Latest / The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast / The Golden Age with Cindy Cullers PART 1
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: This is the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast
- 0:03Speaker 1: with iHeartRadio everybody.
- 0:06Speaker 2: It's Almost Famous podcasts.
- 0:07Speaker 3: Today, Ashley and myself are thrilled because we have someone
- 0:12Speaker 3: coming on the podcast that we have been rooting for
- 0:15Speaker 3: through the latest season of The Golden Bachelor, and in fact,
- 0:19Speaker 3: Ashley thought this person was gonna win. She's intelligent, sophisticated,
- 0:26Speaker 3: a great answer, and let's not forget absolutely stunning. I'm
- 0:31Speaker 3: talking about Cindy. Cindy, welcome to the Almost Famous Podcast.
- 0:36Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, that was just incredible. What a warm welcome.
- 0:40Speaker 4: Thank you so much, Thank you so much. I have
- 0:43Speaker 4: no words for you.
- 0:44Speaker 5: You deserve it all. You are the classiest lady. You
- 0:49Speaker 5: are the Golden Bachelorette that I pray for. You are
- 0:55Speaker 5: seriously so you'd be so perfect in that role. And
- 0:59Speaker 5: I'm just in my opinion and our audience knows. I
- 1:03Speaker 5: don't know that mel has set us up for another
- 1:06Speaker 5: Golden installment, but if they have, if there is to
- 1:10Speaker 5: be one, you would be fantastic lead because you have
- 1:13Speaker 5: all the characteristics of what makes somebody golden.
- 1:17Speaker 3: That's a good question there, though, I mean, Cindy, to
- 1:19Speaker 3: kick us off, do you think there'll be another season,
- 1:22Speaker 3: I hope.
- 1:22Speaker 4: So I know that when I watched the previous two
- 1:25Speaker 4: seasons of The Golden Bachelor and the Golden Bachelorette, and
- 1:29Speaker 4: even watching our season of the Golden Bachler. Of course,
- 1:32Speaker 4: I'm invested in it because I'm in it, but there's
- 1:35Speaker 4: some issues that I think are worthy to explore, and
- 1:37Speaker 4: I think people are fascinated by the dynamics. Okay, let
- 1:41Speaker 4: me just give you my hot take, all right, So
- 1:43Speaker 4: as I'm out and about, you know, it's been kind
- 1:45Speaker 4: of fun to be recognized by different people and the
- 1:48Speaker 4: Bachelor Nation it's a real thing. Like the Bachelor Nation
- 1:52Speaker 4: is awesome. But there's another group of people who are
- 1:56Speaker 4: not part of Bacher Nation. They haven't ever watched it,
- 1:58Speaker 4: who have watched our show, and I know it because
- 2:01Speaker 4: they come up to me, and I can't figure out
- 2:03Speaker 4: the demographic of it. You know, I'm an analytical person
- 2:06Speaker 4: and I'm trying to you know, Okay, well those people
- 2:09Speaker 4: like me? Are they women in their fifties, sixties, seventies,
- 2:12Speaker 4: Is that who it is? Yes, I do have those.
- 2:14Speaker 4: I was at a football game and this mom came
- 2:17Speaker 4: over to me and said, I recognize you. Actually I
- 2:19Speaker 4: didn't recognize you. My son recognized you. He's an eleven
- 2:23Speaker 4: year old who was watching, and we're going to get
- 2:26Speaker 4: a family picture with you if that's okay, but he
- 2:28Speaker 4: wants his own picture with you. I was at a
- 2:31Speaker 4: concert and these two twin men come over. They're in
- 2:35Speaker 4: their fifties, completely awesome cowboys. They come over and they're like,
- 2:39Speaker 4: we've been watching you on this season. So I think
- 2:42Speaker 4: there's a fascination to what's going on in the Golden
- 2:46Speaker 4: Years when it comes to your relationship that I think
- 2:49Speaker 4: people are very curious to see. I was curious to
- 2:52Speaker 4: see it, and I hope they continue. I think it's
- 2:55Speaker 4: an interesting dialogue. I kids learned a lot about me,
- 2:58Speaker 4: you know, I learned a lot about me. I think
- 3:00Speaker 4: the audience learned a lot about all of us by
- 3:02Speaker 4: watching the show.
