The Squeeze - Sasha Pieterse: PCOS & Motherhood

Episode Date: August 9, 2023

*This episode was recorded prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike and our team was given approval by SAG to release it.  Actress Sasha Pieterse joins the Lautners to discuss her journey with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), the entertainment industry, and motherhood. Her and Taylor reminisce on their time filming Shark Boy and Lava Girl together and the multi-generational fan base that continues to this day. Sasha then explains what exactly PCOS is, her battle to be diagnosed, and the miracle that was getting pregnant—not only because PCOS is a huge component of infertility, but because her son then miraculously regulated her hormones. In addition to that, she has also become the most confident she’s ever been from being a mom, with other people’s opinions being so low on her priority list. She discusses why she and her husband suspect they’re “one and done” when it comes to children, and the importance of making her marriage her first priority. Lastly, she discusses where the idea for Women In The Nude, her new podcast, came from. Check it out below!  Be sure to follow @sashapieterse, @womeninthenudepodcast and check out the Women In The Nude podcast wherever you listen or on YouTube.  Thanks to our awesome sponsor for supporting today’s episode, Quince!   Go to Quince.com/thesqueeze to get free shipping and 365-day returns on your next order  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.   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 had the mentality of learning from other people, and I think it helped me in lots of ways, but you do have to make your own mistakes to understand yourself in the world. When life gives you lemons, what do you do with them? Over here at The Squeeze, we talk about it. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the squeeze. Welcome to the Squeeze. Happy Wednesday, everyone. You have two Taylor Lautner's and a dog here, if you're watching on the U of the Tube. You need to get Lily up here more. Yeah.

She just does the... Oh, speaking of Lily. She literally barked as I said, Lily. Yeah. Her ears were ringing. Bram, Ram, Ram, come here, baby. Come here. She's like, by my cissy.

Come here, honey. My sister's barking. Come on, come snuggle. How is it going, everyone? Oh, that's amazing. We love to hear it. Fantastic. We love to hear it.

Juicy. Oh, ha. I love that. Oh my gosh. I'm kidding. I can't hear what you guys are saying. But whatever it is, I'm sure it's great. And I hope your week is going well so far.

We really appreciate you tuning in today and supporting this little podcast. Yeah. Because we wouldn't be able to do it without you. Yeah. So thank you. I feel like recently we've just been like flooded with very sweet messages. and comments and there's a lot of new people listening to the podcast.

So if you're a new lemon drop, welcome to the community. Yeah, super exciting. But it's just so fun. You know, I kind of mentioned it on my story a little bit ago that this podcast is my baby. And it's so fun that, you know, you and I get to do it together, but also just that we're able to just be able to reach so many people and so many people relate to, you know, what we're going through, what our guests are going through. and it's been able to help us and help our listeners.

So it's just, I'm just, I'm just a happy lemon drop. Yeah. Are we lemon, we're lemon drops too, right? Why not? Yeah. Or all lemon drops. Yeah. All just lemon drops living in this lemon world.

Yeah. All drops of lemons. If you are watching on YouTube, also you may see like the trees behind us. They may be moving a little. Do not worry. There is no earthquake or anything happening. There's a fan blowing in here because, the heat our AC is a little

It's a scorching It's a little warm So we have a fan blowing in here So if you see some movement There's not a ghost There's not an earthquake No need to worry No need to worry

Okay let's dive in Because why not right? Yeah Because we have an exciting episode Yes And I do before we get started Just want to point out That we filmed this episode

weeks ago before the SAG Strike. I am an actor and our guest today. Sasha Peterson is an actress. We do mention a couple projects that she's been in. We definitely in no way are promoting them. They're old projects. But yeah, I just wanted to give some context before we dive into everything.

Yeah. But if you know Sasha at all, And if you know anything that I've been in, we have worked together before. A long time, many moons ago. Yes, I was very excited about this because as we talked about in the episode, the Ice Princess is my favorite character in Shark Boy and Lava Girl. Yes. So I was very excited to have the Ice Princess on.

Yeah. When we filmed Shark Boy and Lovgirl, we'll dive into this in the interview, but I was 12. And Sasha was eight. So it is just so cool. Just people ask me all the time, like, what's your favorite part about the industry? What's your favorite part about making movies? And honestly, my answer has always been, and I think will always be just meeting people and making friendships, relationships that truly some of them last a lifetime. Yeah.

I mean, I know I got some life. to go, but it's been what, 19 years since Shark Boy and Lava Girl. Wow. And me and Sasha are still friends. I don't know if you just aged yourself or me. It is, yeah, either way. It is crazy. But yeah, my family is good friends with Sasha's family.

She is awesome. Just love everything that she's doing today. and we were just super honored to have her on. And yeah, I hope you guys enjoy it. Anything else you want to say before we dive in with Miss Sasha? Yeah, I feel like it's a very impactful episode. She's been through a lot in her life health-wise. She's a mom.

So just a lot of insight on her journey, you know, being a mother, having PCOS, lots of her interpretation and kind of her upbringing in. the spotlight and how it's been for her in the industry because we've had so many people on and everyone's story and how they view the industry is so different. So it was fun to get to hear that. But she's been through a lot of life and she is just awesome and she's doing great things. So it's fun. Yeah.

And just so much like there's a lot of relatable content today. Yeah. Which is always exciting. She talks about, you know, many things. that I'm sure a number of people out there can relate to. And yeah, I think you guys are going to enjoy it. So without further ado. I was going to say that exact same thing.

