The Viall Files - E232 All Things Bling Empire With Kelly Mi Li

Episode Date: February 3, 2021

Bling Empire is taking Netflix by storm and we are just as invested as the rest of you which makes us excited to have cast member and Executive Producer of Bling Empire, Kelly Mi Li with us. First we find out the real story behind her ex husband’s criminal story and how that effected her life. We then jump into all things Bling including what her current relationship status is with Drew, how she really feels about Kevin and his pancakes, who she is closest to on the show, and how we can get on that plane to Paris with her and Anna.   “A relationship takes 2 to work, so I have my issues for staying in that relationship and vice versus.” Please make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode and as always send in your relationship questions to [e-mail] to be a part of our Monday episodes.  THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:   Noom:  http://www.noom.com/VIALL to sign up for your free trial.  Adam & Eve: http://www.adamandeve.com use code VIALL for 50% off almost any item, free 3 item mystery – something for him, something for her and something you’ll both enjoy, 6 free movies AND free shipping Function of Beauty: http://functionofbeauty.com/VIALL to take your quiz and save 20% on your first order.   Episode Socials:  @viallfiles @nickviall @kellymili See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

what's going on everybody welcome to another episode of the vile files i'm your host nick joined by a bunch of people these days. Chrissy, how are you? Good. How are you today? So wonderful. And we have the gals in the social syndicate here, Allie and Amanda in studio. Don't have some mics. They're just crushing it over there.

We have a great episode for you. I'm super excited about this episode because I'm invested Bling Empire for those of you not familiar with Bling Empire do yourself a favor go ahead and turn on the old Netflix it's streaming now if you've enjoyed the movie Crazy Rich Asians

you will love Bling Empire it's based off that movie and I gotta say I binged right through it and watched all the episodes in a day. I did the same thing. It was, like, so good.

It's kind of got, like, that, like, sunset. What was the Grishel's one? Selling sunset kind of, like, production vibes to it. But, like, the drama of, like, a Bravo TV show. I don't know. I'm invested. I loved it. Well, anywho, one of the stars of like a Bravo TV show. I don't know. I'm invested. I loved it. Well, anywho, one of the stars of that show, Kelly Mee Lee, is with us today to talk about the show, how it all began.

A little bit more about her. A little background story about her original ex-husband who is like a criminal mastermind that they just kind of brushed over. So we learned more about that. Her relationship with Drew, who I wasn't a huge fan of, but we find out what's going on with her and Drew. We asked some questions and Kelly, Kelly was really fun to talk to and, and I really enjoyed it. Well, before we get to Kelly, a quick reminder,

we got some fun new merch out there at vilefiles.com. Follow us on social. We're, you know, Instagram, doing some great things up there. You're TikTok? Yeah, we're making TikToks. Matt James isn't the only one doing TikToks. Esther Povinsky is back with us on the vile files on monday to help with an ethnic episode you won't want to miss that she crushes it we give some juicy details about people's lives and we can't wait for you to check that out

subscribe review sending your questions at asknickcastme.com cast with a k and if there's nothing else kelly me well again welcome we are excited to have you uh we have all been watching bling empire on netflix have you have you been feeling uh the groundswell of of interest with the show it's you know with the netflix when they drop something and then it picks up steam it's kind of like going from zero to 100 what's that been like it's been really overwhelming there's been a lot of support and love from press and fans so i'm just just getting used to it um the other day they were like what about when you go out do people

recognize you i'm like i haven't left my house i'm like i walk my dogs in a quiet neighborhood and that's it so i've been doing a lot of zoom interviews so this is my first in person and i'm so excited to have people around yeah are you a little bummed about that like all of a sudden you're on this new hit show and you know it's fun to go out and see a little bit of excitement come your way but since we're in a pandemic you don't get to fully experience that or it's yeah a little bit because i'm like i want to go on a carpet i want to see people i want to feel the energy but at the same time i'm like i i'm kind of comfortable doing my zoom interviews and i'm like i only got to dress up like you know uh up and i'm like down i can just wear my pajamas so that's been the good

thing this show obviously was based off the movie crazy rich asians or kind of at least the inspired inspired by it when you saw that movie am i assuming you saw the movie i Rich Asians or kind of at least the inspired inspired by it when you saw that movie am I'm assuming you saw the movie I did what did you think I mean I thought it was great I loved it it was uh yeah and I think a lot of people you know especially the average boring white guy was like oh what a you know I didn't know a lot about that culture or you know and I think you I saw an interview you mentioned just how underrepresented just overall just the Asian community is and kind of at least American entertainment yeah is that something that when

watching it it was inspiring or exciting what was that like for you absolutely I'm just proud and inspired and you know I read the book Crazy Rich Asians when Nina Jacobson first bought the rights for the book and when I read the book I'm like oh my god these are all fictional characters my friends so that's when we started developing the the project and you know seeing crazy rich asian and how well it's done um it's just amazing and hopefully with you know bullying empire we can add another barrier for the underrepresented asian community and i know like your story is unique because there's a lot you know a lot of the characters in bling empire come from this kind of generational wealth right uh that you know the doctor the dynasty like he would be an emperor

right yeah and then um but you are a little different right you you came when you're younger you moved to chicago your mother, right? Your father originally came out here, but couldn't find work. He originally came out here and then, you know, as immigrants, okay. When we came from mainland China, China, when you talk about family money is two generations because during the Mao Ariel, they kind of cleaned everybody out. So when we came out here, my mom, you know, she did did research anti-cancer

