Latest / I Do, Part 2 / Thank You, Howard. We Are Still Honoring the Gift You Gave Us From Your Deathbed

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Thank You, Howard. We Are Still Honoring the Gift You Gave Us From Your Deathbed · I Do, Part 2

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Hey, the folks. It is Wednesday, February the eleventh, and
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: three years ago this month, Robach and I got a
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: phone call from our friend Howard and the first thing
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: he said upon calling was, how did I look to
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: you the last time you saw me. We didn't really
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: understand what he meant at the time, but he died
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: seven days after that phone call, and today, February the
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: eleventh is the three year anniversary of his death. And
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: before he passed, he gave me and Robach an incredible
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: gift that we will carry cheris, celebrate, and visit for
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: the rest of our lives. And as we speak to
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: you right now, we are in Puerto by Arta, Mexico,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: saying thank you and honoring our lady friend, and with that,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Robes. We
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: didn't say it outright that we were planning this trip
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: to honor Howard Bragman, but I think subconsciously, in some way,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: we have planned this trip and we are here at
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: the exact time that he placed us here, which also
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: coincides with the anniversary of his death. Actually, this trip
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: is a little heavier than I thought it was going.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: To be, you know, it's so interesting how life works.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: And I am someone who believes that there are no coincidences,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: that you're exactly where you're supposed to be. And we
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: had been talking about ever since we made this trip,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: and we'll get into what that trip was like and
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: how we ended up here in the first place because
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: of Howard, and why we're here now three years later.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: It wasn't some deliberate plan anniversary trip, and yet we
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: found ourselves coming back and always being drawn back like emotionally.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: We've talked about this, but it just worked out that
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: we ended up back here on the three year anniversary
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: of Howard's death. And it's so fitting and it's so appropriate,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: and no, I don't think it was a coincidence.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: No, this is a look it sounds like vacation, part
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: of our art to Mexico. But when we first came
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: here in the first time, we of course we'd heard
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: of it over the years, but neither one of us
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: had visited before three years ago. And we were here
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: because we were trying to get away. We were trying
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: to get away, and Howard Bragman was somebody who took
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: us under his wing and tried to help us in
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: that moment. If some people might not remember road, but
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: it was exactly three years ago this month that we
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: were under some of the greatest scrutiny, and it was
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: probably in our professional and personal lives, one of the
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: most difficult, maybe even months or stretches of our life.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: It was as we were negotiating an exit out of ABC.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: For me, it's not a maybe, and I'm talking about
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: dealing with breast cancer, divorce, divorces. February of twenty twenty three.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: January February of twenty twenty three with that was the
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: hardest stretch of my life period. And look, we could
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: have more tough stretches and things could get worse, but
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: up until now, I can honestly say that was the
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: toughest time of my life period.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: And the toughest time of our life is when Howard
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Bragman entered our life in a different way. A lot
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: of people you might recognize that name, you might not.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: You might recognize the face even more so than you
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: recognize the name. But Howard Bragman was known as a
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: crisis manager and a celebrity publicist, and what he did
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: was help a lot of celebrities out. He started originally
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: as a publicist, but Robes he kind of made his
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: mark as a crisis manager. But even more so than that,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: he helped a lot of celebrities and high profile people
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: come out. Howard Bragman was gay, but he took not
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: just this as a job, but as a cause, if
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: you will, in hurting and help in helping high profile
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: people come out.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Ah, you know, it actually makes me emotional because he
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: was obviously he made a living doing this, but he
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: cared less about the money he made from it. And
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: you just knew that this the moment you met him,
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: and more about the impact he was having. And to
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: that point, he reached out. He had my I don't
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: know how he had my email or my number. You
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: and I had both met with him in our careers
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: as cable news anchors where he was actually representing other
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: clients who we were either interviewing or covering, but he
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: reached out to us specifically when everything was going down.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: And this is a guy And to that point, Robes, yes,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: a lot of people are familiar with him. If you've
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: been the business a decade plus or more, starting from
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: the eighties to now, you worked with him. He was
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: called upon a lot with any celebrity scandal. He was
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: the guy who said this is what I would do,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: and this is what he was. He's been out there
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: a lot. But what Howard Bragman meant to us in particular, Yes, Robes,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: we had come across him and dealt with him and
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: talked to him and interviewed him over the years. But
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: then things changed. Things changed, and it started before any
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: headlines or tabloid headlines came out about us because the weekend.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: You might know the dates in particular, but we went
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: to a wedding the night before the New York City
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Marathon in November of twenty twenty two. We were running
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: the marathon and we were going to this big wedding,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: special wedding, expensive wedding, high profile wedding, celebrity wedding. You
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: could even argue, Robes, but he I was speaking at
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: that wedding. He happened to be seated right behind us
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: and just said, Hi, Now, this is before anything went down, Yes,
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: and this is where we got to reconnect.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: You and I were actually together at that point.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: Nobody knew it, but yes.