Let's jump in. Ice princess time. We have a very exciting guest with us this week. Somebody who I have known since I was 12, 11 or 12. 11. And we filmed a little movie in Austin, Texas, called The Adventures of Sharkloy and Lava Girl. And we have with us the Ice Princess herself. Oh my goodness. Sasha. Thank you so much for joining us today. We're so excited to have you. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you so much. This is so fun. And yeah, it's wild. I think you were 11 or 12. And were you? I was 8. 9. 8. I was 8 or 9, I think.

That is so crazy. I might have just turned nine, but maybe not. It could have still been eight. Wow, wow. I don't like understand how you guys do that. Like, how does, like, kid actors, like, how do they, what was I doing at eight? Like, picking my nose or something? Like, how do you, like, professionally work like that?

I just, like, thought of that as we're sitting here. Oh, my gosh. I think, you know, honestly, I think, I don't know what this is for you, Taylor, but for me, I feel like it's, when you're that little, it's also kind of like dress up. You're like, you know, you're putting on a character and the whole experience is so fun.

And I started at three and a half. And so I think you just kind of like, you know, get into that world and you, I've always been fascinated about how every department works. Yeah. That's pretty too. Just kind of grown up in it and everything's exciting. I mean, I still feel that way.

Every time I get on set, I get, you know, excited to learn more. I didn't realize you. started that young. What did you do before Shark Point and Lava Girl? Well, I had an office job. The first thing I did, so we immigrated from South Africa to the States, and we immigrated to Nevada, actually. My parents were dancers. Yeah, a lot of there, which, you know, I think really specific now. Sorry, Taylor, you know that. I was just surrounded by dancers and people in the entertainment industry with my mom and my dad. And so,

their son, who was fairly young, was also an actor. And she made the suggestion that we send over, you know, a picture or two to their agent and just see, you know, it's kind of like, who knows, maybe she'll have fun. Maybe she won't. I just, I'll try for fun. And I loved it. The first audition I went out for was a commercial. It was Alex's commercial. I got it.

Wow. Which is, you know how rare that is. But all I did was sleep. It was one of their Christmas commercials. and all my whole job was to just sleep in bed while snow fell outside the window, which was really cute. Yeah, I just loved it from there. I got my first TV show when I was five. We were up against friends, which was comical because, you know, that was just a losing battle. But it was a great experience. It was a great experience. And then I just got the bug for that sort of thing rather than just,

you know, brand commercials. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my gosh. Did you ever dance? They tried. They wanted me to get into. They did. They tried. I hated it. I hated it. I hated it. it. I love watching it. I need it. I can, you know, I got rhythm. I can, I have, you know, I can pull out like a rep law of certain things. But actually, yeah, I can keep up. Yeah, I can keep up. Yeah. High school dances were great. But I couldn't, it's not my thing. It was not my thing. That's so funny. So something as you guys know that has been a huge part of, of my mental health journey, Taylor's mental health journey journeys as individuals, and as a couple, has been therapy.

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There's no, oh, I had on time to go drive. It's too long of a drive. No, you can do it on your lunch break. 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's, it'll just keep you accountable too. So we highly, highly encourage that you guys check out cerebral because therapy is just done wonders for us. And we know it'll do the same for you. To get started on your path towards better 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 this. squeeze to make 2024 your best year yet.

That's 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 C-Sight for details. Get going on that therapy. For those die-hard shark boy and lava girl fans out there, because it's so crazy. Like, that movie just doesn't go away. it's insane.

For those fans out there. I'm kidding. When you think about filming that, is there anything, like what comes to mind? Is there any like specific memories or anything filming that that just pops to the top of your head? Yeah, I mean, I had so much fun, fun set. That was such a cool experience. Just in general, filming, you know, starting to film on a green screen.

You know, that was pretty new back then, too. That was fun, but I have a lot of memories of our school trailer because I was homeschooled. So it was like, I'm doing schoolwork with other kids. It was like new experience. Was her name Bonnie? I feel like. Bonnie, teacher guys.

Bonnie, right? Yeah. Oh, my gosh. That is so funny. She was our school teacher. Yeah. It's true because you do, as a child actor, you have to. You have to get, is it, three hours a day on set in the school trailer?

And you can bank up hours, which is very helpful. So if you get like four hours one day, then you have that banked for the week. And you can like use that on a busy filming day. But it's true. Yeah. I mean, like felt like half of our time was on set and half was in the school trailer. Oh, wow. And that's where you learned past the pigs?

I think so. Do you remember Pass the Pigs at all? Yeah, I do not, but I do remember David Busters. Okay, yes, David Busters as well. But our school teacher, Bonnie, yeah, she introduced me to this game called Pass the Pigs. And there's these two little rubber pigs and you roll them. And depending on how they land, you get points for how they land. And I still to this day introduce this game to all of my friends.

and I'm very passionate about it. Like when we play, I'm like, yep, that's a double snouter. That's 40 points. And it's just a hysterical game. But yeah, I think I went on. I don't remember that at all. On set. But I believe you.

I don't know if you feel this way, just about Shirkman Lovgirl in general, but I am politely appalled by the age of people that recognize me from Shirkpoint Lovna Girl. You're right. It, like, catches me off guard. I'm like, oh, no. You're like 25 and a man.

Please. How do you, that was your childhood? Yeah. It's so weird to me. I know. So weird. It's scary. It is.

It is quite scary how fast time flies. And I know we were both really young when we filmed it. But I think that we see it as a kid's movie. So when it's like a full grown adult that remembers that from their childhood. It's just kind of like a brain. I know. But it is amazing that like, yes, I definitely get like the 25. 5, 30-year-olds that love it or loved it.