- 3:03Speaker 5: I think Ben and I both learned a lot about ourselves.
- 3:06Speaker 5: I matured so much. I know it's shocking for people
- 3:09Speaker 5: to hear that I'm matured through that, but I definitely did.
- 3:12Speaker 4: Definitely only because you don't need to mature any longer.
- 3:16Speaker 4: Thanks so, Cindy.
- 3:19Speaker 5: When Mel was first announced, soon after, he made some
- 3:25Speaker 5: not so bright comments on a podcast about not wanting
- 3:28Speaker 5: to date anyone in their sixties. I guess, not being
- 3:31Speaker 5: aware that the cast is always going to be in
- 3:34Speaker 5: their sixties. Did you have any second guesses about being
- 3:37Speaker 5: on his season?
- 3:39Speaker 4: I did. I Okay, A couple of things happened. He
- 3:42Speaker 4: was announced. My daughter texts me, and we didn't know
- 3:46Speaker 4: it at that time, but we were all super excited
- 3:48Speaker 4: because on paper we look to be a very good match,
- 3:50Speaker 4: and you know, that proves out, I think during the season.
- 3:54Speaker 4: Later on, when that broadcast or that podcast was revealed.
- 4:00Speaker 4: Directly to the podcast, I read the transcripts, but then
- 4:02Speaker 4: I wanted to hear Mel's voice in it, and I
- 4:06Speaker 4: was very concerned about how very effortvescently he was interested
- 4:10Speaker 4: in dating that younger group. I've got lots of friends
- 4:13Speaker 4: who date younger. I don't have a problem with that,
- 4:15Speaker 4: but please don't go on The Golden Bachelor where I'm
- 4:19Speaker 4: sixty and I'm probably going to be one of the
- 4:21Speaker 4: youngest ones on the show. What are we doing here?
- 4:25Speaker 4: So I had a conversation with the producer that I
- 4:28Speaker 4: had been talking to and just express my concerns, and
- 4:32Speaker 4: she told me that they've talked to Mel. They had
- 4:34Speaker 4: a conversation. It was just kind of a misunderstanding, and
- 4:38Speaker 4: I decided to go ahead and continue on. But yeah,
- 4:41Speaker 4: I was definitely concerned about his comments.
- 4:44Speaker 3: Who wouldn't be, I mean, I guess let's drill into
- 4:48Speaker 3: that a little bit.
- 4:48Speaker 2: Though.
- 4:49Speaker 3: I would be very concerned, especially if I was you.
- 4:52Speaker 3: I'd feel almost like offended and then her and confused,
- 4:56Speaker 3: and in an environment that already burrs insecurity, those comments
- 5:04Speaker 3: would have made me very hesitant to step out of
- 5:06Speaker 3: the limo into the mansion. And so I guess what
- 5:11Speaker 3: made you say yes, this is still a good idea.
- 5:14Speaker 4: I'm going to turn that question around on you and
- 5:17Speaker 4: when you talk about when it spurs insecurity, right, A
- 5:22Speaker 4: lot of people think that a woman should feel insecure
- 5:25Speaker 4: maybe if a man wants to date a younger category.
- 5:29Speaker 4: And I actually think that golden women in particular, and
- 5:32Speaker 4: you know Ashley too, because he's wise beyond your years
- 5:35Speaker 4: and Ben you too, we see that men who date
- 5:40Speaker 4: so much younger might also be a red flag. And
- 5:46Speaker 4: I think the question really is more, is that we
- 5:50Speaker 4: watching his insecurity?
- 5:54Speaker 3: Okay, so I think that's fair, But then the question
- 5:57Speaker 3: still comes about either direction.
- 6:01Speaker 2: You still said yes, I.