research at uic but she also worked two other jobs my dad had come out here to wash carpets and do this kind of odd job so as a man he's ego couldn't take it so he's like i'm gonna go back to my high position job in china i'll be back and he never came back so so my mom uh stayed out here she wanted me to have a better opportunity and better educations um so yeah I have everything to thank my mom for wow do you communicate with your father at all still not too much I uh you know we didn't talk for 10 something years and then about I would say like seven or eight years ago we kind of you know met up and you know chit chat it but at this you know it's just it's so hard to catch up 10 years of your you know your past and also there's a little bit of a language barrier as well because you know my mandarin i can still speak it but it's not as good as before and he doesn't really speak english

so we kind of just left it there he has a new family um and that impacted me as much as i didn't realize but that later on when i started doing a lot of self self-discovery that impacted me a lot you know of who i was that i'm hopefully changing right now you opened up the show talking about that you were previously married in a different life and you you mentioned how your ex-husband was arrested for like embezzlement or something and then you the show just kind of moved on which i guess i get but i'm i'm watching it being like wait what what like what what was that like can you give us a little bit more detail on what the hell was going on and i mean i can't imagine being married to someone was it like you just found this all out like in

one like one day did you wake up and realize holy shit it was pretty crazy oh my goodness that was such a wild time of my of my life i'll give you kind of the shorter version. I met him when I was 21. He was 20. And then we were just friends. And then fast forward, we got married. I was 24. He was 23 years old. He was extremely successful. I really respected him at that time because he was an immigrant like me. He's self-made. He made his first million at 18 years old. And so we got married and, you know, lived a great life. But at the same time, there was a lot of disconnect. So eventually, I think about three years down the road, we realized it's not working out. So we were separated. We were living two separate households. I was spending most of my time doing philanthropist work at the time. So I

remember I just got back from Guatemala and there was a knock on my door it was a friday at 4 p.m and they were like they were looking for him and i was like oh he doesn't live here i'm like who are you being like the fbi well it was the ftc so i didn't know what the ftc was a federal trade commissioner and then um so that was friday at 4 p.m um and then next thing you know all of our accounts were frozen so at the time we haven't separated our you you know, our financials. You haven't? We have not. Yeah.

I didn't really, I didn't have access to his account because I just didn't care. I made my own money at the time as well. So I was like, whatever. But, you know, and then like a week later, our, you know, my credit card stopped working at a gas station, you know. And then, you know, at that time we're spending a lot of money on our Black Pay Max. And I was like, I think it was about 400K, 500K a month. So all of a sudden, you're like, okay, my credit card stopped working.

What's going on? So at that time, I was learning as I was going as well, where he was auto-subscribing people. So I don't know if you can remember back in the day when cell phone first come out, you'll find a 999 charge on your cell phone bill. And you kind of forget about it. You don't really look at it. But when you have to call in, they'll cancel it for you and sometimes they will refund you i have no idea but uh so he was i guess the the brain behind that was a pretty big operation where there are people from you know asia and australia involved so he was just able to charge people 10 bucks like anyone who had

his cell phone yeah he got like he auto he was auto subscribing people so i was so i was learning about that because i was reading i was reading some stuff online it was something about like he was promising people like first i think was a different one that was on the web where he was promising people like justin bieber tickets so you have to enter your information and then he was maybe charging people so i still don't have like a chance to win or something yeah yeah something like that and then like the t's and c's they would like auto subscribe people so fast forward we end up settling for 168 million so all of our houses you know in the ftc ftc so and that was not the end of it um by settling you're just like i we we owe you 168 yeah um i know he was i

think he got like we had at the beginning i think he got a lot of lawyers on board because i i let him borrow some money my mom let him borrow some money for for legal fees because we don't know what was going on but you know it's family you know still and um yeah and then afterwards you know all all my jewelry like we were one of the top buyers at tiffany's at a time so like millions millions of dollars of jewelry gave back six cars I think in houses in Chicago uh here kind of all over so it's weird and then so we're like okay well this is over let's get back you know get back we finalized our divorce I was like okay cool I'm gonna move forward with my life and the sucky thing also was that the time I was married the money i was making had to you know

go to you got looped in so it was it was a little crazy so you were like you went from being wealthy to broke to pretty much broke and starting over and then i think about i was 20 about 27 a time nick why are you licking your fingers what are you doing over there I'm eating a donut amazing did you know that eating better and feeling better understanding cravings knowing

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Yeah. So no, they did not. But however, about, I think about, I don't know, two weeks, maybe a month afterwards, he was on a trip with his girlfriend coming back from, I don't know, Mexico or something, wherever. And then the FBI got him. So they got charged criminally afterwards. And then they did speak, I actually volunteered, they did speak to me. So I had nothing to do with it. So is he still in jail now?

No, it's actually, the sentencing's not out yet so we're it's gonna be this year was this this is a while ago but it's again it's a huge case so he's just been kind of like hanging out waiting to be sentenced yeah and i think it got delayed because of covid but we don't talk anymore so i don't really know a lot of the updates but as far as i know i don't think he's i don't think so crazy story i can't believe it was a blip it was it was crazy yeah and then uh you know build myself back up and you know and the day like you haven't heard from him since you know all of a sudden this is the show i have not heard from him um i know that a lot of press has picked up and kind of dig a little bit deeper and uh find some found some core papers and they've been writing about it but i kind of tried to not read it a good good for you for picking yourself back

up i mean a lot of people you lose that kind of wealth you lose a lot of perspective and i mean again yeah i can't imagine you just said like you were spending hundreds of thousands of dollars what was that like i mean what was that like the next day to be like, well, I guess Taco Bell for lunch or. Right. Ramen noodles the rest of my life. For jewelry. Right. Exactly. Exactly. Right. Or Claire's or one of those. Yep. Yep. Like you go into Aldo and buy jewelry all of a sudden. Yeah, exactly. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong. But I mean, yeah, no shame. I've done it. But, you know done it but you know it's affordable no no exactly so um it was definitely it was definitely a change and um during that time you know i felt like i dealt with stress pretty well but subconsciously i was going through a

little bit of memory loss i had to go see a doctor for and then you know downgrading was a whole another process i was like okay you know I started, I got a smaller place. And then, um, I think I was at like 25,000 a month for, you know, my expense. I was like,

