The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - Beau Dunn On What To Do When Life Gets Hard, Trauma, Cancer, & Perseverance

Episode Date: May 19, 2022

#462: Beau Dunn is an American visual artist, model, and actress. based in Los Angeles, California. Today Beau joins the show to discuss how to handle hardships in life. We also discuss Beaus struggle with cancer and a terrible injury and how we can find the streght as humans to perservere in the face of adversity.  To check out Beau's work click HERE To check out the limited TSC "Obnoxious" Merch Collection 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 This episode is brought to you by Feel Free from Botanic Tonics. If you are looking for an alcohol alternative try this euphoric kava drink and get 40% off your order or subscription by using either code SKINNY40 or code SKINNY240 at www.botanictonics.com  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.

Aha! My first round of Barbies, I mixed vintage and new, and they all have the original. So I literally photograph them, and a lot of people think I warp them or this, that. I'm like, this is how they come, and that's how I wanted. And especially for my two new series, because obviously you're going, you know, blacks and brunettes and Asian,

and we're going all different Barbies. But it's like, I wanted to really represent how Mattel made them. It's not how I see them through my eyes. Welcome back, everybody. Welcome back to the Skinny Confidential, him and her show. That clip was from our guest of the show today, Bo Dunn. Many of you may be familiar from her art, but this woman has an incredible story. I feel like we just kept peeling back the layers and layers. And there was moments in the show when I was shocked multiple times. I think you were too. Our jaw was on the floor.

She has an incredible story. It's a wild story. It's one of the wilder stories we've heard on this podcast. And just when you think that you've heard the story, then there's another layer to the story. So this woman is definitely multidimensional, multifaceted. There's so much going on. In addition to that, obviously a very talented artist that many of you guys are familiar with. And we had a lot of fun on this show. So little background. I actually stalked Bo for years. She did Kris Jenner's closet. She did Kylie's glam room. She's done art for every

celebrity model influencer that you can think of. Her art is so fucking cool. She's done blown up oversized Trojan condoms. You've probably seen them. She's also done all the Barbies. If you guys have seen any kind of Barbie art, that's probably Bo. And then also, she did the game Operation Blown Up. She has so much art. You guys have to go check it out. But what's amazing is I stalked her for so long, finally got her on this podcast, and I just clicked with her right away. Her and Michael and I clicked immediately. She told Michael that he would click with her husband and we decided to do dinner. And listen, it's not easy to get me to

go to a dinner. It's difficult. It's so hard. I think that's why we all clicked because I think we're all in the same boat. No. And you know, we just really got along. Sometimes we meet someone on this show and there's just an instant connection. And I think that's here. And what I love about this conversation is I don't think Bo has done a lot of these conversations, if any. I think she's just started to share more about herself, her life, her perspective. So happy that she entrusted us to do it here. So not only is she incredibly charismatic, she's a wife. She is a soon-to-be mother, which she'll get into. She's a survivor.

And she's also an incredibly talented popular artist. She does American contemporary mixed media art. She's based in Los Angeles. And she just launched a co-brand with Celeste Star Jewelry, which is so major and so cute. You guys have to go check out the Instagram photos. On that note, I am so excited to introduce you to Bo Dunn. And I'm excited for this multifaceted conversation. You guys are going to love it. Welcome Bo to the Skinny Confidential Him and Her podcast. This is the Skinny Confidential Him and Her. I am so excited to have you in studio.

Like I can't, I'm so excited for multiple reasons, but the first reason is I'm sitting across from a Barbie wearing pink. It's a long story. See my Instagram. So excited. Welcome to the show. Tell us a little bit about you, how you got into art, your childhood.

You were just telling us about it. There's so many layers to dissect, but I think we'll start there. Oh my gosh. Thank you guys for having me on. As I said, I think it's going to be a very long interview because we could talk all day. I grew up in LA and I'm born and raised in Beverly Hills. And we were just talking about, I guess, my private school experiences. But I went to a small private school here in, I guess, the Valley, as you'd say in Clueless. From there, I went to Pepperdine and I was always into sports or art, like one of the two. And I always felt like it was a great therapy for me. So if I was having a bad day or whatever

I was going through in life, I was like, okay, I was really good at sports and I was really good at art. And it was just a way of expressing myself or getting those emotions out. That's kind of where it led into, I guess, my 360 creativity of my career and entrepreneurial outlook on things. Okay. So before we get into that, you were telling me off there that your school situation, maybe it was normal to you. Yeah. And maybe even looking back, it's normal to you. But to me, and we're two hours away in San Diego, it's so crazy. You have to tell us a little bit about like your elementary middle school. Yeah. So as I said, I went to a very small private school and we had security literally at the gates of our school. And obviously we had parents who were celebrities or high net worth families with children. So for us, and that's been a huge inspiration with my art just because

I realized it is normal for me, but talking to people like you or anyone that's been a huge inspiration with my art, just because I realized it is normal for me. But talking to people like you or anyone that's not from LA, this is not the norm. And my husband, we were talking, is from New Zealand. So when I spend time out of the country, I'm like, okay, well, Oscar season isn't a thing everywhere else in the world. You know what I mean? It's like we get LA in its little bubble, and that's all I've known my entire life. And so it's been such an inspiration creating art based on how I grew up in LA. This question is so weird that I've always wondered this. So let's say you're at school, you're a kid and like Angelina Jolie

is a parent. And like with that, like The Rock is another parent. Are Angelina Jolie and The Rock like hanging out at school and talking? Or is it like one of those things where everyone knows to be respectful of everyone's place because they're celebrities? I think it just depends on the school. Like ours, we only had 50 to like 60, I think it was like maybe 60, 62 kids in our grade. So like... It was small. It was very small. So all... And I

think it's gotten bigger. Obviously, we're a little older now, but I think it's gotten bigger since I was there. So I feel like all the parents were always together. You know what I mean? So it's not like you can kind of... bigger since I was there. So I feel like all the parents were always together. You know what I mean? So it's not like there was like cliques. So my mom was friends with everyone, you know what I mean? And everyone's doing PTA together or sports together. So it just depends

I think on what your children were into and the sports parents would be sports parents. But yeah, I think everyone was kind of friends with each other. You get dropped out of the PTA with only 62 kids. Your social life's fucked. Yeah, exactly. You said there's bodyguards outside the school that the school hired. But do people go to school with bodyguards when limos?

Is it like Richie Rich? Remember Richie Rich with Macaulay Culkin? That's what I'm picturing. No, I think people would have G-wagons and Range Rovers. But their parents are dropping them off in their pajamas just like everyone else. Yeah, totally. I love it. That's Rovers. But their parents are dropping them off in their pajamas just like everyone else. Yeah, totally. I love it. That's really cool.

But then you also have security, you know. And then what is high school like? What do you mean parents dropping in pajamas? We took a bus. We took a yellow bus, man. Well, I still took a bus. We still had buses at our school. Did your bus have like rhinestones on it?

