When Reality Hits with Jax and Brittany - “Life Is Different, But It’s So Beautiful”: Brittany on Cruz, Motherhood & Moving Forward

Episode Date: August 14, 2026

Brittany is back with a big life update and answers your questions! She opens up about Cruz starting kindergarten, the importance of early intervention, and the emotional journey of raising a child on the spectrum. Brittany also reflects on everything that's happened over the past few months, including the drama, her relationship with Lisa Vanderpump, and why she feels like she's entering a brand-new chapter of her life. Plus, she talks GLP-1s, her mommy makeover and body confidence, whether she'll ever write a tell-all book, her favorite skincare products, and the shows she's currently watchingPlease support the show by checking out our sponsors!Article: Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. To claim, visit ARTICLE.COM/REALITYHITS and the discount will be automatically applied at checkoutTempo: For a limited time, Tempo is offering my listeners 60% off your first box! Go to TempoMeals.com/REALITYHITSNutrafol: Nutrafol is offering our listeners $10 off your first month’s subscription and free shipping when you go to Nutrafol.com and enter the promo code REALITYHITSQuince: Go to Quince.com/realityhits for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns.Progressive: Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust ProgressiveApartments.com: Discover Your New Home at apartments.comCashApp: Download Cash App Today: https://click.cash.app/ui6m/lda6typ7 #CashAppPod Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App's bank partner(s). Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. Cash App Visa® Debit Flex Cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC, and The Bancorp Bank, N.A., pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. See terms and conditions for the Sutton prepaid card at cash.app/legal/us/en-us/card-agreement, for the Sutton debit flex card at cash.app/legal/us/en-us/debit-flex-card-agreement-sutton and for the Bancorp debit flex card at cash.app/legal/us/en-us/debit-flex-card-agreement-bancorp. Savings and Offers provided by Cash App, a Block Inc. brand. Offers may not be affiliated with third party merchants.Parents and legal guardians can open a managed account for kids 6-12.Cash App will pass through a portion of the interest paid on your savings balance held in an account for the benefit of Cash App customers at Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Member FDIC. To earn interest on your Cash App savings balance, you need to have sponsor approval. Exceptions may apply. Savings yield rate is subject to change. Visit cash.app/legal/podcast for full disclosures.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

and welcome back to another episode of When Reality Hits. I hope everyone had a fabulous week. I am just at home with Cruzey right now. So you might hear him jabberjoling in the background and playing. But we've had a great week. And so many people always write in and ask how Cruz is doing. He is doing amazing. He's mommy's little sidekick.

We're probably going to go. swimming after this. We swim almost every day whenever it's nice outside. So we've just been enjoying life in each other's company and he's about to start school soon. Kindergarten, I cannot believe it. Time flies. He's five years old starting actual kindergarten, no more preschool, anything like that. And it's wild. So I've got to just got to get used to the new schedule. He has to be there at 8 a.m. every morning and they don't even leave until 2.32. I feel like that is such a long day, but, you know, we all did it. We all went to school and we all did those same hours. It just seems wild for Cruz to go to school for that long. But, you know, got the IEP plan in progress and

he's going to have all the support and help that he needs. And of course, now that his schedules changed, I've also just changed his schedule with his occupational therapist and his speech therapist so that he is still going to have those as well. It'll just be after school and maybe sometimes on the weekend. So I just always make sure that Cruz is getting all the help that he needs and he is thriving and doing so good. He's such a happy little boy. And I'm so proud of him every single day. You guys, I always like to talk about early intervention. So if you have a child who you feel like might be showing different signs and different things like that, or, you know, regress in their speech like Cruz did, he was saying some words and then

started regressing in his speech around two. And we decided to be. put him in speech therapy before he was even diagnosed. So earlier intervention is key. There are ways in different funds and stuff that you can get from the state to help you with those things. It can be a process, but always try for earlier intervention, even if they don't get the diagnosis of autism or being on the spectrum or anything like that. Speech therapy and stuff like that is only going to help. They could be a late bloomer when it comes to talking and speech therapy would still help them. So I always encourage early interoper. prevention and we have a beautiful life so don't be scared of the diagnosis i know it is scary i know it's

not easy i know life may look different than what you had expected when you were pregnant but there are so many beautiful things and so many things that you get to enjoy and just see the beauty of everything through your kids eyes so if you are struggling or worried or anything get them checked out don't waste precious time that's all i will say earlier invention is so important. And we're so lucky to be moms. And Cruz is just maybe a stronger person and a better person and having more patience and just seeing all the beauty in life and everything. So we got this, Mama's. We got this. Um, I feel like I need a vacation ASAP though. There has been a lot going on in my life as everyone knows. And I feel like I'm going to do a vacation.