Yeah. But you still do get, still love. I still. But you do get like the 5-year-olds as well. Like it's still playing somewhere for these kids today to see it. It's kind of mind-blowing. Yeah. When I first moved out, our new neighbors, their kids had the previous year dressed up

a short boy and not a girl. So when I moved in like, it's Shark Boy. or it's love. Wow. It's the ice princess for her for a lot of girl. It's like, oh, that's so weird. But so cute. I mean, it's, I don't know if you feel this way too, but I feel like it's gotten,

it's better when it wasn't in 3D. Our 3D for whatever reason was so dark. It was so weird in the theater. And so without it, it was better. I watched it with Hendricks, my son. I was just going to ask that. Yeah. Yeah, probably about six months or so now.

ago and he I mean, obviously I had no idea that it was me, but it kept his attention for quite a while, which was good. Oh my gosh. That's funny. Yeah, the three- cool to have something that he can watch. Oh, yeah, for sure.

Yeah. Yeah, he can't watch anything else. Yeah, how old is he right now? He is two and a half. It'll be three in November. Okay. Yeah. Oh my gosh.

A little early for movie watching and processing, but. He's got a great attention span. I will say, like he, yeah, he does. He loves, he's got his favorites. Like, he'll sit through movies, which is pretty impressive. We haven't taken him to the theater yet, but he's really into, like, his characters. He likes all the songs and dances.

And he does it all. He's, like, everything from, like, playing in the dirt to, like, sing, you know, so cute. Oh, my God. I love that. I did just, like, find out as we were doing research for the episode. how young you were when PLL first started, which like, yeah, blows my, where were you, 12, 13? How old were you?

I was 12 when I did the pilot. I was 13 when we did the first season. And I graduated when I was right before my 14th birthday to be able to work as an adult because everybody else was. So that was her initial struggle. It was, yeah, the fact that my hours were limited. Yeah. So as soon as I graduated, I could work as an adult and it was fine.

Yeah. That's just like so crazy because like I was me and my like dance girlfriends like we, was it every like Tuesday night or something. They would do we would do. Yeah, we would do watch parties every Tuesday night after dance. We'd go like half of us would go pick up like gluten free pizza from Whole Foods and then the other ones would go get it set up at someone's house and we would all watch. Oh my.

Yeah, we did. So then when I found that out, we're only a year apart. So I was like, wait. What? I think what I'm learning right now is you're actually Sasha's biggest fan. I mean, probably. Ice princess was your favorite character. Really?

And you're a diehard PLL watch party girl. Yeah. Wow. Are you freaking out right now? I'm doing all right. Keeping it contained. Okay. Okay.

I have something I'm curious about because, I mean, I definitely went through this. and it wasn't the easiest for me. When you start so young, and it goes well right off the bat, like you literally just said you got the job for your first audition. Like, you know, yeah, I also started young, and like it went pretty well,

which, you know, isn't normal. It usually takes a lot of nose to get your first yes. After starting young, and so successful, it's just inevitable to hit like some sort of dry spell and start hearing the nose and start getting the rejection that you like weren't used to. Did you go through a phase of that at all and how was dealing with nose and rejection, especially for somebody, you know, so young? Yeah, obviously there's challenging times. And I think my parents were

really good about establishing the fact that I am going to get a lot of nos. I remember my mom from pretty early being like, as soon as you're down on this audition, forget about it. You know, I don't dwell on anything. And that was really important. But when I was 11-ish, no, I was probably ready. I think it all happened in the same year. So I think I was 12.

I got a pilot or I got a show. And it was a really big deal. and we were also excited about it. It was a comedy. It was a live comedy. We had done all these rehearsals. You know, I got welcomed on to the lot, and I had my own room and you do all the fittings and you're prepping.

And it's coming up. And a week before we actually started, I got replaced. Wow. And, you know, it's one of those things where we had done all the celebrating. Yeah. You know, all of our close family and friends knew about it. We'd done the dinner. We had, you know, we'd been prepping for all of the things to come.

And so that was a really hard blow. I'm glad it happened when I was younger, actually. Because I think it would have been much harder as an adult. Like, if that were to happen now, not to say that it can't happen again, but if that were to happen now, you know, I've got a family and I've got a kid and I've got, this, like, the stakes are higher. Yeah. At that time, of course, you know, I'm not going to happen.

you know, I'm, yeah, I'm young, I'm emotional. I've got, you know, and I'm not fully developed in my brain. Like, of course, it was hard. But, and I didn't quite understand it. We didn't get a real reason. That year was so intense with pilot season. And the girl that got it was, like, one of the three of us that were testing for it. So they were placing with her.

Yeah, it was really, it sucked. I had even done all this press for it. Like, it was, we had done it all. What the heck? It's crazy. Yeah. And then. And the next thing I went out for was pre-all liars and he got it.

Wow. Yeah. So everything happens for a reason. That show, I didn't wish any ill will on any of the people there, but it got canceled after the first season. Yeah. You know, it didn't go anywhere. And it's just one of those crazy, like, life splits. Yeah.

But it taught me a lot of lessons because I also was afraid to celebrate things for a while. It's not real until you're like, you know, you're there. And so that is kind of the, you know, the pendulum swings. You got to find that balance. But pretty little liars in general and everything I did while I was on the show, I think the most difficult part about it wasn't the fact that it was so successful. It was that was obviously lovely. But what came with that was the fact that my entire childhood at that point was documented.

So it was from 12 to 19. It was so many firsts. I started at 12. I graduated high school. I moved out. I got engaged. I was planning my wedding all in that time, and I was battling a lot of health issues in between that. And so it's just one of those crazy times in your life where I had such a good experience,

but at the same time, it was very intense for those seven years. And we were filmed 24 episodes of season. So it really was solid nine months, 16, 17 hour days splits all weeks. So you start really early and you have your Friday's, you run really late at night. And it was all consuming. and thank God we had so many amazing people. Like our crew, I mean, I can count on my hands the amount of people that actually changed in those seven years. So, you know, weddings, you know, babies, we did it all together.

