Latest / I Choose Me with Jennie Garth / Giada De Laurentiis Reveals the Shocking Thing that Happened to Her While Dancing
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: You're listening to I Choose Me with Jenny Girl. Welcome
- 0:09Speaker 1: to I Choose Me. Emmy-winning Food Network star, best-selling cookbook author,
- 0:13Speaker 1: and restaurant owner Giada De Laurentiis can now add Dancing
- 0:19Speaker 1: with the Stars alum to her resume. I'm so excited
- 0:22Speaker 1: that Giada is sitting next to me. I'm excited that
- 0:25Speaker 1: you are here because I watched you on Dancing with
- 0:29Speaker 1: the Stars and.
- 0:31Speaker 2: I've been a fan of yours for ages. Well, that's
- 0:35Speaker 2: funny because I grew up with you. So there you go.
- 0:39Speaker 1: We've known each other a long time.
- 0:41Speaker 2: I feel like, you know, we've grown up together.
- 0:43Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 0:44Speaker 2: Yes, we have, of course, on 90210. Who didn't watch
- 0:47Speaker 2: that show?
- 0:47Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.
- 0:48Speaker 2: That's like from my era.
- 0:49Speaker 1: And you always make things that I could never make,
- 0:52Speaker 1: like cooking-wise. I always looked up to you like, wow,
- 0:56Speaker 1: she's good. Do you not cook?
- 0:57Speaker 2: I do cook. Okay, well then.
- 0:59Speaker 1: I can probably, if I really put my mind to it,
- 1:01Speaker 1: but you just make it look so easy.
- 1:03Speaker 2: That's my job. You make acting look so easy. It's
- 1:07Speaker 2: our job. Thank goodness. We can do our job.
- 1:09Speaker 1: Yay! Oh, thank goodness.
- 1:10Speaker 2: Yay us.
- 1:11Speaker 1: We're good at something. You, really though, I've talked about
- 1:15Speaker 1: this before. This is my first season back with Dancing
- 1:19Speaker 1: with the Stars as a viewer.
- 1:22Speaker 2: Okay.
- 1:22Speaker 1: I haven't watched it since I was on it.
- 1:25Speaker 2: Because... It was scarring or something? Yeah. Because I heard
- 1:30Speaker 2: Zendaya say that.
- 1:32Speaker 1: PTSD.
- 1:33Speaker 2: Yeah, that one.
- 1:34Speaker 1: PTSD.
- 1:35Speaker 2: Sorry. That click, click, click. Oh, man.
- 1:39Speaker 1: So I was like, no, turn that off for years.
- 1:42Speaker 1: And then I watched your season. And I was so
- 1:45Speaker 1: excited to see you.
- 1:46Speaker 2: I wonder.
- 1:47Speaker 1: It was just like an auto reaction. Like, I don't
- 1:50Speaker 1: want to revisit that stress level that I was under.
- 1:52Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 1:54Speaker 1: So I know all the things that you... have experienced
- 1:58Speaker 1: firsthand because I've been in your dance shoes.
- 2:02Speaker 2: Literally. Yeah.
- 2:03Speaker 1: It is quite the undertaking. Did you have any idea
- 2:07Speaker 1: when you started?
- 2:08Speaker 2: I knew that it would be taxing. I had spoken
- 2:15Speaker 2: to other people that I know that had done the
- 2:18Speaker 2: show and they all told me, listen, it's tough on
- 2:21Speaker 2: the body. At any age, it's tough on the body,
- 2:24Speaker 2: but it'll be even more tough because- You're older and,
- 2:29Speaker 2: you know, if you get hurt, you don't balance back
- 2:32Speaker 2: the same way and you need a lot of stamina.
- 2:34Speaker 2: But I don't think, I thought, well, I'm pretty fit.
- 2:36Speaker 2: I think it'll be okay. And I think you don't
- 2:39Speaker 2: realize until you do something like this in your mid-50s
- 2:44Speaker 2: that it actually is harder than you thought it was.
- 2:48Speaker 2: I hate to say that, but it was harder than
- 2:50Speaker 2: I thought it was. And on many different levels, I
- 2:53Speaker 2: actually think Physically, yeah, I broke my toe and yeah,
- 2:57Speaker 2: stuff happened. But actually mentally, it was hard. Like I
- 3:02Speaker 2: had a hard time grasping, learning.
- 3:07Speaker 1: Just the steps, remembering the steps alone. The steps, yes.
- 3:10Speaker 1: It's really, really difficult.
- 3:11Speaker 2: Yes, I found that very difficult. But I also had
- 3:15Speaker 2: zero dance background. Like I did not take ballet when
- 3:18Speaker 2: I was a kid. I mean, that used to be
- 3:20Speaker 2: what the show was about. Right.
- 3:22Speaker 1: People that aren't professional dancers coming in and learning how
- 3:25Speaker 1: to dance ballroom kind of change now. And every season,
- 3:29Speaker 1: it seems like there's some sort of professional dancer that's
- 3:31Speaker 1: slipped into the lineup, which hardly seems fair, I've got
- 3:36Speaker 1: to say. But it is just the way it is.
- 3:40Speaker 2: Yeah, I think.
- 3:42Speaker 2: You know, I personally didn't know who else was going
- 3:45Speaker 2: to be on the show until we were all on
- 3:48Speaker 2: the show. So I... I didn't know there were going
- 3:51Speaker 2: to be several professional dancers. I don't know that I
- 3:54Speaker 2: would have, I may have thought about it and maybe
- 3:57Speaker 2: not done it if I'd known. But at the same time,
- 4:00Speaker 2: you know, I feel like it brought me even closer
- 4:04Speaker 2: to my daughter and I didn't think that was possible.
- 4:07Speaker 2: And I think it taught me some things about myself,
- 4:09Speaker 2: things that I probably should work on. Right. And things
- 4:13Speaker 2: that I didn't think I could do that I did.
