TBT: Elle King

Throwback Thursday Elle King proves she’s a powerhouse in this week’s candid sit-down with Bunnie. She opens up about the truth behind her viral Grand Ole Opry performance, the heartfelt encouragement she received from Dolly Parton, and the steps she’s taken on her path of healing and self-discovery. Elle reflects on her one-of-a-kind childhood as the daughter of comedian Rob Schneider, sharing both the laughter and the struggles of growing up in the spotlight. She also gets real about motherhood—the highs, the lows, and co-parenting with her baby’s father—and how those experiences shaped her latest music, including Baby Daddy’s Weekend, and her ongoing tour. Elle King https://www.elleking.com/ Watch Full Episodes & More: www.dumbblondeunrated.com

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  At California Closets, we design for the little things. Take this moment of a parent walking across their toy-filled living room for a glass of water.

• 0:13Speaker 00

  And now, the California Closets version of that moment.

• 0:23Speaker 00

  Family room and home storage solutions by designers who get you. California Closets, more room for what matters.

• 0:30Bunnie XO?

  Hey guys, I need to ask you a question. I want to know, why in the hell are you not on Patreon? I don't think you guys even realize how much content we have on Patreon. Let me break it down for you. We have the Bunny XO Show, we have Meet the D-Fords, we have Popaganda, we have more shows that we're adding, and not to mention, we have the visuals of the podcast. Not only that, we have four tiers that caters to everybody's budget and everybody gets the podcast. There's no more excuses. Head over to www.patreon.com/dumblon podcast and sign up. Stop missing out. We have built a huge community over there, guys. I'm talking about hundreds of thousands of people over there.

• 1:11Bunnie XO?

  We even have live chats, live chats that I actually am talking in every single night. Last but not least, we give away gifts every frickin' month. I'm talking like signed stuff from Jay and I lives. You just never know what kind of surprise you're gonna get. It's like a Cracker Jack box. I love the community that we've built over there at Patreon. If you are already a Patreon member, I freaking love you, dude. Thank you so much. You guys are my babies for life, my writers. If I could, I would literally make out with each and every one of you. I love you guys so much, and that's a lot of kisses, actually. Gotta go, bye.

• 2:09Speaker 02

  Is this thing on?

• 2:10Bunnie XO?

  What's up, you sexy motherfuckers? Today, I am so excited because I have been wanting this guest forever. Ever since your first album came out, I have been obsessed with you. And not to mention, your dad was one of my childhood crushes.

• 2:26Speaker 02

  Oh, my gosh.

• 2:28Bunnie XO?

  L King is in the house, baby.

• 2:32Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 2:33Bunnie XO?

  I have been waiting for you to come because you do not know how obsessed I was with Deuce Bigelow.

• 2:37Speaker 02

  No, you know, I was in that.

• 2:39Bunnie XO?

  I did not know that.

• 2:40Speaker 02

  Wow, a little foreshadowing. You're like, we're gonna be friends.

• 2:42Bunnie XO?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 2:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, I was the little Girl Scout.

• 2:45Bunnie XO?

  I love that. I never even knew that. But I mean, I just, I'm, I've always been a try, like John Candy and like funny comedians were always my thing. And your dad, like, I knew, I knew he was like the tiniest little thing ever.

• 2:58Speaker 02

  Oh, my gosh. If he finds this out, he's gonna be like, I've still got it.

• 3:02Bunnie XO?

  Oh, no. Dude, Rob Schneider was like, it was Rob Schneider, Drew Carey, like, I had a list of like comedians that I loved as a child.

• 3:11Speaker 02

  I, I always go for funny over anything.

• 3:14Bunnie XO?

  Me too.

• 3:15Speaker 02

  I mean, I've, I've dated all kinds of different people. But if you make me laugh, you get my heart and

• 3:22Bunnie XO?

  My vagina.

• 3:23Speaker 02

  And my vagina.

• 3:24Bunnie XO?

  I'm telling you, man, you make me laugh, my legs are spread wide open.

• 3:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, and like throwing like a neck tat, like, sold.

• 3:29Bunnie XO?

  Oh, they have to have tattoos. Do you have to date a man with tattoos or can you date a man who has bear skin?

• 3:35Speaker 02

  I, I'll try anything twice.

• 3:37Bunnie XO?

  I love that.

• 3:38Speaker 02

  Um, but I do tend to get along better. With, I don't know, it just, I, I like people who have tattoos. It's

• 3:48Bunnie XO?

  Same.

• 3:48Speaker 02

  You can withstand, if someone's like covered in tattoos, like, they can withstand some things.

• 3:53Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, they can take some shit.

• 3:54Speaker 02

  Or they've been through things, you know?

• 3:56Bunnie XO?

  Or they have that like rough around the edges thing.

• 3:58Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 3:58Bunnie XO?

  I feel like if, if we're flesh all enmesh and I'm the only one with tattoos, I feel like one of these kids is doing its own thing. And I like, want you to be on my team, you know? Like, you need to be covered in tattoos too.

• 4:09Speaker 02

  Yeah, definitely.

• 4:10Bunnie XO?

  Are you dating right now?

• 4:11Speaker 02

  I am actually, um, back with my baby daddy.

• 4:15Bunnie XO?

  Ah, we're gonna dive into this. Okay, hence the tour name, right?

• 4:20Speaker 02

  Um, yes, yes. And we broke up for um, a year and I was going through really, really insane postpartum. And I, I don't even think that I realized I was going through it until I kind of got out of it. Um, and we were already broken up and he just kept showing up and we became best friends. And then uh, through like custody and everything and working together and like a lot of therapy on my part. Um, we've, we like restarted our communication, our like respect for each other. And um, I just, I never stopped being in love with him. And then finally, he was just like, I wore the right set of underwear and she's like locked in.

• 5:06Bunnie XO?

  I love that.

• 5:07Speaker 02

  And we're doing really, really well.

• 5:08Bunnie XO?

  I feel, I love that you're talking about postpartum though, because I feel like a lot of women in the spotlight, like you guys literally will have babies and then you're thrust back into the spotlight. And it's like, you don't have time to heal. You don't have time to nurture yourself.

• 5:22Speaker 02

  No.

• 5:22Bunnie XO?

  And then the world wants to be mad at you if like, you're not this picture perfect human that they've put you on this pedestal.

• 5:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's honestly like, it's kind of fucked up because I, I really struggled to get pregnant um, in a lot of different relationships. And now I know it's like, God's timing is, is not up to us. And even our baby's timing is not up to us. And um, I think that like, the pandemic, everything was shut down. And I was able to like rest. I sold my house in LA. I moved to New Mexico. I had donkeys and goats. And I got pregnant. Um, and because I wasn't on the road, I didn't have all this pressure. Um, I ballooned up. I got so heavy and I got up to 284 pounds uh, the day that I delivered my son. And then um,

• 6:15Bunnie XO?

  It was happy weight though.

• 6:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, it was, it was miserable weight. But it was also like, my body did what it had to do. And then it took me three years to lose baby weight. And the thing that made me so mad is like, In this day and age, like, no one gives any credit for anything. I don't care how anybody loses weight. If somebody takes charge of their own life, not that anyone has to, because I've been every single size, but like, I worked really, really hard because I was so depressed. I started working three months after I had my son. I was back on the road and I was like trying to, I like already stopped breastfeeding. I was so stressed out. And then I just started working out to try and get my mind right because I was like blue. I was really sad, really miserable. And then my

• 7:00Speaker 02

  song with Miranda drunk, like, really went crazy during my pregnancy. So so many changes happened so quickly, so fast. And then, I don't know, I just like, you'd think, anything that I know about or had known about postpartum was like, oh, like, you could like, be kind of sad, like, for a couple of weeks, a couple of months after. And I'm like, looking down, like, it's two years after and like, I'm getting ready to celebrate my son's second birthday. And I'm not with his dad. And I'm like, I feel so lost. I tried a lot of different therapies. I tried, like, all kinds of, like, different psychedelic stuff. I tried talk therapy. I tried everything. And

• 7:43Speaker 02

  ultimately, I had to go through certain experiences on my own, some of which I didn't want to go through, but Like life experiences? Like, life experiences, like, you know, I I'm already kind of, I don't want to say like, I'm sick of talking about like, what happened in January in the Dolly incident. And I'm sure people are not gonna like what I have to say about a lot of it, but like, I can already look back and be like, you know what, I have this good thing that came from it. This thing changed in my life. This, I was presented with an opportunity to grow. And I think that every experience is an opportunity for change. Yes, ma'am. And change is inevitable. It's the blade that carves itself and or sharpens itself,

• 8:28Speaker 02

  whatever that quote is. And I really like that. But like,

• 8:32Bunnie XO?

  When that Dolly incident happened, were you still going through postpartum? Was that part of it?

• 8:38Speaker 02

  Honestly, I don't, I think I'd kind of come out of postpartum and then everything that had accumulated, everything that I had just like sucked on to my life in my like depression, um, all just kind of came to a head and I think it was probably just rock bottom, right? I just, if it wasn't that, it was gonna be something else. And I just took, for the first time, like, you know, when I was pregnant, like, I was like, okay, maybe I've got this time given to me. This was, this year was the first time I was like, I'm stepping, I'm stepping away from this. Everyone's telling me to kill myself. Everyone's telling me to surrender my child. And it was just so, so wrong.

• 9:23Speaker 02

  And, you know, if a man did it, it would have been a completely different story. But also like, I've spoken to everybody and I've spoken to everyone at the Opry and, um, they said that I'm not banned and.

• 9:36Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, country is forgiving. They are really forgiving people.

• 9:39Speaker 02

  It is, it is. And the saddest part about it is like, and I don't even really want to use these words, but like, somebody is gonna get arrested. Somebody is gonna get something that happens and, you know, some people might say it's good for you, but like, for me, I'm like, that's sad. The biggest thing I learned was like, okay, take nothing that you read online for like, full-blown truth, because everything, you never know, from my experience, especially what was going on then, I was going through some like heavy, heavy, heavy shit. Not even postpartum, not even my breakup, not even just that, it's just like.

• 10:18Bunnie XO?

  Can we touch on it?

• 10:19Speaker 02

  I mean, it was just, it was a dark situation that I can't, I can't talk about. And I don't really want to, but like.

• 10:26Bunnie XO?

  Like a relationship?

• 10:27Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was, it was like bad shit that was going on and, um,

• 10:33Speaker 02

  Because of that, no one knew what was really going on and they just thought like, God forbid, somebody looks and thinks, wow, like, what was going on with her that day? You know, like, I, I played two shows that day. I played two fucking shows. The first show was great. It was perfect. But I hadn't eaten. I hadn't done anything. I hadn't slept in days. I was so, I had such bad anxiety and everything. And I just walked back on stage and I'd taken one shot too many. We went through that alleyway and went to Robert's Western World and a bunch of people were celebrating and I took, you know, one shot of tequila when I'd been drinking a martini and like, that, I was like the tiniest I'd ever been. And boom, I come to and like the curtains down.

