Monica Lewinsky Returns

Monica Lewinsky (Reclaiming) is an activist, writer, and podcast host. Monica returns to the Armchair Expert to discuss confronting deep trauma listening to her own voice while making her new podcast Reclaiming, the argument for not killing a darling even if it’s unflattering, and how it’s naturally harder to give the nudge into vulnerability in a conversation because she wants her guests to feel safe. Monica and Dax talk about the theory that people are preserved at the age they become famous, how all the personal inner work she did entering her fifth decade helped her grow in ways she couldn’t have imagined, and why she really dislikes the word ‘reinvention.’ Monica explains how we truly are evolving into a society of spectra rather than binaries, feeling younger because she was forced to mature faster in some areas while being stunted in others, and the acceptance she achieved turning 50 and how freeing it is to be happy and comfortable with who she is now. Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch new content on YouTube or listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/armchair-expert-with-dax-shepard/ http://www.wondery.com/links/armchair-expert-with-dax-shepard/ now. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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

• 0:00Dax Shepard?

  Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert. I'm Dax Shepard and I'm joined by Monica Lilly Padman.

• 0:05Speaker 01

  And it's important that you make that clear today.

• 0:08Dax Shepard?

  Because there's two Monicas here today.

• 0:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 0:11Dax Shepard?

  On a second trip.

• 0:12Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 0:12Dax Shepard?

  Monica Lewinsky.

• 0:14Speaker 01

  Welcome back, Monica Lewinsky.

• 0:15Dax Shepard?

  Yes, this was really fun. I really enjoyed this one. She has a new podcast out called Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky. She has incredible guests.

• 0:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 0:26Dax Shepard?

  And the theme's really awesome. It's about reclaiming your identity.

• 0:30Speaker 01

  Yes, obviously she has had a very unique life.

• 0:34Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 0:34Speaker 01

  And she's generous in talking about it, which is, which is really nice and helpful. Like she said so many things that I think are gonna resonate with a lot of people.

• 0:44Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 0:44Speaker 01

  She said one thing that I was thinking about for days.

• 0:47Dax Shepard?

  What?

• 0:48Speaker 01

  I don't wanna say it.

• 0:49Dax Shepard?

  Oh, you don't wanna spoil it?

• 0:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, I don't wanna spoil it. I just think, I think it's gonna hit with some people and I hope it does. Um, and I, uh, BTS, we were in some emails after, and Emma was talking to her team and they, they were like, it's so confusing.

• 1:08Dax Shepard?

  Between the Monicas?

• 1:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, so they had to start referring to it as my Monica.

• 1:12Dax Shepard?

  Oh.

• 1:15Dax Shepard?

  I like that, my Monica.

• 1:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:17Dax Shepard?

  Please enjoy, not our Monica Lewinsky. We get support from Quince.

• 1:22Speaker 01

  Okay, can we talk about the fact that the holidays are already here? It's crazy. I feel like I blinked and now we're in gifting season, which I'm not really mad about because I do love giving gifts and Quince is making it so easy to find something great for everyone on my list, including myself, because let's be honest, self-gifting is a love language.

• 1:41Dax Shepard?

  Quince is seriously the gift that keeps on giving. Their high-quality staples are made with premium materials like 100% Mongolian cashmere, 14-karat gold, and Italian leather. Full-on luxury quality at prices that won't wreck your holiday budget.

• 1:57Speaker 01

  It's the dream. The cashmere sweater, starting at $60, down jackets, wool outerwear, cashmere accessories. You and everyone on your list are staying cozy and looking incredible all season long.

• 2:08Dax Shepard?

  Well, I'm gonna tell you this, it just got chilly for the first time this year in California and I'm so excited and I'm wearing my Quince cashmere right now.

• 2:15Speaker 01

  It's great.

• 2:17Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, and I am going to gift this to some of my friends. I hope they're not listening.

• 2:21Speaker 01

  Quince is also more than clothing. They've got fine jewelry for your significant other, leather bags for your bestie, hotel-quality bedding to set up your guest rooms, chef-grade cookware. That's an amazing thing they offer here. And it's such a good gift because people don't like buying cookware for themselves, but it's very important. And they also have five-star luggage, another good gift that people don't like buying for themselves.

• 2:43Dax Shepard?

  Give the gift of quality this holiday season. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK, too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was Armchair Expert. It's the best way to support the show. We get support from Gusto. So here's the thing about running a small business that nobody romanticizes. It's not the big idea that wears you down. It's the payroll, the tax filings, the wait, do I need workers' comp for this stuff? That's the part that quietly eats away your whole afternoon, which is where Gusto comes in. Gusto is online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses.

• 3:28Dax Shepard?

  It's all-in-one, remote-friendly, and incredibly easy to use so you can pay onboard and support your team from anywhere. They handle automatic tax filing, direct deposits, health benefits, 401K, all of it. And you get unlimited payroll runs for one monthly price. No hidden fees, no surprises. If something tricky comes up, you've got direct access to certified HR experts who actually know what they're talking about. And they're ranked number one on G2's Highest Satisfaction Products List for 2026, entrusted by over 500,000 small businesses. That's not nothing. Try Gusto today at gusto.com/dax and get three months free when you run your first payroll.

• 4:09Dax Shepard?

  That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com/dax. Again, that's gusto.com/dax.

• 4:35Speaker 01

  Rob found that. I didn't even know about it. And apparently I was in the dark. People made fun of me.

• 4:39Dax Shepard?

  But you love it, right?

• 4:41Speaker 01

  I love it.

• 4:42Dax Shepard?

  Immediately. Yeah, you and Rob could have some weird male female home goods store that would service

• 4:48Speaker 01

  Let's do it.

• 4:49Speaker 02

  Home goods.

• 4:51Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh.

• 4:53Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 4:54Speaker 01

  You're so short in this.

• 4:55Speaker 02

  It's a little sinky.

• 4:56Dax Shepard?

  You know what's nice is the complaints are universal. They're not consistent. No one likes it, but for a myriad of reasons. So we can't even really figure out how to fix it. This is the third couch.

• 5:07Speaker 02

  Oh, okay.

• 5:08Dax Shepard?

  And again, it's not like everyone's like, it's too deep, or it's too shallow, or it's too this. It's just for you now, it's too short.

• 5:15Speaker 02

  Or I'm too short. I think it is. I think people sink in it a little bit.

• 5:19Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 5:20Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 5:21Dax Shepard?

  How are you doing?

• 5:22Speaker 02

  Good. I'm a little tired. I was like, oh, this is not the kind of mindset you want to be and go to try to sound like a human. No. And I also keep thinking there's an earthquake happening today.

• 5:35Dax Shepard?

  Oh, you do.

• 5:36Speaker 02

  What is that about? Is there? No.

• 5:38Dax Shepard?

  Like you have a premonition or you're feeling it?

• 5:39Speaker 02

  No, no. It was like three times today. I sort of was, oh, was that an earthquake?

• 5:44Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so a little on edge, maybe.

• 5:46Speaker 02

  I don't know. You're anxious. Is that it? You think? Okay.

• 5:50Dax Shepard?

  Would it comfort you at all to know that I too don't feel energized and bright?

• 5:54Speaker 02

  Okay. Me either, actually. Maybe it's some weird thing with the moon or some shit like that. March has a lot of astrological issues.

• 6:03Dax Shepard?

  Oh, tell us about them, please.

• 6:04Speaker 02

  A couple retrogrades, some other thing. Mercury's in retrograde, which makes sense that here I am coming back to the podcast. Circling all the way back.

• 6:15Dax Shepard?

  What do I have there?

• 6:16Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 6:16Dax Shepard?

  I have hair.

• 6:17Speaker 02

  Oh, oh.

• 6:19Dax Shepard?

  They're so precious. I'm fighting so hard for every one of them.

• 6:25Dax Shepard?

  Do you have, let me start there, we're of the same age.

• 6:27Speaker 02

  When's your birthday?

• 6:28Dax Shepard?

  January 2nd. I just turned 50.

• 6:30Speaker 02

  Oh, no, no, I'm older.

• 6:32Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you're like a year and a half older.

• 6:33Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 6:33Dax Shepard?

  Get over it.

• 6:34Speaker 02

  But congratulations.

• 6:35Dax Shepard?

  Oh, thank you.

• 6:37Dax Shepard?

  Really well played.

• 6:38Speaker 02

  Did you buy a jumpsuit on your 50th birthday?

• 6:40Dax Shepard?

  I already own like six. I had a whole jumpsuit phase like two years ago.

• 6:45Speaker 02

  It was a good phase.

• 6:46Dax Shepard?

  But I guess what I'm asking, is there anything you're in a full-fledged battle with? So for me, it's my hair density.

• 6:54Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 6:54Dax Shepard?

  And I'm applying with a dropper in the morning and at night, and I hate what it does to my hair. It makes it really crunchy and greasy. And I'm like, yeah, I just gotta fucking deal with it.

• 7:03Speaker 02

  I think sometimes the old issues that you kind of go, wow, I've been working on this for a really long time. You just observe it showing up in a different way. So I think I had one of those this morning of huh. I don't want to get too detailed, but I've talked about this thing that's probably not the thing you should talk about when you have a first conversation with somebody that you've been set up with romantically. Probably not the thing to talk about. Too intimate?

• 7:32Dax Shepard?

  Overshare?

• 7:32Speaker 02

  Yeah, probably. It was an overshare and I felt really comfortable with the person, which was nice. But then after I just thought, okay, but I also told that same story the other week to, in a way that was a little inappropriate. Clearly there's something that I need to deal with about this whole thing. I just sound super cryptic. Sorry.

• 7:52Dax Shepard?

  No, I love it. I really want to have coffee so I can be told the same thing and then levy a verdict. There's two ways to think about it though, right? One is you go ahead and be you and you're going to weed out whoever that's not the right fit for them.

• 8:04Speaker 02

  Cause that's served me really well for 52.

• 8:06Dax Shepard?

  Well, that's what I was gonna say.

• 8:07Speaker 02

  51 and a half years.

• 8:08Dax Shepard?

  So that's one side that's defendable, but then the other side is exactly that. Yeah, I do that and it does weed out people. And I think the people I'm weeding out are the people are probably better matches for me. And I'm probably attracting like-minded, hyper-explosive, overly intimate, very quick. And you gotta figure out which side of the line you're on.

• 8:27Speaker 02

  I think we're all very self-aware people here who are aware of ourselves, our emotions, our behaviors, how we want to show up in the world as opposed to how we do actually show up in the world. Right? And so you just keep trying to chip away and move towards something. And there are just those moments where you go, okay. I'm not there yet. Yeah.

• 8:48Dax Shepard?

  I agree that we all think we are, but do you think it's an illusion of self-awareness?

• 8:53Speaker 02

  Huh. Say more on that.

• 8:54Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. So I guess what I'm saying is I think we are all semi self-aware and we know how to read a room. We know how to do this stuff, but we are who we are. And at best, it's a con and at worst, we're not even impressing upon people what we think we are. I think a lot of us have the illusion of it, but really, we all know who each other is.

• 9:14Speaker 02

  I'm gonna show off for a second.

• 9:15Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, do it.

• 9:15Speaker 02

  My therapist told me last week, she made a comment about, can you see how much you've changed? And how much you've evolved and healed in these certain areas? Yeah, that's a huge. Come on, that's a win.

• 9:26Dax Shepard?

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 9:27Speaker 02

  If the self-awareness weren't real, you wouldn't have these evolutions.

• 9:31Dax Shepard?

  You wouldn't be course correcting.

• 9:32Speaker 02

  In behavior. So are you going to become somebody totally different to who you were in your natural state? Probably not. But I think we can mature and heal and evolve.

• 9:42Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I do too. I don't think this is binary. I don't think it's like, you're right. I don't think it's binary. I don't think it's like self-awareness is a total illusion and you can actually know how you're coming across. I think there's a big gray area in the spectrum there.

• 9:54Speaker 02

  I mean, it's interesting. I don't know why this is what comes up, but I remember when I was learning how to do public speaking for my Forbes talk and then the TED Talk, I worked with someone who's a delivery coach because the way you think you're delivering something in your head may not be how the audience is receiving it.

• 10:11Dax Shepard?

  Oh, that's a great question for your podcast.

• 10:14Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 10:15Dax Shepard?

  Because I had the very, very stark example of listening to me argue with Kristin.

• 10:21Speaker 02

  Yes, in your early.

• 10:22Dax Shepard?

  Oh, that's not how I think I argue. In my head, the experience is way different than now I'm objectively listening to it. Have you had some aha moments if you had to listen now to yourself for hours?

• 10:35Speaker 02

  On so many levels. There is one, which is the fact that I'm so lucky. I have super deep trauma of having to hear my own voice. Oh, wow. Because of Linda Tripp taping me for 20 hours and then I had to authenticate the tapes.

• 10:49Dax Shepard?

  Oh, you did?

• 10:50Speaker 02

  Yeah. So I had to sit in the independent counsel's office, listening. It was awful.

• 10:54Dax Shepard?

  Oh, my God. Hold on. One second.

• 10:56Speaker 02

  That's torture. No, no, it was. That's what they should have in Guantanamo.

• 11:00Dax Shepard?

  Even take it out of the insane context it was in, if you. You just said, hey, by the way, we have 20 hours of you and your friend Aaron talking. Now sit here and listen to the things I would say with Aaron and I at a table. There's no way I wouldn't be, I go to make it through 20 minutes of chatting.

• 11:14Speaker 02

  Oh, no, it was so awful.

• 11:16Dax Shepard?

  Whoa.

• 11:16Speaker 02

  If you were asked to recall a conversation, you would probably not remember all the likes, the ums. Oh, yeah. You would try to remember the smart erudite things you said.

• 11:26Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 11:27Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 11:27Dax Shepard?

  Incredible point you made, hour 10.

• 11:29Speaker 02

  Exactly. Not the snarky things that you say about people you love. And I never liked the sound of my voice to begin with. So all of that. And then, of course, they became public.

• 11:38Dax Shepard?

  You had come to terms at least with, that's how my voice sounds, right? You'd already crossed that. Oh, no, no, okay.

• 11:44Speaker 02

  It was just pushed down on the list of awful things. There's that where it's just like, err, my voice, my voice, my voice.

• 11:51Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 11:52Speaker 02

  And then also this thing about repeating myself. Even I listened to our first chat, half of it on the way here. Cause I was like, what if I tell all the same stories again? What if I'm actually not as interesting as I think I am?

• 12:06Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 12:07Speaker 02

  But I think too, in terms of listening, it took me a handful of interviews to feel like, okay, maybe I cracked this and I was so proud of myself. And then I listened and I was like, oh, I wasn't actually, maybe it was good because I didn't say very much this time.

• 12:23Dax Shepard?

  Monica, have you broken any bad habits?

• 12:25Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 12:27Dax Shepard?

  Monica edits, so she has to hear every single thing she says. I at least get a version. By the time I hear it, it's been dramatically cleaned up. So even at that, I've got a lot of work to do.

• 12:39Speaker 02

  The editing process is very interesting, especially, I'm kind of pivoting, I guess, a little bit. But especially if it's a fact check and Dax and I are in something heated. Having to edit that is always tricky. Cause first of all, I'm like, I have to hear that again. Normally, if you're in like an argument with someone, you leave, you both retain the thing.

• 13:00Dax Shepard?

  You step away from it.