I'm doing great. You know, I'm like, this is great. And then after a couple of months, I'm like, okay, I got a downsize even more,

you know, but, um, at the end of the day, I think, you know, I'm an entrepreneur, being an entrepreneur is ups and downs and you got to ride that wave.

And, you know, true entrepreneur, you can always come back up yeah what what are you working on now from an entrepreneurial standpoint or like what i guess yeah what is if i meet you in an elevator you know it's just like hey what do you what do you do what do you say i right now my main focus i have a import export merchandising company um so that one's been running about seven years it It kind of runs itself. I just started my new production company this year.

It's called Web Paws Media. And we are just doing a lot of really great projects. I love true stories. I had a movie called Echo Boomers came out in November. That one was Michael Shannon, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Alex Piffer. And then one of my TV shows called Cypher that got launched internationally and got hit number one on Netflix for like three weeks in a row in some of the countries. And we're launching a different platform spring this year in the U S and then

I shot, I shot a feature in COVID, which was not fun, but we're in post-production for that. And then I have a music documentary that I'm in, I'm in finishing wrapping up right now. And then I'm going to pre-production on another project with Aaron Eckhart Terrence Howard in March this year. So, wow it's been fun it's been really exciting you've always been a very kind of motivated person like how did you get into all this like i have no idea you grew up in you know the midwest in chicago yeah i have no idea i think I feel like such a loser. No, not at all. Come on.

You have this amazing podcast, you know. Yeah. I mean, like, what are you doing? And now that you know her, you can star in one of her movies next to Aaron Eckhart. So dream come true. There you go. There you go. I just want to go to a Chinese New Year party.

That's really my goal. Yeah. I'm so bummed this year is, you know, this year is COVID, but next year you're invited for sure. Everybody's invited. It'll be fun. It's, it's, it's such a blast. Chinese New Year is really, we go all out. Function of beauty. Wow. Chrissy, it sounds like you recently had a fabulous experience with our friends at function of beauty. Tell us your story. I love function of beauty. The shampoo is amazing. That's what I use the most. And you go online, you fill out a survey, you can pick your color, you can pick your scent, you can pick if you need it for dry hair, for curls, whatever you need.

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yesterday he said i've only known him for eight years so um and then um you know i've known them the longest and then sheree probably after a couple of people like kevin um and anna are more like newer friends anna was introduced by jeff jenkins who's my producing partner uh the EP for Blink Empire. And then Kevin, we kind of not cast it in a sense where we were looking for like a single good looking Asian guy and we looked at a lot of people. Yeah. And then I saw him doing, I think, Ted X talk and the Huffington Post talk.

And then I reached out, but he was living the East Coast at the time and a friend of us, a mutual friend introduced us. And us and he's like oh I can move out to LA so he came out but we all got to hang out for about like a good year year and a half before we started shooting so everybody kind of was very comfortable with each other and everybody's still friends nowadays and talk a lot let's talk about Drew okay yes please please please please the big elephant in the room let's talk about you well i mean i'm watching it in the beginning of of the of the show you introduced him as your boyfriend and and uh then and then he had one of his many temper tantrums like what what's up what's up with drew you know um back then then, it was definitely a really difficult time of our relationship.

We were going through a really rocky road. You know, I'm not giving excuses for the behavior from before, but he impressed me so much, inspired me so much after the show. We took about six months apart. We broke up after, you know, the show. We didn't have a plan to come back or anything like that um he i spent the time really working on myself and digging you know dig deeper because at the end of the day relationship takes two to work so i have my issues for staying that relationship you know and then but vice versa so after the six month um we've

been kind of spending time together again and he's been a complete different person you guys are back you guys are back we're back together we're working things out um he yeah because now even days no chris he's like no i'm having a heart attack right now we're a little blown away you know was watching it. He was screaming. You know? Yeah. The Power Rangers have a troubled past. You know what?

At the end of the day, for me, I want to look beneath the surface. Let's dig deeper. We're in an instant gratification kind of society. We're in a society right now that people like to be around when times are good. when times are hard they kind of they kind of like to leave relationship takes work it takes as much work as our regular work and you know have to work on every single day that if you want to be with that person you know um ju obviously had a really bad childhood and um you know we grew up very differently our culture is very different um but at the day he's willing to work on himself and he's willing to break up break the you know the generation trauma that his parents passed on to him and then his parents pass them you know his grandparents pass on his

parents so a lot of time you know a lot of our stuff is from childhood and it's really not our fault as long as we're willing to work on it you know and i'm doing the same thing myself too huh he does he hasn't yelled at you recently he has not yelled at me and he you know it's funny things that he's been calming me down sometimes when we're having a disagreement i get really passionate he's like okay let's take a deep breath let's you know check our tones and check our volume and do you need a break you know so we can continue do you want to have a little off time before we continue so uh he's been really respectful and i've also learned to set healthy boundaries because i didn't know how to do that how long

ago did you guys film the empire it was before covet right yeah paris was end of 2018 so that was almost two and a half years ago and um and then rest of it was filmed in 2019 how has it been for him because again like for people it, it doesn't come across great for him. You know, we're all watching it and be like, golly. Yeah. No. Has that brought up old wounds? For sure.