Unique experience. And I'm so thankful for it. But as far as what you were saying, Taylor, like, it is, it's really intense to learn, to learn and grow and understand yourself when everybody else is hyper-analizing it. Mm-hmm. And my character was so specific and mean, which I loved. It was so fun. And that arc was really interesting and fun to do.

But it is like a, it's contrast because it's that that character is so specific that people want you to be and look and do things a certain way, especially since it was a book, even though we deviated from it quite a bit. It was still, you know, that idea of that character was very, yeah, I don't know, nuanced. So. Yeah. Did you ever get to a point where you? You were like, I just, I need a break. Like, I want to step back and I need to just take a break from it, from it all. You know, no.

That's great. Yeah. And I, yeah, I mean, like, as far as mental health goes, I had some blows. But I think, I think at the end of the day, I always put, like, the work first because that's what I enjoyed. I don't like all of the other bullshit that goes along with business. was always like the frustrating part like I don't like kissing butts I don't like doing any of that and so I was when I was working I was my happiest like being on set being around crew being around people doing my job that was my love and so I never wanted to take a break from that and my closest

friends weren't in the industry and that was the biggest like the best part of it I when I I clocked in and I clapped out when I went home I was surrounded by people that were you know people that I'd known for decades and that knew me outside of the industry and that was my little bubble and I don't think that I would be the same person to date

if that wasn't the case if I had surrounded myself with more people in the industry you know no offense to that community but it breeds a different type of mentality and I just I I didn't want to get stuck in that

I didn't want to date an actor I didn't want to you know I didn't I didn't want to climb the last matter in that way either. Again, no disrespect for the people that do. And it's important. And I was actually just thinking about this the other day that like, it's interesting that choice. And I don't judge anybody for doing it. But it's this interesting split again where because I didn't follow a lot of those paths, I did myself a disservice in my career in some ways. Because those

relationships and those things, you know, those people that you brush shoulders with take you to the next things. Yeah. And I had this whole mentality of professionalism and what my idea of that was. And it's, it's interesting always that the loudest people get paid more attention to versus the people that are like actually doing their job and like, you know, are efficient. So it's such a curious industry. and so many industries are like this,

and they have similarities. And it's just kind of something that you got to navigate. But yeah, I was navigating it as a kid for a lot of it. Yeah. Well, I really respect the way that you did handle it. And I think that that is, yeah, I mean, you put your life, you know, in front of and gave it more important than getting the next job.

And I think that's, you know, why you turned out the way you do. You have an incredible husband and a beautiful family. And it's just, I mean, when you think about any job, you know, yeah, it's no offense to the entertainment industry. But because any job, you go to work, you do your work, you come home, and your work doesn't bleed into your home life. It's just those are two separate things. And I think where it can become dangerous is when you do, like your work becomes your personal life too. And I certainly made that mistake multiple times. And I think it took its toll. But I think the way that you did it was very, very wise. And I mean, it shows today.

Well, it's also, I just want to say, it's not easy to do. Yeah. You know, like both, actually both of us very hard to do. It takes a lot of, um, uh, it's purposeful. Yeah. You got to like keep yourself in check. And yeah, I mean, it's just like you're right. It is a weird thing that you're, and I feel like this is the same thing for influencers now.

Mm-hmm. Um, where I will be the, like, the first one to admit that when influencers started becoming, you know, getting really famous. I was like, oh. Yeah. You know, it's like unfair. But really the reality of you, I really respect influencers. Because at the end of the day, they, they're, that is their life.

Their job doesn't shut off just like ours does, right? You know, like you're constantly planning. You're constantly prepping. You're constantly looking at analytics. You are your business, just like actors are, just like artists are in general. It's like you and treat that. That's where I feel like mental health comes into play too. It's like to keep that up, to keep your mental health up, to keep your physical

wellness up. Self care is so important for both just your soul and your life, but also because you kind of got to treat yourself like a business. Yeah. Which is, you know, again, most people don't have to do that. They clock in, they clock out. And that's that. And they go back to their families, or at least hopefully it doesn't bleed into their

whole life if it's a negative thing. But you are your business at the end of the day. And so like your livelihood is based on. on conditioning yourself, essentially. Yeah. That's a really interesting way to think about it. It's so true. Wow.

That's so profound. I love how each person in the industry, they can have different experiences. For sure. Like, I know some people that are like you and like, no, like, it's great. I never needed a break. Like, I was able to set these things in place. I love what I do.

I never stopped. And then there's people like that were child stars. And it was just a horrible experience. And they absolutely hate the industry and we'll never go back. Like there's such a broad spectrum. Very different paths. Yeah. I love hearing.

Yeah. And I mean, that's definitely based on experience. You know what I mean? Like that's definitely based on individual personal experiences with, you know, how you're raised, the people you come in contact with, the jobs that you get, the fame level, all of those things play such big parts to that. And I think a lot of, and I don't know if you feel this way, Taylor, but like I know a lot of child stars that I know feel like they missed out on their childhood. Yeah. and and I don't know if I,

I never felt that way and I don't know if it's just because of my circumstance. Like I was a child, you know, I was homeschooled anyway. I was, I always had older friends. I never actually related to people my own age. And so like those, all the steps that I was taking were very true to myself and what I loved. And so I don't feel like I'm, I was like taken out of that. Yeah.

But I totally, like, I have so much. empathy for and compassion for the people to feel that was taken away from them. Yeah. And yeah, people have so many terrible experiences in the business. And it's never surprising, unfortunately. Yeah. I agree with you. I'm with you.