• 11:17Speaker 02

  And it sucks. It's awful. But at the same time, I went home and I was like, I'd never, I never want to cry like that in a car ride home. I never want to wake up feeling like that ever again. I never want to feel that shame. I never want to like, you know, any, anytime Dolly Parton calls you is cool, but like, I didn't want it to be under those circumstances. And like, but she called me to make me feel better, you know? She's a sweet angel of a woman. She's literally, she's like proof of angels. She truly is. And I, I think what that taught, like, I learned so much from this experience and like, if I can come out of it,

• 12:00Speaker 02

  literally anyone can. And I've had so many experiences like that. I hope I have less of them in the future. I'm with you, girl. I'm going, I went through some shit this last week. I'm like, Lord, what are you trying to teach me? Come on, like my book of lessons is like getting kind of full. Yeah. But I don't know. I, I, do you believe in like, like many lives? Absolutely. And I also believe in soul contracts and I believe that. Me too. Oh, tell me, what do you believe? Let me know. Okay, so I, I believe, I did, okay, this is kind of wacky and I don't know if people believe in this stuff. No, we do. I'm so into it. I'm very spiritual. I'm very connected to spirit. I meditate. I've got guides. Oh, I love you. Sister.

• 12:42Bunnie XO?

  Where have you been? They're all over here laughing because I, this is me.

• 12:46Speaker 02

  Okay, amazing. Okay, good. Then I'm, I'm, I'm.

• 12:48Bunnie XO?

  You found your, you found your coven.

• 12:50Speaker 02

  Okay, great. Say, um, I did this one reading, um, with a, with a woman and she was, it was called like a rose reading. I'd never done anything like that. And she went through some past lives and because I'm clairvoyant and clairsentient, I also don't talk about this a lot, but I, I don't, I don't care. I have nothing to hide. And you are too?

• 13:09Bunnie XO?

  Yes.

• 13:09Speaker 02

  Okay, I believe that. And I, I feel like that's why we're like, supposed to be connected. Um, I, it was like over the phone because it was during COVID. It was right before COVID when things were like starting to like get crazy. And, um, she was explaining a couple of my past lives and I could, I was like locked in with her and I could see her. Um, like I could see everything that she was seeing and I'm, everything lined up. And I asked her, I said, have I ever had a child in a past life? And she said, no. And, um, and so she said, you're going to have to make a soul contract with someone to bring, like, for this lifetime. And, um, I mean, I've even had like, like psychics. One time I was pregnant before I had a miscarriage and he was like, have you ever had a miscarriage?

• 13:54Speaker 02

  And I was like, no, not that I know of. Like boom, a week later I had like, I had a miscarriage and then the next pregnancy was missed. And, um, and so I think that I had to have a soul contract with either my baby. I don't know how all of it works, but I know that like my baby chose me and I know that he's like destined to be here. But to do that, like I'm so into healing and I'm all into like a lot of like spiritual stuff. So I felt like, it's true. I saw something online that was like, if you're ever feeling like called to a place, like you need to go. Because there's something that has to happen there. I'd never been to Bali and I went, um, I went probably like,

• 14:36Speaker 02

  it was like in January and I had, um, had like two back-to-back miscarriages in, um, September and, uh,

• 14:45Speaker 02

  Like, oh yeah, end of August and into September and was still on the road. Like, three days after, like, bleeding on stage, everything. So sad and doomy gloomy. I can,

• 14:55Bunnie XO?

  No, but that's, that's your childhood trauma is to push through any sort of pain and not sit in it.

• 15:01Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's because I don't, I can't, I can't. That's when I lose my mind.

• 15:06Bunnie XO?

  I don't want to wallow.

• 15:07Speaker 02

  No, no, I'm like, okay, what job can I do? Okay, what can I do? Like, let's make another album. Let's do something. And then I lose my mind because I'm not actually taking the time. My new thing I said, I got to feel it to heal it. And so that's what I did. That's why I took time this year. I know I'm bouncing all over the place, but.

• 15:23Bunnie XO?

  No, no, I love it. And I'll draw you in.

• 15:25Speaker 02

  Okay, cool. Yeah. Um, I went, I felt this like pull to Bali and I looked up this healing uh, ceremony in the middle of the jungle. And I dragged my best friend with me and she was like, okay. And even though she's like into like metaphysical, spiritual stuff, she was like, this is like a little much. And I'm like, meeting with this healer and um, she says to me, she was, I was like, you know, I had a miscarriage and like, I really, I, all I want to be is a mother. And she said, um, well, it's, you're, the soul is a boy and he'll come, he'll come back to you. And I said, what do I have to do? She said, you have to make a sacrifice. And I was like, uh, like quitting smoking?

• 16:07Speaker 02

  And she was like, just looked at me and got up and walked away and then did this like crazy thing where they like whip you with flaps. It was beautiful. And like poured all this like gorgeous water all over you. And then you like scream and then they like paint like flowers all over you and they pray for you. And it was beautiful. It was so incredible. And um, that year is when I got pregnant. Um, and I had a boy and it was just beautiful. I, I believed it. There's something so, I think, important about just like what like your convictions are and what you believe in. And, and it, it go, it's, it's so simple. It's like the thoughts you tell yourself or the things that you say out loud. All of it is energy.

• 16:46Bunnie XO?

  Oh, words are spells.

• 16:47Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 16:48Bunnie XO?

  Yes, I tell everybody that.

• 16:49Speaker 02

  It's everything that you, like today I had a doctor's appointment and like, I was really scared about it and I didn't even.

• 16:56Bunnie XO?

  Me too. I had one today too. What was yours about? Can we ask?

• 16:59Speaker 02

  I'll tell you after.

• 17:00Bunnie XO?

  Okay, okay.

• 17:00Speaker 02

  Um, but I didn't want, I didn't want to like put negative thing like I was, I was so freaked out about it that like I, I refused to say like, it's not going to be good. I just like, I'm nervous.

• 17:13Bunnie XO?

  Yes.

• 17:14Speaker 02

  And I felt like that was better. Um.

• 17:16Bunnie XO?

  I had one today too, where I was finding out if I really had an aneurysm on my carotid artery.

• 17:21Speaker 02

  Oh my gosh.

• 17:22Bunnie XO?

  I had just found out last week that I had one. Today I got the news that I didn't have one and I know exactly what you're saying because I, I never, when I prayed, I wasn't like, you know, God, please don't let me have this. I just said, whatever your will is.

• 17:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:36Bunnie XO?

  And let me know what the lesson is here.

• 17:38Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:38Bunnie XO?

  And I never, you know, and I get that. I understand when you're so scared, your first thing is, is you want to be like, no, please don't let the, you know?

• 17:44Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:45Bunnie XO?

  But I really was just like surrendered and it was my moment to actually learn how to have faith.

• 17:50Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 17:50Bunnie XO?

  And it, it worked. And I'm telling you right now, if you don't speak those things into your life, not saying that it doesn't happen for everybody, but if you don't speak those things into your life, you can definitely, I feel, change the, the energy or the trajectory of what's about to happen.

• 18:06Speaker 02

  Yes. And you can create that.

• 18:08Bunnie XO?

  Absolutely.

• 18:09Speaker 02

  That's like the whole thing about manifestation and which is something I learned about this year and I even just speaking it.

• 18:17Bunnie XO?

  Yes.

• 18:18Speaker 02

  Like I didn't realize what I was doing. Like when I took time off, when I was thinking like, oh fuck, like I could, I could go back to the world and I could have no fucking career. I could have no musical career. I could never play a show again. I could get dropped from my label. My management could drop me. And I started thinking, all right, bitch, what do you want to fucking do? Like what would be cool? What would excite you? Cause I want to be, I'm a very passionate person. I'm a very hard worker. And I thought, wouldn't it be cool to play like a bad guy in a movie?

• 18:49Bunnie XO?

  I love that.

• 18:50Speaker 02

  You know, my dad's an actor and I don't, I don't really feel like I get a lot of the nepotism stuff. And I feel, I, it makes me sad for the people who do because.

• 18:59Bunnie XO?

  That's one thing I've loved about you is that when I was researching your life story, you're a lot like me. I didn't come from, you know, very much, but I always wanted to pave my own way and you were just like, I want to make my own way.

• 19:11Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:11Bunnie XO?

  I, I respect.

• 19:13Speaker 02

  I didn't really grow up with my dad. I grew up with my mom and my.

• 19:16Bunnie XO?

  Yeah. Let's touch on that. Let's go back. Let's go back and talk about that real quick. So you are a daughter of Rob Schneider.

• 19:22Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 19:23Bunnie XO?

  Daddy Schneider.

• 19:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:25Bunnie XO?

  Every time I say that, she blushes.

• 19:30Bunnie XO?

  And a beautiful Miss London King.

• 19:32Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 19:32Bunnie XO?

  You know, and who was like a supermodel, correct?

• 19:35Speaker 02

  And she's the coolest.

• 19:37Bunnie XO?

  You, you are her twin.

• 19:39Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 19:40Bunnie XO?

  You guys are beautiful. You are her twin. I could see a little bit of your dad in you, but you are her.

• 19:44Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:45Bunnie XO?

  Just, you know, reincarnated. Take me on this journey with your childhood because I don't think a lot of people don't know that your dad was not in your life.

• 19:53Speaker 02

  No. He, he really wasn't. And it's, it's interesting because like, yeah, I was born in California, but like my parents, they weren't married for very long. They didn't really know each other. And my mom had a son before me. My mom was a really, really young mom. My family comes from Southern Ohio, like very close to West Virginia. And it's a super small town. I think it's like 1,800 people, which is like big for a small town. There's more than one stoplight.

• 20:22Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 20:23Speaker 02

  And it's a place that is and always has been my constant because my family moved around a lot. And my, my parents, yeah, they split and I, I have, I would spend time with my dad, but my mom raised me like always. My mom, single mom until she met my stepdad, who also, he's my dad. Like he, he totally raised me.

• 20:47Bunnie XO?

  Proud of the stepparents.

• 20:49Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 20:49Bunnie XO?

  I'm a stepparent.

• 20:50Speaker 02

  Yes, you are. And they're so important. And I, I don't, I definitely wouldn't be a musician if it weren't for my stepdad.

• 20:58Bunnie XO?

  Oh, I love that.

• 21:00Speaker 02

  He taught me everything I know about music. I mean, I'm wearing, he's got his own label, Good Times Rock and Roll Club. I'm wearing his shirt. He's a screen printer.

