The Bossticks - Perez Hilton On True Hollywood Stories, Celebrity Fallouts, Growing Through Controversy, & Life As An OG Blogger

Episode Date: October 4, 2021

#397: On today's episode we are joined by Perez Hilton. Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr., known professionally as Perez Hilton, is an American blogger, columnist, and media personality. His blog is known for posts covering gossip items about celebrities, and for posting tabloid photos. Today Perez joins the show to discuss Hollywood stories, redemption, and how the internet has evolved since he started.  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 Beekeeper's Naturals Beekeeper's Naturals is on a mission to reinvent your medicine with clean, effective products that actually work. Bee propolis delivers natural germ-fighting properties and antioxidants to defend and protect our bodies. It's sustainably sourced and this Spray is made with just three simple ingredients. You'll never find refined sugars, dyes, or dirty chemicals in these products. Ever. We've worked out an exclusive deal for Skinny Confidential listeners. Receive 15% off your first order. Go to www.BEEKEEPERSNATURALS.com/SKINNY or use code SKINNY at checkout to claim this deal.  This episode is brought to you by BETABRAND and their Betabrand dress pant yoga pants. To try these pants go to betabrand.com/skinny and receive 20% off your order. Millions of women agree these are the most comfortable pants you'll ever wear to work.  Produced by Dear Media 

The following podcast is a dear media production. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. Fantastic. And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride. Get ready for some major realness. Welcome to the skinny confidential, him and her.

I've been very scathed in that I'm fully aware that one of the reasons why perhaps, not even perhaps, most likely I'm not on television, is because I'm too polarizing. And I've burned too many bridges. And people are afraid of taking a chance. Oh, we can't put Perez on TV. We can't give him a talk show. We can't put him on a sitcom. We can't give him a reality show because I know how things work. Welcome back to the skinny confidential him and her show. That clip was from our guests of the show today, the one, the only Perez Hilton. We are on another wild ride with another wild guest. Perez Hilton was the place to go back in 2000. If you wanted to get the celeb gossip, you go to Perez Hilton.

It was this pink page. Everyone knows what I'm talking about. It's still up. It's still live. It's an iconic brand. It is an iconic brand. And here's the thing about Perez Hilton, which is interesting. He started out as a very tabloid-esque place on the internet.

He was very much about bashing people, bashing celebrities. but as he's grown, he's evolved. And I think, and Michael and I talk about this a lot, I think there has to be space for redemption and evolution when you're on the internet. Or even if there's not space for redemption on the internet, at least there's a space where people can hear people's stories and understand different backgrounds and perspectives. You know, we've been having more and more characters on this show

that not everybody agrees with the backgrounds of. And I think that's just great. I think it's gravy. I think it's amazing because what is life if you don't sit back and learn and watch people improve and see if there's a path of redemption and coming out the other side. Like to me, that's what make life's interesting. It doesn't mean that everybody has to be forgiven and everybody has to be given a pass. But let's get out of this cookie cutter. Everybody's the same. Everybody's perfect. Everybody's normal all the time and actually start listening to people's

stories and then reserving a place to say, hey, we either are going to give these people a pass and forgiveness or we're not or we're going to hold judgment or we're not, but at least create a space where you can actually hear the story. Yeah, it's very interesting to me when people come. at me and say, I can't believe you had this person on your show. I'm going to continue to have polarizing people on this show. I know Michael feels the same way. I don't have to agree with every single guest that comes on here. That's the beauty of this show. We're just showcasing people's stories. We would interview all different walks of life. We're totally open to that. I think we do. Yeah, we're going to continue to interview all different kinds of people. And I personally found

Perez's story to be very cool because he's really evolved. He's a father now. He even brought his kid into the studio with him. And he's changed his outlook. Well, if you thought this show was leave it to Beaver or the Partridge family, like, I don't know what you've been listening to over the last 400 episodes. Yeah, this isn't pleasant, Phil. You know, I feel like if you just want a cookie cutter interview of people that you agree with, that this ain't the podcast. Go watch the fucking Today show. I don't think we're loud on the Today Show. Good morning. Good morning America. Yeah, good morning. Good morning. morning, America. Yeah.

And I think if you're uncomfortable with hearing people that you don't agree with, this maybe isn't the right platform to consume. Yeah, probably not. Speaking of pink, I launched a humidifier. The skinny confidential times canopy humidifier is here. It's launched. It is so cute. No more sterile, ugly-ass butthole humidifiers.

We created a skinny confidential ask version. She is cute, you guys. She looks cute in a nursery, a playroom, a kitchen. an office, your room. Only you could get away with saying the word butthole describing a humidifier, but I agree with it. But it is a butthole. Well, I'm saying only you could get away with that. But now that you think about other humidifiers, like they are butthole-ish. When we talked to the founders of canopy, we talked about how those things get all crusty and gross. So I get what you're talking about. It's actually really cool because this is one of the only humidifiers that does not

mold on the market. A lot of them mold. And trust me, I have been. been a humidifier consumer for years. Since I started reading Perez Hilton 5,000 years ago, I've been using a humidifier. Dating yourself. I'm dating myself. Anyway, this humidifier is so cute. You can find it on get canopy.com. And if you're going to use it, you can use my secret code. I'm only giving to the podcast right now. You're going to use pink glow for 10% off your purchase at get canopy.com. And that is pink glow. You get a discount. It's worth mentioning once it's gone. It's gone. Limited run.

Yeah, this is sort of a collector's item. Like, once you get it, you get it. It's done. Once it's gone and it ain't coming back. It ain't coming back. Look at that accent. On that note, let's get into it with Perez. I actually read his autobiography.

He is an author before having him come on this podcast. I got to learn all about him. But to give you the quick rundown before we get into it, he's an American blogger, a columnist, and a media personality. His blog is known for post covering gossip items about celebrities. He in his book talks about everything. He goes there. And in this episode, he goes there too. We talk about him making out with John Mayer, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga. He had a whole drama with her. He really tells it how it is. And if you appreciate someone who is very, very, very honest, you will love this episode. On that note, let's meet the original celebrity social media influencer Perez Hilton. This is the skinny confidential, him and her. What if I say a bad word in front of Mario?

It's all good. I can say anything? Sure. Anything from the book. Okay. I'm sure. Yeah. We'll try to be.

We'll try. No, you don't have to. Plug your ears. I'm just kidding. Ready, Taylor? I got the first question that I just. No, no, no. I have the first question.

Okay. Okay. Okay. So I'm reading your book and it says you're sitting at coffee bean on your computer. and in walks, Lindsay Lohan. And she beelines towards you. And you said she had a bone to pick.

