The Squeeze - MAX: Not A Nepo Baby

Episode Date: February 21, 2024

Today the Lautners welcome performer MAX to The Squeeze to discuss his journey with music, therapy, and polyps on his vocal cords that had him fearing the end of his career. The episode starts with an unexpected story from Tay that you can’t miss, followed by a very important Citrus-Got Real discussion on corgis. The three then dive into Max’s love of music and performing, balancing being a husband, father, and musician, and his experience with therapy both alone and with his partner. He shares how the birth of his daughter transformed his way of thinking before discussing the very real possibility of losing his voice a few years back after discovering polyps on his vocal cords. Lastly, he shares the inspiration behind his new single, STUPID IN LOVE, before playing Lemon 7.  Be sure to follow MAX @maxmusic, and check out his album, Love in Stereo, featuring the single STUPID IN LOVE  Thanks to our awesome sponsors for supporting this episode:  Squeezed.com — Get same day local delivery or Free Fast delivery nationwide with code THESQUEEZE at squeezed.com  Vessi — Step into the New Year with Vessi. Visit vessi.com/THESQUEEZE for 15% off your first purchase! Enjoy free shipping to CA, US, AU, JP, TW, KR, SGP  Quince — Go to Quince.com/thesqueeze for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.   Apostrophe — Get your first visit for only $5 at Apostrophe.com/THESQUEEZE when you use our code: THESQUEEZE. That’s a savings of $15! Go to Apostrophe.com/THESQUEEZE and click Get Started, then use our code THESQUEEZE at sign up and you’ll get your first visit for only $5!   To email us your questions or share your story, you can reach out to [e-mail]. Be sure to rate, review, and follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode! Plus, follow us on Instagram, @thesqueeze and personally @taylautner and @taylorlautner + on TikTok @thesqueezepodcast   To learn more from The Lemons Foundation, follow @lemonsbytay on Instagram and visit lemonsbytay.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I feel very grateful that I had never been truly depressed in my life. And that was the first experience of depression for me. And it was... It was horrible. I mean, again, especially... I saw the world, you can't... You know, for anyone that's never experienced, just like if you even try to not talk for one day,

it's a really interesting experience. For one, it made me a better listener again, which I'm grateful for, and it made me appreciative of my voice, but just kind of feeling like you're in a bubble outside of real life. Like, you're just observing everything. and you're not contributing is a very, it feels like you're a ghost in a weird way. When life gives you lemons, what do you do with them?

Over here at the squeeze, we talk about it. Those are bad. I'm just going to stop clapping now. Oh my gosh. Max, welcome to the squeeze. Thanks for having me, guys. I can't clap is what we just discovered. Yeah.

Do you want to show everyone? No, I don't want to actually. Show us your clap. Okay, we clap before the episode so that the audio is saying, Okay, but I tried to do it like an ASMR like Oh, you try to do it for the mic Yeah, I think that's why I always do that I always do that. I always do that

Skull. Above, yeah, no skull. So are you a Knicks fan? We were talking about basketball. Die hard, die hard. And it's been my whole life too, being from New York. So it's like they're just starting to be good and it feels really exciting.

It's fun right now. Oh my gosh. It's been a lifelong journey. Is that your sport? Yeah, that's the one. I'm a little more fair weather for the rest of the sports. Yeah. But for Nix, it's like that's, you know, I go to Lakers games as a NICS fan with my whole gear on and stuff.

I love that. Yeah, yeah, just unapologetically got to do it. We just went to a football game. Too soon. Yeah, I know. It's really sad still. I'm really sad, guys. It's the NFC championship game that the Lions were in and they lost, but it was in Santa Clara.

And it was a little, it was my first time being at an away. game. I never like supported a team at an away game before. Very different experience. It is right? Yeah. It's kind of scary. You're like you're looking for other fans that are the same. You're like, are we together? Oh, yeah. Well, I ended up having it, I think I'm just going to share this story.

Okay. I don't know if you need to say this second. What? You want to proudly say the second part? I want to proudly say. Okay. It was, it was a moment. I think, I think Blumdrops would be proud of me. Would be. Would feel me. So after the game,

You know, we're sad. We're leaving. Me and two my girlfriends are walking out and we're walking to the elevator to leave. And this guy who was a 49ers fan is, like, plastered. Like, he's gone. Hey, he had a good time. But he walks by us. Well, we hear him down the hall yelling, nineers, like so loud.

And then as he starts walking towards us, he's probably this far away from me and my two girlfriends. And in our face just starts screaming. like nineers and we're like wait what the heck and then he still he like turns around and continues to scream at us and we're like not doing anything we're minding our business i get this urge and don't even think twice about it but i turn around and i literally what did you do i literally this is out of character for me um i i'm not a computational person at all i turn around and i literally go you're giving away your dick size oh my god and then he stopped you. yelling and my friends were like, what did you just say?

And I was like, I don't know, but I just got in like mother mode and had to protect my friends. That's a high five right there. Come on. No, no, you show him. You show him. You got it. But they were like, do you think he heard you because he was screaming so loud? I was like, he saw the hand motion.

I think he got the gist of what I was saying. Yeah. But yeah, that's that. That just happened. Yeah. I'm still trying to. The story behind that is you have to stand up for yourself. Yes.