I never felt like I lost any of my childhood. And I really loved my childhood memories in the industry, out of the industry, whatever. the part for me that I feel like I missed out on a bit was my young adult life. And that's what that feeling is what caused me to, you know, want to take a step back and get a little bit of that back. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, that makes total sense. Yeah. And I mean, you went just such like a do, but had that point such a magnific, like a close magnifying glass.

and everything that you were doing. And I think that's also, you have, like, so much pressure to not mess up and trying really hard not to swear. I've, like, said that, you know. I'm really bad. You are, you are more than welcome to if you would like. So I told Hudson, I told my husband, I was like, I'm going to do my best. I'm going to be really good about it. I feel like I can do it.

You're doing very well. You're doing very well. Very hard not to mess up. Yep. But I think that truly is what it is. We almost feel the pressure to set an example or just, you know, be so quiet about what we're doing so that, you know, it's not like no one looks close enough.

Yeah. Which is you're not given the room to make those mistakes that you should be allowed to make at that age. And, you know, to figure out more about yourself. You just kind of like, you know, I have the mentality of learning from other people. and I think it helped me in lots of ways, but you do have to make your own mistakes to understand yourself in the world. It just, you do.

And we just went through that differently. Yeah, it's very true. Yeah, very true. I want to dive into a topic that I'm passionate about and Taylor kind of understands, but it doesn't fully. So my best friend was recently diagnosed PCOS and she has struggled with symptoms of it forever, Sometimes she'll get a period and then won't have it for like a year or something.

And then she has a lot of things. But I read about your journey and I would love for our listeners, I kind of told Taylor, but in Taylor, to just hear your journey with it because I feel like especially for the reproductive system of women and like our hormones and all of that stuff, it's very, not that we're not heard, but it's in a sense. It's very hard to diagnose, quote. quote unquote, but that's definitely something difficult. And I know that you struggled with that for a while.

Yeah. You know, I actually, I love talking about this because so much about it, so much about U.S.'s awareness. Yeah. I guess I'll start by saying this, this is part of the health issues I was speaking of. Okay. Wow. It was going through pretty little liars, right?

So when I, when I mean, it was documented, it was like, the changes that were happening to me were documented on camera. Mm-hmm. You know, so I. like your friend, never had a regular period ever. And I just was always told by gynecologists that I was just young. Like, don't worry, it'll regulate, you know. I, yeah, I never really had normal periods.

That's kind of how that started. When I turned, it's probably around 15, 16, that I started noticing a difference in just my metabolism in general. I, but at 17, I gained 70 pounds in the year. And I, for no reason, like, there was no explanation for it. And I went to so many gynecologists. I went to over 15 gynecologists. And they all told me, one gynaecologist told me to my face that I was lying,

that I must be eating terribly and I must be doing everything wrong because, look at you. It was essentially what he's having. I just wanted somebody to test my blood. I was like, I just, just seeing, you know, like, this is what I've never had a regular period. I've never, I feel weird. Like I, I, every time I work out, I feel like I'm going to pass out. I don't get those happy endorphins that people should get from working out.

I feel physically ill when I eat things that are like actually good for me. It was the most frustrating experience because, and disheartening, because no matter what I did, no matter how, well I behaved, matter how great I treated my body, things were actually getting worse rather than better. It was very, very confusing. So after a long process, long, long teething process of trying to figure out what was happening, someone recommended that I'd go to an endocrinologist. And I met up with this lady, and she heard me out, she heard all my things. And I told her, I was like, my mom has hyperactive thyroid, you know, like, but apparently my thyroid's fine, you know, I just was kind of throwing everything out there.

And she was like, well, it sounds like you've got PCOS. We'll need to take a blood test to make sure, but let's figure this out. And I've never heard of PCOS before, which is polycycicillacic. Okay. And it's a disease. It's not curable. It can be dormant. That's at this stage, that's what they know.

The most frustrating part about this is that it is fairly easy to diagnose. And really what it is, it's a hormone imbalance. It's a hormone disease. and it's so easy to see because your testosterone or your estrogen will be really high. You'll have really low vitamin D levels. You'll be deficient in a lot of things. You won't have a regular period. But the catches, a lot of other things look different.

So everyone is a different experience with it. It could be your period. It could be weird hair growth. It could be major gastro issues. It could be crazy cysts on your ovaries. could be waking, all the other things that I mentioned with diet and exercise. But some women have all of them. Some women have a couple of them.

Some women have one of them. So for instance, I never had this on my ovaries, which is, thank God. That's a blessing. But I had a lot of those outward symptoms that everyone can see. Not only that, but PCOS leads to a lot of other things. PCOS can lead to ovarian cancer. It can need to type of diabetes. it definitely is a huge component to infertility.

And it's so sad to me that so many women have it that don't know or so many women had it that didn't know that got cancer or couldn't get pregnant or things that could be avoidable by just trying to manage it and figuring out what's going to work best for you. It's seriously detrimental to women's health. And my cousins have struggled to type two diabetes. diabetes and cancer and and just to me I always just thought about how like what if they had it and they just never knew. You know, if they had gotten it, if they were aware of it, maybe it wouldn't have led to that, you know. So it's, it's very frustrating that it's not, it's getting better, you know, but if I mentioned that I have PCOS, someone will be like, oh, I have it too.

and or or maybe I have that. What are those symptoms? It's just, it's way more common than you think it is. Yeah. And it's hard because it does look different, you know. But yeah, I mean, actually on set, you know, this, this movie that I'm filming right now,

a couple of women have it. They all are completely different. Yeah. And there's another lady that I was like, you need to go get this checked out. Because even if it's not PCOS, hormone abalances do the wackiest things to women's bodies. And what was,

Interesting about my circumstances, I started to kind of even out and then I'd have a flare up and I gained like 20 pounds in a week. Wow. But it was starting to like kind of regulate a little bit. My period's never really regulated. We were trying to work on that immunocrinologist. My husband and I decided to try to get pregnant. And we were just kind of bracing ourselves. We're like, you know, let's take the stress off.

