have three Valentine's Day bundles. One has already sold out, unfortunately, because they are so popular. You can give this beautiful wrapped packaging with wrapping paper that says, Eat My Box. And in it, you're going to get the lube, the freshies, the quickies. One has the vibrator in it. You've got to go check it out on the I'm telling you if you are looking to gift your significant other, your hookup, your first time hookup, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, whatever, a gift, this is it.
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Starting point is 00:01:35 Get ready for some major realness. Welcome to the skinny confidential, him and her. Aha! I could get out of my police car and somebody could drop a cinder block on my head. They throw couches down, cinder blocks, bricks. So you always had to be prepared. And when you walked into any building, you don't know who's waiting for you, whether it's a trap. Frequently was.
Starting point is 00:01:57 Sometimes it's just kids. Other times you're walking on a drug dealing situation. It's like, oh my God, what do I do now? Hello, hello. Welcome back to the skinny confidential him and her podcast. Today, we have something different. What's new, though? I feel like the show is like a bag of checks mix.
Starting point is 00:02:14 You never know what you're going to get. I never know what we're going to get anymore. I mean, this show goes all over the place. Today, we have Thomas Fitzsimmons. He is a real-life celebrity bodyguard, a top author, and he used to be a model, actor, and policemen. He has a very colorful background. not only was he a policeman too. He was a policeman in the Bronx, which he has some wild stories. To give you guys a little bit of context, Tom was also my mom's fiancee before she passed. They were engaged. So I have a very soft spot for him in my heart. He's a very sweet man. He's always showing us around New York City every single time we come out. And he's like a stepfather to me. So I'm very excited about this episode. It goes sort of all over the place.
Starting point is 00:02:56 Yeah, we just talk about Tom's life as a police officer, as an author, as a celebrity body. Guard, get into New York. We talk about some stories with Donald Trump, which kind of were curveball, you know, and his dealings back in the day in New York and before he became president. So this conversation is really just that. It's a conversation with somebody who Lauren and I hold near and dear to our hearts and who's just an all-around great guy. Yeah, back in the studio 54 days, he knew Donald Trump. So we get into the juice on that. Before we get into it, Tom also has some books on Amazon that you guys have to check out. My favorite is confessions of a celebrity bodyguard. He also has confessions of a Catholic cop and confessions of a suicidal policewoman. You can find that
Starting point is 00:03:36 all on Amazon. So with that, let's welcome Thomas Fitzsimmons, a former New York City police officer, a real life celebrity bodyguard and former Ford model, and of course author to The Skinny Confidential, Him and Her show. This is the Skinny Confidential Him and Her. I am so excited to have my mom's fiance. I would say my stepdad. in the studio. You guys, it's so exciting. He was a cop in the Bronx. He's an author. He's a celebrity bodyguard. And he just wrote the juiciest book involving Donald Trump, which we're going to get into. Tom, welcome to the studio. Uh-oh. I'm a legend in my own mind. You know, that out. We're so excited to have you. Can you give us a little background about where you grew up? I know you're a
Starting point is 00:04:27 twin. Yeah. Gave us the whole. Grew up in the Bronx. In an Irish section called Woodlawn. Still there, still a great section. When in the military, the Navy, then became a cop when I was 21. We wound up in the South Bronx, a place called Fort Apache, the Bronx. It sucked. Terrible place to work. High crime. Highest crime in the United States, as a matter of fact.
Starting point is 00:04:48 2.2 square miles of, it was an antel. It was Calcutta. I got out after 10 years and then went into show business. I was with the Ford Model Agency for 10 years. I had a lot of fun with that. and then went into television commercials and did about 150 spots in, I guess, about five or six years. It was a lot of fun, a lot of fun. Oh, in between that, too, I was with NBC for a while.
Starting point is 00:05:11 I was with their news division. They put together a show called Now back then. The show only ran one season. It sucked, so it only ran one season. I had a great, great co-host, but we just didn't catch on. It was something more. It was a magazine format. I don't think they do them anymore.
Starting point is 00:05:27 But I've always been in law enforcement in some way, even when I left the police department. You know, living in New York City, you meet celebrities all the time. And, you know, you're just sitting next to them at bars. And you get, you make friends. People are always asking me to help out. My daughter is dating a bad guy. Some guy wants to put the money into a business. I need to know if he's legitimate.
Starting point is 00:05:47 Follow this one. Follow that one. Got very close to Larry Hagman. That way I used to, you know, the actor, Larry Hagman used to do Dallas. And so I helped him out a lot of little. little things. That's favors. I wasn't getting paid for it, really, but that led to the celebrity bodyguard business. So what a, what a trajectory. You know, when I think about it, I go, how did I get involved in all this stuff? But it's been a ride and a hell of a lot of fun, hell of a lot of fun.
Starting point is 00:06:12 So at 21 years old, becoming a cop in Fort Apache, what year was that? And what was Fort Apache like? And what was Fort Apache like? I mean, your 21 years old must have been a scary place. It was terrible. It was very scary. The highest crime area in the United States. They used to compare to Calcutta. It was horrible. A lot of cops in the United States never draw their gun once in 20 years. I drew my gun every day. What are some circumstances that you would have to draw your gun?
Starting point is 00:06:39 Like, what was the day-to-day in the life? In a place like the South Bronx, every job you went to, you had your gun out. You just, when you went into a tenement, let's say for a landlord-tenant dispute or a husband-and-life dispute or anything, you took your gun out and you just held it down because the odds are getting. getting in a gun fight were, you know, it was possible. There, it was very possible. You make a car stop, you're going to pull your gun out because the guy in the car could very, very well have a gun. It was a very, very poor section.
Starting point is 00:07:08 It was also the poorest place in the United States, a one of, high crime. So with everything going on this year, I mean, obviously there's been a lot going on with police and, you know, there's cries for defending the police and, like, you a former cop, like, what goes through your mind when you see all of this? Because obviously you dedicated a lot of your life to protecting and serving, and when you see this? How does that make you feel? And like, what do you, what do you think about all the current circumstances? It's a cycle. This is why the South Bronx was, what why it existed, because we had the same types of politicians back then. They used to glorify the rights of the criminal,
Starting point is 00:07:42 and they handcuffed the cops. So places like the South Bronx flourish, crime flourish. And only when a politician's children become the victims, we have law and order, you know, in New York City again. They'll bring back a Giuliani. But it's, again, again, It's the cycle because we had a lot of good years under guys like Bloomberg and Giuliani and Koch and they were law and order mayors. So what do you think is going to happen right now in New York? Oh, I think it's in terrible trouble. What are your former buddies saying or the ones that are still on the forest or not on the horse?