- 4:16Speaker 2: So I feel like in a way, you know, all
- 4:19Speaker 2: things happen for a reason. Was it difficult? Yeah, it
- 4:22Speaker 2: was hard because I had a hard time not allowing
- 4:26Speaker 2: myself to not be a perfectionist, which is something that
- 4:28Speaker 2: I obviously have to work on with myself.
- 4:33Speaker 1: In cooking, that works.
- 4:35Speaker 2: Well, because I've had 20 some, almost 25 years of experience.
- 4:39Speaker 2: Like that didn't happen overnight. No. It didn't. And I
- 4:43Speaker 2: had I think when we're younger, we give ourselves a
- 4:45Speaker 2: little bit more grace than maybe when we get older.
- 4:47Speaker 2: When we get older, we expect to be perfect.
- 4:49Speaker 1: And we put so much pressure on ourselves.
- 4:51Speaker 2: Yes. And more pressure as we get older, I think.
- 4:54Speaker 2: Especially us ladies. Yeah. We just do.
- 4:57Speaker 1: And then you have the weight of the world basically
- 4:59Speaker 1: on your shoulders. Everyone in the world is watching. And
- 5:02Speaker 1: it's live. You have to know every single step. If
- 5:07Speaker 1: you mess up, everybody knows. If you, you know, yeah,
- 5:11Speaker 1: you can ignore your mess up and keep going. But
- 5:13Speaker 1: those judges, they'll definitely see it. Yes. Yes.
- 5:17Speaker 2: And I think that my biggest note was always that
- 5:21Speaker 2: I was sort of fragile in my steps. Like I
- 5:25Speaker 2: wasn't letting go and feeling it. And maybe that was
- 5:30Speaker 2: maybe true. Maybe that was because my mind couldn't let
- 5:33Speaker 2: go because I knew where I was. And my mind
- 5:38Speaker 2: and my body were on different pages.
- 5:40Speaker 1: Yeah. Have you ever worked so hard at anything in
- 5:42Speaker 1: your life?
- 5:44Speaker 2: Over a period of time, I've, yes, on my craft
- 5:47Speaker 2: for sure, but not so intensively. Right. Like I think
- 5:50Speaker 2: I had almost four weeks to do the first dance
- 5:53Speaker 2: and four days to do the second. I mean, so
- 5:56Speaker 2: you see, that's maybe where I... No, but in your
- 6:00Speaker 2: second dance, I will say I could see your focus. Really?
- 6:05Speaker 1: You were so focused. I just could feel it. Like
- 6:09Speaker 1: you were really connected with your partner. What was his name?
- 6:12Speaker 2: Alan. Alan. And I could just feel how, and you
- 6:17Speaker 2: didn't make any mistakes that I saw. I don't know
- 6:21Speaker 2: that I made mistakes. I think that I, I was stiff.
- 6:27Speaker 2: I think that's probably what most people would say is that, yes,
- 6:30Speaker 2: I was doing the steps, but I wasn't fluid. Like
- 6:34Speaker 2: the salsa is a very sexual, sensual dance. And I
- 6:38Speaker 2: wasn't as, you know, letting go as if, Like I
- 6:41Speaker 2: should have had, and Guillermo and I would talk about this,
- 6:43Speaker 2: we should have had a couple shots of tequila because
- 6:45Speaker 2: maybe our bodies would just let go. That's what Alan's
- 6:49Speaker 2: note was. Let go and just go with it because
- 6:52Speaker 2: your body will do it. But your mind is like
- 6:56Speaker 2: holding you back. You got to throw your mind away.
- 6:58Speaker 2: I thought it meant more like get in the zone
- 7:02Speaker 2: like an athlete. Get in the zone.
- 7:03Speaker 1: You were in the zone.
- 7:04Speaker 2: I was in the zone, but I wasn't like. relaxed
- 7:07Speaker 2: in the zone. I was more, I'm in the zone.
- 7:11Speaker 2: Like grinding my teeth in the zone.
- 7:13Speaker 1: You know what I mean? No, but I have to
- 7:15Speaker 1: say when, you know, I know Carrie Ann only had
- 7:18Speaker 1: one word. She was, that was her one word turn
- 7:20Speaker 1: and her one word was shaky and I was screaming
- 7:23Speaker 1: at the TV.
- 7:25Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 7:25Speaker 1: Because I could see how that affected you. I've stood
- 7:28Speaker 1: in that spot where they're critiquing you and your mouth
- 7:31Speaker 1: is dry and From dancing and you're like.
- 7:33Speaker 2: So dry. I haven't had that kind of dry mouth
- 7:37Speaker 2: in probably 15 years. Yes. Yes. Yes.
- 7:42Speaker 1: It's so embarrassing because you're trying to fix that and
- 7:44Speaker 1: listen and you're exhausted out of breath. And you're like,
- 7:47Speaker 1: oh my God, now they're going to annihilate me. But
- 7:50Speaker 1: I really felt for you in that moment because I
- 7:52Speaker 1: could see that it affected you.
- 7:57Speaker 2: Well, first of all, my daughter was watching live.
- 7:59Speaker 1: She was in the audience.
- 8:00Speaker 2: She wasn't in the audience, but she was in New
- 8:02Speaker 2: York City. And she was live streaming on Instagram. Yeah,
- 8:07Speaker 2: because she couldn't be in the audience. She just started college.
- 8:10Speaker 2: And I think we both felt like to go for
- 8:13Speaker 2: a week, to come back, it just seems... It just
- 8:17Speaker 2: uproots her. And I was like, this journey is about
- 8:19Speaker 2: you right now. And then I have my own journey.
- 8:21Speaker 2: So I feel like... But then I did have family
- 8:23Speaker 2: in the audience as well. And it just... the thoughts
- 8:28Speaker 2: that go through your head are like, oh my God,
- 8:31Speaker 2: they're annihilating me. I can't speak. I don't even know
- 8:33Speaker 2: what to say. I don't even, you literally are, it's
- 8:38Speaker 2: a loss of words. And I usually don't get that.