• 13:01Speaker 02

  Yes, you step away from it. So you have distance. So then it fades. Also, you leave thinking you were right or the points you made were right.

• 13:08Dax Shepard?

  I think of the ethics all the time that you have to have. When you're editing arguments. Between us, you have so much integrity because to keep in a great point that someone your adversary, quote, "made," it's gotta be hard.

• 13:21Speaker 02

  And now adding lots of ums.

• 13:27Speaker 01

  It's made me better just as being able to be objective about the show because there are times where I am like, I, Monica, want to keep this in because I think I come off better. Or it's the point I've been trying to make.

• 13:42Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 13:43Speaker 01

  And he is doing the thing I'm saying he's doing, but I know it's not additive to the show. It's not good. It's gonna make people mad and I have to cut it. But there's so many times that I leave and I'm like, I'm keeping that in.

• 13:57Speaker 02

  I'm not killing this darling.

• 13:58Speaker 01

  This one's gonna be there. I'm gonna leave it. And then in the edit, I'm like, I gotta get rid of it.

• 14:03Dax Shepard?

  She has a ton of integrity. I just want to scream from the rooftop. She has incredible integrity. And often I imagine myself in the same situation as her. And I think I have integrity.

• 14:13Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:13Dax Shepard?

  But it would be really hard. Forget whether or not I could pull it off. It would just be like, fuck, okay.

• 14:18Speaker 01

  Also, I think in some ways it's bad for us because this happened recently. We had a couple of people on the show that I have very different opinions with.

• 14:26Speaker 02

  Wait, can you say who?

• 14:27Speaker 01

  Yeah. Andrew Schultz, who came out today. It was a great episode. I was very happy with it.

• 14:31Speaker 02

  Comedian, right?

• 14:32Speaker 01

  Comedian. And then someone we haven't had on yet, so I'm not gonna say who.

• 14:36Dax Shepard?

  Adolf Hitler.

• 14:38Speaker 01

  We had slightly different views.

• 14:41Dax Shepard?

  Vladimir Putin.

• 14:42Speaker 01

  You know, we do these episodes and then we leave, but then I, that week, was editing both of those episodes. So then when we came into the fact check, I came in so hot.

• 14:53Dax Shepard?

  Loaded for bear.

• 14:54Speaker 01

  Yes, because I was in this other zone. And then he just wants to talk about regular stuff. I'm like, no, men are a problem. And he's like, why are you saying this? And it's because I've just been in this mindset. It's really hard to compartmentalize.

• 15:08Speaker 02

  And it's in your ear. You're listening.

• 15:10Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 15:11Speaker 02

  Did you have a backbone in storytelling that led you to the editing part?

• 15:15Speaker 01

  Emma, one of our producers, she gave me a really good compliment the other day because I love writing and I write a lot.

• 15:21Dax Shepard?

  Writer.

• 15:23Speaker 02

  I'm just kidding.

• 15:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:24Speaker 02

  But no, no.

• 15:24Dax Shepard?

  Both Monica's presidents.

• 15:25Speaker 01

  I know. And Emma said, cause I was like, oh yeah, I do want to eventually like do more writing. No, no, do more writing. And she was like, you write every time you edit an episode. And she gets the cleanup of it. So she sees it. She's like, you're doing that. You're creating a story. And I was like, that's nice.

• 15:43Dax Shepard?

  Well, she's a great writer. She's written tons of stuff for Kristen over the years.

• 15:47Speaker 01

  Oh, I didn't know that.

• 15:47Dax Shepard?

  Being here. She was a UCB person, so she has the background to do it. But no one should ever feel bad for us. We have literally the nicest job on planet Earth. We go through stuff. It's just random order. You can't predict it. It just happens to be two male comedians that have this stuff that happened because they both have specials coming up. And then for two or three weeks of our life, both through the interview, then the edit, then the fact check, we can't not be in the cloud of that experience.

• 16:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 16:13Dax Shepard?

  And it is just kind of funny. I guess it's great, actually. It keeps life novel, which is we're always in some weird cloud of whatever the guests were.

• 16:22Speaker 01

  And we're being authentic. I mean, I guess that's the other thing. We're maybe trying to compartmentalize, but it's really hard to do. You're going to bring in where you're at mentally.

• 16:31Dax Shepard?

  How deep do you get? When you hear it has pretty much a good pass been done?

• 16:36Speaker 02

  For the most part, I'm hearing version two, but then sometimes I'll go back to the assembly for the interview. And then I have a great moment of being like, wow, you fucking didn't ask that question. How could you not ask that question as a follow up of assuming I had asked it and just passing judgment on people going, why would you cut that from the conversation? And then it turns out, I know, I'm so glad you're laughing at me.

• 17:02Speaker 01

  No, it's such an insular weird thing.

• 17:05Speaker 02

  It is.

• 17:05Dax Shepard?

  Has it been hard for you to ask the next deeper question? Like they've offered to pursue a road. It happened one second ago. You say the Linda Tripp tapes. I like you. I don't want you to have to get embroiled in any of it. Also, that's fascinating. I need to know more about sitting and listening to a conversation, right? So it's like those little nudges you have to give yourself, those come easy or hard for you?

• 17:31Speaker 02

  They're hard for me, probably a little bit because I'm codependent. It's really important for me that somebody comes to have a chat.

• 17:38Dax Shepard?

  Feels protected.

• 17:39Speaker 02

  Exactly. I don't want to trigger anybody. I don't want someone to be upset. So I think it's probably that.

• 17:47Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 17:47Speaker 02

  And then still, because I just did my 12th interview, that's still kind of new. I'm definitely present. I'm definitely having conversations that are interesting to me and exciting to me. But I still feel like I could be more present.

• 18:02Dax Shepard?

  Not as worried about that thing you're creating.

• 18:04Speaker 02

  Right. Or trusting myself too.

• 18:06Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 18:07Speaker 02

  Just trusting yourself that you can sit down and have a conversation with someone. I think especially with the show and the theme of reclaiming, it's not hard hitting. And so my assumption has been I can sit down and have a conversation with anyone and it'll flow out. It's not perspective.

• 18:23Speaker 01

  Something will come.

• 18:23Speaker 02

  Right. But that takes trusting yourself, right?

• 18:26Dax Shepard?

  This experience, I think, as you just get more and more confident, oh, the thing will happen. It always happens.

• 18:31Speaker 02

  As I keep staring at your 500 million streams. Yeah, turn that around. Come on.

• 18:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, that was bragging.

• 18:40Speaker 02

  For a newbie podcaster.

• 18:43Speaker 02

  But that's amazing.

• 18:44Dax Shepard?

  But back to the thing of asking the follow-up question. I think as long as the next follow-up question is something that I'm really interested in, that you might think is too vulnerable, but I know and trust in my heart that the answer to this is not going to alienate you to people, will actually endear you to people. I'll make those judgment calls, right? Where it's like, yeah, they went to five. My interest is I want seven. What happened after that? And if I have a lot of faith in the fact that that piece of information will just make you love the person even more, then I don't mind kind of, I guess, pushing.

• 19:19Speaker 02

  Do you want to ask me something so that people love me more?

• 19:21Dax Shepard?

  No, it'll happen. It'll happen.

• 19:24Speaker 01

  Actually, haven't you felt that over time, just you? The more people have gotten to know you.

• 19:29Dax Shepard?

  You're pretty universally.

• 19:31Speaker 01

  Yeah, I've only heard amazing things about you.

• 19:33Speaker 02

  Oh, that's so nice.

• 19:34Speaker 01

  Too.

• 19:34Dax Shepard?

  As much as people hate that couch is how much people all love you. It's like kind of universal.

• 19:39Speaker 02

  That is very nice to hear. It actually was a span of a year for me. So I turned 50 the year before in 2023. And then it was 10 years in 2024 from my first Vanity Fair piece. And I did a lot of personal spiritual growth work going into my new decade and into this last year. And the number of, I don't know, see, you're making me emotional, but the number of times in that period that I just would pull the car over because I'd start to cry or be in conversation with someone and just thinking about how things had changed in a way for me that I just never could have imagined. And I'm so, so grateful.

• 20:19Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you said turning 40 was absolutely miserable.

• 20:23Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:23Dax Shepard?

  But turning 50 was fine.

• 20:25Speaker 02

  It was great, actually. I had a lot of acceptance.

• 20:28Dax Shepard?

  You were kind of in a coma for a decade, right?

• 20:31Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:31Dax Shepard?

  And then 40 to 50, you came out.

• 20:34Speaker 02

  Kind of blossomed. You know, moving into 2014 and the essay, I've done this, I can now call it resonance work. People understand when I say.

• 20:44Dax Shepard?

  What's resonance work?

• 20:45Speaker 02

  It's like sound based, but vibration and resonance work.

• 20:48Speaker 01

  Like EMDR?

• 20:49Speaker 02

  No, I've done EMDR, but I've worked with someone for probably over 15 years now on repairing my energetic bodies and field. And he uses sound to re-pattern your field.

• 21:02Speaker 01

  Oh, wow.

• 21:02Speaker 02

  Depends on how woo woo you are there. But I've just called it consciousness work or my energy work. And one of the first things we did was around changing my relationship to fame. And so my whole goal in that was bifurcated into two things. One being being seen for my true self. And the other was, it sounds so corny, but it's just leading or coming from compassion. That's what I want my resonance to be in this feeling of when we have compassion for other people that boomerangs back to us.

• 21:32Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, right, right.

• 21:33Speaker 02

  And my story's such a collective story. And so. When people would have compassion for what happened to me, that compassion would radiate.

• 21:43Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so I think if we plotted your experience with fame, it might be the most extreme that we've ever had that I can think of.

• 21:51Speaker 02

  Probably.

• 21:52Dax Shepard?

  Total pariah of a whole country to a lessening degree globally to, I really think, pretty universally loved. I think when people see or hear your name, they have a good feeling.

• 22:04Speaker 02

  And guilt. I think everyone also has a collective guilt.

• 22:09Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, but I guess from your perspective on the inside of that, to have been on both ends of the dynamic extreme, how do you trust either end of it? I could imagine you being loved and really having an impossible time accepting that. And then even thinking, okay, great. You love me, but fuck, I know where this ride goes. It's gonna flip again.

• 22:29Speaker 02

  Or it could. And there is panic of that.

• 22:31Dax Shepard?

  For you, I'm imagining reality itself is a little harder than it is for the average bear because it's been so extreme in both sides.

• 22:40Speaker 02

  A hundred percent. And also too, you know, when you're writing and there's a seed that starts to germinate and you kind of go, I don't know when this is going to grow and I'm going to write this thing. But I've had this thing for quite a while now where I've just been thinking, I've also seen different angles of power and felt when power shifts, how that impacts other people too. When Me Too happened and I just started to find myself invited into rooms that I wouldn't have been invited into the year before. I wasn't different, but the world was different. And so what are all the pieces there that lead to those shifts and what does it mean? Which is interesting to me, but I think the fame thing is very strange.

• 23:19Speaker 02

  I had somebody say once, fame is just more people knowing who you are than you know of the others. So it's like strangers knowing who you are.

• 23:29Dax Shepard?

  Asymmetric, yeah.

• 23:30Speaker 02

  Right. There are trappings that can come with it. Usually it's the positive side. You have a lot of resources and help and the negative is you lose your anonymity and privacy.

• 23:39Speaker 01

  Did you have resentment when that power shift happened when you were invited into the rooms? Were you like, uh, yeah, I've been here.

• 23:47Speaker 02

  Here the whole time and now you're letting me in. Maybe 20%. I think just having experienced the depths of sadness and lack of purpose.

• 23:58Dax Shepard?

  Hopelessness.

• 23:59Speaker 02

  Yeah, hopelessness, all of those things.

• 24:01Dax Shepard?

  What the fuck am I gonna do for a living?

• 24:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, exactly. I think that 80% was just the gratitude of that and 20%. But to that point, it's why I really dislike the word reinvention. Like, oh, you reinvented yourself. I think, no, there was nothing wrong with me. I evolved, I matured, the world changed, but that reinvention seems to imply what was there before needed to be changed.

• 24:26Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so the 10 years, really, I would argue, longer, 16 years, from 98 to 2014. You get your masters in social psychology, you do a lot of things, you attempt a lot of things, but you're kind of frozen as well. Do you think you're younger than you are?

• 24:43Speaker 02

  In some ways, yes.

• 24:45Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, not that you're immature, but I was just like, oh, you're not your age.

• 24:49Speaker 02

  No, it's a very strange thing because I think I had to mature and grow up faster in some areas. And in others, very stunted. And also, it's interesting because I dated somebody who has had an addiction that was in its sort of wildest throes for a decade. And he and I were talking, he was like, well, the decade where I should have been meeting somebody and having those kinds of experiences. Right. He's like, I was in the throes of my addiction and I too had lost that decade. When you're learning to date and you're learning how to be in relationship and I had lost that also. I also remember reading this interview with Matt Damon that I think he was saying

• 25:33Speaker 02

  his brother had this theory that people often remain this sort of same maturity age when they become famous. Yeah.

• 25:42Dax Shepard?

  Like it stops there.

• 25:43Speaker 02

  Exactly, sort of frozen in amber in one of those moments.

• 25:46Dax Shepard?

  If everything you want is happening perfectly, why would you change? It would be counterintuitive to say, everything I'm doing is working perfectly, let's change up. This recipe, I think it's much easier to go like, everything's in a shambles. I need to take a look inward and figure out how I'm fucking all this up in this pattern I'm in. Always results in this. So I think for the young movie star where it's like, all of a sudden, super rich, everyone likes you, career fulfillment, and they're gonna go back to the drawing board? That's a big person that does that.

• 26:17Speaker 02

  That's true.

• 26:18Dax Shepard?

  Can I ask, is long distance more appealing to you?

• 26:20Speaker 02

  No, but I'm an anxious attacher.

• 26:23Dax Shepard?

  What's that mean? Tell me the symptoms of anxious attachment.

• 26:26Speaker 02

  Let me open Instagram and find a meme that tells you the things where I take every fucking box. I will now never go on a date again after this airs. No, I'm just kidding.

• 26:36Dax Shepard?

  No, you go on a date with the right person after.

• 26:38Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's right. What are the characteristics of being an anxious attacher is you need reassurance. You always think people are mad at you. What's hard with relationship stuff, I think, is that you can't see your progress. It's like it has to be in vivo. You have to meet someone and you like them and they like you. And you start the process to go, okay, has this gotten better? And so that I think can be complicated too, because you may not know where you are.

• 27:08Dax Shepard?

  Also hard to evaluate because the nature of a relationship is it's incredibly powerful and dynamic at the beginning. And then you're trading different hormones for here and now hormones. And you're trying to evaluate that versus is this getting boring or is it getting more stable?

• 27:23Speaker 02

  I don't know that I have been the love of someone's life yet. Romantically. And so that feels sad to me. I can relate to that.

• 27:34Dax Shepard?

  Now, what would happen if on your deathbed, a genie came down and went, Monica, these two people, you were, and you missed it. Is that possible? I can't imagine you not being the love of someone's life.

• 27:47Speaker 02

  Romantically.

• 27:48Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 27:49Speaker 02

  I mean, I know my parents. Yeah.

• 27:51Dax Shepard?

  No, I mean, yeah.

• 27:52Speaker 02

  Let me say this. I think that I have historically liked complicated men. And usually an anxious attacher likes an avoidant.

• 28:04Dax Shepard?

  Okay, yeah, yeah, that makes sense.