And your loved ones. Yes. I like that. And your loved ones. Okay, well, we start each episode off with a little thing called citrus got real. Yes. This little jar has a bunch of questions. Ooh, here I go.

If you want to grab one. Thanks for doing that, baby. Here we are. How do you feel about Corgi's spectacular question? Just saw Corgi the other day on a walk and thought to myself, I have a one-eyed Yorkie. His name's wink. He's always winking. Wink.

I love him. He's amazing. No. But I always say to myself, if we would ever get another dog, a corgi would be the one. They are so fun. They're just great. They're so cute. They're great bodies.

So your dog was born without an eye. Yeah, he was a rescue. We like met him on the streets in New York when he was two. And it was one of those things where it was like this little adoption center on the street like with one of those trucks. And he got in our lap and they were like, oh, there's someone else. And a family interest. We're like, no, this is our dog right now. Sorry, he's our baby.

And that was it. He's been in our family ever since. Shut up. I can't with wink. That is the cutest thing. I really, we have two dogs in there. They're a lot. They're both like 60, 65 pounds.

Like, it's a lot having two large dogs. But when the opportunity arises, we won't have three when one of them carries on. I want to get like a dog like that that has, you know, like maybe like three legs. They're like, just like so sweet. Yeah. Okay. They're so cute. Yeah.

I always, he has like one ear because he has the one eye. One ear is always on the other side up because he's, you know, compensating to make sure he can hear stuff. So it's like the non-eye ears always up. You have to show me him after this. Yeah, he's a good guy. Oh my gosh, that's way too cute. Corgis are. They're adorable.

Fantastic dog. Yeah. Fantastic species. I like when they run. Oh, yeah. They're little legs. Yeah. They can't swim, right?

No, I think they can. I've seen videos of them with a little life vest on swimming. Is it Frenchies that can't swim? Oh, with their lungs. They just got lungs that are just. Yeah. They don't have the endurance for it. They don't got the endurance.

It's like the little legs. They got like these big, thick bodies and then these little. In my mind, I imagine like the corgi like floating on the water and the little legs going. Like that's how it works in my mind. Yeah. But maybe we consider one. Maybe we get a three-legged corgi. A three-legged corgi.

You just got to get a swim instructor for your corgi. Yeah. Be the first. You'll do swimming lessons. With little floaties on. Oh my gosh. That's too much. A little corgi floaties.

Okay. So we love having like musical guests on because I just love hearing like where. You really do. I do. You get very excited when we have music. I mean, we're talking about I grew up dancing. I just like, I can't sing at all. So I'm not musically gifted in that regard.

But I love music because I dance. Of course. It's just something that I love and love learning about. But when did you start like getting into music? So early, I was five and just growing up in New York, I'd see like Broadway shows. I was a big theater person and I would see all of those and I would reenact them on my living room table, my underwear. for my family and stuff. And so music was ingrained.

And then also growing up in New York, a lot of busking, like on the subways and stuff. And with my little ukulele, and I would just be in Central Park and all of that. So it's an early age and it's just been there. Are your parents or do you have siblings that are? No. Only child.

Parents are both little tiny lawyers. So no. I'm an only child too. Cute, cute. Yeah. I don't know where it came from. What the heck? Yeah.

But my dad's a little ham. You could tell he like really. We were just, it's a long story. But my dad's name is Dan Schneider. I'm going to make this short. People might think, and I was on Nickelode at one point, but he's not that Dan Schneider. I've never met that Dan Schneider.

But my dad, Dan Schneider, he's a wonderful guy. He's a nice little short king. And anytime we do TikToks about me explaining that he's not that Dan Schneider, he's like, I can't, oh, I'm excited to be in the TikTok. You tell it's in his blood. So that's probably where I get the little, like, performer, Gene. You were on there. I was.

Literally have never met that Dan Schneider once, which is kind of crazy. Yeah, it's just a really unfortunate coincidence. Literally clarified to me 30 minutes before you showed up because I was like, because I know you as Max. Yeah, yeah. And then I was like, oh, full name, Max Schneider. And then, you know, I was reading about your Nick shows. And she was like, you just said out of nowhere. You're like no relation to Dan.

Well, yeah, it was one of the first Google things that popped up. I know. Oh, so this is a thing. That's how I knew that. It's been a thing. We just clarified it with my queen Ella. the social media queen. Like last week, we were like, we have to address this in some way.

Everybody is like, Nepo baby. I'm like, no, I don't get any of the good Nepo baby stuff. I'm not a Nepo baby. Oh my gosh. I have a question that I just thought of out of like all of your, because you've done, you know, Broadway, TV, movie, all that stuff. And like music can perform me now. Which one has been your favorite and do you like want to like re-explore something?

Or are you like, I'm singing and like singing songwriting? Music for sure. Like when I'm on stage, you know, in any environment, but especially like on stage in an arena, it's just, nothing compares to that. It's just, I feel the most alive. I feel the most. Yeah. Oddly, I feel the most comfortable. Like, it just feels like that's the job I'm so happy to do.

But the rest is always fun, like any little acting things. I'm just not that good of an actor. So it's like, I try it sometimes. The last acting gig I did, I was with, I don't know if you guys know Paul Dano, that actor. Yes. One of the best actors. And I had this scene in this movie about the Beach Boys. And we're just across each other.