• 21:07Bunnie XO?

  I want one. I want some.

• 21:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, definitely.

• 21:08Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 21:09Speaker 02

  They'll send you a whole care package and records and stuff.

• 21:11Bunnie XO?

  I would love that.

• 21:13Speaker 02

  And he's just like the most badass person ever. And my mom, my mom, I saw her reinvent herself like almost every 10 years. Because she was a fit model. She was a model. She did some acting. And, and then she, she became like a fitness instructor and she was like helping, she was like really, really, really into health. And then when we moved to New York, when I was about 12 years old. We left Ohio because my stepdad's from New York and um my mom became a doula and she like like my mom's pretty crunchy but she's the coolest like she encapsulated my placenta and I'm Okay, what is encapsulating placenta just for people at home who don't know what that is?

• 21:55Speaker 02

  Okay, so the placenta is basically it's like a filter but it's also what gives all the nutrients and all the life um from the uterus to the baby and it's what's connected to the umbilical cord from the baby to the mama and so it's um sometimes they call it like the afterbirth and it comes out after you have um after you give birth um and we are the only I don't I don't want fact checkers to come after me but I'm gonna try my best we're the only mammals that don't like instinctively or naturally eat our placenta or afterbirth because it's it's like so full of nutrients so I don't know if anyone's ever seen like a dog or a cat give birth but like they they eat it they they

• 22:38Speaker 02

  They eat the membranes off the the their puppies and stuff I've seen that yeah Yes, because it helps them and so some people say that um well I mean there's a lot of factual evidence behind it but I don't I don't want like super western medicine people to come after me about that because I believe it um Everybody gives grace here Yeah, okay, great um and so my mom cooks the placenta and then encapsulates it and then um the woman or the mother slowly eats it over time um just like a vitamin What does it taste like? Anything? Um well Dan, my boyfriend, he ate a piece of my placenta. It was cooked, it was cooked. He was like, "This is the closest I could be to a cannibal." So uh you know, it's like guys with neck tattoos

• 23:23Speaker 02

  who are funny. I don't know. What are you gonna do? They're wild. You're like, "Let's make another baby." Yeah, exactly. And um but it made me feel it like when I took it, it made me feel like kind of anxious and um I don't know, I I always feel like I'm like letting my mom down because she's this like angel, angelic like she I was a V back so she had a C-section With my brother and then she had a natural birth with me and she said it was an orgasmic birth. There's a, there's a document-

• 23:54Bunnie XO?

  I love mom.

• 23:55Speaker 02

  I know. Oh my god, I know.

• 23:57Bunnie XO?

  I love mom. She's right up my alley.

• 23:59Speaker 02

  Yeah, she's wonderful. You guys would love each other. And she literally made me and Dan watch this documentary called Orgasmic Birth. Um, and I was like, cool, mom.

• 24:10Bunnie XO?

  Tell me about this, Orgasmic Birth. I've never heard of this.

• 24:15Speaker 02

  Okay, okay, great. Um, neither had I. No, actually, I'd heard of it my whole life because my mom was like, "I had an orgasmic birth with you." I was like, "Mom, stop telling people that."

• 24:27Bunnie XO?

  Words every kid wants to hear.

• 24:29Speaker 02

  Yes, but it, it was like, it's basically the whole like idea of it. Um, from what I took from the documentary, I was like, "Yes, I'm not having that. That's not me." I was like, "Cut this puppy out." You kind of like get yourself into this state. And I was just watching that show Too Hot to Handle where they had energy orgasms.

• 24:47Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 24:47Speaker 02

  Okay, right? So I, I don't think it's that far off from that. So you get yourself into this state of, of like relaxation and you're connected with your partner. And then I guess you have this, this like flush that's like orgasm, an orgasmic release of, it's, I don't think it's like a sexual pleasure, but it, watching that thing, like, you know, you can learn a lot from reality TV. I, I can understand now how it could be this like

• 25:15Bunnie XO?

  Right.

• 25:16Speaker 02

  orgasmic feeling of like, "Oh my gosh," combined with like, "I did it and wow, my baby's here."

• 25:22Bunnie XO?

  Just pride and joy.

• 25:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 25:24Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 25:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, like it makes me think like, "Do I want to try for like a VBAC if I have another kid?" Like,

• 25:30Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 25:30Speaker 02

  I don't know. It's, there's a lot of things. Most likely if I were, I would be like, "Cut this fucker out." That's how I was in my pregnancy.

• 25:38Bunnie XO?

  I still think it's a beautiful thing to think about. So I mean, if, you know, if I'm scared to death of natural birth. That's why Jay and I are doing IVF and we're gonna get a surrogate, but because I also have issues too. And I just, at this age, I don't have time for miscarriages and, you know, stuff like that. So, but yeah, women who give birth, man, you guys are fucking savages, dude. Like, that is the most barbarically beautiful thing

• 26:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 26:03Bunnie XO?

  that a woman can do. And I mean, you guys are literally just pushing a soul out of your body.

• 26:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's, it's pretty wild. I mean, I had a C-section. I freaked out on the table. I was screaming, "I can't feel my- And I was screaming for that. I was like, I literally like it's so me. They didn't even let my mom come up. But they, because it was during freaking covid and so I was like, give me, literally, give me drugs. Where is Dan screaming for him to come in there?

• 26:35Bunnie XO?

  Poor Dan's in a corner somewhere.

• 26:37Speaker 02

  What's going on babe? But it was, it was cool. I just, I feel like I, I won't do anything that my parents ever e- expect of me. And I felt kind of sad and um, I don't know, I'm just like a different person and I, I definitely have like a very different destiny. But I also thought like, because my pregnancy was so hard and intense, like. And before Dan and I got back together, I wanted another child and I asked my sister, I was like, because she's had three kids. She, she got her tubes tied, but she can still toad it.

• 27:09Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, I love that.

• 27:10Speaker 02

  I was like, hey, like, would you carry baby for me? Like, it wasn't even two seconds later. She's like, if you pay for a tummy tuck. It's like, that's good. Like, that's, that's cool.

• 27:20Bunnie XO?

  I love that.

• 27:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, I was like looking up like, you know, cryobanks and everything and um. I, I, I think that surrogacy is so beautiful and like what a gift. I think any, I, I hate it when I see that people like get anything negative about. How they choose to be healthy, how they choose to welcome children into this world. It, it should only be, like I have chills, it should only ever be celebrated. Because again, to bring it back, like you have no fucking idea what someone had to go through to even get to that. Point to make that decision.

• 27:57Bunnie XO?

  I just think we live in a world where it's like a fish tank. And some days you're the fish that gets picked on and it's like they will zero in, like when you went through the Dolly situation. I remember it broke my heart and I reached out to you because I was like, she doesn't fucking deserve this. I've met you. I've felt your energy. I'm like, she is the sweetest fucking soul. And that's why I reached out to you because I wanted you to know, like, you're not alone. But this online shit, man, it's bad. Like, it is um. Mob mentality and it's millions of people. Mob mentality that just have a fucking

• 28:28Speaker 02

  Getting worse too.

• 28:30Bunnie XO?

  It is because there's no, there's no re recourse.

• 28:33Speaker 02

  No.

• 28:33Bunnie XO?

  So if you say something, nothing happens, you know, like.

• 28:37Speaker 02

  I thought like after all this stuff from like early two thousands with like the Perez Hiltons and all of that, just like horrible horrific bullying like, and then I thought maybe like, okay, no more bullying is like a thing like, no.

• 28:50Bunnie XO?

  No.

• 28:50Speaker 02

  And the saddest part about it, which is the only way that I can like still have a fucking Instagram. It's like, okay, that person who's saying that is hurting.

• 29:01Bunnie XO?

  Yeah. Well, you have to post and ghost. That's what I do now.

• 29:03Speaker 02

  I mean, yes.

• 29:04Bunnie XO?

  I've had, I had to learn that in the last six months.

• 29:06Speaker 02

  Well, you can't look at it, right?

• 29:08Bunnie XO?

  No, I just, and I'll, I'll look at the first five and then I leave it alone for a few days when I'm feeling a little bit stronger. And then I'll go back in and if there's some, by that time, I'm, by that time I'm over that's that post and it doesn't mean anything. So I'll just delete or block, you know, if I need to, but yeah, I just post and ghost and it was, it's been the blessing for my mental health, dude.

• 29:26Speaker 02

  You have to because, I mean, like most days, I'm like, I don't want to do Instagram.

• 29:30Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 29:31Speaker 02

  And I used to love it. I used to love it because I actually interact with my fans.

• 29:35Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 29:35Speaker 02

  And then

• 29:36Bunnie XO?

  Same.

• 29:36Speaker 02

  Some, some people would comment like, hey, you're getting like a hundred and fifty really kind things and you're only interacting with the person who said something mean.

• 29:46Bunnie XO?

  I get that too.

• 29:47Speaker 02

  And it's weird cause like, you know what? That's fucking true. That's so true. Why? But, and then people, they want that. They want to fight. It's so weird.

• 29:57Bunnie XO?

  You can't win. You cannot win. It doesn't matter. And they're always wittier. For some reason, they will come back and say some of the craziest shit and you're just like, son of a bitch, you know?

• 30:06Speaker 02

  Really wild. I just, I just go straight for like the your mom jokes.

• 30:09Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, me too. I do that. That's my whole thing. Like they'll be like, you're such a whore. I'm, I'll be like, that's not what your dad said about your mom. Or you know, like I'll say something like fucking funny.

• 30:18Speaker 02

  I said like, that's not what your mom said last night. Okay, so stu- it's like, cause so stupid.

• 30:23Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, no, seriously. So let's circle back to your childhood. So you grew up in Ohio and I think a lot of people were like, when you did, and we'll get into your album and stuff like your albums and stuff like that. But when you did cross over into country, did you get any kind of pushback? Because people were like, oh, you're not country, but really you are. You grew up in a rural part of Ohio.

• 30:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, I, I didn't actually get any pushback. I think, um, I think because I connected with country fans and, um, the, the biggest, the biggest pushback was that, okay, when I would get really drunk, like if anyone were to ever meet my brother and see us together, like we say the billy comes out, like my hillbilly comes out. And so when I'm drunk, like I like become this like, ritin' tatin', fucking, you know, hillbilly.

• 31:14Bunnie XO?

  Yosemite Sam.

• 31:15Speaker 02

  Yes, yeah. And, um, but no one ever takes the time to find out where someone's from. No one ever takes the time to find out their parents' history. It's like, all they see is like, she was born in LA. Her dad's Rob Schneider. She's like, duh, duh, duh. It's like, God forbid you find out they're like, I'm also Filipino and my family is hillbilly as fuck in a nice way, you know?