- 8:40Speaker 1: Nobody prepares you for like, but can they, what do you, what,
- 8:43Speaker 1: what's a good comeback line to something? But can they,
- 8:47Speaker 1: I mean, they could have given you some, I mean,
- 8:49Speaker 1: they've been doing it for 35 years. You think they
- 8:51Speaker 1: have some notes?
- 8:52Speaker 2: But the question is, They don't know what the judges
- 8:56Speaker 2: might or might not say.
- 8:58Speaker 1: So how do you know? Tell me worst case scenario
- 9:00Speaker 1: what they're going to say. Let me have something I'm.
- 9:02Speaker 2: Coming back with. No, nobody preps you for that part.
- 9:05Speaker 2: They don't prep you for that. And I don't actually
- 9:08Speaker 2: know that they could prep you. Because you just put
- 9:12Speaker 2: it all out there. Yeah. It's a very raw moment,
- 9:15Speaker 2: I will say. You know, I tell people that I
- 9:19Speaker 2: sort of disassociate. Yeah.
- 9:21Speaker 1: Do you do that?
- 9:22Speaker 2: In the dance, too, even the first time, I sort of, like,
- 9:26Speaker 2: some of my family was like, how did it feel?
- 9:28Speaker 2: Do the kicks? And I'm like, I don't know, because
- 9:32Speaker 2: I don't think I was present. Like, I think that
- 9:35Speaker 2: my body was there and it was doing it. But
- 9:38Speaker 2: I think that my mind was elsewhere, even though if
- 9:40Speaker 2: you ask me where, I don't know where. I think
- 9:42Speaker 2: I literally, for a snap second, like, exit and come back.
- 9:46Speaker 1: It's like a blackout.
- 9:47Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. And then you come back immediately when it stops.
- 9:51Speaker 2: Like when you know it's over, it's almost like you reenter.
- 9:54Speaker 2: It's a really strange like feeling. I don't know that
- 9:59Speaker 2: I felt it.
- 10:00Speaker 1: Like that ever.
- 10:01Speaker 2: No. In any of my other live appearances.
- 10:04Speaker 1: Right. It's very different. Did you know I had to
- 10:06Speaker 1: get hypnotized?
- 10:08Speaker 2: To do what?
- 10:09Speaker 1: I had extreme stage fright.
- 10:11Speaker 2: Before the first or the first, second, third? You have
- 10:15Speaker 2: to get hypnotized before each time you went out?
- 10:19Speaker 1: Cause I was so terrified.
- 10:21Speaker 2: How old were you?
- 10:22Speaker 1: Oh, I just had a baby. I was 35, maybe 36.
- 10:26Speaker 1: Oh my God.
- 10:29Speaker 2: Yeah. And you got hypnotized before each one.
- 10:32Speaker 1: I don't even know if it worked. How long did
- 10:33Speaker 1: you last? I didn't feel any better ever, but I
- 10:37Speaker 1: told myself, oh, this will help. I was there until
- 10:40Speaker 1: the right, the last one before the, I don't even know.
- 10:43Speaker 2: Oh, so you went to the semifinals.
- 10:44Speaker 1: Third or fourth or something.
- 10:45Speaker 2: That's amazing.
- 10:46Speaker 1: I can't remember.
- 10:47Speaker 2: That's amazing. Yeah.
- 10:48Speaker 1: It was really hard. I know. I mean, but I
- 10:52Speaker 1: really was more curious about you talking about like the
- 10:55Speaker 1: peeling back of the layers.
- 10:57Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. So I think, well, I think also those
- 11:01Speaker 2: pros or their side hustle is therapy. Like there are therapists,
- 11:06Speaker 2: I think, through it all. Because Alan would send me
- 11:09Speaker 2: all sorts of affirmation texts like, you're great. You're going
- 11:13Speaker 2: to make it. All of these uplifting, making me feel
- 11:19Speaker 2: better type of texts after long sessions of dance where
- 11:24Speaker 2: my brain was just like mush. I literally would leave thinking,
- 11:29Speaker 2: can I drive home now? I feel like I have
- 11:33Speaker 2: been through some really deep brain fog. That I can't
- 11:42Speaker 2: get out of. Like, can I even, is it safe
- 11:44Speaker 2: for me to get in the car right now?
- 11:45Speaker 1: It's all consuming.
- 11:47Speaker 2: Yeah, it is. And you can't think, which is kind
- 11:50Speaker 2: of cool in a way because you're all in. And
- 11:55Speaker 2: you're in the freaking present, which, you know, we all
- 11:58Speaker 2: talk about to live in the present.
- 12:00Speaker 1: You can't live it.
- 12:02Speaker 2: And that really makes you live in the present. It
- 12:05Speaker 2: really like forces you that you cannot think about anything else.
- 12:09Speaker 2: I thought that was pretty cool.
- 12:10Speaker 1: It was cool. I was in a different time because
- 12:13Speaker 1: you're in this magical space in your life, this era.
- 12:16Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I'm what, 25 years older?
- 12:18Speaker 1: You're an empty nester.
- 12:20Speaker 2: Yes.
- 12:20Speaker 1: This is all new for you.
- 12:22Speaker 2: Right. You had a baby at home. It's a totally
- 12:23Speaker 2: different time of life. And your body's in a different spot.
- 12:27Speaker 2: Like I'm in menopause and you were in the prime
- 12:31Speaker 2: of your life pretty much.
- 12:32Speaker 1: I was post, what's that called? I just had a
- 12:35Speaker 1: baby six months earlier. So my hormones were all over
- 12:38Speaker 1: the place still and it was a lot better. back
- 12:47Speaker 1: to your experience, because I also noticed that you said
- 12:51Speaker 1: you tend to go faster in the dance.