I was like, oh, I'm never going to be like you. You're like so good at this. He's a goody. But I was, you know, I was, I'm down to do it sometimes, but music is forever for me. It just, it just feels where I'm the most of life. Well, great. You're good at it. So I'm fine with you.

Working out. Thanks, guys. You, like, being a part of, like, the industry and just being involved in all of this for so long. Was mental health a part of your life growing up or was it not until, like, being, like, fully in the industry? Yeah, I've always, I've gone in and out of therapy my whole life. Just, it's been a.

part of, you know, even when I was really, really young. But I would say that it really, I got really serious about it when my daughter was born like three years ago. And I think the balance between, you know, all the pressures of what we do and the boundaries, making sure that, you know, hate comments, all that kind of stuff. Like, making sure that there's that boundary. I've done so much work with my therapist now that's just made my relationship better, my parenting better. And it's better to separate, like, Max, the music guy to like, max. the lowercase dad you know yeah so but it's always been a part of my life yeah that's cool that how old were you do you think when you first started like five yeah really really young yeah yeah

yeah when I was really little um yeah I just uh I think my parents I had like anger issues and I was really little kid I'll speak open about it yeah so I was like a little angry little kid maybe that's why I'm hopefully nice now but um but yeah so I so I did that when I was getting and my dad did therapy too so it was there was not as much of a stigma even at that time which was really nice to grow up with. Yeah, you definitely do not like cure that. It's always like the, you know, the child, you know, discovers therapy later on in life and then gets the parent to go. Yeah, that's usually what we. Yeah. Which, by the way, I have been doing. I like just, I really kind of really encouraged my dad to rediscover it recently. And it's been so cool to see,

because it's not for everybody. Some people like to do the work on their own, but I've seen such a huge difference in sort of encouraging him to do it and our relationships better. And it's awesome to to see it work in a positive way. Oh my gosh. That's really cool. As we all know, February is the month of love. And while this month is all about showing people in your life some extra love, don't forget about yourself. It's so easy to think negatively about yourself. I know recently. I've been super stressed and whenever I get stressed, I break out, which my concealer is currently covering. But just for Valentine's Day, I started breaking out. But it's time to show yourself some love. We love talking about self-care on the podcast. And one of my favorite forms of self-care is

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Indulge an affordable luxury. Go to quince.com slash the squeeze for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com. slash the squeeze to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com slash the squeeze. You, I mean, you mentioned it. You started really, you know, diving into it or back into it when your daughter was born. How has it been, you know, being able to separate and prioritize not only being a husband, but being a father and being, you know, a traveling musician.

like how has it been you know being able to give each of those entities their own you know what they deserve it's the best i i i you know i'm you guys are both very career oriented and i'm sure you can relate to this that for most of my life career was first i was just like i was just on the i'm got to keep hitting the goals and make my family proud and all that stuff and then um you know when my daughter was born and i love my wife so much but i mean i think she'd even attest to that the second I really prioritize their number one and everything else I plan around them now. You know, my daughter's school, all that's...

I'm touring in a different way now because I want to make sure that I'm there for their life and for her life. And sometimes they come on tour with me, but it's really empowering to make sure that they really are number one so that everything else it doesn't mean as much, which is nice too.

Like, I can enjoy it more. I'm enjoying like an album coming out in a few weeks and usually I would be so stressed. Is it going to be enough? Is it going to chart? And the difference now is, as long as I wake up to my daughter's little smile and I'm hanging out with my, like, if I start the day like that, then the rest will affect me in a far less aggressive way, you know, whether it's amazing or terrible. So it's been amazing.

And funny enough, I'll never forget that, like we said, going back to the next thing, I had done the anthem with them for a long time. And they would give me seats. And it would always be nice, but I never got those courtsides. And I'll never forget my daughter was born. And they were like, hey, well, you do the anthem at our playoffs game. And I was like, I'd have to fly across the country. My daughter was pretty young. And I was like, guys, I love this.

And I'm grateful. But it was the first time I sort of put my foot down and said, like, if it's not like the dream scenario, I can't do it. And ever since they put me courtside, every game, it's been amazing to see the empowerment of like, because of the priority being them. The other things, when they happen, it's in the way that I dream of rather than, you know, just doing it to hopefully, you know. it'll be the goal next time but you guys are obviously do you do therapy as well are you on that same journey of course i figure yeah yeah we're much later to the game than you were i mean yeah yeah it's been a couple years yeah it's only been a couple years for us yeah and we go in we go on waves where we're like good about it and you know make sure that you know we're staying on top of it and

then we'll get busy and then we fall out of it i'm like brick we haven't yeah you know anybody in like a few months. Yeah. But yeah, we're, yeah, it's great. It's, we're going next week. Amazing. Oh, are we? Yeah.

Our thing is, she just tells me. Yeah, I just tell him. He doesn't know, like, what a calendar looks like. Well, that's just because that's not, like, that's just not your personality. You don't like, like to organize a calendar. I love a color coordinate organized calendar. Yes, you do. So I'll just, like, text our therapist and schedule him an appointment in the day before.

I'm like, maybe you get therapy tomorrow at 11. Amazing. He's like, oh, okay. It's nice to recognize each other's, what each other needs are in that way, I guess. Yeah. I was reading about this metaphor that you have talked about that you learned in therapy. And could you tell us and our listeners a little bit more about it? You talk about this inviting people into your car.