• 31:35Bunnie XO?

  Is, who's Filipino?

• 31:37Speaker 02

  My dad's Filipino.

• 31:38Bunnie XO?

  Wow, I never knew.

• 31:39Speaker 02

  So I had two very like different, I spent a lot of time with my, my dad's mom, my grandmother.

• 31:44Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 31:45Speaker 02

  Um, she's from, she's from Manila and I had a really large, uh, like Filipino family in Northern California. And so my dad would always be working, but my grandmother, she would fly at like 60 something years old, she would fly from San Francisco to Columbus, Ohio, pick me up at like four or five years old, fly me back to San Francisco to spend a weekend with me, fly me back to Columbus and then she would fly back to San Francisco. And like, that's grandmother love right there.

• 32:13Bunnie XO?

  That is.

• 32:14Speaker 02

  And she taught me a lot about family values. I love Filipino culture. I love Filipino food.

• 32:20Bunnie XO?

  Me too.

• 32:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's so good.

• 32:22Bunnie XO?

  So good.

• 32:22Speaker 02

  And, and so I had that. And then I had this like very like super American Midwest, like country, um, family life in Ohio, but I was like a rebel. Like I got kicked out of school in second grade. I was always in trouble. I was like friends with all the bad kids.

• 32:40Bunnie XO?

  Where do you think that rebellious streak came from? Do you think it was from your father's absence?

• 32:45Speaker 02

  No, uh, you know, it could have had a lot of, a lot of that. I think um, now that I'm a mom, like if I, if I hear of something with a child that is acting out, my first thought is what me, what needs are not being met of the child?

• 33:00Bunnie XO?

  Hmm.

• 33:01Speaker 02

  Not, oh, that's a problem kid. Oh, that kid is

• 33:04Bunnie XO?

  Absolutely.

• 33:05Speaker 02

  a fuck up.

• 33:05Bunnie XO?

  Right.

• 33:06Speaker 02

  And I was labeled as a really bad kid, but honestly, like I, I didn't have like a massive amount of structure. My mom was a hustler. My mom was working. She was, she always had three jobs. She was always traveling. My mom would go back and forth to Hong Kong. So we'd spend a lot of time with my grandparents in Southern Ohio. And um,

• 33:27Bunnie XO?

  That's my momma and papa?

• 33:28Speaker 02

  Momma and papa, yeah.

• 33:30Bunnie XO?

  I did my research.

• 33:31Speaker 02

  Yes. And um, and so I, I don't know. And then when I would, if I would ever spend a summer with my dad, it would be on a movie set and I, I would just get lost in the shuffle and

• 33:45Bunnie XO?

  Did you ever feel like you guys could connect or it was just more of like?

• 33:50Speaker 02

  Not till I was much, much older.

• 33:51Bunnie XO?

  Hmm. I feel like, and this is not an excuse for dads at all, but I feel like dads have a hard time relating to younger kids.

• 34:00Speaker 02

  I, I think.

• 34:02Bunnie XO?

  Not all of them.

• 34:03Speaker 02

  It's hard. I think dads who make the choice to connect with their kids.

• 34:08Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 34:08Speaker 02

  Um, do. And um, my dad and my relationship is like a, a real big ebb and flow. Like right now, we're not flowing. I disagree with a lot of the things that he says and um, it, he is just, I don't know, you want, you can want someone to change so much and ultimately like all you can't, you can't control anyone else's actions. You can't control people's feelings. All you can control is how you react and what you do with your feelings.

• 34:37Bunnie XO?

  Absolutely.

• 34:37Speaker 02

  And sometimes I fucking boil up and I boil over and I fucking bust my lid. I'm trying so hard to not be that way because

• 34:48Bunnie XO?

  I feel like that's how I'm wired the same way. And my dad and I actually have the same, had, he just passed away in Mar- uh, May.

• 34:54Speaker 02

  I'm sorry.

• 34:54Bunnie XO?

  It's, it's okay. Um, he and I had the same type of relationship where I, I felt like I was always the one to tell my, to give it to my dad.

• 35:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 35:03Bunnie XO?

  You know, because nobody else did.

• 35:04Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 35:04Bunnie XO?

  But I was always the one that was there to be like, no, you're wrong. No, you need to change this. No. And

• 35:08Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 35:09Bunnie XO?

  even in the end, it just It never got through.

• 35:12Speaker 02

  And you try every different angle. I would try letters. I would try soft. I would try yelling. It's just like, well, see, look, you're yelling, you're yelling, or like, you can't even stick up for yourself. It's like, what? Like, it's, it's psychotic. And I mean,

• 35:27Bunnie XO?

  It's that, that generation of men, for some reason, they're so fucking toxic and they're cool being toxic. They don't, it's everybody else's fault.

• 35:35Speaker 02

  Everyone else is the problem because they're like, perfect and they're right.

• 35:40Bunnie XO?

  And they're like so smooth in their delivery too. You're just like, Show some fucking emotion.

• 35:45Speaker 02

  That is sick. You are wrong for that. It's so fucking weird. And like, ultimately, it made me a very strong person, but I'm also an extremely anxious person too. And like,

• 35:57Bunnie XO?

  You grew up with OCD, correct?

• 35:59Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 35:59Bunnie XO?

  When did that start? Like, when did you start realizing, like, hey, I have an issue here with this? Cause I'm OCD myself.

• 36:05Speaker 02

  Okay, well, I have, I, I, my OCD comes out in like very mild turrets. And I, I twitch constantly and, oh my gosh, I'm like so embarrassed about it.

• 36:18Bunnie XO?

  No, it's beautiful.

• 36:19Speaker 02

  It makes me mad because people are like, she's tweaking online. It's like, motherfucker, like, I used to be fucking tweaking and nobody said shit then. Now I'm fucking sober and now my turrets are fucking coming out because I'm not even taking like medications for it. Cause I'm just trying to like come into my womanhood and like be myself. And it's like, my hands twitch. And it's, it's so that my facial tics don't go crazy. But um, my OCD, I was diagnosed when I was like in sixth grade. Cause I had this whole like number thing and this touching thing. I had to touch everything with two fingers, like really intense stuff. And I was like a compulsive eater. So, and that was like something that my, the peop-, a lot of people in my family had like big issues with. And it's like,

• 37:04Bunnie XO?

  Well, it's gotta be hard, you know, because your mom was a supermodel.

• 37:07Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 37:07Bunnie XO?

  I'm sure your mom probably dealt with her own issues with eating too, because being in that industry, there's no way that you can't.

• 37:13Speaker 02

  Cutthroat, so cutthroat. And she had to stay a size six consistently, or she would not get it, not get work.

• 37:19Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 37:19Speaker 02

  But my mom, see, my mom spun it in a way where she took her struggles and all the pressures that she felt her whole life. And she spun it into always telling me to love myself. And like, she had a chubby daughter, because I felt like, like, both of my parents had their, like, obsessions with eating. I'm probably getting so much trouble for talking about this, but like, I don't care. My mom will be proud.

• 37:41Bunnie XO?

  I, I was gonna say, I think that people need to hear this because not enough people do talk about it. You know, my husband struggles with the same thing, and he's very open about it. And I think that there's a large number of kids that need to hear this too.

• 37:53Speaker 02

  It's hard. It's so hard. And like, you think about, you know, all the, the things that someone could get addicted to. And ultimately, like, one, I'm addicted to all of them. Two, it's, it's really like, it started with food for me and compulsive eating because it was like where I found comfort.

• 38:13Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 38:14Speaker 02

  And both of my grandmothers, they were, you know, like, they were huggable, they were heavier women, and, but they had so much trauma that they grew up with.

• 38:24Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 38:25Speaker 02

  And like, my grandmother saw her freaking brother get beheaded in the war in the Philippines.

• 38:31Bunnie XO?

  Oh, my goodness.

• 38:31Speaker 02

  Like, so she would eat, and she would feed me, you know, she would feed me like lots of food. And then my grandmother, like,

• 38:37Bunnie XO?

  And it's also a love language, too.

• 38:39Speaker 02

  One hundred percent. My grandmother in Ohio, my mom will like, she could cook like nobody's business. And she would just like, baby, you want more? You want, let me feed you. And it was just so good. And I would put, uh, sweet cream corn on top of my mashed potatoes. And that's what, that's what I would eat. That's literally still to this day, my comfort food.

• 38:57Bunnie XO?

  Sounds so good.

• 38:57Speaker 02

  It's so delicious.

• 38:58Bunnie XO?

  Sounds so good.

• 38:59Speaker 02

  But like, maybe not good for you, but I guess subjective, right? And so I was like a really, really heavy child. My dad said, meet a fat camp. I mean, yeah, it was, it was rough. And then I got in trouble one year because I, I sprained my ankle and I didn't lose any weight. So it's like, very toxic and very silly and like,

• 39:18Bunnie XO?

  It's gotta be, how old were you when you got sent to the fat camp? Um, is it okay to call it a fat camp?

• 39:24Speaker 02

  I mean, listen, hey, I called it that and that's what I went to.

• 39:27Bunnie XO?

  I just wanna make sure I don't insult anybody cuz I feel so bad, you know, weight camp.

• 39:31Speaker 02

  It's awful, but like, the F word, the F word is like, is so triggering for me.

• 39:36Bunnie XO?

  I'm, and for me too, because of my husband and I, it's so, and I've seen the effects of that word on people. And it's so hurtful. And so I never, you know, I just wanna make sure we pronounce it.

• 39:46Speaker 02

  It's so awful, but like, that's where he sent me to. I remember him like,

• 39:49Bunnie XO?

  How old were you?

• 39:49Speaker 02

  I was, I went two summers in a row. I was 11 and 12. It's like, um,

• 39:54Bunnie XO?

  What do they do in these camps?

• 39:55Speaker 02

  They, they literally like, you get like, a slice of turkey and like, steamed vegetables for like, every meal. And they make you work out all day long.

• 40:05Bunnie XO?

  That's not healthy, though.

• 40:06Speaker 02

  No, and

• 40:07Bunnie XO?

  You need way more calories than that to make your metabolism.

• 40:10Speaker 02

  Yeah, and also you need fucking therapy. Like, you need to talk about it.

• 40:14Bunnie XO?

  There it is.

• 40:14Speaker 02

  And you need to figure out like, what is causing you to eat.

• 40:18Bunnie XO?

  Therapy in those?

• 40:18Speaker 02

  I never, I never had therapy. Like, they did things that were like, it, adults went there too, and like, I think some people saw results. Um, I, I definitely didn't.

• 40:27Bunnie XO?

  Themselves.

