Latest / Drama, Darling: A Real Housewives Comedy Podcast / Bravo Psychotherapist Melissa Reich talks: RHONJ, Kim & Kroy, and Epigenetics
Transcript
- 0:05Drama, Darling Drama, Darling Drama, Darling. Well, Darlings, welcome
- 0:21back for a very very very very interesting introspective episode. Today, my bish
- 0:28therapist is back, Melissa Reich. How you doing? How you doing?
- 0:34Amy? Your bish therapist in the house. I'm so excited, so excited.
- 0:39I'm so happy to have you back. And if you're not following my
- 0:43bish therapist, you can on She's on Instagram. Can you tell people where
- 0:47you are? You've got your Instagram going right? Yes. Last week I
- 0:52started my Instagram with two followers, and today I have you and me or
- 1:00pretty much the first two, and today I have almost a thousand. I'm
- 1:06zious. That's so exciting. Area. I'm honored, I'm grateful, I'm
- 1:11overwhelmed. I'm perplexed. I can't you know. I'm just I'm so appreciative
- 1:15to the Darlings who have embraced me and just been so kind and loving,
- 1:21and I'm just so grateful. The Darlings are the best. And here's what
- 1:23I will say about this, that they know good material, you know,
- 1:26And that's just a compliment for myself. No, I'm kidding, they know
- 1:32like they're hungry for an interesting perspective on all of this madness that we sift
- 1:37through on a daily basis. So it is really an interesting thing to have
- 1:41connected with you and to get your professional opinion on all this, because it
- 1:44really sheds a lot of light. It confirms of what a lot of us
- 1:48are thinking. A lot of the times we try to put our psychology hats
- 1:53on and we we say, well, they're a sociopath. Well they're a
- 1:56narcissistant, you know, so it's kind of interesting, like they're projecting and
- 2:00deflecting. It's really we are hungry to get those confirmations from someone who actually
- 2:07knows and has a degree about what they're talking about. So that's what I
- 2:10love about our community is that, you know, we've got an intelligent We're
- 2:15not just followers of reality television. You know. We take in all right,
- 2:21you know, we take in all aspects of entertainment and of life.
- 2:24And so many people have so many important jobs and they have so many informed
- 2:30experiences. So when it's when it comes together with therapy and reality television,
- 2:36it's our escape. And yet it's the study of the psychology of people.
- 2:40And I think that's what's the most intriguing. So I love that people are
- 2:45following you because you've got a lot to say about it and have got great
- 2:49perspectives as well as professional opinions, which we always say, and we have
- 2:54a disclaimer that she is you know, what is your disclaimer? Anyway?
- 3:00Yes, it's okay. I don't expect you to. Uh. My disclaimer
- 3:04is that the you know, I'm a therapist, but I'm human, right,
- 3:07so I'm not saying my opinion is the only right one there is.
- 3:13I am not that narcissistic to believe that. I uh am just one hundred
- 3:20percent right. Uh. But the disclaimer is that everything we're talking about today,
- 3:24everything we have talked about during the scand of all, I am not
- 3:30diagnosing anyone. That would be highly unethical. I you know, and people
- 3:38online have you know, I've had some people come out of the woodwork and
- 3:43say, you're an ethical you should lose your license and all this stuff and
- 3:46for having an yeah, for having an opinion? Yeah, except okay,
- 3:51wow interesting yeah so, but but to be fair, it would be unethical,
- 3:55right if I was coming on here saying, stand of all, is
- 3:59this and you know, Kim is this. I'm not going to do that.
- 4:02But what I aim to do here is take the fodder of reality TV
- 4:08and turn it into something that can really help people to talk about, you
- 4:13know, today, you know, we'll talk about generational trauma and epigenetics and
- 4:16all these other factors. So that really is my main goal. Now,
- 4:21Melissa the Bravo fan can be sassy, but Melissa the therapist is just trying
- 4:30to give information. So I'm not here to diagnose. I am not here
- 4:33to treat. I am not here to claim that I am the end all
- 4:36be all. This is my thoughts, feelings, and reactions based on my
- 4:43clinical experience. Yeah, and I like when these two meet because it's you
- 4:48know, we've talked about this before, but like, for example, the
- 4:51ladies from the Bravo docket, you know, the taking. Yeah, it's
- 4:56the same type of thing. They're taking their legal knowledge and their combined it
- 5:00with their love for reality television and really doing the Lord's work like you where
- 5:04you're just kind of exposing some things that we may not understand and for the
- 5:09better of not only our understanding, but for humanity to get to know human
- 5:14nature too. From your perspective and how they talk about you know, the
- 5:17legalities of it all that we can't understand. So I think it's so fascinating
- 5:24and I just love it. I mean, because there have been so many
- 5:26times when I'm a show, I'm like, oh, I wish we had
- 5:28a you know, a professional therapist to chime in on this and just to
- 5:31kind of explain what this means or what are we seeing or what could this
- 5:35be? And so I really love it. But you were here for Scanned
- 5:40of All and that was super interesting. You can obviously find that episode on
- 5:44Patreon. Now you're here today to talk about a couple of things, actually
- 5:48the Jersey reunion, and you're going to touch a little bit on the Kim
- 5:53and Kroix situation. Absolutely, and you know, going back to the Bravo
- 5:58docket ladies, I just want to thank them and give them a huge shout
- 6:00out because they they reposted something that I posted and sent me a very lovely
- 6:09message and that is what got me kind of blown up overnight. So I
- 6:15love I agree. I love the work that they do. I think they're
- 6:19amazing, and I just want to say thank you and give them a shout
- 6:21out. Oh that's so sweet. Why don't we kind of talk about,
- 6:26you know, on the heels of the reunion Jersey Reunion three, which was
- 6:30was really and I've talked about this, you know, obviously this week which
- 6:33was or last week that it was very sad for me. It was one
- 6:38of those moments where I actually understood when people say I need to dip out
- 6:41for a little while, because I am like, well, this seems like
- 6:45really the end for them, and I can't see them filming together ever again.
- 6:48And if they do, they better this would never happen. But the
- 6:54only way that they can film together is if they genuinely just stop fighting,
- 6:59because anything beyond that, it's just we need to break. They need to
- 7:04break. It's too difficult to watch these family members being tortured by each other
- 7:11emotionally at this point. I mean, it is very entertaining in the past
- 7:15and it causes us to you know, it makes it such a great show.
- 7:19But at this point I do feel very very sad, and I feel
- 7:26like there's so much selfishness going on and so many miscommunication situations and also toxic
- 7:33situations with Louis involved. But so on the heels of the Jersey Reunion.
- 7:39How are you feeling about that? What are your perspectives? Melissa Oh my
- 7:44good God, I'm exhausted, I mean sincerely, so I really have watched
- 7:51Jersey from season one, episode one, and I will admit during the pandemic,
- 8:00I think we all had different Bravo shows that we used for comfort,
- 8:03and Jersey was mine for someone godly reason. And I'm just with all of
- 8:13you when we say we're just so sick of it. It's just watching people.