That happened a few times with different celebrities. No doubt. I realized after a while, once I started to achieve success, that maybe it wasn't a good idea to be working out of the same public place every day because not only could celebrities find and confront me, but so could lawyers that were serving me lawsuits, paparazzi, crazy people. Although it's 2021.

We shouldn't be using the term crazy people anymore. The mentally unstable, which did happen. I had some Scientologists confront me there. It's 2021 now, and Lindsay Lohen is like a little sister to me. We've had a lot of issues in the past, but thankfully, what's that noise? Oh, stop playing with that. Sorry. Mario's here.

We're doing a podcast. Put that on the floor. Oh, my God. He's such a podcaster. Perez, the podcaster. I brought my son with me. That's okay. He's so cute.

He's over there. Just because, you know, we're recording this and he's not in school right now. And I thought it would be fun to bring him along because, you know, we're starting to get back to normal. And also, you know, oh, now he's really involved. Get him a mic, he loves that it's the skyscraper that we're in because he does love architecture and drawing. and all those things. He's seen me on TV before, but not in a while. And I thought it'd be just good for him to get more of an understanding of what dad does. Yeah, it shows how entrepreneurial. Because you have kids too, right? How old are they? One and half. I only have one. One. Yeah, one and a half. She's in the

back doing my taxes. So, yes, Lindsay Lohan and I are good now. We had that moment where she confronted, she didn't confront me. It was more of she wanted me to see her. The producer or the director, of the movie that she was doing did the unorthodox thing of releasing a public letter about how unprofessional Lindsay was and then she showed up at the coffee being where she knew I would be at to say,

oh, hey, I'm off to work and I'm showing up early because she wanted me to write about it. So she came to show you that she was showing up early. Yes. And what do you say? I mean, I can only imagine. I was like, good for you. And then you also tell in the book the story of Lady Gaga, which is like the whole friendship that you guys had seemed like there was so much dynamic.

You know, I used to call her my wife and marriages often don't work out. And that's what happened. And it's unfortunate because I truly loved her like more than a friend. Like, I believed in her from the very beginning before she was known to the world. And I would have still been friends with her had she not been famous. Like, I'm friends with a lot of musicians that never really took off. Don't you think it's probably hard for these people that get so famous to maintain friendships? Because they're so famous and everyone's a yes, yes, yes person around them.

And you seem to me to be someone that calls someone out on their shit. And maybe they don't like that. Yeah, or like, oh my God. I don't think I talked about this in the book, but like there came a point where she just did not want me to be fully honest with her anymore. For example, towards the end of our relationship, she was wearing her hair in a certain way that reminded me of this other musician that was on the come up during that time. Her name was porcelain black. And she used to have black and white hair. And Gaga then started doing the black and white hair.

And I said, hey, some people might, might, I was just saying it to her to try to like give her a heads up that some people might make a comparison or this or that or the other. And that pissed her off. And I'm like, I didn't accuse you of copying her. I was just saying that some people might make that. You call it how you see it. You've always called her how you see it. I was just giving her a heads up. Like, oh my gosh, I'm trying to be preventative, proactive, helping.

But she didn't see it as helping. That was doing a very difficult time for her. Now that it's been a decade since we've had her falling out, I have a lot of compassion for what she was going through because she went from being unknown to being the biggest pop star at the time on the planet. And, you know, she talked about it herself. She was going through substance abuse issues at the time. So I wish her nothing but the best. Yeah, it's probably really hard. We talk about this a lot on this podcast to have like an astronaut syndrome where you,

you go to the moon almost too quick and then you have to come back down to Earth and Earth is boring because you've been to the moon and nothing's interesting. One of the great things for Taylor Swift is that I would say she's still an A-lister, but when she truly popped globally in the most major way, the peak of her career was her 1989 era, which came out in 2015. But at that point, Taylor was eight years deep into her career. Yeah, she'd be slowly building. Yeah.

So she had a decade almost of being in the industry and dealing with the media and dealing with everything that comes with that. Yeah, on a smaller scale, we see it all the time, even in like this small world of like influencers podcast, which is getting bigger and bigger. You see people all of a sudden like they're an overnight success or they went viral, right? And they haven't been part of that build process. So maybe it's not that they're not talented. It's just maybe they don't appreciate the work that goes into it as much as someone who's been doing it a long time, right? And they think it's going to last forever. Especially because a lot of these influencers that are hot right now are so young.

And they think not only will it last forever, they think it'll continue to be as easy as it is now forever. And they think it'll keep getting bigger. And that's not, and it's statistically, that's not the case for most influencers. Even the ones that people follow just because they're hot, right? like, oh, I love following that hot chick or that hot dude. And eventually the engagement goes down if they just keep doing the same thing over and over and over and over again. Yeah.

I do love to mentor and help young influencers and give them a device. So I do that out of the kindness of my heart. I just start like a consulting agency or something. I mean, you've seen it. You've seen so many different careers rise, fall. And you've also, not only that, you've been a practitioner of that because you've reported on it. Yeah.

I've been doing what I do now for 17 years. Yeah, that's wild. Longer than most influencers that are popular now have even been alive. Do you think that Perez Hilton, as Perez Hilton started when you started 17 years ago, could exist in 2021? Everyone is obviously. Absolutely. You do.

You think exactly how it was. There are many people that are similar to me in what I used to do that are doing it now. Like the best example I would say is Jake Paul. Provocateur, does it need to be liked to be successful? In fact, post cancellation, he's even more successful than before. That's true. He's polarizing and that's why he's successful. Well, the main reason he's successful and this is why one of the many things that I tell

young influencers is it's all about the work ethic. right? You may be able to luck your way into success, but you will not sustain success without an unhealthy work ethic, not even an incredible work ethic. There's so much turnover. There's constant demands of not just creating content, but then engaging with your content and making your followers feel seen and appreciated. You have to be bigger than any one platform. Because If that algorithm changes, you're screwed. You have to be everywhere, which some people disagree with. I know that there are those folks who think, oh, no, no, no, just dominate on one platform

and don't try to be everything everywhere. I disagree. You have to be everything everywhere because things are constantly changing and you never know what will pop here and not pop there. And I am the original influencer and I owe so much to non-traditional media, but I owe everything to traditional media because it is the traditional media, the TV shows, the magazines, the newspapers that started writing about me that made me credible, that made me bigger than what I was doing. So that's why the Jake Pauls and the Logan Pauls will be forever, even if you

dislike them, because they're now not just YouTubers. They're bona fide celebrities. They've grown all the platforms. Yes, exactly. They're not platform dependent on it. anything. Exactly. Where they go platforms follow or grow. Right. No, I think, you know, you look at someone like Jake Paul. People, I mean, he's, now he's obviously going into boxing. People don't realize how hard that dude works and he can crack. Like he, he's maybe not at the level as some of these professional fighters that have been there for a long time, but I can see him working. He's in his prime. He's young. He's going to outwork a lot of people. And he's got, he's got what, what I think is one of the most important elements is he's going to prove the world wrong. Everybody

wants to see that dude's downfall in that world. And so he's going to, and I look at a guy like they're like he's going to win just because he wants to prove everybody else wrong. Well, he's going to win because he's already established the bar, right? The bar is you're a douchebag. And he's still successful. That's why it's harder for somebody to recover from scandal or cancellation if their whole brand is you're lovable, you're so relatable. That's why Howard Stern's so fucking amazing because he just, he doesn't give a fuck.