• 40:28Speaker 02

  Yeah. I mean, it, it wasn't, it wasn't, and there was a lot of other Stars kids who went there. So, that was sad. And, I mean, it was just like dark.

• 40:38Bunnie XO?

  That has to, that probably had to start your, your, um, anger towards your father, too.

• 40:42Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah, 100%. But like, it got to a point where like, I never, I didn't wanna spend a summer with him. And like, when, I got, I got kicked out of almost every school I went to. I got kicked out of, when, the first school that I, I went to in New York City was a, a school called York Prep. And, I don't know, I was, I was probably, I was, I, I refused to wear the uniform. I would like, yell back at teachers and, and it was, I just, I always had problems with authority.

• 41:10Bunnie XO?

  Me too. That was my, I got kicked out of every school I went to, too. I get it.

• 41:13Speaker 02

  But, it doesn't, we're not dumb. We don't have a lack of intelligence. We probably just learn a different way than any kind of box structure that most people can, you know, function in a one size fits all.

• 41:26Bunnie XO?

  I think us as children, types of, the types of women that we are, we also learned at a very young age that we were surrounded by people we did not wanna be like.

• 41:35Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 41:36Bunnie XO?

  I, I know that my family, I was just, I looked around at everybody and I'm like, you toxic motherfuckers. Not saying I wasn't, but I was just like, man, I am here to break a cycle.

• 41:45Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 41:45Bunnie XO?

  And I think that's, even though we didn't know that's what we were doing at such a young age, we're like rebels without a cause. But really, we did have a cause. We were sent here to shake shit up and break some chains.

• 41:55Speaker 02

  Yeah. Even if it hurts, because unfortunately, we're also strong enough to be able to handle and carry that burden of hurt. Because in some like dark, twisted knife way, like it will continue to push us. And I, I mean, I believe it that God never gives us anything that we can't handle. And sometimes it feels like, are you sure?

• 42:19Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, last week, that's how I felt. I was like, you, me, we good? Like, what's happening?

• 42:24Speaker 02

  Yeah. But I, I don't know. I, I think that now that I'm like less destructive, I, I can see, I can see the blessings and the lessons in things much sooner. And I mean, like literally as these words are like leaving my mouth, I'm like, listen to that bitch, like listen to it.

• 42:47Bunnie XO?

  No, and when you're in it, it is so hard. And I, I trust me, I get it. I, like I said, I just went through it and it, but it is like amazing what the mind can do because what the mind believes, the body will follow. And I always tell people that and words are spells and like, it doesn't matter what you say. If you say, you know, like, I feel like I'm gonna die, like that. And I have a problem saying stuff like that. Like when I don't feel good, I'll be like, I feel like I'm gonna die. And then I have to correct myself and be like, no, no, no, I don't mean that. You know, like, you have to really be careful with what you say and what you put in the world.

• 43:17Speaker 02

  Definitely.

• 43:17Bunnie XO?

  Um, so going back, so you had said that you did not want to, you got to a point where you stopped wanting to go and spend summers with your dad.

• 43:23Speaker 02

  Yeah. I mean, like he was filming this one, like prison movie in like Stockton, California, in a prison.

• 43:31Bunnie XO?

  Yeah. I was gonna say, there's not very many

• 43:33Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 43:34Bunnie XO?

  cool hang spots in Stockton.

• 43:36Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 43:37Bunnie XO?

  Shout out the Diaz brothers.

• 43:38Speaker 02

  I had already started getting tattooed and it was like a hundred and eight degrees like every single day. So I was having to wear sweaters because my dad was like very anti tattoos or like any form of self-expression that differed from what he wanted for me. Not that he ever even thought about me, but

• 43:56Bunnie XO?

  You're killing my fantasy of Rob here.

• 43:57Speaker 02

  I'm so sorry.

• 43:58Bunnie XO?

  It's over. It's done. It's over with.

• 44:00Speaker 02

  I'm so sorry.

• 44:00Bunnie XO?

  I'm T M L all day.

• 44:02Speaker 02

  Oh, I'm so sorry.

• 44:03Bunnie XO?

  I'm T M L all day.

• 44:04Speaker 02

  But um, yeah, I just like, I would get in so much trouble and now like a massive part like of like, I guess little, little Ts that have turned into massive paranoia, paranormal, wait, paranoia.

• 44:20Bunnie XO?

  Yes.

• 44:21Speaker 02

  What's paranormal?

• 44:22Bunnie XO?

  I don't know. I was gonna say, is that like ghosts or something?

• 44:24Speaker 02

  I don't know, but like it'd be a ghoul like

• 44:25Bunnie XO?

  Paranormal.

• 44:26Speaker 02

  A ghoul dog name. I like spend one day in this like witchy house. It's cool. And I don't remember what I was talking about.

• 44:34Bunnie XO?

  Oh dad, you had to wear sweaters covering the tattoos.

• 44:38Speaker 02

  And so like I didn't want to be, oh, my little teeth. So I would get in so much trouble if I ever, oh my gosh, if I ever messed up a shot or if I ever was like, like an arm in the camera or like if I ever was talking, like I would get in fucking trouble. And like I spent, you know, I'm really putting shit out there right now, but like my dad forgot about every single birthday. Like I spent my 18th birthday in a summer school, like class with like algebra one. And because if I didn't take it, I wouldn't graduate. And they brought me cupcakes and I came home, my dad forgot my birthday. Um, it's okay.

• 45:21Speaker 02

  I read, I read an entire, yeah, it's totally hurtful, but like, you know what?

• 45:25Bunnie XO?

  That shapes and molds you.

• 45:26Speaker 02

  I put every, I put every ounce of my being into my son's birthday. Like every birthday, even for my friends, like every birthday, because I know how it feels to be forgotten on your birthday. And that's so sad. It's like, come on, it's my one fucking day. It's my one day.

• 45:43Bunnie XO?

  Give me that.

• 45:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, give me that. And, uh, and so like I stopped wanting to go. And then I got kicked out of school in New York in sixth or seventh grade. And my mom was like, I am done with her. Um, I was being bad. I got my tongue pierced. My mom walked in on me and, and a boy. And she was like,

• 46:05Bunnie XO?

  Mom's losing her shit.

• 46:06Speaker 02

  Yes. And my mom is tough. My mom like, she doesn't give up on me ever, but my mom was like, she's fucking your problem. And he was like, what do you want me to do with her? And he was going to Amsterdam. So I was 14.

• 46:17Bunnie XO?

  Oh, no.

• 46:18Speaker 02

  And he took me to Amsterdam and he,

• 46:21Bunnie XO?

  Oh, no.

• 46:21Speaker 02

  I feel like we all can tell.

• 46:23Bunnie XO?

  This is going.

• 46:24Speaker 02

  My dad hired this, um, a 21 year old, sweet, sweet. She was an Indian young woman. She was a virgin. And her name was Aman. And she was like, she was lovely. And every single day I'd say, let's go to the flower markets. And, and I would be like, oh yeah, wow, look at those tulips. And then I would dip back behind. I'd like, watch her freak out looking for me. And I'd go straight to the red light district. I still to this day roll the best joints ever. Um, but like, I wanted culture. I wanted to see things and I didn't want, every single day I would ditch the nanny. And she didn't want to lose her job. So she never told my dad.

• 47:04Bunnie XO?

  Oh.

• 47:05Speaker 02

  So I basically just spent however many months we were there in Amsterdam. I had, I mean, I would go to like my, my homeschool like teacher. I was like, I don't even, I was learning some Dutch and French or something, but like, I never paid attention. I can always distract somebody. Like I had this one tutor. I'd be like, oh, you're into Dungeons and Dragons? That's cool. Like, I don't really want to learn about like, science, man. And, um, and then, you know, like one time we went to, anytime, uh, my dad would like have me on a trip. He would like forget that he had me. And so he, I, I know, I know. Cause he did, he's not a great planner. And,

• 47:42Bunnie XO?

  Is that, that's the least of his worries?

• 47:44Speaker 02

  Yeah. And, and so he took, he took me to Russia and with him.

• 47:48Bunnie XO?

  Oh, no.

• 47:49Speaker 02

  I was probably 18. Actually, but the thing is like, I refuse to like waste a trip.

• 47:56Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 47:57Speaker 02

  So,

• 47:57Bunnie XO?

  I love that even at such a young age, you were like, motherfucker, I'm here to live.

• 48:01Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 48:02Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 48:02Speaker 02

  We were in Russia and he was like in a basement, like getting ready to do some TV show. He had two security guards and I was like, hey, hey, we're in Moscow. Like, I'm not sitting in this basement TV studio. I was like, um, I'm gonna go out and he would always just be like, like, reading something like, whatever, take, take one of the security guards with you. I was like, great. So this like beautiful Russian, like tuxedo fucking wearing, like, young handsome security guard. I was like, what do you do in Moscow? And he's like, do you like to ride rides? And I was like, I fucking love rides. Takes me to an amusement park, rides all the fucking rides with me. Is in like photo booth pictures with me. Takes me to get like the big Russian hat.

• 48:44Speaker 02

  And then, like, I, I had, I had started to lose some of my, like, teenage weight. And, um, I, he was staying with like this very, my, my dad was like there for this like really rich lady. And she let me buy this like La Perla gown and like heels because they had some fashion show. And I was like, I'm such a tomboy. I don't know how to walk in heels. And there was like 25 steps down from this party. And the guy was like Nikolai. He picked me up, walks me down the steps, opens the limo with me in his arms and like sets me down. And I was like, yeah, thank you. Thank you.

• 49:23Bunnie XO?

  Did, did you and Nikolai ever hook up?

• 49:25Speaker 02

  No, no, no, no, no. But, you know, I, I think of him fondly.

• 49:31Speaker 02

  It's just like, that was like my bodyguard moment.

• 49:33Bunnie XO?

  What's baby daddy's name? Dan, you're not listening. Dan, you're not listening right now.

• 49:36Speaker 02

  We're, we're never going to Russia together.

• 49:41Bunnie XO?

  Yeah. Fucking Dan. Dan's like, we're never going to Russia, babe. Damn it Nikolai.

• 49:47Speaker 02

  Tell him that Nikolai story.

• 49:48Bunnie XO?

  That or he's gonna be like, next time we have sex, call me Nikolai.

• 49:51Speaker 02

  Okay, I love that. I love that. Babe, babe, just pick me up.

• 49:54Bunnie XO?

  I love that. So circling back though, you did say that your stepfather influenced your trajectory into music. Take me on that journey.

• 50:02Speaker 02

  So my stepdad, his name is Justin, um, and he, he met my mom. He was the lead singer in this rock and roll band in Columbus called Bob City. Amazing rock and roll. And, um, my mom started dating him and her best friend was dating, um, somebody else in the band. And so

• 50:22Bunnie XO?