I mean, it was, you know, difficult to watch. We watched it first time together because I want to make sure we're next to each other when we watch it. And I mean, I was just like holding on him. I was sweating. I was like the sweaty palms, you know, like you're really nervous. And then I had to pause a couple of times, just make sure he's OK. You know, it was definitely difficult to watch. But for me, I feel like I'm like, hey, look, let's look at our past, like how far we've we've came from that that person, you know, before to now uh he's definitely got got hit a like pretty bad on social media you know it was so extreme that you know and i come from the reality tv world you always get a lot of questions of reality like how real is it and that was so kind of outrageous that you're like there's no way there's no way guys are going to show up on this show and be this much of an asshole to a woman in the year 220. And yet, but he was this bad? You know what? There's a lot of things.

You know how reality TV works. They trim a lot of things down. So let's say, for example, one of our therapy sessions is three hours, but they trimmed down to really short as well as you know our talk after in the hotel room that got trimmed down significantly as well so you know it was just more of the yelling just yeah they didn't trim down the yelling i'm assuming the yelling did not get trimmed down and even if you were for three hours poking them i still it was aggressive yeah no the yelling that definitely was you know it was real um but

you know i'm not again no but um same time it's just from trauma it's from he had a lot of abandonment issues growing up you know an abusive and alcoholic you know dad and all that stuff so so we talk a lot about relationships on the podcast and so it sounds like you guys are in a good place for right now and that's great but if if you were if a woman came to you and said, have a watch a show. And I feel like I was in a similar situation. A lot. You even mentioned kind of how toxic the relationship was. What are some things that you feel like you've learned?

I mean, like even in a situation where someone is dating someone who has a troubled past. Right. Or their parents are an influence. Like, where did you draw the line between? All right. I understand where this is coming from but it gets to a place where either way I need to see some real growth and change because at some point we just can't keep blaming you know our past you know like you know you can't keep blaming you know like your your your dad left and start a new family but you've decided to you to control your own destiny.

What advice would you give to other women who find themselves in positions like you were? Right, absolutely. And one of the things that's been really crazy and mind-blowing for me is that how many women has reached out through my DM. And some of them, they write really long stories about past relationships they were in

as well as relationships they're currently in. There also people who's been married for who are still married them so who are still married for 20 30 years have kids together and they're in a abusive relationship i i can't compare my relationship with them because you know jews never you know physically hurt me or anything like that um but you know mental abuse is is important you know how do you break that cycle we broke that cycle by taking time apart we we we were you know, mental abuse is important. You know, how do you break that cycle? We broke that cycle by taking time apart. We were, you know, he moved out in the show and afterwards we completely broke up and we didn't have any contact. And it's really about how much do you want it, you know? And when you work on yourself, you know, I think that's most important instead of being codependent on the other person.

Take that time off. Focus on yourself yourself be the best version of yourself we can't point fingers you know because there's a reason for two people to be in a state in a relationship like that um i think again just that both people both sides have to willing to put in the work to be a better version of themselves and really dig deeper and go into therapy therapy worksy works. There's a big stigma in the, well, especially in the Asian community and Asian culture, huge stigma in therapy and mental health, but there's nothing wrong with it. Therapy works and it really helped me.

So again, I think just break the cycle, take some alone time. I know it's hard. I know it's hard to get out sometimes. I know I have friends who's been in a relationship similar or a relationship that's abusive where they couldn't even leave. And they had to pack their bag in the middle of the night to leave. So I'm not in that position to comment on that.

But yeah, just take time off, get away, and focus on yourself. It's meant to be. But that person has to put in the work and really show the work and that you know action what did your uh friends think or your mom when you guys got back together because they seemed to be thrilled when you guys broke up drew's been around king anna since the show wrapped uh sheree i think i don't know actually no i think they spoke on the phone but they haven't been around they definitely see a change you know um they they say they see more stability and we just have to you know keep showing them that this is for real and this is gonna last um but at the end of the day you know it's my life sure yeah right with you and drew breaking

breaking up kevin was like this you know it seemed like okay drew was going to be this relationship that you started the show in and then you guys were going to break up and then the real romance of the show was going to be you and kevin and that didn't like it seemed like kevin was really into you but like you even said you very much treated him like yeah he's like a brother were you never really interested like how how interested was Kevin? How was Drew about that? Like, do Drew and Kevin ever talk? Is there some jealousy there since you ended up going back to Drew?

Like, what is that like? Does, does, does Drew have a problem with Kevin knowing that he tried to get with you? What's going on there? I think, you know, at that time it was just, the timing was way too fast. You know, me and Drew just, just broke up. You know, we were in a five year relationship. going on there i think you know at that time it was just the timing was way too fast you know me and drew just just broke up you know we were in a five-year relationship and i was like i for me i mentally i was not ready you know to today and then kevin again i've only seen him as a brother so um they i don't believe they've spoke after the show wrapped um i think we're gonna um we're

doing like a little social distance like get together this weekend everybody gets tested beforehand um so we'll see how that goes you know drew was obviously a little taken back that kevin asked me out so quick afterwards you know like i guess how much did you even know that kevin was interested in dating you until he asked i wasn't super i didn't really know because kevin's a very flirty person he he flirts with everybody you know and he that's just his personality and that's why he's so lovable right and uh so for me i i didn't really i i didn't think i didn't think it i just kind of was like so i didn't know until he asked me um and uh yeah but i i but i'm gonna throw one thing out you know