It did. I just literally just, I think we're the same person. It was pink. It had glitter all over it. Like who's the bus driver? Is it a celebrity? No, but they were in couture. So high school comes and, and Michael and I went to maybe a similar high school that she went to. Like where the high school, smaller no we went to 5 000 students in our but but hold on yes we have 5 5 000 students but the cars that 16 year olds were gifted were out of control at our school not every car though i mean there were some not my car not my car your car was pretty nice sure but but i think like i'm trying to compare like so did you have only 60

students in your like in my grade through the whole high school everything yeah all the way to wow yeah so it was a very small so i think in it was like middle school we got like 20 new kids and that shit like shook up everything from lower school so yeah it's like no that is i mean no so okay this is my question though the cars and the stuff and the purses and the shoes in high school we had uniforms and that equalizes everyone out that's true okay that makes sense but what about cars was it gnarly yeah you could tell like who had mercedes and who did you know didn't but it was like coming from la this has kind of been the norm and that's why i talk about this so much with my art. It's like the pressures I didn't realize growing up because this is normal, but then going out of it and

talking, you know, having these conversations, you're like, okay, this is not normal anywhere else in the world. And it's not just like a monetary thing. It's like, we live in the center of Hollywood, right? So it's like, it gives a total different dimension to it. And what we were talking about kind of before air too, is like, what, how fame like what you do for a living how successful you are there's so many different avenues of that so for me it's like i got i you know i travel a lot and so it's like going and i do a lot of philanthropy so for me it was like okay seeing how everyone lives and like this is not normal so it was like i had to break that down talking about my art to figure out okay I grew up in one very specific way and this is like wild but like how what were those pressures put on especially a young female

growing up of having you know we were talking about like having to be perfect in LA and or the weight or the this or the that or the success and so for me like Barbie was the iconic kind of character and a lot of people say say, well, why Barbie? And I was a tomboy growing up and I was playing sports and creative art, but I never was like super girly. And now of course, I think we're very similar. Everything is pink and rhinestones and glitter. But for me, it was like, she is so iconic

because it's like, she's generational, but she's so controversial. And it was like any generation you look at, but there's always someone talking about, oh, Barbie's too skinny, Barbie's too this. There's no, you know, whatever the issue is around her, Barbie's too this, there's no, you know, whatever the issue is around her. And I was like, she's the perfect person to,

or person, I think they're alive when I shoot them, but she's the perfect icon to kind of represent how I was feeling and talk about societal pressures on women and like every aspect of that. And also I have a series for men too called Size Does Matter and talk about societal pressures

on men as well no but i imagine like i think about this matter michael who are we talking we were just talking to somebody the other day and i was like you know sometimes i actually at this stage of life and this is going to be maybe a controversial statement i i sympathize with people who grow up in with very successful parents whether they're celebrities or entrepreneurs or whatever because it's a lot of pressure for the kids to live up to especially if you grow up in with very successful parents whether they're celebrities or entrepreneurs or whatever because it's a lot of pressure for the kids to live up to especially if you grow up in a place like la with all these things it's like if you are if you don't hit like just like the basic you know level which is a high level compared to the rest of the world it's almost like the kid feels like a failure and it's it's funny because i have that conversation and i think

that's what's driven me and i don't think it's a healthy thing and it's funny it's not put on by my parents but it was put on me trying to be i was like the first born my brother and i are 10 years apart so for me it was like i had to come i had to prove but going through therapy and talking about this i'm like it's actually like my shit to deal with and i don't know if we're allowed to swear on here but it's been done before you're allowed to swear okay thanks but it was like my stuff it wasn't like what my parents pressured me my parents like you can do anything you want and obviously this is kind of the path that i've chosen but it's true there is a lot of pressure and i think it's like it is a societal thing too being raised in wealthy or successful family we were just talking to

patrick schwarzenegger and maria shriver in their hearing i was like you know what patrick schwarzenegger as the arnold's son like that pressure. Yeah. I mean, and it's not even just like huge pressure. It's like, how do you compete with the governor of California who was one of the biggest action heroes of all time? Who was also like Mr. Olympia. Like what do you like?

And a very successful entrepreneur. Like how do you think you don't compete, but that's what, but that's hard for children. You don't even try. You just pave your own way. I think, I think it's also harder for men.

And like, and I think a male and father relationship is a tough one and i think that's for a daughter i felt like i was kind of in that role since i was an only child for so long but i feel like my husband a lot of people always they you know we have a lot of conversations with our male friends we're like okay like my dad was successful i have to to be like, I, you know, so for me as a female being put into that kind of role, and I think it was just how, you know, just being born and then 10 years apart, I feel that.

But that's why I wanted to ask you about like your high school and like how crazy, like the wealth and this and the pressure, because it seems like I can totally see why Barbie was something that inspired. It makes so much sense. Yeah. So what was your first piece of art? And when did you decide you wanted to put your art out there to actually sell? It was like Christmas here today at Dear Media.

I came in. I had a massive box of Just Thrive probiotics in my office. Massive. They're so nice. They sent us so much. And I realized there's no way I can take all these probiotics. I'm already taking so many. I can't keep up. They have 50 boxes. So what I did is I came out and I said, you know what? I love everybody at Dear Media so much. I'm giving everybody probiotics and I'm giving them the best ones and they're the Just Thrive ones. But did you know that Just

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you act in would we know something yeah i've been in a lot of stuff um maybe it was actually modeling too like yeah scenes and stuff yeah i don't? Yeah, I've been in a lot of stuff. Maybe it was actually modeling too, like in magazines and stuff. Yeah, I don't know. I've done a lot of stuff, taking a break because I've had health issues in the last five years and I had a knee injury. But for me, I always thought that was kind of the path.

My mom was a big model back in her day. Well, she still is. She's gorgeous and we'll have to bring her on. So for me, I always thought that was my path. And then I went to Pepperdine and I was on, I was shooting a few pilots at the time, some TV shows. And so I didn't want to study theater just because I thought it was a little repetitive.

And I was like, I want to study something else. So I thought art would be easy to be honest, because as I said, always making art or playing sports. And so for me, I got my BA in fine art with an emphasis in sculpture. And I always loved creating in 3D. And so that's where I started playing with Barbies and started ripping them apart, to be honest. I made this Barbie table, which you will love.

And it has a thousand Barbie legs on it. And was playing with different parts. And it was interesting. I was so drawn to the feminine with my art. Because I was like, I also want to create stuff that I'd want to put in my house. And that was like pink and girly and cute. And I kind of went through Pepperdine going like okay cool modeling acting is my thing like I love it I love being in front of the camera and just like it's just fun but I

also was kind of realistic I've never been the size of a you know I've never been stick thin and that's something we were talking about before air too so for me it was interesting because I've all I've been very confident but it was like my measurements were not stacking up and I was definitely heavier on the bottom than the top. And I was actually diagnosed with lipedema, this rare fat genetic disease from my dad's side. That kind of shocked me, to be honest, just because it's genetic. My aunts have it and it runs in our family.

But at the same time, it kind of empowered me. You know, I was talking about the emotional aspect of my art and i was like okay well i've been diagnosed with this crazy disease that has no cure i cried for like a couple nights and then i decided i was gonna start a charity called cure up a demon team up with the doctor who basically has dedicated her entire life to fat diseases and with that that's where i was like wow like it brought up so much you know how we were talking about like oh i'm so like i'm very confident who i am and i think that's just a personality trait i'm like this is who i am if

you like me i you know i like pink i like this and it's interesting like going through that journey and even talking at conferences and they were like literally like fat conferences and the feedback i'd received from women they were just like well you don't have this disease you don't look like this or and i i got really attacked putting myself out there to try and help others why because you just didn't have the image of most of the people with the disease yeah and i i got diagnosed super early so i've been able to be as proactive where a lot of people it's hormonally based and so with a

pregnancy that could trigger it or when a girl gets her period or whatever so I just to educate me a little bit or us a little bit yeah how does this manifest if you're diagnosed with this yeah so it's like lower extremity so basically it's it starts with it's called lipoedema or lymphedema and I think a lot of people kind of know it from if you have breast cancer, if you have surgery, your arms, your legs may swell and it's edema, which is swelling. And so lip ed my career just because it is a very sensitive topic for women. It was a horrifying diagnosis, but I was like, if I can help others and we can fund cures, fund studies, or I can do anything I can to try and combat this and get that knowledge out there. But that was a huge wake-up call for me because it broke me down going, okay, well, I've been diagnosed with this.