  We love band boys around here.

• 50:24Speaker 02

  Yes, yes. And, um, I just had like rock and roll people all around me. And he, he still to this day has the best record collection I've ever seen. And like he he came into our lives when I was like, I don't know, maybe six, six or seven. And I remember being like so young and like he didn't care sticky fingered kids and all just like he would let me go through all the records and he'd be like, you like that, listen to this like my my some of my earliest memories of like singing along to music is like my first like time singing like into a hairbrush in the mirror is like Captain and Tenille, Love Will Keep Us Together. It's because he had all these records and he would just, he would say like

• 51:05Speaker 02

  he still makes like new music Friday playlists that he like sends out to all of his friends because he just has the coolest taste in music. And um, he just shaped me. And so when we moved to New York, um, my mom always had me like you always have to have some kind of extracurricular because she I think she knew like academics were not gonna be my, you know, the foot that I lead with.

• 51:30Bunnie XO?

  So I love that the foot that I lead with.

• 51:32Speaker 02

  So I would like I was taking violin at four years old or I would, you know, anytime I wanted to quit something, she'd be like, you can quit it, but you have to replace it something. I tried ice skating, like ice sports, not my thing. Summer like water stuff, that's me, but frozen stuff, no. And or like piano vocal lessons. And when we moved to New York, his best friend and one of his bandmates, um, Joakim, super talented guitar player. He taught me how to play guitar and it was just kind of on from there. And the way he taught me, it was just like, he's like, I can't teach you how to read music, but I can teach you how to play all your favorite songs. And I could help you like learn how to sing along to it. And that's how, because I I think also because I studied Suzuki, which is an ear training method on violin.

• 52:16Speaker 02

  I think I I'm more attuned to stringed instruments. So I can kind of pick up like almost, you know, like a guitar, a bass, a violin, a um, a mandolin, banjo, anything and and kind of find my way around it.

• 52:31Bunnie XO?

  That's a talent. Not everybody can do that.

• 52:33Speaker 02

  Jack of all trades, master of none, but that's fine. Yeah. It's okay. I can.

• 52:37Bunnie XO?

  I feel like she's like my soul sister, like everything. It's so crazy. Um, I, it's a talent though, because I actually was taught how to read music. So I can read music, but I can't, if I hear something, I can't play it. So I've always been envious of people who can do that. I think that's such a beautiful thing.

• 52:56Speaker 02

  Well, maybe we have to start a band.

• 52:58Bunnie XO?

  I'll do it. I'll do it. And then we'll go on tour with Daddy Roll.

• 53:01Speaker 02

  Yes, yes. That was, I mean, listen, I had fun on that tour.

• 53:04Bunnie XO?

  Oh, we had a blast, dude.

• 53:06Speaker 02

  And you know what? Oh my gosh. When I saw you guys at Stagecoach, like, he came, like, during the show, came over and like, gave me a big hug. Like, but that's, that's like, that's who Jelly Roll is.

• 53:18Bunnie XO?

  We love Elle, man. You're just a little light, you know? You remind me of like, fairy energy, and don't take that the wrong way.

• 53:26Speaker 02

  No, I don't. In one of my past lives, she was like, you were fey, in like, the beginning times of Earth.

• 53:30Bunnie XO?

  Ah, I love that. No, you do. You just have this twinkle about you. And it doesn't matter what you're going through. It's like, you are always just trying to make everybody happy around you. And I just love that about you.

• 53:41Speaker 02

  I, I feel like I was like, I saw a lot of things back in Hollywood where like,

• 53:49Speaker 02

  you didn't get in trouble for how you treated people. And I, I, I'll never forget, like, seeing how, like, after someone got yelled at, for instance, how that made someone feel.

• 54:02Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 54:02Speaker 02

  And I'm not saying I'm perfect. I'm sure there's a lot of people who have worked for me who'd be like, she's a fucking bitch. And I, I am not a perfect person. I have grown a lot and I've eaten shelves of humble pie. But, uh, I, I really do believe, especially just for like, where I'm at now, everything that has brought me to here. It's like, all I can control is like, my reaction. And I've been a very reactive person my whole life. But if I continue to put out what I hope to receive, then I, I can feel the path of my life and the trajectory of my joy going to where I hope it lands.

• 54:42Speaker 02

  And that's just like, waking up, making choices. I, I look at my son Lucky, I say, we're choosing kindness today, buddy.

• 54:51Bunnie XO?

  His name.

• 54:51Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 54:52Bunnie XO?

  So cute.

• 54:53Speaker 02

  We got lucky with them, so.

• 54:54Bunnie XO?

  I love that. And I think as unforgiving as the world feels, they love to see growth. And I think them just hearing this podcast is going to change their entire perception of you.

• 55:05Speaker 02

  Well, thank you for giving me the opportunity and like, I'm obsessed with you, so.

• 55:09Bunnie XO?

  Girl, you come here anytime, baby. You can sit on my couch every year. I do not care. I always have space for you.

• 55:14Speaker 02

  We have to see the evolution of growth.

• 55:16Bunnie XO?

  We really do.

• 55:17Speaker 02

  So see you next year.

• 55:18Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, seriously. So take me on this journey of your first album that you dropped in 2015. Like, what were the steps that led up to that? Because not everybody can just get an album and a record deal and all that stuff.

• 55:29Speaker 02

  No, it's pretty crazy. I mean, I've been playing shows since I was like 15 years old. And my mom was always super, super supportive. And like, she would help me sneak into bars. She knew that I had a fake ID and like, she, I had a talent for it and like, I had, I was, I started writing songs at like 14 years old and, and then, once I started playing the banjo, it was like, it was different. Like, I kind of stood out. And so, I was playing country songs in New York. And I was getting like residencies at like 18, 19 years old. And then, this, a manager found out about me.

• 56:11Speaker 02

  And I had already left New York, was living in LA, losing my mind, going kind of crazy, like LA is not for me.

• 56:19Bunnie XO?

  I always find that fascinating because it's like, most people who grew up in New York can't handle LA. And most people who grew up in LA can't handle New York. I grew up in Vegas and LA, so when I go to New York, I'm like, overstimulated.

• 56:31Speaker 02

  Yeah. No, it can be a lot. Like, I don't, I, I romanticize about like, New York. And I really love going back to visit now because my mom's, my mom and dad, my stepdad still live there. And my son loves going to New York. So it's always like a really fun time now. I just don't. I got very accustomed to having like acreage, even if it's five. Yeah. You know, like I have to have a four wheeler. Yeah. Right now, I'm like, I cruise around the neighborhood. I don't have acreage, but we're, we're buying another house and um, I love four wheelers and golf carts and like, I have a tractor in my east Nashville, like yard. Come out this way. You know what? I, we're looking, it's, and it's like, uh, twenty minutes away from here.

• 57:16Speaker 02

  Yay. So it's, it's really, really beautiful. I just, mama needs a pool. Yeah. So I got to swim. Yes, ma'am. And um, so I. We were talking about the, you getting your, you know. Oh, yeah, yeah, okay. First album, music journey. I, I moved to LA and um, I just like, was always playing shows. I didn't, I wasn't signed, nothing. And um, then this manager. Did your dad ever try to help you? Not to cut you off. No, no, no, no, no. You didn't want his help? No, and honestly, I, I, I didn't talk to my dad. I go for like four or five years without talking to my dad. So I got signed, I released my album, everything. Honestly, when I put out my record and people finally started asking about my dad,

• 58:00Speaker 02

  my dad called me and was like, don't fucking talk about me in the press. Like, alright, okay, great. But also it's like, get fucked. I don't care. Like, hey, listen, people have asked me about your fucking ass for years. And I'm like, you're, you're talking out your ass and you're, you're talking shit about, about drag and, and fucking, you know, anti-gay rights. And it's like, get fucked. Oh, no, I never heard that. I didn't know that. He's just talking out his ass and I, I want to use this opportunity to say, I disagree. I do not agree with what he says. Yeah. I believe in all forms of love and I just believe in anyone finding their happiness and their joy in whatever way, whatever capacity that is. There are no politics when it comes to love. Absolutely.

• 58:43Speaker 02

  Um, and so, yeah, I wasn't, he never helped me. I never wanted his help. He also didn't have a very good reputation. So I didn't want, that was really it. It wasn't, it wasn't even like, a lot of like, I've gotta pave my own way. I was like, I don't want to be associated with him. And I'm gonna get in trouble for saying that, but I don't care. And. Good reputation as in like, working with him? Like, he just. He's not. Not ni- nice. Right. She's not nice. And um, and so, and I wanted to be nice. I, my whole thing is like, I always want people to want to work with me again. And not everyone can say that because I'm not perfect. Yeah. And like, I fucked up a lot, like. We all learn and we all grow. Yeah, but I, but my label hasn't dropped me and I, okay, so I went in, it was cri- it was

• 59:27Speaker 02

  Christmas of probably twenty fourteen. I was maybe twenty-two years old. And I go into an empty office and it was before Sony bought EMI. And this, uh, this guy named Jake Ottman, I, I just went in with my banjo and I played a song called, um, Good To Be A Man. And, um, he signed me right on the spot, so I got a publishing deal. He sent that song to Peter Edge, who's the chairman of RCA. And I'd been kind of talking to some labels and everyone was sort of like dicking me around. And RCA was like the first, I mean, mind you, they had Elvis and they had so many bands that like I really loved and, um, they were like always like full, steady, like always consistent, never made me feel like they were dicking me around

• 1:00:12Speaker 02

  or anything or like weirdly courting me. They were just cool and great and I felt like they truly believed in me. Which is rare for record labels. Yes, which is very rare. And like, even though I found out that like men were getting ten million dollar deals, I, I, I didn't get a lot of money for mine, but I felt like they believed in me and my first album had great success. I mean. It was a great album. Thank you. X's and O's was awesome and. Ain't nobody's baby. Yeah. And now, wow, that was my shit, girl. That and Mean was my, my shit. Mean is a great song, dude. Thank you so much. I love that. Well, I, I, I, I'm trying to get back to that whole aspect of like just writing, I don't know, it's hu- it's hard.

• 1:00:55Speaker 02

  Who, I, I think it was Bob Dylan, I don't know who said it, but you have your whole life to write your first album and then a year to write your next one. And, um.

• 1:01:03Speaker 03

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• 1:02:04Speaker 02

  It's just strange. And I got like a lot of nominations on that first album. I topped a lot of charts and, and then I kept going and like, it's, it makes me uncomfortable to say, but I'm also very proud to like, I've broken a lot of records. And as like, you know, I think back to like 11-year-old chubby me, like Ellie, like at fat camp, like, and people always saying like, you're, you know, you're not gonna ever do anything. It's like, um.