- 8:18You know. The one thing I posted on my Instagram which got a
- 8:22lot of feedback, was the one thing that made the show so compelling is
- 8:26now causing its downfall. Why is that right? And to me, the
- 8:33reason for that is because we all have grown, Right, it's been ten
- 8:37thirteen years, so watching the same people do the same stale, kind of
- 8:46toxic, emotionally mature stuff, it just gets exhausting. And honestly, what
- 8:54you all are experiencing is what therapists can experience, which is kind of like
- 8:58empathy fatigue, compassion fatigue, which is like we've had enough of it,
- 9:07and there's a feeling you get like when I've done therapy before, because I've
- 9:11done therapy with families like this, and when you get to a point where
- 9:18you're just stuck because no one's willing to take any accountability, to admit any
- 9:26of their character defects, shortcomings, things like that. These relationships they just
- 9:33either implode or they just kind of die off in my experience, and we're
- 9:41seeing in imploding. Yeah. Yeah, it's terrible because truth of the matter
- 9:46is, I don't understand how there are teams. There's no teams. They're
- 9:54all wrong, you know, like Melissa and Joe have done stuff, and
- 9:58Teresa and and Joe and now Louis, they've all done a lot of things
- 10:05that have contributed to this turmoil over the last ten years. And none of
- 10:13them, and I mean this sincerely, none of them are willing to say
- 10:18I was wrong and I'm sorry. Oh not close, No, not ever,
- 10:24not for anything. And they both have things to apologize for, you
- 10:28know. So I think it's just really sad and disheartening for me because one
- 10:35of the things that I talked about in my posts that got a lot of
- 10:41attention was the concept of generational trauma. Generational trauma, there are actually research
- 10:50to support that there's genetic components where families ancestors who have experienced trauma pass that
- 11:01down genetically to you know, generations and that's why you see generation after generation
- 11:13being estranged from family, right, I mean the first couple seasons of Jersey,
- 11:18we saw it with Kathy Wakeley's mom and you know Teresa's parents, right,
- 11:24yeah, no, no, right, So the estrangement piece has been
- 11:28part of their generational trauma, and in my opinion, they are are just
- 11:37repeating the same patterns. Yeah, when Teresa said, my you, his
- 11:41daddy used to say, honor me when I'm alive, not when I'm dead,
- 11:45And I thought, well, why didn't he do that for his cousin
- 11:48or his sister. I'm sorry, exactly, yeah, exactly, you know.
- 11:52And so I think that there's a lot of there's a lot of missed
- 11:58up opportunities, and it's really tragic because the fact is that No No and
- 12:05No No are gone and Teresa and Joe, you know, that's all they
- 12:11have. But they're just both so unwilling to take accountability to move forward,
- 12:20and it's just very hard to watch. So I'm with you in terms of
- 12:24Jersey was always one of my favorites. But I don't see any possibility of
- 12:30how they could all come back and co exit. Now. I don't see
- 12:33that. Do you think that if Louie hadn't entered the picture, that we
- 12:39would be in this place, or perhaps Louis accelerated the process and got to
- 12:46the place that they would have ultimately gotten to. Whether or not Louie entered
- 12:48the picture, that is a great and inevitable because of how their pattern is.
- 12:54Like part of me thinks Louise here escalated it and got to the point
- 13:01where they would have probably gotten to anyway, because something else would have happened.
- 13:05I don't know, what do you think? Yeah, those are all
- 13:09good questions and good points, and I have a lot to say about Louie
- 13:13a lot. Well. To answer your question, Teresa only surrounds herself with
- 13:26what I call echo chambers. So echo chambers are people who aren't going to
- 13:33ever call you on your staff or tell you that you're wrong. That's why
- 13:39I think we've seen her have a lot of really choppy relationships, you know,
- 13:45very severe relationships with Jacqueline and with you know, Dina, and with
- 13:50you know, all these different people. If it weren't Louie, I believe
- 13:54it would have been somebody else that perpetuated this. But I, in my
- 14:01opinion, I believe that Louis accelerated it. I think the fire was burning
- 14:09and when he came in, it was like pouring gasoline onto the fire,
- 14:15which is insane because you know, he came into Jersey with this very nama
- 14:22stay, I love therapy, I'm a healed person kind of attitude. And
- 14:31I'm just gonna go ahead and say the lie detector determined that was a lie.
- 14:39What is with the way that he can switch? Because Joe Gorga made
- 14:43such an amazing observation and really articulated it perfectly that he's like God, the
- 14:50way that you can just switch, I thought that is, you know,
- 14:54it really something for Joe to say that, because he can go from zero
- 14:58to one hundred in his te But it's different, right because he's mad.
- 15:03He can be resting mad and then he just gets more mad. Whereas Louis
- 15:07feigns that he's not a stay like you said, and he's calm and he's
- 15:11trying to work it out. He's a living and he's just trying to you
- 15:13know, because it's what your sister wants. And then all of a sudden,
- 15:16watch yourself. You know, it's like, how what is that behavior?
- 15:18What is that personality where you can switch like that. It's so funny
- 15:24you mentioned that, because I have that in my notes. You know,
- 15:28I don't often agree with choke Orga, right. I don't agree with any
- 15:35of them really because I think they're all wrong, but or all part of
- 15:39the problem, should I say, But in that moment, Jorgora hit the
- 15:43nail on the head and when So essentially what I my clinical interpretation of his
- 15:52of Louis's behavior is that when you have these very sudden mood shifts, that
- 16:00indicates a lot of things. But to me, what it indicates is that
- 16:06someone can try to have a facade, right, a mask, but their
- 16:11behavior is always going to tell the truth. So you know, there's also
- 16:18a saying in you know, behavioral psychology is that past behavior is the best
- 16:22prediction predictor of future behavior. So I think that Louis has had a lot
- 16:30of emotional and relationship and stability of his past, and you know, he's
- 16:36claiming to be healed and to be different, and so this this rapid mood
- 16:41shift where you go from threatening to I don't know what he was threatening to
- 16:48do to those people, but he was threatening something. And in the in
- 16:51my opinion, in the creepiest way possible. It was like this weird under
- 16:55your breath, like like if you're gonna, if you're gonna say it,
- 16:59say it. So to me, it just indicates that he is not as
- 17:04healthy as he would like to believe, or he says that he is.
- 17:08There is an instability to his emotions and his personality. Healthy people don't jump
- 17:19that quick, right, right. So for example, this really stood out
- 17:23to me at the end of the reunion when he got up to shake Joe
- 17:30Orga's hand and Frank Catania, right, I'm thinking, what are you all
- 17:37doing? Yeah? Sports games, like what you do at the end of
- 17:41the sports Yeah, this is so phony. It's so wild to me.
- 17:48And for John Fuda, who, oh my god, Fuda for president.
- 17:55I appreciate John Fudah so much because he was the only person who was like,
- 18:00no, no, I believe John Fudo when he said, if you
- 18:07own up to this, all will go past it. Yeah, right,
- 18:11I believe he meant that. And Louie's just not capable of authentic, bold
- 18:19truth. He's just not Louis. Clearly, here's the fodder you know from
- 18:26whether it's you know, social media or whatever. And I think he tells
- 18:32us or says things the fans want to hear, but his behaviors don't match,
- 18:37and so that tells me that he's at the very least not being truthful,
- 18:41and probably you know, way more than that when he is lying,
- 18:49because I'll say it. But when he's lying through his teeth, it is
- 18:55so unreal how he can be so committed too lying and you can see him
- 19:03committed to it so hard because he's justifying, like he has justified in his
- 19:07head. I did not hire Bo Didl because Bo Didl and I discussed this
- 19:14and Bo Didl was just going to do this for me as a favor.