It's probably going to take us over a year anyway. We mightn't help, you know, let's, but let's, you know, like, let's start this process. Well, we got friends within the first month. So I'll get there. That was a pleasant surprise, but it was definitely a surprise. It was a week before lockdown. It was a week before COVID. Oh, my gosh.

So there was a lot of things happening. But I had a difficult pregnancy, but it really wasn't that bad. I didn't get just asational diabetes or anything like that that a lot of women do get when they have PCOS. So that was really lucky. And miraculously, Hendricks regulated my hormones. Oh, wow. And it happens in a very small percentage of women, but essentially my first. PCOS is dormant. And I'm doing everything that I need to be doing to keep it that way. And a lot of

that happens to be diet. Keto diet is very great. It's great for hormone imbalances. It's not good for everybody. It works great for certain things. And it works great for me. So thank goodness. I was able to find out. But yeah, he regulated my hormones. I have regular periods for the first time in my life. A lot of those things come easier. I love working out again, which was so refreshing. You know, I've really, knock on wood, hope that I never have to deal with that again. But it's been quite the journey. And I love talking about it because they just want women to know more about it. And it's, I just feel like the louder you are about it, the more people know,

the more people get checked out, the more, yeah, the more interest there is in helping women, you know, figure it out and get better. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, when my best friend. That was the short answer. No, I loved that. That was amazing. When my best friend found out, she texted our little group chat of us five girls. And she was like saying, because we knew that she was kind of going to the doctor's law,

trying to figure herself out. And she was like, okay, finally, like, I got diagnosed with PCOS. And our other friend in the group chat was like, oh, I have that. And we were like, wait, what? You have that? Like, we didn't, no one had no idea that she had that. And now they bond over it. But theirs is like completely different.

Like one of my friends is like, she like has the hair or she like, struggles with like some hormone stuff and my best friend hers is like just the cis like she's like the tiniest person she's like a little ballerina but she has like she has she deals with the period stuff and she does have cis yeah so it is just so crazy how it is so different and everyone but yeah i think talking about it is definitely because i mean i well i learned about it in nursing school but before nursing school i had no clue what it is and the more that people are are talking about it the more. I feel like I've explained it to some people and other people are like, oh, I have that or I've like my friend has that. My mom has that. Like it's definitely getting

talked about more. And I think it needs to be talked about more because it does present itself so differently. There's no like cookie cutter answer to it. So like we need to talk about it more so more people are like actually getting checked. I've never been checked. Maybe I'll. I need to go get my blood work done. Yeah. I feel inspired to. I mean, I feel like it's a healthy thing to do anyway. I wish that was more normal. Every six months, go get your blood levels checked. I didn't know I was iron deficient until that happened. And vitamin D is a big one.

You can feel crazy. Actually, my dad went through that. He was in the sun all the time. He used to bike in the mornings every morning. And then he changed jobs and it stopped and he was inside all day. And he dramatically lost weight. He could not sleep if he was getting like crazy. Migraines.

He was shaking. He felt like he was going to pass out a while. All it was his vitamin D deficiency. Wow. It was the weirdest thing. They got him on a high dose of vitamin D to get him back on track and he was normal. Wow. Wow.

That's crazy. Yeah, we need to get our blood work done. We actually have a slip and we have it gone. We need to go. Yeah, we do. We need to go and do it. Yeah. You started touching on this and we've talked about it a couple times, but I just want to ask,

becoming a mama, how has that shaped? you and I know Tay shared with me that you mentioned in an Instagram post that you're the most confident in your skin becoming a mom. Yeah. Could you just touch on that and what brought you to that point or realization? I mean, I feel like so much changes when you become a mom. Yeah. There's a lot that I've, you know, my husband and I, as a couple, but also separately have, like, made a huge point of, of not, you know, quote-unquote losing ourselves. Yeah. Because I think, I think easily you can because it's easy to.

You know, the focus becomes your baby and as it should in so many ways. But when you start to lose, like, pieces of yourself or pieces of your relationship, that's when things can kind of, you know, get kind of crazy. So I knew that that was going to be a focus for us in the beginning. But really what it is, this life-changing experience of bringing a kid into the world, from just being, you know, from pregnancy to like actually going through labor and then trying to navigate being a parent. It's shifted a lot of things for me. And I've always been great at standing up for other people.

I've never been as good at standing up for myself. And that definitely changed for coming along. I can't even quite put my finger on it. But I don't care about what people think anymore. It's like so low on the priority list. Yeah. And I mean that, you know, I... It's the best way.

It's a good place to do it. Yeah. Yeah, it's in the best way, not in the detrimental way where I'm just like, you know, I don't give the middle finger to anybody. I'm not like, I'm not crazy. But it's when I need to speak up, I have no problem speaking up and advocating for myself. And that is, you know, and he's only two and a half. It's a fair of new revelation for me.

And I love it. And I always wanted to be that way. And I just never could quite get there. But I think the journey of like the health journey, I had to get diocese recti surgery to fix all sorts of weird stuff that was happening with me postpartum. It was really cool. I could like touch my organs.

It was really fun. I was like, oh, there's a. Taylor's like, I am not doing that next. Yeah. Oh, gosh. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, some quick, fun things about that. So guys take this rect is basically your abs.