Yeah. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Is that like a personal space? What is that about? It's, I would say the best way to describe it is it's sort of, it's definitely a personal space thing. Like maybe even if there's an important meeting you have or, you know, I'm in your car right now. I'm in your house, your world. And I think it's important, my therapist says, to balance that because, you know, it's important to have people understand, you know, your space and respect your boundaries being in your world.

and then the same being outside of it for their boundaries. And so he says that to me a lot as far as especially, you know, there's so much anxiety that can be induced when you're not comfortable. And I think that even if it's as a metaphor, you know, making sure that, you know, if you have that big confrontational meeting with with somebody you work with or something, making sure that it's, is this time where it needs to be in their car or do you deserve it to be in your car, I guess?

And in the same way, you know, sometimes when you feel out of control, I guess that's the best way to make it as a metaphor. It's like you really can't control much, but how you react to those feelings. And if you make sure, sometimes again, like I'll take a meeting at my house with people that I work with sometimes just to be like, come into my world for a second

so that I feel the most comfortable here and we can accomplish the goals. So I guess that's the best way to describe it. But it's been amazing to me. Anytime I start spiraling with something with my therapist, he'll be like, all right, you're not in your car right now. Let's bring them into your car. and figure out how this makes sense in your world.

And I think it helps me to like even, you know, on the weekends, like, you know, trying to be respectful of other people's time and space and making sure that you, you know, respect those boundaries. It's such a big boundary issue, I'd say. Amazing what a good metaphor will do. I love a good metaphor. Yeah. That's like one of my favorite things when we have guests on and they share like a metaphor there. Oh, yeah. I like take it and run every time.

There's so many of them. I love that one. Use it. Yeah, like in EMDR, we learned about, like, the, the, putting the thing in the box and, like, taping the box up and putting the box away. But then. Yeah, when we start the session, like, the mine's like a clear, mine looks like a clear. You have to, like, envision what it is. Yes.

Mine's a clear glass jar with a black towel lid. Oh. Ooh. Okay. Yeah, like one of those pretty aesthetic things. Mine's like a dusty cardboard box. That's all brand. Packaging tape.

With, like, half hanging off the side. But, yeah. When we start, you bring it down and then you take it out and then you put it back in and then you close it up and put it away after your session stuff. Interesting. I'd love that. That little metaphor. I actually have another one that I should have told you before, but this is my favorite metaphor that my therapist has done recently. It's really helped.

He says in these moments of conversations, maybe I'm in a fight. Maybe my wife and I have an argument or you're just, you know, listening to someone else. Imagining the clear plexiglass between you and them and really listening and just observing rather than reacting emotionally right away. And that one's been really helpful because sometimes I have a bad habit of jumping on people's sentences. Like that, I'm trying to be a better listener. And that one really helped me to just say, like, let someone really express themselves fully. And don't give a, like, really listen behind that flexed glass. So, anyway, that one's been amazing for me recently.

That's great. I like that one, too. Yeah. How long have you and her wife been together? We're going on. We're eight years this year, which is crazy. Yeah. Yeah.

We have a wild little love story. It's so funny. We met and we started dating and we got engaged in four months after starting dating. And then we got married nine months total after dating. Wow. And we've been together. Yeah, this is our, I think it's our eighth wedding anniversary this year. So you just like knew.

Just new. Yeah. And she's British. So she needed her green card. All that kind of stuff was a factor. But like it also was just she was like, I want to be married to you. And I was like, oh, shit. Okay.

Yeah, I want to be married to you too. Let's do it. Oh my gosh. So that was cool. That's awesome. Our best friends, they're Australian and the husband, he was coming out here. They'd been dating for like a bit, but they ended up getting engaged one day, married the next and then moved from Australia to hear the next day. Whoa.

Like it was like really quick. And how long were they, any said? How long were they together? A little longer than you and your wife were. Yeah. Remember they not together for like a year now? I don't think they were together for that long. Not for that long.

Johnny and Joslinson. How about you guys, though, when engagement to... We are the opposite. Oh, okay. Which I knew because I knew my husband would take a long time to do that. You guys are happy. Yeah, we've been together for six years. We've been married for just over one.

Gorgeous. I proposed at four years. We got married at five. Yeah. Yeah. And now we just, yeah. I knew it was going to take a while because he had the ring for like, how long? Like nine months?

Yeah, it did. Also, COVID was factor and I was like working as a nurse. I was, we were like dealing with stuff. So there was a lot of things. But I knew he's just like, he's so sentimental, which I love. And I, I knew that it would, you wanted it to be absolutely like perfect. Like it needed to be the perfect moment. So I just didn't.

My biggest thing is I didn't want to. I just thought, yeah, I need everything to have like meaning. And I didn't want to just do it to do it to like just check off the box. Of course. We both knew, you know, from the very beginning. Yeah. I mean, yeah, we said, I love you after like a month. So it was never a question of that.

Yeah, I just wanted it to like be at the perfect time. That was like perfect for both of us. We both had so many different things going on in our individual lives. And I wanted us both to be in like a place where we're happy and we can celebrate. Yeah. You know, getting married and spending. and rest of our lives together. Yeah.