- 19:15So technically I didn't hire him. So I'm not lying right now. I
- 19:19didn't. I didn't. I didn't investigate you. You know, Bo Didel
- 19:22investigated here. I didn't investigate. I didn't have you investigated. He went
- 19:26ahead and did that based on a conversation we had because I wanted to get
- 19:30dirt on you. You know, it's like when you see in your experience
- 19:36with people who are compulsive liars or just good liars, what are the attributes
- 19:41of that like in their head? Because it looks like they're telling the truth.
- 19:45So what is going on in their head when they're creating this lie?
- 19:49Is is it? That? Is it that they're justifying it? How do
- 19:52they do it without a tell? So that's a great question. I would
- 19:57argue that Clint I can tell you what his tell is. Oh, most
- 20:03people don't recognize it. But the first thing is is that when people are
- 20:11compulsive, pathological liars, they believe their lie, so to them it's truth
- 20:19because and this is what drove me crazy too about the scan of all stuff
- 20:23is like when people are over focused on these tiny little semantics, it is
- 20:30an immediate red flag that they are lying, covering something up, trying to
- 20:36deflect. That's what people, you know, people who are narcissistic, people
- 20:41who are controlling, people who lie. They use these tactics because they work
- 20:48focusing on the details, like going into the minutia of stuff is what you're
- 20:52saying, Yes, as soon as I find families, couples, whatever,
- 20:59getting in to the minutia, it's it's all bs. It's not about the
- 21:04minutia. It's about the stuff underneath it that no one wants to talk about.
- 21:07Because I find when people get stuck in the minutia, they're too focused
- 21:11on being right, and you know there are actually there are people who you
- 21:19know, can pass lie detector tests from being a pathological liar because they believe
- 21:25their own lies. It's not a lie if you believe it. Is that
- 21:29why they're not allowed in court? Why they don't allow Yeah, well,
- 21:33I mean and again the Bravodacul ladies could speak more to this than I,
- 21:37but they are just notoriously unreliable for that reason, but also because you know
- 21:44it relies on heart rate and you know a lot of biological factors that when
- 21:49healthy people are in a situation of being accused of something that they didn't do,
- 21:53like, they're gonna have some physiological reaction to that. So so a
- 22:00lie detector really doesn't do a great job in my opinion. And part of
- 22:07this is, you know why they're not admissible in court because it's just too
- 22:11inconsistent. Right, But Louie, oh my gosh, he let me ask
- 22:22you, Yes, another question about Louie, because you said that you know
- 22:27his tell. Is that something that you would be willing to share or is
- 22:32that like too far? No? I can share it, And thank you
- 22:36for reminding me, because when I think about all this stuff, my brain
- 22:38goes in a million different directions, so I appreciate mine. Bringing me back
- 22:42to that, Louie's tell is his nonverbals. And I'll be specific, but
- 22:52for people who are listening to this, who are wondering, how can you
- 22:56tell nonverbals? Always, and I mean always give people away because part of
- 23:07your your behavior, some of it is unconscious. So there are times where,
- 23:14for example, Randall Emmett, when we talked about the Randall scandal,
- 23:18there was a video of him where he talked about it not being true and
- 23:22he subtly shook his head like this. But to me, that gave him
- 23:30away, because you know, you'd have to watch it kind of to see
- 23:33what I'm talking about. With Louie, he gets this face where he kind
- 23:40of scrunches his forehead and he gets these two little lines here, and his
- 23:47face starts to get red and flushed, which I also have some more thoughts
- 23:49on that. Yeah, yeah, I have some other He gets this face
- 23:56like like very Zoolander, you know, very blue blue eyes or whatever.
- 24:03Yeah. Yeah, like he's trying to keep it together and be the bigger
- 24:07person, but you can just tell that there's rage bubbling in him. And
- 24:11when he makes that face is when the nasty stuff comes out, the kind
- 24:19of threats, the you know, the mood shift that we're talking about.
- 24:26The face is his to me? Is his tell? Okay, well,
- 24:32okay, that's phenomenal observation. Is there something too? Is there any credit
- 24:40due to Louis for trying to control the demons because we know that they're there.
- 24:48He knows that they're there. That's why he does warriors or why he
- 24:53he is has been on a journey and a path to better himself that I
- 24:59do leave. I mean, that's why at the very beginning, I felt
- 25:03like I was willing to go out on a limb and just say, you
- 25:06know what, you know I've done. I've been a part of weird groups
- 25:11where I've tried to like better myself, and so what if he was on
- 25:14an island things got a little weird, Like he sent a weird message.
- 25:18There were shirtless Okay, totally bizarre, but like at least his heart was
- 25:25in the right place of trying to be a better man. Is there something
- 25:30there where we could say I mean, it's literally the angel and the devil,
- 25:37and the devil continues to win over him in when he is put in
- 25:41the pressure pressure cooker, because he clearly doesn't have control over any of this,
- 25:48because he is easily pushed to the place where he you know, red
- 25:52faces and he goes bonkers. But is there any credit due to him for
- 25:57growth and at least his either fake or authentic efforts in trying to be a
- 26:07better person. Yeah, that's a great point and a great question. My
- 26:18here I get Here's the thing. I get it because ultimately, well,
- 26:22Amy, you're just a sweet, lovely human, and people who are sweet,
- 26:26lovely people, we do want to see the best in people, right,
- 26:30because all all good people have character defects, you know, flaws,
- 26:37characteristics that aren't great. But the reverse is also true. Unhealthy people have
- 26:47some really great qualities and characteristics, you know. So I do think there's
- 26:53some parts of Louis that are uh, you know, that are that are
- 27:00great. He is seems genuinely interested in self improvement. I just don't think
- 27:06he's able to be authentically real enough with himself to fully engage in that process,
- 27:14if that makes sense. Yeah. I think he has the desire to
- 27:18be and do better, but the behavior keeps falling short because he's missing he's
- 27:26missing something in his healing process, and this is not the time to go
- 27:30on a reality show. Like if you are someone who's dealing, who is
- 27:34trying to be a better person, and you really do have some big demons
- 27:38to conquer, this is the worst place for you to go. This is
- 27:44a pressure cooker for a mental breakdown for a healthy person. I mean,
- 27:49you're at a reunion and you've got family, and you've got people who are
- 27:53provoking you whether you're right or wrong. I mean, people have Manila envelopes
- 27:59in every behind every pillow or cushion on that set. And so it's almost
- 28:08like I would believe when you see his family, you know, and you
- 28:12see how well that they function from we don't see it all obviously, but
- 28:18you see, you know, sides of that. You see that his family
- 28:22is intact. His sisters love him, his mother loves him. And again,
- 28:27and you could probably speak to this, but what we see clearly isn't
- 28:32exactly all of the details. So we don't really know what's going on behind
- 28:36closed doors. But when I have seen that in the past, I'm going,
- 28:38well, it can't be that bad. I mean, he seems like
- 28:41a real hero to these guys, So why is he such an absolute disaster
- 28:45in this scenario, what were you going to say? Yeah, go ahead,
- 28:51and if you want to say something about that. Uh, you know,
- 28:56I think the same thing sometimes too, about Melissa and Joe Gorgon,
- 29:00Right, because Melissa is able to keep her relationships with her family, Joe
- 29:03is able to have relationships with her family. Right. It's it's a very
- 29:07similar good pointing. Yeah, you know, so, so that's what I
- 29:11mean when people who are unhealthy and unhealed, they can't have these good qualities
- 29:17and characteristics. But we don't. You're right in that we don't know the
- 29:25behind the scenes with his family, you know, are are they just enabling
- 29:30bad behavior? Are they echo chambers of right? You know, you're the
- 29:34best. Great. We love people who have who have teams of echo chambers.