Starting point is 00:08:15 Like what is their attitude now? They're not anxious. They're not enthusiastic about the job anymore because they know anything they do is going to be scrutinized. And, you know, in the event that something horrific happens, they're going to come down on the cops. Everybody's looking to hurt the cops. Ridiculous. That's what I think about the most is like when you think about the next pool of people that are thinking about becoming a police officer, like it's, I imagine enthusiasm for going into that line of work has declined significantly this year,
Starting point is 00:08:42 which is probably keeping a lot of good candidates out of the force. Yeah. You can't do it for the money because there's this, it's a vocation. Being a police officer is really a vocation. As is the fire department. You have to really want it. You're not going to get rich doing it. At least the fireman, everyone loves a fireman. because you're just running into buildings and saving people's lives. Cops are the disciplinarians. They're forced to enforce laws that they don't want to enforce. They're less popular.
Starting point is 00:09:07 You wrote a book called Confessions of a Catholic Cop. Very good book. Highly recommend. Can you pinpoint one of your scariest moments that you maybe wrote about in the book? That book I wrote 10 years ago. It could be any moment. It doesn't have to be in the book. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:09:22 What happens if you get accustomed to being, on edge when you're a cop and you work in the ghetto. I mean, the first couple of months, you're really nervous. But I remember the first time I pulled a gun on a guy. I was shaking. You know, I was shaking. I was afraid I had the wrong guy and I was afraid he would do something. And then I'd have to shoot him.
Starting point is 00:09:43 And I didn't know if I could shoot him. I really didn't know if he pulled a gun on me. I don't know what I would have done because it was the first time I'd ever done that in my life. Of course, when you work in a place like the South Bronx, you pull your gun every day. You get used to it. For people that are listening and they hear you say you pull your gun every day, like why is that, say you're making a routine stop? Like, you just automatically pull it out or is there something that's triggering that event? You pull the gun out.
Starting point is 00:10:06 In the South Bronx, you pull your gun out. You just keep it at your side. Because back in the 70s, there was a war on cops, just like now. We had the Black Liberation Army, and they were murdering cops on the streets. They were shooting them in the back. And I could get out of my police car and somebody could drop a cinder block on my head. It was, the ghetto was like that. They throw couches down, cinder blocks, bricks.
Starting point is 00:10:28 So you always had to be prepared. And when you walked into any building, and they're all tenements, they're all really run down tenements. You don't know who's waiting for you, whether it's a trap. Frequently it was. Sometimes it's just kids trying to dump urine on you or something. But other times you're walking on a drug dealing situation. And it's like, oh, my God, what do I do now? We're watching this show, which is so good, if you haven't watched it, called 60 Days In.
Starting point is 00:10:53 No, I haven't seen yet. Okay, so it's about prisons and jails, not prison. Yeah, jail, jail, jail, jail, they send moles into the prisons. Like, everyday people. Every day people. And there could be a girl that looks like me and a girl that looks like, or a guy that looks like Michael, but then there could also be a Marine. And then there could maybe be an ex-drug addict that used to be in jail, but now he's
Starting point is 00:11:15 reformed into a preacher. So they send all these different people in. And they don't tell, the only person that knows is the warden of the, or the head of the prison, the sheriff and the person. So none of the inmates know and none of the jail staff knows. And they go in and they actually live like actual inmates for 60 days. And then they have to go through and see like some people opt out. Some people stay the whole time.
Starting point is 00:11:35 And it's like this whole experience of like. And the reason they do it is the what they say on the show is the jails are trying to figure out better ways to run their jail. So they want to unbiased thought process from what it's like to be an inmate, watch observing other inmates as well as observing the jail staff. Yeah. So anyways. So as what we're watching.
Starting point is 00:11:52 this, Michael and I keep commenting on the prisons or the jail system. It's fucked up. Terrible. What are your thoughts on that? When you're bringing someone to jail, do you, what do you feel? Do you think the prison systems, or I should say jail systems fucked up, that's what we're watching. It seems like there's no chance for rehabilitation. A lot of people really belong in jail. They're just bad. They're evil and nothing's going to change them. There's the occasional guy, like a lot of these people in jail for drugs, I just, I think it's ridiculous. I think they're victims. Real drug addicts are like alcoholics.
Starting point is 00:12:26 They can't stop themselves. They're never going to stop themselves. In order to afford the habit, they're going to start getting into crime. So long as it's not violent crime, I don't see the purpose of filling the jails up with junkies. I said, they're like alcoholics. What if we'd start locking up all the alis? I'd have no friends left. Streets would be empty. Yeah, what they say on the show is like a lot of people that go into the jail system,
Starting point is 00:12:50 you can get drugs cheaper in the jail so they actually. go and try to get arrested to go into the jail? Oh, Michael Douglas' son was in. His son Cameron, and Cameron had a problem, wasn't a bad guy. It was a very nice guy. I know him. I know him. A terrific guy, and he got caught up in this drug stuff. And
Starting point is 00:13:06 eventually they grabbed him and I think they sentenced him to 11 years. Wow. He did five and he was going to get out on good behavior, but they do the blood tests and the urine test and they discovered that he was getting drugs in jail. Duh. It's easier to get him in jail than any place.
Starting point is 00:13:22 poor guy had to do more time, but he should never been in jail. Cameron should never been in jail. He said, yeah. Quick break to talk about one of our favorite services, one of our favorite brands, and that is Skillshare right off the backs of an episode we just did on productivity. What better way to start the new year in a productive way than by learning a new skill. And that's why we are happy to talk about Skillshare once again on this show. So for those of you that are new to this show and have not heard or have either been listening to this show and living under a rock,
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Starting point is 00:15:21 You wrote a book about it too, huh? Yes. Yes. She wrote a book about, yeah, memoir. Yeah. Yeah, I read a little bit of that. Yeah. That was good. Yeah. A lot of questions on this. Are there typical rules that you have to follow when you pull a gun? Oh, sure. I mean, be careful. So there's not like, there's not a system of rules that they give you as a police officer.
Starting point is 00:15:45 Well, you know, in the police academy, they try to run over a lot of scenarios. But in reality, it's not the street. When you're on the street, you're on your own. Cops on his own. He has to make his own decisions. If some guy scares you, he scares you. And if you need to be aggressive, you will be. Use what they call necessary physical force.
Starting point is 00:16:05 What do you think's changed since the time you were a police officer in the 70s to now? There's a lot of similarities because of the political environment. If you ask me this, when Bloomberg was mayor, I would have just said it's a lot better job because people have respect for cops. But now, you know, that's waning with all the politics. And so it's very much like it was in the 70s. So not a lot has changed, and it's going to get worse. And what happens is when you discourage cops from doing their job, and they're not going to do it, but they're going to hesitate.
Starting point is 00:16:35 Why should I run to a gun battle and I can walk? You know, why get involved? Because I'm the one's going to be in trouble. I make a wrong decision. I say the wrong thing. Really, you say the wrong thing, and they come down on you. Have you seen bad cops? Have you actually seen people that are acting out of integrity in the police?