I thought I was going to be modeling and acting forever and this may get worse. So for me, it was also a big retrospective into the emotional state of like, okay, well, how many pressures are on us? Especially this is all I know living in LA. So it's tough. I mean, to be diagnosed with that living in LA so it's tough I mean to be

diagnosed with that living in LA surrounded by 18 19 yeah it's it's a lot yeah so does that parlay you to be even more obsessed with like the Barbie image yeah I think that was like a huge intro and into like I was like okay well she's perfect right or you know so skinny or this or that and then it made me kind of look into the controversies of okay well maybe she's perfect, right? Or, you know, so skinny or this or that. And then it made me kind of look into the controversies of, okay, well, maybe she's too thin. Are we giving her a, you know, are we as society branding her as like a villain because she was made perfect

and she's going to be giving young girls, you know, complexes or pressures or whatever. And so I was like okay well she's going through it too and I kind of related to her to be honest wow yeah that is like that I know sorry this is a lot of words no it's like it's so hard to describe like how I was feeling and why I you know no it's cool how your art has depth and I was telling you off air that like I remember seeing your art like so many years ago and screenshotting it and there it's it's it's it's I think what it is is it's just a position it's like Barbie is known to not have depth but your art has depth thank you and

that's what's so attractive about it I don't know I and it's happy too and that's where a lot of people and we were talking before like I um did Kris Jenner's Birkin Closet and that was inspired by my piece, Need Money for Birkin. And like all my work is tongue in cheek. And even though it is fine art and it's at fine art price point, for me, it's like,

I want to put this art in my house and I want you to put this art in your house and I want it to be accessible. And I feel like the fine art world isn't as accessible, especially to young collectors like you guys or me. So for me, it was like, okay, make art that I love but then it's also the social commentary runs so deep in all my work so what is your first piece that fucking blows you up is it

Kris Jenner's closet I feel like there was more things before that yeah I had a show down in San Diego and I did so the launch of the Barbies kind of blew me up it was just it was very successful from the beginning and just people really wanted them in our in their houses and I think it was interesting and I've gone a very different path and I'm very as I always say like outside the box just because I'm not just a traditional artist because celebrities love collecting me and it's been the press and that's not traditional for the fine art world and so I'm I mean like commercial meets the fine art world like blown together I feel but yeah I feel the Barbies were kind of the first thing and then I started my next generation series which is the neons and it's the need money for and that was another obviously social

commentary on it started as a street art series and And it was, I had little kids, like images of little children holding signs, like homeless signs that said need money for a Birkin or Botox or whatever, to talk about the societal pressures that not only are we facing as adults, but that we're putting onto our children. And that was a reflection of what we were talking before, like how I grew up in LA. What's interesting about, I think like when you were talking about traditional collectors, like a lot of these guys, girls, they collect it and you never hear or see it again, right? It like goes into some like archive

and it gets lost, which is kind of a shame, right? Because a lot of this art should be seen. I mean, some people put it in museums or displays or whatever, but like a lot of it just goes into private collections. You never see it. I think what's cool about your stuff

is you get people collecting that also showcase it totally and you see it right and it's funny some friends of ours are some of the biggest art collectors in LA

and they have it's the craziest collection besides Kylie's collection because hers is very us like it's very girly

from a fine art standpoint money standpoint everything they have the best taste and they have my Barbie in the middle of their house and so it's like it's fun because for young collectors who are like okay cool I want to invest in my first piece and then I have the celebrity culture who Kylie has my condoms and

my Barbies all over her house and then you have the fine art collectors who they do display them too but or they may be in their collection but who was the person that posted your first piece where you almost like shit your pants and you were well that's a funny story so it was during the chris install so we had some exclusives with some magazines and we were shooting the show while we were doing her birkin install we're working with martin lawrence boulard it's one of my favorite interior designers so we had all these exclusives in place and kylie snapchatted the whole thing and obviously like that's what see that I said where did I first

see you maybe that was that so it was really funny though because people were like were you mad I'm like no how can you be mad at the biggest platform and from the fine art standpoint too it is funny because you know the Kardashians are the Kardashians right and it is one of the biggest platforms and that's where

doing the Birkin closet with Chris was one of the biggest platforms and that's where doing the Birkin closet with Chris was one of the coolest things but it was like from fine art standpoint that's kind of poo-pooed on just because it is so commercial and it was going to be everywhere but for me I was like I want my art to be accessible you know what I mean I that's for me I'm like if there is a young collector if they're whoever it is like I don't want this to be like a world where you're not invited. Like, in my world,

like, anyone can sit at my table. Anyone can come up to me. Like, I'm, a lot of people think too. They're like, oh,

well, she's fake or this. I'm like, this is who I am. Like, you know, this is who you get, no matter what.

I think that what you did, is you disrupted the art world. World, yeah. With social media too, though. A though a hundred what you've done is you've done a really good job of merging social media new age avant-garde with art that's supposed to be like so hoity-toity like for the rich and you've like meshed it together thank you and i think it's just like it's tough i have like my personal Instagram and then my art Instagram. But for me, it's like, this is who I am. And for my personal

Instagram, I'm like, and that's where I have most of my followers. But it's like, this is just what my life is. I have three French bulldogs. Like this is what I'm going through. I have, you know, I've had this crazy knee injury I've been dealing with. So like, you're going to go on that ride with me. And art is a huge component of that. What happened to the knee? Well, it's a crazy story, but I fell off a zebra in Africa. shut the fuck up swear to god that sentence has never been said no i fell off a zebra in africa and that's how i hurt my knee if you're gonna fuck up your knee at least at least it's a good story i wish i was a little closer to la though yeah could have been further hold on take us back're on a zebra. How are you on a zebra? Well, I got to go a little further back than that.

So my husband and I were eloping and we were having a big, it was 2017. We're having our big wedding in LA. I love how she's still laughing. Was it pink? Was the zebra striped with pink? No, I have photos though. But I was in a really cute safari outfit with a little bow tie around my neck. So the photos were cute.

But we did the Maldives for a week or two. And then we were doing an African safari outfit with a little bow tie around my neck so the photos were cute but um we did the maldives for a week or two and then we were doing an african safari i'm a huge animal addict and philanthropist and everything and my dream has been to go on a safari and so we literally booked my dream trip of my entire life and so we did the maldives that was great we went to africa and we started in cape town and we were literally starting the 30 days of safari the following day. 30 full days of safari. Yeah.

Wow. We were going to like 10 different lodges. It was with Sengita. Hopefully, Sengita, please let me back. Is 30 days,

in hindsight, is that a good amount of time or is that too long? Oh, I'd probably like want to move there. I haven't been on the safari yet. You're going in the bush,

huh? Yeah. I love animals. We got to introduce her to Boy there. I haven't been on the safari yet. Yeah. I'm, I love animals. We got to, we got to introduce her to Boyd. Yeah. Who's Boyd? Does he have animals? Can I just hear about the zebra and the falling off, please?

So we, have you guys been to Cape Town before? No. Okay. You guys have to go. It is, it's a really cool town. It's really cool. But they have like a beach that there's penguins, like there it's animal central. And so this was like the perfect place

to go into our safari the next day. A girlfriend of mine shot a movie down in Africa. She introduced me to the, I guess, number one animal wrangler of Africa. So any movie, any commercial, anything shot in Africa, this is the animal guy. He has all the animals on his ranch. And so it's not open to the public.

And so she did me a huge favor, got us in for a private tour and they were shooting jackass. This was in 2017. So I guess I never saw the recent ones, but they were getting attacked by baboons or something like that. So they had just wrapped doing walk, I guess, doing practice with whoever Johnny or whoever was shooting that. And so we went and we're playing with cheetahs, lions, like every animal. It was the best day of my life until it was the worst day of my life. But I'm literally like have cheetahs licking my face. And then we were doing cheetah runs. I got into cages with lions. And these animals are like, as I said, I'm a huge animal activist. I'm a global ambassador for a

bulldog charity here in LA. Like this is these animals live the life. And at the end of the day, the trainer brings us down to a paddock that has horses and zebras. And he literally just threw me up on a zebra and it was fully trained. It's like a small horse basically, but a lot wider. And it doesn't have a main cause it's like very fine zebra hair. So I'm trotting around and bareback. I feel very comfortable.