- 6:02Speaker 4: Still said, yes, I think that you probably hadn't met
- 6:06Speaker 4: a group of women like I was about to participate in.
- 6:08Speaker 4: I don't know the other women, but I know me.
- 6:11Speaker 4: And by the way, I still fit this category because
- 6:13Speaker 4: I'm sixty.
- 6:16Speaker 5: Sixty and younger.
- 6:18Speaker 4: Sixty and youthful, and I will. Let's just talk about
- 6:22Speaker 4: this though, because I think this is one of the
- 6:24Speaker 4: issues that's very valuable in the amongst my friends and
- 6:29Speaker 4: people my age group, is people dating outside of their
- 6:32Speaker 4: age group. I heard something very interesting from someone and
- 6:38Speaker 4: I don't have any evidence of it, but when they
- 6:40Speaker 4: said it, I thought, wow, that seems true. They said
- 6:43Speaker 4: that men tend to date people when they're out of
- 6:46Speaker 4: a relationship, when they, for example, go through a divorce
- 6:49Speaker 4: or lose their spouse, they tend to date someone who
- 6:52Speaker 4: is in the age group for when they were last happy. Wow,
- 6:57Speaker 4: that's super interesting about that. And women tend to date
- 7:02Speaker 4: into a lifestyle that they want.
- 7:06Speaker 3: I mean, you've known this since you know knowledge for
- 7:08Speaker 3: a bit. Do you think that's true. I mean, it's
- 7:10Speaker 3: a very interesting thing to think about.
- 7:13Speaker 4: I think it's kind of true. I think it's kind
- 7:15Speaker 4: of true, and it just anecdotally, just think about the
- 7:18Speaker 4: friends that you might have who are dating in a
- 7:21Speaker 4: different age category. I tend to date people who I
- 7:23Speaker 4: like to say went to high school with me, you know,
- 7:26Speaker 4: plus remnus four years. Mel was outside of my dating
- 7:30Speaker 4: age paces as well.
- 7:33Speaker 5: Yeah, traditionally I never liked veering above or below four years.
- 7:38Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, we're both high schoolers.
- 7:40Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 7:40Speaker 4: Yeah, So for me, I knew I was dating outside
- 7:44Speaker 4: my range to date Mel, and I knew I would
- 7:46Speaker 4: be outside of his range. I was on the older
- 7:48Speaker 4: group ironically, and he was in my older group as well.
- 7:52Speaker 4: But he had enough on paper that I had seen.
- 7:55Speaker 4: I had also watched a YouTube my oldest daughter should
- 7:59Speaker 4: be spy. This woman can find out anything about anyone.
- 8:03Speaker 4: And she sent me some data and I said, okay,
- 8:06Speaker 4: what else you got? She goes, no, Mom, I'm not
- 8:07Speaker 4: going to show you everything because I want you to
- 8:09Speaker 4: discover him for who he is. But she sat with
- 8:12Speaker 4: me on the couch right here. We watched that TV
- 8:15Speaker 4: and we watched a YouTube of a guy who I'm
- 8:20Speaker 4: going to try to say this kindly, he was. He
- 8:24Speaker 4: was talking about a sporting event and he was clearly
- 8:29Speaker 4: outclassed by interviewing. Mel Meil knew a lot more than
- 8:32Speaker 4: this guy knew. Mail never made him feel insecure, never
- 8:37Speaker 4: made him feel like that was a stupid question. So
- 8:40Speaker 4: I was balancing also the dynamic that I saw of
- 8:43Speaker 4: that mail and all the other things on paper with
- 8:46Speaker 4: the podcast, and that was kind of countered by what
- 8:50Speaker 4: my producer said that they had spoken to him about.
- 8:53Speaker 5: So before we get into deeper into your relationship with mel,
- 8:56Speaker 5: we're very eager to know all your thoughts, especially looking
- 8:59Speaker 5: back on it. But first, since you're divorce, you dated
- 9:04Speaker 5: Chuck Norris when he was when he was really a
- 9:12Speaker 5: get yeah act, can take down the world with one hand.