• 1:02:31Bunnie XO?

  You did it on your own, too.

• 1:02:33Speaker 02

  Yes, I did. Eat it. Eat it up.

• 1:02:35Bunnie XO?

  Suck it while it's soft.

• 1:02:37Speaker 02

  Yes. And I'm very proud. And like, I want my son to know that. And like, sometimes I think about like, at what age do I like, tell my son like, "Son, like, don't Google me." Because stuff will come up, but I mean, who knows?

• 1:02:52Bunnie XO?

  What's he gonna find out? A mom that speaks her mind and doesn't take shit?

• 1:02:55Speaker 02

  I don't know.

• 1:02:56Bunnie XO?

  I mean, that's respectable to me. I don't have a problem with a woman who stands her ground.

• 1:03:00Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:03:01Bunnie XO?

  Granted, there's a couple situations that, you know, you've owned up to and... But just because your mistakes happen online and in front of people doesn't mean that other people aren't making similar mistakes behind

• 1:03:13Speaker 02

  They just aren't on a fucking grand TikTok

• 1:03:16Bunnie XO?

  Exactly, exactly.

• 1:03:17Speaker 02

  But America loves a comeback story and I will say, if I didn't come back out the gate swinging and like with my shit together and putting on like great shows, I put a lot of effort, energy and money into like this, I have an opportunity. I have an opportunity to show that I've grown, that I am better than ever, that like, that is not, that might be one facet, like my mess ups are, they are part of me and, and they are part of, ultimately, I feel like I, I learned more, I always say like expensive lessons are like the best to learn.

• 1:03:48Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:49Speaker 02

  Cause like, ooh, I can't afford to make that one again.

• 1:03:51Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:52Speaker 02

  And, and so like they're a part of me, you know? Yeah, but like, I can kind of look back and laugh and just be like, wow, that was like, that was so crazy. And it wasn't even that long ago that I was like, I don't want to wake up. I don't want to fucking be here. Like, I don't, I should, maybe the world is better, maybe it is better off without me. And like to think like, now I'm like, wow, that was pretty crazy. I was like, oof, probably should have eaten that day, you know? And it, I, I feel, I feel like it's very much behind me and I feel so distanced from it and I feel like

• 1:04:24Bunnie XO?

  Cause you're not that same person.

• 1:04:26Speaker 02

  I'm not.

• 1:04:26Bunnie XO?

  And if Dolly can forgive you, the world can forgive you.

• 1:04:29Speaker 02

  Totally. And I, but I also think that like, there's such a massive part of that, that like, helped me get to this like point where I'm the happiest I've ever been. I'm not putting as much pressure on, I was like, I had so much pressure that I was putting on myself to like lose all my baby weight and like, I was like, just, I was going crazy. I was losing my mind. And now I'm like, you know what? I think I'm okay. I don't need to meet anybody's standards but mine. I'm healthier than I've ever been.

• 1:05:00Bunnie XO?

  You look beautiful.

• 1:05:01Speaker 02

  Thank you. My brain is good. I'm like, I'm taking like healthy medication. There's nothing wrong with antidepressants. In fact, they're great for you.

• 1:05:10Bunnie XO?

  Did you, so did, you are on medication? Did you, were you taking it for your postpartum or did No, I was Postpartum pause you to get on them?

• 1:05:18Speaker 02

  I was refusing to take any antidepressants because I felt like, there's all these weird things. I don't know if it's OCD or just like obsessive thinking, but like, I I really like, I didn't want to get on it. I don't know if maybe part of it was like, I don't want to gain weight. I don't want to be sleepy. I don't want to feel like I can't create. Cause I've, I've tried to take a lot of like antidepressants before in my life. And sometimes they made me feel like I couldn't create or anything, but I also thought that I had to be like high off my fucking mind to like make a record in a month in the studio with my friends. It's like, that's actually like not conducive and it's not good for like anyone. Yeah.

• 1:06:00Speaker 02

  And you're a mom now. And so I, I finally was like, all right. I reached this point of give me anything that will make me not feel sad. Give me anything that will make me feel more confident and less anxious because I don't want to feel like this. And I, I got to it and I figured it out and like I take antidepressants and I feel great and like I feel happy and I, I don't know. It, I just think that like when you There's nothing wrong. No, there's nothing, there's nothing wrong with that at all. In fact, I'm like, you should take therapy and if you might need medication, you should take it. But I also like, I love eastern medicine. I love acupuncture. I think a massage goes a long fucking way.

• 1:06:42Speaker 02

  Talk therapy is incredible, even on the computer, you know? And like, I just, like where I'm at now, I'm like, tell me what to do. Yeah. And when it used to be like, I don't want to fucking hear it. Now like, what works? Like, you know, like throw this noodle at this wall and if it sticks, like I'll take it. Like, that's good. You know, I just want to be happy. And I've learned that like, if I can be the best person for me, that act, that actually makes me a better mother for my son. Yeah. Cause I can't be doing any of this for anybody else. I have to do it for me. Because then I can be firm, steady and grounded. And then that like when my cup is full,

• 1:07:22Speaker 02

  that's when I can give to other people. And I've just noticed that I could be so much more present and I can, I can just be. I don't know. I wasn't such a bitch to Dan and he was like, he started to soften and like.

• 1:07:34Bunnie XO?

  Let's talk about Dan and Lucky. Let's talk about that area of your life.

• 1:07:38Speaker 02

  Oh, I love them so much.

• 1:07:41Bunnie XO?

  I see you light up. I see you light up when you talk about them, your stepfather and your mom. You just get this like twinkle in your eye.

• 1:07:47Speaker 02

  Family's so important to me and sometimes it's your chosen family, you know?

• 1:07:50Bunnie XO?

  Amen. I got my chosen family. I, Jay, Bailey, those are my chosen family. Like, I just, I don't know what I would do without them, you know?

• 1:07:57Speaker 02

  They're like, they just become like our sturdy rock and I think I was, I've been really selfish a lot, a lot in my life because I'm such a hard, hard worker, but I didn't want to make a lot of the same mistakes that I grew up seeing. And, um, and so like, again, like this thing that happened like in January, like, it just, it just changed me and I, I've, I faced a lot of stuff from my childhood that like, I felt like I could put to bed. And now I'm starting to, I'm, I've been like given this opportunity to like, meet me where I'm at now and start working on these issues in my like adult life and like all my unhealthy things and like, you know, you're only as sick as your secrets, right?

• 1:08:40Speaker 02

  And so I'm like, you have to tell on yourself and you have to be honest and truthful. And like I said before, like, I started to treat Dan how I would just hope that he would treat me because we were, you know, fighting pretty bad and, um, neither of us, you can't be heard if you're not listening. And so our communication was really not in a great way. We, we were like speaking different languages and it was all rooted from a place of fear and all rooted from a place of hurt.

• 1:09:14Bunnie XO?

  Right person, wrong time.

• 1:09:16Speaker 02

  Yeah. And, um, and then once we started to like, hey, you can't talk, like, we can't talk to each other like this. Like this is not okay. Lucky can't be around this. And, um, we just started to respect each other and I, I think maybe there is some of that missing even in our prior relationship. And so this doesn't feel like we got back together. He, he kept saying like, it's a new relationship, babe. Like, we have to take it slow. And I was like, let's get fucking married. Let's get married right now. And he's like, I want to take it slow. Like, we owe it to ourselves. And I'm listening to him and like, I want him to be, you know, like. I want him to feel like a man and a strong man. And I think as someone who's a performer

• 1:10:01Speaker 02

  and someone who's like, you know, I don't really can like think of myself as like a famous person, but I I am, you know?

• 1:10:08Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, and you've earned it. You've worked your ass off, babe.

• 1:10:10Speaker 02

  But I I know that it it can it can be like an emasculating thing to date like or be partnered with someone who's like a strong female, especially one like I've got a reputation. It's like, oh, she's a badass and she fucking can really go toe to toe with the boys. And like, while that's all true, I also, I want to be like a soft feminine like wife and like loving partner and also have someone love me.

• 1:10:36Bunnie XO?

  You can be both.

• 1:10:37Speaker 02

  Yes, love me for both. And he does. And I need to love him and I need to celebrate his masculine and I also need to totally celebrate my favorite part, which is his soft, silly, sweet, because our our like funny neck tattooed guys are usually the sweetest teddy bears.

• 1:10:57Bunnie XO?

  Teddy bears. Yes, absolutely.

• 1:10:59Speaker 02

  And that's what we love because we're tough ass chicks, right?

• 1:11:02Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, well, I had to learn that with Jay, you know, because I came into the situation with just so much baggage. And I mean, I was like a fucking just a like a just a force to be reckoned with. And I came in and I just was so used to emasculating every man that I had ever been with. I make the money. Don't fuck, you know, don't, I'm gonna fight, you know, and I finally, we, I don't think it's said enough as couples, especially when you are having communication issues, to be able to sit down and look at each other and say, hey, we can't talk to each other like that. That changes everything. And my husband and I had to sit down and do that. And we've had the best relationship since. Communication is key. Comprehension is vital. And it's like, you literally have to be in,

• 1:11:45Bunnie XO?

  you are fighting dragons with this person every day. That is your fucking teammate, your fucking co-conspirator. Like, you guys are literally slaying this thing called life together. And you guys have to be on the same page. If not, that ship's not gonna sail.

• 1:11:59Speaker 02

  And it's a choice. I've struggled with like, Okay, how do people get married? Like, what is it? How do you like really know? And like, do you just pick? Do you just choose? Because that's where like when you're, when you're just talking about that, I'm like hanging on everywhere. Cause like, you know, I, I think, I, I don't think Dan would be upset from like with me saying like, you know, we're doing couples therapy and like we're trying everything.

• 1:12:21Bunnie XO?

  Jay and I have done so much therapy. I just had a therapy appointment before you came in here.

• 1:12:26Speaker 02

  But that's beautiful. And like, it's, it makes your bond stronger. And like, honestly, we, I asked him, it was like such divine timing. This, this therapist who basically like kicked us out. Because I asked if he would go to couples therapy with me and we had gotten into like a big fight.

• 1:12:48Bunnie XO?

  That happened to Jay and I.

• 1:12:50Speaker 02

  Cause he liked this booty girl on Instagram and I was mad. And so we walked in, we sat like, there could have been an ocean between us. And we were fighting and she was like, I don't think that I can continue to see you guys, blah, blah. And it was not great. But then she emailed me and we weren't, we weren't together, but we were like in a really great flow of things. And she was like, hi, I just wanted to let you know that like, I'm starting to take new patients again. And I didn't know where you guys were at in your journey. And I was like, oh, wow, we're actually doing really, really well. And I asked him, I was like, hey, like, do you think you'd like, wanna like go to like couples therapy? And he was like,

• 1:13:30Speaker 02

  yeah. And I said, like, just as friends, like, just so we can help like our communication. He was like, yeah, I think I would like that a lot. And then like a week later, we were like, back together.