soon. Maybe I'll get to take crews like back home to Kentucky or something for a little bit before school starts or, because it's starting next week, or, you know, just take him for a weekend. I was just in Vegas and we were, we went and saw the Backstreet Boys at the Sphere. It was my first time going to the Sphere and it is awesome. If you don't know what that is, it's this like big, huge ball of a building in Las Vegas and you're sitting in these seats and it's like concerts are performed there. Shows are performed there. Movies are played there and everything.

And the seats shake, stuff like falls from the ceiling, like snow and different stuff. And we went and saw Backstreet Boys. Actually, Paramount and Paul Patrol movie flew me and Janet out for like a mom's night out. So shout out to Paramount in the Paul Patrol movie. I hope everyone's going to see that. I'm definitely going to take cruise. But Backstreet Boys had a new song in the Paul Patrol movie.

So Paramount flew me out, got me an awesome room in the Venetian. So it was so much fun. We got to go backstage and meet the Backstreet Boys, which is awesome. It was actually my second time meeting them. I went and saw them whenever they were performing at Planet Hollywood. I think it was in like 2017. So I went backstage, hung out with them, you know, had some drinks with them at the time. This was almost 10 years ago. And I'll never for forget we were leaving the concert like towards the end we wanted to get out before everybody was leaving so we were leaving the concert towards the end and I was wearing these like thigh high high heel boots and everyone is sitting down at this time so I'm walking up the aisle and I fell in front of everyone I was mortified because you know if somebody falls in the middle while everybody's sitting down in the middle lane directly to the stage I'm sure so many people saw that I was so embarrassed but I just laughed it off my ankle twisted and like the nurse or the first aid person from the hotel had to come up to my room and make sure I

didn't like twist my ankle or break my ankle. I ended up being fine. It was just bruised for a couple days. But that was my first experience meeting the Backstreet Boys, which they were so nice then and they were so nice this time. We love, we probably talked the most to A.J. and Brian. AJ has a common friend with Janet, so they had sent A.J. a photo. Like, they're going to see you. Make sure you're nice to them, blah, blah, which I'm sure. they'd be nice anyway but a j was just so cool and so just awesome to talk to and then brian who was a fellow kentuckian he grew up in lexington kentucky i'm from winchester kentucky and if you know anything about kentucky they are next door neighbors they are connected it just takes like

30 minutes to get to lexington 45 depending on where you're how far out in the country you are um so i asked him where he went to school all that stuff he knew about ek u where i went to college so it was just cool talking to him and then talking to him and then talking to Nick and Howie, Kevin. It was just such a fun experience. And that was Janet's first time getting to meet them. And she was just cracking me up because she was so nervous. She was so excited.

I was so excited, even though I've met them before. I mean, that was once 10 years ago. And Backstreet Boys are iconic. So getting to meet them was so fun. And Janet was so nervous. So every time a new Backstreet Boy would come up to us to talk to us, she would tell them all the same story. she would be like, wherever I was in the fourth grade, I got kicked out of your concert.

And I heard her tell it to every Backstreet boy. And it cracked me up. She got kicked out because her and her mom went when she was younger. And they tried to like sneak up and get bigger seats, you know, like everybody does. And they ended up getting kicked out of the entire concert. And she's still so upset about that. But it was just funny watching that. And we were up there with a bunch of other mom influencers that Paul Patrol movie also sent out there.

And we had like a wonderful dinner at Cheap. They had, it was delicious. I'd never been there before. The food was great. And we just had a really fun night. And then afterwards, we did a little bit of gambling. I'm not a gambler. Nobody get worried about that.