i think kevin and kim will make a really great couple just because they already they're already you know they fight and they bicker like married couple already so i feel like they should just take the next step i i also curious for the women in this room i i didn't think pancakes were as great as kevin thought and i just want i was just like kevin it's not the pancakes it's your face like that's why he's like it time. I'm like, because they want to have sex with you. And they're just like, it doesn't matter. You know? And the only thing Kevin has right is just like, he, he, he asked women on a date, he makes some pancakes. And then he, so then the women who want to hook up with Kevin, they're going to be like,

he cooked for me. And then immediately there is also like, no girl wants to eat a bunch of carbs. And that's what I'm saying. I was just like, you eat a bunch of carbs and that's what i'm saying i was just like you eat a bunch of carbs like maybe have the carbs after yeah no girls like oh this is like i'm so full of carbs let's do it maybe the pancakes are delicious and it's hard to eat just ones you don't just have like you don't have a short stack and immediately you know like you're already filled up with carbs you don't like how can you take some more how can you take some dick i don't it's like it's hard maybe it gives you energy i have no idea and i'm just like kevin are they protein pancakes now kelly's like no they've got it's not the pancakes kevin it's your face his face or his abs i don't know what a good looking guy kevin's going around

there like pancakes are so good i'm like like, no, it's your face. I don't know. But did he try to make you pancakes? He did not try to make me pancakes. I don't know if Kevin's a good cook or not. Because I just didn't see him as a good cook. So no, I never got pancakes. I would love it if it's just like he just pulls out a box of Bisquick.

Right, right. Like that's his pancake recipe. I make pancakes from scratch. I do. Oh, you do? It's pretty easy. Well, you're impressive nicholas yeah it's really it's like the easiest thing anyone can make there's no reason but that would be like awesome if he was like come over to my house i'm gonna make you pancakes and he just pulls out the biscuit there's a 70 chance that's what's going on i i think so too i i'm pretty sure yeah i'm gonna find that out can drew cook juice an amazing cook i i

don't cook at all that's one thing that i'm really not good at i'm i'm really good at eating and i'm really good at ordering post-made but i'm not really good at cooking drew is an amazing cook what happens if you don't like his cooking i actually have never had a dish i don't like yet so we'll see thank god yeah never waiting for your answer to be like, he throws it at the wall. That's funny. I'm sorry. I was beating up on Drew a little bit, but it was hard to watch. It was hard to watch, but I'm glad you're happy.

Yeah. Thank you. Do you guys still, is therapy for you guys an ongoing thing? So we haven't started couple of therapy yet. I got him on this program that I've been going to. So once he finishes his portion um we'll do a couple of therapy after we're still living so he's doing his own therapy he's doing his own therapy i'm doing my own here yeah when you guys were on the show and like immediately you guys went to couple therapy and again i'm not a therapist but i was like i feel like this guy has like work to do on his own before you can address the relationship

exactly you know you can't pour from empty glass you just gotta be you know for you have to be the best version of yourself for the other partner you know yeah well he's very pretty he does have that going for him thank you are you living together again we're not living together we're still living separate um you know we're taking we're taking things slow because at the end of the day i'm like hey if we're going to be together for the rest of our life for for the next, you know, how many ever years, 60 years, why rush? Are you guys planning on, is there going to, I mean, it's been successful. I assume that Netflix is already talking about season two.

They haven't given us the official yes, yes. So fingers crossed. Will Drew want to be a part of it after this rough ride? You know, that's really up to him. That's really up to him. Yeah. What's your gut tell you? I think he will be, you know, that's what I'm kind of hoping for.

Because again, I would love the audience to see the loving side of him. The side that's so loving and kind. The redemption story. You know, I would really love the audience to see that part of him um but you know that's completely up to him you know how'd you guys meet we met at a friend's uh birthday party actually i think i think he was about to leave i was i walked in and he says okay i'm gonna stay longer and then uh yeah he asked me i think a week later and or he asked me out yeah a week later and then uh yeah just been since paris a week later. And then, yeah, it's just been since.

Paris was a big topic. Do you go to Paris a lot? Or did you? What is that like? Are people still going to Paris from the States with COVID? How's that all work? Yeah, right now, everybody stopped traveling. Paris, I didn't go as much as, you know,

Anna went to Paris probably like two, three times a month. You know, I think one of the lines I said in the show is, I was like, Anna goes to Paris more time than she goes to Silver Lake, which is completely true. I actually quite appreciated that joke. But then you guys were like in Silver Lake. Isn't that bowling alley in Silver Lake that you guys went to? But she wasn't there. She wasn't there. And I wasn't there either.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was in Highland Park. Highland Park. Yeah, I've been to that bowling alley. It's beautiful bowling. Yeah, LA. Good pizza there. I should have had a pizza there.

I'm going to try that. How are their pancakes they have pancakes there no okay but i did like yeah that was funny yeah no i mean i also believed it too the what the pancake no that she had probably been to paris oh more than so hundred percent hundred percent yeah um you know so but going to Paris with Anna was a completely different experience one of the things they did they left out on the show which I wish they put it in because I guess didn't move the story forward Anna as a surprise for my birthday

shut down the Palace of Versailles and we had a completely private tour Jude did a split in the middle of the Hall of Mirror so we were running around and uh it was amazing we visited that little there was so there's a theater there and upstairs louis the 13 will have a side room where he has all his you know mistress and he has you know during the intermission of the play he will go up there and you know do his naughty things so we were we get a visit there and then um just the stories. And it was amazing.