• 1:13:41Bunnie XO?

  And all you guys needed was a conversation. Like a conversation of two people actually wanting to listen to each other can change so much.

• 1:13:50Speaker 02

  And it's, it's really, really crazy what happens when.

• 1:13:55Speaker 02

  You put down the receipts and you put down the swords and you don't yell and you just like take a second and like that's not my strong suit. It is not my strong suit. I'm, I was made to fight. I grew up in a yelling family. That's just how we communicated and it wasn't even like, nobody wins in that. Not even the loudest person. Everyone just is like in fight or flight and shaking with adrenaline.

• 1:14:21Bunnie XO?

  Looking like Ren and Stimpy.

• 1:14:22Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's crazy. It's not good. And I think we both like grew, grew up with a lot of that because that's, no one told anybody. No one told anyone that's wrong until recently. Now everyone tells you that you're wrong for anything that you do.

• 1:14:36Bunnie XO?

  Oh yeah, yeah. Sometimes I'm, I'm kinda like, alright, enough.

• 1:14:39Speaker 02

  Yes, of course.

• 1:14:41Bunnie XO?

  But definitely the speaking softer to each other. We don't yell in our house. I think I've yelled at our daughter one time and she really deserved it. Yeah, like, I just, we don't, cause I grew up in a screaming household also. So I can't, if you start yelling at me, I'm automatically shutting you out. Like I can't listen to it.

• 1:14:58Speaker 02

  And, but also if you think about it, like even going back to like, not toxic people, but like, you know who does win an argument? The calmest motherfucker.

• 1:15:07Bunnie XO?

  Mm-hmm. Because they'll piss you off even more.

• 1:15:09Speaker 02

  Yeah, because they'll get you. Like, I'm like, what the fuck did you do? You know, like any like teacher, like I just think about like principals who are like, talk like this, I'm like, you fucking asshole. But like, that's how like I wanna be. But I also,

• 1:15:21Bunnie XO?

  It takes levels to get to that.

• 1:15:23Speaker 02

  Yes, and I'm not there. I'm like peeling the layer back. I'm like maybe level one.

• 1:15:27Bunnie XO?

  I'm, I'm don't start none, won't be none.

• 1:15:29Speaker 02

  Okay, oh, I like that. I like that. I just wanna be the mom that like my son comes to no matter what. If he gets arrested, God forbid. I mean, I'll let him, I'll let him sit. I'll, I'll keep that tradition in my family. My mom said, you get arrested, I'll let you sit in there. But I've never been arrested.

• 1:15:44Bunnie XO?

  Yay.

• 1:15:45Speaker 02

  I know, shocker. It's good.

• 1:15:46Bunnie XO?

  That is awesome. I've been arrested, so that's crazy. How have you never gotten arrested?

• 1:15:52Speaker 02

  I know, I know. I've been handcuffed twice, but like, I'm very smooth with my words.

• 1:15:55Bunnie XO?

  I love that. My husband's the same way.

• 1:15:58Speaker 02

  Really?

• 1:15:58Bunnie XO?

  He can get out of handcuffs at any time. I'm like, you motherfucker, dude.

• 1:16:02Speaker 02

  He's very charming.

• 1:16:03Bunnie XO?

  He is. He is so fucking charming. I'm like, I hate you. He can get out of speeding tickets. I get them all.

• 1:16:09Speaker 02

  No.

• 1:16:09Bunnie XO?

  It doesn't matter. And you would think it would be opposite because they always say, oh, cops let pretty girls off. I'm not saying I'm pretty, but you know, just saying.

• 1:16:15Speaker 02

  You're beautiful.

• 1:16:15Bunnie XO?

  Just saying that it's like a myth, you know? And no, my husband gets off on every ticket. They fucking stick it to me every fucking time, man.

• 1:16:22Speaker 02

  I only got one speeding ticket. Also, shocker. I know. And it was in my hometown.

• 1:16:27Bunnie XO?

  I can't believe they gave it to you, though.

• 1:16:28Speaker 02

  I know. She goes, I know who you are.

• 1:16:30Bunnie XO?

  Oh, it was a she.

• 1:16:31Speaker 02

  But I still have to give you this ticket. I was like, damn it. And then she came to the show.

• 1:16:35Bunnie XO?

  Oh.

• 1:16:35Speaker 02

  She even commented, because I like took a video, because I was like, man, I never get pulled over. And I took a video of like, uh oh. She commented on it. She was like, I was wanting to give you a ticket, but we loved your show, me and my girls. I was like, come on, this is like eighty-five dollars.

• 1:16:47Bunnie XO?

  I love that. That is so funny. So what's happening now with L? You are on your redemption tour? What's it called? Baby? Ask the baby?

• 1:16:56Speaker 02

  Baby Daddy's Weekend Tour.

• 1:16:57Bunnie XO?

  Baby Daddy's Weekend Tour.

• 1:16:58Speaker 02

  And I am just playing lots of music. I'm about to finish, finish my album. I have a lot of music coming out. I'm really, really excited about it. And it's, it's, I always say like, this album is the most me, but like, I think anything that I'm working on is like, where I'm at in my life. And I'm very proud of the music that I'm making. And I started making a lot of it before I like had a nervous breakdown this year. And it's bringing me back to life, just like creating again and like having these like seeds planted and then making this beautiful album. So it's definitely going to be a little different than my last three albums, but I don't think that.

• 1:17:43Speaker 02

  Even though all my records have sound, they all sound like me. I don't think any of them have sounded like exactly the same, but like my music is a representation of where I'm at in my life and

• 1:17:53Bunnie XO?

  What, what is it more like? Is it country?

• 1:17:55Speaker 02

  It's a country, yeah, it's definitely a country album. But it's really beautiful and it's, it's what country is to me and um, everything that I've kind of learned in the country world. And um, I feel like these are gonna be the songs, like I don't play every song from every album at every show. But there's a lot of songs on this album that like I'll play for the rest of my life. And that makes me really proud and excited. And I'm also sitting on an album that I made when I was pregnant. Before I went to country and I'm like drunk and I don't wanna go home. I wrote eight years before it ever came out. And so that, that song taught me so much about the life of music.

• 1:18:37Speaker 02

  And so I'm also sitting on an album that's like really, really incredible and I'm just waiting for the right time for that to come out, cause it's probably, you know, the best album I've ever made and

• 1:18:47Bunnie XO?

  Drop that shit.

• 1:18:48Speaker 02

  I know, I know.

• 1:18:50Bunnie XO?

  What are we waiting for?

• 1:18:51Speaker 02

  I don't know. I, I think after this, this big, um, that big eclipse, right?

• 1:18:56Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 1:18:56Speaker 02

  Everything is supposed to be like all the seeds that we planted. I don't know if it's the same for every star sign. But like a lot of things are coming to fruition from like the last eight years and um, and so everything that I've been really, really working on is all coming to a head in a good way. And I think it's the same, if you believe in that and if you believe in yourself and, and if you are manifesting these good things that you're putting out in the universe, it makes so much sense if you're into, you know, astrology or astronomy or anything like that, like how all this stuff can be coming, even, even the crazy lessons that like I've learned this year, like. I feel like all these things are leading me to these manifestations of things that I've been maybe too afraid to try.

• 1:19:41Speaker 02

  And like when I was thinking about doing, uh, like, wouldn't it be cool, man, to be a bad guy in a movie? I did a movie. I just did like my first like actual like really, really cool movie. And it's all things like you just have to try and continue to put yourself out there. And like, it's not the first movie that I've ever done, but this is the first time that like I really prepared, I worked so hard to get it. And like all these things that, all these good things that are like, hey, wouldn't that be cool? And just thinking about it and like putting it out and like dreaming about it, like that's manifesting. That's pulling it, that's inviting it.

• 1:20:14Bunnie XO?

  Visualizing that it's already yours.

• 1:20:16Speaker 02

  Yes. And I say you have to make room in your life for greatness and like you have to clear things out, you have to like cut things off. And that's how like, you know, like you have to clip like buds on roses sometimes, but that's how more.

• 1:20:29Bunnie XO?

  Roses.

• 1:20:30Speaker 02

  I'm not a great gardener, but I do have some roses.

• 1:20:33Bunnie XO?

  That's been on, I'm manifesting to learn how to fucking garden.

• 1:20:36Speaker 02

  It's hard.

• 1:20:36Bunnie XO?

  I want to, I know.

• 1:20:37Speaker 02

  It's really hard.

• 1:20:38Bunnie XO?

  I can't even fucking save a sunflower from the grocery store.

• 1:20:41Speaker 02

  Listen.

• 1:20:41Bunnie XO?

  I've tried twice.

• 1:20:42Speaker 02

  I, I've tried to like mulch and put, I'm trying to like, cause what, like the, your house has a representation of your mind, right? So I was like, my house looks like shit. So I've tried to garden and now all the grass is growing up through the mulch and it's like, oh my gosh.

• 1:20:58Bunnie XO?

  Well, that's why you need landscapers.

• 1:20:59Speaker 02

  It's so hard.

• 1:21:00Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, you gotta have, you have to have people help you.

• 1:21:02Speaker 02

  I know, I know. I'm really trying to fight this stubbornness.

• 1:21:04Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, you got, you can't do it all, Elle. I think your lesson this year is you can't do it all, baby.

• 1:21:09Speaker 02

  Ask for help, Elle.

• 1:21:11Bunnie XO?

  Allow people to help you, baby. You need just, get a fucking landscaper, okay? It'll make you feel better. Elle, thank you so much for this conversation. It was so sweet and I can't wait to have you back and I can't wait to see this tour. I can't wait for people to hear this podcast. I really feel it's, it's gonna touch a lot of their hearts and they get to just see a glimpse inside of you and I just, I love it.

• 1:21:33Speaker 02

  You're so beautiful and you spread so much amazing positivity and I just, I appreciate you. Thank you for having me on. I love you so much, Bunny. You're, you're amazing.

• 1:21:40Bunnie XO?

  We're gonna make out after this. Don't tell Dan.

• 1:21:44Speaker 02

  Don't tell Dan.

• 1:21:45Bunnie XO?

  Don't tell Dan.

• 1:21:46Speaker 02

  But I won't tell my mom.

• 1:21:47Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, shout out mom, shout out mom, we love you. Thank you guys for tuning into another episode of Dumb Blonde. I'll see you guys next week. Bye.