- 12:54Speaker 2: Yes. Yes. He was always saying, Alan was always like,
- 12:57Speaker 2: why are you going so fast? You're adding steps that
- 13:00Speaker 2: don't exist and you're going faster than the music. And
- 13:04Speaker 2: I kept thinking, do I just want it to be over?
- 13:07Speaker 2: Is that what's happening? Do I just want to get
- 13:09Speaker 2: to the end? So be like, I did it. Okay.
- 13:11Speaker 2: I'm done. Bye.
- 13:12Speaker 1: I don't know.
- 13:13Speaker 2: And he was like, no, I think that You try
- 13:16Speaker 2: to complicate things. I think you make things more complicated.
- 13:19Speaker 1: And how did that resonate with you?
- 13:21Speaker 2: I was like, at first I thought, I do? I
- 13:23Speaker 2: actually complicate things? And then I thought about it and
- 13:26Speaker 2: I day in and day out and I was like,
- 13:28Speaker 2: oh my God, I really am. Because by the time
- 13:31Speaker 2: I learned the first dance, the tango, I realized I
- 13:34Speaker 2: did overcomplicate this. This isn't as difficult now that I've
- 13:39Speaker 2: got it, now that I have the aha moment, than
- 13:42Speaker 2: I thought it was leading up to it. So... I
- 13:45Speaker 2: started thinking, oh my God, he's pointing out things about
- 13:48Speaker 2: myself that maybe other people have pointed out. I just
- 13:52Speaker 2: haven't been able to see them. But in this specific space,
- 13:56Speaker 2: I could see it.
- 13:57Speaker 1: Yeah, you're so raw in there and so vulnerable.
- 14:00Speaker 2: I think so. And I think I don't allow myself
- 14:03Speaker 2: to be that raw, vulnerable. And I think as we
- 14:06Speaker 2: get older, we try not to do that so much anymore.
- 14:09Speaker 2: We allow it when we're younger. It's almost expected society's
- 14:13Speaker 2: okay with it. As we get older, we start to
- 14:15Speaker 2: shut off, right? Because we've been hurt probably and we
- 14:18Speaker 2: don't want to re-experience or reopen those wounds. And it's
- 14:21Speaker 2: pretty comfy in our little space. Yeah.
- 14:24Speaker 1: We've also heard a lot of messaging about being too
- 14:26Speaker 1: emotional or reactionary or having too much, you know, spirit.
- 14:32Speaker 2: Correct. Exactly. Exactly.
- 14:34Speaker 1: And so we kind of bottle it up.
- 14:36Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 14:37Speaker 1: To protect ourselves or.
- 14:39Speaker 2: Yes. But I think that happens to a lot of
- 14:41Speaker 2: people as they age. Yeah.
- 14:43Speaker 1: I found that was interesting because then I thought, I
- 14:45Speaker 1: wonder if she realizes that she's doing that in other
- 14:47Speaker 1: areas of her life.
- 14:48Speaker 2: For sure.
- 14:49Speaker 1: Like racing through stuff and not really experiencing the moment.
- 14:54Speaker 2: A hundred percent.
- 14:55Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 14:56Speaker 2: And I've had many people tell me that. Just like
- 14:59Speaker 2: slow down. In life? In life in general. Oh, for sure. Absolutely.
- 15:03Speaker 1: Where do you think that comes from?
- 15:04Speaker 2: I don't know. I think that I feel like my
- 15:10Speaker 2: mind works in a forward motion. Like I'm always thinking
- 15:12Speaker 2: about the next step. Okay, what's the next step? Yeah.
- 15:15Speaker 2: And trying to stay ahead of the game. And I
- 15:20Speaker 2: don't know if that's just a product of... Because you've
- 15:23Speaker 2: worked your ass off your whole life. Like you've, you're self,
- 15:28Speaker 2: you're independent. You're, you know, you've done this on your own,
- 15:31Speaker 2: created this business, this professional life for yourself. Yeah. Different
- 15:35Speaker 2: than my family's business, for sure. Right. My family's in
- 15:38Speaker 2: the movie business, so completely separate. And I have built
- 15:40Speaker 2: something completely separate. And I think it's harder for women
- 15:45Speaker 2: to do that separate from, you know, from what their
- 15:49Speaker 2: family does. But I also think that I've always been
- 15:54Speaker 2: that person of like, if I can be one step ahead,
- 15:59Speaker 2: then I'll get the next job or I will do
- 16:04Speaker 2: better or I will... be able to function at a
- 16:10Speaker 2: higher level. Right? Like, and also I think, to be honest,
- 16:15Speaker 2: it's also, I think for women, we have to think
- 16:18Speaker 2: one step ahead. Like even in regular life. Yeah. You
- 16:22Speaker 2: go out at night or whatever, you're thinking ahead of like,
- 16:26Speaker 2: where am I going to park? Is it safe for
- 16:27Speaker 2: me to park over here? Or should I really just
- 16:30Speaker 2: spend the money in valet? Cause I'll be safer. Because
- 16:32Speaker 2: walking to my car at night by myself, who knows?
- 16:34Speaker 2: I may not be able to see what's behind the car.
- 16:36Speaker 1: We think it all through.
- 16:37Speaker 2: We try to think of all scenarios as a protective
- 16:40Speaker 2: mechanism because we are more vulnerable.
- 16:43Speaker 1: And also as moms, running someone out and raising a
- 16:47Speaker 1: baby from when you have to feed them or they
- 16:50Speaker 1: don't eat. And you have to plan for it. You
- 16:52Speaker 1: have to plan.
- 16:52Speaker 2: And I think I've been planning. I've had a career
- 16:55Speaker 2: and I've had a child to raise and I've had
- 16:57Speaker 2: to plan everything. Okay, who's going to pick up my
- 16:59Speaker 2: daughter if I can't pick her up because I'm working? Right.
- 17:02Speaker 2: How are we going to get from point A to
- 17:03Speaker 2: point B? What's for dinner? Because obviously it's my job
- 17:06Speaker 2: to make sure that the food is on the table.