- 29:40Yeah, it could be two people who found each other there. Yeah,
- 29:42that's a really good point. Yeah. Interesting, right, So you
- 29:48know I think that while it does bode well for them that they can maintain
- 29:55these relationships, my clinical opinion would be that there's probably something behind the scenes
- 29:59with our families that were not seeing that does involve echo chamber. And you
- 30:04know, there's one other interesting thing that I picked up on that I wanted
- 30:08to share with the warrior stuff. Yeah, so remember when all that stuff
- 30:14came out, and you know, he got trolled, which you know,
- 30:18I didn't love because self improvement there's a lot of different ways to engage in
- 30:22it. You know, let's not judge each other's process. But it did
- 30:26seem, you know, a little odd. And he came out and said
- 30:30something about how they manipulated him into proposing. Do you remember that they manipulated
- 30:40him into proposing And it wasn't his real intention. He just got caught up
- 30:45in the moment. Right at this reunion, your BESH therapist picked up a
- 30:48little tidbit amy and someone was making fun of him about the warrior tattoo that
- 30:56he has on his chest, and he got that, he got that intense
- 31:00look and he goes in, I'm proud of it. So which is it?
- 31:04You're proud of it and you totally support and stand by your behavior when
- 31:11you were there, or they manipulated you. You know that that doesn't that
- 31:18doesn't track for me, And that's what I That's what I mean when eventually
- 31:22people they give themselves away because you can't when you lie about a lot of
- 31:29things. You can't be consistent with all your lives. It's just not humanly
- 31:32possible. And so these are the little nuggets that I kind of you know,
- 31:38I get excited when I see because that's that's an unbelievable nugget. And
- 31:42also to piggyback on that he has been saying, you know, Bo Didal
- 31:49and the investigation, He's like, I made that up. I just I
- 31:53just made that up. You know, when Louis first came into the picture,
- 32:00he acted like he wanted to help and mend and support, and then
- 32:06as soon as he and Teresa get married, all of a sudden, he's
- 32:09trying to pull her out of the snake pit. So which is it?
- 32:13You know, like it's it just doesn't track to me. Yeah, so
- 32:16what does that mean? I don't understand how that went. People are saying,
- 32:22like he you know, that's what a narcissist does. They try to
- 32:25isolate you. But and I was talking about this last week where I was
- 32:30like, well, he didn't isolate her originally, Like, and that's what
- 32:34they do, is they I don't think they wait around for a better time.
- 32:37They just immediately start doing it. Or do they Oh, oh okay,
- 32:42they're patient. They're patient, and they can wait. I have absolutely
- 32:50uh, you know, I have worked with domestic violence survivors and there are
- 32:55absolutely uh. There's a period of sending your your fake representative and trying to
- 33:07pull someone in, and then as soon as someone feels like they're in,
- 33:10then the behavior starts. So yes, it can be delayed, it can
- 33:15be I don't know, you know, only he knows what his goal is
- 33:23in terms of the isolation. It appears, it appears to me that he
- 33:32he only wants he and thereesa to be involved with people who are complete echo
- 33:38chambers. That I can say, and you know, they're not people who
- 33:45want to hear any other feedback, Like when I'm being an asshole. My
- 33:51husband needs to tell me I'm being an asshole, because even though you know
- 33:54I'm a therapist and I'm a lovely person, I'm human and I need feedback.
- 33:59You know, we all need honest feedback to truly grow. And I
- 34:05can tell you one thing for sure is that Teresa and Louie and Joe and
- 34:09Melissa, none of them want it. None of them are open to it,
- 34:13none of them are interested in it. They don't want that. Well,
- 34:16I One of the things that I liked about Louie was that he would
- 34:20call Teresa out because she would actually listen to him. That is Amy,
- 34:27I had the same thought. I thought, man, before they got married,
- 34:30he used to call her out on her bullshit all the time. She
- 34:35I wonder why that's stopped. Hmmm, because it was never authentic. Really,
- 34:44I don't believe it was authentic, because if it was authentic, he
- 34:49would still You don't just flip flop on that. You know, you don't
- 34:57support someone reconciling with their family and try to be a bridge and then turn
- 35:01it around and blow up the bridge. You That's that's not that's not a
- 35:07healthy appropriate response. So it makes me question was it ever authentic. I
- 35:13don't believe that it was. I also you you talked about in one of
- 35:17your podcasts, feeling like he did it because he kind of has a God
- 35:23complex and he wanted to be the savior. That really resonated me with me
- 35:29when you said it, Amy, because I think there also is some truth
- 35:31to that, and when he realized that he can't, like he's just continuing
- 35:37to look bad and he's not garnering any any attention from that He's like,
- 35:42oh, well, now I'm done with this too, you know. Wow,
- 35:45wow, Wow. Now I'd love to talk a little bit more about
- 35:51the epigenetics thing that you had mentioned before, because that's a that is a
- 35:55term. I don't know if you would call it a term, but I've
- 35:59just seen it more recently that it's a more widely accepted Would you call it
- 36:07a concept or what would you call it? A scientific theory? What would
- 36:10you call it? Yeah, I'd call it a scientific theory, okay,
- 36:14but there is it's not just a theory. There is scientific research. It's
- 36:21newer, but there is current scientific research to support the theory as well.
- 36:27Well. I found it interesting that you mentioned that because I've just stumbled across
- 36:30this in my TikTok scrolling about people talking about this and that it's now becoming
- 36:37you know, accepted, that it is real, that there is research to
- 36:43support it, and that it is molecular like it is, you know,
- 36:47our behavior seeps literally seeps into our system and can form you know, cells,
- 36:59and and they're for create the genes and then we physically pass that on.
- 37:04So I and this is a concept that I cannot even begin to articulate
- 37:08that was the worst explanation, but it's something that i've just not I'm just
- 37:14now, you know, tripped on it, and and I'm fascinated by it.
- 37:19So when you said that, I was like, oh my gosh,
- 37:21because I want to know everything I possibly can about it, because it says
- 37:23so much about it gave me a lot of hope for us as a society
- 37:31as humans that we may be able to stop this cycle. Not just and
- 37:38by that we I mean, like people always say we're stopping the cycle,
- 37:43We're you know, We're not. We're not going to continue the trauma cycle
- 37:45by our actions, of course, but that in turn actually can affect,
- 37:51you know, putting those genetic imprints onto your your children and their children's children,
- 37:58because the trauma ass is down not just by exposure about your environment and
- 38:04your upbringing, but through your actual you know, body and and your chemicals.