The only time I ever gamble whatsoever is if I'm in Vegas and it's very little. I do like the Will of Fortune slot machines. And I like the roulette tables putting, I always do like Cruz's birthday, my birthday, and then some lucky numbers. Like I like eight and 13. I know 13 is not normally a lucky number, but I've always liked it. seven. So I always play those numbers and we were all hitting pretty good and my best friend Kara who was on last week's podcast. We came back from doing Watch It Happens Live and we both flew into

Vegas and then I went straight to the sphere and then me, Jana and Kara all hung out all night long and we just had such a good time and it was so good to just get away and relax because moms need you know, time for themselves too and going through as much as I've been through lately it was just really nice to have some girl time and it was much needed for all of us. So Vegas was a hoot. New York was awesome. I know I haven't came back on since Tom was on the podcast to talk about throwing out the first pitch at the Athletics A's game. It actually went good. I didn't stand all the way on the pitching mound. I was a little bit in front of it, but I threw the ball and made it to home plate. So I was happy about that. I still haven't seen a video of that.

So I'm going to have to ask if anybody has a video of that so I can post it. but the ball made it. So I was very happy and very proud. Got to meet some of the wags, the wife and the girlfriends, and just some really cool people that worked for the athletics. And it was a great time. We got to meet so many fans and just hear a bunch of stories. I had so many people come up to me talking about, you know, sharing my journey with Cruz's autism and stuff. And I love hearing those stories. I love hearing what people have been through, what's helped them. It really means a lot to me. So if you came and met us at the end, A's game. I love you. I appreciate you and thank you guys so much. Me and Tom had a great time.

And then Keanu ended up coming and meeting us on the second night that they were there. So me, Tom, and Keanu went out and had some fun. And around the town, we were in Sacramento. And it was, we just had a really good time, a really, really good time. I love Keanu. She's great for Tom. I know a lot of people were like, oh, she's younger, she's this, but they, they fit together so well, and they're so in love, and she's so chill. And we just had the best time hanging out. So I've got to do a lot of really fun things recently. So even though life has been a roller coaster, that's what I always like to focus on is the positive stuff. Cruz is doing amazing.

I got to do Watch Huffins Live and be in New York City with my best friend from home over 30 years. I got to throw the first pitch at a major league baseball game. I never in a million years thought that I would get to do something like that. Little Brittany, who used to play softball on the Phillies, you know, never could have imagined that I was doing that. My nickname, actually, because, you know, whenever you're playing softball, everybody has nickname. My nickname was pop up because the coach would throw pop-up balls and you would have to catch them, like it was going to be a hit to the outfield or something like that. And they always laughed about how country I said pop-up.

So pop-up was my nickname whenever I was playing softball on the Phillies. Oh, the memories. That was such a fun time. We would, like, do those chants from the infield, like, I see some holes out there. I see some holes out there. I see some H-O-L-E-S holes out there. So hit the ball out there. Those were good times.

A lot of my best friends were on the team, the same team as me, or opposing teams, and we would go hang out afterwards. Those were the days, like elementary school. into middle school and then I just did cheerleading after that but yeah I just you know got to do a lot of fun stuff you guys know that I love home decor it's one of my favorite things decorating and switching things up around my house and everything and I recently got so many amazing beautiful things from article I got this adorable black iron bar cart for outside for the pool area for whenever I have pool parties and things like that. And it kind of, it really matches my modern farmhouse look.

I got this beautiful big black mirror to look at all my outfit of the days and things like that. I got some throw pillows. They have amazing stuff. The quality is awesome. Everything comes in pretty much all the way assembled. You just have to do a couple little things. Customer service was great. I love Article. You guys have got to check them out. Article offers a curated range of men's century modern, coastal and Scandian-inspired pieces. that not only shine on their own but also pair seamlessly with nearly any other article product. This thoughtful design approach makes it incredibly easy to mix and match, helping you create a space that feels cohesive and stylish.

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If you don't know what the Grove is, it's in Los Angeles. It's this beautiful outdoor shopping center. It has a huge movie theater, all kinds of restaurants, all kinds of shopping center. It has like a farmer's market, a bunch of local stores and everything like that. It has like Gucci and different stuff. I bought a shirt from Gucci. you know can't help myself i got a shopping problem sometimes um and zach did a little bit of shopping too me and zach are such good shopping buddies because we are both the same kind of shopper we go in a

store and we just like scan around with our eyes and if we don't see something we're like okay done and we go into the next door that is awesome i'm not the type of person who sits there and like looks through every single piece of clothing because especially whenever you go to a mall They're all in groups, you know, so it's easy to see, like, if you're going to like something, I will look through a little bit, but I cannot stand whenever you go shopping with someone who takes forever. So me and Zach are, like, the perfect shopping buddies. And he is a 6-4 man, so he's never going to want to buy the same thing as me.