Every woman has it. Their abs start separating to make room for the baby. And they will come back together most of the time or almost completely. Some women, that doesn't happen with. And so I had like a good size gap. And that was as close as it got. And certain exercises will bring your abs back together. But the problem is if it stops and you continue working out in that area,

it can actually make it worse and it could like cause it to stay there permanently. Yeah. And so it's like, I should probably get that face. I was having such chronic pain. It was insane. And so when my core came back, I was like, it was around the time where like I was feeling more like myself, you know, postpartum. And it was, I think it just kind of all fell into place.

And I'm just really thankful for that. But yeah, I've never felt more. I've never felt stronger. felt more confident in my skin. I've never felt more confident in who I am. It's a great feeling. And I just, I want, I want everyone to feel this way. You know, it doesn't mean that there's not bad days and low days and days where you second guess yourself. And mom guilt is an insane thing. And it's so real. But I, it's great to be in the place that I'm at and I just, I, you know, maintaining it. Like I was saying, I self-care working on yourself, not just,

you know, for for yourself, but for your livelihood, for your son, you know, for your marriage, for everything. It's just like a, it's like a daily practice. It's like working out. You got to like, you know, keep it up. Exactly. How long after did you have that surgery? How long, like, how long do you have to wait to have that or? I think it's kind of different for everyone. Mine was, mine was like eight months after him. Yeah, I think he was around eight months, eight, not nine months. Yeah. What's the recovery like for that? It was okay, actually. It was better than I thought. Like, the first two weeks are awful. You got, like, drains and it's really gross. You got, like, empty drains. And it's just really, yeah, it's not pleasant. And I felt so back for Hudson because, you know, he was, like, taking care of my baby and taking care of me and he had two great games. So he was, like, he was doing it all. And, like, he, like, lift, I don't even call those, like, massage. Lift nose. Yeah, but there's like a lymphatic, lymphatic. He was like, he was, he had a lot on his plate.

But we got through it. I feel like I started feeling, you know, able to like, like move around, stand up straight, feel fairly normal walking around like a month or so after. Yeah. Wow. That's wild. Fun stuff. But just like get birth and then like have to heal from birth, but then like, oh, no, you got to go back.

You got to go back in. Yeah. Brick and wait again. Wow. That's wild. It's not the reason, but it's one of the reasons that were one and done. It's like, you know, it's like on that list for sure. It's a component.

Okay. So you enjoyed being an only child. Tay's also an only child. You're also, yeah. I did. No, I didn't have any issues with that. I think also around eight or nine, I wanted a sibling. But then I started babysitting, and I was like, this is great.

I can pay for it. And I get to play. I got to get them back. We've been very parallel lives in that regard. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

My husband is one of nine kids. Oh, my gosh. Holy crap. He's number five. He's like directly in the middle. And so, yeah, we grew similarly and very differently at the same time. And we always thought, yeah, two, four. I was, I was on the two.

He was on the four side. Okay. And then we had Hendricks. and it was one of those things where I started feeling like, yeah, I just, I think I just only want one. And I was, but I was like, you know, we have, we have time to think about that. I'm not going to say anything because I know that he really wants more than one. So give it time. Well, I didn't know that he was thinking the same thing.

He thought that I really wanted more than one. So he was also like refraining from telling me. Oh, wow. And when we finally like really, really talked about it, it was like, oh, such a relief. Oh my gosh. I bet. That's so funny. I know.

I feel like you're, like you're leaning that way. I know. I used to, like, I always used to just want a big family because I, I'm like the only one even like out of my cousins.

I'm the only one like in my age. So I always just hung out with the older ones and then once there was younger ones. Like I think I'm 10 years from my closest cousins. Yeah. So I always just was like, with the adults. And then when the little kids came, I watched over the little kids. But I always just wanted like a big family. Like I was like, I want five kids. Because I love big families and whatnot.

And then now I'm kind of like, I think if I wanted to, he would, he would be down. I mean, if I was like, let's have a child right now, he would, he would be like, let's do it. But I'm the one that's like, I need a, I need a, I need a moment. You take your time. I feel like at the end of the day, it's like you don't know until you're in that position. You don't know until you've got one what you feel like. And I know a lot of people change their minds too, you know, which is totally, it's totally okay. We won't. But it's totally fine to give yourself that.

Yeah. To be like, oh, well, you know, maybe I will only want one, but maybe we will want more. And now there's also so many different ways of going about that. Yeah. Taking the pressure off the situation is so. Yeah. There's so many other things to worry about. Yeah.

Making that final decision is not as important in the beginning, you know. I love that you talked about you guys just sitting aside time as like husband and wife, like prioritizing that because that's something that we always talk about and I always say, like, I want to get really good at prioritizing our time before we have a child because I know like once the kid comes, we're both going to be so engulfed in the child because I see us with our nephew and our friend's kids and we're like on the child. Yeah. So I love that. Was that like hard for you guys to implement or was it just like something that like came naturally?

We talked about it a lot. I mean, I feel like probably fairly well. So my, my big priority when we just in general first started dating was communication and affection. Like I was really big on those too. I knew I wanted it. I knew it was important. And Hudson was definitely on board with all of that. So like that would that was a constant threat in our relationship anyway. And I got really good advice before we had even started trying to have a baby that. as strange as it might sound, your marriage should always come before your kid. Your kid should not be your first priority. And it sounds bad. It sounds like, what do you mean? You know,

it seems selfish in a way. But it is, it is the most helpful thing. Because at the end of the day, you're not going to be the person or the parent you want to be to your kid if your marriage and your relationship is not where it should be. Yeah.