• 28:06Speaker 02

  It wouldn't totally surprise me if that happened because I would probably go, see, I knew it. I knew they really loved me. I knew I really mattered. But I guess where my head went was. When situationship became a word, I was like, oh, I've had a lot of situationships.

• 28:22Dax Shepard?

  What are those? You said that in an interview I just read and then I didn't know what situationship meant.

• 28:27Speaker 01

  Really? It's like a half relationship.

• 28:29Speaker 02

  Right, it's sort of an involvement. Let's just say a relationship is two people agreeing to try to build something for the future together as a unit. And I think a situationship is usually, it could become a relationship.

• 28:43Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 28:44Speaker 02

  But you're not necessarily saying it's a relationship yet. One of you is probably hoping it becomes a relationship and the other one's like, I'm not so sure, but I still want to keep a toe in. I'm not ready to run the other way or whatever that is. I had someone tell me once that a woman should always have three men in their life. The guy who takes her to dinner, the guy she's fucking and the guy she likes.

• 29:06Speaker 01

  Ah, interesting.

• 29:08Speaker 02

  And so like, that's the way to kind of keep the...

• 29:11Speaker 01

  Keep it in balance. I do want to say though, because I so relate to you and that sentence is heartbreaking, what you said, that you don't feel like you've been the love of anyone's life. And I really relate. But me being on the outside in this conversation, what I wish the reframe is, is who's the love of my life as opposed to like, who can I be for somebody else? It's who's yours?

• 29:34Speaker 02

  I think that I've loved a lot of people.

• 29:37Speaker 01

  You think you have had a love of your life, potentially, or some?

• 29:40Speaker 02

  Well, that's interesting. Now I'm gonna have to reevaluate how I'm defining this all. I was just saying to someone the other day, I feel like in my life, I would not be surprised if I met somebody and it all sort of fell into place now as a mature 51 and a half year old, whatever version of that relationship that would be. And I wouldn't be surprised if it just kind of never happened.

• 30:03Speaker 01

  Right.

• 30:04Speaker 02

  Either way, some of it I think is maybe karma, some of it is a lot of the time and work and energy that I've spent on surviving, I might have otherwise used to figure out emotional intimacy.

• 30:18Dax Shepard?

  You're falling your way out of this enormous hole you were put in. That takes a lot of energy and focus and attention.

• 30:24Speaker 02

  It does, but where I feel really lucky and I imagine... You're the same is just, I have really fulfilling friendships and relationships in my life. And so it's the combination of emotional intimacy and sexual intimacy.

• 30:38Dax Shepard?

  Right.

• 30:38Speaker 02

  It's a little tricky for me.

• 30:40Dax Shepard?

  And I think increasingly, society's evolving. The number of married people in Manhattan in the eighties versus now is one third of what it was. And I do think there'll be less shame surrounding whatever version of you meeting your needs is.

• 30:54Speaker 02

  I remember, I don't know what happened to it. I read about it before the pandemic. There was a matching site, not dating, that was matching people to have kids together. And I just thought, that is so genius. You know, it's really interesting. And as you were saying, Dax, about the spectrum, we are becoming this society of spectrum in so many ways. And it's going to be really interesting as we move forward too of how are we going to historically look at scientific data that was so binary. You're a man or a woman, gay or straight. And we're moving into a world that's more nuanced, while the chasm between groups is even bigger and worse.

• 31:36Dax Shepard?

  Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert, if you dare. This episode is brought to you by McDonald's. The Quarter Pounder with Cheese with Medium Fries and a Drink is now $8.

• 31:52Speaker 02

  What?

• 31:53Dax Shepard?

  Okay, I need to talk about something that doesn't get enough respect. The Quarter Pounder with Cheese. This is not a casual burger. This is a crafted burger. We're talking 100% fresh beef cooked right when you order it. No artificial flavors, no fillers, no preservatives, just beef doing what beef is supposed to do. And here's a detail I love. There's a cowbell sound in the kitchen. When somebody orders a Quarter Pounder with Cheese, a cowbell goes off and the grill master throws a fresh patty down. That's like having your own entrance music at McDonald's. I want a cowbell for everything in life. The onions are hand topped by someone who just knows the right amount. Two slices of cheese laid out in a star pattern. So every single bite gets cheese and two pickles side by side. So you're never in a pickle desert. Every bite is accounted for.

• 32:39Dax Shepard?

  Someone engineered this thing with love. I love a Quarter Pounder.

• 32:43Speaker 02

  Me too. That's my order is a Quarter Pounder.

• 32:45Speaker 01

  With cheese. I love it. I didn't know they put so much effort that they did a star formation. I should have known because you can taste it.

• 32:54Dax Shepard?

  You can taste it. Yeah. The love. Don't tell anyone this, but I'll put two of them back.

• 32:58Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 32:59Dax Shepard?

  I'm sitting.

• 32:59Speaker 01

  I'm not surprised.

• 33:01Dax Shepard?

  The Quarter Pounder with Cheese with Fries and a Drink, now $8 for a limited time only, only at McDonald's. For a limited time only, prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska, and California, and for delivery. Fresh beef not available in Alaska and Hawaii. Offer not valid for delivery. We get support from No Bull. The holidays can get hectic. You finally hit a post-summer routine and suddenly you're on hosting duty every week.

• 33:27Speaker 01

  That's when you really need to ground yourself.

• 33:29Dax Shepard?

  Exactly. And that's why I keep my training routine through the holidays. It's the whole No Bull idea. There's a No Bullshit training brand built around consistency, honesty, and just putting in the work. It's not about adding more pressure to an already packed schedule. It's about having the gear and the habits to move through the season your way. My personal favorite, all three of the shoes are fantastic. The Outwork, the Outwork Flex, and the Drive 2. I like the Drive 2 because it's a hybrid. And I lift, of course, but I also like to do what's called box jumps.

• 34:00Speaker 01

  Ah.

• 34:00Dax Shepard?

  Right? I do a lot of jumping onto a little platform and I want a little more flexibility. And boy, do they deliver.

• 34:06Speaker 01

  And if you're a cardio person and you're running and you also need to be lifting.

• 34:11Dax Shepard?

  And the style is banging. I don't know what to say. Beautiful style, very breathable, very, very comfortable, lots of support. They were built for lifting.

• 34:18Speaker 01

  They also make a great holiday gift. You know, I love gifting, a purposeful one that actually supports someone's goals and routines. And it's not a gift that just ends up in the back of the closet.

• 34:28Dax Shepard?

  Stay stronger than the season. Head to nobullproject.com all holiday season to shop new deals every week. This episode is supported by Helix.

• 34:39Speaker 01

  Okay, can we talk about how November is basically survival mode? Between the holidays, the travel, the hosting, the cooking, the everything. Sleep is the one thing keeping me from completely unraveling.

• 34:49Dax Shepard?

  It really is the foundation. And I think people underestimate how much a bad mattress is quietly ruining their day. You wake up stiff, your back's angry, you're already behind before your feet hit the floor.

• 35:00Speaker 01

  That was me before Helix. I took their sleep quiz, which is so fast. It took me like two minutes and they matched me to a mattress that actually fits how I sleep. Not a guess, not a firm or soft coin flip. It's a real match. I have a midnight mattress and I really like it. I was noticing it because I actually had to sleep in one of my other beds.

• 35:18Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 35:18Speaker 01

  Recently.

• 35:19Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 35:19Speaker 01

  That doesn't have a Helix mattress on it. And I really could tell a big difference in my sleep.

• 35:23Dax Shepard?

  Temperature was all over the map.

• 35:24Speaker 01

  It was a mess.

• 35:25Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 35:25Speaker 01

  I need a new one.

• 35:26Dax Shepard?

  Look, they've got over 20 mattress models. So whether you sleep hot, need extra back support, or you've got a partner who moves around all night, there's one built for you. Plus free shipping and a 365 night happy with Helix guarantee. That's a full year to decide.

• 35:41Speaker 01

  Helix has been named the most awarded mattress by Forbes, Wired and more. So it's not just us being enthusiastic, the experts agree.

• 35:48Dax Shepard?

  Right now, Helix is running their Black Friday sale with up to 30% off. Go to helixsleep.com/armchair for up to 30% off your Helix mattress. That's helixsleep.com/armchair for up to 30% off your Helix mattress. Helixsleep.com/armchair. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Every family has that one holiday tradition nobody actually enjoys, but everyone keeps doing because stopping it would feel like a federal offense. For me, it was a specific meal situation that I will not name because my family listens. But at some point, you have to ask yourself, am I doing this because I love it? Or because I'm afraid of what happens if I don't?

• 36:28Speaker 01

  Yes, and that question applies to so much more than the holidays. I think a lot of us carry these invisible rules about how we're supposed to spend the holidays, who we're supposed to see, what it's supposed to look like. And when you start unpacking that with a therapist, you realize half of your stress is coming from rules you didn't even write.

• 36:44Dax Shepard?

  This is where BetterHelp can be a great resource during the holidays. BetterHelp does the initial matching work for you so you can focus on your therapy goals. A short questionnaire helps identify your needs and preferences, which means they typically get it right the first time. If you aren't happy with your match, switch to a different therapist at any time from their tailored recs.

• 37:04Speaker 01

  I just love therapy. I've been avoiding it recently, or not avoiding it, but I was like, oh, I'm busy, I'm busy, I'm busy. I haven't canceled, canceled, canceled, but then I-

• 37:12Dax Shepard?

  You start feeling it.

• 37:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, because then I had it this past weekend and I was like, oh my God, and just thank God, thank God for her. Yeah.

• 37:20Dax Shepard?

  BetterHelp is now in-network with more than 125 health plans, with many copays as low as $15 for eligible members. And if you don't have eligible insurance or live outside the US, you can still get 20% off your first month. Sign up and get 20% off at betterhelp.com/dax. That's betterhelp, H E L P, dot com slash DAX.

• 37:50Speaker 01

  Do you watch Severance? I do. I'm not caught up on it. Oh dang, okay. Sorry, I know. There's a scene in the last episode-

• 37:58Dax Shepard?

  It aired?

• 37:58Speaker 01

  The last episode that aired, which was Friday, which is the second to last episode of the season. But there's an exchange that happens between two people. It's so heartbreaking, but it sort of speaks to, I think, what we were just talking about. And I don't think it's a spoiler.

• 38:13Dax Shepard?

  That's never a great sentence.

• 38:16Speaker 01

  I know. I'll just say without giving too much away, there's two people who were in love in- Right.

• 38:24Dax Shepard?

  Their innies are in love.

• 38:25Speaker 01

  Their innies are in love, okay? And then their outies have found each other, but one's married. Yeah. They're talking and the one who's not married says, I've never been in love, not really. And the other one says, now you have. How does it feel? And it was so heartbreaking to me because I was like, I've never really had that thing that he has with his husband. And I found it so debilitatingly. Where do you think your, where do you think your issues come from? Oh God, so many.

• 38:57Dax Shepard?

  They're well documented.

• 38:58Speaker 01

  So many. Mine, I think, God, it's just so boring for the audience at this point, but growing up in Georgia, brown kid, boys didn't like me.

• 39:08Dax Shepard?

  Well, more importantly, one boy liked her. She liked the boy. And the boy said, I can't really be with her because she's Indian.

• 39:12Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 39:13Dax Shepard?

  He said her parents work at Dairy Queen, but that was code for Indian.

• 39:16Speaker 01

  Yeah, okay.

• 39:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 39:17Dax Shepard?

  And they don't.

• 39:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, he said, I would, but and so it was early days like, oh, I'm unlovable. It has nothing to do with anything I can control here.

• 39:27Dax Shepard?

  Skin bleaching, did you not?

• 39:28Speaker 01

  Well, I looked into all of that for sure. You should have seen me on the beach, just covered in towels. So that got set early on and then was confirmed in quotes a few more times where I was like, yeah, okay, so that's that. I'm not going to have that. Then I would fantasize and be attracted to people I couldn't have because they couldn't really reject me because they were always not in my realm of having.

• 39:49Dax Shepard?

  And I'll add a particularly cruel twist is this pattern also is anyone that likes her.

• 39:54Speaker 01

  They're problematic now.

• 39:55Dax Shepard?

  So when people do like her, something's wrong.

• 39:57Speaker 01

  Something's wrong with them, obviously.

• 39:59Dax Shepard?

  Because she's already accepted no one likes her. That's immovable. So if no one likes her and someone likes her, what the fuck is wrong with this dude?

• 40:07Speaker 01

  There must be a catch. There must be something. It's like, there's always like a there must be.

• 40:12Dax Shepard?

  It's been maddening. Especially when you love somebody.

• 40:15Speaker 02

  I'm like, where's my magic wand?

• 40:16Speaker 01

  I know, but that's how I feel. I can see it in other people.

• 40:20Dax Shepard?

  It's so common. I just want to add, we have so many guests where Monica and the guests go off to the races and they connect so much on this thing.

• 40:27Speaker 02

  It's interesting because I think I feel so much shame around it because I'm super open in my friendships with people at a private conversation where it's not out there. I'm very, very open, but I think I feel so much shame from it. I talked about this, the first episode of my podcast was me being interviewed. Yeah. And so I talked about when Joyce Brothers went on the Today Show and said, can you imagine someone bringing Monica Lewinsky home and telling their parents that they were going to marry me, basically? And so I think there's this fear of, oh, see, you were all right.

• 41:00Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 41:01Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 41:01Dax Shepard?

  There's so much deep stuff.

• 41:03Speaker 02

  I know. Top that off with whatever childhood shit I had too.

• 41:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly.

• 41:07Dax Shepard?

  This is kind of a great segue to one of my questions. So yes, basically what we're really talking about is very few incidents can result in this kind of permanent life trajectory. And so when we talk about reclaiming, the premise of reclaiming, right, is something you've lost or was taken that you get back.

• 41:25Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 41:26Dax Shepard?

  Well, first let's talk about that because I have a broader question of should we reclaim? Is it always the right move to reclaim? Or is there time to jettison the thing we thought we needed?

• 41:38Dax Shepard?

  And accept what is and then build something new.

• 41:40Speaker 02

  To me, the building something new is a reclaiming. What it usually is, is there would be maybe a hole or something that we could label. This person, this job, this opportunity, whatever it was that you felt was lost. You either try getting that very same thing back or you're finding something else that then fits that slot. There are these kind of capital R and lowercase r reclaimings. Big things being my last decade reclaiming my narrative. That's a capital R. But the example I'll give is I have road rage.

• 42:14Dax Shepard?

  Oh, we would be fun in the car together.

• 42:17Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah. I will yell fuckface.

• 42:19Dax Shepard?

  Oh, wow.

• 42:20Speaker 02

  But before I then also flick the person off, if I stop myself from doing that, I've reclaimed my calm.

• 42:27Dax Shepard?

  I like that.

• 42:28Speaker 02

  It's kind of an ethos. It's like mindfulness. It just kind of blankets all of our lives in different ways. When I was forming the show and pitching it, the best example I could think of that shows this elasticity with the concept is Taylor Swift and Taylor's versions. So she has this catalog. It gets taken away from her and she can't get it back. So she comes up with a whole new way of reclaiming her music.

• 42:52Dax Shepard?

  Right.