So I just needed like the right time. I did. I had the ring like hidden away in the house for nine months. Oh wow. Yeah. I was ready. I was just like, yeah,

just waiting for the perfect moment. What was, what was that moment? What did you do if I may ask? I know. I don't have to share. I don't want to. No.

No, we talk about it. Okay, cute. It's honor. It's honor. That's our wedding. But it was the year. It was the year prior.

Yeah. He proposed on 11, 11, 21, 21, 21, And then we got married 11, 11, 12. Yeah. I don't, it just, yeah. I always told him because I knew he was going to, like, overthink it. I was like, just do it. Well, and I don't like grand gestures.

Sure. Like, I like, I like flowers, but I don't like grand gestures. Yeah. They make me very uncomfortable. But I was like, just do it one night, like, in the house. Like, after dinner, if it's like, you know, it's been a great day and you feel great, just, like, do it then. Like, I don't need it anything. So he basically, like, took the do it in the kitchen.

but like multiplied it times 100 and I ended up being gone for an event during the day and he got like a lot of flowers and lined our like entryway from our garage into like our kitchen and just did this whole like beautiful thing but it was nice because it was at our house and it was very sweet it was the sweetest thing and it's so funny because I knew I didn't know it was coming then but I knew like it was going to come at some point because I knew um but I was like hysterically crying. Like, I was like, like, gasping for air. Like, hands are on my knees.

I was like, why am I like, like, I don't know why I, like, panic so much. Yeah, you lost it. It was good panic, but he literally, he like walked over. He left his mark as he said. Yeah, I was like, I was on my mark because we had our friend there and he was like taking photos and stuff. He was like hiding behind our island, like taking photos. Yeah, but I'm like standing on the mark waiting for her to walk to me.

Yeah. And then we'll do the whole thing there. But she couldn't get to me. She just was like fell to her like hands and knees and was just like weeping. And then I had to go get her and physically lift her up. And what did I say to you? He was like, I have some words I have to say to you. And I'm going to walk me back over.

It is so sweet. That's the good stuff though. When it's like God laps of your plans, right? You can only plan for so much. I know. No, it was so perfect. So I'm sure a lot of you have heard that California, when I got a record amount of rain the last few weeks.

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You can do it before work, after work. And it's honestly just, it's convenient. Yeah. It's convenient and they have great therapists. Yeah. And it'll just keep you accountable too. So we highly, highly encourage that you guys check out cerebral because therapy is just then wonders for us.

And we know it'll do the same for you. To get started on your path towards better mental mental. Health, Cerebral is giving our listeners 15% off their first month of online therapy, medication, or both. Get started at Cerebral.com slash podcasts and use code the squeeze to make 24 your best year yet. That's Cerebral C-E-R-E-B-R-A-L.com slash podcast and use code the squeeze offer is only valid on monthly plans. Other exclusions may apply. See site for details. Get going on that therapy. Was your wife into therapy before you? No. That was a really big thing for us to get to that place together. You know, she's very British and very, not to say, I don't know, it's just like,

it seemed like in her upbringing, that was, that was definitely different than mine, you know, so we really, and in a lot of ways, I mean, there's so many things that I've grown from her that we're not a part of my upbringing. And that's, you know, I guess a part of any relationship is growing together. And so, so it's, but she's loves it now. She's like, her therapist is like, you should be a therapist. And I'm like, so amazing that, that she was really not into it first. And now she's obsessed. Do you ever do it together? We tried one time. But I think we tried it with my therapist and that didn't really work. You know, it needs to be someone that like, at least in my opinion, I feel like it would have been better if it were someone neutral that

was just for the two of us. So you just do it individually right now. But I'd be down for, I'm down for anything, honestly. So do you guys do it together sometimes? Yes. We do both. We see the same person. Oh, that's nice. Yeah, we have the same person.

But yeah, especially towards the beginning when we first started, I was such a chicken about it. Yeah. I was terrified. I was like, I need you there. So when we started, I wouldn't go alone. And then as I became more and more comfortable and, you know, fell more. more in love with our therapist and trusted him and, you know, learned what it was like to get down into those things and talk about them. Then I was, you know, brave enough to start

talking alone. Beautiful. Yeah. And then your daughter was born in 2020? 2020. COVID baby. Yeah. Literally, my wife got pregnant the week of lockdown. Really? The week. Yeah, which was wild. So I spent all of lockdown. She was pregnant. I binge watched reality TV I'd never watched, watched a ton of The Bachelor. It was just a wild pregnancy. We had a good time. Oh, my gosh. What, like, impact on your life did your daughter's birth have on you? Oh, I mean, it's the best thing in the world. I think the biggest thing I can say is just the the appreciation for time and how, you know, you know, it's the cliche of just time is the most valuable commodity any of us have and choosing it wisely as far as, you know, this day I'm just

going to spend with my daughter because all the cliches of her growing up so fast and all of those. are so true and so just making sure I'm there as much as I can be to just see the little things her first, I'm so grateful like I wasn't on tour and I saw her walk for the first time and her first words and all that kind of stuff. So it's been amazing to really appreciate time. That's so sweet. How is your, because we, I mean, clearly we do not have children, but our friends that did not have children and then had children say that, you know, their, their relationship is like changed or you know they look they had to learn to do something's different what impact has being a parent had on your guys's relationship it started in it got to the

worst place of our relationship naturally I think it's like completely blows everything up and we're in it together and you're adjusting you're not sleeping it's like at first you're just with each other so you just prioritize now there's this little person who's definitely the priority but beyond both of you And now it's better than ever because we've we respect each other even more. We have grown together. I feel like I'm a better husband because I'm making sure that I am aware of, you know, like I cleaned my first toilet last week, which I know is embarrassing.