He says what he wants. But he's also grown and involved. And I do think that that is important, right? Like, you need to connect with people and authenticity is everything. And I don't know if Jake Paul has learned that yet because... How old is the guy? 25, 25, yeah. So he's got time.

You know, titillation is great and fun and even just that word makes me happy. But there needs to be substance as well. And I don't get that from him. I get it from Logan, though. Yes. I think I do. He's a little bit older. He's a little older, but he's got his own podcast.

He's given me, but he's still a bit of a douchebag too, which is great. He keeps that edge. But what it is what those guys is like, say what you want about them. They know how to court attention. They know how to keep your attention too. Absolutely. They know how to get everybody riled up and talk about them? I mean, how does a YouTuber end up fighting the greatest boxer of all time, right?

It's because he knows how to court attention. They know how to make money. They know how to stay relevant. What celebrity has gotten the most mad at you? And what did that look like? And maybe something that was actually like off putting to you where you were like, whoa, I can't believe I pissed that celebrity off. I mean, so many.

You're like, let me fall out my scroll. And I'm just like analyzing myself. And I smiled, but it was an awkward smile because I do regret so much of what I did in the past. But I'm also over being on an apology tour. Fuck that. Because I don't regret everything because I worked my ass off.

and because I was doing the best I could or I thought at the time. And I changed and I stopped and I don't do everything that I used to do and how I used to do it. And I think that that was a choice and not everybody has that growth in life. I realized at a certain point, you know what? Maybe I shouldn't say everything that I think, which not everybody learns. There's a whole movement about, oh, the whole PC. PPC, like, okay, maybe that's not the right way to describe it, but I think we should be mindful of our words and actions and be considerate of others.

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how much you love them. Yeah. I think like a lot of what we talk about here is like the intention. Yes. Oh, absolutely. The intention is everything. I'm trying to go and like really tear people down and really hurt them and like cause, you know, problems in their life. Like maybe that's not the right intention. But, you know, at the same time, like, I do think you could be able to say things that are maybe out there with the right intention in place. Like I don't want to get to a place where everybody is so careful about every single thing they say, right? As long as their intentions in the right place, which I think we're as human beings are smart enough to decide or decipher. But what's interesting is, and maybe this is just my perception, really, young people don't agree with what you just said. Sure. No, I know. I think that that's setting themselves for, like, I don't want to coddle a generation from life, right? I don't want to say like, hey, like, everything's always going to make you feel good and nobody's ever going to say anything to hurt your feelings and everything's always going to be fine. It's fucking not. Like just this week, I made a video where I was talking about Demi Lovato and I accidentally refer to Demi as she, even though Demi now identifies as they, them. And it was.

was not an intentional misgendering, but her fans got so upset at me. And I'm like, intention is everything. Listen, I'm old enough to not care about anything. And if I was going to be petty or intentionally trying to be hurtful, I would just tell you. Yeah. It was a slip-up. Yeah. But young people don't care about intention. For many of them, not all. A young Perez. Because you talk about that in the book. What were you like when you were growing up? Have you always been outspoken? Were you shy and then you became outspoken? What did that look like?

I just got a real deep moment. Like in many ways, we grow and we evolve, but we also remain the same. Right. So in some ways, I'm still the same me that I was as a teenager, both incredibly outgoing, but also incredibly shy at the same time. I think the whole facade and bravado of Perez was one of the reasons why I wanted to be an actor, but then suffering the loss of my dad and being an outsider and being very heavy and like fat. I'll use the word fat and not really having close friends.

I lived in my own world. Like I almost wish that I had written my memoir this year because I have so much more understanding after getting back into therapy. I wrote my memoir in 2019 and then 2020 happened and that pushed me to get back. and seek help. And it has been very helpful. And only now am I realizing how my dad's death at 14 years old affected so much. And I still have to take accountability for everything. But Perez and all of that was running away from my problems and an escape and like literally creating this alter ego. And only now that I have three kids and that I'm slowing my life down and realizing

I don't constantly have to be on my phone, even when I go tinkle. You know, like, I don't have to do this. Like, allowing myself, like, this is, I'm such an old man now. Allowing myself 15 minutes to go on a walk every day to just be, like, that's my meditation. Like, the thought of meditation used to scare me. So I don't do it, but I walk and that's my meditation. So, yeah, I'm still that same, both very outgoing and very shy person at the same time. I'm both.

Well, you seem like you're very at peace right now. When you were younger, did some of these things manifest as anger? Or was it like insecurity or was it sad? It's like, what did it come out as? It came out as not wanting to be fully present in my life. So I wasn't. I drowned myself. But then that ended up helping me in another way.

After my dad died, I ended up drowning myself in television. This was pre-internet and I was poor. So I didn't have a computer growing up. Disassociation. That's what you were doing. You were disassociating from it. I didn't have a computer until my senior year of college. Wow.

Up until then, I just had a brother word processor. I grew up in Miami, which is a lot like Los Angeles and you need a car. I was poor. I couldn't afford a car. I had a bicycle. Then my bicycle got stolen. I felt like I was stuck there and a prisoner. I felt like I was a prisoner.

So all I would do, I'd get home from school. I didn't have any after school activities. I wasn't active. I didn't really have many friends. And the TV was my babysitter and my friend. And from 3 p.m. to like midnight, I would just watch TV and not like do any homework or anything. And if I did have a paper due the next day, I'd start it at midnight, work on it for two or three hours, get three or four hours of sleep and turn it in. And God bless my mom.

She was doing the best she could, my kids. I will not let them do that. I need to train them and teach them from my mistakes to not repeat them. Like the importance of sleep, the importance of being proactive and not leaving things until the last minute. And despite me being the ultimate procrastinator, I did exceptionally well in school. Well, what's so interesting about you is that towards the end of your book, I was reading about your mornings.