- 17:08Speaker 2: Am I going to have, like, I have to have foresight,
- 17:11Speaker 2: I think. And I felt like in doing that, I've
- 17:13Speaker 2: been able to have success. So what happens when I
- 17:16Speaker 2: don't do that anymore?
- 17:17Speaker 1: What do you think? Are you going to not do that?
- 17:19Speaker 1: Are you going to slow yourself down?
- 17:20Speaker 2: I'm trying to not. I've been, since I got eliminated,
- 17:23Speaker 2: I've been trying to think of ways to stop doing that.
- 17:27Speaker 2: Even down to prepping a grocery list in advance. Like thinking, oh,
- 17:34Speaker 2: we're out of eggs. I might eat eggs in two
- 17:35Speaker 2: days to make something or bake something or whatever to
- 17:39Speaker 2: try to like hold myself from doing that and just
- 17:41Speaker 2: waiting till the moment comes.
- 17:42Speaker 1: Oh my God, that's so hard.
- 17:43Speaker 2: Oh, okay. So now I'm out of eggs. So what
- 17:47Speaker 2: do I do now? Do I go get them? Do
- 17:49Speaker 2: I wait? Do I postpone? I'm trying to do that.
- 17:53Speaker 2: I can tell you that this week has been very
- 17:55Speaker 2: difficult in doing that exercise.
- 17:58Speaker 1: Do you ever meditate? No.
- 18:02Speaker 2: No. I have tried to meditate.
- 18:06Speaker 1: Meditating is hard for me. Very hard when you are
- 18:09Speaker 1: a busy-minded person.
- 18:11Speaker 2: I will tell you that my meditation, or at least
- 18:14Speaker 2: this is what I tell myself, is cooking without having
- 18:16Speaker 2: to explain what I'm doing to anyone in the room. Okay.
- 18:19Speaker 2: So just mindlessly going through my own sort of routine
- 18:25Speaker 2: or ballet or whatever in the kitchen without having to
- 18:28Speaker 2: explain anything to anybody. No cameras, just me. Having said that,
- 18:33Speaker 2: I have been told that I probably should try to meditate,
- 18:35Speaker 2: to ground myself more. And Alan used to say this too,
- 18:39Speaker 2: like feel your feet on the ground. And I was like,
- 18:43Speaker 2: what the hell is he talking about?
- 18:44Speaker 1: My feet are on the ground.
- 18:45Speaker 2: Clearly they're on the ground.
- 18:46Speaker 1: I'm dancing.
- 18:47Speaker 2: And he's like, no, when you feel them on the ground,
- 18:50Speaker 2: the ground will help you elevate your feet. So it's
- 18:54Speaker 2: like this beautiful rhythmic sort of thing that happens that
- 18:59Speaker 2: you use it to lift you. Instead of always feeling
- 19:03Speaker 2: like you have to use your muscle to do it,
- 19:06Speaker 2: the ground will lift you. But you need to have
- 19:08Speaker 2: a relationship with the ground. And I was like, what
- 19:11Speaker 2: in the hell? But I did. By the end, by
- 19:15Speaker 2: the salsa, I did because I had to dance all
- 19:17Speaker 2: on my toes. And I was like, this is going
- 19:20Speaker 2: to be impossible in heels. But I did. And I
- 19:22Speaker 2: started to feel like I could feel my toes have
- 19:27Speaker 2: like this relationship with the ground. And it was helping
- 19:30Speaker 2: it to kind of bounce off. It was kind of crazy.
- 19:34Speaker 1: I go out every morning. I've learned so many things
- 19:36Speaker 1: by doing this podcast and other people's things that they
- 19:39Speaker 1: do to help themselves and the choices they make in
- 19:41Speaker 1: their lives. And one of the things I learned was
- 19:44Speaker 1: I go outside every morning with my bare feet and
- 19:46Speaker 1: stand in the grass and I look into the sun.
- 19:50Speaker 2: For what? 10 minutes?
- 19:51Speaker 1: As long as I have. Which is usually like a minute.
- 19:54Speaker 2: Okay.
- 19:56Speaker 1: Okay. Does it work? It grounds you.
- 19:58Speaker 2: Really? And so what do you feel? Peaceful.
- 20:02Speaker 1: You feel in your body less rushed.
- 20:06Speaker 2: Just present. Yeah. And you do this first thing when
- 20:09Speaker 2: you get up before you do anything else. Yeah.
- 20:11Speaker 1: Because I usually have to take the dogs out to
- 20:13Speaker 1: go to the bathroom. I have four dogs. So they
- 20:16Speaker 1: do their thing and I just stand there and like
- 20:18Speaker 1: have my moment.
- 20:20Speaker 2: Okay.
- 20:21Speaker 1: Maybe I try that.
- 20:21Speaker 2: I have three dogs and a cat. So I do
- 20:23Speaker 2: have to let them out first thing in the morning.
- 20:24Speaker 1: You know what I'm talking about then. Okay.
- 20:26Speaker 2: Okay. I'll try it. Yeah.
- 20:27Speaker 1: I was so curious about that. If you were able
- 20:29Speaker 1: to really reap something deeply from just the experience. I
- 20:34Speaker 1: think it's still happening.
- 20:35Speaker 2: I mean, it's been less than a week. And I
- 20:38Speaker 2: think it's still happening, but yes. And I go through
- 20:41Speaker 2: weirdly dips, ups and downs. Like my body, the next
- 20:47Speaker 2: day I was like, wait, we're not, we're not dancing.
- 20:50Speaker 2: We're not doing this. This routine that I've been on
- 20:53Speaker 2: for a while now, it's gone. And so the body
- 20:58Speaker 2: and the mind and, and like the mind being sad
- 21:01Speaker 2: about it, but yet the body's in pain.
- 21:03Speaker 1: Right.