- 9:19Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, he's he's one of the classiest, best
- 9:24Speaker 4: gentlemen I've had the privilege to spend time with. But
- 9:26Speaker 4: he that's this is how you guys don't even know.
- 9:29Speaker 4: We were riding on tablets with like you know, etching tools
- 9:33Speaker 4: back then, and there was no Internet. I was living
- 9:36Speaker 4: in LA and I had moved from Orange County up
- 9:39Speaker 4: to this hotel off the Mulholland and the four or
- 9:42Speaker 4: five and waiting for my I just moved there and
- 9:46Speaker 4: waiting to get an apartment, and somebody at the front
- 9:49Speaker 4: desk said, hey, there's another guest at the hotel who
- 9:52Speaker 4: saw you and thought you were cute and wanted to
- 9:54Speaker 4: know if you would like to join them for drinks.
- 9:57Speaker 4: And I said, well, who is it, do I? And
- 10:00Speaker 4: they're like, well, he's kind of famous and told me
- 10:02Speaker 4: it was Chuck Norris. I didn't know who Chuck Norris was,
- 10:05Speaker 4: and there's no internet back then for me to look
- 10:08Speaker 4: it up. All I know is he's a very nice gentleman.
- 10:11Speaker 4: And we met and people would come over and interrupt
- 10:13Speaker 4: us and ask for his autograph. And I remember saying
- 10:16Speaker 4: to him one day like, hey, where's my autograph? And
- 10:20Speaker 4: the next time we saw each other, he brought me
- 10:22Speaker 4: an eight by ten that he'd signed. I still have
- 10:25Speaker 4: I have a photo of it. It's in my storage unit,
- 10:27Speaker 4: but I have a photo on my phone of it.
- 10:30Speaker 4: And then I realized his kids were about my age,
- 10:32Speaker 4: and that kind of freaked me out. I was very young, and.
- 10:35Speaker 5: He's how old is he now?
- 10:36Speaker 4: In his eighties? In his eighties now eight five?
- 10:40Speaker 2: I'm looking at shirtless. He looks good.
- 10:44Speaker 4: Yeah, right, he was. And he was so nice. He
- 10:48Speaker 4: was such a gentleman, not lecherous at all, really a
- 10:53Speaker 4: nice man and I think it was probably refreshing for him,
- 10:57Speaker 4: but I didn't know who he was and it was
- 10:59Speaker 4: new to the town. It was just a very sweet relationship.
- 11:03Speaker 4: It wasn't very long, but yes, I had a couple
- 11:06Speaker 4: of dates with Chuck Norris and can't say anything bad
- 11:10Speaker 4: about that guy. He was awesome.
- 11:13Speaker 2: It's something that wasn't brought up enough though.
- 11:15Speaker 3: I feel like Chuck Norris is one of those guys
- 11:17Speaker 3: that has defied what most people can do with their careers,
- 11:22Speaker 3: where people my age know all about him and still
- 11:26Speaker 3: watch the shows.
- 11:27Speaker 5: You watched Texas Ranger or whatever it's called.
- 11:29Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, Yes, I agree up when.
- 11:32Speaker 5: Conan O'Brien used to do this sketch about it, and
- 11:35Speaker 5: my sister and I would like pe our pants laughing.
- 11:38Speaker 5: That's the extent that I know.
- 11:40Speaker 2: He's just so well known.
- 11:41Speaker 3: He's crossed generational thresholds, and I think that's such a
- 11:45Speaker 3: cool thing. Anyways, we could talk about Chuck Norris for
- 11:48Speaker 3: a long time.