James, my husband is taking me. Do you know how to ride horses before? I do, but like, it was like a mini, like I was, I felt very comfortable. Let, my husband, is taking... Do you know how to ride horses before? I do, but it was like a mini... I felt very comfortable, let's just say that. It was not like, oh my gosh, I did something stupid kind of thing. But the zebra stopped. James taking photos

from the right side, and basically a goat... Get the fucking photo, honey! It's for Instagram! Get the good light! And a goat comes out of another paddock running towards us and speaks the zebra goats you can't fuck goats they're always fucking around i love goats but this one was like really got me and so the zebra bucks and as i said i've always played sports and very athletic and

you know it's a split second and so rather than falling back and potentially breaking my neck which i could be in a wheelchair and i'm not even kidding about that. I jumped to the left. My right foot catches. I land on my left knee. It's a perfect storm. My knee explodes. And like I'm not being, I'm not, like people say I'm like being overdramatic.

Like my patella, my kneecap rips off. I shattered all the cartilage and tore all the tendons. So this was really bad. And this is day one of our trip. Just my friend just was telling me about his ACL. Is that nothing compared to this?

We have a baby on the way. And this is something I take very seriously, the sheets, the blankets, okay? They got to be organic. They got to be soft. They got to be temperature regulating, very important, cool and comfortable. All of these things because I feel like we sleep so much and we're not paying attention enough to what we're sleeping on. We're breathing it in. And especially with a newborn, you want to make sure that you're really paying attention. So the ones that I have bought are cozier. They're softer than cotton. They're made from bamboo fabrics and they're temperature regulating. This was very important to me. And you can do a hundred night sleep test. So when I got everything

I ordered, I was able to like even try it on myself. Like I laid something on my pillow to just breathe it in. Like I was able to try it on myself and just lay the baby's blanket and I loved it. I want to get one for myself. I got the bamboo blanket. It's a baby blanket. It's on their site. It's breathable. And I am not surprised that Oprah said, and she quotes this, the softest ever. So go on, especially if you have a baby and look up their bamboo blanket. This is also such a great gift. If you're going to a baby shower, they have all kinds of bedding. They have bamboo mattress pads, silk pillowcases. They have a baby collection. Like I said, they also have bath. They have all different kinds of things on their site. It's a beautiful,

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So we're like, oh, no one ever gets hurt on these trips because they offer you with the safari. Oh, they offer you to get and you're like, oh, it's like,

yeah, you're not going to get hurt on this trip. Meet the foggers thing. We're like, I don't need the insurance. That's just a scam. Oh, yeah. So the,

of course, the animal wrangler is like horrified. He's never had an injury. He's never had a death. And I'm sitting there going, I couldn't even look at my knee. The thing is just destroyed. So they, they can't get a helicopter in quick enough so we

end up we had a driver that day he drives us to the closest hospital in the middle of nowhere i thought i was going to die to be honest like i've never felt more pain like i'm tough and i'm very tough and playing sports my whole life this i was like i don't think i'm going to survive but they wanted to do emergency surgery. It was funny. James runs into the hospital and goes, my wife fell off a zebra. The entire hospital came out to see

what idiot is riding a zebra because no one rides zebras. But yeah, I was in the hospital for a week. Obviously, safari is gone. I did another week in the hotel on blood thinners to be able to fly home. We went back to Dubai because half my bags were in Dubai and I pack very heavy. And then we got back to LA and I literally landed off the plane. My mom came, picked us up from the airport. I went straight to Cedars. I've lived every single day with gratitude. And I think that's the thing that's gotten me through. And that's where people are like, how do you have... You've been diagnosed with so many things.

You've had such a shit health history for the last 10 years. I've been battling with health stuff privately. And for me, it's like, it could have been so much worse. I could have broken my neck. And so I think if you wake up every day with gratitude, and I have a little gratitude journal, your mindset's different. And I'm like, okay, cool. Pain is temporary. and if i'm in physical therapy or whatever it is and i'm like i cannot handle this i'm like this is temporary i'm gonna get through this when you landed you just landed directly like i don't know like on the knee like i don't know sorry i just used my elbow because i can't lift my knee up here i think the the knee just like the kneecap like ripped off so but for me it's like i've literally like the brain body connection has been the craziest

because i literally learned i forgot how to walk because you can't so your body just says okay we don't do that anymore yeah but and i'm in physical therapy every single day for the past five years and sometimes it's two a days um what every single day yeah literally every day for the past five years um monday through fr, I take the weekends off. Do you go somewhere or do they come to you? Yeah, I go to two different places. I go to Monarch and then I go to Elite OrthoSport. Elite has been, yeah, I've been with them.

That's a lot. Yeah. That is gnarly. I didn't think I was going to walk, to be honest. And that was crazy when we got back from our, got home from the injury. I was also going into our wedding in 2017. So we had our big bash our huge party because you were eloping yeah and so we were coming home to that and we had like

pushed that off so many times just because of our families and blah blah blah and so i went through with it so we had to like redo my dresses to have my knee brace in there i was in a wheelchair and crutches for our wedding and it was a blast i was like like, I've had to like, just had to have a good outlook on everything because it's like, I've gotten hit so many times. And I think, you know, that's something interesting to kind of chat about because it's like that late at the end of the tunnel.

I'm like, I just keep getting hit health wise. And for me, like the huge outlook and like the happiness in my life is obviously my family, my husband, we have three French bulldogs, but also creating and making other people happy too. It's that this is my outlet that I just keep going to that really helps me.

Did you create while you were down with your knee? I did. I started a lot of companies at that point. So for me, I couldn't physically make my art and I have amazing production teams who was continuing with my neons and a lot of people took over from that kind of stuff. As far as I ended up backing my

publicist and starting our own PR firm a few years ago ago called Plastic PR my company name is Plastic LLC so I basically started some offset companies and whatever I could do at that point to kind of create in a different way very entrepreneurial thank you so as you're going through this journey you told me off air off air, you were simultaneously diagnosed with thyroid cancer or is this later on? That's later. So I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's, the autoimmune. And so I knew that lipidema was always connected to hormones somehow. And that was through studies. And my doctor, Dr. Karen Herbst, and I have been working side by side. And that's who I teamed up with to do the cure lipoedema. But for some reason, especially with the trauma of the knee, my weight kept going up. But I felt like I was really allergic to food. If I had water, no matter what I ate or drank,

I was really sick. So I felt like I'd been binge drinking. If we had a slice of pizza after this, the next day, I'd feel like I was binge drinking. And I don't drink. I don't do anything. But it was like the food reaction was crazy. And for me, it was like the inflammation, the sodium just killed me. And so I knew something was off. And that's when I got diagnosed with Hashimoto's, which is an autoimmune that basically attacks your thyroid.

And your thyroid, a lot of, it's funny, a lot of my friends don't even know what thyroids are or have dealt with thyroid issues. But it controls all the hormones in your body, especially for of, it's funny, a lot of my friends don't even know what thyroids are or have dealt with thyroid issues, but it controls all the hormones in your body, especially for females, it is key. So that's what was kind of whacking me out. And so I got on hormone replacement, thyroid replacement, just so we can like, and I wasn't really feeling much better to be honest.

It was like the last five years of kind of trying to figure out. And that's why I haven't really talked about it. It's really the first time I am publicly talking about it because I felt like I couldn't really like lecture people or share my story and I probably should have been more open with it but it was like I didn't know what was working for me so I can't really like tell others what to do or share because I'm like I was so deep in like just feeling like shits all the time you know you told me off off air that they didn't give you like a stage.

Well, that was later. So that's with the Hashimoto's. From the Hashimoto's, I went to a new endocrinologist and that's your doctor for your autoimmunes. And I needed to get an ultrasound in my thyroid to see this doctor. And this was last year in 2021. And this was in roughly around August. And so I went and got an ultrasound at Cedars. From there, my doctor calls. And this is my first time seeing him. So we're like on FaceTime and it was during COVID.

And he's like, hey, I just want to let you know that we found a cyst on your thyroid. And I was like, what does that mean? Like, is this anything to be worried about? And he's like, no, like you're super young. It's zero to 5% chance it's anything. We're not going to do a biopsy within the next three to five years. We'll keep an eye on it. I was like, okay.