I've ran into that problem where you go out shopping with your girlfriends and you both want the same thing and you're like, who's going to get it, who's going to get it? Or you both get it or you get it in a different color. And it's just like, oh, man, that's annoying. because you don't want to wear the same stuff as your friends, of course. But Zach and I are the perfect shopping buddies. And another thing I love about the Grove, if you guys don't know this, when you pull into valet, they will give you an option to detail your car.

So they detailed it inside and out. It looked like a brand new car whenever I picked it up, smelled amazing, was shiny and new. And that's one of my favorite things about going to the Grove. I could go to the Grove, get my car professionally detailed to where it looks incredible because we all know kids in the back in their car seat there are little cereal crumbles little french fries or whatever is all over the back seat so they cleaned the car seat they clean the seat they clean the floorboards they did everything everything shiny and new one of my favorite

parts about going to the grove because i go in and we get to eat dinner or lunch do a little shopping come back out and you feel like you were productive for the day because you got your car detail at the same time. So if you don't know about the detailing service at the Grove, you should check them out because I'm telling you, they do an awesome job. We ate at Nordstrom. So at the top of Nordstrom at the grove, there is a bar at the top called Bar Verde, and they have amazing food. A lot of people don't even know that restaurant's up there. As a cute little patio that overlooks the Grove, and you can see a little trolley going by and all that stuff. And they have really good food. Like I think we shared like a hot honey chicken sandwich like a biscuits and butter, just like a

salad, really good stuff. So yeah, it's been a really, really, really great couple of weeks. And I know a lot of people are asking how I'm doing. I'm doing great. I am doing so good. I'm feeling positive. I'm feeling like a new chapter in my life has started. And I am just so excited to see where life takes me. I'm in such a happy, positive place, and I'm never going to let anything get me down again. So I can't wait. Hopefully, knock on wood, we get season four, and I just feel like I'm going to be so much happier and feeling refreshed and renewed. And I hope I get to show that. So fingers crossed. All right, I asked some of you guys to write in with some questions on my Instagram at Brittany. So I'm going to answer a few of those. Thank you guys for writing

in. It means a lot whenever you all do that. Cruzy. You want to say hi? Hey. Say hi. Say hi. He just grabbed it and smushed up against his face. I think he likes the way the little puffy ball and the microphone feels. This is from Karina Megatron.

Your skin is flawless. What's the routine? Well, thank you. I love comments like this. Right now, my favorite, Because I like skin care that has like the beads in it, like the exfoliating beads. And right now I love finty. It's like a purple bottle.

I think it's cherry scented. It smells so good. And it is just amazing. It's upstairs in my shower right now, so I can't think of the actual name. But if you look at Fenty, Rihanna's Fenty, her skin care, it's a purple bottle. And I think it's like cherry balm or something like that. It is such a great exfoliant. And I love Charlotte.

I love Charlotte Tilbury's magic face cream. I put that on. It's like their skincare lotion, and they have an awesome glow toner. That is amazing. I have their eye serum, too, so Charlotte Tilbury's got some really great skin care. And, of course, with this crazy heat wave that's going on everywhere, you have to make sure you're putting on your sunscreen, save you from the wrinkles. Botox says that too, but also to make sure your skin is healthy and glowing. and I really love finty skin, hydravisor hues.

It's a tended moisturizer, broad spectrum mineral SBF 30 sunscreen. So I always put that on as well. And I use a bunch of different, you know, serums and sprays and stuff like that, just testing them all out. But those are some of my favorite right now. But if you're looking for a great face wash that does the exfoliating all that, I'm telling you got to try out the finty skin. This is from Disney's magical family.

Oh, I like that name. We are moving to California from Florida. Is Valley Village a great place for a family walks, doctors? I think the Valley Village is wonderful for family. Not only can you get more space than you can. You're also still close to everything. You can get to Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, you know, any of that stuff, very fast. I can get to the Hollywood Walk of Fame in like 14 minutes, you know.