- 11:48Speaker 4: I can make one more Let me take one more
- 11:50Speaker 4: comment about it. So I've got three daughters, right, and
- 11:54Speaker 4: I'm the most unpool person in their minds as they're
- 11:56Speaker 4: growing up, just like your parents, were probably uncool to you,
- 11:59Speaker 4: and so I'm like, no, no, I was cool. I
- 12:01Speaker 4: danced for the Mavericks, I you know I had. I
- 12:03Speaker 4: dated Chuck Norris And they're all like, whatever, whatever, mom,
- 12:07Speaker 4: that's so not a big deal. And then one of Sarah,
- 12:09Speaker 4: one of my oldest daughter's friends, found out that I
- 12:12Speaker 4: dated Chuck Norris and now I'm a superstar. And those
- 12:16Speaker 4: boys were like, oh my gosh, did you know Missus
- 12:18Speaker 4: Colors dated Chuck Norris? So I was a big superstar.
- 12:22Speaker 4: So they're friends. But you're right, he crossed many generations
- 12:26Speaker 4: in his appeal.
- 12:28Speaker 3: Now, Sidney, speaking of your family, your daughters are wonderful,
- 12:33Speaker 3: it seems from what we got to you know, what
- 12:36Speaker 3: we've gotten to know about them when you were on
- 12:39Speaker 3: the show. Were they only excited? Were they nervous? I mean,
- 12:44Speaker 3: have they You said that when they're growing up, you
- 12:48Speaker 3: were the least cool person they possibly could know. But
- 12:51Speaker 3: I'm sure as they've gotten older they've realized just how
- 12:54Speaker 3: great you are. Kind Of what was their sentiment as
- 12:57Speaker 3: you left and then stay.
- 12:59Speaker 4: It was Caroline, my youngest, is the one who got
- 13:01Speaker 4: me into it, and they all were very supportive of it.
- 13:06Speaker 4: They you know they when I say they didn't think
- 13:09Speaker 4: I was cool. They've always had a healthy respect for me,
- 13:12Speaker 4: and our relationship is precious. I know everybody thinks they've
- 13:16Speaker 4: got a good relationship with their kids, but mine is
- 13:18Speaker 4: really special. I am God's favorite, abundantly blessed, and they
- 13:23Speaker 4: are my crowning jewels. Those three, as well as my
- 13:26Speaker 4: two son in laws, they were supportive. They thought that
- 13:31Speaker 4: mel was going to be a good match and my
- 13:34Speaker 4: middle daughter, Emily. Two days after we filmed, I was
- 13:38Speaker 4: wrapping and came home to Austin, did some laundry, then
- 13:41Speaker 4: headed out to her wedding in Italy, so her family
- 13:44Speaker 4: had a lot going on. I think the biggest concern
- 13:47Speaker 4: was what would happen if we had a glitch with
- 13:50Speaker 4: the wedding planning, you know, or anything that happens as
- 13:54Speaker 4: you lead up to a wedding and they couldn't reach me. Yeah,
- 13:57Speaker 4: I think that was their biggest question.
- 14:11Speaker 2: You were a massive Cindy fan.
- 14:13Speaker 3: I was a Cyndey fan, but you were like wearing
- 14:15Speaker 3: the T shirts actually during the season.
- 14:18Speaker 5: Yeah.
- 14:18Speaker 3: How did I never notice that her eyes are like
- 14:22Speaker 3: radiant and like stearing through.
- 14:24Speaker 5: Her I don't know, because I always noticed that, and
- 14:26Speaker 5: I heard that they were even more stunning in real
- 14:29Speaker 5: life from Kathy.
- 14:30Speaker 2: Oh, Kathy, your eyes are wild.
- 14:35Speaker 4: Like my kids call them marbles. Yeah, I can see
- 14:39Speaker 4: that marbles. I'm like, that's interesting. I had to thank you,
- 14:43Speaker 4: mom and dad and Grandpa Floyd and sorry, actually continue.
- 14:46Speaker 5: Your daughters look so much like you too. There's like
- 14:49Speaker 5: a gorgeous group of women.
- 14:51Speaker 4: You ought to see us together because we act alike.
- 14:53Speaker 5: Yeah.
- 14:54Speaker 4: Though down in downtown Austin where I live, you'll see
- 14:57Speaker 4: people the same age group, like people like me tonight
- 15:00Speaker 4: going out with some girlfriends, or you'll see the younger
- 15:02Speaker 4: ones like my kids, but you don't really see a
- 15:04Speaker 4: lot of the you know, parents with their kids. Even
- 15:07Speaker 4: though it's a college town. You just don't see it often.