Starting point is 00:16:54 The New York City Police Department is 38,000. people. All the guys I knew were just hardworking guys just trying to get home at night to their wife and kids. Most of them had second jobs. I never saw any brutality. I never saw anyone hurt who really didn't deserve to be hurt. You start fighting cops. You're going to get hurt. This is what they seem to be teaching people today. You can resist arrest. No, you can't. You can't resist arrest. You cannot. And if you do, you're going to get hurt. It's just a matter of time. Although now I think the cops will not, someone gets really aggressive. and a cop may just walk away and say, leave him alone.
Starting point is 00:17:30 Why should I be rolling on the floor with this character and wind up? I'll wind up in handcuffs. He's the bad guy. He's got the gun and the knife. He attacked me, but you're supposed to have more control, I guess. I don't know. Cops are people, too, you know? Cops are people too.
Starting point is 00:17:46 What was your epiphany on why you decided to leave? It was a Sunday. I don't forget it was a Sunday. Very quiet Sunday in the South Bronx, which is rare. You spend your time picking up the drunks and, And if you find dead bodies, you just call it, you call a morgue wagon. I was with a guy. Wasn't my partner.
Starting point is 00:18:02 He was just a filling, terrific guy. We were patrolling the southern part of Fort Apache. Some guy comes running up to us and says he was just robbed. And, okay, I'm going, oh, gosh, it's my last tour. I'm supposed to go away for the weekend. This is going to keep me a court for two days and all that kind of stuff. So we're a little hesitant. But the guy said, this guy over here robbed us, this guy over here.
Starting point is 00:18:24 And there was this big muscular guy with no shirt. He was all sweaty. It was like August. And we went over to talk to him, and he just kept walking. He wouldn't stop for us. He wouldn't listen to us. So I try to grab him. The guy threw me, threw me against the car. He threw my partner against the car. So now we're fighting this guy. And he was easily resisting arrest. He wasn't hurting us. We weren't hurting him either. He's accused of a robbery. I do have the option to take my gun out. And maybe he's a fleeing felon. He committed a robbery. But I didn't see him commit the robbery. And I don't know who this character is, who's saying he got robbed. You don't know what's going on. This is normal with cops. What hell what's going on? Who's telling the truth? In the end, the so-called robber, the accused robber, he just ran away. And then I was left with this complainant, and he was drunk. And then his friends came and wanted to fight us because they thought we were trying to arrest him or hurt him. So I remember saying to myself, I don't want to do this anymore. I just want to do this anymore. It's crazy. What, what am I doing out here in the street? What good
Starting point is 00:19:26 am I doing? So I put my papers in. But I was lucky because I had had an offer from NBC News at the time to sign on with the news division. So it was kind of an easier transition for me because I knew what I wanted to do and where I was going to go. Well, imagine that sentiment is shared by a lot of police officers these days because it's like you said, it's a vocation. It's very hard to make a lot of money, I mean, any money as a police officer. And if you are not being appreciated by the people that you're potentially protecting and serving, and instead you're being scrutinized and actually in a lot of cases being looked down upon. It's like who wants to deal with that. You're not making any money. Everybody's got a terrible attitude towards you. You're in danger every single day. You're dealing with
Starting point is 00:20:07 some of the hardest people in the world to deal with. And it's like, you know, I hear that. I'm like, who the hell would want to do that? Yeah. And that's what's scary about now. It's like, what do you think is going to happen with people that are really trying to protect and serve the public? It's like they're going to say, maybe I'm not going to do this. Maybe I go be a fireman. Maybe I go into another line. Maybe I'd be a bodyguard. What's going to happen with the public then? Well, there's an exodus from the New York City Police Department now. Sure, I can imagine. Especially the old guys, they put in their papers right away.
Starting point is 00:20:31 A lot of the newer people just aren't showing up. They pass the test. They, the academy calls them, and they're just not going in. Or if they want, maybe they can get a job in Suffolk County or someplace where they make double the money that the New York City cop makes. And it's a lot safer. Yeah, it's a bad situation. And the city's only going to get worse. So would you predict that the city's going to get more dangerous crimes going to rise?
Starting point is 00:20:51 Totally. I think shootings are up 200 percent now. Wow. Yeah. Wow. They did away with the anti-crime guys, which I used to do in the South Bronx. These are the guys to take the guns off the street. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:21:00 Somebody decided they were being too aggressive. Now we got guns on the street. Back when Giuliani was in and Bloomberg and Koch, no one carried guns because they knew the cops, at least only a stupid person would carry them. They would leave them places. So they always had a stash gun, like in a mailbox or something when they needed it. But they wouldn't carry it because they knew these cops are going to grab them and toss them and stop and frisk.
Starting point is 00:21:22 Stop and frisk worked. It's what brought law and order back back to the city. And until they bring it back, nothing's going to change. Crime will continue to climb. And when the politicians, city council, when they become victims, when their children become the victims, their wives are getting mugged and tossed on, it's tossed on, done on subway tracks, then things will change. Then you're going to see, you're going to see a law and order, a mayor come back in and a governor.
Starting point is 00:21:49 And then they'll say to the cops take, go do the job, lock people up, we'll back you up. Well, I think sometimes people, especially in politics that they haven't actually been in these circumstances, they hope for this dreamlike utopia where everybody gets along. Everybody's got warm and fuzzy feelings and nobody does harm to each other. And there's no guns and people don't need guns. It's called La La Land. Yeah, it doesn't exist. And I think like obviously all of us would love that and people try to work towards it. But it doesn't exist. And when people talk to me about gun rights, you know, in private, I always say like the fact of the matter is there are guns in America. There are legal and illegal guns. And if a criminal wants a gun, they're going to get a gun. regardless of whatever the laws, they exist in this country. So you need to have, instead of not just gun reform, but you need to have people that are actually policing these people and making sure that the people that shouldn't have them are getting caught with them and getting them taken away.
Starting point is 00:22:35 You don't have that. It's not like these guns are going to disappear and people are going to stop carrying. No, no, they're there. They're going to carry more. They're there, but very few legal guns are used in crime. Guys aren't going to use a registered weapon. The bad guys have these Saturday specials or whatever they call them these days. You know, they're easy to get.
Starting point is 00:22:49 You can't get rid of the bad guys. They're always going to be there. And the thing is, a cop, you learn to catch it. You may not remember this, but your mom used to go crazy. I was always locking the doors in the house in Carmel Valley. The kids used to run in running out at the door all the time. I was nuts. Every time the kids went out, I'd lock the doors.