So depending on traffic, you can get anywhere very fast. There's amazing doctors, amazing schools. public and private, you know, very high-ranked schools around here. So it is a great place. Walks. There's people walking all the time every day. There are always dogs and people outside. There are so many hidden gyms around the valley, different play places for the kids, different restaurants that are amazing, parks and, you know, hiking places and just all kinds of different stuff. The valley actually has a lot of wonderful places. So I would definitely consider moving to the Valley. This is from Hemingway, Hazel, and it cut off the last part. I'm so sorry.

What show are you binging right now? I actually started rewatching once upon a time. I love this show. I've probably watched it three times before, but it's been a couple years. So rewatching it again is almost like watching it new. I kind of know what's going to happen, of course, but it's just such a good story. So it's a scripted show. But once upon a time, it's a fantasy TV show. cool because if you haven't watched it before, it's actually about like all of your favorite fairy tale characters like Snow White Prince Charming, the Evil Queen, you got Cinderella, you got, I mean, you got every single character, you know, Little Red Riding Hood, Robin, you got everybody. And what happens is the Evil Queen puts a spill to where everyone moves into the real world

and they don't know who they are. And over time, they start finding out who they are and just like how they tie in all the stories like rumple still skins one of my favorite characters his acting is so good the evil queen's acting is so good um but rumple still skin is awesome because not only is he rumple skilson who does like the deals and all that stuff they tie it into where he's like the beast for beauty and the beast with bell and the way they tie in all these stories and stuff is just incredible and um i don't know i love fantasy shows and things like that so and it's a great one to watch and get my mind off of stuff and it's not reality TV so I don't have to feel anxiety from it or anything like that. So if you're looking for something like that that's lighthearted and just a good show once upon

a time, I would recommend. This is from Steph Stab. What did Kristen mean on the reunion when she said, look at Britt's hands. Love you, girl. Love you, too. I actually haven't watched part two of the reunion yet, but I did live it. So I'm assuming if she's saying, watch, look at Britney's hands, she's probably talking about because whenever I am anxious or have anxiety, I, like, click my nails and, like, rub my fingers together.

I was anxious the entire reunion and had a lot of anxiety the entire reunion. So I'm sure that's what she was talking about because I was probably, like, fidgeting with my fingers. I do that a lot whenever I'm nervous and anxious. This is from M. Salique, not a question, but you looked amazing on Watcher Home's Live. Thank you. That was one of my favorite looks that I have had yet. And believe it or not, that dress is the same designer of my reunion dress that everybody hated. But they have amazing stuff on their site.

Both of them were from Dodona Avd-U, D-O-D-O-N-A-A-V-D-I-U-A-A-V-D-I-U-A. And they have such beautiful, gorgeous dresses. So my watchtrapins live dress and my reunion dress were both from there. I know a lot of people don't love my reunion dress. I still think it's a beautiful dress. I wish I would have lost more weight before I wore that reunion dress because looking back, I'm like, eh, wasn't the best choice. I think that myself.

I'm in on the joke, guys. It's fine. You got one more episode of me wearing it. I'll do better next year, I swear. I've definitely had to learn about saving money the hard way over my life. I was a bartender for a long time. I always kept cash. I didn't even have really debit cards and credit cards until I got to L.A.

That's how different it was. I was just keeping cash, paying everything for cash, bills for cash. I mean, it was wild. Cash App now offers managed accounts for kids ages 6 to 12 that grow with them all the way to adulthood, all with no subscription fees because building money habits shouldn't cost extra. The account runs through you so you're not just watching from the sidelines. You're actually in it with them. That makes it a real teaching tool.

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cash app visa debit flex cards issued by Sutton Bank member FDIC and the Bank Bank, NA, pursuant to a license from Visa USA Incorporated. See terms and conditions for the Sutton prepaid card, Sutton Debit Flex card, and Bank Court debit flex card savings and offers provided by Cash app, a Blancke brand, parents and legal guardians can open a manage account for kids 6 to 12. Visit cash.app slash legal slash podcast for full disclosures. One of the most stressful questions after a busy day is, what am I going to have for dinner? And that's when I end up spending 20 minutes deciding where to order takeout, only to wait another 45 minutes for it to show up.

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and even GLP-1 smart meals. Amazing. It's convenient. It's convenient. but also flexible enough to fit the way you want to eat. For a limited time, Tempo is offering my listeners 60% off your first box. Go to Tempomills.com slash reality hits. That's TempoMills.com slash reality hits for 60% off your first box. Tempomills.com slash reality hits. Rules and restrictions may apply. But they do have amazing stuff. And as you saw from the Watcher Happens Live dress.