• 42:52Speaker 02

  And I think the conversations that I'm having, it was great. I sat down with John Chu the other week. It was kind of a broader thing, which is around his identity and his identity and his work. So it's really loose now, having had this conversation. I'd want to talk to you about identity. I'd want to talk to you. I'm really interested in the rehab narrative of people who are publicly successful, go to rehab, how they come back out without those crutches and find the courage to continue to do. Jason Isbell won his Grammy after Aaron Sorkin won his Oscar.

• 43:29Dax Shepard?

  Well, we love stories.

• 43:31Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 43:31Dax Shepard?

  You're doing a show with Amanda Knox?

• 43:33Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 43:33Dax Shepard?

  Where are you guys at in that?

• 43:34Speaker 02

  We are going to finish shooting in two weeks.

• 43:38Dax Shepard?

  Oh, really?

• 43:39Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 43:40Dax Shepard?

  Is it here in LA?

• 43:41Speaker 02

  Overseas.

• 43:41Dax Shepard?

  Is it in Italy?

• 43:42Speaker 02

  We did shoot some in Italy.

• 43:44Dax Shepard?

  Is that hard for her to go back there?

• 43:45Speaker 02

  She did not go back for that part. But she has been back. She is a brave soul. Wow. I will definitely have her on the podcast when the show is coming out.

• 43:55Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. How did you come to meet her?

• 43:56Speaker 02

  Do you know Jon Ronson? Have you ever had him on the show?

• 43:59Dax Shepard?

  No.

• 44:00Speaker 02

  He's just a brilliant guy and had written a book. So you've been publicly shamed.

• 44:04Dax Shepard?

  Oh.

• 44:04Speaker 02

  It's sort of brought the Justine Sacco story. This was the woman who got on the plane.

• 44:09Dax Shepard?

  Oh, and when she landed, she was fired. Jonathan Hyde just brought her up.

• 44:12Speaker 02

  She is because he just came up on an episode. Yeah. While Jon didn't write the story, I mean, the Times had covered it. He went into her story and context. But so Jon and I knew each other and then Jon knew Amanda and had connected us. But then we actually met. We were both speaking at the same event and it was her first speaking event.

• 44:34Dax Shepard?

  Okay. How many do you do a year?

• 44:37Speaker 02

  I haven't done that many this last year. I was doing a lot. And then coming out of the pandemic, I had a whole bunch that had been scheduled. It's not picked up in the same way. And I think I was tired. I love doing it. I really like talking to young people too. That feels really meaningful to me. And also I think there's no playbook on how to transition from having this big public story that is traumatic and moving on in your life in a way where you're able to support yourself, that you're not having to relive your trauma every day, all the time. Or lean on it somehow. Right. And so when I'm public speaking, it's going backwards to move forwards and to sort of help people and feel less alone in all those ways.

• 45:22Speaker 02

  That's what I love about the podcast is that I just get to sit and talk to people and kind of hear their stories.

• 45:29Dax Shepard?

  You can make an argument in either way. So like you take the power away from something by openly talking about. This is the antidote to shame. That is true. That's been my experience with sharing stuff. But then there's another thing to monitor, which is like, how damaging is it to constantly revisit it? What is the damage of just not being able to put that away forever? And that's gotta be really hard.

• 45:50Speaker 02

  The ideal place for it is to just be able to choose, I want to do this versus I have to do this because I've got to pay my mortgage or I've got to, you know, put food on the table or pay for therapy. I think those are the differences.

• 46:04Dax Shepard?

  But even with the net, there's categories, which is interesting because I mean, almost your obligation, if you're a member of AA is you get sober and then you share your story and you share your story for the rest of your life and you get a daily reprieve from sharing your story and you encourage other people and inspire other people. No one's going like, enough of your story. They're not going like, get over it. In that domain, that's a wonderful, powerful thing. But then in other domains, people are going like, enough.

• 46:27Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah. The problem is that the way trauma sort of worms its way into our memories, into our physical tissue, you can't totally excavate it out. EMDR can help an enormous amount, but my therapist is a trauma psychiatrist. She'll say, the echo gets quieter, but it's always there. And so there is that element to of how am I protecting myself and my own mental health. But it's a difficult thing. What's happened to people in global scandals, especially when you're young, because you get very defined by it. People tell you to move on. And yet, when I came out of graduate school, I couldn't get a fucking job. They're telling you to move on, but no one else has moved on. Exactly.

• 47:09Dax Shepard?

  Okay. I always bring it back to this because I just found it to be very powerful. But we had this sex therapist on and I was asking if because of sexual abuse, you have certain, we'll call them kinks, but positively, you have preferences. How can you blame someone when they've been given this situation, if they have certain desires for the rest of their life? Is that good or bad? Right? And she said, oh, this is very, very simple. She used subdoms. Like, there are a lot of people that have been abused that they like to be in these subdom relationships. And she just said, if you have shame and secrecy around it, it's bad and destructive. If you have no shame and secrecy, then yes, explore what you were given. Here's your isms now. So I was wondering.

• 47:48Speaker 02

  Where are you going?

• 47:50Dax Shepard?

  No, no, I'm not going sexual at all. But what I'm going towards is you were in a very extreme situation and you're gonna have things that developed out of that. At what point are you able to just make peace and accept, oh yeah, there are certain things in me that I don't need to fix. This was the hand I was dealt. I'm now this way. I don't have to fix it all. And do you have acceptance of whatever things grew out of that?

• 48:15Speaker 02

  My experience is that, but maybe a tiny bit adjacent in that, yeah, I'm just not gonna get to working on that and I'm okay with that.

• 48:24Dax Shepard?

  Right, okay, yeah, yeah.

• 48:25Speaker 02

  It's that acceptance and that was a lot of what I had in my 49th year. So, right before I turned 50. And it's so freeing to just be very happy with who I am and very comfortable with who I am. And it's like, you no longer, I mean, people don't buy CDs anymore, but you no longer go out and buy the CDs that the guy you like, you know, likes. It's no longer that.

• 48:49Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, in the past, you'd have been trying to figure out what music this guy liked.

• 48:52Speaker 02

  Or, oh, you surf, I surf.

• 48:54Speaker 01

  Has that always been you or was that post this trauma that you felt like you needed to be what the other person wanted you to be?

• 49:01Speaker 02

  I think I was always like that. Also, growing up at a time where not all young women, but many young women got messages from their moms about how you're supposed to be in a relationship. What does it mean to get a man or keep a husband? Or I remember hearing in class once and they were like, well, they used to call women going to college was getting an MRS degree.

• 49:28Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, I've heard that.

• 49:29Speaker 02

  Underneath it all is the message, who you are and how you are right now is not enough and not okay.

• 49:34Dax Shepard?

  Eventually, you'll attach yourself to something with substance. That'll be a man and a husband and then you'll have an identity.

• 49:39Speaker 02

  And then you'll be a mother for Gen X. Are you Gen X?

• 49:42Speaker 01

  No, millennial.

• 49:43Speaker 02

  I was like, your baby.

• 49:44Speaker 01

  37.

• 49:45Speaker 02

  You're Gen X, right, right, cuz you're, yeah. Sorry, Dex. It's interesting. I found this really useful, although it felt so banal to me at first, but one of the mantras my therapist had given me was, yeah, this is what I do. Sometimes when I'm feeling anxious, I send an extra text to start with not making it worse on myself. And so, starting with self compassion and recognizing, and I think going back to something we were talking about much earlier, but in terms of the self-awareness and the evolving that happens, we're also all these different versions of ourselves, right? The different ages and the different parts. And so, that's also recognizing, again, kudos to my therapist. She's like, well, the you who sends the email may not be the

• 50:30Speaker 02

  you who's waiting for the response. Totally. Yeah. God bless therapists. Oh, my gosh. Seriously.

• 50:37Dax Shepard?

  Okay. You've had some great guests already. We could talk about many of them, but I am interested specifically in a few.

• 50:43Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 50:44Dax Shepard?

  Molly Ringwald, of course, and I have to imagine you are the same as me because we're the same age. And the sun rise and set on Molly Ringwald.

• 50:51Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah. First of all, Molly's an extraordinary woman. She is brilliant. She's an incredible writer. She has such presence. And she's a really unique presence, too. So, I was excited to talk to her because, right, we grew up with her. It was really fascinating to hear that John Hughes wrote 16 Candles for her, having never met her and having just been given her headshot, which I was like, okay, that's very complimentary and also a little creepy because she was a teen, not trying to disparage the filmmaker

• 51:29Speaker 02

  of our generation. As a woman, I think it was an objectification that then had things projected onto it.

• 51:38Dax Shepard?

  He created a movie version of Molly Ringwald that became an identity that probably wasn't Molly Ringwald's identity. There's probably a chasm of how he saw her and portrayed her in all these projects that wasn't her.

• 51:52Speaker 02

  That would have been a good question for me to ask.

• 51:55Speaker 01

  Well, that's maybe for him.

• 51:58Speaker 02

  Well, he passed away.

• 51:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, we'd have to have ghost podcasts.

• 52:01Dax Shepard?

  We had to find a medium. Oh my God, that's a funny stupid show where we have a full medium and we interview dead people.

• 52:06Speaker 01

  That would be great.

• 52:07Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, kind of like an improv show.

• 52:08Speaker 02

  I wanted to do somehow a TV show when journalists have passed away. If you can get access to their notes and does that mean anything that was off the record and their sources, you know, if both people had died, like, wouldn't that be interesting? I wonder how many stories might be totally recontextualized to know who the sources were.

• 52:27Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, we just interviewed Michael Lewis.

• 52:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, he's brilliant.

• 52:32Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, and he was telling us that while writing The Big Short, two of the characters in it, what he was not allowed to share was that his dad was the president of Lehman Brothers. It was like some off the record thing.

• 52:44Speaker 02

  Oh, wow.

• 52:45Dax Shepard?

  He's like, it absolutely killed me because it was so relevant to what was happening. He was betting against his father. So yeah, that kind of stuff would probably come out.

• 52:54Speaker 02

  I just think it would be interesting.

• 52:56Dax Shepard?

  So what was Molly's version of that experience?

• 52:58Speaker 02

  She only knew fame from this very young age and this catapulting into a high level of fame on the cover of Time.

• 53:07Dax Shepard?

  Marrying a Beastie Boy.

• 53:08Speaker 02

  She is an icon. She dated him. I don't think they married.

• 53:12Dax Shepard?

  Okay, I stand corrected.

• 53:13Speaker 01

  We'll fact check it later.

• 53:14Dax Shepard?

  I just remember thinking, this is ideal.

• 53:15Speaker 02

  I feel like I should know that.

• 53:19Dax Shepard?

  I made one of the worst comments to her. I've only met her once. I was seated next to her. This is in my list of 20 dumb things I've said to people. I was sitting next to her and I was so excited. I was with Kristen, so I was like, this is safe because I'm with Kristen. I was like, is it a bizarre experience that every time you sit down with anyone of my age, you know, they were in love with you? That's an interesting reality I'm curious about.

• 53:44Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 53:45Dax Shepard?

  It's just an awkward question. What is she supposed to say? There was no answer she could give. I didn't think that part of it through, but I am still fascinated by that's a very interesting way to go through life. How did she reclaim?

• 53:55Speaker 02

  Her Paris years. She moved to Paris to really find out who she was.

• 54:00Dax Shepard?

  As a non-famous person.

• 54:01Speaker 02

  Exactly, which is incredibly brave.

• 54:04Dax Shepard?

  Beanie we've had on. We love Beanie.

• 54:06Speaker 02

  Oh, just the best. Just listened to Beanie's edit yesterday. Well, it's funny because we started talking about the tapes and Beanie and I had talked about the process and that came up and I was listening to the edit and I was like, I didn't explain if somebody doesn't know my story, they're not going to know. This is where I'm learning.

• 54:24Dax Shepard?

  Oh, that's one of my, you just reminded me of one of my questions.

• 54:26Speaker 02

  Oh, okay. Go ahead.

• 54:27Dax Shepard?

  You must be experiencing this in a very exaggerated and compounded way. The impermanence of everything is so fascinating.

• 54:35Speaker 02

  Yes and no.

• 54:37Dax Shepard?

  Cause you meet tons of people that literally Clinton is a dude from their history book.

• 54:42Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 54:42Dax Shepard?

  That's all.

• 54:43Speaker 02

  Okay. So I have this weird cultural relevance because I'm a lyric in fucking rap songs.

• 54:49Dax Shepard?

  Which rap song? I've heard you say that.

• 54:51Speaker 02

  Which one?

• 54:52Dax Shepard?

  Oh, many?

• 54:52Speaker 02

  Over 125.

• 54:54Dax Shepard?

  What?

• 54:54Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 54:55Dax Shepard?

  Oh, my God.

• 54:56Speaker 02

  I mean Beyonce's not a rapper, but I'm in partition in a not very nice way.

• 55:01Dax Shepard?

  You're the most rapped about person in America.

• 55:04Speaker 02

  I know. They should come on your show. Beyonce should come on my show. I would love to talk to her. She's extraordinary. So there's that, but I had a weird thing. I was at, you know, the artist Shepherd Ferry?

• 55:14Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 55:15Speaker 02

  It was his gallery and some eight-year-old kid came up to me and knew my history. Wow. The whole thing was weird to me because I'm like, you're eight? You shouldn't know any of this. Anything about me. I mean, I joke a lot about people used to say, no offense, do you know who you look like?

• 55:31Dax Shepard?

  Yes, yes, yes.

• 55:32Speaker 02

  And now it's the TED Talk or anti-bullying work.

• 55:35Dax Shepard?

  Leno's got a great story about this. He's doing a live stand-up show in Vegas and he's just fucking around before his set. And he sees guys with a dolly and they have a huge statue clearly under a tarp. And he's like, wow, what is that? And they're like, oh, it's the Elvis statue. He's like, where are you gonna go fix it? And they're like, no, we're taking it down. Nobody who comes to Vegas knows who Elvis is.

• 55:58Speaker 01

  Isn't that wild?

• 56:00Dax Shepard?

  That's what I'm talking, I'm talking about going, oh, wow. None of it matters. It all moves fast. It's in, it's out. It's so temporary and it's so impermanent. That's kind of what I'm talking about. How could everyone know something at one point? And then no one knows. That's the part that I feel as I'm getting older. It's like, oh, yeah, I'm just now transitioning to that thing where I'm not really relevant in these young people's life.

• 56:25Speaker 02

  You have a voice in a different way. So they may not know you from those earlier things. But I think also, again, this is a fact check, but isn't Nelson Mandela's story too? Early years of having been known one way and then becomes known more from the latter years of his political career than some of the earlier ones. I feel really lucky because I feel as if in this last round. I mean, I was always a public person, but not hiding in many ways.

• 56:54Dax Shepard?

  Driving your.

• 56:55Speaker 02

  Exactly. I can sit outside at a restaurant now. I might worry a little if I'm going to a restaurant where paparazzi hang out. But even then it's like, okay, my hair is lighter. I don't get recognized, which is really nice.

• 57:07Dax Shepard?

  Yes. Midway through life, I'm just really struck with like, oh, wow. Yeah. And everything that happened to my grandparents meant so much and it's just gone. It's sad and it's good. We're just here for a minute and that's it.

• 57:19Speaker 02

  In this dimension.

• 57:20Dax Shepard?

  And the Elvis statue will come down at some point.

• 57:23Speaker 02

  Okay, wait, what's this spray stuff? I'm just curious. Oh, interesting.

• 57:26Dax Shepard?

  It's a pure delivery system for nicotine.