And so that night I couldn't really sleep and I was a little stressed out about it. And I'm like, if I'm losing one night's sleep. These fucking doctors, man. They just like, you can't expect them to just like. I know, but the problem is like, I'm with like, this guy is the best of the best. No, I'm not bashing him. He's probably a very nice guy, but I'm saying, I think they see this so much that they think,

okay, no big deal, but I couldn't sleep either. I know, and it's crazy. I think it's just like numbers game, right? You're like, okay, cool. It's zero to 5% chances anything, nothing. But you're right. This weird gut feeling of mine, I think females too have this huge intuition.

So I talked to my husband and my dad dad and I was like, you know what? Like I'm a little stressed. And my dad's like, go in, get it checked. Like not even worth it. I was like, I'm tough. So I call my doctor and he's like, okay, a biopsy on your thyroid is horrific. Cause they basically, and I was telling you before this, they put needles in your throat while you're awake.

And I'm like, I have just had two. There's no way you do that Lauren. I was like, I've had two knee surgeries. I can handle this. This is nothing. I'm like, I've just had two. Lauren, be out. There's no way you do that, Lauren. I was like, I've had two knee surgeries. I can handle this. This is nothing. I'm sitting there. My husband's in the corner. I thought he was going to throw up.

But what do you mean needles in the throat? Like needles, like just like a little like. No, like and your thyroid's in there. It's deep. But the problem is they can numb the skin. I'm feeling everything inside. I'm going to throw up doggy about it. Oh my God, I didn't even think of that.

They can numb the skin, but they can't numb inside. But you can't move because you have arteries, right? And so they're poking. And if you move, you're dead. So it's like, this is no joke. So your head's like glued in, you're claustrophobic. And the doctor was talking to my husband who's in healthcare about his business, poking around. I thought it was a bad day. Let's just say that. But anyways, I didn't think much of it. The doctor calls a week later and he said, the biopsy came back inconclusive, which 30 to 40%,

I love, I know all these numbers, but 30 to 40% of biopsies come back inconclusive, nothing to worry about. He said, I'll call you next week when we get the results. It's like, okay, no worries. After the biopsy, I wasn't really concerned, you know, until his office calls me the following week and says, we'd love to have you in for, to talk about your results. I go, what the fuck are you talking about? So I call all my other doctors. Literally, I call like eight other doctors. I go, am I going to die? They're like, no, you're totally, you don't have cancer. You're totally fine. Well, thank God I brought my husband with me to that appointment

because yeah, I got diagnosed with thyroid cancer. And what age are you at this point? I'm 34 now and I was 34 then. So this is so recent. How does this? This is so recent. How?

And this is the first time I'm talking about it. Like, I mean, yeah. Honestly, like i commend you for like you've been through a lot thank you when you're sitting in the office and the doctor tells you that in front of your husband at i black out and this is after five years of i'm going into my third knee surgery i've just had my second i literally have not been able to walk for five years i black out one thing after the other and that's where it's like the light at the end of the tunnel and everyone's like how do you how is your like

how are you so positive and i'm like okay grateful i'm grateful i found this i agree the cancer thing knocked me out to be honest because it was like the cherry on top of like this crazy road of 10 years of like lipedema hashimoto's like the knee it's like one thing after another and me putting on a brave face i feel for my career or my instagram because it's like i thing after another and me putting on a brave face I feel for my career or my Instagram because it's like I feel like I want to put happy stuff on my Instagram and it's like I don't want to get into that right now and that's kind of how I felt and everyone around me is like you need to tell your story I'm like how can I tell my story when I'm in the middle of the story like I need to survive at this point yeah like I can't like let people in to have opinions or

have any thoughts because it's like I got to get get through this. I would be the same way. So, so after he tells you that you're diagnosed with that, what? I black out. I think I passed out. What does your husband do? He kept calm. Can you imagine being like. No, I'd freak out. I was like, I mean, there's not a lot of things that freak me out. Like this whole business can go up in flames. I'm like, oh, shit, whatever. I don't say that when people are listed as my team. They're like, what the fuck? No, no. But your family comes first, your health and wellness.

Even me, whatever. But if some, like, I think that would be one of the hardest days of my life. My wife or my kid. Yeah. That would be like, that would set me over. So what does the doctor say to you after he says that? So that's the tough part. When you get diagnosed with cancer, you get a diagnosis. You don't get a staging. So with cancer, obviously there's different stages, right? So stage one is the best. That's what you want. And that's like,

okay, we just found it. But all different cancers are very different. What was interesting about my thyroid cancer was the doctors told me it's known as a young woman cancer, which I had no idea about. The thyroid, it's interesting. The more and more you talk, if you start talking to your girlfriend specifically about like, oh, I just talked to someone about thyroid, three out of your five girlfriends will probably have thyroid issues and no one really talks about it. And that's for me, it was like, I've had to get through this and get to the other side to be able to have this conversation.

And also like the learning aspect of every time I get diagnosed or go through something, like I know everything about a knee now. I know how to rehab a knee. I know how like everything about that. With the hormones, it's like everything, something works different for everyone. So I can't like give you a recipe

and be like, okay, cool. This is what works for me. That's not going to work for you if you have thyroid issues. So it's really trial and error. But for me, it was like the cancer thing was i think just horrifying you always if you get the c word diagnosis you're like okay like i can't even describe the emotions that i went through i was for two months to be honest i was just in shock well especially because

you're so young and i don't think young people ourselves included even think that that diagnosis is possible i mean we all know it happens but it's just small statistic right and also the doctor doesn't give you the stage for two weeks well until you get further testing done yeah so so i call cedars how many no i'm calling i called cedars as soon as we left you know james was calling they're like yeah it's going to be like four months to get an appointment because covid everything's so backed up you know people get like touchy about this but i think that there's so many things that covid you know it's almost just like the trickle-on effect yeah i just i just think that the way that and now this is all like coming out the way that they handled this is so fucked up because there's so many stories

like this that probably just went amok or went like undiagnosed or people couldn't get help and it's like i i get it we had a tragedy but like you can't you can't apply one blanket solution to so many other things there's look how many other problems it caused look at the schools look at this diagnosis like there's so many fucking things so how long did you have to wait until you knew what stage it was do you want to become more horny? How about balance your hormones? How about get some juiciness going in the bedroom? Well, I have an aphrodisiac, a libido booster, if you will, moon juice. Moon juice has sex dust. And this is dust that you can put in your smoothie. You can put it in your husband's coffee. You can put it in your husband's coffee.

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get those juices flowing, we have a code. Head to moonjuice.com slash skinny and use code skinny at checkout for 20% off. Moonjuice.com slash skinny and use code skinny at checkout for 20% off. moonjuice.com slash skinny and use code skinny at checkout for 20% off. So I got in, that's when we were talking before the interview. My mom is like my biggest supporter and, you know, she's like, I'm going to call everyone. And we just started calling every one of our friends, our whole family. It's like anyone that would have a connection specifically at Cedars, because that's the doctor I really want to go to.

He's like the head specialist for neck cancer specifically. So, and his name's Dr. Ho. He's amazing. He saved my life. He had a two-year wait list just to get it, for surgery for him. It's crazy. These poor doctors are trying to do their best.

But with COVID, like you said, the trickle-on effect of the health system has just been insane. So by that next two weeks, let's say, I get in for all my scans because we've pulled a bunch of strings and I got very, very lucky. But yeah, I got in to see him. We did scans. The craziest part is I got vaccinated a couple of weeks before I got diagnosed with cancer and we're pretty late on getting vaccinated. With the vaccination with women, we get inflamed lymph nodes. So that's the problem. And that's in your breast, your armpit, and your throat. So they couldn't tell if the cancer had spread because my lymph nodes were

so inflamed or if it was because of the vaccine. And Cedars had said that is normal. Across the board, they're seeing long-term inflamed lymph nodes because of it. So that was tough because we didn't know until I went into basically emergency surgery for my cancer if the cancer had spread. I felt like I was walking into like every wall i could it was like okay like get first get an appointment then like there's no answers there's no answers but you think that the vaccine made whatever was dormant in your body worse i i can't say for that i just know that it really inflamed my lymph nodes and so that's where they just couldn't tell if that it had been the cancer you'll never know so you so You'll never know. So you just have to...