- 15:10Speaker 4: And we'll roll up into a place and it'll be
- 15:13Speaker 4: me and my you know, copy paste, copy paste, coffee paste,
- 15:17Speaker 4: all three of us, and then we act alike, and
- 15:19Speaker 4: we talk alike, and we have the same mannerisms and
- 15:21Speaker 4: the same engagement, and people just are fascinated. They call
- 15:25Speaker 4: us the Kardashians sometimes.
- 15:27Speaker 5: It's so cute, the Kardashians of Austashians. And another reason
- 15:32Speaker 5: why you need to be on our TVs again. All Right, So, Cindy,
- 15:37Speaker 5: you fell hard fast for Mel, and you were so
- 15:40Speaker 5: open about it throughout the entire thing. I've got to
- 15:44Speaker 5: know now, in hindsight, was it the bachelor bubble or
- 15:48Speaker 5: did you really feel that much for him?
- 15:51Speaker 4: Okay, some of it's edited. So the first date, the
- 15:55Speaker 4: first date, the first group date. Remember we're cheering, and
- 15:59Speaker 4: it literally is the day was made. God made that
- 16:03Speaker 4: day for me, no question about it. The overlap with
- 16:07Speaker 4: it's a cheer thing. It's at USC Models, I mean
- 16:11Speaker 4: SMU Models after USC, so I felt like I was
- 16:14Speaker 4: back on my college campus. It's at this amazing stadium
- 16:17Speaker 4: and I have such a reverence for sports. It was
- 16:19Speaker 4: Paula Abdul who did choreography for me when I was
- 16:22Speaker 4: a Maverick dancer. We're back dancing. I have Caroline on
- 16:26Speaker 4: the phone doing a doing a concert that Jerry and
- 16:31Speaker 4: I just prayed for her, just to sync ronicities. She's
- 16:35Speaker 4: with Diana Ross, who Mel lived across the alley from. Literally,
- 16:40Speaker 4: I thought, for no other reason, I am assured that
- 16:43Speaker 4: today God has said you are supposed to be here. Okay,
- 16:48Speaker 4: So I have that assurance from them. Whether it was
- 16:50Speaker 4: because of mail or whether it was because of another reason.
- 16:54Speaker 4: I was assured that that was He went before me
- 16:56Speaker 4: thirty years maybe more to set up a day like that. Amazing.
- 17:02Speaker 4: So I was feeling all of that. That was a
- 17:04Speaker 4: little overwhelming. And then Mel was I mean nothing short
- 17:06Speaker 4: of fantastic. I mean, our little smooches walking down the stadium.
- 17:10Speaker 4: It was awesome. But in the editing when I said
- 17:13Speaker 4: I'm falling in love with Mel, what was cut, understandably
- 17:16Speaker 4: so because Cindy tends to talk a lot. What was
- 17:19Speaker 4: cut is when I said, there's a lot of different
- 17:21Speaker 4: types of love. This is like puppy love. When you're
- 17:24Speaker 4: around a puppy. They're so cute, they're wagging their tail
- 17:26Speaker 4: and you just want to be around them all the time.
- 17:29Speaker 4: And that's what I was feeling for Mel. That wasn't
- 17:31Speaker 4: the mature love. It wasn't you know, there's a lot
- 17:33Speaker 4: that goes into it. But early on I thought, man,
- 17:37Speaker 4: there's something, there's something to this, something to this. I
- 17:41Speaker 4: still feel that way. Yeah, it was a great, a
- 17:44Speaker 4: great possibility all along.
- 17:47Speaker 5: Well, we have even more to talk about, so we're
- 17:49Speaker 5: going to break this into a second episode. You can
- 17:53Speaker 5: stay tuned see that on your feed pop up until then,
- 17:57Speaker 5: We'll see you next time.
- 18:00Speaker 1: The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcasts on iHeartRadio
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