• 57:29Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 57:29Dax Shepard?

  No bullshit, just nicotine instead of liquid. The whole family's addicted to it.

• 57:33Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 57:34Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Were you ever a smoker?

• 57:35Speaker 02

  Social smoker. I usually have a cigarette on election night every four years.

• 57:39Dax Shepard?

  Okay. You should maybe try that, Monica.

• 57:42Speaker 01

  If I was gonna do it, yeah, that would be the time.

• 57:45Dax Shepard?

  All right. I just have one salacious question for you.

• 57:47Speaker 02

  Oh, okay. Hold on, let me.

• 57:49Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, get your salacious armor on.

• 57:51Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 57:52Dax Shepard?

  The Menendez brothers, you went to school with them?

• 57:54Speaker 02

  Yes, I did. The youngest one was, I think, a year or two older than me. Really, my memory of him was sitting next to him, waiting to audition for The Music Man.

• 58:06Dax Shepard?

  Oh, both of you.

• 58:08Speaker 02

  Yeah. We had the same call time. I don't know.

• 58:10Speaker 01

  Audition time.

• 58:12Speaker 02

  Right, exactly.

• 58:14Dax Shepard?

  So the older brother was gone before you got to school?

• 58:18Speaker 02

  I think so. I don't remember their age differences.

• 58:21Speaker 01

  So it happened while you were in school?

• 58:23Speaker 02

  Yes, I think they were on Maple or Elm. I can point this street out to you. I just can't remember which one it was. And it was like, oh, that's the house.

• 58:31Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, it's a pretty wild thing to happen in high school. We had some wild shit.

• 58:34Speaker 02

  Yeah, but I think, again, it's interesting. It's one of those stories.

• 58:38Dax Shepard?

  It's like yours, where you go back and watch it and you go, oh, I see it completely different now.

• 58:43Speaker 02

  Exactly. Whatever society ends up deeming as the right thing to happen for them is fine by me. I hope if they do get resentenced in some way and let out, that it becomes a much bigger conversation for all of the people who are languishing in prison, who committed crimes as a result of having been abused.

• 59:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 59:05Speaker 02

  Because I think that's the majority of people. Otherwise, it just bothers me that it's sort of the attractive white boys. There are so many different instances where it's so easy for us to look at a story and think of everybody, whatever category of story is a monolith. And I love context. I have been known to send emails that are like, here's the short version, here's the long version. You choose which one you like because I will always go with the long version. But people like the short version.

• 59:32Speaker 01

  A lot of people do.

• 59:34Dax Shepard?

  Well, I'm glad you're doing reclaiming because you're built to talk. You were a great, great guest the first time and you were a great guest the second time. And if any of us can figure out how to shoot this shit for a living, fucking what a win.

• 59:46Speaker 01

  Also, we talked so much about your growth, but obviously even, when were you on? When was it? Was it 2018? It was early, early days.

• 59:53Speaker 02

  I think it was 2019, but it was pre-pandemic.

• 59:55Speaker 01

  It was pre-pandemic, but you feel so different to me.

• 59:59Dax Shepard?

  I would agree with that.

• 1:00:00Speaker 02

  Oh, good.

• 1:00:01Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. You were newer into the reintroduction.

• 1:00:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, it would have been four years, five years. But we wouldn't have made impeachment yet. Having been a producer on Ryan Murphy's impeachment and having a First Look deal was really the first opportunity. I had to do something that had nothing to do with my story, even though my lens is shaped by, and my brother was always like, okay, you can't have these head scratchers. You have to take people on a narrative journey of the projects you're gonna do. It's like, why are you doing that? You're not an expert in a story. Okay, Pete's not that harsh, but you know.

• 1:00:36Dax Shepard?

  That's what you hear from Pete, whether that's what he's saying or not.

• 1:00:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, no. He finally thinks I'm funny, so.

• 1:00:44Speaker 02

  It's a big win. It is such a big win.

• 1:00:46Dax Shepard?

  Fifty-one years later.

• 1:00:47Speaker 02

  Yeah, actually, I have John Oliver to thank for that. He's like, well, John Oliver said you're funny, so. Oh, I love that. He's a big fan of this show. Hi, Mike, we're giving you a shout out.

• 1:00:55Dax Shepard?

  Oh, love that.

• 1:00:57Speaker 02

  No, you're gonna be embarrassed. So with impeachment and having had a first look deal and focusing on other people's stories, but then with the contraction in Hollywood, it became difficult. And as someone said to me, producing is an expensive habit. Like, if you're not in a deal or independently wealthy. Yes. So I love producing. I love storytelling.

• 1:01:18Dax Shepard?

  It's rough.

• 1:01:19Speaker 02

  It is.

• 1:01:20Dax Shepard?

  It's hard.

• 1:01:20Speaker 02

  It's hard.

• 1:01:20Dax Shepard?

  I would apply the racing adage, that's my favorite, which is, do you know how to make a small fortune in racing? Start with a large fortune.

• 1:01:28Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah. Exactly.

• 1:01:31Dax Shepard?

  Increasingly.

• 1:01:32Speaker 02

  That's good, yeah.

• 1:01:33Dax Shepard?

  Want to become a millionaire as a producer? Start with a billion.

• 1:01:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, exactly.

• 1:01:37Dax Shepard?

  Well, Monica, this has been a blast. Everyone should listen to Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky. It's available absolutely everywhere. We're siblings under the Wondery world, so delighted to be with you.

• 1:01:47Speaker 02

  Thank you guys so much. We love having you. Thank you.

• 1:01:53Dax Shepard?

  Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert, if you dare.

• 1:02:00Dax Shepard?

  We are supported by Squarespace. So here's something I think about a lot. Most people I talk to on this show, the ones doing really interesting things, they all had a version of their work that existed before anyone else saw it. It was just theirs, notes, ideas, projects they were tinkering with. And then at some point, they made the decision to share it. That's the part that's scary, right? Going from, I'm working on something, to here's what I made. Rob went through the exact same thing, building our site on Squarespace. And what made it doable was that he did. Didn't have to become a web developer overnight. He just had to show up with the idea. Squarespace handles the rest. Beautiful templates that actually look like you hired someone, built in SEO so people can find you, email campaigns, scheduling, analytics, all under one roof. No code, no patchwork of random tools.

• 1:02:45Dax Shepard?

  And honestly, the thing I keep coming back to is how low the barrier is. If you've got something you've been building quietly and you're ready for people to see it, Squarespace makes that leap feel a lot less traumatic. Head to Squarespace.com/dax for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use offer code DAX to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. We get support from Skims. Okay, I have a confession. I genuinely love matching pajamas. It's the best part of Christmas morning, really. Everyone in the same matching set looking ridiculously cute in front of the tree.

• 1:03:21Speaker 01

  I love matching pajamas. I'm literally going to be in coordinating sets with all my friends this holiday season. Because I got them, spoiler to my friends who are listening, the same Skims pajama set I've been living in. They are so soft and cozy and they look cute. So you can leave the house and go get a late night hot chocolate. Be cozy.

• 1:03:41Dax Shepard?

  It's so great how Skims has sets for everyone too. Women's, men's, kids, even your pets. So nobody in your life has to be left out this year.

• 1:03:51Speaker 01

  I have a bunch of different pajama sets. One of my favorite is the organic cotton sleep long sleeve set.

• 1:03:58Dax Shepard?

  Okay, tell me more.

• 1:04:00Speaker 01

  It is so comfortable, very chic too. The top is a button down, but very, very soft, easy to sleep in. But as I said before, you can multi-purpose this and look super cute.

• 1:04:11Dax Shepard?

  Hot chocolate runs. It's like the pajamas we grew up in, except without the scratchy polyester that made opening presents feel more like a hot yoga class that nobody signed up for.

• 1:04:20Speaker 01

  All the nostalgia, none of the discomfort. Shop my favorite loungewear and pajamas at skims.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know we sent you. Select podcasts in the survey and be sure to select Armchair Expert in the dropdown menu that follows. If you're looking for the perfect gifts for everyone on your list, the Skims Holiday Shop is now open at skims.com.

• 1:04:40Dax Shepard?

  This episode is brought to you by Dell. Gifts mean more when they have the power to give more. They can inspire more discovery, give more confidence and unwrap more of who you are. This Black Friday, give a gift that goes beyond the box. The Dell XPS 13 laptop. With a beautiful design and cutting-edge performance, it helps you unlock more possibilities. It's the thinnest, lightest XPS laptop yet. With touchscreen, a backlit keyboard and long-lasting battery life to power you through your day. Built with a durable aluminum chassis, weighing just 2.2 pounds and Intel Core processors. It's fast, reliable and portable enough to keep up wherever you go. Visit dell.com to explore the possibilities of XPS.

• 1:05:24Dax Shepard?

  While shopping, you'll also find great perks like Dell Rewards. Fast free shipping, premium support and financing with flexible payment options. Plus, you can find great deals on monitors and accessories. That means you can score a whole new setup now for less. This Black Friday sale is one you don't want to miss. Head to dell.com/deals. That's dell.com/deals.

• 1:05:51Dax Shepard?

  We get support from Superhuman. Look, I love what I do. The conversations, the ideas, the creative stuff. But there's this whole other layer of work that eats my day alive. The inbox that never ends. Docs I need to get through, threads I'm behind on. And by the time I've dealt with all that, the stuff I actually want to focus on gets whatever's left. What I needed was something that just works where I'm already working. Not another tab to open, not another thing to set up. Superhuman Go, from the makers of Grammarly, is different. It's already right there, inside your email, your docs, your browser. You don't go to it, it's already working alongside you. You're deep in a long thread, highlight it and it pulls the key points. About to send something important? It flags what doesn't add up before it leaves your hands.

• 1:06:36Dax Shepard?

  It knows your style, your workflows and it just backs you up without getting in the way. A thought partner that's already up to speed, at your service, not after your job. So, do yourself a favor and try Superhuman Go, from the makers of Grammarly. Find out more at superhuman.com.

• 1:06:58Dax Shepard?

  Stay tuned for the fact check so you can hear all the facts that were wrong.

• 1:07:06Speaker 03

  Hi.

• 1:07:07Dax Shepard?

  Hi.

• 1:07:09Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:07:10Speaker 04

  I've never met Aaron Weekly.

• 1:07:13Speaker 03

  Wow, hi.

• 1:07:14Speaker 04

  But I heard he's the ultimate hit boy. He is so darn human. I wish I were flawed like Mr. Weekly.

• 1:07:22Speaker 01

  Oh my god. This is a huge day.

• 1:07:27Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:07:28Speaker 01

  Aaron is so big.

• 1:07:31Speaker 04

  He has a very cute smile. I wish they made robots with teeth.

• 1:07:36Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. See, this is the thing about the robot. He's very sad.

• 1:07:41Speaker 03

  Yeah, he has a cute smile, but it's no teeth. He doesn't, because he doesn't need to eat.

• 1:07:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly.

• 1:07:48Speaker 04

  I run out of electricity. It's incorrect. You get your energy from food.

• 1:07:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, we do. Okay, well, Aaron's here.

• 1:07:58Dax Shepard?

  Aaron's here. Welcome, Aaron. Just fresh off the airplane.

• 1:08:03Speaker 03

  You banged on the door. I was, I was down for like one minute.

• 1:08:07Dax Shepard?

  Oh, so you're recovering still a little bit.

• 1:08:09Speaker 03

  No, no, no. I was, I, I was like, if you give me five minutes, I'm gonna nap.

• 1:08:13Dax Shepard?

  Yes, any free five minutes.

• 1:08:15Speaker 03

  I heard you came in here at a certain time. I'm like, oh, I got at least an hour.

• 1:08:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, no, he yanked you right out.

• 1:08:22Speaker 03

  Thank God. I don't need a nap. I'm here to party.

• 1:08:26Dax Shepard?

  You gotta adjust to the time zone, man. This was a very haphazard trip. We're talking on the phone yesterday. And I just go, should you come out tomorrow morning and record some more of our podcast?

• 1:08:39Speaker 03

  Well, that's because we have to finish. I said, yeah, I was kind of just waiting to see, you know, what schedule is. And he goes, well, fuck, this week probably would have been good. And I'm like,

• 1:08:52Dax Shepard?

  It was a regret. Started a regret and then I said, wait a minute, it's not too late. Okay, are you, I have an exciting update for you.

• 1:08:59Speaker 01

  But first I want to ask Aaron an important question.

• 1:09:01Dax Shepard?

  Oh, wonderful.

• 1:09:02Speaker 01

  Okay, would you rather eat? Someone's hair, skin, or spit?

• 1:09:10Speaker 03

  Skin.

• 1:09:11Dax Shepard?

  Or fingernail.

• 1:09:12Speaker 01

  Skin?

• 1:09:13Speaker 03

  Yeah. That's right. Oh, God, not a fingernail, no.

• 1:09:17Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, fingernail, we added in like.

• 1:09:20Speaker 01

  Skin.

• 1:09:21Speaker 03

  Oh, I'd eat skin all day over fucking hair and spit.

• 1:09:26Dax Shepard?

  And nails?

• 1:09:28Speaker 01

  Can you order it so skin?

• 1:09:31Speaker 03

  Okay, um, skin, I'd be honored to eat some skin.

• 1:09:35Dax Shepard?

  Don't you think the context is a little relevant? Cause it's really like, what one do you want in your food? It, one of those items has to be.

• 1:09:41Speaker 03

  In your food?

• 1:09:42Dax Shepard?

  I said spit because you wouldn't know.

• 1:09:45Speaker 03

  Okay, but if you would.

• 1:09:47Dax Shepard?

  If you did know.

• 1:09:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:09:48Speaker 03

  If you did know, I'd rather chew on someone's skin.

• 1:09:51Speaker 01

  Ah.

• 1:09:52Dax Shepard?

  Okay, well, let's be really specific, cause I was just telling Monica all about, um, Aaron Stinchcomb in the murder and all that.

• 1:10:00Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:10:01Dax Shepard?

  And there was a period, Monica, where he worked at Big Boys, the same one that Aaron and I worked at.

• 1:10:05Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:10:06Dax Shepard?

  You've heard our Big Boy stories.

• 1:10:07Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:10:07Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so now here's your choice. You, shit comes making a malt.

• 1:10:12Speaker 01

  No, say it normal.

• 1:10:14Dax Shepard?

  Sorry. When you're a murderer?

• 1:10:16Speaker 01

  I know, but he had a bad life. You said the carpet burning.

• 1:10:20Dax Shepard?

  There was a lot of burning carpet. Um, so Stinchcomb is, Stinchcomb's making you a malt.

• 1:10:27Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 1:10:27Dax Shepard?

  And you either see him spit in it really big, or cut off the tip of his finger and put it in the malt.

• 1:10:34Speaker 03

  And a malt?

• 1:10:35Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:35Speaker 03

  I guess.

• 1:10:37Speaker 01

  Or take a hair out and they said and put it in there.

• 1:10:39Speaker 03

  I think I'd have the spit and the malt, in the malt.

• 1:10:42Speaker 01

  Really? And then skin?

• 1:10:44Speaker 03

  And then skin on any solid food.

• 1:10:47Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, okay, it's like a salad if it was in the mix.

• 1:10:50Speaker 03

  I mean, preferably a hamburger or something, but yeah.

• 1:10:53Dax Shepard?

  So it just felt like.

• 1:10:54Speaker 03

  But yeah, salad, no, that's fine. I would think it was, or pretend it was ham or something.