Starting point is 00:23:07 Front doors, back doors, garage door, I'd lock everything up. And you guys couldn't get back in. Faye would be ringing the bell and ringing the bell. And your mom said, what are you doing? Just by having. I said, you can't leave the doors open. You go, yeah, you can. So, okay, so I learned.
Starting point is 00:23:22 If she's like me, if she was like me, then she was definitely leaving the doors open. Michael has to help me out with that too. How did you meet Lauren's mother? We met at a party in New York City at a place called Bruno's. It was a birthday party for a mutual friend of your aunt Cheryl, Polderunia. And that's where we met, yeah. I'll never forget when she told me about you. She showed me a picture of you.
Starting point is 00:23:47 And I said, is he an actor? I was. And you were. Do you used to work out in the garage? Yeah. Okay, that's, okay, I was young. I met you a few times, but Lauren and I were kind of like, at the time we were not, you know, I was like, once I've been like 12 or 13 years old. It was like, let's just say it how it was.
Starting point is 00:24:05 I was trying to hang out with older guys. Yeah, yeah. So I was kind of out of the picture, right? But I remember going over to Lauren's mom's house early, like, and I see you a couple times, we're like, what the hell is that big guy in the garage? Yeah, yeah. Kind of a scary guy at the time. Yeah, we put a gym in there.
Starting point is 00:24:17 Yeah. I put a gym in. I remember that. You know what I remember most about that house. What's that? There was a pool outside. There was a penis pool. You guys,
Starting point is 00:24:25 this penis pool had huge balls as the jacuzis. Like the layout. There was two jacuzis with huge balls and then it was a huge dick. And the best part of it is that there was a secret garden at the end. And the penis pool would sport into the secret garden. Was it like an accident designer or does somebody designed it? No, that's how the guy designed it, the owner.
Starting point is 00:24:44 Was my mom down with that? When she saw the penis pool, she's like, let him swim in the, We didn't really realize it at first. The way the pool was set up, it just looked like a pool. We kind of looked at the backyard and everything, but the house was beautiful, had a great kitchen, had the bedrooms. It was a new house. It was sitting on a great lot, gated community. So I don't think I noticed it right away. I don't think she did either. Except when we went out there one day and she started pruning the roses after a couple days there,
Starting point is 00:25:10 after we moved in. Oh, no, that's right. She was looking down from upstairs and she saw it. She got, oh, my God, look at this. It was a full deck. Yeah, a little dick. Yeah, an erect dick. Yeah, anorectic. I used to tell all my friends, come on, let's go swim in the dick. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:25:26 So I used to play Marco Polo there. They used to play Marco Polo. I want to ask you something about firefighters. So you have a lot of very good friends, one in particular that I know named Danny, who's a firefighter. Dan Noonan, yeah. Yes. They also have a hard time when they leave for different reasons, I feel like. I read a story that you wrote.
Starting point is 00:25:49 a while ago on his experience of a fire that he was taking care of. He ended up getting all these different things from that fire. Can you speak on that? Because I know you know a lot about that. All right. We're going to get more into that. But first, we're going to talk about ritual. But we're going to talk about ritual when it comes to your kids.
Starting point is 00:26:10 So if your kids are picky, you have not met the parents at ritual. They decided to use their high standard approach that they use with all of their vitamins and create essential for kids. Okay? first of all, I have been taking ritual for the last two years. I took it before I got pregnant. I took it while I was pregnant and I now take it after. And I know when Zaza turns four that I can give a ritual now. I don't need to second guess it. I don't need to be obsessive about the labels because ritual does it all for you. Okay. And they know how difficult it is for kids to get the nutrients you need. I have a friend where her five year old only eats macaroni and cheese. Like that's all he eats. He wants craft macaroni and cheese all the time. So she's been using essential for kids by ritual. I sent her some so she could try it out. And she's obsessed.
Starting point is 00:26:57 So she doesn't feel as anxious knowing that her child's only eating mac and cheese when at least he's having his vitamins. Here's another thing that you should note. Kids have trouble swallowing vitamins. We know this. And they also don't like the chalky taste. So ritual will design this natural citrus berry flavor that I've actually tried because I wanted to experiment with it and just test it out.
Starting point is 00:27:18 And in it, it has a daily multi, a vegan omega-3DH. A, and it's a good source of fiber, okay? So if you want to go on their website and check everything out, they laid it out for you, it's all streamlined. And I just feel like when it comes to kids, you want to know exactly what you're giving your kids and why you're giving it to them. And on their website, they have their full visible supply chain so you can see everything you're dealing with and you know what nutrients are in their multivitamins.
Starting point is 00:27:41 You also can see where they're sourced, which is a huge plus. When it comes to what's going in our kids' body, they've got being picky down to a science. That's why Ritual is offering all skinny confidential him and her life. listeners 10% off during your first three months. Visit ritual.com slash skinny to start ritual or add essential for kids today. And definitely check out their essential for women. That's the one I take. I love it. All right. Let's get back to the show. Sure. The story was called the Red Star of Death. And it was about a fire took place in the 70s in the telephone building down in the, I've got 11th street or something in the East Village. It was the first major fire where PCP was burning.
Starting point is 00:28:23 And what's that for anyone that doesn't know? It's plastic. All the phone companies had started using that kind of a casing. Although there was evidence that it was deadly if it burned, the people just ignored it and they started using it because it was cost effective and it did a good job. But the firemen who went to that particular fire, they didn't know what they were getting into. And every fireman who responded to the first alarm has cancer. And most are gone. Most are gone now.
Starting point is 00:28:54 That's terrible. Everybody, yeah. And the city didn't do the right thing by them. They turned their back on them, but they... Just from breathing the fumes, all these guys... Fumes. The fumes were jet black. And how long do they fight this fire?
Starting point is 00:29:08 Oh, God, it took, I think, a day. And I forget, I wrote the story, but I wrote it a long time ago. I forget, but no, it was a five-alarmor. And, you know, they fought it for a long time because they couldn't find the seat of the fire. And because of the conditions. You couldn't see anything. And the breathing packs in those days, I think they only lasted 20 minutes. Took you 20 minutes to get down to the bottom.
Starting point is 00:29:31 And everything was soot and ink black. Yeah, it was horrible. It was horrible. So firemen go, you know, they go through that a lot. You shouldn't talk about that dance position, but he's got cancer from that. And like I said, everybody from the first alarm is, I think they're all gone now. Do a lot of firefighters get cancer when they leave? Depends where they work. Yeah, they do. Sure, because of breathing the smokes. Yeah. Oh, sure. That is so crazy. The amount of things that happen after you leave the job after you think you're done with it. Yeah, after you think you're done with it. I know firemen, cerebral firemen, four and five different cancers from the environment. Yeah. Is it mostly lung? It's long prostate, skin, throat, everything. So I want to take a little twist. So after you start,
Starting point is 00:30:20 with NBC, you were doing a lot of modeling and acting, you decided that you wanted to do celebrity bodyguard. I was approached to, yeah, to help. I think it always started with. Might have been Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. I forget Gina Davis. I fucking, you never have told me that. I fucking love Kurt Russell and Goldie Haute.