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: Nobody knew it.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: But we attended that wedding together and we weren't. Like
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: we have said this plenty of times, we weren't hiding
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: necessarily that we were dating, but we weren't out that
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: we were dating because we weren't. We had not publicly
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: acknowledged that we were divorcing our exes, but we were
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: in the middle of divorce attorneys and anyone who's gone
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: through that process knows how long it takes and knows
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: how complicated it can be. But we kind of felt
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: I can speak for myself, I felt a layer of
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: confidence in attending a wedding with you without being overtly yes,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: this is my person who I'm dating. But I felt
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: like it wasn't wrong because I knew that we were
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: in the middle of our divorces, so we kind of
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: confidently and we were co anchors, and we were it
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: wouldn't be unusual that we would be together. But we
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: attended that wedding together proudly, almost as friends, but not
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: concerned what anybody would think.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: I'm laughing because obviously, two people who go to a
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: close friend's wedding and neither one of those two people
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: show it with their respective spouses, He's going to raise
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: an eyebrow. Again, we haven't we hadn't announced, but we
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: were both in we were divorced proceedings for the past
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: several months, four plus even at that point. Okay, fine,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: but we're at this wedding. How we're sitting behind us.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: We got to catch up, just said hello, how you doing,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: what's been going on? I think we only chatted with
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: him during the wedding, like, we didn't hang out afterwards.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: It was just he was almost tapping us on the show.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: We were almost rude guests. The wedding.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: Well, we got out of there quickly because we had
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: to run the marathon in the morning, so we couldn't
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: stay and party. As beautiful as this wedding was and
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: as incredible as the venue was, if there was ever
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: a wedding, I wished we could have stayed out, stayed
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: at and stayed out to party, it would have been
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: this wedding. But we went back because we had to
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: get up at four o'clock in the morning to run
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: a marathon.
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: So it was brief the time we have with Howard in.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: That moment, so we just reconnected. Good to see you,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: nice to say hi. So three weeks after that, shit
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: hits the fan for us. Everything goes crazy tabloids of
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: reporting that we're in a relationship, and a lot of
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: people know how that story goes. But Robes he was,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: I say, one of the first. I'm saying he might
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: have been the we heard from everybody. He was one
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: of the first five people we heard from after she
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: hit the.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: Fan, And his point was to us when he reached out,
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: I don't want anything from you.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: I don't want any money.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: I don't want you to sign up with me or
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: give me some sort of like you know, a lot
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: of these crisis PR folks are like, hey, give me
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: a retainer, much like a lawyer. This is how it
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: works in a certain circle. When you're in a certain
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: place and you've got hell to pay and you've got
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: PR to deal with, they you do have people kind
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: of swoop in and say, I'll take care of you,
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: and here's how much it's gonna cost you. He swooped
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: in and said, I don't want a penny from you.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: Don't even think about sending me any amount of money.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: I love both of you. I saw the two of
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: you at that wedding, and I saw love. And he
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: was almost excited that he saw something. A few weeks
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: earlier and it was confirmed. Oh my god, those two
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: people are in love with each other, and two people
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: who I knew completely separate from one another, who I
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: liked individually, and now I'm seeing these two and this
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: is a love story and I want to help them.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: We didn't have to make a mention of money or
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: how much it's gonna cost, what we need to sign
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: up for. He cleared that from the jump, and from
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: that moment, robe from the moment, all this, I keep
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: saying she had hit the fan. I swear we heard
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: from him, damn near every day.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Every day, every day, and he said to us, I
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: will not take one penny from you. And the person
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: who said I will not take one penny from you,
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: and he was the only person who said that to us,
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: is the only person who called us every day and said,
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: how are you doing?