• 1:10:59Speaker 01

  That ended up in your milkshake?

• 1:11:04Speaker 03

  It comes out sometimes.

• 1:11:06Dax Shepard?

  Everything I eat is ham.

• 1:11:08Speaker 03

  All I eat is ham.

• 1:11:11Dax Shepard?

  If I don't know what it is, I assume it's ham.

• 1:11:14Speaker 03

  You should have saw him when he was younger. All he did was eat ham.

• 1:11:21Speaker 01

  Um, all right, all right.

• 1:11:23Dax Shepard?

  So we got a, well, it's fun because now we have three different things. I said spit, he said skin, you said hair.

• 1:11:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, and I asked.

• 1:11:30Dax Shepard?

  Wobbly, wobbly or fingernails? No, skin.

• 1:11:35Speaker 01

  He was skin. I asked Callie.

• 1:11:37Dax Shepard?

  Oh, good.

• 1:11:37Speaker 01

  And she's the only other person who said hair like me.

• 1:11:41Dax Shepard?

  Wow. I think those girls deal with so much hair all the time and it's on your brush and you're taking it out and the whole, you, you have a much closer relationship with hair.

• 1:11:49Speaker 01

  Should we ask Kristen?

• 1:11:51Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:11:52Dax Shepard?

  She's not gonna answer because she's baking.

• 1:11:54Speaker 03

  She's a hair person?

• 1:11:55Speaker 01

  I hope.

• 1:11:57Speaker 03

  Who's, who do you think's a fingernail person?

• 1:12:02Dax Shepard?

  Maybe Walt Goggins would like.

• 1:12:04Speaker 01

  Yeah. It came out because I, in the last episode, was picking at my fingernails and then I was like moving it around and I dropped and then I thought, I said, somebody is gonna find this so, and many people, including you, I think is gonna find this so disgusting.

• 1:12:18Dax Shepard?

  Uh, hi. Quick question, because we're polling everyone. You, you are either gonna find in your food.

• 1:12:27Speaker 01

  At a restaurant.

• 1:12:28Dax Shepard?

  At a restaurant. Along.

• 1:12:31Speaker 01

  No, don't say long. Just say normal.

• 1:12:34Dax Shepard?

  Hair.

• 1:12:37Dax Shepard?

  Skin. Spit. Or fingernails.

• 1:12:41Speaker 01

  Don't say fingernails. Yes, yes, yes.

• 1:12:46Dax Shepard?

  That's a big victory for Monica. But by the way, I don't know why it's such a big victory because I agreed that it's probably women feel fine with hair.

• 1:12:52Speaker 01

  She said it so fast. She knew. Hair, obviously.

• 1:12:56Dax Shepard?

  But Mama, what about? Spit, you wouldn't know. You just wouldn't know. You'd be eating and then you, someone goes, someone spit in there and you go, oh, I didn't know.

• 1:13:05Speaker 05

  You just, but I would know because you just told me.

• 1:13:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly.

• 1:13:09Speaker 05

  I would find it. So if I'm, if you're gonna tell me I, after I ate, I spit in that, it's gonna make me a little nauseous. And here's the bacteria levels and spit are super high. Skin could have some sort of a fungus. Fingernails are dirty. People have stuff under them. Hair. Yeah, hair generally, you don't scratch your asshole with your hair.

• 1:13:29Dax Shepard?

  Unless it's so long.

• 1:13:31Speaker 01

  Sometimes I just wash it with my hair.

• 1:13:34Speaker 05

  So, you know, a reasonable amount.

• 1:13:37Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Okay, that was the right.

• 1:13:38Speaker 05

  There's not bacteria on hair.

• 1:13:40Dax Shepard?

  That was the right answer for your gender.

• 1:13:43Speaker 01

  I feel so vindicated.

• 1:13:45Speaker 05

  What do you want in your food, Dax?

• 1:13:47Dax Shepard?

  Um, Erin wants skin, cuz he'll pretend it's ham. And then I want spit cuz I wouldn't know.

• 1:13:55Speaker 01

  But you would know.

• 1:13:56Dax Shepard?

  But I would know. Someone would say, hey, there's spit in here. Or they go, there's a hair in here. Or there's skin.

• 1:14:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:14:04Dax Shepard?

  I probably would continue to eat if there's spit. There, by the way, there's spit in all your food cuz people are talking in the kitchen and coughing.

• 1:14:15Speaker 05

  Well, maybe not all your food.

• 1:14:18Dax Shepard?

  Most of the food, yeah.

• 1:14:20Speaker 01

  Kristen, don't you think you've eaten my hair?

• 1:14:24Speaker 05

  Oh, I know I have.

• 1:14:25Speaker 01

  Yeah. Yeah.

• 1:14:27Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I said to know Monica is to have pulled her hair out of like your armpit randomly.

• 1:14:32Speaker 01

  It's just on you. It's just always on you.

• 1:14:35Speaker 05

  For sure.

• 1:14:37Speaker 01

  Okay, well, I appreciate you.

• 1:14:39Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, thanks for answering. I know you got a busy cooking project going.

• 1:14:43Speaker 05

  No problem.

• 1:14:44Dax Shepard?

  Right, love you.

• 1:14:45Speaker 05

  I'll try to keep my spit, hair, fingernails, the skin out.

• 1:14:48Dax Shepard?

  Put it all in there.

• 1:14:49Speaker 01

  Throw it in.

• 1:14:50Speaker 03

  Make a salad tonight.

• 1:14:51Dax Shepard?

  Right, I love you.

• 1:14:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, see, if it's Kristen's, I'll eat all of it.

• 1:14:56Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:14:57Speaker 03

  With a fork and knife.

• 1:14:58Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:14:59Dax Shepard?

  And ask for a second.

• 1:14:59Speaker 01

  I'm sure, again, I'm sure I have. Like, I'm sure I've eaten her hair. I've probably accidentally eaten a little bit of her fingernail.

• 1:15:07Dax Shepard?

  Dude. That one feels, the only one that feels dangerous cuz it could maybe cut your intestinal tract.

• 1:15:12Speaker 01

  Do you guys not bite your nails?

• 1:15:14Speaker 03

  I do.

• 1:15:15Dax Shepard?

  I do.

• 1:15:15Speaker 01

  So you've eaten it.

• 1:15:16Dax Shepard?

  Then I chew on the nail. And you're right, sometimes.

• 1:15:19Speaker 01

  It goes down.

• 1:15:19Dax Shepard?

  I'm like, where is the nail?

• 1:15:20Speaker 01

  You ate it.

• 1:15:21Dax Shepard?

  You ate it.

• 1:15:22Speaker 03

  Do you put it, you put it on a plate or something next to you?

• 1:15:26Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:15:27Speaker 03

  When you're biting them off?

• 1:15:29Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:15:30Speaker 03

  She kept moving them?

• 1:15:31Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:15:32Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, it was she kept moving it all over the couch.

• 1:15:34Speaker 03

  Oh, in here.

• 1:15:35Speaker 01

  It was in here.

• 1:15:36Dax Shepard?

  She like couldn't get comfortable where she was putting it to remember me. I'm best case scenario, remembering where to throw it away. But every time she'd commit to a place she'd be talking, then she realized like, oh, I'm gonna forget about it there.

• 1:15:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:15:48Dax Shepard?

  And then it binned up between her.

• 1:15:49Speaker 01

  I put it in here on my computer. Then it was getting a little lost. I didn't like that, so I put it back up. And then I did drop it is lost.

• 1:15:57Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, it went between your legs on the couch at some point.

• 1:16:00Speaker 01

  I just am not that gross. I mean, obviously, it's my own.

• 1:16:03Dax Shepard?

  Oh, yeah, I don't care.

• 1:16:05Speaker 01

  No one's grossed out by their own.

• 1:16:06Speaker 03

  Oh, my God, when I tear, like, I tear my nails or not my toenails.

• 1:16:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, me too.

• 1:16:12Speaker 03

  And I wouldn't do this anywhere. Like, I wouldn't do this at your house or in here. But at home, I tear it all apart and it just goes. Oh, I want it to be away from me like out in.

• 1:16:32Speaker 03

  So when Ruthie gets so grossed out, because like if you vacuum next to my bed, it's like.

• 1:16:39Dax Shepard?

  Oh, my God.

• 1:16:40Speaker 03

  It's like fixing up a bunch of nails.

• 1:16:42Dax Shepard?

  Seven year old boy.

• 1:16:43Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:16:47Speaker 01

  Oh, I have a new one to add. Booger. Boogers last for me. Like, I'd rather have everything above but burger.

• 1:16:56Dax Shepard?

  You'd rather eat a fingernail over a booger?

• 1:16:58Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:16:59Dax Shepard?

  That's extreme.

• 1:17:00Speaker 03

  I think I would, too.

• 1:17:01Speaker 01

  Anyway, let's clean it up. This is from Mark Lewinsky.

• 1:17:03Dax Shepard?

  OK, OK, OK. But do you want to hear the thing I saved for you?

• 1:17:08Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:17:08Dax Shepard?

  Hi, Monica and Dax. Love this episode so much. I know Monica doesn't read the comments, but I was the person with the clipboard who recognized Monica and said I was a big fan. Just to hopefully quell any anxiety in the future, I wanted to say that no one is judging you for not stopping. Baiting people with a motive cause is no matter how important is manipulative and counterproductive. Our goal is never to make anyone feel bad. It's great when people stop, but it's totally fine when they don't. We never know what each person is going through. Also, I promise every person out there has received serious verbal abuse. LOL. So a sorry not today is perfect. Most of us who do this job are starving artists.

• 1:17:52Dax Shepard?

  And while we love the causes we represent, it's not our end goal either. Like you, we hope to not be harassing people on the street forever. You definitely didn't lose an arm, Cherry. The interaction made my day.

• 1:18:04Speaker 01

  Oh, Dad.

• 1:18:05Dax Shepard?

  Isn't that great?

• 1:18:07Speaker 01

  I feel so bad now.

• 1:18:09Dax Shepard?

  You feel worse because she was letting you know that it's okay.

• 1:18:14Speaker 01

  But she's so nice.

• 1:18:16Dax Shepard?

  And she liked meeting you. It was fine. Despite the fact that you were running from her as fast as you could.

• 1:18:20Speaker 01

  She doesn't do it. I know.

• 1:18:22Dax Shepard?

  Monica's going, oh, so, oh, thank you. Like, right? You're

• 1:18:25Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:18:28Speaker 01

  He didn't know how to handle it.

• 1:18:30Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you got overwhelmed. I understand.

• 1:18:32Speaker 01

  That's such a nice person. The fact that she still listens is shocking.

• 1:18:37Dax Shepard?

  Morning Morgantown is her handle. Morning Morgantown.

• 1:18:41Speaker 01

  Shout out.

• 1:18:42Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:18:43Speaker 01

  Thank you for listening. Thank you for trying to make me feel better.

• 1:18:45Dax Shepard?

  I was like, yeah, that's right. You leave your town and you come to LA and you don't know, you don't know what to do and you just gotta find something. And I can imagine myself having the job when I first got here. Yeah. I can put myself in her shoes very easily.

• 1:19:01Speaker 01

  Me too. I did that.

• 1:19:02Dax Shepard?

  Coming here and just like, God, what, how on earth do I make a living? Okay. And some friend tells you, you know, you could be with a clipboard in front of Ralph's.

• 1:19:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:19:10Dax Shepard?

  Which is great because if you get hungry, it's directly behind you.

• 1:19:13Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 1:19:13Dax Shepard?

  There's bathrooms.

• 1:19:14Speaker 01

  Sushi.

• 1:19:15Dax Shepard?

  Sushi.

• 1:19:16Speaker 01

  Yeah. Yeah, I just, she's a very nice person.

• 1:19:20Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I was happy to read that. And okay, what did she say you can say?

• 1:19:24Speaker 01

  Um, sorry.

• 1:19:25Dax Shepard?

  Sorry, not today. She said, sounds great.

• 1:19:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, but I'm not good at it. I always fumble it.

• 1:19:30Dax Shepard?

  Flubbed it twice.

• 1:19:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:19:31Dax Shepard?

  Can't you just?

• 1:19:32Speaker 01

  Two for two on flubbing.

• 1:19:34Dax Shepard?

  Put an earpiece in or something?

• 1:19:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, I know. I did think like, oh, I need headphones, but I didn't. It was too late.

• 1:19:41Dax Shepard?

  You just go.

• 1:19:43Dax Shepard?

  Well, when did

• 1:19:44Speaker 01

  I've done it.

• 1:19:45Dax Shepard?

  How long has she been in the ER? Wait.

• 1:19:48Speaker 01

  Did they intubate?

• 1:19:50Dax Shepard?

  Have they intubate? I mean, if you hear someone's dealing with intubation on the phone, you're not going to think they're a dick.

• 1:19:55Speaker 01

  No, you're not.

• 1:19:56Dax Shepard?

  Um, Aaron, I wish you would have come a couple of days earlier because Lincoln had a spectacular birthday party on Sunday and it was volleyball themed.

• 1:20:04Speaker 03

  I saw the new rope.

• 1:20:06Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:20:06Speaker 03

  Right, yellow rope. And I was like, oh, I was hoping there was a party coming up, but I missed it.

• 1:20:13Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, we did four games. It was so fun. Did it look intriguing this time?

• 1:20:18Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:20:18Speaker 03

  Nothing.

• 1:20:18Speaker 01

  But I was in the middle of so many other conversations.

• 1:20:21Dax Shepard?

  Oh, you were.

• 1:20:22Speaker 01

  My interest much more.

• 1:20:24Dax Shepard?

  What were the topics of those conversations?

• 1:20:27Speaker 01

  So many, the peptides.

• 1:20:29Dax Shepard?

  Oh, right.

• 1:20:30Speaker 03

  It's always a combo here.

• 1:20:31Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 1:20:32Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ask Aaron, maybe Aaron feels like you do.

• 1:20:37Speaker 01

  How do you feel about peptides? Aaron?

• 1:20:42Speaker 03

  My, my first thought is that I probably need a lot of peptides.

• 1:20:49Speaker 01

  We're not.

• 1:20:50Dax Shepard?

  I want in on the.

• 1:20:50Speaker 01

  I knew he wasn't gonna be. Like that, you knew he would not be.

• 1:20:55Dax Shepard?

  No, I think it could easily go the other way because that would be consistent with Aaron. Because your, your thing was like, why do we have to do all this shit? Like, now everyone does it.

• 1:21:04Speaker 03

  I brought it up suddenly to Ruthie, hoping that there'll be peptides in my house at some point.

• 1:21:12Dax Shepard?

  I could, I could, I really did, I could see it going the other way where he'd be like, yeah, fucking you, look how you look. That's also very Aaron.

• 1:21:19Speaker 01

  Apparently not.

• 1:21:20Speaker 03

  Apparently not.

• 1:21:21Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:21:22Dax Shepard?

  Well.

• 1:21:22Speaker 03

  I mean, I've.

• 1:21:23Dax Shepard?

  I guess someone's making peptides.

• 1:21:25Speaker 01

  That would have been my guess.

• 1:21:29Speaker 01

  This is tricky because like.

• 1:21:31Dax Shepard?

  Monica does, she's kind of.

• 1:21:33Speaker 01

  I had a whole, I had a whole therapy session about it.

• 1:21:35Speaker 03

  About peptides?