- 38:09That again, I'm not the professional, but can you please speak more
- 38:14to that because I'm so excited about it. Amy. First of all,
- 38:19do not count yourself out, because that was a very good description. It's
- 38:23a very complicated topic and I'm not going to pretend that this is my area
- 38:30of expertise. I am you know knowledgeable about it. I've read some research
- 38:36studies, but it's a really complex theory and idea. So what epigenetics is.
- 38:44It's this, It's essentially the study of how our genetics meet our environment.
- 38:51Okay, so without because I'm such a nerd with this stuff. Oh
- 38:54my gosh, I'm such a psychology nerd. I love it. It just
- 38:58brings me such joy. But there's with epigenetics there is how I'm just looking
- 39:08at my notes here for a second because I don't want to say. We
- 39:10can even if you want, and we can pause if you'd like to.
- 39:14No, no, no, okay. So epigenetics talks about how generational trauma
- 39:22impacts us at a cellular level, how our ancestors trauma lead legitimately becomes part
- 39:34of our cellular DNA, and how and it leads us to continue the cycle
- 39:40of you know, generational trauma. There are two important pieces with epigenetics.
- 39:46There is genetic expression and then genetic alteration. So when our genes are altered,
- 39:57that is how And I'm gonna to talk about this more when we talk
- 40:00about Kim and Croy, But that is how addiction is studied because there are
- 40:07very significant, complex genetic components to addiction. With generational trauma, it changes
- 40:19the expression how the gene expresses itself, but it doesn't alter the gene itself,
- 40:25if that makes sense. Okay, So it's very complicated, but it
- 40:30is a hugely up and coming area of study, and to your point,
- 40:37I believe that this will be an absolute life saving breakthrough in the study of
- 40:45both psychology and addiction in helping people change that cycle and become The term for
- 40:52it is a cycle breaker. So a cycle breaker is someone in the family
- 40:59who reckon it, nices the dysfunction, and they change their behavior with their
- 41:05next generation of family as a result to avoid continuing that trauma. But the
- 41:14problem is that it's not that easy. It's not you can't just say,
- 41:20oh, I know my family's dysfunctional and I'm going to go ahead and change
- 41:23it. It's a lot of I mean, quite frankly, it's blood,
- 41:28sweat and tears, of therapy and of radical self acceptance and awareness. We
- 41:37have to have a When I say that, it just means like a complete
- 41:42awareness and self acceptance of our behavior, because without that we can't see how
- 41:49we're continuing to perpetuate the trauma. Without having a radical awareness and understanding of
- 41:55ourselves, if that makes sense. And so going back to Jersey, none
- 42:01of them have that awareness or insight. So even if they wanted to break
- 42:08the cycle, which I don't think they want to truly, I think they're
- 42:12too entrenched in the anger and the and the hate. But if they wanted
- 42:15to, they would really have to do some work on themselves first in therapy
- 42:22in order to assist future generations in stopping this trauma. If that makes sense.
- 42:30It does, and then it makes me concerned about the kids. You
- 42:34know, so many kids, and what will happen with them and their relationships.
- 42:39Of course, also Teresa was in therapy, which is so mind blowing
- 42:44and what and probably to Louise's encouragement, Yes, okay, I have some
- 42:52thoughts on this. Okay, So anyone can go to therapy. That does
- 42:58not mean that they are doing any work. And I'll explain what I mean
- 43:04by that. Some people have a cognitive awareness that this is what I need
- 43:12to do to appear healthy, But in therapy you really have to be completely
- 43:19open and vulnerable and allow yourself to do the work. And I promise you
- 43:23that she was not doing that because she well, right right, if she
- 43:30were, we would genuinely see some different behavior. Plus, you know,
- 43:38as a therapist who's kind of entering the pop culture realm, I certainly don't
- 43:43want to throw stones. I do always wonder though, about therapists who agree
- 43:47to be filmed, because for me, therapy is a sacred, very sacred,
- 43:57very private process. I would never feel comfortable enough to to broadcast that,
- 44:08or to allow a client to broadcast this that part of their life.
- 44:16For me, that wouldn't make a lot of well you are because this is
- 44:20my therapy and therapist, so technically you are exposing that o' kidding forever Amy,
- 44:30Yeah, so you know, and and when they showed her therapy,
- 44:37you know, a therapist. One of the reasons why, you know,
- 44:40I've had a lot of difficulty with clients in the past is when you're dealing
- 44:45with really difficult personalities and you therapeutically and appropriately confront them on their stuff.
- 44:54If they don't they don't like it, and then they get angry and they
- 45:00get really upset. We only saw a snippet of the therapy, so I
- 45:05can't judge it, but I'm just saying, you know, I wonder how
- 45:07much the therapist is really calling Teresa or Louis on their role because the fact
- 45:16is we all play a role in any relationship that we're in. We all
- 45:21do. It's never just one person. The percentage isn't always equal, but
- 45:27it still requires cooperation, you know. Yes, now, can we swivel
- 45:37on over to Kim and Croy if you will? Well, I have one
- 45:43last thing I wanted to say about the pajama snitch. Oh please, yes,
- 45:49very good. Please. I mean we started the reunion with pajamas and
- 45:52we'll end our discussion about this with the pajamas. Yeah, very poetic.
- 45:58Okay. For me, it wasn't so much that he said it, It
- 46:05was why did he say it? And the answer to why he said it?
- 46:10And he kind of almost admitted to this. At the reunion. Louis
- 46:17was trying to connect with Joe, which is his fancy, kind of very
- 46:27shaded way of saying that he was trying to emotionally manipulate. Wow. He
- 46:32a thousand percent was using that as a tactic because he thought Joe would be
- 46:40like, Wow, that's amazing. You know. He just totally thought that
- 46:46would cause a different reaction. And so for me, that tells me two
- 46:51things that one, he is emotionally manipulative and too his judgment of his behavior
- 47:01is incongruent. MM. So that's what I'll say about that. Wow,
- 47:13it's like a Housewives interview where you pull your in your drink. That's what
- 47:15I'll say about that. And I'm like, bloop right, yes, that's
- 47:24all I wanted to say about that so much. Well, that is the
- 47:29concern. The whole thing with the whole family is very concerning. Okay,
- 47:34well, one more thing now before we do talk about Kim and Cray for
- 47:37the future, what do you think, I mean, what do you think
- 47:44will happen like next season? Where do you think is the best way to
- 47:50go from here? It's such a good question. And you know Melissa at
- 47:58the end of the reunion, when she was when she was like, well,
- 48:00I'll go with the flow, I was like, yeah, that was
- 48:05the sweetest way of just saying please, I want to come back and I
- 48:12can coexist with you, you know what I mean. It wasn't an authentic
- 48:15That's how I took it too. I'll film with you. Yeah, all
- 48:21of the ladies at the end, all of a sudden, magically poof there
- 48:25are feuds. We're dead, We're ready to move forward. I can walk.
- 48:31Yeah, you all just want a contract. But to answer your question,
- 48:38if I were Bravo, this is going to be a bold statement,
- 48:43But if I were Bravo, I would be afraid of Louis and I would
- 48:47not want to be engaged with him in any way, shape or form,
- 48:55unfortunately, because that's how I feel. That would mean, you know that
- 49:01Teresa would have to go. But to be honest, the only way forward,
- 49:07in my opinion, is for them to all go. I know that
- 49:12sounds insane, and people, I'm gonna get a lot of don't at me.