Starting point is 00:30:39 Oh, yeah. You've never told me that. Oh, no. You were for Snake Pliskin. Yeah, right. I thought it's Bliskin. No, Pliskin. They were a great couple, by the way.
Starting point is 00:30:46 They're nice people. They seem so cool. They are. Like, they just seem like, they're not following society's standards. No. I like that. They're doing their things.
Starting point is 00:30:54 They act like regular people, like a minch. Kurt's a mensch. She's very sweet. It's like Michael and Catherine. They're regular people. They really are, you know. So you started with Goldie and Kurt. Right.
Starting point is 00:31:08 Gina Davis was another one. Okay. And so what is that job entail? Like, imagine someone has no idea. What time are you waking up? What are you doing? Are you waiting outside? Are you five feet away?
Starting point is 00:31:21 What's happening? All of the above. Okay. Walk us through it. You have to plan there. First of all, it depends on, are you just bodyguarding them, let's say, for a publicity tour? In that instance, you would do what they call advance work, which is you look at their itinerary
Starting point is 00:31:37 for the next few days, and you investigate it. You have yourself or guys go out and make sure there are fire exits and places for the cars to pull up and places for them to wait green rooms and make sure the green rooms are inaccessible by outsiders. It's really quite entailed. If they go into a restaurant, you pick the table, you do all that stuff in advance. I've had to stand at tables when celebrities are out having dinner. In the middle of the dining room, I've actually had to stand at the table and to keep people
Starting point is 00:32:05 away from them, which is embarrassing as hell for me, but that's what you got to do. You look like a moron. So you just stand there while they're eating. You stand there while they're eating. Your back is to them, but you're standing there with your hands folding in front of you, just keeping people away from them. Is it at their request or is it at their request or is it? Is it because, like, they don't, like, people are just going to go crazy.
Starting point is 00:32:21 What are you going to do? Someone comes up to the table. You have to have someone blocking them. People won't stop. Yeah, I guess when you're talking about like a Kurt Russell or Catherine Zeta Jones, people like, people are. They won't leave them. My favorite line from, I heard this from a celebrity, they said, is when people come up and say, I never do this but. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:32:37 Leave me alone, really? One celebrity told me they all come up and they say, I never do this, but. You should just come up and be like, listen, I'm a huge fucking fan. Well, what I find interesting about, I mean, I find a million things interesting. about you, but like when you, you know, you see the paparazzi pictures and you're in it, like, not that you don't look like a capable person, but you don't look like the typical big, strong bodyguard. Like, you look like an unassuming normal guy. You're all just put together in a blazer, but obviously you're very capable. Is that by design that celebrities
Starting point is 00:33:04 work with someone like, because you know, you see the other time, like. Some, the, usually the musicians, the rappers, a lot of the rock stars, they want the image. They want a big guy, a guy who's 240, 250 and that draws attention in its own right, right? It does. Well, that's the idea. That's the idea. A lot of them don't. Just having security is it's a feather in your hat. It means you're important. So you have a team of bodyguards. Some people really need them. Others don't need them at all. But if the production company is going to pay me, you know, so if they ask me to protect a person and I do an evaluation on them and I say, oh, first person doesn't need security, it's ridiculous. I'm not going to tell that to Disney or Paramount. I'm just going to say, oh, yeah, we got it. It's just an easier job for us. But some people have death threats and they have stalkers. And I've worked on those accounts, too. You have to be a lot more diligent. Per usual, Lauren, your skin is looking so glowy. Thanks, babe.
Starting point is 00:34:00 So I've been testing out Tacha and just loving it. I'm sure you guys have heard of their brand. And if you want the details, it's basically this Japanese beauty brand that believes that skincare is self-care. And I feel like right now we just need more of that. My thing is what I've been doing is I've been making skincare habits. So what I do is I take a few extra minutes a day to do my routine. I'm just making a severe commitment in 2021 to care for myself. I know moms out there can relate because it's so easy to get caught up and caring for
Starting point is 00:34:32 others, but it benefits everyone. I feel like everyone agrees with this when we can get a little self-care ritual in. That sounds almost like meditation. Yeah, you could use some of that, babe. So why I'm into this brand is that Tacha looks at skincare as a ritual, which I feel like elevates the whole entire skincare routine. And you guys should know that all Tachas formulas are gentle but effective. And what I love is they're made with natural time-tested ingredients.
Starting point is 00:34:58 And you guys can all give them a try for yourself with 15% off Tacha purchase with code skinny. So what do I need to use from Tacha to look glowy? Okay. So I've experienced a bunch of their products. But my ride or die for sure is the serum stick from Tacha because it keeps my skin hydrated and pillowy. Like when I press on my skin, it sort of bounces back at me in the best, most hydrated way. So if you're on the go like me, you've got to try the burrateroogami blotting papers. Whenever I feel too shiny for makeup or a workout, they work like a charm. Another standout is the dewy serum. If you're into serum, this is incredible. It resurfaces plums and locks in moisturizer for smoother plumber, dewier skin. It immediately boost hydration six times, okay? And the dewy serum helps replenish components of healthy skin that are lost over time. So don't be surprised when your friends ask why your skin is looking as soft as a baby, like how Michael is asking me right now.
Starting point is 00:35:48 adding to the bag now. They have something for everything, you guys. That's why we want to give you 15% off your Tacha purchase with Code Skinny. That's 15% off your purchase with Code Skinny. Get ready to glow. That's tauta.com code skinny. That's T-A-T-C-H-A.com. What is somebody that checks the boxes of needing security? Like who are those types of people and why do you say, okay, that person actually needs security? Well, someone who has a stalker is a prime example. And some stalkers are, they write a couple of letters and they, they, they They don't show up again. They'll scare the celebrity.
Starting point is 00:36:25 But other people are, they're going to camp outside your door. They're going to send death threats. And celebrities get frightened as they should because you don't know who's for real or who's just a nut, you know. What can you do with those people that are making those threats? Well, I mean, I've worked on that. I put people in jail. I put stalkers in jail. As a matter of fact, worked out here with the LAPD on a stalker who was stalking one of my clients.
Starting point is 00:36:47 And we grabbed them and put them in jail. It was a trial and everything. But, you know, I mean, if they try to hurt the client, if they try to get close to the client, you stop it. You stop it any way you have to. What if they're not hurting the client? What if they're just being obnoxious? So let's take like a Kylie Jenner, for instance. Obviously, she is someone that needs severe security. Yeah. So what if someone is like just in her bubble, in her space and you're helping out? How do you get them out of the bubble out of the ether while also maintaining the finesse of the client? Because you don't want to obviously like lose your mind and pull your gun. Oh. So what's the finesse there? It's using necessary physical force. So it depends. A lot of people are just going to walk away.