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: What can I do?
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: And he actually had really phenomenal advice that we weren't
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: getting from people who we were paying, and that was exceptional.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: So we continue with the story here as it goes November,
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: early November, the wedding, late November, tabloids. Now we move
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: into January. Let's move into February. But late January is
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: when I think it was fully reported on, but people
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: knew we were negotiator and nextit there was a big
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: mediation going on. Robes. You were in one spot in La.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: I was in a different spot in LA. Lawyers were
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: in a different spot. Mediator was in a different spot.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: This was all done via zoom. But we went to
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: La and this was a big, big deal for us
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: to negotiate our way out of Disney.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: It was as dramatic as a guess.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: So if there were cameras on us with our respective teams.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: We were again in La together but in different places,
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: communicating with each other, and it was as stressful as
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: it gets.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: So we were staying there and we were staying night
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: at a hotel, not an Airbnb. Couldn't but someone let
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: us borrow a bungalow essentially, and so we were hiding
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: out in a bungalow for several days during this mediation.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: The last day we finally finished the mediation, word had
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: gotten out. Somebody figured out where we are. We were exposed,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: if you will. Howard calls us up and we had
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: another night or two I think might have been two
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: nights to be in La. He said, come to me, Howard, said,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: you all just come to me, come to my house
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: and robes. It sounded like a great idea at the time.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: It was an escape, it was a respite, and I
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: was able. This is how crazy it was. We were
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: being followed. We had to go in two different vehicles.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: So I jumped in an Uber and you took the
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: vehicle we had rented. I was able to get away
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: undetected and get to Howard's place.
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: You were and chased.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: So I'm sitting at Howard's place with Howard and he
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: is on the phone with the LA Police trying to
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: help you get a high speed chase to end, because
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: you were being tailed by paparazzi and it was getting
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: dangerous and you were getting worried and scared.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: So you were having an experience with Howard. You made
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: it there. Yes, we had to figure out how to
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: get out of the bungalow I had. You know what
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: the plan was. I was supposed to get the rental
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: car and come back and pick you up.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: That's what it was.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: I left in an Uber and I saw someone tailing
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: that uber. You were right, and I said, Babe, I
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: can't come back and get you. So I go to
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: this rental car place, and I'm looking out the front
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: window of the rental car place and I see the
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: photographer parked over on the other side of the street.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: Thank god, I wish I knew this guy's name. At
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: this rental car place, he saw it ropes. I have
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: the picture. He took me to the back, gave me
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: a holding area, let me put my bags, had the
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: door open, and pull the rental car up to this
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: back exit emergency exit to help me out. This is
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: what we were going through. So I'm trying to make
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: my way to you, driving around LA in an oversized
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: white SUV. I believe it's an expedition. I don't know
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: where I'm going, and you and Howard are on the
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: phone trying to get me to you. This guy is
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: literally chasing me on Hollywood Boulevard. Howard is on the
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: phone with me saying, TJ, do this make a left here,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: go right here. He sends me to the Sheriff's department
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: to park. He's on the phone with the Sheriff's department
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: telling them, Hey, I got a guy. This is the problem.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: The Sheriff's department gives me an escort out of Hollywood.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Escorts me out of their jurisdiction. Say hey, this is
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: much we can do, but I think you're okay, Robes.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: He and I don't know if we ever told Harvey
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Levin this, but Harvey was a part of this. From TMC.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: He was I am being tailed and Howard, our friend
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: is like, what the fuck this? This is awful. He said,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: let me call TMZ. He calls Harvey Levin. Howard calls
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: me back, says he just got off with Harvey. He said, yeah,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: we don't do that. He said, yeah, he said. Harvey
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: was dismissive. Yeah, we don't roll like that. Of course,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: we're not chasing T. J. Holmes around LA. So Howard,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: in this moment, we just went through this awful thing
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: and now we're just trying to get out of LA undetected.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: He literally Robes, he is keeping you company and guiding
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: me out of Los Angeles avoiding paparazzi. We're trying to
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: explain here what this guy. We haven't even gotten to
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: the good stuff, but this is what this guy was
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: and what he meant to us and why he's special
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: to us.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: Right now, Look, when you feel like the world is
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: against you and you have this person who's like I
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: got you, and he was like a like a father
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: figure who stepped in and just took care of you
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: when you couldn't trust anyone. He was the one person
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: wek addressed and he brought you back when he brought
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: you to his place, and the by the way, when
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: he put his own place on the map, he didn't
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: want anyone to know where he lived, and he was
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: able to get you to his place in a way
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: where he felt safe, or he wasn't bringing that to
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: his home, but he risked it anyway and brought you in.