• 1:21:36Speaker 01

  Yes, about the fact that so many people around me are taking these peptides. And there is something in my gut that tells me no to that. Not to other people, but for me.

• 1:21:54Dax Shepard?

  Sure.

• 1:21:54Speaker 01

  And so, but it's hard when more and more and more people are doing it.

• 1:22:00Dax Shepard?

  And they like that.

• 1:22:01Speaker 03

  And everyone's yucking it up and loves all the new peptide.

• 1:22:05Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:22:06Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:22:07Dax Shepard?

  There was a very funny moment when you brought up that conversation because there was an exchange back and forth where it was like all these numbers. Remember how funny that was?

• 1:22:16Speaker 01

  It was so substance.

• 1:22:19Speaker 03

  Are peptides, okay, even though I said that, I, I don't think about them two seconds, except for a month ago when I left here. I told Ruthie, you know, they got peptides for, or I say, you know, these guys are taking peptides for this and that. I don't even remember what it is now, but I'm like, might want to get in on that. But I, but that's it. I don't know. Are they accessible? Where are they?

• 1:22:44Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you can go to a hormone doctor.

• 1:22:49Dax Shepard?

  Can prescribe you them. But this all started because a woman in Germany took a peptide that brings out all the melanin in your skin. And she has turned herself black and she's moving to Africa because she says she identifies as black.

• 1:23:03Speaker 03

  That's insane.

• 1:23:03Dax Shepard?

  It's, it's crazy. Yeah. On a lot of levels.

• 1:23:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:23:08Dax Shepard?

  That's what started the whole peptide conversation.

• 1:23:10Speaker 03

  I, um, the brain peptides.

• 1:23:13Dax Shepard?

  Oh.

• 1:23:14Speaker 03

  That's what I was interested in.

• 1:23:16Speaker 01

  What's that?

• 1:23:16Dax Shepard?

  I think it's called dihexy or something and it's a peptide that, yeah, makes you think faster.

• 1:23:23Speaker 03

  More sharp and.

• 1:23:24Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:23:25Speaker 03

  Such.

• 1:23:26Dax Shepard?

  And I take it on days with interviews and research.

• 1:23:29Speaker 01

  Oh, God.

• 1:23:30Speaker 03

  Like, I need that.

• 1:23:32Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, clear up some of the fog.

• 1:23:34Speaker 01

  No, you don't. You've done a million interviews without peptides that have been great.

• 1:23:40Dax Shepard?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:23:40Speaker 01

  How do you know it's not actually making it worse?

• 1:23:43Speaker 03

  Haven't you realized how?

• 1:23:44Dax Shepard?

  I'm gonna have to rely on you to tell me. Year that your interviews have been bad.

• 1:23:51Dax Shepard?

  And then I go, oh, that's about.

• 1:23:52Speaker 01

  I don't think I haven't noticed anything better.

• 1:23:56Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I'm, yeah, my memory is a little better. My recall, my word recall is a little sharper. And I take it on research interview days.

• 1:24:10Dax Shepard?

  And not on other days.

• 1:24:11Speaker 03

  Does it work instantly?

• 1:24:11Dax Shepard?

  I don't even know.

• 1:24:14Dax Shepard?

  I'm not even sure if it works.

• 1:24:16Speaker 03

  Yeah, I don't know.

• 1:24:17Dax Shepard?

  You don't feel any different. Nor do you like, you don't, you're on testosterone.

• 1:24:22Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:24:23Dax Shepard?

  It's not like you take a shot of testosterone and you're like, I feel.

• 1:24:27Speaker 03

  Right.

• 1:24:27Dax Shepard?

  You don't feel anything.

• 1:24:28Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:24:29Dax Shepard?

  You just notice, oh, I've worked out more. I've, you know, I've, I've more engaged. Like retrospectively, you kind of notice this.

• 1:24:38Speaker 03

  I was a little bit afraid. I have the implant now testosterone. Oh. In my ass cheek. So this is my second time. I just went in last week and um.

• 1:24:48Dax Shepard?

  Oh yeah. One time it looked like you got shot.

• 1:24:50Speaker 03

  It looked like my left butt cheek was gonna fall right off of my body.

• 1:24:55Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:24:55Speaker 03

  Why? I don't, it like.

• 1:24:57Dax Shepard?

  Bruised really bad.

• 1:24:58Speaker 03

  Yeah, I like, I called up there and I was like, this, I have pictures. Yeah.

• 1:25:05Speaker 03

  You know, I don't know what you put in me. See? But of course that was so long ago now. I've. Nice. I was gladly turned over and let him do it in my other butt cheek.

• 1:25:16Dax Shepard?

  And this one went out without a hitch?

• 1:25:17Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:25:18Dax Shepard?

  Oh.

• 1:25:18Speaker 03

  Nice. Yeah. Weird. Yeah. So, and they said my levels were so good that we don't have to check it for six months.

• 1:25:26Dax Shepard?

  Wow.

• 1:25:27Speaker 03

  Instead of four.

• 1:25:29Dax Shepard?

  That's how long it lasts?

• 1:25:30Speaker 03

  It's anywhere from three to six.

• 1:25:33Dax Shepard?

  Oh, weird.

• 1:25:34Speaker 03

  You know, I never know. I'm never convinced I have testosterone, even when I'm shooting it myself.

• 1:25:39Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:25:40Speaker 03

  Like, am I really putting testosterone in my body? Cause I'm not. You're not feeling anything at all. I'm still tired and I don't have a sex drive.

• 1:25:50Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:25:51Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's not, um, yeah, they're not magic cure alls. They're just like, it gets your levels to where they were when you were 30.

• 1:25:59Dax Shepard?

  And when you were 30, you didn't feel, you weren't like, my God, I'm jumping over cars. You just were how you were.

• 1:26:06Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:26:09Dax Shepard?

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• 1:26:54Dax Shepard?

  They're practitioners who bring real-world experience into everything they teach. From your first class to career coaching and beyond, Walden is your partner the whole way. Take the first step and learn at a pace that works for you. Visit waldenu.edu. Walden University. Set a course for change. Certified to operate by CHEV.

• 1:27:22Speaker 01

  But not the melanin. That's not back to when you're 30. That's changing something fundamental about yourself.

• 1:27:30Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, this kicked off a very fun debate.

• 1:27:33Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm really against it.

• 1:27:35Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you're really against it. And my counter was like, if you have a range of what your skin color is, like mine in the summer is...

• 1:27:43Speaker 01

  We all have a range.

• 1:27:44Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you have a range of what your skin color is. Me in the summer, I way prefer, right? I'm like six shades darker than I am in the wintertime. It's very dramatic. I tan pretty well. I way prefer to look that way. I can look that way if I sit in the sun all day. But if I could take a peptide that I would look that exact shade that I naturally look anyways, without all the sun damage, it seems kind of crazy not to do that. If you're just picking between hours in the sun versus this peptide.

• 1:28:16Speaker 01

  But you're not picking that. You don't have to pick that. You could pick just living a normal life where sometimes you look tan and sometimes you don't.

• 1:28:25Dax Shepard?

  But if I have a choice, I would look tan.

• 1:28:28Speaker 01

  Everyone has to deal with, there are things I like about myself and there are things I don't. And there are things that I like in the summer and things that I, whatever. Like being able to have everything you want, I think is bad. Buddhism.

• 1:28:42Dax Shepard?

  Sure.

• 1:28:43Speaker 03

  I think if I could take a peptide for my skin right now.

• 1:28:46Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, right? Don't you want it in the summertime?

• 1:28:50Speaker 01

  It's who you are. Aaron, it's who you are.

• 1:28:53Dax Shepard?

  It's him in the winter.

• 1:28:55Speaker 03

  It's who I am in April.

• 1:28:56Speaker 01

  Exactly. Correct. It's who you are in April. You have to be who you are in April.

• 1:29:04Dax Shepard?

  Well, hold on. Should they, do you have the same policy on whitening toothpaste? You have a range of what your teeth whiteness could be. You can use this product that'll make them the whitest they're possible.

• 1:29:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think that's fine.

• 1:29:17Dax Shepard?

  Super supportive of that.

• 1:29:19Speaker 01

  I think that's fine. I think whitening toothpaste is fine. I do think it's mostly accessible.

• 1:29:28Speaker 01

  Whitening toothpaste. I think everyone can have whitening toothpaste.

• 1:29:32Dax Shepard?

  But now we're jumping topics.

• 1:29:34Speaker 01

  No, it's all connected for me though. It's like if you, if you are able to make yourself perf- in quotes, perfect.

• 1:29:43Dax Shepard?

  Well, I think that'd be a good distinction. I'm arguing to be the best version of yourself you can be. You comb your hair, you cut your hair, you brush your teeth, you do all the, you take care of your skin, you put moisturizer on. You're trying to be the very best version of yourself. And so my favorite version of myself is July. Cause I think I look best tan. And I can do that through sun damage or I could do it through a peptide and get no sun damage. It seems preferable.

• 1:30:15Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:30:15Dax Shepard?

  Now, you're right about the fact that I'm gonna get sun damage anyways, because I like to be outside and I'm gonna be on a boat and ride motorcycles and hiking. So in my case, it's, it's kind of.

• 1:30:25Speaker 01

  I just think we need to, we, we have limits. Humans have limits on who they.

• 1:30:32Speaker 01

  Can be, and I think that's okay to have limits. And I actually think it's, well, what we did talk about and what I did, what came up in therapy, which is, I had to, I've had a many, many, many long years worth of figuring out how to accept myself

• 1:30:54Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:30:54Speaker 01

  And physical things that I don't like. Being different from everybody else. I feel that for the most part, for the most part, it's pretty tenuous, but still I've achieved that.

• 1:31:06Dax Shepard?

  Uh huh.

• 1:31:07Speaker 01

  And

• 1:31:09Speaker 01

  I think it's an important part of being a person to accept yourself.

• 1:31:17Dax Shepard?

  On the surface, that sounds correct. But I would argue we would draw a line in that statement somewhere.

• 1:31:25Speaker 01

  We're all born looking a certain way.

• 1:31:27Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:31:28Speaker 01

  And there are things we like and things we don't like. And I think you gotta just learn to accept that. And, and you know, another, we were, we were at this birthday party with all these children who I think are perfect.

• 1:31:43Dax Shepard?

  Oh yeah, me too.

• 1:31:44Speaker 01

  And the idea that they are gonna go inject their bodies with things to change who they are is so sad to me.

• 1:31:55Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:31:56Speaker 01

  And I can see it in the children. And we're the children. I mean, that's, we are them. We should just accept who we are.

• 1:32:04Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I just think it's a huge spectrum and it's not black or white. It's like, we don't accept that our teeth are yellow. We don't accept that we can't see right without glasses. There's tons of stuff. We don't accept that our hair shouldn't be styled and conditioned. And we don't accept that our skin makes enough moisture to look how we want. And we put moisture on it. It's just like, you're just moving out the ring, but my, my.

• 1:32:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, we are.

• 1:32:23Dax Shepard?

  My, what's that?

• 1:32:24Speaker 01

  We are. That's my whole point is what's the, when are you gonna call it?

• 1:32:27Dax Shepard?

  What's the stopping point?

• 1:32:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:32:29Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. And so what I landed on in that conversation was, yeah, I felt awkward and had a big nose and was super skinny in high school and I learned to bet on my personality and I did that. I made that growth and that is where my core self-esteem comes from. Also, this is my one trip on planet Earth and I'm gonna go as hard as I can on this trip. I'm gonna try to have the exact body I always wanted and I'm gonna try to, you know, I'm gonna try to do everything on this one trip.

• 1:32:58Speaker 01

  Aesthetically.

• 1:32:58Dax Shepard?

  In every single way, every conceivable way, travel to the whole place. Like, I'm gonna devour the whole thing.

• 1:33:04Speaker 01

  Sure, that's you.

• 1:33:05Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:33:06Speaker 01

  And you, you can do that. For me, it's just like, well, what's, when are we gonna stop? When everyone looks exactly the same? Like, what?

• 1:33:13Dax Shepard?

  By the way, I get it. And I think what you're saying is totally valid.

• 1:33:16Speaker 01

  Anyway, well, what else?

• 1:33:20Dax Shepard?

  You're gonna join us? I asked you this morning.

• 1:33:22Speaker 03

  Oh, you are?

• 1:33:23Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:33:23Speaker 01

  I am. I'm excited.

• 1:33:25Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:33:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm gonna come in.

• 1:33:27Dax Shepard?

  Deliver food.

• 1:33:28Speaker 01

  You guys deliver food.

• 1:33:29Dax Shepard?

  Deliver some foodies.

• 1:33:30Speaker 01

  Kinda scared.

• 1:33:32Dax Shepard?

  Well, you know what you should be scared about? It's pretty consistent. You smell a lot of food and you get pretty hungry, but you're working.

• 1:33:39Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:33:39Speaker 01

  You can't eat on the job?

• 1:33:42Dax Shepard?

  Not time to pull over.

• 1:33:44Speaker 03

  Go into their bags of food.

• 1:33:45Speaker 01

  Oh, can we order our own?

• 1:33:48Dax Shepard?

  That's what ends up happening is we get home so hungry and ready to order and then I spend way more than I have.

• 1:33:55Speaker 03

  Forty times what was made.

• 1:33:58Speaker 01

  Oh, wow.

• 1:33:59Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:34:00Speaker 03

  Did you explain the, to it already on the podcast?

• 1:34:04Dax Shepard?

  Hmm.

• 1:34:04Speaker 03

  What we're doing?

• 1:34:05Speaker 01

  We did, but you can do it.

• 1:34:06Dax Shepard?

  A little bit?

• 1:34:06Speaker 03

  You did? Oh, I just wondered.

• 1:34:08Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:34:09Speaker 03

  No one mentioned it to me, so I didn't hear.

• 1:34:11Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I have a, I have a, a delivery account and I, we turn it on and then we just start delivering food and we shoot the shit and then we ask some reader questions, some moral dumbfounding questions and...

• 1:34:25Speaker 03

  It's delightful.

• 1:34:26Dax Shepard?

  It's delightful.

• 1:34:26Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:34:27Dax Shepard?

  And you're on a car ride. You know what is interesting? I think I might have already told you this. I'm realizing, now I don't know how it'll translate. There's such a specific way people communicate in a car and I'm really seeing it now that I'm editing it.

• 1:34:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:34:40Dax Shepard?

  When you talk in a car, you really talk because they're up front.

• 1:34:43Speaker 01

  Oh, interesting.

• 1:34:45Dax Shepard?

  There's um, there's kind of a cool openness because you're not looking eye to eye with anyone. There's some, there's some weird outcome of not staring at each other while you're talking.

• 1:34:54Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:34:54Dax Shepard?

  It's just, it's just different and interesting.

• 1:34:57Speaker 01

  Cool.

• 1:34:57Dax Shepard?

  It's so car talk. Like soon as you're hearing it, you're like, yeah, that's a road trip with friends. Or that's driving to go get food with friends. That's what it sounds, it just has a very specific sound.

• 1:35:07Speaker 01

  That's fun.

• 1:35:08Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:35:08Speaker 01

  I like, I'm excited.

• 1:35:09Dax Shepard?

  I like that.

• 1:35:12Speaker 01

  I just remembered part of why I don't.

• 1:35:15Dax Shepard?

  Like peptides?

• 1:35:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:35:16Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:35:19Speaker 01

  Or what, part of what's bothering me.

• 1:35:21Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:35:22Speaker 01

  Is obviously, it's about me.