- 49:15Okay, I'm gonna get a lot of hate for that. But you
- 49:19know, Melissa and Joe and Teresa and Louis, just live your lives and
- 49:24just it might be kind of nice to just get rid of them all.
- 49:28I mean, I kind of agree with that, because if you get rid
- 49:30of Teresa and you leave Melissa and Joe, it's kind of like, wah
- 49:36wah, Well, what's the point. Why don't you give the rest of
- 49:37the cast a chance and just put them both couples in a time out,
- 49:43you know, and just say, look, yes, you guys need to
- 49:45both work out your shit and let's see how let's see what you do off
- 49:50camera for a couple of years. You know, I believe that one thousand
- 49:54percent because ultimately, in my opinion, as I've been clear, I'm team
- 50:00No One. I don't think either of them should have the opportunity to come
- 50:04back. I don't think that they should pick one over the other. I
- 50:08know a lot of people have a lot of opinions about you know, standing
- 50:13Teresa or standing Mliss or whatever. I think they both need to time out.
- 50:16This is their real life. These are real families that are being destroyed,
- 50:22and this is reality TV. It's not worth it and it's not that
- 50:25serious. Yeah, my honest feeling, give them both a break, take
- 50:30them out of the equation. See how Jersey does. Maybe add some new
- 50:36people, you know, bring Jackie backfull to whatever, just do something different
- 50:42completely. That's to me, the only fair and sensible way to do it.
- 50:46But I think that's a great way to do it. I mean,
- 50:50because Teresa can't come back without Louis, Because if Bravo was like, well,
- 50:54Louis Is, you know, he's a wild card. We he's so
- 51:00let's not film with him. But let's film with Teresa that that doesn't seem
- 51:05like you're telling the whole story. I mean, that's not gonna work.
- 51:07That's not and it's not authentic, you know. I mean, it's just
- 51:12it doesn't make any sense. So I am honestly one of the things that
- 51:15I am so thirsty to figure out is this, what are they going to
- 51:21do? Who's in charge of making those decisions? You know, what are
- 51:23they considering? You know, whatever they do, we all have to make
- 51:29a decision if we're going to watch for me, if Melissa or Teresa comes
- 51:34back, I'm out. I'm going to say that right now. I'm out.
- 51:37I can't. I can't do it anymore. Teresa's behavior. I think
- 51:42Melissa and Teresa are very similar, and they have similar behavior, but Melissa
- 51:45is just quieter and not as obnoxious about it. But I'm just I'm tired
- 51:51of all of it, and I got better things to do. Yeah,
- 51:57we're moving on. We're moving on. We won't spend as much time on
- 52:00Kim and Croy. We'll just do broad strokes. But I'm curious because we
- 52:06don't have a ton of details on them as it stands, But we have
- 52:08this incredibly contentious divorce that's happening right now with them both filing against each other.
- 52:16They're both asking for custy, they're both accusing each other of abuse.
- 52:21This neglect that you're on pot, you're a gambling addict. I'm selling my
- 52:28wigs. No you're not. I'm selling your wigs. Kroy's got my salon.
- 52:32Don't buy anything. I mean, you know, it's it is so
- 52:36weird. And then in the next post is like, see you in Real
- 52:38Housewives of Atlanta. You know it's how outstanding bills they're selling. She's selling
- 52:50a ton of stuff there. Obviously have a lot of debt. We know
- 52:52that. So that being said, Melissa thoughts on Kim and KROI, oh
- 53:00boy, okay, I got I have more thoughts on this than I do
- 53:05on Jersey. But I do want to reiterate. I do want to reiterate
- 53:09my disclaimer. So I'm going to be talking about addiction. I am not
- 53:14Kim's doctor, I am not her therapist. I'm not her mental health team.
- 53:19I am not diagnosing her, will not diagnose her. I'm giving my
- 53:23feedback on you know what I see because you know, fun fact, I
- 53:29used to be a gambling prevention specialist. Wow, it is a certification that
- 53:35I received. I just never kept it up because, ultimately, you know,
- 53:38there's a lot of reasons. I just I just didn't want to have
- 53:42my practice be focused on that anymore. But I think, really what this
- 53:47comes down to is mental health issues and addiction, and I'll explain you know
- 53:57a little bit about that. So the first thing I just want to say
- 54:02is that there's something called process addictions. Okay, where So when you're addicted
- 54:09to a substance, alcohol, drugs, what have you, it's a substance
- 54:13use disorder. A process addiction is things like sex and love addiction, gambling
- 54:21addiction, shopping addiction, food addiction, exercise addiction. There's a lot of
- 54:27different process addictions, and typically there are certain statistical factors that increase your risk
- 54:38of developing these issues, and one of them is having a previous substance use
- 54:45disorder. And another one is that these process addictions and addictions in general generally
- 54:52have a comorbid mental health issue in addition. So what you know, the
- 55:04funny thing is is that I don't know if you caught this, but the
- 55:07other day Atlanta re aired there was an episode called Kim and Kroy, and
- 55:14it just it just was an account of their courtship and you know it led
- 55:19up to get getting married. The show that they had there and it was
- 55:22so serendipitous. And I watched it again, you know, preparing for coming
- 55:27on today, and I understand why people are surprised. But I'm gonna tell
- 55:34you why I'm not. Kim and Corey really did. There was love there
- 55:38for sure, Okay, there was true, in my opinion, true genuine
- 55:44love. You know when they when they had their first son, you could
- 55:46just see that they just they both loved each other so much. They were
- 55:51so happy. But over time, you know, relationships, mental health issues,
- 55:58what have you, they solidify if they're not dealt with. And Kim
- 56:05has always given me really avoidant vibes, you know, she just doesn't exactly
- 56:15haters. Yeah, yeah, and it's like, okay, so I think
- 56:28that Kim has always had There's two cognitive concepts I want to share because this
- 56:32also relates to Jersey, willful ignorance and self deception. They are two cognitive
- 56:39strategies that people use to support their beliefs even in the face of evidence that
- 56:50they're wrong. And I think you know, Kim and Theresa and Melissa and
- 56:55Joe, they all have some of these kind of cognitive astortions. And Kim
- 57:01has always seemed like the type of person to me that just doesn't she lives
- 57:07in a different reality, you know, right right right like when And this
- 57:15is not to be rude, because I never will will shame how someone looks
- 57:20her body, shame or anything that's disgusting to me. But those wigs,
- 57:23those party city wigs. When she first started the show, I always thought
- 57:30to myself, you know, Kim's a pretty she's very pretty, She's you
- 57:35know, was fit, and you know she has these good characteristics. How
- 57:38do you think that this looks good? You know? That was always like
- 57:43my first little like, what is up with this? But what I think
- 57:47happened is that Kim after her stroke. I believe she was always prone to
- 57:57anxiety, but after she had the stroke, I believe that she developed an
- 58:02array of kind of post traumatic stress symptoms. Oh my gosh, she wasn't
- 58:08expecting you to go down this road. Okay. Yeah, And when someone
- 58:15has something suddenly happened to them that threatens their life, yeah, PTSD is
- 58:22very real and it's very oh it's so scary and it completely takes over.
- 58:28And I know this. I've you know, I've as you know, I've
- 58:30had cancer twice. I have a lot of health problems. I've been in
- 58:35the position where my health has been threatened and I was lucky to survive.