You know, this is why I think so many people had a problem with the way all this came about. Because if, you know, like say somebody like yourself is going through the issues you were going through and they said, hey, you do this thing and you're going to get inflamed lymph loads. This is what we've seen. This is what we know. And like you said, the doctors did know a lot of this stuff. Like they should tell you that stuff first.

Maybe you weren't the candidate. This is why so many people get so angry about this. It was like, there's nuances to all of this people should have more information yeah it's just it's it's unconscionable that they don't it's tough because like i was high risk and then obviously happened then once i got diagnosed with cancer i was like even more high risk i had it i didn't know when i got vaccinated obviously then i was going into this shit storm let's say but i got very lucky we got i got got diagnosed with stage one and that's what we could stage before the surgery.

Before you got diagnosed with stage one though, were you freaking out that you didn't know what stage you were? I mean, I was, I was blacked out to be honest. Like I would walk into physical therapy every morning, just crying and like, I'd sit there and people were like, is she okay? I just, it was, and like, like as i said i'm freaking tough like

i've been through the ringer and this for me was like just the cherry on top i i don't know how i survived mentally going through this so so you go in to get the surgery what do they have to do no monday so the following monday or whenever i was having cancer surgery monday i have my third knee surgery oh my fucking Christ. This is why I keep trying. Lauren, these knee surgeries, it's not like a small, like these are big surgeries.

You have no idea. Like I've had a full, basically, I begged for a knee replacement. I'm too young now. So I had a full knee reconstruction, which is 10 times worse than a knee replacement. So I go in on a Monday last year, and which I publicly talked about that,

to have my knee surgery on Friday I go in for full cancer surgery so I'm like I'm going to get out for your parents too they were freaking out yeah my husband was just like such like he was the one take because it's hard with COVID like my mom and dad couldn't be there and James could as my spouse like be there with me that was the worst one of the worst weeks of my life so what do they do when they go in for surgery for a thyroid cancer yeah it was very very it's funny you ask that it's very different than knee surgery because knee surgery you're like going in I have my knee surgeon we're good friends he's listening to rock and roll music it's like a party right cancer surgery was totally different like I had to sign away I forgot what it's called

but it's basically all the paperwork like if I die during away I forgot what it's called but it's basically all the paperwork like if I die during surgery this is what you do with my body and like I've never done that for knee surgery and so for me it was like I need to have a will in place like I I don't know obviously it's a much bigger surgery and I had my full thyroid removed I had the cancer removed and the lymph nodes removed but But it was like the emotional. I just remember I was like signing the paperwork and I was like a zombie. I was like so tapped at that point. I was like, put me out.

Like, I need a break. Yeah, I'm sure. Put me out. I need a break. Yeah. That would ring true. Yeah. And I'm trying to obviously still run my businesses during all of this and continue art sales and like everything else I'm doing.

And that was kind of my outlet but it was like last year was like put your head down get through this and then I'll talk about it and help as many people

like for me I always try and include giving back in every aspect of my career of my life so for me I was like let me get through this I'll figure it out

and then we can talk about it and this is all during COVID yeah this is literally like to add like that layer on top this week was the week Delta hit LA and Cedars, literally the day before I went into surgery, Cedars shut down because of Delta. So like I was like, it couldn't have been worse.

There's something that I want to talk about here that it's really important for women to hear. And we talked a little bit about this off air and you can speak more eloquently than I can. When you're diagnosed with cancer as a woman, from what I've heard, they do not tell you that you need to freeze your eggs or embryos because there's a potential

that you cannot have children. And this conversation is wild to me that women aren't given that information. So they'll go through radiation or chemo and then they find out they can't have kids as opposed to the doctor saying, hey, you're diagnosed with cancer, but I highly recommend that you freeze your eggs first. Maybe that's not first priority, which I understand, but I can only imagine going through chemo or radiation or surgery and coming out and they say,

oh yeah, you can't have kids too. Can you speak on that? Well, it's exciting to share you guys. So we're actually pregnant. It's so exciting. Thank you. So yeah, I started and this is obviously the first time I'm talking about it. So I'm so excited. I'm doing an Instagram story, but I'm not going to post it today. I'm doing it for later. Okay. I talked to my doctors maybe like a year or two ago about potentially having children.

And obviously like we're starting to have those conversations. And I had eight of my doctors all say I had 0% chance of carrying. And so when I fell off the zebra and hurt my knee, I also, I've had back injuries since I was younger,

probably from sports. But I have a double disc replacement in my, or I needed a double disc replacement in my back that I've kind of offset with physical therapy and not, you know, if you don't have to have surgery or I try and do everything before having surgeries. So with my back injury, there was 0% chance that I could carry. But the problem is I wasn't going to go after all these surgeries, go have an elective back surgery. And on top of that, with the lipedema, Hashimoto's, all this stuff,

all my doctors basically said, That's enough. Yeah. They were just like, your body's been through enough. And this was before I got diagnosed with cancer as well. So we ended up going down the surrogate route.

And I think this is something that Lauren and I were talking about. A lot of people think it's always fertility issues. And that's why either women go IVF route or surrogate route. But for me, it was health related. So because of my health, I wouldn't be able to carry. And then from there, we end up getting a surrogate. And so I started this path.

And that's why we're actually late to getting vaccinated. Because we were going through IVF to do egg retrievals then to obviously implant a surrogate but it's been interesting the conversations I've had just around that because it's you know a lot of people go oh IVF fertility but it was like this is a totally different path than I say physical thing yeah so many other people which is really cool to kind of talk about and let out there just because a lot of people are going through it and not talking about it. But yeah, so I was really, really lucky that I got our IVF done, that we had an egg retrieval, we were making embryos and going the surrogate route because that all was done before I got diagnosed with cancer.

So for my specific situation, I didn't have to even have those conversations because we already froze the eggs. We already went down that route. But if I had not done that, as you kind of said before, I wouldn't have been able to have kids because with my thyroid being removed, I wouldn't be able to go through IVF and pump all those hormones in your body to be able to do an egg retrieval. Here's a question. Should cancer doctors be telling women that or is that not even a priority? Like it's hard. Like it's such a it's a catch 22. The problem is and my specific cancer situation, it was very quick into having surgery. Right. So I wouldn't have had the time to do IVF. And a lot of when you're doing IVF for egg retrieval specifically, you're blowing up those

eggs and pumping those hormones. And I can't speak. Obviously, I'm not a doctor and you're doing IVF for egg retrieval specifically, you're blowing up those eggs and pumping those hormones. And I can't speak, obviously I'm not a doctor and you're not a doctor. So we can't speak to anything that you're getting like hormone based while you're doing IVF, if that's going to be bad for cancer. So you'd have to have a doctor on to kind of chat about that. But I'm like, I pray and thank my lucky stars that we did all that stuff. We did the retrievals before. And now we're having babies. Congratulations. Thank you. That's so exciting.

How, if someone's listening and they are freezing embryos and they want to do a surrogate, we've never had anyone on to ask this. Oh my gosh. How do you even? I can't believe I'm the first one. You're the first one who's ever. Well, actually, take that back. Jen Adkin came on.