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: And we were.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: In this like it felt like a It was just
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: a safe space. And we didn't feel safe anywhere. There
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: was nowhere we were safe. We weren't safe in New York,
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: we weren't safe in Miami. We weren't safe anywhere. We
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: had not found a place where we were safe except
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: for Howard Bragman's home in La suddenly became our first
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: safe place.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: And you say it that way, we're all like the
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: amount of relief I felt when I pulled into Tower
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Bragman's garage and I see you two step out with
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Mimosa's in hand for me, and it was so tight.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: I remember there's a huge car. I struggled to get
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: in there. I thought I was going to I remember
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: this so well, and you two stepped. I had a
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: mimosa in hand, and this is how we started our
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: visit with Howard Bragman. That visit led to an incredible
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: gift that we are at this moment enjoying in Mexico
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: three years to the day of Howard Bragman's death. Stay here,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: we'll explain the visit and the gift. We continue here
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: on Amy and TJ on the three year anniversary the
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: death of our friend Howard Bragman. We left off Ropes
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: talking about that visit. Once we got parked. Once I parked,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: at least got there, mimosa in hand. We went out
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: back one or two dogs. It was one dog, yeah right,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: I just remember one dog. But we sat out back
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: and Rob. I can't remember how many hours this visit was.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: That in that stretch of time, months of just under
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: at least what it felt like assault, that was the
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: most comfortable and safest I felt in those months is
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: being at that home in that backyard, eating his food,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: drinking his wine, eating his bagels. That was the safest
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: I feel shit.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: We don't even eat, yes, but we ate it with him,
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: and I get emotional because I actually feel like, even
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: when sometimes things have gotten hard for us, I think
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: about his belief in us and what he invested in us,
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: And actually there were moments when we've had struggles and
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: I'm like, Howard is looking down on us right now,
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: and he is rooting for us in every way.
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: He was that person to so many people who felt
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: overwhelmed by the pressures of fame and whatever scandal they
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: may have found themselves in. I'm not taking any responsibility
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: away from somebody, but for someone like Howard Bragman to
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: take a position where he defends people who other people
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: consider indefensible. He goes to bat for people who are
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: being canceled, or for people who everyone wants to turn
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: their back on when it gets icky or uncomfortable or
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: not okay to support. He was the guy who stood
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: up for those people, and to have him on your
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: side was to feel like you were gonna be okay.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: We said plenty of times after his passing, Man, I
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: wish we had Howard when things came out, like, Wow,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: this would go so differently. If we could call Howard
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: and ask for some advice. We sat and we visited,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: and we stayed and run robes that we're not big
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: into regret, but it was one thing he wanted us
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: to stay with him that night. I'm so glad you
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: mentioned that guys stay here at my place tonight. We
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: didn't want to impose. We wanted to go and like
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: we're getting out of your hair. We got all this heat, Howard.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: No no, no, no, no. The robe. That is one
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: thing we're not in big into regrets a right, but
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: god damn, I wish we'd just stayed that night.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: I am so happy you just said that because I
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: so wanted to make sure that we talked about this today,
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: because I think this is a lesson in life for everybody,
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: this thing that.