- 21:04Speaker 2: And this like, disassociation between the two and trying to
- 21:09Speaker 2: get them both back on the same page. And there's a, it's,
- 21:13Speaker 2: it's very emotional. It's very emotional. I didn't, I knew
- 21:17Speaker 2: that it would be difficult. Like anybody who's had a job,
- 21:20Speaker 2: a really intense job for a certain amount of time,
- 21:22Speaker 2: and then they're done. Actors talk about this all the time.
- 21:24Speaker 2: You're on a set, you go, go, go. And then
- 21:26Speaker 2: all of a sudden it's over. That family is over.
- 21:30Speaker 2: Like you don't see those people. It can be really disjointing.
- 21:33Speaker 1: It's like a grieving process.
- 21:34Speaker 2: It's a grieving process. And, Believe it or not, even
- 21:37Speaker 2: though my time on the show was short, there is
- 21:40Speaker 2: a grieving process. I think that's news to a lot
- 21:43Speaker 2: of people. But I think if you think about it,
- 21:46Speaker 2: everybody's had this in their life, whether they planned a
- 21:49Speaker 2: wedding or anything like that, right? Or a big trip
- 21:52Speaker 2: or college for your child. And then all of a sudden,
- 21:55Speaker 2: it's done.
- 21:56Speaker 1: It's the post-party blues. Exactly.
- 21:58Speaker 2: And it can be really an intense, intense ride. So
- 22:02Speaker 2: I've been trying to keep my schedule really... quiet and
- 22:07Speaker 2: trying to quiet myself as much as possible and keep
- 22:10Speaker 2: the noise out to try to go through the grieving
- 22:13Speaker 2: process of what this is. And I know it sounds
- 22:16Speaker 2: like people might listen to me. That is the most
- 22:19Speaker 2: ridiculous thing.
- 22:21Speaker 1: You got voted out and now you're grieving.
- 22:23Speaker 2: Correct.
- 22:23Speaker 1: I can understand.
- 22:24Speaker 2: And I totally understand what they're thinking. Because probably I
- 22:28Speaker 2: would be thinking the same thing if I was listening
- 22:30Speaker 2: to myself.
- 22:31Speaker 1: But it's real.
- 22:32Speaker 2: But it's real. And I think it's real on many levels.
- 22:35Speaker 2: And I think actually Everyone has experienced a version of this. Everyone. Yep. Absolutely.
- 22:43Speaker 2: And I think that's the feeling. And what do we
- 22:46Speaker 2: gain from feeling that feeling? Because the option is to
- 22:50Speaker 2: just go straight into something else. Yeah. And just avoid
- 22:53Speaker 2: it altogether and just be like, that's stupid. I'm done.
- 22:55Speaker 2: Moving on. Right.
- 22:57Speaker 1: And I'm sure that's what you would normally do.
- 22:58Speaker 2: I would love to do that. And I'm forcing myself
- 23:01Speaker 2: to not do that.
- 23:03Speaker 1: That's so smart.
- 23:04Speaker 2: Because that is what I have done. For most of
- 23:06Speaker 2: my life.
- 23:07Speaker 1: So this has made a profound effect on you. It's
- 23:09Speaker 1: had a profound effect on you.
- 23:09Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think it's because I'm 56 years old.
- 23:11Speaker 2: And so I'm starting to think about things a little
- 23:13Speaker 2: bit differently. In the past, I was like, okay, that's done.
- 23:15Speaker 2: That job's done. Moving on. What's the next thing? Again.
- 23:20Speaker 2: But those lessons were never brought to my attention in
- 23:24Speaker 2: the same way. Right.
- 23:25Speaker 1: And you were never that vulnerable. You were never that
- 23:28Speaker 1: just like open.
- 23:29Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 23:36Speaker 1: I think it's so smart that you're allowing yourself the grace.
- 23:40Speaker 1: And it's really a big I choose me moment that
- 23:42Speaker 1: you're experiencing is like, I'm going to honor myself and
- 23:46Speaker 1: what I've just experienced and how difficult that was and
- 23:50Speaker 1: how amazing I felt doing it and how proud of
- 23:53Speaker 1: myself I was.
- 23:55Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 23:55Speaker 1: And you know what, Jenny?
- 23:56Speaker 2: That's also really hard to say to myself.
- 23:59Speaker 1: It's really weird.
- 24:00Speaker 2: Yes, to all of those things you just said, but...
- 24:03Speaker 2: It's also really hard to say to yourself, hey, you
- 24:07Speaker 2: did a good job. I mean, people have said to me, oh,
- 24:09Speaker 2: you did such a good job or whatever. And I'm like, yeah,
- 24:12Speaker 2: but did I? Because I was shaky and I was
- 24:15Speaker 2: this and I was fragile. Yes, no, I did. Okay.
- 24:18Speaker 2: But do you see how like that's what I'm trying
- 24:20Speaker 2: to show you is that there's this.
- 24:23Speaker 1: Automatic pattern in our brains.
- 24:26Speaker 2: That I'm trying to like speak to. Like, hey. I
- 24:31Speaker 2: know you're there. I see you.
- 24:33Speaker 1: I hear you.
- 24:33Speaker 2: And I know you've been here for so many years
- 24:36Speaker 2: that it's really hard to shut you down. Right. And
- 24:38Speaker 2: I'm going to listen to you. But I'm also going
- 24:40Speaker 2: to listen to this other voice as well that I
- 24:42Speaker 2: maybe haven't listened to in a really, really, really long time. Yeah.
- 24:47Speaker 1: I do that too. I say to my inner voice,
- 24:49Speaker 1: my inner critic, the one that's so hard to get
- 24:51Speaker 1: rid of, that actually you can't get rid of.
- 24:54Speaker 2: It's always going to live inside you. I was just
- 24:55Speaker 2: going to say, I think we think that we're going
- 24:57Speaker 2: to get rid of things.
- 24:57Speaker 1: It's not.
- 24:58Speaker 2: Yeah. We're not.