I know Jen. She did a surrogate, but I didn't ask her this question. Well, we've obviously had Dr. Gadeer on here twice to talk about IVF and fertility. But from this side, yeah. From this side, it's different. How do you even go about finding a surrogate while you're going through all of this stuff that you're going through? As you know, I am all about the scalp i have talked about the scalp and how important it is to massage the scalp to grow the hair way which you've seen all over instagram has a scalp serum okay this

balances hydrates soothes irritation and creates an ideal environment for hair to thrive the scalp is so underrated taylor if you're listening like you have to thrive. The scalp is so underrated. Taylor, if you're listening, you have to massage around your scalp and a good scalp serum is key. You don't want to just focus on your hair because you want to stimulate the circulation. For me, postpartum, my hair was like a mess with Zaza. I went from having this super long thick hair and then after I gave birth it was like thin but not only that I noticed my hair was falling out like I would notice more hair was in the shower and what I realized is scalp massage is one of the most important elements of growing thicker longer hair so if you don't have a scalp serum and you have shampoo and conditioner you're missing out

because scalp serum helps support the appearance of thicker, healthier hair. Like I said, it balances and hydrates the scalp. And it also soothes irritation from super tight ponytails. I love doing a tight ponytail because it pulls my face back. So I have to make sure I'm very careful with this. Also, make sure you're looking what's in your scalp serum. This one's all vegan, gluten and cruelty free. It's 100% recyclable packaging. It has adaptogens in it, which is amazing. There's

some chaga mushroom, hyaluronic acid for hydration and a healthy barrier. It's safe for color tested hair and chemical treated hair. The way to healthier hair starts with the scalp. Don't forget it. Shop Weigh's all new scalp serum by going to T-H-E-O-U-A-I.com and use code skinny to get 15% off your entire purchase. That's theweigh.com. Use code skinny. 15% off your entire order at T-H-E-O-U-A-I.com. Code skinny. I got very lucky. A friend of ours had went the surrogate route because she couldn't give birth herself. And so I got everything really handed to us on a silver platter as far as I'm very good friends with Dr. Suri, who is like the IVF doctor of LA. And so, and my brother and his son grew up together. So I got lucky on just a friend like family friend standpoint

with him but from a surrogate agency route our friend had used an agency and basically introduced us and I would 100% recommend just an agency I think I've had friends who've gone the surrogate route and they've used like their friend or someone that they know but I like this route just because like, all like even just the legal contracts, everything's super clean. So there's no questions asked. But as I said, I got very lucky.

Everything was really gifted to us and kind of that pathway because it is a tricky one. So do you like text your surrogate and say, let's go get coffee? Like, how does it work? She's not in state. I can't say more just because of NDAs and stuff. Yeah, we're going to go see her next week for our 20-week scan.

That's cool. But yeah, we text all the time and she gives me updates. We just started feeling flutters this week. Oh, that's so exciting. So it's like every little detail. I got very lucky. I feel she's like my soulmate. Let me tell you something.

You having a baby is going to be nothing compared to what you've gone through really i tell people just wait so much work you're gonna be like this is so easy oh my god and we have three french bulldogs so i'm like three bulldogs and i don't know if i forgot to tell you too we're having twins so i knew that i just you knew it yeah so we're having twins so we decided just to go for it. And so we're going to have a very busy house. But I think my life purpose has definitely been to have kids. And we're so happy.

Is your dad going to make custom munchkins for your twins? I hope so. We'll have to ask him. Yeah. Tell us the story about how your dad invented munchkin really quick. Just like a side note tangent. Because that's amazing. Thank you.

I know that you have a little one and you guys use it. We love it. Yay. So when I was little, when I was a baby, I always wanted to drink what my dad was drinking. And he was a Diet Coke addict with those little skinny glass bottles. He basically had this brilliant idea of putting my formula in a glass bottle and he wrapped a nipple on top.

And I don't know how he secured it on, but I thought I was drinking what he was drinking and he decided to start munchkin there and then. So I think he, I'll have to ask him, but because I was literally a baby, but he ended up getting a license from Coca-Cola and Pepsi or that's how he started with these little plastic baby bottles. And now it's munchkin. I had to tell that story because we're just talking about babies. Okay. I want to talk about your art for a second. Let's do it. What you've been through is incredible. How has it affected your art? Like, and how has your art evolved through all of these different things that you've been through? Yeah, it's been crazy. To be honest, I always looked

at art, as I said before, as therapy or like an outlet. And I think when you have your passion, I guess when you move your passion into your career, it changes things, right? Like you guys run businesses and you're entrepreneurs yourself. So you understand it's like the day-to-day of putting out those fires or being a CEO of a company, like it's totally different than you just going to do art or you like going to play basketball or whatever it is or driving a car. You know what I mean? So for me, it was a huge transition. I always kind of looked at modeling and acting as like okay that's my profession right or like I go I'm professional I like I will show up for I will show up timely I will do my job art it's a very it's a it was a tough transition for me because it was my passion now turning into my

business and that's been the hardest to be honest um along with all the shit i've been through the hardest has been like keeping the creativity alive while also running like the business aspect of it and the fine art world's tough because it's unregulated so i've had you know lots of lawsuits with galleries who don't pay like there's a lot of the back end that like normal people don't see and especially as a female artist i just don't feel like i'm treated the same and i'm, you know, I'm like not a diehard feminist and all that stuff. But at the same time, it's like, there's a big difference between boys and girls in the fine art world. There's nothing bad about the fine art world, but it's like, I had to be strong. I've had to be independent, but I also run my ship really, really clean. And like my business is like really

tidy. And so for me, it's been hard just because like I want to be creative, but the business side has really like sucked me out, you know? So that's the tough part for me. And so how do you balance that? What do you do? I've had to, and it was also the struggle between the commercial world

and the fine art world too. And that, I think that was my biggest blocker going, oh, well, I don't fit into either world. Like I'm not super commercial where I'm going to go license my stuff and, you know, put it everywhere. And then the fine art world, I'm so outside the box and I'm not super commercial where I'm going to go license my stuff and put it everywhere. And then the fine art world, I'm so outside the box and I'm just who I am. And so I think it was going through the health stuff made me realize I'm just going to be unapologetically who I am

and not give a fuck. I'm sorry for swearing, but it's like, I'm going to be me. And I basically, I pulled out a lot of my galleries i'm really going to go i think more direct to consumer just because like i get so many emails and like i want to buy the time right i don't want to have my instagram so for me it's like i totally respect and i still will work with my galleries and this and that and i'm with great galleries now but it's like i get so many emails from young collectors like as i said you and i like around our age going well i'm intimidated to buy your stuff at auction i'm intimidated to call a gallery because emails from young collectors, like as I said, you and I, like around our age going, well, I'm intimidated to buy your stuff at auction. I'm intimidated to call a gallery because your stuff

isn't available to me because I'm a brand new buyer. I'm like, I want it to be like, I want it to be accessible. And that's why I'm creating it. So I'm relaunching my Bowdoin art website, and I'm going to make it a little more direct to consumer and have the Barbies available. And, you know, you can inquire directly to me if you want a neon or custom stuff and more my fine art stuff. Someone asked me the other day, what do you think the greatest lie in business advice ever was? I think the greatest lie they tell people is that if you chase your passion, you'll

never work a day in your life. And the reason being is as soon as you turn your passion into a business, it inevitably comes with all the work and all the things that come with with work yeah and most of the time you know we're sitting in this office what i do is like stuff i hate doing and i and i the only reason i can do it is because i love what i do and so i'm like i can get through the shit so i totally relate to saying like people like there was a time when we you know like you start a creative endeavor and it's just a creative endeavor.

But as soon as you start layering on the business, it becomes a business and it becomes work. It's tough. Because you love it is why you can do the work. But I think it's a bad lie to tell people that are getting started because inevitably when you turn any passion into... But there's a honeymoon stage, right? So the honeymoon stage is perfect. And it's like, oh my God, startup life or this or that.

And I love startup life. I love being in the trenches and being like, okay, cool. There's a puzzle of a startup, of starting a business. I can put all those together. But the problem is then day-to-day running of it. I'm like, I just want to be creative and have fun. I think it's the best time when you're starting. It's the hardest and best because then you get something in its skill and you're like, oh my God, I'm managing and I'm looking at a P&L and I'm looking at this and I'm doing like, there's this lawyer and this lawsuit and this vendor and this version, like fuck. Totally. Was the honeymoon stage when you did Kylie's Glam Room? Because that was so major. Like what was that like? I think the whole thing from an artist standpoint, the whole thing has been a honeymoon, but the business side is the tough

part. That Glam Room is just so good. so good thank you oh it was so fun i mean that was like amazing and she posted it everywhere yeah do you get creative when you work on a kardashian's glam room or is it her vision and you just execute on what she wants no it's just she's a collector so it's not like for me I can speak more to like the Chris Birkin closet because that was built around my art piece right like it's totally individual so it's not like Kylie wanted to collect my stuff she wanted me to come in person though to like do the install so that was kind of both of our vision together but like her wallpaper with those like orange lips like it was so different than what I was expecting going in. I was like,

this is so cool. You know what I mean? And that was specifically put in for that. So yeah, I just, for me, it's like, it doesn't matter like if it is Kylie or at my house,

you know what I mean? It's really cool to see the art come alive. And even if it was like in your office, like it is going to be in my office. No, it is. It is. Sorry,

Michael. My birthday is in a month and a half. We're counting the days now. I have a feeling these are appreciating assets, right? They are. Trust me. Okay, so you're working on this incredible new innovation of the Barbie. Tell us. So it's actually my 10-year anniversary of the Barbies.