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: A lot of us have, and it's comes from such
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: a good place.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: You don't want to impose, you don't want to overstay,
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: You're welcome, you don't want to.
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: Push your luck, so to speak.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: And you're right, he so wanted us to stay because
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: he saw that we were literally in retreat.
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: We actually didn't know where we were going. We found
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: some random place.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: We got in a car and started driving and we
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: started looking up where can we stay where no one
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: will know where we're going to be. I know it
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: sounds crazy because we're not necessarily we've never been A listers,
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: B listers, C listers, maybe F listers, But all of
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: a sudden, when you're like notoriously famous, you feel like
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: you can't check into a hotel because someone's gonna call TMZ.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: So not TMZ, but someone's gonna call someone some paparazzi
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: on you. So we had to make it up as
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: we've been along, and it would have felt great to
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: stay with Howard, but we didn't want to impose, and
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: he begged us to stay, and we were like, that's
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: so much, that's too much to ask, and so we
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: just took off and found a place in Long Beach,
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: I believe, some random place along the highway. We stayed
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: because we just didn't want to impose. We had no
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: idea that six days later he would be in the
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: hospital so Howard and he would pass. So Howard, from
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: after we left him, we stayed in touch. We were
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: talking all day that day and this was the funny
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: thing about it. Ro We sent him a picture of
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: us from the hotel, and this great picture and we
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: have a great picture of us with Howard before we left.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: The last picture we have put one that's a gorgeous,
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: gorgeous picture.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: But ro we sent him a picture this was just funny.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: He said, Wow, I can sell this and get ten
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: grand for it. And we laughed and he said, no, no,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: y'all don't understand. I am in this business, and I
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: am in circles, and I understand that a good pick
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: of you all now is going for that. Now, that
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: is that's paltry compared to a bunch of stuff. But
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: he was. He just made the joke that you got
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: I could take this picture. We should post that one too,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: the one that we sent him. So we leave finally California,
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: Rose we get this was the end of January. We
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: get back to New York. So it's February third, fourth,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: we're at the house and we get a phone call.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: This is the phone call we were talking about. At
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: the top of the hour. He calls. I answered the phone.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: He doesn't say hello. I just say hello. He doesn't
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: say hi, how you doing, or say hey, it's Howard.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: He led with this, how did I look the last
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: time you saw me? And the last time we had
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: seen him? Was less than a week, because we've.
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: Been a matter of days, yeah, five six days.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: And I asked, I kind of followed up because I
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: didn't I really didn't understand what he was asking. He
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: was asking that because Robes, as we know now, he
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: said he had gone to the doctor. They had found something.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: There was some irritation in his mouth or something. He
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: went in for something totally random, and they found something else.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: That's something else, Rolls was leukemia.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: Acute leukemia. And he had told us when we were
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: sitting in that sun on the back porch of his place,
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: telling us he had a minor issue that it was
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: frustrating him.
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: He didn't know what it.
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: Was, but he was gonna figure it out, but it
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: seemed fairly.
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: Insignificant, truly insignificant.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: And it was when we were sitting with him and
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: he was talking about this why Mexico was so important
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: to him that he prioritized getting away, that he had
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: this place he went to every year. He was talking
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: about Portavarta, but he was also talking about this annoyance
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: he had this seemingly innocuous health issue he had that
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: he was going to get checked out.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: That honestly, I didn't give a second thought to.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: He did either. Obviously did not either. But it was
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: a dental issue, like a too of his dental gums
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: or something. It was his gums and goes to the
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: doctor and he called. I think he was in the
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: hospital in that phone call. He was so we're obviously
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: devastated at this point and didn't think at all it
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: was that serious. I don't think he did it either
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: at the moment. But prior to that, when we were
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: at his house, he had invited us to Porto Varta, Mexico,
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: where he rents a house every year, has several bedrooms
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: and just invites people to come in and out. Hey
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: if you can make it, and he coordinates it, Hey,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: this couple can come at this time, you can come
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: for this week, you can go. And it's something he did.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: We didn't know that. But he invites us, and you
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: know what, we say, what the hell?