Well, what why was there brief nudity in this season? I've never seen it on a reality TV show. It's like, oh, it's a boob. I have no idea. I actually heard about that scene afterwards. But, you know, it's just Anna. Anna lives in her own world and she owns up to it and I always say I'm like hey you know it's Anna's world we're all just living in it was that like Anna being like I want

the boob in there because no I mean people get naked all the time filming reality tv they just don't put it on the show um I know I'm kind of blown away I think it just her reaction was so good to it though that's why they kept it in. It was amazing. But they didn't black box it or blur it out. It was wild. It's Netflix. I guess the benefit.

I know. No, I get it. I guess it's a whole new world. Maybe that Netflix being like, hey, we don't have to black box anything. Yeah. I mean, we saw Kevin's butt running you know in the in the in the beat on the sand too in the ocean that's true yeah i mean get ready for season two too hot to handle yeah maybe there's some front going on season two well yeah i mean so in terms of uh

like just the show do you feel like were you happy with how everyone was represented not obviously we talked a lot about drew and yourself but just how did you feel like netflix did or just just the production of it all in terms of how your friend group was represented and like in terms of the comparisons to the movie that were you happy with it are you excited about it yeah i mean the first time i watched the show i mean i knew it was going to be good, but it went beyond my expectation, to be honest. I thought it was so well put together. It was a very well done reality show.

You know, obviously, the representation-wise, you know, you can only fit in so much for eight episodes. So, of course, they want you to see a certain, you know, certain side of that person and that they will focus on that that side but you know hopefully we'll get other seasons and we'll just keep can keep expanding you know the narrative on different characters and all of our personality um so yeah but so far i mean i i i thought they did a phenomenal job um and i'm i'm really happy how well it's doing who are you closest with of

the group like who would you call in a crisis um i'm probably still closest with king um and i've been closest with king since the beginning so yeah he's so magical king is just like just a magical happy go lucky person his shoe wall like when like who has a shoe wall when you walk into your apartment first of all that was amazing second of all the massage chair also amazing that just randomly sitting there yep but like the shoe wall, I was like, wait, there's not, like, he has to put it in his living room because he's got that many shoes. That's in his living room? Like, the kitchen's, like, right there. Yeah. Like, I'm obsessed.

Yeah. So, you know, King had a bigger house up in Mount Olympic before he moved into his apartment. And his shoe was in a whole room by itself. And, you know, he got into it a little bit with his parents and he was like, I'm going to, I want to make it myself. I'm going to blah, blah. So he moved into that apartment. So there really is no bigger,

you can't fit those shoes in one room. So he just put it in his living room. Was he cut off or did his family cut him off? Or did he cut himself off? I don't know the details. On the show he says there was an allowance or something, right? I thought he said on the show that he gets an allowance. Yeah, and then who is the butt thing going on?

She was the one on the mustang. Oh, Jamie, yeah. That's Jamie. Jamie. Jamie's the youngest cast member on our show. I think she just turned. I met her when she was 20, so she must be like 23 now, I'm guessing. But yeah, Jamie's just, you know, she just wants to be an influencer.

All she does is shopping. She does the shopping and photo shoots you know good for her and and king he's what is he doing is he still cut off or is he uh no i think his parents are really happy with him now um he's doing a lot of more like real estate development um so they you know they they buy kind of rundown houses and push it down. Will we ever get to meet his parents? Because I would see them. That one's going to be iffy. His parents are awesome. Oh my goodness. His parents are just so loving and just awesome people.

But he has two brothers. Yeah, the chance of them coming on a show is going to be pretty small. But maybe, maybe in like fifth season. Are they like super conservative or traditional? They're very private. Letting him do that show was a whole other challenge so but his parents really yeah because his parents didn't you know at the beginning this is at the very beginning um of course that they want to you know the asian

culture is keep it low-key you know keep everything kind of private so yeah and his parents also if you look at if you see them on the street you can't tell them they're billionaires. You know, his dad is always so casually dressed. Just very humble people. But King, he's not exactly not showing. He's a little bit flashier, you know, than his parents. He got a lot better. No, he's not noticeable. But back then, like, I don't know if he still does it.

Back then, we used to go to SoulCycle classes at the beginning. And he's, I'm like, King, you have like over a million dollars of jewelry just on you as soul cycle you know does he really yeah i would like to hang out with king yeah king's king's awesome king's awesome you see that like asian culture dynamic like what you're talking about kind of seems like it came into like christine's relationship a lot on the show like with her husband's family yeah christine's uh definitely you know when it's when it comes to family money and family wealth you there's a lot of restriction you know that that's why you know in terms of like we have the money like restrictions and restrictions like

dangling a carrot kind of thing in a sense but there's also a lot of rules that you you can't you know you got to make sure the family's image is always good. Yeah, there's definitely a lot of pressure. Because I had a good amount of friends where, you know, trust fund babies, if you want to call them. There's definitely a lot of restriction on family money. Oh, the shaman. Who, where did you guys find the shaman?

Shaman was, my friend is really good friends with Shaman Derek. And yeah, so. Is he a real shaman? I mean. He is like the third or fourth generation. He's actually a really known shaman. What is with shaman derek and uh yeah so is he a real shaman i mean he is like the third or fourth generation he's actually a really known shaman he's what is a shaman i guess they have special powers that gets passed on from you know from the other generations it's it's mostly passed down the the genetic and the line uh and they can read energy and they can tell you things i i don't know but. But that was my first time.

Did it feel legit? He hit some really good spots. One of the things he said was that I still remember nowadays. He says, Kelly, you like to walk on eggshells. You like to please other people before you take care of yourself. And that was so true because I didn't know how to say no. I feel horrible saying no. And I tend to like if I feel a certain way, I like to kind of dance around because I don't want to hurt people's feelings.