I really should be cleaning toilets, my whole relationship. But now I'm not, I'm not going to say. Well, Taylor does not understand. No comment. Listen, listen, I didn't do it too. I didn't do it to lead.

It's never too late. It's never too late. And literally, that's what she's like the most hype about. She's like telling everybody. like he cleaned the toilets. I've never been more attracted to it. I'm like, cool, babe. Now I need to know.

But that kind of stuff. I'm happy to do it because if it helps, like, you know, anything I can do that helps, like, cleaning the house more, doing the dishes more, which again are like silly little things. But they just, it's nice to see the impact. So it's, and it's nice to see that we feel like, you know, and she's a part of all of my world. Like, she's in all my music videos and she's always done that.

So it's like the more we can do in our real life together, too, the more that that stuff means. Yeah. Yeah, that's definitely something we have learned to do because we spend a lot of time together because we do a lot of our work together. And one of my like goals for this year was to like spend more like intentional time together like away from everything. I just saw this TikTok that was ABC dating. I took a screenshot of that I forgot to send it to you. It's basically like every letter of the alphabet is a date.

Cute. Like it's like like like whatever the date. Help me here. Apple picking. Yeah, like age. Got it. Barnyard Bash. I find for you.

Yeah. Arcade, beach, cinema, driving movie, that kind of a thing. It's a man sleeping. But this is literally. I love him. I love that dude. We follow each other. That is the man.

Oh my gosh. Really? It popped up on my 4U page. It was like the start of a thing. And he literally put time save seven minutes of 53 seconds because there. This TikTok was really long. So he literally. just posted that. He's the

best, dude. I love just thinking about him doing his videos every day. Just getting that sleeping pose every day. Oh my gosh. That's a really cute idea though. Yeah, yeah. There may be some tricky letters in there. Yeah, yeah. Cleaning toilets. See. Oh, yeah. I would love

Z is sleep. Yoga for couples. Explore New York City. Explore. Oh, a new city. I run New York. I'm dying to go back to New York. We know where my mind is. I know one of the more challenging things that you've gone through was the real possibility of you potentially losing your voice. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's right. I'd love to talk about that a little bit. When was that? And what happened? Was it a sudden thing or was it something you knew was going to come? Oh, yeah. It rocked my world for sure, especially, you know, given that my whole job is to sing and stuff. But it was going on five years ago now.

Okay. Yeah. And it was kind of all of a sudden. I wasn't aware of it. And it's something I'm a big advocate for, for singers, et cetera, because I think people don't realize how delicate your instrument is, your voice.

And people who speak, you know, a lot of coaches get it too. But yeah, I had a thing. It's called Apollop. And I was performing way too much at the time. Like, I had two projects. I was just on the grind, baby. Just doing whatever I could.

And I have a lot of, you know, songs with DJs. So I was like doing my full sets and then popping out with a DJ. in the middle of the night. Like, just thought I was invincible. And I'll never forget. It was in Vegas.

That Life is Beautiful Festival. I popped out with these guys Galantis. And I get off stage and like, that was it. I felt something. I knew it. Like when you break a bone. I knew I had a blip. Like, I couldn't hit a note in my falsetto.

And you just know when something's off. And so I went to see a doctor. They like put a scope in your throat and they check your chords. And yeah, I had this little thing. It looks like a little bump. And it prevents you from, you know, singing. properly and a lot of people amaze Adele, John Mayer, like

you name it, Justin Timberlake, they've all had some sort of vocal issue like this. It's pretty common, but not talked about a lot. So I was silent for four months. I was literally learning sign language. I have like an app on my phone. Oh, you were like actually not. Silence. Yeah. Besides, I did a month of touring in the beginning because I thought maybe

I can avoid a surgery. So I did the touring and then I wouldn't speak. And it was horrible for my relationship. Like I have this app called Big where I just like write stuff so she'd be saying something to me and I'd write my response and put it up and it was so rough and so then I get the surgery and then yeah I was I was about a month uh completely silent again and then it took me about a year to build back to my strength again and I've been so you know precious with my voice ever since it's really taught me to just like get scoped normally and and I try to tell all my singer friends especially the ones that are like getting to these amazing points like

make sure you take care of your instrument because if you don't have it then none of this works yeah Yeah. I'm just, I'm like actually baffled. Yeah. That you literally like, how, how was that like mentally, like not being able to talk? I've never, I feel very grateful that I had never been truly depressed in my life. And that was the first experience of depression for me. And it was. I would do it.

It was horrible. I mean, again, especially, I saw the world. You can't, you know, for anyone that's never experienced, just like, if you even try to not talk for one day, it's a really interesting experience. For one, it made me a better listener again, which I'm grateful for, and it made me appreciative of my voice. But just kind of feeling like you're in a bubble outside of real life. Like, you're just observing everything and you're not contributing is a very, it feels like you're a ghost in a weird way. And that was depressing for sure. And I couldn't do what I loved, which was singing.