Starting point is 00:37:28 If I grab them on the thumb right here and start pressing, they'll go down to their knees. Why do you do that? It's a pressure point. Yeah. Oh, so next time you fuck with me. Wait, what do I do? I just grab the pressure point on his hand. The pressure point, yeah.
Starting point is 00:37:43 You put enough pressure in there. You get somebody's attention. They'll go right. I'm going to do that literally every day now. They'll go right down on one knee, and they really will. And then you get the celebrity to move on. And some people can just hurt away and say, please, later, come back later and she'll sign your autograph for you. Especially you're on the street shooting.
Starting point is 00:37:58 When you're on location, you've got nuts showing up. Even the ones that are weird, are pretty reasonable. Let me ask you this because this will be interesting. Catherine and Michael Douglas, when you're protecting them, do you see fans coming up to Catherine more than Michael because it's easier to approach a woman? or because a man is like more closed off and people or maybe have a different vibe with him? It depends. It depends who's got a film going. If Michael's got films going, people are going to go to Michael.
Starting point is 00:38:30 If he's got the Ant Man going, if Kermitske, Matt, whatever he's doing, the fans just go to him. If Catherine has a movie in the hopper and, you know, we're doing the press and they're together, people gravitate toward her. As far as when they're just alone in a restaurant and stuff, they keep a low profile. People don't normally bother them. but when you're when you're promoting a movie you've got to be on the public eye you've got to be on you know good morning america and conan o'brien or you know who the talk shows are the stalkers and the paparazzi and the fans they seem to always know where they're going to be so they show up but the vast majority of people are civil even even when they're a little bit aggressive you can you can usher them off which is being nice they say please you know come come back later what's the line with paparazzi like there's obviously got to be like a kind of give take relationship there if you're someone like a Captain George Jones or Michael Douglas for that long, you obviously develop some kind of a rapport. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:39:22 In New York, they're more civilized in other places. And part of that with me is because I treat them like human beings and I talk to them and I ask them, please. If you can photograph her down at the hotel, she's going to come out of the limo and full makeup. You're going to get the best shots of your life. And a lot of them will just say, oh, okay, thanks. And a lot of times, like Catherine's PR person would say that to me,
Starting point is 00:39:45 can you get these characters down in front of the Regency Hotel and not here at her apartment? Because she wants to make the entrance and as they should, it's a film. We've got a film premiere. We've got lights flying around. And again, most of them listen. We've had a few overly aggressive guys. One guy in particular I'm thinking about. But you just block them.
Starting point is 00:40:04 When if they're not cooperative, you make sure they don't get the shot. Because the celebrities like Michael got, they're very easy. They're very easy. Popsian shots, they'll stop and smile. Well, they're nice people, basically. Yeah, we don't get too many that are too aggressive. And it's like from being a cop, you learn it when you can see somebody in the crowd that doesn't look right. I bet paparazzi's warn me about psychos in their ranks.
Starting point is 00:40:29 They'll say, you know, watch this guy in the back. We have the blonde hair. There's something wrong with them. So the paparazzi are helping me out. And a lot of this is because I'm, you know, we treat them as human beings. I don't want to be their friend because they're bothering my client. Does it ever get sticky with a client where you're around them so much and you're, in their space and you're privy to all these private conversations that you have to keep your
Starting point is 00:40:48 mouth shut about. Does it ever get where it like crosses a line where it's like work and personal? I've always just shut down to me like Michael and Captain Douglas. Michael Douglas, Captain's Peter Jones. I know them as parents. I know them as a mom and dad and their kids. I don't really know them. I mean, they're movie stars, but that happens to be their job. No, I just I know them as parents. And when they're having family discussions, if I can, I walk away. Well, you know, I don't want to hear. I have my own family. My own problems. But they're a family. And I mean, if you're in the security world, you learn to shut down and not be listening to you. I don't want to hear anything. You wrote a book on this, too, if people want to read it. Confessions of a celebrity bodyguard. Yeah. Yeah, it's my latest novel. Yeah. It's a juicy book, too. Yeah. And it's available on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. I don't know. Amazon, I guess, has it. When the stores, these things, they're like produce. Books get into stores. They're there for God six weeks and then they're gone. So if you want to get them, you got to order them or go on. Thank God for Amazon.
Starting point is 00:41:49 Everyone orders on Amazon. Yes, exactly. Or support a small bookstore, of course. You can. But with what's going on in the world, Amazon is very quick and easy. Kindle's the way to go. Yeah. I'm a Kindle guy. So you sent me your manuscript of your latest book. That's a memoir. That's a true story. Yeah. And that is coming out and that is about your relationship. Or there's the theme. One thing. in it. Yeah. Is your relationship with Donald Trump, Marla Maples. Can you tell the audience some context
Starting point is 00:42:16 so they can understand? First of all, it's not sold yet. A publisher hasn't picked it up. I have a good agent. The guy named David Vigliano in New York. You met David. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:42:24 He's a good agent. And he has the book down, and he's pushing it around. I love, we're hoping for an auction, but you know, you never know. It's about the 80s.
Starting point is 00:42:32 Studio 54, my relationship. Donald, we were socializing then. We were friends. We dated three of the same girls. That kind of formed bond between us. And we were both members of Cafe Society. I was out every night. Donald's out
Starting point is 00:42:46 every night. We'd run into each other everywhere. He doesn't drink any alcohol, huh? He doesn't drink anything, and he doesn't smoke pot or anything like that. His older brother, Fred, had a boost problem. So Donald always said, he said, if I start this, I'm an addictive. He said, I'm an addictive personality. So, yeah, so he never, he never did. I don't think he should anyway, so. Yeah. He's good. He's aggressive the way. Yeah. He might. I think he was more aggressive. My God. So the stories about my life with people like Donald and Marla Maples was my girlfriend.
Starting point is 00:43:18 She lived with me. We're engaged for a short time. And then Donald started dating her after me. And she mentioned to Donald that, oh, I'm dating this cop, Tom Fitzsimmons. And Donald picked up the phone running around and called me up. And then we started running around a lot, a group of us. We got Atlantic City almost every weekend. Everything was on Donald.
Starting point is 00:43:37 He was a very generous guy. So he'd take a crew of us out in his helicopters. He had several. And he'd fly us all out there for the fights to see the Rolling Stones, to see any major sporting event or celebrity that was performing his casinos. He'd fly us all out. There's a group of us. They called us trumpets. What I find so crazy about Donald Trump pre-presidency and post is when you hear about his life pre, it's like women, good family, billionaire, helicopters, all this stuff. If you go back and watch the apprentice, he was actually, like, beloved by a lot of the American public. People really liked it.