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: And you're not one to take up, take anyone up
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: on an invitation like that where we don't know who's
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: going to be at the house, how many people are
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: going to be there.
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: And you were just like you were.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: So give me out of this, give me out of
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: the us.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: Yes, but I appreciated how much you connected with Howard.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: No, unless someone knows you, TJ. I'm somebody who'll be like, sure,
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: I'll do it. I would probably say yes.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: You are very discerning, and for you to be like,
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: we'll go, I was like, wow, TJ's saying yes to this.
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: You were like, okay, I'm listening.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: So we had committed prior to this phone call in
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: which he was telling us they had found this leukemia.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: But he was letting us know that he probably wasn't
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: going to be able to make the trip. So he's
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: the one that invited us.
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: We're going to cancel.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: We immediately were going to cancel.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: Yes, Howard.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: Oh like on the phone, Howard, it's no big deal, dude,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: don't worry about it. All good. Take care of your health.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: It's fine. And this is where the gift comes in ropes.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: In that phone call, he begged us to go.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: He said to you, I remember exactly where you were standing,
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: and I saw your face and I saw you you
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: realized that this was actually very serious. He said, if
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: you can do me this favor, all I ask of you,
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: no matter what happens. Because he knew more than and
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: he was letting on. At that point, he said, give
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: me this gift. I need you to tell me right
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: now that you are going to go to Mexico.
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: No matter what. Promise me right now.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: He on the phone asked you to promise him that,
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: no matter what, that we would go to Mexico.
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: That that was the biggest gift that we could give him.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: As he was sitting in that hospital bed, Promise me
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: you will go anyway.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: He said it that way, he said, I'm sitting up here.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: I can't do anything for anybody right now, but I
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: can do this for you. Please allow me this, Please
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: allow me. He begged and pleaded to the point, Robes,
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: that we felt ruled, rude and like assholes. If we didn't,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: it felt so wrong to go be having a good
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: time while a friend of ours was in the hospital.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: That's where we were at the moment. But he insisted
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: and he begged. And here was the thing, folks, He
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: followed up from the hospital bed, and you, Robes, we
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: were sitting here looking at a short time ago. We
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: still have emails from this guy. He was planning limos
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: for us on what eventually ended up being his deathbed.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: He was planning cars and pickups from the airport. While
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: he was on his deathbed, I had the emails, and
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: I'm looking at him like, are you kidding me? And
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: so I don't think I've looked at him in three years,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: be honest with you, Robes. But he insisted, and this
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: was on February fourth, I think it was. Yeah, he
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: died on February the eleventh, and we promised him already,
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: we promised we go after that, Robes. We were hesitating
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: after he told us he was sick. After he passed,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: there was almost no way we couldn't go.
• 26:42
  Speaker 5: Yeah, we decided, like we started like putting ourselves in
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: his position, because the whole reason why he offered us
• 26:49
  Speaker 5: this place was he saw how much we were being hunted, right,
• 26:53
  Speaker 5: and so many people have been in opposition, and that
• 26:57
  Speaker 5: was his lane.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: He knew how to take care of people who were
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: in our position, and he said, let me give this
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: to you. Let me give you a space and a
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: place where you actually can just be safe to be you,
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: and you'll be able to actually just let your guard
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: down for a second.
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: Let me bring you to Port of Iarda. So it's
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: so surreal.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: To know that in a matter of days, he tells
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: us this, and on what would become his deathbed, asks
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: us to promise him that will go no matter what,
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: and then he dies and we get on a plane
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: three days later, on February fourteenth, on Valentine's Day, to
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: head to Porta Iarda, to a trip that we thought
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: we would be taking with him to get to know
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: him better, to get to celebrate life with him, and
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: suddenly now we're going there and he's gone. It was
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: it was because we had known him for years, but
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: we had only reconnected with him in the last few months.
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: And to think that all of this was going on
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: in our lives.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: What he knew how to do best to take care
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: of people who were in our positions, For us to
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: reconnect in that way, and then for him to suddenly
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: be taken from us, it was I had to think
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: that there was some larger lesson and it was to learn,
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: like what did he do? How did he live his life?