And I was very, very impressed. You wake up very early. You have a very serious. of a very specific schedule that you could maybe speak on. So it sounds like you've really learned from being so reactive. You changed to being proactive. Oh, God. I'm totally, in that sense, the opposite of how I was growing up,

we are going away on vacation soon. And I've had my, yes, two days. I've had my suitcases packed for eight days now. Don't give my husband any ideas, Perez. That is out of control. Stop. No, stop. Don't do it.

Well, because we're going away for three weeks. So I want to make sure I have everything and things come up and, you know, like we're staying in an Airbnb. So I'm like, oh, I've got to take my salad dressing. I'm a little loopy because like I want my salad dressing that I use. What's your salad dressing? It's not even mine. It's one that I like. What's the brand?

All right. I'll name check her because she did send it to me for free. Okay. Bethany Frankl Skinny Girl. Woo! I love it. The poppy seed is my. favorite. Okay. And the honey dejean mustard. Wait, so you have to tell us first what you're,

I don't know if your morning routines changed since you wrote the book. It might have changed. It has changed. Tell us a little bit about it because it was very detailed. Sure. My morning routine is changed. I wake up now at 528 a.m. You wake up at 5.30? No, I'm laughing because I told you how specific at 1.5.28. Because now I work out at 6 a.m. every morning and I just know that I want well, not 30 minutes. I want 32 minutes to get up, get ready, and do what I need to before I have to start working out. So I'll wake up. I'll do a little bit of social media stuff right away.

I'll do my workout at six. The kids are still sleeping. After I'm done with my live Zoom fitness class from home, I'll go on a walk. He joins me on the weekends. That's what he says. He said I do that. because it's important to be healthy. I go on my daily walks.

That's new. Then I come home. I shower. We have some time. We go over our eight most important things in life here. You want to share that? Yeah, share what's your most eight important things. You could say it in Spanish and I'll translate.

Come here. Come here. All right. So every morning or close to every morning, he and his sisters, I'll alternate, like one, day I'll have him say it or I'll have one of his sisters say it or we'll say it together. What are the eight most important things in life in Spanish?

And I'll translate. I'm going to learn to be here. Yeah. First is your family. Your family is the number one most important thing in life. Number two? Listen. No.

Oh my God. You're like messing up now. He's nervous. That's okay. You're sure. Number one is family. It's the most important thing in life. Number two is to work very hard.

And if they don't say very, that's not, it's not, you know, you have to work very hard. Number three is listen. Number four, don't lie. Number five, be healthy. Number six, gratitude. Number seven, have fun. And number eight is breathe. And this is just something that I came up with that I think, you know.

It's a good list. Yeah. Like, if you're struggling at any point in life, think back on those eight things. Like, did I not do one of these things? Can I do one of these things? And that could hopefully get you through some hard time. My friends and my family cannot stop texting me about be. keepers naturals, but there's one product that they're all obsessed with across the board.

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And then what happens? You discover a computer and you start the site and it just starts work. No, no, not even. I don't, I obviously am very familiar with you. I graduated college with a degree in acting. Okay. I stayed in New York where I went to school. I went to NYU on a full scholarship, academic scholarship. And I was there for about two years, did a couple of small things. I did a real low-budget horror movie called Camp Fire Stories. I was on one episode of The Sopranos.

I had two lines. I didn't know that. Which one? Season three, episode three. They're robbing the benefit concert at Rutgers. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm one of the ticket takers. And what's so funny is that,

I don't really have many celebrity friends anymore, but one of the ones that has been a tried and true decades-long friend is Jewel. And in that episode of The Sopranos, they were robbing a Jewel concert. And I said, you're robbing a benefit concert. You know that? They're like, give them the other words. And like, most people charge it to their student cards. I remember that now that you just said that. And you also made a cameo in the Hills.

That was recently. Yeah. Okay, with Misha Barton. Mm-hmm. Yeah. What was when the hills was so popular, I'm sure our audience wants to know this. What was the difference between then when it was so popular and now with social media? Like, what do you see as the difference?

Because it's now the new beginnings, but it used to be just the hills. The difference. Wow. The difference was that the mainstream media used to be so much more important. I mean, I remember Spencer and Heidi and Lauren and Kristen and Audrina, all of those people. people would be on the cover of all the Celebrity Weeklys every week in 2008, 2009, for about a three-period window, three-year window before the Kardashians really took off. Because the Kardashians did start around the same time as the Hills, but the show wasn't a blowout success at first.

The Hills was everything at the time, especially for my demo. And, you know, now, I don't even know if people read us weekly anymore or if they even care. Like, a lot of magazines have gone out of business, like that whole model of everything has changed. I mean, for the longest time, my website used to be called Perezhilton.com, Hollywood's most hated website, and the TV show that dubbed me, officially, Hollywood's most hated website doesn't even exist anymore. I was featured on this TV show in February of 2005, and the show was called The Insider, and it used to be the companion show, the sister's show, to Entertainment Tonight. And that show got canceled. And it's like, you know, I'm so, listen, I'm not just honest about celebrities. I'm honest about myself.

I know I'm not an it girl anymore. I'm not hot, but I'm still here and I'm an icon. And I don't say that cockily. I am an icon. Perez is forever and I'm bigger than any one thing. And it's not about having the, you may have five million followers on TikTok and 99% of the population. has no idea who you are. I'm banned on TikTok and 99% of the population knows who I am. Yeah, that is true. That's crazy. You're right. You are

iconic. I mean... Thank you. No, your website, like that... Like, it's very well branded. It's the pink and the hot pink. Even I can picture like the font of it, everything. It's... You've done really good at building a brand. You inserted yourself somehow into pop culture to the point where like you could not be ignored.

I was a part of many stories. And I've done so many things. You know, like I learned from the best, Madonna, the queen of reinvention. You know, I was reinventing every other week from dyeing my hair, all these crazy colors, to then losing weight, to then I don't want to be a douchebag anymore, to then doing acting, then doing reality TV. Being a dad, doing all these things. Like being a real human being that maybe actually not a problem, but that. shows all aspects of his life and shows growth and shows realness. I'm the exception to the norm.

Most everybody isn't showing realness on social media. You're right. I mean, you are right about that. What do you think about how remember when, and this is just going off of the hills content, remember when Spencer and Heidi used to do paparazzi planned shoots? Oh my God. Here's my question for you because I feel like you're the perfect person to ask. how many people are still doing that?