Starting point is 00:44:13 And I always think to myself, like, why when you have all of that do you continue? Like, what do you think it is in him that makes him go and take on all the heat that he does as president and do everything? Because now, obviously, it's a much different story. When you look at someone's life like that, like, you don't, on the surface, it seems like he kind of had it all before. He did have it all before. But he's just, he's an aggressive guy. He's just one of those who's going to do the best he can. Again, I had a lot of fun with him. We, and we were, socializing. I never did business with Donald. He was a lot of laps. We were out every night. Again, in Studio 54, Majique, Regines, LeCerc, LeCocque, 21, Lutez. We were everywhere. It was a blast.
Starting point is 00:44:50 Yeah, I mean, a lot of people have changed their attitude. I mean, if you didn't think about Stern, like, he used to go on Stern all the time when they had a blast. And I think that attitude's changed. And it's crazy what happens to people. But yeah, I think it's just, it's interesting to look at now, sure, half the country's still absolutely crazy about him. The other half, obviously not so much. But like, before, you know, it seemed like he was on top of the world without having to take on the headache of all the stuff he said to take on. Yeah, no, he was. I think he did it for the right reasons.
Starting point is 00:45:15 I used to talk politics with him back in the 80s. Matter of fact, there's an article someplace on the Internet says that I'm the guy that I'm the first person to talk to Donald about running for president. I don't remember that, but some author said I did, and I doubt I did, but, you know, it makes a good story. He thought about running a few times, right? A few times, yeah, yeah. But I think he did it for the right reasons, and I think he tried his best to be the best
Starting point is 00:45:38 president. He could. It didn't work out. It didn't work out. But I know I think his motives were pure. He just wants to be the best at everything, whatever it takes, which I guess whatever it takes isn't good, but he just wants to be the best at everything. He does. But he's out now. Politics is a dirty business. Oh, man. I can't imagine going into, like, for any reason going into politics. He was uniquely qualified because the press has been after him since the 70s and 80s. The IRS probably done 100 investigations on this guy. And he's clean. He's got a vast empire. casinos are tough, especially because they were different kind of mobs involved in the casinos back then, the Japanese and the Russians. But he was a clean guy. I mean, he wouldn't do anything illegal.
Starting point is 00:46:21 I've been around for some things. That guy, I heard people say, we can do this for you. We can do that. Donald said, nope, I don't do any of that stuff. Let me ask you about his personality. His personality is obviously very aggressive, like whatever side you're on. It's an aggressive personality. Yeah. Was he aggressive like that when you were friends with him? Yeah, yeah. We went discussing world politics or geopolitics. We were having fun. We were deciding, you know, what stake we're going to get tonight or, you know, what show we're going to see? Who's Atlantic City? So it was all very social. So what are some qualities that you remember about him? Like if someone said describe him pre-presidency, what are the qualities? Well, he's very generous. We all these parties and the casinos and everything, he picked up all those checks. And man, I'll tell you, there are thousands and thousands of dollars. And I'm not talking once. I'm talking. many, many times. So he's very good to his, to his friend and to his trumpets, the gang.
Starting point is 00:47:11 He worked all the time. He was one of these guys that wasn't easy being one-on-one with him and just hanging because he always had the phones going. There was always somebody waiting for him. There's always a meeting going on. The fact that he was always a workaholic, I remember that about him. I don't know if that's a positive thing, but of course he liked the ladies, which is nothing wrong with that. We had that in common. And even when we socialize, like, there's another guy I knew a royalty guy, and had Malcolm Forbes, Sr. And he had a yacht called the Highlander overrun, used to keep it on the East River. And Donald and I would go to those parties.
Starting point is 00:47:44 Or actually, I'd run into Donald there. I don't so sure I went with him, but I'd see him there. And he was always doing business. I was there to meet girls and get drunk and, you know, have a great old time. But he was there and I'd do business. He was focused. And he'd be, Malcolm would introduce him around. And he was at a network.
Starting point is 00:48:00 And I was, that's not what I was doing. Were you surprised with the presidency thing? What part now? Were you surprised with the presidency? That he won? Yeah. No, were you surprised when he wanted to run when you heard this? No, because he almost threw his hat and ring back in 2009 or 10 or a bit.
Starting point is 00:48:17 I forget. He almost, no, I didn't really. I don't think that he thought he'd win. I think he wants to be a kingmaker. I think he was totally surprised when he actually won. I didn't think he ever thought he would. A lot of people have that standard. where it's like, you know, he ran and he thought he would get a lot of publicity and he got there,
Starting point is 00:48:35 but I didn't think he would actually get the nomination and then let him go on to win. And he'd throw his weight behind a candidate and the candidate would get win and Donald would be the kingmaker. And lo and behold, he wins. So, uh-oh, be careful what you wish for, yeah. You write in the memoir that he was obsessed with Marla Maples sexually. Yeah. Like just her body and the whole thing. She was a very sexy girl.
Starting point is 00:48:56 So do you think that he actually cheated on Ivanka with her or was this a separate relationship but that he had. Ivana. It's public records that he was seeing Marlowe while he was married. I read her book before this episode.
Starting point is 00:49:10 Avana's book. Avana. Yeah. That's the wife. Yeah. And she said, you can tell she's under NDA. She can't say much.
Starting point is 00:49:16 He must have made her sign something. Oh, totally. Yeah. She's fucking lock-lifted. Yeah. But in the book, she says that they were in Aspen and they were in line
Starting point is 00:49:24 at the place at the top. Ajax? Yes. No, no. No. No. The top. And they were in line
Starting point is 00:49:30 and she said she saw a woman. Marla Maples and something about the woman made her an... Ivana was tipped off. Okay. She didn't write about that. No, she was tipped off. She has that accent. She called Marla Mula.
Starting point is 00:49:44 So I believe that, and I write about this in the memoir, by the way, I write at this scene in detail. I think Marla, I think she approached Ivana first. I'm not sure. But then Vavana went at her and then stay away from my husband thing, you know, and Marla's saying, well, do you love them? Do you love them? That was really the beginning of the tabloid wars. And boy, that's just, again, it's in the memoir. It's unbelievable what happened. No one in a million years thought that simple divorce from some rich guy in New York was going to make the front page of the newspapers.
Starting point is 00:50:18 My God, the news cycle must have been real slow because they were the front page of the news cycles for four months, five months. Every paper, even the Times, everybody was in on it. Everybody was, and then she went into hiding. and they were, of course, I was hiding her for Donald, part of the time, and they were banging on my door, they were following me around, they tried to follow me around. It's not easy to follow a cop around, so they were trying. And of course, I knew where she was the whole time. Yeah, that was, it was just wild, but it started with that confrontation on the slopes of Aspen, absolutely. I'll tell you one thing about Donald Trump, whether you love him or hate him. He has to probably go down as one of the greatest marketers of all time.