And I have two other dresses from there too that I hopefully. I'll get to wear to like a carpet or something soon. But I was hoping I would lose more weight because I did buy that dress like three months before the reunion. And I started taking my JLP one shots. Shout out joined Fridays. And I have lost so much weight since then. I mean, even since the reunion, I'm down like 15 pounds.

So if I was to wear that dress now, I think people would feel different about it than when I wore it on the reunion. But I still felt pretty that day. I really did. But watching it back, I agree. It wasn't my best, my best choice. but it is a beautiful dress. Look at it on the site that I just told you guys.

Like, it is such a gorgeous dress. And it has made so well, high quality, very expensive. I did feel good, though. I did feel good. But I am going to elevate in everything next year. I mean, I've talked about this a lot, but I struggled getting ready, you know, with my weight fluctuating for so long. It would make me so late to everything because I would put something on, hate it,

and just like all these body image issues that I had for, from everything that I went through in my past, like, it was just so hard to get dressed. So it was, like, kind of last minute throwing stuff on. I'm going to be so much more dedicated to my style next year. So I can't wait for you guys to see how elevated I'm going to look because I'm feeling good. I'm feeling like a boss bitch. And I'm excited. Knock on, what do we have another season?

Ashley Lone Star, how are you doing now that everything is out and you've spoken your truth? I feel like a breath of fresh air has lifted. I'm glad I took my time to speak on it so I didn't talk out of anger and hurt. And I spoke the truth. I spoke facts. I have receipts. Everything I said was true. So I feel good.

And now I am going to move on and move upward and forward. Like there is no going back. I feel great. I know I'm better and deserve better. So I am just enjoying life. And honestly, I feel better than ever. So this like kind of jumped, jump started me into a new better version of myself. And I'm really damn proud of that.

This is from I am Lindsay W. Did LVP reach out to you amidst all this drama? No, Lisa Vanderpump has not reached out to me ever. She didn't reach out to me through Cruz's diagnosis, my divorce, my separation. This drama, I have not heard. from her at all. I did see her at, you know, bravo going for a minute. I still respect her, love her, so grateful for my time on VaynerPump Rules. And she was great to me. She really was, but I have not heard from her. But I always wish her the best. And, you know, whenever I see her,

we always hug and want nothing but the best for each other. But I haven't spoken to her in a very long time, like, privately. And that makes me sad because I do miss her. And, you know, it was a big part of my life for a very long time. But I want nothing but the best for them. this is from just one mahi what was your first thought when you found out cruise is on the spectrum i love your content thank you so much um i was kind of prepared that we were going to get the autism diagnosis um as i had spoken about earlier i started early intervention so i had him in speech therapy and stuff and while they can't diagnose him because they aren't that type of doctor they're in their therapist um she you know kind of warned me that she thought that he would be

on the spectrum and I thought so too you know he regressed stopped talking completely he wasn't making good eye contact he was starting to stem he was walking on his tippy toes there was just a lot of things that he started doing and looking into everything and being a mama bear and Googling and educating myself I knew that those were the signs he was lining all of his toys up in perfect order and just doing a lot of the things that they said were signs so I was kind of prepared that he was going to have that diagnosis. Again, you know, it does, it is still a shock, I will say, but I was a little bit more prepared than maybe the average person would be. And that's why I like to talk about earlier intervention and just prepare yourself and everything. I think that this poem, I posted a

video of Cruz, and it was just a bunch of photos of him. And the poem is called, Welcome to Holland, written by Emily Kingsley, who was also a Sesame Street writer. And she was talking about her daughter that had special needs. And I just thought it resonated so much with me. I will read that poem to you guys. And maybe it can help someone because, yes, you know, life might look different, but there are so many beautiful things about this life. And that's why this poem really resonated with me.

Okay. Welcome to Holland by Emily Pearl Kingsley. I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this. When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy.