Is it everyone? Not everyone, but even the Kardashians still do that. So what does that look like? They have a deal with the paparazzi where they plan to... It depends. Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don't. If you're talking about Spencer and Heidi,

they would split the profits or they might get like an outright just flat fee, which I don't think that that's as likely because it's never a guarantee that it'll sell for however much. So it's more likely that they just split it. But with the Kardashians, especially because they have all these businesses, like if Kim is launching her new skims, whatever, she wants to be photographed wearing it. So she'll let them know, I'm going to be here doing this. Go take your photos. What are some things like that that go on behind the scenes

with celebrities that we don't know about that you obviously do know about because you're privy to it? I mean, whenever you hear, it's also important. important to know your sources and who you can trust. I take what I do very seriously, something like the National Enquirer, not so much. They straight up make up things every week. That was going to be one of my questions to you is like, how do you get and source and vet your stories and say, like, I'll publish this. I need to be very confident that something is true. Or if I'm reading something, if I know that something is in People magazine, the behind the scenes is a source in People magazine, it's often their manager or the agent or a family member.

Like they're planning the story. Yeah, I would say they're the most reputable of all the celebrity magazines, people is. They're like the New York Times of celebrity reporting. Have you ever had to retract? Oh, God, yes. And like, what does that look like? You just, you just jump the gun. You want to break it first?

I'm from Miami. My family's Cuban. You know, when I first achieved success, the Cuban community was very proud. And there still are. So in my network of contacts are powerful people, politicians, famous people in the Cuban community. I think it was 2008. I got a tip from an impeccable source that ended up being wrong. And that source said Fidel Castro is dead.

So I ran with it. I said, Fidel Castro was dead. Oh, my God. And then allegedly, he turned out not to be dead. But you know what? I think I still stand behind my original reporting because he really wasn't seen in public after I said he was dead. And I don't believe the Cuban government.

You know, they're historically known for lying and being oppressive. So all these years later, I'm standing behind my original reporting. He did die when I said he did. Is there anything you've put out there in a celebrity? We were like, oh, shit, I shouldn't have done. You actually like feel bad and you go back and you're like, hey, I'm sorry. Can we have an example? I don't want to give examples of nasty, cruel things that I said that hurt people because I don't want to hurt them again by repeating that.

But everybody knows. I'm not pretend. I don't try to erase my past. I hold myself accountable. There is no excuse for what I. did. These are great conversations to have with my kids now and in the future. Like, I've already told my kids, you know, a lot of people don't like your dad at eight and six and three years old. And I think that's a good thing for them to learn because what matters, like I said, a few moments

ago, the number one most important thing in life, family. That's what matters most. And it's good for them to know, like, because they're going to be navigating the world of social media. And hopefully, they can learn from me that what others say shouldn't matter. You know, what strangers or a friend or whatever, it shouldn't affect you. What matters is what you know to be true, your experience, and your family. And it sucks because she's, you often think growing up, oh, you know more than your parents. Oh, my mother is so wrong. And my mother used to tell me, friends will come and friends will go. The family is forever. You know, the Latino. are a very close-knit community.

And she was right. My mom lives with me. She's got her own little guest house, so she's not in our space. She needed her privacy. But I wouldn't trade that for anything else. Tell us the story. This is a little plot twist of how you made out with John Mayer.

This is a true story that he has confirmed. It was New Year's Eve, I think 2007 into 2008. This was back when I was co-hosting MTV's New Year's Eve. That year, I forget who else it was. The other year, it was Tila Tequila, who now is just thinking she's like an apostle of God and a Nazi as well. Yeah. God bless her and her children. God bless them and keep them safe.

But yeah, I was co-hosting MTV New Year's Eve, which was amazing because I grew up watching MTV New Year's Eve. And I got to do it two years in a row. I was an it girl. I co-hosted MTV New Year's Eve two years in a row. And one of those years, I was in the middle of Times Square. And I was escorted by security. And it was just one of those like pinch me moments. So after I was done with work, I went and I co-hosted a party.

with Christina Aguilera at a hotel. She had performed, I don't think it was part of MTV. She had performed, I think, for the Dick Clark show. We co-hosted this party together. And then after that party was over, we went to the after party at this club that a friend of mine owned in Chelsea, which is no longer open.

It used to be called Stereo. We go there and I went there with my friends and Christina was there with her friends, and they had opened it up just for us, and then John Mayer comes. And the club wasn't open. It was just my crew, Christina Aguilera and her dancers and her crew. And then John Mayer and Jessica Simpson, whom he was dating at the time. And this was back when Jessica was with her brunette hair, which she has not done that often. And he was drinking the brown liquors, which are hardcore.

I don't know what it was. I'm not a brown liquor fan. and he got so hammered and then started talking to me about his favorite gay porn star, which was weird. But hey, whatever, you know, no judgments. And then an hour or two later, he just pulls me to him and he initiates tongue kissing. Like, full on. Out of nowhere. Yes.

And I loved it. Although I was also really awkward and uncomfortable because Jessica Simpsom. and was right next to him. And she was also awkward and uncomfortable. She must have been like, what's going on? So then she started to like cover her face with her hair and she started like rubbing his crotch

out of, I think, nerves. It was a wild night. You're just kind of like going, and you're just there. I heard he has a big, big, big crotch from one of my friends. I didn't touch that. So then like many years later,

God bless. God bless everybody. But, you know, John Mayer is, I would say even like a hyper-intellectual, like super-cerebral. And one of those people that's maybe too smart for their own good or too in their own head. You know, Jessica talked about that in her memoir, how he literally made her feel inferior. And he's done many different things, not just music, but for a period of time, John Mayer was also doing stand-up comedy. Do you remember this period of time? It didn't last very long, but he was doing gigs every once in a while.

Is he playing with The Grateful Dead right now? Isn't that what he's doing? He does that every once in a while and his own solo stuff. So he hosted this cruise back when it was really, and some celebrities still do it, but there was a big trend for a couple years there where celebrities would host their own cruise. So John Mayer had the John Mayer cruise, which if you're a pop culture junkie, you may remember he was photographed in this iconic photo wearing the Barat Mankini, that green mankina.

that was from that cruise and in addition to performing music he did stand up on that cruise and he talked about that night with me doing standup and he said that the reason he did it was he wanted to get into my head he the quote was I wanted to out Perez Perez like he wanted to like mind fuck me like he wanted to screw with my brain like do you wanted to out Perez Perez Perez so what did it did it work yes I'm like, what is going on? Paris Hilton. Is Perez Hilton named after Paris Hilton?

Yes. Okay, so Paris Hilton, you talk a little. We love her, icon. She's an icon, right? Yes. So Paris Hilton. And she's having a great moment now. She is.