Starting point is 00:50:54 Yeah. When you start to think about people throughout, like, in terms of getting attention, it's not just been since he's been president. Like he's been able to get attention his entire career somewhere, in other ways, divorce or buildings or his hotels or his casinos or running for president. Like the guy knows how to get attention. Like there should be courses and studies on how he's didn't, maybe do that.
Starting point is 00:51:13 He's the most known person in the known world. It's like, I'm not going to say he invented branding, but boy, he took it to a new level, the Trump name. He's very Kanye, like the way that they sporadically tweet,
Starting point is 00:51:26 like how Kanye will just tweet something. Yeah. Like, Michael's right. They know how to get attention. Yeah. Whether it's good or bad, he just knows how to get attention. Yeah. If you were to have a conversation with Donald Trump right here on air, what would you say? Hey, Donald, what's up? So normal conversation. Oh, sure. I would, first thing I'd say is I feel so sorry about his brother who passed away just recently. Robert, a really nice guy, really sweet guy, Robert. He used to go to the tennis matches with Robert, the U.S. Open and watch. He was different than Donald. He was a little bit more of a regular guy. He liked. to drink a couple of beers and and stuff like that. So that's the first thing I'd say. Other than that, I'd say, what's up?
Starting point is 00:52:06 What are you going to do now? What do you think he's going to do now? I don't know. I mean, I'm thinking he might try to make a comeback. He doesn't like to lose. I can't see him retiring. He's just, he's all energy. No, wired to retire, yeah.
Starting point is 00:52:17 Yeah, he's just, he's got too much going on in his head. I can't see him sitting down and just playing golf for the rest of his life. He'll get into something else. And he does have a power platform now. So being an ex-president, I know the secret service is going to cramp his lifestyle for sure. Because he's got secret service protection now forever. And, you know. Do you think he'll go back to New York?
Starting point is 00:52:37 I don't. I think Marilago. You do? Mailago, yeah. That's what I think, too. Yeah, New York is kind of, it's too confining now, especially the whole city shut down. So one of my favorite restaurants and his, we used to go together, was 21. It's just a few blocks from his house.
Starting point is 00:52:51 Still open? It's closed. And I think it'll come back at some point. But is it close because of COVID or is it closed? COVID. Like, it's why we're moving to Texas, right? Like, L.A. shut down, New York shut down. Like, you start to look and say high taxes, high costs, like biggest living or largest living
Starting point is 00:53:07 expenses in the country, but everything's shut, like, and you're crammed together. Like, why, like, why stay? Yeah. Yeah. I feel the same way. Can you share with our audience the title of your memoir? Are you waiting? Oh, it's called Not My Circus, not my monkey.
Starting point is 00:53:20 Genius. Love it. If our audience had to start with one book by you, it's out on Amazon. on. I personally would say start with Confessions of a Catholic Cop. I think you wrote it when we were living together. Yeah, I was writing that. Okay. That's exactly what I was writing. Yeah. You would wake up. I'll never forget this. It's very inspiring, actually. You would wake up every single morning. I'm not sure exactly the time, maybe 536. 5.5. And he would start writing. And when I would come down for school, every single day, he was in the room. I remember where you're facing,
Starting point is 00:53:53 writing on your computer. Very disciplined. To be a writer, it's not a fucking joke. Yeah. Oh, it's not. It's hard work. Yeah. But I like the process. But the second book, Confessions of a suicidal policewoman.
Starting point is 00:54:05 That's a great ride. Same characters. But the last one, the new one, is Confessions of a celebrity bodyguard. And that's got a lot of this bodyguard stuff in it. I will share each of these books with a swipe up to on the Skinny Confidential podcast, Instagram. Great. And then maybe you can come on the blog and we can do a little interview there too. Oh, sure.
Starting point is 00:54:23 I love to. Knowing Lauren now, and obviously, being with her mom for so long. Like, do you, when you see Lauren as an adult, do you see anything that they had in common? Like, is there things you recognize in Lauren that maybe you recognize in Wendy or, or, or no? They're both very bright. Your mom is extremely bright.
Starting point is 00:54:38 That's nice. Yes. And your mom is also an alpha, as you are. Big reader. Big reader. Big reader. And she took shit from no one. Your mom was, was, was, uh.
Starting point is 00:54:49 Oh, so Apple didn't fall too far from the tree. Yeah, yeah. But see, I grew up at that. My mom was an alpha and took shit from no one. And I have three sisters that are alas. So it's a perfect match. Yeah, you liked it. I feel like you guys were very matched. Sympatica. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, we got along. We just got along. I couldn't be with someone as a woman that's not an alpha. I know I would run too far, but I need somebody to check me.
Starting point is 00:55:13 Yeah, when he starts complaining that he's hungry, I'm like, fucking handle it. That's right. Go make something. Go figure it out. Is your arm broken? Oh, mine is your arm broken? Is your mouth broken? Tom, you can come back anytime. Thank you, long. This interview to me is so interesting because there's so many different things you've done in your life that you can go so many different directions. I cannot wait to read your memoir in print in a book. Right now I'm reading it on my book app, the document that you sent me, but I can't wait to read it in book.
Starting point is 00:55:42 I know it's going to be in book. Great. And for everyone who wants to find you or find your book, pimp yourself out. Okay. My agent is David Biggleano. Okay. And he's got the book. He's a good agent, too.
Starting point is 00:55:53 So that's the man they should call. And what about you? Like if they want to follow you on Instagram and stuff? I have an Instagram account. I'm on Facebook. Okay. I'm not that big on social media. I'm too busy writing to tell you the truth.
Starting point is 00:56:06 That's good. And all your books are on Amazon? Just search Thomas Fitzsimmons. Thomas Fitzsimmons. We'll leave it in the show notes. Tom. Beautiful. Thanks for coming on.
Starting point is 00:56:14 Thank you, babe. Thanks for coming on, buddy. Okay, Michael. Thanks. Giving away cute, cheek, stickers that you can decorate your hydroflask with. As always, all you have to do is tell us your favorite part this episode on my latest Instagram at the Skinny Confidential, and some people from my team will drop in
Starting point is 00:56:28 your inbox and send you some cute goodies. And if this show's brought you any kind of value, make sure you've rated and reviewed on iTunes. And we will see you next time. This episode is brought to you by Skillshare, one of our favorite partners, one of our favorite brands, one of the most productive businesses we can talk about on this show. Want to learn a new skill around pretty much anything taught to you by people like you and I? Check out Skillshare. Skillshare is an online learning community that offers membership with meaning, with so much to explore real projects to create and support fellow creatives. Skillshare empowers you to accomplish real growth.
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