That's what I was going to ask. Was there ever, I'm sure there was, but was there ever a real moment where you were like thinking I may not be able to go back doing, you know, what I love? the way that I was doing it. 100% right before the search. I was trying to avoid, you know, any surgery. You never know what's going to happen. And I went to the best guy in the world. His name is Dr. Zaitel.

He does like, he did Adele. He did, like, he's like the rock star of the doctor for this. So I felt confident with him. But again, you just don't know. You know, I just was like, I may never sound the same. Yeah. And I actually think I'm, you know, the positive to all of this was the negative then was like, yeah, I was so scared.

And I was like, what will I do instead? You know, can I get better at something else? Like, almost losing. the thing that you're the most passionate about is soul crushing. But again, the positive on the other side was that I'm so much more healthy with my voice. I go to my coach once a week. It doesn't matter what I'm doing. And her name's Carol Tingle.

She's this little 80-year-old woman who I just FaceTime. And she's my little light of my life. And I'm so much more healthy now, which is great. That's again, that's the best part. But I was, yeah, it was horrible. It was the most horrible experience in my life. That's so crazy. Was there anything that, like, helped you?

I mean, I don't even know how that was. be possible, but to like cope with it while you were like going through it. Like how did you learn to like get, did you just get through it once, you know, once you got your voice back? Was it just kind of like everything was better? Was there like something you were able to kind of implement during that time? Great question. That was also, was that a point where I was doing therapy? I'm trying to remember. No, maybe that was right before therapy. Well, in the in the going, getting back to my strength therapy was a big part of it. Friends. I loved watching friends. I'd never watched it. Watched all of friends during the time I was silent. Happy memories in my brain for sure. Um, and besides that again,

I think my relationship, I was so grateful for my wife. We went to like the depths of the worst of our relationship. And then I just was so much more appreciative of her. And I felt like we just bonded so much more and that she was, she was the strength. She was my happiness. So, yeah, honestly, friends and my wife. Let's go. That's a good combo. That's a combo that I enjoy very much. well you have a new single out called Stupid in Love Stupid in Love What I think I have a

It's so freaking catchy So catchy it's annoying I have That's what you're going for You know whatever it takes baby As long it's authentic I have a feeling I know But what inspired the song

You know when I remember telling all of our friends That we got engaged four months in And our families, everybody Everyone was like, that's pretty stupid. They were like, that's pretty crazy. You're sure? And it was the only thing that I was so positive. Like, there are few things in my life that I said to myself, yeah, this is 100% it.

She's the right person. But yeah, definitely the inspiration was literally that, you know, all this stuff. Matching tattoos, we got whatever, four months into also being dating and stuff. All the stupidest things that your parents are like, please don't do that. Wait a few years. You guys are the definition of that. I guess so, pretty much. And then we figured it out on the other side.

But yeah, that's, that's what. where it came from and and love being the poster people for that, I guess. I'm down for it. Yeah. And then Hanyan Jin from the Serafan, I sent her the song after I met her and she was down for it and she's awesome. So I'm glad she joined it. Song's so good. Thank you very much, guys. Thanks for making our little key thing together too. Oh, yeah. Anytime. Check out TikTok. Should we head into Lemon 7? Let's do it. Let's do it. Okay, these are seven questions that are just, you can rapid fire them. You can go in a great detail if you feel compelled.

Whatever is speaking to you in the moment. Honey, you want to start us off? Yeah, sure. Okay. Number one. What movie or song title best describes your mental health today? Oh, gosh. I'm a beautiful mind, I guess.

That's the first thing it pops in. Interesting. Okay. Yeah, okay. I like that one. You have definitely not seen that movie. No, I haven't. I've heard of it though.

Great movie. I'm like, haven't seen anything. Really think when you said that actor earlier, no clue. I don't know. No judgment here. No judgment. I've been watching like we've caught up on that Vanderpum Rules show, never watched it. Then the godmother of our child was like, please catch up. So that's been my life for the last six months. Oh my gosh. I love that. Everybody's obsessed with, what's, um, the Salt Lake City, uh, Housewives one. Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah. Like a craze right now.

I guess. I don't know. I can't, I'm going to, I'm going to, I can't do it all. I don't feel like I'm going to lose my own life. There's a lot of housewives. Yeah. So many. I don't, yeah. The Salt Lake City one I've heard is pretty spectacular. Yeah. Absolutely. Okay. Number two is how open are you with people in your life when struggling? Maybe too open sometimes. Okay. Yes, very open. That's great. Yeah. Yeah. That's the goal. Yeah. All right. Number three. If, oh, okay. If you could follow only three social media accounts across all platforms, but only three social media accounts, which accounts would those be? Okay. I'm just going to say first off, Dr. Miami, not sure if you guys. as no spectacular cinematic universe of Dr. Miami.

Is that that's inspired by him? Yes, yes. Incredible cinematic universe. Wait, is that the guy that came out and said that he did like Matt Rife's filler? I don't know if that's the case. Can't speak to that. But I will say, he can't speak to that. His world, I think Santini is her name, the social media manager.