• 1:35:24Dax Shepard?

  Sure, all things that bother us are about us.

• 1:35:27Speaker 01

  I feel like I'm scared that nothing is real. Like that, that noth, there's nothing basic that we can all touch down on anymore.

• 1:35:41Dax Shepard?

  Substantive.

• 1:35:42Speaker 01

  As real, as reality. Just like, I mean, in the news, in personal life, in everything, it's like, is there anything we could all agree on?

• 1:35:55Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:35:55Speaker 01

  And it's starting to feel less and less and less so, and that scares me.

• 1:36:00Dax Shepard?

  Uh huh.

• 1:36:01Speaker 03

  Makes sense.

• 1:36:02Speaker 01

  It's weird.

• 1:36:03Dax Shepard?

  If I were you, I might feel like, fuck you, white people. You already hit the lottery and now you want more.

• 1:36:11Speaker 01

  Oh, that is for a hundred percent part of it too. Like when I am thinking specifically about some of the people, I'm like,

• 1:36:19Speaker 03

  Now you want my skin tone?

• 1:36:20Speaker 01

  Exactly. Literally. It's like, oh, you're, you.

• 1:36:26Speaker 01

  Have been happy to be superior to this your whole life, but so you're gonna, but you're gonna pick and choose the things you like about these differences and, and, and take them on, but you're not really different. So you don't have to deal with the negative side of it, but you get the positive.

• 1:36:44Dax Shepard?

  Well, that's specifically with making yourself black.

• 1:36:47Speaker 01

  Skin, skin color. Yes. That's a big thing. Like, oh, I like the way it looks, but I don't want to be like marginalized. I would have liked to have been lighter and, and I couldn't do that. Right? So there's a part of me that's like, so you guys can't do that. It's not fair.

• 1:37:06Dax Shepard?

  Uh huh.

• 1:37:07Speaker 01

  It's just not fair.

• 1:37:09Dax Shepard?

  For me, the ethical line in the sand is if you're going past what you just naturally look like, there's, that's dicey.

• 1:37:17Speaker 03

  So you can get August tan.

• 1:37:19Dax Shepard?

  Exactly.

• 1:37:20Speaker 03

  Nothing more.

• 1:37:20Dax Shepard?

  Like what you really, like you, you could just decide to go to a tanning booth. No one would be mad about someone going to a tanning booth.

• 1:37:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's true. But that feels temporary. That doesn't feel.

• 1:37:31Dax Shepard?

  So was this peptide. It doesn't permanently turn you.

• 1:37:36Speaker 01

  So she has to do that, like.

• 1:37:38Dax Shepard?

  Oh, she's on a horse dose of that thing.

• 1:37:40Speaker 01

  Forever?

• 1:37:41Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:37:44Dax Shepard?

  Until she decides she wants to be white again.

• 1:37:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly.

• 1:37:47Speaker 03

  Which will probably be soon.

• 1:37:49Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 1:37:49Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:37:50Speaker 01

  There she is, Erin. She is.

• 1:37:52Speaker 03

  Oh, God.

• 1:37:52Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:37:53Dax Shepard?

  Can you fucking believe that? Also, she has like triple H titties, like fake. So this notion that she's like on the savanna trying to be Messiah and she has these enormous boltons.

• 1:38:08Speaker 01

  It's just wild.

• 1:38:09Speaker 03

  Some, wait. Okay. And I know I'm behind. I have so many questions.

• 1:38:13Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Her hair.

• 1:38:15Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:38:15Dax Shepard?

  Right. The hair is very confusing. I'd now, if there were a peptide that I could take, that would be thick, thick hair. I would do it in a second.

• 1:38:25Speaker 01

  You don't get to.

• 1:38:28Dax Shepard?

  Or do I? Maybe I will.

• 1:38:32Dax Shepard?

  I'm already putting a topical on to try to keep it as thick as possible. And that's not a problem. It seems like the difference is like whether it's external or internal is like the

• 1:38:43Speaker 01

  That is a difference for me. I don't know why.

• 1:38:46Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:38:46Speaker 01

  Well, I mean, it is cha- it is changing like cellularly, which I think is bad. Or unfair.

• 1:38:53Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:38:56Speaker 01

  Just, yeah.

• 1:38:59Speaker 03

  I don't think there's much going on with this talk outside of

• 1:39:02Speaker 01

  Oh, I was gonna, okay, that's a good question I had.

• 1:39:05Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, maybe this is like

• 1:39:07Speaker 03

  And when I say that, I just mean in Michigan.

• 1:39:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, I am curious about that.

• 1:39:12Dax Shepard?

  Well, no, this is likely a conversation that will be happening in the rest of the country and in a couple of years. Just like every other thing that starts here. Minimally, we would agree, these are really kind of arbitrary lines we draw everywhere. I draw them too.

• 1:39:26Speaker 01

  They are.

• 1:39:27Dax Shepard?

  I draw them too. Like, yeah, I think me going and getting facial reconstructive surgery and a different, getting Brad Pitt's nose and stuff. For me, for whatever reason, that is a betrayal of who I was born to be. And then taking testosterone and eating lots of protein and working out, that's not to me.

• 1:39:43Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:39:43Dax Shepard?

  And it's just, I decided that.

• 1:39:45Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:39:45Dax Shepard?

  You know?

• 1:39:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

• 1:39:47Dax Shepard?

  Like, I, I want Brad Pitt's body in Fight Club and I'm, I'm happy to go pursue it in any way I can. And I would not be happy trying to pursue his face in any way I could.

• 1:39:56Speaker 01

  Well, you're not trying to pursue it. You wouldn't, well, maybe you would. You wouldn't like go get surgery, if there was a surgery.

• 1:40:03Dax Shepard?

  I wouldn't get it. No, I wouldn't get like calf implants or

• 1:40:06Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 1:40:07Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. So, right, there's some weird line where my muscles also have to be real.

• 1:40:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:40:14Dax Shepard?

  It's all so arbitrary.

• 1:40:15Speaker 01

  It is, it is.

• 1:40:16Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:40:18Speaker 01

  But it's just feeling like there's really just shaky ground everywhere. And I just don't know what, I just, I just need to be, what I need to do is just get very clear with myself. What matters to me, like it doesn't, I

• 1:40:33Speaker 01

  Whatever everyone else does is what everyone else does. That's fine, but I, I just need to like, sit with what I

• 1:40:40Dax Shepard?

  And by the way, this is the tip of the iceberg. Like, this is what's gonna happen in cascade fashion

• 1:40:49Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:40:50Dax Shepard?

  over than our lifetime.

• 1:40:51Speaker 01

  Yeah, I know.

• 1:40:52Dax Shepard?

  Like, this stuff's coming out hourly.

• 1:40:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:40:55Dax Shepard?

  Like, what? They can do that? What? They brought back the fucking, they brought back dire wolves today? I don't know if you saw that in the news?

• 1:41:00Speaker 01

  From Game of Thrones?

• 1:41:01Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 1:41:02Speaker 01

  What do you mean?

• 1:41:02Dax Shepard?

  Those, those, those wolves that are referenced in Game of Thrones, they got DNA off something and they've brought them back.

• 1:41:09Speaker 01

  They're real?

• 1:41:11Dax Shepard?

  Big ass wolves.

• 1:41:12Speaker 01

  Oh, my God.

• 1:41:13Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they're not gonna be

• 1:41:16Speaker 01

  Again, it's like, then what are we gonna do? Bring back a dinosaur?

• 1:41:18Dax Shepard?

  I hope.

• 1:41:19Speaker 03

  I hope so, too.

• 1:41:20Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 1:41:21Speaker 03

  I want a baby one for my room.

• 1:41:23Speaker 01

  From any movie.

• 1:41:24Dax Shepard?

  What kind do you want your?

• 1:41:25Speaker 03

  I want a baby brontosaurus.

• 1:41:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:41:29Dax Shepard?

  Oh. Have you ever heard Aaron say that?

• 1:41:32Speaker 01

  That is a cute, ah, yeah, I have.

• 1:41:34Dax Shepard?

  He does it so good. We do want Aaron.

• 1:41:36Speaker 01

  You wanna do it?

• 1:41:37Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Ned I'm do the

• 1:41:43Dax Shepard?

  It's like a synthesizers in his throat.

• 1:41:45Speaker 01

  Okay. Um, Monica Lewinsky.

• 1:41:49Dax Shepard?

  Monica Lewinsky, facts.

• 1:41:50Speaker 01

  Okay. What does it mean for Mercury to be in retrograde? In astrology, Mercury in retrograde means the planet Mercury appears to move backward in the sky from Earth's perspective. And astrologers believe this period can lead to miscommunications, travel delays, and other challenges related to Mercury's domains of communication, travel, and technology. During a Mercury retrograde period, astrologers believe that communication can become more challenging. I already said that, sorry. Um.

• 1:42:18Dax Shepard?

  That's, um, proof of it.

• 1:42:20Speaker 01

  We are probably in retrograde now because it goes into retrograde roughly every thirty days, and each retrograde cycle lasts for about three weeks. So there, we have very few days where we're not in retrograde, it seems. Which I don't understand that part.

• 1:42:38Dax Shepard?

  It seems like it'd have to be exactly 50 50. It's gonna approach is is the exact same amount of time it retreats.

• 1:42:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, I don't get it.

• 1:42:48Dax Shepard?

  I don't get it, but astrology doesn't make sense. So that's why it's consistent with astrology a little bit.

• 1:42:53Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 1:42:53Dax Shepard?

  That brings, that makes me think Erin's daughter's born on leap year.

• 1:42:56Speaker 01

  Oh, that's so rare.

• 1:42:57Dax Shepard?

  She's only four years old.

• 1:42:59Speaker 03

  Oh, no, she's not four yet.

• 1:43:03Dax Shepard?

  She's driving, but she's not four yet. What is that on her license for?

• 1:43:09Dax Shepard?

  But they let her drive.

• 1:43:10Speaker 03

  It's a rattle for her picture.

• 1:43:13Speaker 01

  So cute. She's not four.

• 1:43:18Speaker 03

  Oh, she used to hate that when she was young, but she has embraced it fully and loves, you know.

• 1:43:24Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I would feel very robbed that two years in a row, your birthday doesn't even pop up on the calendar.

• 1:43:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, you're so unique.

• 1:43:33Speaker 03

  Yeah, she's embraced the uniqueness. She used to be though, um, cause she's the baby and so they're like, you're one. You know, like, that's all you gotta say is you're one, like you're, and they can say it for four years to you that you're one. So, yeah, so, uh.

• 1:43:52Speaker 01

  That's tough.

• 1:43:53Speaker 03

  She would cry and hated being one.

• 1:43:55Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:43:56Speaker 03

  But, uh, yeah.

• 1:43:57Speaker 01

  It's gonna really work in her favor the older she gets. She's gonna be 16.

• 1:44:03Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:44:03Speaker 01

  When she's 80.

• 1:44:06Dax Shepard?

  How have you liked your new tattoo?

• 1:44:08Speaker 03

  Oh, I love it.

• 1:44:09Dax Shepard?

  Oh, good. Yeah, good. Cause it was a last minute decision.

• 1:44:14Speaker 03

  It was. I mean, why the hell not?

• 1:44:16Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 1:44:17Speaker 03

  I'm very excited that you and I got matching tattoos.

• 1:44:20Dax Shepard?

  Me too.

• 1:44:21Speaker 03

  I've said, I've told a lot of people, just too cute.

• 1:44:25Dax Shepard?

  Just too cute.

• 1:44:26Speaker 03

  When we're together, it's just two cuties.

• 1:44:29Dax Shepard?

  Just two cuties.

• 1:44:32Dax Shepard?

  That's what it stands for.

• 1:44:33Speaker 01

  Does anyone think it has to do with Jesus Christ?

• 1:44:36Speaker 03

  Not yet.

• 1:44:37Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:44:38Dax Shepard?

  But it can in the right company. It means.

• 1:44:41Speaker 03

  Does now.

• 1:44:41Speaker 01

  Right?

• 1:44:42Dax Shepard?

  Uh, what would it mean? Jesus to Christ.

• 1:44:48Speaker 01

  Jesus to Christ.

• 1:44:49Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Well. I love Jesus twice as much. The second coming of Christ? Second coming. It's all about the second coming.

• 1:44:57Speaker 01

  Oh, that's.

• 1:44:58Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, it's the sequel of JC. Oh, God. JC two.

• 1:45:02Speaker 01

  So you're, oh, my God, claiming that you yourself are the second coming.

• 1:45:06Dax Shepard?

  No, just you're declaring, I can't wait for the.

• 1:45:08Speaker 01

  Oh, I see. Okay. Okay. Number of married people in the United States in the eighties versus now. In 2023, there were 62.18 million married couples in the United States. This is an increase from 40.2 million married couples in 1960. While the number of married couples in the US has increased in the past few decades, this could very well be just due to a population change. Since the US population has been increasing, the marriage rate has decreased significantly since 1990. In addition, the divorce rate has almost halved since 1990. Oh.

• 1:45:47Dax Shepard?

  That's kind of good news. So less people are getting married, but more people are staying married.

• 1:45:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:45:51Dax Shepard?

  Higher percentage are staying married. I guess that's a silver lining.

• 1:45:54Speaker 01

  Despite concerns that more people are getting divorced than in years past. Okay, now, did Molly ring while Mary Beastie Boy? No.

• 1:46:02Dax Shepard?

  Hmm. Did you think that? No. Okay.

• 1:46:05Speaker 01

  Okay, now.

• 1:46:06Dax Shepard?

  Not Mandela effect.

• 1:46:07Speaker 01

  Correct. The Menendez brothers. Eric's 54, Lyle's 57, Monica's 51. So she never, she was, she missed high school with Lyle.

• 1:46:19Dax Shepard?

  But was there for.

• 1:46:21Speaker 01

  With Eric.

• 1:46:21Dax Shepard?

  A year or two.

• 1:46:22Speaker 01

  Monica Lewinsky went to high school with the Menendez brothers.

• 1:46:25Dax Shepard?

  Wow. Can't wait to hear that. That's how Stinchcomb came up. Yeah. Cause I was like, can you imagine going to high school with that circus going on? Cause he was still a, the younger brother was still in high school, right?

• 1:46:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think.

• 1:46:39Dax Shepard?

  Oh, yeah. Crazy.

• 1:46:41Speaker 01

  Scary. Well, that's it for Miss Monica.

• 1:46:44Dax Shepard?

  Oh, it was a lovely.

• 1:46:45Speaker 01

  Do you think Hermium hangs out with Monica Lewinsky?

• 1:46:50Dax Shepard?

  I hate to say this because I really do like Miss Lewinsky. But I prefer my mom, Monica Padman.

• 1:46:56Speaker 01

  Oh, thank you.

• 1:46:58Dax Shepard?

  She's a very good mom.

• 1:47:00Speaker 01

  I do care deeply for him. Even though he's an old man.

• 1:47:05Dax Shepard?

  That's okay. Everything's always okay.

• 1:47:08Speaker 01

  I don't know when he's here and when he's left. Yeah.

• 1:47:12Dax Shepard?

  I very rarely leave my apartment. When you find a place you like where I'm at Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, USA. You stick around.

• 1:47:23Speaker 01

  Yeah. Um, all right, that's it for Monica.

• 1:47:26Dax Shepard?

  All right, love you.

• 1:47:28Speaker 01

  Love you, Aaron.

• 1:47:28Speaker 03

  Love yous.