- 58:39And so I know, personally and professionally, you could just see after her
- 58:45stroke some of those anxious tendencies to me crossed over into obsessive, unhealthy,
- 58:54maladaptive coping. And the thing about gambling, addiction, and really any addiction,
- 59:00any process addiction, it's a maladaptive coping strategy. It is a coping
- 59:06strategy. It's just maladaptive because it's not healthy and it doesn't serve you.
- 59:13But what happened, I believe is that she was untreated for her possible post
- 59:21traumatic stress symptoms after the stroke, and it compounded and compounded and compounded until
- 59:29she was probably a shell of herself doing things that maybe characteristically she wouldn't do.
- 59:37And when you're in a marriage and someone is going through that and they
- 59:42won't get help or they can't or you know what, because I can't judge
- 59:45it, I don't know if she ever tried it just compounds itself into really
- 59:52really you know, difficult stuff and bad behavior, poor choices, right,
- 1:00:00so so devastatingly sad. I mean to think that, yeah, it all
- 1:00:07allegedly in our opinion. I'm going to put my opinion with yours, allegedly
- 1:00:15that that it's stemming from just severe post traumatic stress disorder from her stroke.
- 1:00:23Now, let me ask you this, because obviously we know that Kim loved
- 1:00:27to gamble before she had that stroke. So are you saying that it just
- 1:00:31became an exaggerated thing at this point, because she did say she lost two
- 1:00:37hundred and fifty thousand dollars at one casino in one night, right, So
- 1:00:44that's a great question. And my answer is yeah. So so in the
- 1:00:46early days when we saw Kim, she and again this is a legend and
- 1:00:54she's not my client, but she seemed to me to have some shpping compulsive
- 1:01:00shopping issues. She definitely really enjoyed her alcohol. And the one thing is
- 1:01:08that when someone has an alcohol issue or a shopping issue or what have you,
- 1:01:22it is often very comorbid that they have also PTSD and some mental health
- 1:01:30issues. And I believe in the early days Kim's shopping and drinking. It
- 1:01:39was to fill something. And when when she and Corey first got together,
- 1:01:45I think she felt really happy and fulfilled, probably for the first time in
- 1:01:49her life. Absolutely, But she came from the weird, horrible background.
- 1:01:55Yeah yeah, but because because all those things were sort of seedlings that I
- 1:02:04think were already there. When when the stroke came about, I think it
- 1:02:09was just like like pouring gasoline on a fire. The fire was burning,
- 1:02:15and it just it just And I've seen this happen in my practice. Someone
- 1:02:20you know, it's a little, a little issue, and then a tragedy
- 1:02:23happens or something really scary happens, and it just sets it into overdrive.
- 1:02:30Now with you know, with a gambling addiction, you know, I can
- 1:02:32speak to it, you know, without saying I don't know anything about you
- 1:02:37know, Kim's life other than what I see. But what I can tell
- 1:02:42you is if someone admitted to gambling two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, I
- 1:02:49promise you it was probably what she has gambled is probably ten times that or
- 1:02:55more. Oh my god, You're right when it comes to gamblers. The
- 1:03:00one thing that I've learned is that what down, oh honey, honey,
- 1:03:08not only do they round down, they have a seventy percent off sale of
- 1:03:14what is coming out of their mouth. So if that is what she was
- 1:03:19willing to acknowledge, what she actually has spent would be horrifying and quite frankly,
- 1:03:27one of the reasons that I hard had a hard time working with gambling
- 1:03:30addiction is that it just destroys families in such a way that some other addictions,
- 1:03:39Not that they don't, but but to financially bankrupt and destroy your family's
- 1:03:47life. Yeah, it's that's the sad truth of what gambling addiction is.
- 1:03:54She I think, Kim, you know, she's not a bad person.
- 1:03:59I think she just needs some help. Yes, and you know, I
- 1:04:03don't know how much Kroy. You know, here are my questions you know
- 1:04:08that I wrote down. Has she had negative consequences for that? Right?
- 1:04:13So here's people who are listening to this who you know, are curious about
- 1:04:16addiction. Have there been negative consequences with relationships? Have you had legal issues?
- 1:04:24Have you had job loss? Are you having mental health issues because of
- 1:04:27the gambling? Can you Has she tried to control gambling before but she has
- 1:04:32been unsuccessful. Has her gambling use increased you know, over the last couple
- 1:04:41of years. And the other interesting thing of why gambling is so harmful is
- 1:04:49there something called financial infidelity. So there's there's traditional infidelity, where you cheat
- 1:04:57on your partner, you know, scan of all taught us that. But
- 1:05:00financial infidelity is when you really do things financially that impact your family's life secretly
- 1:05:13without them knowing, like their college savings or there's a retirement fund, or
- 1:05:20they remortgage their house. Those are the types of examples. Okay, yes,
- 1:05:26those are very good examples. And financial infidelity is so hard to get
- 1:05:30passed because you know, the these two Kim and Kroi, they work their
- 1:05:35whole lives and I guarantee they not only have nothing, but are probably in
- 1:05:42a lot of debt. Yes, I mean you can tell with if you
- 1:05:45go to her link tree. They're selling and she's selling everything, you know,
- 1:05:47or all these clothes, all these handbags, all the wigs. I
- 1:05:49mean, yeah, yeah, they're they're liquidating because this is what you have
- 1:05:56to do to survive when you have how why do kids they have six or
- 1:06:00seven? Six? Just went over this, yeah, a couple of weeks
- 1:06:03ago. Six, Yes, I believe it's six. I think yeah,
- 1:06:05yeah, so yes, when when you're when you have six children and you
- 1:06:14are willing to spend a quarter of a million dollars on gambling, you know,
- 1:06:23to me, that indicates irresponsible behavior to say the least, And it
- 1:06:30indicates that she doesn't have control over her gambling because if she did, she
- 1:06:39would she'd probably put her kids first. You know what. You know,
- 1:06:45one of the things that you know, I when I worked in an impatient
- 1:06:48rehab, I really learned that whatever someone's drug of choice is or whatever their
- 1:06:57process addiction is, that's their first that's the first love, that is their
- 1:07:00priority. And that is also why it's so destroying to families because it's just
- 1:07:09like, you know, I can't imagine how Croy and the kids feel,
- 1:07:12like, can't you stop doing this for us? And quite frankly, is
- 1:07:15that addiction isn't a willpower issue. Let me just say that it's a disease
- 1:07:23with genetic components that requires compassion and treatment. And you know, but I
- 1:07:31do think that that Kroy and the kids he probably needed, if things are
- 1:07:35as bad as I believe they are, he needed to extricate himself from this
- 1:07:42woman to help his children. You know, there was something that he said
- 1:07:48in a court filing about how she spends all of her time gambling and is
- 1:07:53not paying attention to the kids. And I mean that would track if this
- 1:07:56is really a problem. It's not that she doesn't love her kids, it's
- 1:08:00that right now, her process addiction, if there is one, is taking
- 1:08:09over. Because I know I watched that special. You know I've watched Tardy
- 1:08:15for the Party and all these other things. Kim loved those kids, she
- 1:08:17loved Croy. I just think this component just seeped in and got its grips
- 1:08:27in her. And I hope that there's someone around her that is able to
- 1:08:32get her some assistance. And do you think that there's anything to Kroy having
- 1:08:39any responsibility in the downfall of this or do you think that it's really about
- 1:08:44her gambling that broke them? Oh? No, he has I think he
- 1:08:47has responsibility too, because, similar to what I talked about with Jersey,
- 1:08:53you can't be an echo chamber for your partner. If you're an echo chamber,
- 1:08:58they there they have to be called out on their behavior. I can't
- 1:09:02say specifically how much or how little he did of that that we don't know,
- 1:09:10but a partner I'm sure he co signed and enabled her in some way,
- 1:09:17because, to be honest, they seemed extremely codependent to me. Yeah,
- 1:09:21For people who don't know what codependency is, codependency is a future often
- 1:09:28seen an addiction and mental health issues where somebody else becomes your emotional thermostat.