And so prioritizing each other and, you know, every different aspect of our relationship, making that something that is important and a priority is the best thing that we've done as parents. And, you know, as he gets older and sees that we're solid and that we know how to work out our issues

and that, you know, we're doing our best to put our egos aside so that we can figure things out and we do our best to not go to bed angry at each other. Inevitably that happens. We have the stupidest fights. but it's their like the pettiest stuff, which is great. I love it. And it's not awesome.

But when it is, it's just like really we're talking about like where we put the trash bags. Like this is silly. But still, it is one of those things, right? Where it's like you don't know how many days you have left. You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. And making that a priority is the best thing that we've done in our marriage and as parents. And it's so much easier said. done. There's so many moments where I'm like, I don't want to talk about that with you.

You know, like, give me some room. And it's funny too because I kind of like, I shot myself in the foot a bit because I make communications that's such a priority that when I don't want to talk about stuff, he's like, oh, that's funny. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, right. Yeah. But yeah, it's so much easier said than done. But with practice and habit. it like it will those early you know that first year of having a baby it's invaluable to communicate because you're both changing you're you're both growing and learning new things about yourself and you don't truly know how you're going to react to situations until you're in them and then you're in them with your partner and if you're not talking about it or you're not on the same

page it just makes everything more difficult and then you add some like sleep deprivation on there and it's just you know insane yeah I can't imagine. Yeah, we've really been able to navigate it in a way that has really worked out for us. And I'm just like, I'm so thankful for that. And also, we've been really good at not letting outside opinions affect the way that we parent and what we do. I think that's also so hard. Everyone has, like, such a big opinion on what you should do, whether it's, you know, how many kids you're going to have, if you're going to sleep train or not, you know, if you're breastfeeding or if you're giving formula or any, the list goes on, it's so, big and at the end of the day, it's like it's your life, it's your family, it's your little unit. Like you do what feels right to you. Yeah. That's really different, like, what it comes down to. Yeah, it's so true.

Everyone's, everyone's experience is like so different as like we start to have friends that are having kids. We're really seeing it firsthand how, one, just how differently like pregnancy is for everyone. But then also like after, from the breastfeeding to just straight during formula to like everything under the sun, all of our friends have done it so differently. So it's kind of like comforting in a weird way. I feel like that I would think that would stress me out. But I think it's kind of comforting that there like isn't a right or wrong way to do it because like every human is literally different.

Every baby child infant is different. Every woman's body is different. So it's kind of kind of encouraging. Yeah, for sure. I have all the faith in you guys that you said you're going to rock it. Thank you. And trust your instincts. You know?

A lot of it is about trusting your instincts. Yeah. That's so true. You recently launched your own podcast. Yes. Women in the nude. Yes. Where did the idea come from in what can people expect to hear when they tune in?

Yeah. I kind of always love the idea of having a podcast, but never really went true with it. Yeah. And I think the idea for women in the nude was. was kind of evolved from like realizing that I never truly sought out good female friendships in my young adult life. I had them sort of, but I was like in my teenage years, I like always had my friends because I was like, oh, girls. Yeah. Like I didn't want anything to do with it.

I have my best, best friend, Jay Lynn, who I think you must have met earlier on, Taylor. Okay. And her and I, you know, our friendship has never wavered. Thank goodness for her. But aside from her, like those like girls nights and that sort of thing, that's way later in life for me. I never, I never had that like core group of girlfriends, really. And as an adult woman, I realized how important that is. Because no matter how cool a guy is, no offense, Taylor, you know, talking about your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, you're. goal. It's just not going to be as, you know, it's not going to make as much sense or it's not going to be, no matter how hard you try, you can only relate to it to a certain degree. And, yeah, becoming a mom and talking about all the crazy things that we go through and what we do, it's so important to have a good community of women around you and to, like, validate some of those feelings that you might not get elsewhere. And I also think that, like, the family you choose

is so important and the people that you surround yourself with is so important. And I think having that open line of communication, even if it's not something that you physically know, is just so valuable. And I know now as a woman, so many incredible females in my life. And from just acquaintances to really good friends, I wanted to have them on so that other women can hear that like you were saying, hey, every situation is, every woman is different. Every motherhood journey is different. Every woman in business journey. is different and we can all learn something from those women. And so I have everyone from a really good friend who's like an entrepreneur and a food scientist to influencers who are just all in the,

like the psychology space and fitness space. And we got some really amazing, really amazing women coming on that I'm really excited for everybody to hear. So thank you for shouting that out. Of course. We can't wait to listen. Some really amazing woman. Just kidding. This is probably after the episode of comes. We can time it out. Yeah, spoiler alert. Tate is coming on with women in the nude. It's going to be so fun.

And all we're going to do is gossip about Taylor the whole time. Great. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I love it. Oh, man. That's so great. I had to.

I'm so annoying. I had to do the hair flip in there. I felt the moment. I had to seize it. I love the hair flip. I'm all for it. Next time, tell me. We'll do it together.

Perfect. We'll time in and we'll time it. for your podcast episode while time the hair flips. Perfect. Well, Sasha, thank you so much. Everybody listening, make sure you go check out

her podcast, Women and the Nude. We'll have it linked below. Yes, but it is everywhere you can find it. So go check it out. Sasha, we love you. Thank you so much for joining. I appreciate it. I had so much fun.

I'm so glad this worked out. Okay, I will see you very soon. Ooh. Okay, awesome, sweet. Thank you so much for squeezing us into your day. be sure to rate, 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. the squeeze podcast at gmail.com if you guys have any questions, any guests you'd like to see. We've gotten some interesting email so far,

which has been awesome. 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.

Tootles magoodles, everyone. My goodles. This podcast has been brought to you by Podcast Nation.