They're just what they're doing over there. Magnificent. Very inspiring. Wow. Very inspiring. That's the first one. Let me think. shoot

Ella hit me with two more what else in my brain what did you say? I was gonna say Emily I'm glad she said that Emily my wife I'm gonna say my wife she's the best

love her love seeing what she's doing love seeing what she's doing it's great oh would the third do that guy the sleepy guy I mean probably not but also like he's great he's great I don't want to

he said three oh gosh I want it to be I want it to be like a good one in my brain shoot three Oh, man. Is there like, who's the funniest? The Knicks?

The Knicks. Yeah, sure. I am, anytime the Nix win, I'm first comment, I'm like, New York forever, whatever. So let's just say that. Perfect. And I don't watch games. I'm looking for the highlights, the clips.

Great job, guys. Thank you for the help there. I appreciate it. And thank you, Ella. I'm going to go follow Dr. Miami now. I definitely got to check it out. It's remarkable. I don't even know how he's, like, doing surgeries because they're doing so many

amazing TikToks. I think I've seen it on my 4E page before. Really? Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, I'm glad I could get everybody here to the Doctor Miami's universe.

So good. Number four is what is your favorite form of self-care? Ooh, great question. I love getting, well, therapy, I'd say. And then the second one is just a real nice bath with just a nice face mask, you know, some candles lit. He's been getting into the baths. I get it now. For so long, I didn't get it.

I was like people that were just obsessed with baths. I'm like, I just do a shower, like get it over with. I didn't get the whole experience. But recently I've hurt my back. Yes. And it has forced me to have to do baths because, you know, you do like the Epsom salt and everything. And it really helps. Yes.

But I get it now. You do one like almost every day. I'm sold. Yeah. Yeah. Like my sister does two a day. And I'm like, you're crazy. Oh, good for her.

Like it's, but I get it. I kind of wish I was doing two a day. Yeah. I've become a bath guy. very recently. I'm really delighted that I'm going to send you some of my favorite basalts and I know you're one of us. Yes.

I love that. Yes. I need it. Yes. All right. Number five. What would you say is the most misunderstood thing about you? Oh, that's a good question.

I don't know. I know. I always struggle with this one because I'm like, I don't know what do people think about me. Yeah. Shoot. I don't know. I get Have you ever

Misconception? I'm a short king I'd say Maybe that's a weird way to answer it But like maybe I give off the presence That I'm much taller on stage and stuff So I get often Unless I address it myself

When people meet me in the person They're like wow you're a short king You're so short And I'm always just like I'm not hiding it You know So I guess that is the most misunderstanding I'm always like

I'm doing TikToks with tall people I'm trying to let you guys know What you can expect you know So, you know, not too deep, but that's good. My videographer Miles in the room, he's six, three. You know, us is a pair everywhere we go, five, six, six, six, three. Just lets people know. Let's them know.

That's good. Number six is, who has had the most positive impact on your mental health. My wife for sure. Sorry to be, ooh, I love my wife. But she's, that's a chance of the rubber, I'm sorry. I do, though. She, honestly, she's such a boss and such a, she's so. She just really has made me accept and love myself the most and be a better version of myself.

And I hope I do the same for her. And so, yeah, all the way, her. I love that. Yeah. That's great. Sweet. I'm glad that you and your wife found each other. Number seven.

If you could go back to one moment in your life, what moment would that be and what would you say to yourself? Whoa. Hmm. I would say. I would say, funny enough, pre-surgery for my voice, I just wasn't appreciative of the present moments. I was always thinking about this is cool, but when I'm at this next stage, I'll be happy.

All of those classic cliches. And I would say I would go back to that version of myself and just say, like, enjoy each step of this journey. Like, stop taking it for granted or being ashamed that you're not in the arena or the stadium or all this stuff yet. Just be appreciative of each step. So I think that would have been a much,

happier, younger version of myself. Yeah. That's very true. That's good advice. For all of us. Yeah. Well, this has been so fun. Thank you for being so, like, open and honest.

And honestly, just, like, so relatable. Yeah. Like, I just feel like a lot of people are going to listen to this. And I'd be like, oh, like, I feel hurt. Like, that is me. Like, it's just, it's really cool that, you know, as, like, a male, you are so open about it. Because there's definitely, that's a stigma that I'm very passionate about as men's mental health.

So I love that you're so open and honest about it. It's really cool. It's been a pleasure. It's like we just maddened and I feel so bonded. I know. We're going to film some TikTok. I'm sending you some bath salts. We're going to have a great.

We're having a good time. I love it. We're going to leave a link down below to check out your new album, Love and Serio and your new single, Stupid and Love, so excited for you. Thank you guys. And for everyone to hear it. Thanks, pleasure. Keep squeezing, baby.

Keep squeezing. Squeeze out. Thank you so much for squeezing us into your day. Please be sure to race. review and follow our pod and check out full episodes on YouTube. You can follow me at Taylor Lautner, my lovely wife, at Taye Lautner. Check out The Squeeze on Instagram at The Squeeze. And also give a little glance and a follow to Lemons by Tay.

That's at Lemonsbytee on Instagram and lemonsbytea.com. And also be sure to email us, Lautner. dot the squeeze podcast at gmail.com. if you guys have any questions, any guests you'd like to see you. But most importantly, please continue to talk about your journey with those around you and send our show to a friend that you think could use a little extra squeeze in their life. Absolutely. Toodles my goodles, everyone.

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