- 24:58Speaker 1: You just learn how to manage it differently.
- 25:00Speaker 2: Correct.
- 25:01Speaker 1: And I say to myself, no, thank you. I know
- 25:03Speaker 1: you're talking to me right now, but I'm actually going
- 25:06Speaker 1: to focus on something else, something else that is going
- 25:08Speaker 1: to make me feel good instead of make me feel bad.
- 25:10Speaker 2: Correct. And that is the journey of this last five days. Wow.
- 25:15Speaker 2: What a whirlwind. And it's exhausting. I'm not going to lie.
- 25:19Speaker 2: It is exhausting.
- 25:20Speaker 1: The choosing of yourself is exhausting.
- 25:23Speaker 2: I would choose anybody else at this point but myself.
- 25:27Speaker 2: I mean, really and truly. It is just like, give
- 25:30Speaker 2: me stupid menial tasks to do because I'd rather do
- 25:33Speaker 2: that and pay attention to that.
- 25:34Speaker 1: I'd rather vacuum all day long.
- 25:36Speaker 2: I will do anything. I will pick up dog poop.
- 25:38Speaker 2: I don't care. Just let me do something that's just
- 25:41Speaker 2: brainless so that I don't have to listen to these voices.
- 25:44Speaker 1: But you will probably bring some thought to the brainless
- 25:47Speaker 1: activity no matter what.
- 25:48Speaker 2: For sure.
- 25:48Speaker 1: Because I know you have a similar brain as me.
- 25:50Speaker 1: I'm finding out.
- 25:51Speaker 2: Yes. Yes.
- 25:53Speaker 1: You also said you had to face some demons. And
- 25:56Speaker 1: I know that's along the line of what we're talking about.
- 25:58Speaker 1: Were you able to really identify some of your demons
- 26:01Speaker 1: or were you just getting.
- 26:02Speaker 2: I think I was getting started into identifying them. I
- 26:05Speaker 2: think that I get very frustrated as people saw. Some
- 26:10Speaker 2: of the packages showed me getting really frustrated, but not
- 26:14Speaker 2: I think people were saying that I was frustrated with Alan,
- 26:16Speaker 2: but I wasn't. And Alan wasn't frustrated with me. I
- 26:19Speaker 2: think we are both perfectionists and we're both trying to be,
- 26:24Speaker 2: we cared so much that we were doing, we're going
- 26:27Speaker 2: to do it really well that we were getting frustrated
- 26:30Speaker 2: when it wasn't coming out the way we had hoped.
- 26:32Speaker 2: And I think for me, I was very, getting very
- 26:35Speaker 2: frustrated with my ability. Yeah. I think I thought this
- 26:39Speaker 2: should come easier. I know I have no experience in this,
- 26:45Speaker 2: but still, come on. Is it really that hard? Is
- 26:49Speaker 2: it really what was going on in my head? Clearly
- 26:52Speaker 2: it was really that hard for me. I think too,
- 26:55Speaker 2: you get skewed a little because you're rehearsing in a
- 26:58Speaker 2: building where you watch like other people do it, that
- 27:01Speaker 2: it comes like this quick, right? Like I watched Jenna,
- 27:04Speaker 2: I watched so many people who are brilliant.
- 27:06Speaker 1: When did you, you were rehearsing in the same space
- 27:09Speaker 1: as the other contestants?
- 27:09Speaker 2: Well, we're all in the same building. And sometimes we
- 27:12Speaker 2: do this thing where we dance for each other.
- 27:16Speaker 1: Oh, no. I don't like that.
- 27:19Speaker 2: Oh, well, I thought, you know, I kind of liked
- 27:21Speaker 2: it because it got you. Because you're.
- 27:23Speaker 1: You're performing.
- 27:24Speaker 2: You're performing in a silo, just the two of you
- 27:27Speaker 2: the whole time. So to kind of give you the
- 27:29Speaker 2: next step before you get to the ballroom, you perform
- 27:32Speaker 2: for other couples. So you can also see how they're
- 27:36Speaker 2: doing and they can see you. So you start to
- 27:39Speaker 2: feel like somebody's. I think it helps get you more
- 27:42Speaker 2: comfortable for going into the ballroom, right? So that there's levels.
- 27:47Speaker 2: And I could see that some of them were just phenomenal.
- 27:51Speaker 2: And I think probably that caused a lot of panic
- 27:53Speaker 2: within me.
- 27:54Speaker 1: Of course.
- 27:55Speaker 2: I thought, I'm going to go up against these people? Right.
- 27:56Speaker 1: Have I lost my mind? I can't lift my leg
- 27:58Speaker 1: that high.
- 27:58Speaker 2: Can I run the other direction? Yeah. Can I go away?
- 28:00Speaker 2: Can I just say, I don't want to do this anymore? Like,
- 28:02Speaker 2: is that possible? Because I don't want to do this anymore.
- 28:04Speaker 1: I'm feeling your panic.
- 28:06Speaker 2: So the panic set in. Yeah. And I think... that
- 28:10Speaker 2: was really hard to manage. And I think I probably
- 28:14Speaker 2: have some work to do in the panic zone of
- 28:16Speaker 2: my own self, you know? And I think, I just
- 28:21Speaker 2: think like I got frustrated because I wasn't picking it
- 28:24Speaker 2: up fast enough. And the, and I cared so much
- 28:31Speaker 2: about doing it well that the time constraint made it
- 28:35Speaker 2: like mind boggling and you get tired. There's no days off.
- 28:39Speaker 2: There's no days off.
- 28:41Speaker 1: No.
- 28:41Speaker 2: You get so tired.
- 28:43Speaker 1: You want to do every minute that you can of practice.
- 28:46Speaker 2: Yeah. People are like, oh, but- Especially when you're panicked.
- 28:48Speaker 2: Don't you want to take a break? I'm like, no.