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: He was a giver, He was not a taker. He
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: was a giver, and we needed we needed someone like
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: that in our lives. And now it's like our turn
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: to return that. Like you see how he lived his life,
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: and you think that's how I want to live in
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: my life. So to be back here now, I think
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: about all of those lessons and what a gift he
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: was to the world and what our responsibility is now
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: to pay it forward.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: Isn't crazy how he was so supportive of us and
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: we needed really his skill set, right, He never implemented it.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: He never gave us a strategy that was implemented in public.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: He never worked for us behind the scenes, talking to
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: reporters or anything like that. And yet he still provided
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: us now something that's going to be more valuable for
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: the rest of our lives. Our daughters have been here,
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: our daughters love it down here. We are back here
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: again in this area port of our Arta Salulita. Absolutely
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: we are looking at property we would not I don't
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: know if we ever would have planned a trip here.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: But this place is special to us because it's wonderful. Yes, sure,
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: but he put this on our radar, on our map
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: and at a time robes when it was our we
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: were here, and we ended up on that trip being
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: hounded and harassed, and it hurt and it sucked, and
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: we were followed.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: In the whole. We had a drone following us on
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: the beach and port of iarta saying horrible things about.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: Despite all that. It's meaningful and nobody understands fully necessarily.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: But he is someone that folks, we have mentioned before
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: and talked about before. But we are here in this
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: place that he introduced us to on the anniversary of
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: his death, we should mention Ropes his late husband, Michael.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: They what they married.
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: He married on his death.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: It was Oh, that's right, Jesus Christ. I remember they
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: had been dating. Oh yeah, that's another thing we went
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: to was his funeral. His husband's musician. We went to
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: his house. He was blasting his husband's music and he
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: was so proud. Oh, he was so proud.
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: They were engaged.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: They weren't married yet when we actually spoke with him,
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: and I like to hear him, and I think that's
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: part of what drew him to us.
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: He saw our love, he saw our connection.
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: And you know, when you're with somebody and you just
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: see something that's real and you can read about it
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: and you can hear all the shit that people say
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: about it, but when you meet someone and I think
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: I think that was our big connection. He saw our
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: love and he connected it to his love, and he
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: he was Yes, he was blasting his fiance's music. He's
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: so proud they married on his death bed.
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: I mean, I can't.
• 31:03
  Speaker 6: Like I think we move on with our lives and
• 31:06
  Speaker 6: that the world is crazy and there's so many stories,
• 31:08
  Speaker 6: but like to be reconnected with him on this day,
• 31:12
  Speaker 6: in this place, it's very special, and I think these
• 31:15
  Speaker 6: are the moments like life.
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: Life is hard and it's messy, but.
• 31:18
  Speaker 7: Like when you meet real, genuine people who are here
• 31:22
  Speaker 7: to serve, and like it's just an honor to have
• 31:25
  Speaker 7: known them, and the way you honor their memory is
• 31:28
  Speaker 7: to live better and to be kinder and to remember
• 31:31
  Speaker 7: what matters.
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: It's not any of the things sometimes we focus on.
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: It's our relationships and it's how we treat each other.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: And he lived that and we experienced his love and
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: it met and mattered.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: We didn't. As we wrap up here at the last
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: point of this was Robes. I think a lot of
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: people didn't know, didn't understand, but it was once again
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: became some kind of a tabloid fodder that we attended
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: his funeral, and folks don't know at that time it
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: was in early March. I think it was we were
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: still under a microscope to the point we couldn't fly
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: into Los Angeles International Airport la IS, where his funeral
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: was happening, flew into San Diego, drove up the two
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: hours to la to his funeral in a white Chevy
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: Camaro that we had rented. He looked ridiculous, But we
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: go to this funeral, and of course Tabloid's right, and
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: we attended and you couldn't be leave by. But folks
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: don't realize that even then, it was worth it to
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: us to get on the plane, fly across the country
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: and do whatever we had to do to be there
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: to honor him on that day. That is why we
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: were there. This story that folks don't know is the
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: backstory of why we would have done anything to be
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: anywhere we needed to be to honor him on that day.