You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans, the Coliseum, the Michelangelo David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting. After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The flight attendant comes in and says, Welcome to Holland. Holland, you say? What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy. I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy. But there's a lot. But there's a been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place full of pestilence,

famine, and disease. It's just a different place. So you must go out and buy new guidebooks and you must learn a whole new language and you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower placed. It's slower pace than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been, you've been, you've been, you've been, you've been, been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say, yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had

planned. And the pain of that will never, ever, ever go away. Because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss. But if you spend your life mourning, the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland. And I just think that that, oh, God, I get chill bumps. I cry so many times whenever I read that. I can't believe I didn't cry just now. But I think why it hit me so much is because, yeah, whenever you're pregnant, you have all these thoughts and dreams and plans and everything. And life is different. And that could be scary, but it is so beautiful. And I wouldn't change anything about my son. I, you know, I am learning from him. He makes me a better person. And now I get to see the world through his eyes, you know, where he's so

happy and so excited and doesn't care what people think. And it's just a beautiful thing. Doesn't mean it's easy. There's a lot of hardships. I know some people have it much harder than others. And I praise you and I look up to you so, so much. And I just think that that poem is incredible because it really really makes people maybe understand a little bit more, you know, because all of your friends, you know, I had Cruz the same time that, you know, Saucy, Sheena, and La La La had their kids. So they were very heavily compared. And Cruz ended up having autism. So not that my friends are bragging, but you do see, like, they're in gymnastics. They're doing sports. They're doing this and that. And I'm so happy for them. But we don't

always get to do those same things. Yes, I will put Cruz in sports. He did do soccer. And I will never put a limit on what he can do. But it just hits home for me because, you know, life is a little bit different. But it's so, so beautiful. This is from Andrea Harst. Will you ever spill all the tea and write a book? I get asked, cruzies excited. I get asked that question a lot and I mean maybe eventually I would obviously wait until my time with bravo or reality TV was done not that I would hate on anything because I love Bravo I love my life I love everything but I don't ever want to step on toes or ruin storylines or anything like that and get in trouble or get in trouble like I have heard some other people have so I think if I was to do it it would be

down the road and all my friends that have done have written books they've all done amazing I'm so proud of them. Bestsellers, like they've all knocked it out of the park. So maybe one day, but I've got a lot of behind the scenes just about my own life that I would be spilling. You know what I mean? This is from Jessica 814. Are you having any side effects from a GLP1? You look amazing, by the way. Thank you so much. I am doing great on my GLP 1. It is really helping me curb that, you know, that food noise and everything. I have lost so much weight on it. I, you know, I had my mommy makeover back in. October. So that's been a long time ago. And my mommaker was the best decision I ever made. I want to

make it clear. Like my mommy makeover, I had really saggy skin at the bottom of my stomach and a lot of stretch marks, which are beautiful. I'm not saying everyone should do a mommy maker. It's whatever you want to do to make you feel confident in your own skin because I think all women's bodies are beautiful. But for me and my confidence and after everything I've been through, I really wanted to do that. And I also had diastasis recti where my abs split. And no matter how much weight I lost, how much I worked out, because you guys have seen me, I have lost a lot of weight. I have worked out, which I am working out and eating healthy now, by the way, as well as

the gLP ones. I want to make that clear. But you guys have seen me fluctuated. And even at my skiniest, I still had that loose skin and the stretch marks. That stuff doesn't go away with all the serums and everything like that. So my mommy makeover was to get rid of that. And he literally lifted all my skin back. put my abs back in place and sewed everything back together. So I had full abdominal reconstruction

as well as my tummy tuck and everything. So that was amazing for me and really helped me. If you've been listening to my podcast for a while or following me on social media, you know that I love Nutrafol. Nutrafol is amazing. After having Cruz, I definitely had some of that postpartum shedding and Nutrafol helped me. Whenever I have a good hair day, I feel my absolute best. and that's why I have been ride or die with Nutrapole for a long time now. Summer is a season of ponytail, messy buns, and braids. When it's hot outside, I need my hair off my neck because it's so long. I used to feel self-conscious about how my hair looked in these styles,

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And then on top of that months later, I also wanted to lose weight. So my mommy makeover was to get my booze replaced, get them smaller. It had been 10 years since I had that done. They are smaller, contrary to what people believe. They are smaller. And I had a full abdominal reconstruction, and I had that tummy tuck to get rid of that skin and everything. And that was so amazing.