I was just looking at her Instagram today, and I thought this cooking show is genius. That's one of her moments. You know what? I think it all started last year when she released that documentary. And I think it's more than that, right? It's growing up and people seeing depth that maybe they didn't see before, her talking about the abuse that happened to her at that boarding school, then her turning that into a bigger moment than just her,

trying to help other people as well. And now she's getting married and possibly being pregnant and talking about that and Parisism. I think she'll be a great mother. Like she's been a dog. She takes care of those dogs. Yeah, a dog mother, not even dogs, like all sorts of animals and pets. Oh my God. I remember like in the early days, she used to have a pet kinkajoo. But again, this goes back to what we were talking about earlier.

I think like you nailed it on the head the depth. But someone like Paraselon, you don't stay relevant for this long if you don't have a good head on your shoulders. Right. Like, yeah. It's not that it's not as easy as people think. Who are some celebrities that people don't think have depth that you've actually got to know that do have depth? Perez Hilton. That's a good answer.

I like it. Because I think most people just view me as this cartoon character. A, and then B, even more than that, they want to keep me locked in this prison cell that is the past. No, you have to be able to evolve as a person. Well, I think also for what you do and have done. I mean, yes, but people are hesitant to maybe get on your bad side, too. What I've realized with age is no matter what I do. And this is fine.

I've owned it, I've accepted it. The majority of the world will, and I'm not asking anymore for forgiveness, nor I'm asking people to forget, but they think this group of people, the majority, I think, think that my past and what I did back then was so offable that it is irredeemable. For example, if I were to donate every single dollar that I have to charity, I think people would be like, well, that's nice, and he's still a D-bag, and that's still not enough. So I'm not giving away all my money. Like you think you're past the point of redemption with a certain group of people. And I don't need to be redeemed. Yeah, I was going to ask you, I mean, because when you think about that, does that hurt you? Or you're just like, it is what it is.

It's a consequence of the past. Oh, it hurts because I also feel like, I don't even feel. I know. Like, let's say I were to be struck by a car and die today. The majority of the world would celebrate my death. They would be happy. I fully believe that. I don't think so.

I guarantee you. Yes. Yes. You think it's that deep? Yes. I don't know. I don't know if I agree with that. I think that there's a group of people.

They'd be like the world is less toxic. Thank goodness. Oh, I feel sorry for his kids, but we don't have to deal with any of that anymore. Or it's just karma. They'll say things like that. And I'm consistent. Like, who was it? I forget.

There was somebody who got sick recently and I wish. them well and they're like, why are you wishing that person well? Because they're sick. Like, I don't want anything bad for that person. Like, some people are like, oh, that person is a is an anti-vaxor and didn't get the COVID vaccine. And then they died. Oh, karma. Yeah, I feel like, what I fucked up shit the thing to say? Yeah. I just saw somebody today was like liking, like, it was like a report on some unvaccinated people and they died or something. And like, I see like all these people liking. I'm like, we've gotten to a weird place when you're liking. Like, you got to like reserve some room for human compassion. You might not agree with someone's decisions. But like,

like, let's take a step back here and analyze what we're liking and rooting for here. Yes, I don't ever want to see anybody get sick or die. Or like, even Kathy Griffin, I can't stand her. I think she's a miserable person. But I sincerely wish her a full recovery because she's battling lung cancer. I can think she's a wench and then wholeheartedly send her healing vibes. Like Donald Trump, when he got COVID and he was still in the White House, I wished him a speedy and full recovery. Well, I meant that.

I think it's actually toxic energy to not do that. It's actually a lot of people don't. Holding on to things in your body. I mean, and even when it talks about your evolution, too, like, I think it's, there has to be redemption. There has to be healing vibes or you're just going to hold on to all this toxicity. And I honestly think that that can be cancerous. Yeah. I mean, I don't hold on to.

There was a while there. Like the only hurt I held on to was like with Lady Gaga because I felt really betrayed. And then I got to this point as I was telling you guys earlier, okay, I was betrayed. So what? She was going through a lot at the time. I think that what it comes down to is empathy. Yes. And I think you have to have empathy.

And what she's gone through. with her career, none of us can understand. Yes. And I'm thankful that I've gotten more empathetic with age. You would hope everybody would, but not everybody does. Yeah. It's a really hard thing to do to be angry with someone. If you can take a few minutes and really do your like actually really try to understand why they have the perspective and opinions they have, right? Like, which is why I like asking like, you know, what was your upbringing? Like, what did your child? Like did it manifest as anger? Like, I really want to understand anyone I talk to like, why did you have those feelings or that perspective or do what you did. Because I think if you don't do that, you're constantly going to

judge everybody from what you would do in that situation. But the fact is, you're not in that situation. You can't understand what someone else is going through. Yeah. Because my dad, it wasn't just my dad dying at 14. A week before my dad died, my grandfather died. And he lived with us. Just like grandma lives with us now. My mom, my grandparents lived with us. So for me, the world was always this extremes, and I was always afraid of the worst possible thing happening. And I felt like the biggest injustice happened to me at a young age. So I naively then took on this role of crusader, wielding my sword and pointing it and calling out at those celebrities that were getting it wrong and there were the douchebags and blah, blah,

and shining the light. as I've gotten older, and I would like to think that everybody hopefully can get to this place, but not everybody does. You know, when you're young or when I was young, I used to think things were very black and white. It's not like that. There's a lot of gray. Things are complicated. Who are some people that, and it could be an influencer or anyone that you think is doing it right in 2021? Like someone you look to like maybe the Kardashians, like someone that you're just like, wow, they really understand media.

they understand the business. He should be a consultant because I'm actually like asking you consulting questions. Okay. Who do I think is getting it right? I mean, I follow so many influencers. And one of my favorites of the moment is this one called the Korean vegan. A, I don't cook. B, I'm not vegan.

And C, I still follow her and I'm obsessed with her. because she found a way to make food content different. So even though now we've been living in this influencer space for 17 plus years and everything's been done, it hasn't. This is one of the things I tell young people or anybody, right? I'm cheesy. I'm a big gay. There's a musical called Gypsy.

Do you know that's a musical? I think I know what you're talking about. I've never seen it. There's one of the lines from the show. is you got to get a gimmick if you want to get ahead. And I believe that. A better way to put it is, you know, I tell young people who I think are brainwashed into thinking that a revolutionary idea will change everything.

I don't think ideas are special. I think people are special. For example, right now, in this year, you watching or listening could have the most brilliant, never before thought of idea. That is a game changer. And then simultaneously, at that same time, somewhere halfway across the world, another person could have the same idea. And the two of you could execute the same idea completely differently. So the idea isn't special. You are special and how you do things. So the more you're able to share you with the world, the more successful you will be.