I'm not trying to outdate myself or the Barbies, but I can't believe 10 years has gone by. And to be honest, this was my plastic series. I had a solo show in LA, I think around 2016 called Plastic. If you do a show, I want to come and tell me next time. I will 100% invite you. But so I had my solo show

and I'm working on so many other series. So for me, I was like, Barbies are done, plastic is done. Obviously it's who I am. And the neon series has always continued because I get so many commissions and that one's so much fun. But I chose artificial. The most artificial hair colorings you can find is blonde around the world.

And so I did mostly blonde and one redhead for this first series of the Barbies. The most requested pieces I get, and which I'm shocked because I get so many requests for custom neons, is black Barbies and brunette Barbies. And everyone comes up to me going, how do you not have a Barbie that even represents who you are? And I'm much lighter. I go darker with my hair. But I was like, I want a brunette Barbie. But I was kind of stuck with like, okay, obviously, like my stuff is very limited. I do small runs and they sell out very quick. And so for me, I was like, okay, how do I give people what they want?

Because I'm telling you at least once or twice a week, I get a Barbie request for, and I understand like they want diversity. They want a Barbie that represents who they are. And I've had to kind of come through the other side, and especially after the cancer situation, I think that was my big wake-up call. I was like, I want to do a cancer Barbie

that really represents what I went through. And I'm actually teaming up with the Foundation of Living Beauty. They're a charity based in LA that give resources to women who are going through chemo and going through cancer treatments. I'm creating a cancer Barbie.

I'm giving 100% of my proceeds from that to the charity. And I am launching a new set of black Barbies and a set of brunette Barbies that will kind of represent all women. That is so cool. I love it. Here's my question. I'm just going to ask you on air because I was going to ask you off air. So when you create these Barbies, say we do one for the Skinny Confidential office, do we just find the one that's most skinny confidential or do you create a Barbie? What do you do? Like, how does it work? No. So basically I did six Barbies for my first set and I'm going to do a small run of. So the Barbies are already done. So I would just pick the one I

like that speaks to me the most. Or I have some big collectors who've done custom Barbies and it's not cheap because I have to shoot. No, that's probably like a hundred million dollars. I won't put you through that, Michael. I won't put you through that. So there's six Barbies that I could choose from. As of right now, my first series from 2010 or 2011. Yes, there's six Barbies and they're mostly blonde. You'll love them.

And that's who, this is the series. But I'm coming out with two new series that will be coming out this year for the 10 year anniversary. And do the colors, the backgrounds change?

Are they different colors? Are they all? Yeah. So this one, this specific Barbie has her specific background of blue, but they all have different backgrounds. And what are the other change? Are they different colors? Are they all? Yeah. So this one, this specific Barbie has her specific background of blue, but they all have

different backgrounds. And what are the other colors? Just ask me on air. So I have six. So I have blue, green, yellow, orange,

pink, and I forgot my last color. Okay. I love the blue because it pops her eyes. Can I ask you a random question? Like what is Barbie? Like what does the Barbie brand

think about this? Are they like pumped or are they? Yeah. So it's Mattelel and i've had my dad's worked with mattel over the years coming from like consumer goods companies um so and i get that actually a lot especially from a fine art standpoint so it is my photography of a barbie i'm not actually selling a barbie and so this is my representation of and i could take a photo of your phone your wallet you know what i mean and do you dress the barbie or is the barbie how they come so i shoot a lot this one's actually a newer barbie because i mix new and old but this specific my first round of barbies i mixed vintage and new and they all have the original um so i literally photograph them and a lot of people

think i warp them or this that i'm like this is how they come and that's how I wanted and especially for my two new series because obviously you're going you know blacks and brunettes and Asian

and we're going all different Barbies but it's like I wanted to really represent how Mattel made them it's not how I see them through my eyes right

and that's talking about going back to like consumer goods the pressures that are put on all of us. It's like this is how Barbie is created and this is how I'm shooting them. I love that. Amazing. I can't wait to see the other colors and the other Barbies to

pick today. I told him I'm like, I'm I don't spend that much money on hand bags or shoes or cars. I just. She spends no money Michael.bags or shoes or cars. I just. She spends no money, Michael. We need a Barbie. She keeps telling me.

Every month she goes, I think someone stole my credit card. I'm like, no. She's without fail. That has been said to me for the last. I said, oh my God, someone did identity theft. And we go through. My mom says the same thing every week. I like actually think it though.

No, no, she does too. She gets all she gets all the accounts everybody and they're like oh no it's like full theft and then you go ahead going net-a-porter oh god okay that was me next time you come on i want you to bring your mom because you guys seem to have a really beautiful relationship we do we're best friends but i i'm sure that she gave you a lot of her charisma. You have a lot of charisma. So I'm sure it's from your mom. Maybe your dad too.

Yeah, I think it's 50-50, but my cheeks hurt from smiling. I've been laughing with you guys. Well, good. That makes us happy. We want you to laugh. No, my mom, we say I'm the mom and she's the daughter.

She is out of control. Let's have her on. She's made me to get a fire extinguisher. She's so wild. If you're out of control, this podcast is for you. Come on this podcast if you're out of control. Where can everyone find you? Pimp yourself out.

Where can they find your Barbies, your Instagram? How can they support you, your charities, everything you're doing? Thank you. If they want to ask you questions about what you've been through, everything. Yeah. So obviously my Instagram is directed me. So it's at Beaudun, B-E-A-U-D-U-N-N. And then my art is Bowdun Art, spelled the same way.

My art website is bowdunart.com. And I'm working currently, I'm the global ambassador for Road Dogs Charity, which is a bulldog charity based in LA, which I'm a huge supporter of. And then the Foundation of Living Beauty. And I also work, and it's going to be the cancer charity. And then I work with Art of Elysium as well and that's more um children

and arts and i've been working with them for over 10 years so you are busy i have a lot going on i do but i love it it's amazing i think it's so cool i think that you're defying so many different odds it's really awesome thank you michael get our phone number. I'm going to dive in. Bow done art. Bow done art. Find me. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you. And thank you for letting me be so vulnerable. Congratulations. We have to end with that. Twins. Thank you.

You got to tell me how much work twins is. I think you're going to be prepping me. I'm going to be texting you about everything. No, really, I mean this. I mean, you should be proud of yourself because everything you've overcome and you've done, like it takes a mentally strong person to do that. I mean,

it's not easy. If I can help others, like for me, that's like the biggest reward, you know, it's like, I'm going through all this, at least be able to,

you know, be able to tell my story or probably inspire. I mean, there's a lot of people that go through a lot of shit. It's probably inspiring to hear somebody getting through it and keeping such a positive. I mean, like if I,

when I first met you, when we walked in, like there's, you wouldn't, you don't lead with that is what I'm saying. You would never know all the things you've overcome. Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me guys. This giveaway is different. I'm going to do a bunch of my favorite beauty products, like a big, big bag situation. Like think of like wellness, health, beauty, diet, all the things, all my favorites in a big basket for you. All you have to do is tell us your favorite part of this episode with Bo Dunn on my latest Instagram at Lauren Bostick and follow at Bo Dunn on Instagram. I think you're

going to love everything I've picked. I handpicked it. It's some stuff I use all the time. And I know there's probably so many favorite parts of this episode. I have a lot. Anyways, super easy to enter. And with that, we will see you next time.