So some of the things he said was definitely on the nose. Chrissy, could I be a shaman like on our ass next? Do you think maybe I have like have some shaman in me? I would love to have a shaman. You could be one. I would love to have one. Shaman, a psychic, anything. I love it.

What's the difference between a shaman and a psychic I don't know I watch it and reads more energy I was watching the shine shot man I was like that's like me without a bit you know I didn't have the you know but what they what they did it's not though that's what I want to know energy I think it's energy it was with the weird thing they didn't show this part cat was when kevin's turn to do the shaman then kevin kevin actually threw up he was he kept throwing up so that apparently was that you're throwing up negative energy and then guy's husband um was also there um and he didn't believe it he didn't want to go and then he went last um he's like he didn't believe it at all he actually blacked out and then when the shaman's like move your left leg he was moving

his body was moving but then when he woke up he was like well what happened he started he was coughing he was i wish they would have shown more of that because what they kind of showed made it seem a little hinky okay i think they cut it pretty short yeah yeah they cut it pretty short but i mean all of us were really, we were going through really deep problems or really, you know, issues talking about, you know, Kevin's, you know,

abandonment issues and because he was adopted and not knowing his birth parents and King, how he needs more his power and getting, you know, way, be his own individual with his family.

And then Jamie comes on and then, you know, he's like, Jamie, you got to know your your choices and know that the choice that the right choice is and with with inside you stop getting answers from everybody else and jamie's like i know the other day i was shopping for a bag i don't know if i want to buy a yellow or red and we're just like what you know but that was the funniest one yeah did you get a chance because i know you weren't there but did you get a chance to meet the pi who was helping find i did not family i was not involved in that storyline i didn't know

i think i was too caught up with i was like where did they find this guy were you as amazed by how interesting he was in general yeah his character his presence i was like and he was he's a real pi i think so i think it was a real pi like he needs to have his own show or something like i would just find it amazing why is he he was like a third he was like a pi but also a therapist two for one he's like i could find this but do you really want to what you really want but just so you know he may not love you right i give you the answers you're seeking yeah and he's gonna want to meet kevin you know and she's like we're not dating he's gonna want to meet Kevin. She's like, we're not dating. He's going to want to meet him anyways. I was like, how do you know?

He's your support. Yeah, yeah. And he has a dyed goatee. He was a character. He was a true character. The PI, the shaman, and then there was the dance. Was it a yoga class? Oh, the sexual yoga class?

Yeah. That was a lot of the... On the mats that were like two mats put together that kept slipping, like they weren't yoga mats. That was my favorite part. Yeah, like the non-main characters, like the guest stars, if you will. It's like, where are you finding all... What beautiful casting.

It's amazing, right? It's amazing. And then also Kim's mom. She was hilarious, too. I'm like, Kimmy, you're going be the break house star from this show yeah well it's a lot a lot of great characters on the show which is why i'm i'm assuming it's it's doing so well this it's there's really no boring personalities on the show so it's it is fun to watch uh what else i mean before we play do you know me and close this thing out what are

just some are there any things that have surprised you about the experience or are there any misconceptions like you know you mentioned a lot of people dming you and things like that and anything in terms of setting the record straight uh that you would want to the people to know uh as they digest more of the show yeah i think one of the things that was really funny was um and then king got a lot of a lot of shit for it too was that he told uh he said that kelly told me she likes anal and i'm like i've never said that in my life um and then you know so king's getting lucky he's like i'm just kidding i was just kidding i was like hey you know my mom watched that she's gonna look at you differently now next time she sees you how was andrew with that uh you

know he obviously see apparently afterwards they had a pretty long conversation about that you know what when they were at dinner but it got cut out so yeah so you're here to let us know that you're not i never told kane that oh she never told him that i know never told him that she's not saying she doesn't like the back door she's just saying she didn't tell anybody there was a key to it the funny thing was king was like you're a business woman maybe you could make get some endorsement deal out of it and then this morning i got a i got a i got a uh an email from a a website that promotes sexual wellness i i don't know if that was the reason they emailed me but you know could be be. And maybe there's something there, you know.

Was it Adam and Eve? It was not. That one I know. That one I probably would do something with. Like, hey, do I get free things? Okay. Well, they are our sponsor of this episode. Oh, great.

They are our sponsor of this episode. Can I give you my mailing address? All right. Before we let you go, Kelly. I don't know this game. Can you explain to me? Yeah, I will. Okay. Super easy. Okay. It's called Do You Know Me? Nerv know this game. Can you explain to me? Yeah, I will. Okay, okay. Super easy.

Okay. It's called Do You Know Me? Nervous, okay. We're going to ask you some questions. Okay. Does Kelly this? Does Kelly that? It's all across the board.

Don't answer right away. Okay. We're going to guess the answer. Okay. You can say yes or no. If there's a story behind your answer, feel free to share. You don't have to. Okay. We do endorse sharing that okay so so it's up to you okay you ready yes all right all right do you know

me with kelly me we question number one has kelly ever asked someone out on a date by sliding into their DMs? Has Kelly ever asked someone on a date by sliding into their DMs? Hmm. I feel like Kelly is rather traditional in the dating space. Likes a man who's going to pursue her. I think she would. But at the same time, she's this entrepreneur, successful woman. And to be an entrepreneur, you have to take risks.