You know, when you're young, some people don't know who they are, or they're not confident, or they're too afraid to do this or that, the other. I tell people, just start doing, just do it. You'll get better with time and be more yourself and stop comparing yourself to others. Like, I would never compare myself. Well, there really wasn't anybody doing what I was doing when I started. So that helped. But don't try to be the next that person or the next this person.

be the first you and try to do things your way and differently and special and excite people. There's nothing to me that's more exciting than watching something exciting. Yeah, that's really good advice. That's amazing advice. How have you made it this far unscathed? And when I asked that, it's like, you're talking about.

Meaning like you've pissed a lot of powerful people off over the years. And I think about someone like you, you know, there's a lot of people that worry about pissing. Have you ever been like threatened? Well, I had that infamous. physical assault from the Black IDPs manager. So that happened. Yeah, I've been threatened.

I've been very scathed in that I'm fully aware that one of the reasons why perhaps, not even perhaps, most likely I'm not on television is because I'm too polarizing. And I've burned too many bridges. And the people in- Is this town become small? Everybody knows somebody.

Maybe they don't- People are afraid of taking a chance. Oh, we can't put Perez on TV. We can't give him a talk show. We can't put him on a sitcom. We can't give him a reality show because I know how things work. Let's say even a reality show about me and my family. If that got announced, when that gets announced,

there will be a change.org petition trying to get it canceled before it's even aired. Or somebody's making a call to a producer. You were on Big Brother and you said something really interesting. You said that you had. That was on the UK version, But you said you had no idea how gnarly that was going to be. And I would actually like you to speak on this because it sounded like torture. It was torture and a huge paycheck.

So I would do it again. You know, I'm the most honest person you'll ever meet. And you can be honest without being 110% honest. That was a mistake that I made and that I regretted. The only reason I did that show. What do you mean by that? the only reason I did Celebrity Big Brother was for the money. Like I already that, by that point, I had my son and my surrogate was pregnant with my second daughter.

So this might be minutia or two business insidery. The way that that contract was structured from a business point of view made no sense to me. I was even trying to renegotiate my contract inside the Celebrity Big Brother house. Why? Because unlike a show in America, Dancing with the Stars. You get a flat fee. And then for every episode, you stay.

You get paid more. You get bonuses. There were no bonuses on that show. Let's say I got paid $10 million. I didn't, but like just a number. If you're the first voted out after a week and a half, which is around the minimum amount of time you're going to do in there, you get your $10 million fee.

But if you stay till the very end, you don't get anything extra. Oh, so you want to have to give an extra two and a half weeks of work for nothing? Wait, but, but hard work. Tell the audience what that work was because you were under torture and distress. Yeah, I mean, you're locked in this house with people who hate you. And you can't get out. No. Not only that, like they're plying everybody with alcohol at night.

So people are going to bed really late. And because of that, they have these metal shades. They would put down at night so that when it was daylight out, you couldn't tell time because they wanted to try to get your, they wanted to force you to try to get your eight hours of sleep a night. Even if everybody was going to bed at 1 a.m. Then they, you know, they wouldn't really let you out of the room until 9 a.m. They would lock the door of the room. No cell phone, no books, Michael. No books. No laptops, nothing. I even got in trouble once because in my clothes, I had a theater ticket. And me and my friend Nadia on the show, we started reading the

theater ticket. I'm like, oh my God. I was reading the back of the theater ticket. And they took my ticket away from me. So they just want you to interact with people the whole time. Yes. I did that show just for the money. They paid me a huge amount. Some of the other people did it did it just for the exposure. You know, they were coming up, this lingerie model, you know, whatever, whatever. And they, they, because I was known internationally and I was a big name, they all viewed me as a threat. and they wanted me out of that house and they were making my life miserable. And, you know, I think if I would have just said,

listen, I'm just doing this for the money because they all thought I wanted to win. They all thought I wanted to be there the whole time. I'm like, no, I'm not making any more money. Why would I want to do an extra two and a half weeks of work for nothing? How were you depressed? I got to see this. Oh my God, more than depressed.

I'm going to go find this and see this. Louis from one direction tweeted that I needed to be sent to like the loony bin. And he was right. I was severely struggling with my mental health in there because I was barely sleeping. I could not sleep in that house. Like you're locked in there and people are fighting all that's like literally nonstop fights. It sounds like cortisol central. And then a lot of the other people in there were popping pills.

I stupidly, it did not occur to me until maybe the two week mark to ask the medic on the show, for sleeping pills. Eventually I did, and then that really helped a lot. But yeah, I had to share a bed with this guy who got kicked out of the show for being a racist and seasonal depression almost, too, because you don't have any light. Yeah, that sounds really, really gnarly. But I was the most talked about housemate in the history of that show, according to the show on social media and media, I think. That's pretty cool. Talk to us about your weight loss. You look incredible. You walked in, You have blonde hair. It brightens the whites of your eyes and your teeth.

You look great. You look thin. What did you do to look like this? I mean, you look great. You know, it's a constant battle for me. Obviously, it's skinny girl dressing. It's not just that. That is important.

You know, I grew up not understanding what it meant to be healthy. Now I talk to my kids about it every day. My son briefly mentioned that he works out with me on the weekends when he's not in school. and I'll take my daughters with me on my walks as well. And it's about reprogramming the brain and enjoying being healthy. And I think I've gotten to that point now. Like I went to a wedding recently and I was so overeating. And then the next day, I was not feeling great.

But I still enjoy eating. Don't get me wrong. It's harder for me to shut off the food reward voice. voice in my head than it is the alcohol voice. Because at the wedding, okay, I've had enough to drink. But then even though I was stuffed, all of a sudden, a hamburger truck shows up. I'm like, oh, well, I just ate. But the hamburger truck is, I have to have a hambra, cheeseburger.

So it's just, you know, eating. There are no secrets in life. We all know what it takes. For me, being a healthy person now is getting, my sleep, eating healthy regularly, and being active regularly. That's it. Yeah, people don't like that because it's so simple, but it's hard. It is hard. Right. It's also like, even though I've never been in a long, long term relationship, that's what I imagine a healthy marriage is like. A healthy marriage is like you're a healthy person, a healthy body. We all know what it takes, right? Being present,

putting in the work. Not everybody is willing to do that. I don't know if this is true what I'm about to say, but I have to ask, someone said Britney Spears did not accept your apology. I mean, that's what's on our list. You know,

after all of my drama with Britney in the pot. I don't know your drama with Britney. I don't remember that. I was really awful to her consistently in the way that I spoke about her. I don't think, though, and I'm just going to say this for you, that you maybe knew what she was going

through mental health. No, but that still doesn't make what I said right. Yeah. Oh, you're right. But I'm just saying like maybe you didn't know the whole picture. No, no. I don't think anybody did at the time. This was in the past.