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: Agreed.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: And the cool thing is, I do think there is
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: Like I've made this very clear, I'm a big believer
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: in kismet, and we planned this vacation around a lot
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: of different things. But neither one of us realized before
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: we made this trip that we were going to be
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: here on the anniversary of his death. Until we got
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: here and we looked back and we thought, oh my god,
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: we are actually here on the anniversary of his death.
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: How fucking cool is that.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: We didn't plan it, but it happened, and it's worth
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: noting and it's worth remembering.
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: And my God, Howard Bragman, God bless you. We love you.
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: We think of you often, but we're really thinking of
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: you right now here today. And I know so many
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: of you listening have that person in your life, whether
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: it's your father or your brother, someone you met along
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: the way, a teacher, whoever the mentor was. But these
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: are the moments when you honor those who left something
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: so significant that you lived differently because of them. I
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: am in awe that we got that time with him.
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: I wish there was more time, but we'll take what
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: we got and we'll remember him in the place he
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: loved the most.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: And we will always smile robes. And I will leave
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: this on a happy, a funny, a hilarious note, because
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: we got thrown off guard. He invited us here, yes
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: to port of our art and the house he rents,
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: and apparently he rents it the same one every year.
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: I blue believed he did yes for years and years
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: and years.
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: And it sits on the end of this long stretch
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: of the main beach there in Port of our Arta,
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: and it sits there and it has this house a
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: private entrance and exit to the beach. So we walked
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: out of the house and we're right there on the beach.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: This is our first dunning. We just unpacked. This is unbelievable.
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: We walk one hundred feet. Oh wow, that's a really
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: tight bathing suit for a man to be wearing. We
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: walk a little further. Wow, another tight bathing suit. And
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: is that baby oil he's wearing? And we keep going
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: and going, and it continues and continues, and it seems
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: like it doesn't stop. Seeing very glistening men in the
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: same speedout because robes. Unbeknownst to us, we had just
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: set foot onto gay Beach.
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: So this is true. Howard Bragman. Obviously we mentioned his husband, Michael,
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: Obviously he's gay. All in fact, all the other couples
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: who he had invited to this.
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: House were gay. We were the only heterosexual couple. And
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: by the way, that was awesome too.
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: His friends, his best friends who would come year after
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: year after year to the same place, showed up. Because
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: we felt really conflicted, We're like, is this wrong of
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: us to be going anyway. We know we promised him,
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: but is this wrong? And all his friends were there,
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: and we got to meet Howard's friends, and we got
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: to meet some of the coolest people ever.
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: And yes we were the only heterosexuals.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: But when we walked out and we see that we
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: are surrounded by gay men. I actually pulled up the
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: Google Maps and it said gay Beach. I'm like, babe,
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: we're actually on a beach called gay beach.
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: Just call that. That was a big resort there that
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: caters to gay couples all do dudes? You all, I'm
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: talking about as far as the I could see. Think
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: about whatever resort you've ever been to. You see the
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: lines and the lines and the lines of the beach
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: chairs with the umbrellas.
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: There wasn't a woman in sight, all men a woman in.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: Sight, and you know it was there were no board
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: shorts inside either.
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: There were no boxer shorts, there were no no baby pidos.
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: And you know what you looked at.
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: We looked at each other and we're like, this is perfect, amazing,
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: this is amazing. He didn't mention all word. By the way,
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: where I'm taking you, guys, it's called gay beach. You
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: cool with that the cool thing is he knew we
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: would be And I love that good point even more
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: good point he didn't even need to tell us.
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: Good point. But I'm not sure how much of this
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: we have not said publicly. I think we've mentioned how
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: wearred before. But this is to be in this place
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: and to be here on this day begged for us
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: to hop on the microphone and lets you all know
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: about somebody that's very special to us on this day
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: and to say, rest in peace, Howard. We love you.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: We're still thinking about you and we will for the
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: rest of our lives. And with this gift that you
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: have given to us, and with that, folks, we always
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: appreciate you spending some time with us. I am T. J.
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: Holmes On behalf of my dear Amyl robach In Porta
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: Yodka Mehicol