- 1:09:34If they're happy, you're happy. If they're unhappy, you're unhappy. Oh
- 1:09:39you know, it's a cool way to describe it, an emotional thermostat.
- 1:09:42I love that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I don't
- 1:09:45know how much or how little Kroy tried to engage, but I do think
- 1:09:54there was a lot of codependence from the beginning, which I think he just
- 1:09:58thought is what it meant to be a good husband, you know. I
- 1:10:01think maybe he just thought, while I'm supporting my wife and my kids,
- 1:10:05and and and maybe he didn't totally realize the damage that codependency or that co
- 1:10:12signing behavior had, you know. That I'm not sure of, but I
- 1:10:15can tell you for sure he played a role absolutely the only time people with
- 1:10:21a not the only time, But what causes people to die from addiction is
- 1:10:29being surrounded by echo chambers who perpetuate and will not draw healthy boundaries that is
- 1:10:39that in my experience, that is that's that's where you see that the most.
- 1:10:45Well, when this news broke and there was something about gambling in there,
- 1:10:50and it was one of the you know, there was a parent that
- 1:10:54there was a list of things I should say that were that were Kroi's gripes,
- 1:11:00one of which were the gambling, and I thought, oh my god,
- 1:11:03that's totally it. That's why they have all these money problems. I
- 1:11:06mean, she had admitted in one interview and that's what happened. She has
- 1:11:12lost all of their money, and so I did so it's really interesting to
- 1:11:16hear you pretty much co sign that. But at the same time, I
- 1:11:21did not see. Ah, I never would have been able to anticipate where
- 1:11:26you would go with this. I am blown away, and I am so
- 1:11:30sad, you know, for Kim and for that family because yeah, you
- 1:11:38know you saying and hitting it on the head where it's like wow, no
- 1:11:42one is talking about how this could potentially just be rooted. And the fact
- 1:11:45that she's so you know, in a she's just spun out after having this
- 1:11:50stroke and being so close to death and having you know, wasn't she doing
- 1:11:55dancing with the Stars at that point. Yeah, I think she was doing
- 1:11:57Dancing with Stars, And like, I'm sure that's a lot of trauma.
- 1:12:00You're getting pulled out of an incredibly like a network national television show. There's
- 1:12:05a lot of trauma from that you didn't even get to perform or no,
- 1:12:09wait, maybe she did, maybe she went back and did, but whatever
- 1:12:11the point is anyway, Well, there's there's just so much to talk about.
- 1:12:19So I think I think we can kept for hours, but you know,
- 1:12:23for one hour time, when don't we We're gonna wet the palette now
- 1:12:26and then we'll just have to circle back because I really do have a lot
- 1:12:30more in questions. And I would also love to get into an episode with
- 1:12:34you more about addiction as well, because we've obviously seen it, you know,
- 1:12:41with you know, Kim Richards and how that's affected their family. I
- 1:12:45don't know if you've watched Summer House, but what Carl has gone through with
- 1:12:48his addiction and how he's you know, sober right now and he lost his
- 1:12:53brother to addiction. There there's probably plenty of other Yeah, it's just it's
- 1:12:59really was stating in to see it play out on television is really hard to
- 1:13:02watch it is and I want to say to people who are listening that are
- 1:13:10struggling with addiction or in recovery, what have you? You are rock stars
- 1:13:15because you know, addiction it takes It is such a horrible disease. It
- 1:13:23just takes away everything wonderful about a person. And I just feel so much,
- 1:13:28you know, for people. And you know, if you're struggling with
- 1:13:31addiction and you're listening to this, they you know, they say in the
- 1:13:33program of AA, don't give up until the miracle happens, you know,
- 1:13:39keep going, push forward. You deserve better for yourself. And I'm just
- 1:13:44really passionate about you know, again, this is reality TV, but I
- 1:13:49really want to take these issues and really help people and educate them and support
- 1:13:55them. And you know, because it is sad. It's sad all around.
- 1:14:00I'm sad for Kim. I'm so sad for her children. Yeah,
- 1:14:02Kroy, It's nobody wins here. It's just devastating. So I'm happy to,
- 1:14:10you know, talk more about that in the future. And I just
- 1:14:13appreciate you giving me a platform too. Yeah, I appreciate you coming on
- 1:14:16here and lightning me and the darlings because it is really fascinating. And this
- 1:14:23conversation about epigenetics, though we just skim the surface, is also something I
- 1:14:27find so interesting and also, like I said, such a hopeful I keep
- 1:14:32calling it scientific discovery. That for if you are an addict, it's almost
- 1:14:41like, wow, I have the power, not just an addict, but
- 1:14:45anybody, you know, anybody that has any kind well all of us,
- 1:14:48really you have the power to literally not only change yourself, but to change
- 1:14:53the future of your genetic line. And that is really mind blowing. That
- 1:15:00wild is wild, It is wild, and it makes so much sense.
- 1:15:06And to think that, I know, yeah, I just wanted to say,
- 1:15:10there's power in that, you know, for like, that's that's the
- 1:15:14irony Teresa and Joe and Melissa and they they don't want to give up their
- 1:15:18power, but they don't realize that they're actually powerless. To the drama.
- 1:15:25When you stand in your power and you're able to, you know, address
- 1:15:30things like this, that's actually a very empowering thing. Yeah, you're doing
- 1:15:34it for the world, you know. It becomes almost not about you anymore.
- 1:15:38It becomes about the collective humanity that we all, you know, we
- 1:15:42are all connected, and yeah, it's just wow. Really hopeful, Melissa,
- 1:15:48Well, people need to follow you where on your Instagram? Can people
- 1:15:53follow you? Okay? Amy? Thank you? Uh, you can find
- 1:15:57me at your bish therapist to be I s h because I figured if I
- 1:16:01had a curse in my handle, I would just be like no. And
- 1:16:08then I'm also on TikTok at your bish therapist. But full disclosure, I
- 1:16:14am like geriatric when it comes to social media. I mean, I'm trying,
- 1:16:21but my TikTok is I'm growing. Their Instagram is definitely you know,
- 1:16:28more my jam But you know, I'm all I can do is try my
- 1:16:31best and that's what I'm doing. You are doing so great. I just
- 1:16:35adore you. I adore you. You're coming back whether you like it or
- 1:16:40not. Now I'm kidding, No, it's no. I would. I
- 1:16:44would love to you. I would love to And thank you again, Melissa.
- 1:16:46Thank you darlings for listening, talk to you so thank you. Drama
- 1:16:56Darling, Drama, Darling, Drama Darling