This was. Yeah. So after all of that, I was asked to be a part of her circus tour. And she signed off on it. You know, I was in the opening montage, the opening video. And even after that, I went to see her show in Vegas. And she brought me up on stage and did a little bit with me. So I would think she's okay with me.

I don't even, I don't know. We all want to free Brittany. Yeah. Everyone does. But, you know, 2020, I mentioned this earlier, was a really hard year for everybody, especially me being a single father of three, juggling work and a pandemic and everything. I got back into therapy. And my therapist did not suggest I do this.

I did it on my own. In December of 2020, I reached out to a lot of people in the past that I screwed over, that I hurt, that I hurt. And I said, you know, I sent emails and I talked. And I said, I'm so sorry for this and that and the other. And, you know, some people ignored me. Some people did respond and were very gracious. And Brittany was one of the people that I reached out to back then. way before the documentary, way before everything else that happened with the Free Brittany Movement.

After everything that you've seen and being such a figure, I guess, in the pop culture landscape for so long, how do you personally feel about the political and cultural time that we're in right now? How do you feel about the temperature and the climate? I love it. I mean, I think you either embrace change or you become a dinosaur and extinct. So, you know, I love talking about influencers because they, want to be talked about and they will do crazy, stupid, outlandish things. I celebrate where we are now. I mean, I do miss the days where there was less social media because I had more time. But you have to constantly be evolving. This might seem stupid, but I don't think Instagram stories

are as effective as they used to be. So I'm not making that my priority anymore. Like, Instagram Reels is a lot more. now than Instagram story because that's their new product and they're pushing that out. So I'm making a lot more reels. And you have to constantly be looking at things and changing things. Speaking of evolving and changing, you have a CBD line coming out, which you decided to disrupt the category and evolve it. It's out now. It's out now.

Okay. Tell us all about it. I want to try it. I can't wait. Yes. You could check it out. The website's called my true 10.com. The brand is my true 10.

And because I'm OCD, I bought. both spellings. My True 10, the number, and then My True 10 spelled out. So if you go to either of those, the website works. And what makes our CBD gummy different is that most, I think, maybe even all of the other CBD gummies, or I won't say all, because there might be a new one on the market that I don't know about, but most of the other CBD gummies out there are oil-based. Ours is water-soluble. What that means is it will get into your system quicker. Like, one of the annoying things about CBD is that sometimes it could take a really long time to start working. Ours works and why it's called My True 10 is 10 milligrams of CBD and it will start working in as soon

as 10 minutes backed by science. And it's a game changer. You know, like I've never had trouble sleeping, but I started taking this amongst other things in the nighttime. And then I realized, yeah, I could always fall asleep really quickly. But now that I take this at night, I get the most profound. like deep sleep. Where the fuck was my true 10

when you were on Big Brother? Celebrity Big Brother. That is a bummer. You could have brought it, snuck it? I know. That's a bummer. Put it next to your play ticket. It's not like a pharmaceutical.

It's not something that's addictive. Which a lot of people overuse a lot of pharmaceuticals. For me, it's been so beneficial as well of like my mood and my anxiety and my other issues and even And like, the FDA, I'm very careful with what you say about it because the FDA is very particular. But for me and my experience, it's even been able to help me like if I work out too hard and like,

I love CBD. There's so many things. I can't wait to try it and say my experience because I don't have to be FDA at complaint. Like I don't, and it's, it won't get you high. When I told my mom that I was doing this, she's like, what? Because she thought it was THC. And it's not. This is CBD.

It's a non-psyactive. Exactly. I got sent some THC gummies and I hated it. I thought I was teleporting. I swear. I took them. I thought I was teleporting. And then the worst thing ever,

because I was meeting up with a friend for dinner. And then I was convinced everybody was staring at me. Oh, that's not fun. Everybody's look. Everybody knows. Everybody's looking at me. So this is not that experience at all. Okay, I can't wait to try it.

My True 10. What's the Instagram handle? My True 10. Maybe we can do a little giveaway. I'll talk to you off air. Yes, yes. I would love that. And I'm really excited that people could hopefully get a lot of benefit out of this.

Like, I think it's a game. It's really unlike any other CBD gummy that people have tried before. And I don't even think a lot of celebrities are in the CBD space. A lot of celebrities are in the THC space. But not CBD. No. I can't think of any. That's cool.

Me neither. You created a category. I'm excited because honestly, like, I would love for this to just blow up. I mean, it could be a game changer for me and my family. Really, really cool. CBD, not THC. No. And is it a gummy or? It's a gummy. It's a gummy. Okay. And does it taste good? We launched with one flavor, watermelon. Ooh, yum. So, you know, I did a lot of testing of different flavors to make sure that it was like the best one that we started off with. Okay. And we're going to come out with other. flavors. We might come out with soon an even better nighttime one that's just for nighttime

with melatonin and maybe some other elements to it. What? Banana. Bananas? No. He wants banana. He requests banana. Maybe. I don't think we tested a banana flavor. Where can everyone find you pimp yourself out? They can listen to my podcast, the Perez-Seltin podcast with Chris Booker. It's on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the I Heart app. or directly at Perezpodcast.com. And I'm all over social media and mytruton.com. It was really nice to get to know you off the screen. Thank you so much for coming on.

Thank you. We really appreciate you taking it. And you guys live in Austin now. We live in Austin now. How has that been for you? We love it. It's a very, it's a sanctuary. But, you know, we have to come back here for work all the time.

It's nice because we go back and forth between the coast. It's nice. for like in the middle of each now. It's so peaceful there. And I have to tell you we do morning walks too. It's silent. There's no ambulance. I love that.

It's just the birds and the birds. The birds, the squirrels. We wanted more nature and sanctuary. I love Austin. I used to go every year for South by Southwest. Well, let us know if you're ever there. Yeah, LA got a little weird this last year, but hopefully it's going to get a little better. I hope so.

Thank you for introducing us to Mario too. You're welcome. Thanks for behaving well. Yeah, he was good. I killed it. Perez is doing a give-a-give-a-old. for his CBD line. All you have to do is tell us your favorite part of this episode on my latest Instagram at Lauren Bostic. Check out his CBD line. And of course, make sure you go stock the skinny

confidential times canopy humidifier. It is pink. It is chic. You want it on your bedside. Your nightstand is never looked cuter. That is get canopy.com. Use code pink glow for 10% off. If you can't get enough of the skinny confidential, make sure you check out my limited series podcast. It is called Get the Fuck Out of the Sun. We are interviewing all the beauty gurus on all their skincare tips. All you have to do is search it on the podcast app or Spotify. Get the fuck out of the sun. I think you'll love it.