- 28:50Speaker 2: Because I just feel like if I can do it
- 28:52Speaker 2: enough times- I'll get it. I'll get it. Yeah. And
- 28:54Speaker 2: then the day will come and I won't be so panicked.
- 28:58Speaker 2: But we don't realize is that I was still just
- 29:00Speaker 2: as panicked.
- 29:01Speaker 1: Do you think that because of the industry that you've
- 29:04Speaker 1: basically come up in, this chef world- Is that a
- 29:09Speaker 1: competitive environment in general or in specifically as you were
- 29:14Speaker 1: treated as a woman in that environment?
- 29:16Speaker 2: Well, I think it's competitive in general.
- 29:20Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 29:21Speaker 2: As a woman, yeah, probably, yes. It's competitive, but it's
- 29:27Speaker 2: competitive across the board. I think for men and women,
- 29:30Speaker 2: especially on television. You know, I think in the beginning,
- 29:38Speaker 2: there weren't that many spots available. And a lot of
- 29:41Speaker 2: us fell into it. And in the chef world, a
- 29:44Speaker 2: lot of us, when we become chefs, we don't want
- 29:46Speaker 2: to be in front of the camera. We're not personalities.
- 29:49Speaker 2: We're showing your artistry through our food. That's because we're shy.
- 29:53Speaker 2: We want to be behind the camera, right? Like we
- 29:56Speaker 2: don't want to be in front. we wanted to be
- 29:58Speaker 2: in front, we'd be doing something totally different. Yeah. That
- 30:02Speaker 2: is not how we express ourselves. Our expression is through
- 30:05Speaker 2: our food.
- 30:05Speaker 1: How did you get past that? Because you always looked
- 30:08Speaker 1: very comfortable in front of the camera.
- 30:10Speaker 2: I had a very difficult time for my first three
- 30:14Speaker 2: or four years. I mean, the only reason I ever
- 30:18Speaker 2: got the opportunity to stay on is because in those days,
- 30:23Speaker 2: You just were allowed more time, more time to get better. Nowadays, no.
- 30:30Speaker 1: You're off the air. You're off the air.
- 30:31Speaker 2: If you can't hit the certain ratings after a couple
- 30:34Speaker 2: of episodes, you're done. That wasn't the case when I started.
- 30:36Speaker 2: When I started, it was the Wild West. Nobody knew anything.
- 30:39Speaker 2: We were all learning together. And so I had the
- 30:42Speaker 2: opportunity to be on, to do more episodes and get better.
- 30:46Speaker 2: But my first few, my first like whole season, I
- 30:49Speaker 2: was like, they kept saying, John, you need to open
- 30:53Speaker 2: to the camera.
- 30:53Speaker 1: You cannot cook.
- 30:55Speaker 2: With like half your back showing. Like people want to
- 30:57Speaker 2: see you. They don't want to talk to your shoulder
- 30:59Speaker 2: or your back. It's a whole different art. It's a
- 31:01Speaker 2: whole different skill set. But I have to finish this.
- 31:03Speaker 1: I have to make this dish look amazing.
- 31:05Speaker 2: And I got to focus.
- 31:06Speaker 1: And like, yeah.
- 31:07Speaker 2: And you're going to tell us how you're doing it.
- 31:08Speaker 2: And you're going to look like you're going to have
- 31:10Speaker 2: a great time. And you're going to go through all
- 31:12Speaker 2: the steps. And you're going to tell us stories while
- 31:13Speaker 2: you're doing it, while you're, you know, while you're measuring
- 31:16Speaker 2: the whole thing. And yeah, that was, I mean, I'm
- 31:19Speaker 2: little and I lost 10 pounds from the stress of
- 31:22Speaker 2: doing my first season. I hated it. And I came
- 31:25Speaker 2: from a movie family. So if I wanted to be
- 31:27Speaker 2: in front of the camera, I could have been. I
- 31:29Speaker 2: did not like that world. So that was the first
- 31:32Speaker 2: time I had to crack open. And I haven't really
- 31:35Speaker 2: opened myself up in that kind of vulnerability since then.
- 31:38Speaker 2: And I will tell you, Jenny, that I think part
- 31:41Speaker 2: of it is choosing to do Dancing with the Stars.
- 31:45Speaker 2: I think I wanted to tap into that young girl
- 31:48Speaker 2: in her early 30s who allowed that kind of vulnerability
- 31:52Speaker 2: because I grew so much from doing that. I mean,
- 31:54Speaker 2: my whole career is based on it. And I hadn't
- 31:57Speaker 2: felt that again. And it's been what, 25 years? And
- 32:03Speaker 2: I think I wanted a taste of it again. And
- 32:05Speaker 2: then when I got a taste of it, I was like,
- 32:06Speaker 2: oh shit, I do not like this. I do not
- 32:10Speaker 2: like what I'm feeling right now.
- 32:11Speaker 1: And you're in survival mode. So it's not like you
- 32:13Speaker 1: can sit and reflect and think, oh, I remember experiencing
- 32:16Speaker 1: this feeling 35 years ago. When I first started on
- 32:19Speaker 1: camera and how can I apply what I learned then
- 32:21Speaker 1: to this? No, you're just like going. Because you're go, go, go.
- 32:25Speaker 2: And you know that you have X amount of days,
- 32:28Speaker 2: four days to get back on that stage and do
- 32:31Speaker 2: a whole new dance. Yeah. That is completely the opposite
- 32:35Speaker 2: of what you've just learned.
- 32:36Speaker 1: It's really crazy the way they give you four weeks
- 32:39Speaker 1: to learn the first dance and four days to learn
- 32:42Speaker 1: the second one.
- 32:43Speaker 2: And this season we lost a day because it was
- 32:45Speaker 2: a two-day premiere. And usually it's not. So again, oh man.
- 32:51Speaker 1: Well, it was good TV. I know that. And I
- 32:53Speaker 1: was rooting for you. There's more of this great conversation.
- 32:57Speaker 1: Part two is coming soon.