And it motivated me to eat healthy, get in the gym, lose weight. So a couple months ago, I started. the glp ones and it just has helped me so much because i am a stress eater i am a nighttime eater and it's just really helped calm the noise and now i just have to focus on eating healthy getting the protein and things like that that i need i also take um n-d shots which are really really good for you um if you don't know what n-d is um i will let you guys know uh so nad is a co-enzyme that plays a row in cellular metabolism, DNA repair, and anti-aging processes. So it helps with a lot of different stuff, like making your skin better, your hair, all that stuff. You feel more energized. You just feel

good from the inside out. So I'm taking that as well. And I just feel very good. I feel like I'm definitely getting my confidence back. And I know I've been talking about that for a long time, but it's been a journey for me. It hasn't been easy to get my confidence back. And I finally am, and I'm feeling really good and really positive. Um, this is from Sierra Frank T.P. What's your go-to perfume? Um, I love Burberry's, um, Burberry's goddess. It's a gold bottle. Well, it's a clear bottle, but it's got a gold lid and a gold emblem on the front. It smells so good. And you guys are going to crack up at me, but all my friends and people who are close to me know this. My favorite body spray, because I love vanilla sense and stuff like that is vanilla B. Noel from Bath and Body Works. So I spray vanilla B. Noelle. on me and then I put the um berberi goddess on and that combination is amazing I get told all the time that I smell good like anywhere I go people are like you smell so good you smell so good and my other favorite is Gucci vanilla I think it's called Frong I can't you guys know I can't speak in

French so um let me let me look up how it's actually Gucci Vanella F-I-R-E-N-Z-E. F-I-R-E-N-Z-E. Gucci. It's expensive. It's over $400 for the big bottle, but it smells so good. Like, I'm obsessed. So those are my top three.

You guys are... Everybody... I'm a Bath & Body Works, Girlie. My whole pantry has a whole section just of Bath and Body Works candles. My favorite Bath and Body Work candle scent of all time is pumpkin-bacon waffles. They are on sale now at Bath & Body Works.

This is not an ad. I, anytime there's a cell or anything, I'm texting my friends. I'm texting, you know, people being like, hey, bath the bodywork sale, get your candles. My house always smells good. Everybody comes in. They're like, wow, your house smells so good. Bath and Bodywork candles, I swear, they just put off more scent than average candles. And pumpkin pucon waffles, my best, the best.

Golly, I need to try to get me a brand deal with Both the Body Works because I love them so much. Always have. I'm kind of a nostalgic girly, so I like to keep things the same whenever I can. I'm going to answer one more question before I go. This is a funny one. This is from Ashley Dorland. Do you self-tan or beds? So me and Cruz are outside swimming and playing outside every single day.

So a lot of my tan, and I love being tan, right? You feel skinny. You feel cute. You feel like everything looks better on you. Your makeup, your skin, your clothes. You just feel skinnier and cuter. So I love having a tan. but me and Cruz are outside playing a lot and then I do like to do the spray tans every now and then

like if I know certain offenders coming up like I was super dark at the reunion made a little too dark but I do do spray tans and stuff sometimes but back in the day y'all before we knew how bad taining beds were your girl was definitely in the taining bed my mom actually owned a taining salon whenever I was growing up called tropicana tanning and day's fall where she had a bunch of taining salon she sold swimsuits she did massages in the back the body spray um different stuff like stuff like you like treatment. So I grew up with my mom owning a business like that. And I, um, you know, we would tan, but I also worked the front desk. It was such a good time. My friends all came over thought I was so cool because we owned a tanning salon in Little Winchester. That was such a great time.

But now, of course, we know that tanning beds aren't great for you, but red light beds are great for you. So you can still do those. But I do like how I look with a natural tan better than a spray tan. So, but I do love being tan. So that's my little, my little, my little, uh, Tips, I guess. Oh, also, because we've been talking about a couple different products that I love. So I, everyone loves a good setting spray. And one size has on, they're on till dawn. They have a caramel glow. So it's a setting spray, but also still has a caramel growth. So it can give you like a little bit of a tan and a little, you know, shimmer as well. So if you guys are looking for something like that, the regular waterproof setting spray is amazing. I have that as well. and then it's called one size OS, their caramel glow is also really great.

All right. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of When Reality Hits. We will be back next week. I've got two awesome guests coming on. I can't wait to talk to them and get all the gossip. I love y'all. Thanks for tuning in. I hope everyone tries to stay positive and never be an Instagram troll.

Love y'all. Bye.