You've got to put yourself out there. I'm going to say she has. I'm going to say no. I don't think she would unless it's like a Mark Cuban. She has DM'd a guy. Well, maybe not saying I want to go on a date with you, but she has DM'd a guy for the purposes of liking their face. It wasn't – even if she tried to position it as like a networking thing,

she really just like – she was like, I think you're cute. I don't think so. I disagree. I think she would always slide into the DMs. Maybe she would respond to somebody sliding into hers, but I don't think she would I disagree. I think she would always slide into the DMs. Maybe she would respond to somebody sliding into hers, but I don't think she's sliding. That's not the question. I'm going to say she made the first move.

I'm just saying. I don't think she's done it. Okay, so I don't know the right answer for this. So the only person I kind of DMed was after I met Drew, I sent him a DM. We actually exchanged numbers the first time we met, but I did send a DM to him right after we met. Before he reached out to you.

Before he reached out to me. So does that count? like that counts i feel like that counts so whatever chris he's like i don't care whatever uh question number two has kelly ever fired a gun has kelly ever fired a gun? Yes. And not a BB gun. No, I have this dream of her in a state in France with Anna. Wearing couture. Shooting. Shooting ski. Yeah, I feel like Kelly's fired a gun. Sure, why not?

Definitely. Definitely. Yeah, shooting range. I have not shot a gun with Anna inna in paris in our couture in high heels would be magical that'd be fun right has kelly ever shopped at a thrift store 100 okay i mean wow sure ever i'm trying to think i've definitely been in a thrift store because i i like to find pieces that's like unique and vintage but i don't know if i bought anything from there but But you shop.

Yeah, I've definitely been inside one. Does Kelly own any sex toys? Yes. She just said Adam and Eve sent me a whole package. So I'm going to go with yes and good for her. I think every woman should have sex toys. I'm sorry. They should.

Like why? Why not? Don't apologize. What's that promo code for Adam and Eve? V-I-A-L-L. V-I-A-L-L. You guys should have the travel size. They should have the regular size.

Everyone should have. You can get Drew a flashlight. She doesn't need a flashlight. Maybe I'll calm them down. It's for men. Anytime Drew gets. I don't know what a flashlight is. It's a.

That's why. That's why she should get a. Yeah. So it's. Well, it's. It it's uh oh do you use a flashlight as a i don't get it it basically is supposed it's like getting a blow job right is it not yeah it's a flashlight so it's like you put your penis into the oh okay i've only heard the banana thing i've never heard a flashlight thing so anytime he gets a little worked up just hand him the he has me why doesn't he need a flashlight well if he's being really mean to you maybe you never had angry sex well sure not when they're screaming at me maybe make it more hot i don't know uh has kelly ever slept with a co-worker that you weren't married like if you worked with your

husband or you know it has to yeah that doesn't count um well she's the boss you know yeah no no i think i have when i was really young like when i was like good for my early 20s yeah good for you yeah okay has kelly ever Kelly ever Peter pants? I mean, what age range are we talking here? I think every, every person has as an adult, as an adult, as an adult,

like, is she laughing and peeing her pants? Does that count? Have I peed my pants as an adult? I don't think I, I think like I peed a little bit once when I was like laughing so hard. Yeah, no,

I like definitely had as a kid. I mean, for sure. I had a laughing pee. I'm going to say no. She looks too classy to pee her pants. I don't think class has anything to do with it. I'm going to say yes, just for fun. I have never peed in my pants. Not even with a good laugh. No, I don't know why.

Has Kelly ever shoplifted? Yes. No. Never shoplifted? Oh, yes. No, never shop to lift it. Never. No, never. Never. Never. Just buy it.

Why do the shoplift? What am I talking about? We're talking 168 million dollars over here. Nick, what is she shoplifting? That's what credit cards are for. Although, you know, there are those people that do like the gum that's right or the lipstick or whatever yeah it's just like it says like take one you're like i'll take three i'm too much of what i'm too much of what i don't think so i don't think i'll ever do it yeah does kelly

know the exact count of her instagram following hard for kelly because it's on the up on the up i'm gonna say yes yeah she knows i i don't know if it's true i think i was at within a thousand two hold on 22 yesterday 222 yeah 226 okay i was four so i guess not check back in a couple weeks hopefully after this show it will be doubled. Oh, it's going to more than double. Kelly, thank you so much for coming. Thank you so much.

It's been a ton of fun. Where can the people find you on all things social? I can only manage my Instagram, which is Kelly Mealy. Twitter and TikTok and all that stuff coming soon. You don't have any of those? I have the count, but I can't. It's too too much i can barely keep up with instagram barely if there were to be a season two of blink empire when do you think that might happen are we gonna have to wait like two like because you guys filmed this two years ago we filmed you know hopefully this year but it really

depends on covid just because you know i love these like big parties that we throw and, you know, with COVID, it's going to be really difficult. So hopefully COVID gets, you know, gets settled and we can shoot this year. Okay. Well, it's been lovely. Make sure to check out Kelly on Instagram. Check out Bling Empire now streaming on Netflix, Netflix, Netflix. Best of luck to you. Thank you so much.

Thanks, Nick. Thanks, Chrissy. I hope luck to you and Drew. Thank you so much. Thanks, Nick. Thanks, Chrissy. I hope he's turned the corner. I hope so. Yeah. I think he, I think, yeah. I think we're doing really good. Maybe next time we'll have him here so he can tell his version of the story.

Well, that would be something. Don't get Nick excited. We really appreciate it, Kelly. It's been a lot of fun and congratulations on all the success of Loveling Empire and can't wait to see more of it thank you thank you thank you guys so fun thanks so much guys for listening don't forget to send your

questions at asknick at castme.com cast with a K subscribe five stars all that fun stuff we will see you back on Monday