Standing Your Ground: A Story of Perseverance with Sage Steele

What If Losing Everything Is the Very Thing That Leads You to Your Real Life? In this conversation with Sage Steele, I sit down with a woman who had her entire world flipped upside down in real time. Sixteen years at ESPN. A respected career. A single mom carrying the financial weight of her family. And then one moment on a podcast where she spoke her mind, and it all changed. What followed was suspension, public backlash, legal battles with The Walt Disney Company, and the kind of pressure most people only pray they never experience. But this episode is not about politics. It is about courage. It is about what happens when you are forced to choose between comfort and conviction. Sage opens up about the fear of losing everything, the weight of being the breadwinner for her kids, and the internal battle of standing up for herself after years of staying quiet. She shares what it felt like to be publicly attacked, to receive threats, to question herself in the darkest moments, and then to make a decision that changed the trajectory of her life. What moved me most was not just her resilience, but the legacy behind it. The story of her father, a West Point graduate who broke barriers and chose the “harder right” in the face of racism and rejection, will stay with you. That foundation shaped Sage more than she realized. And when she finally stood up for herself, her son looked at her and said, “Mom, it’s about time you stood up for yourself.” That moment alone is worth listening to this entire episode. And here is the part I want you to hear if you are going through your own blow up right now. Sage lost her job. She walked away from the only career she had known for decades. She had no clear next step. But she surrendered control. She leaned into faith. She built her own platform. And in the middle of the uncertainty, she met the man who is now her husband in a moment that only God could orchestrate. The same pain that felt like devastation became the doorway to a new life. If you are afraid to speak up, afraid to make the change, afraid to lose what feels secure, this conversation will challenge you. Sometimes the thing you are clinging to is the very thing holding you back from the life you were meant to live. Key Takeaways: Why standing on principle can cost you everything, and still be worth it How to function and perform at a high level while your world feels like it is collapsing The difference between controlling outcomes and surrendering them How your children learn more from what you model than what you preach Why the hardest seasons of your life often become the most defining This one is about faith. It is about courage. It is about choosing the harder right. And it might just be the reminder you need that your setback is not the end of your story. Max Out. Also don’t miss out on MAXOUT2026: Once a year, I open my home for an intimate one-day experience unlike anything else I do. This year, I’m making it even smaller, just 15 to 18 people. Together, we’ll dive deep into the exact strategies I use to plan, visualize, and design the best year of my life and yours. If you’re ready to Max Out your future, join me at Maxout2026.com (https://maxout2026.com/) for a life-changing day you’ll never forget. 👉 SUBSCRIBE TO ED'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL NOW 👈⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ → → → CONNECT WITH ED MYLETT ON SOCIAL MEDIA: ← ← ← ➡️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠INSTAGRAM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ➡️⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FACEBOOK⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ➡️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LINKEDIN⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ➡️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ➡️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠WEBSITE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

  I hear so many small business owners say the exact same thing. They just never have enough time in the day. Well, I measure time differently. I've compressed, condensed, heck, I've bent time. My first day is 6:00 a.m. to noon. My second day starts at noon and goes till 6:00 p.m. And my third day, 6:00 p.m. to midnight. I now get 21 days a week. Stack that up over a month, over a year, over five years, and my life's completely different than it would have been otherwise. And if you want to win as an entrepreneur, you have to compress your time, too. And you definitely can't afford to waste it. Waiting weeks on a big bank for capital? Your best bet's to work with my friends at Cardiff. They know how to compress time for entrepreneurs. They get your business approved in minutes and funded the very same day. They're America's favorite small business lender, and for good reason.

• 0:45Ed Mylett?

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• 1:03Speaker 01

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends, like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an Ultra. Because it's not just a superior light beer, it's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 1:34Speaker 02

  This is the Ed and Mylan Show.

• 1:37Ed Mylett?

  All right, you guys, welcome back to the show. I have wanted to talk to this woman for about four years.

• 1:42Speaker 02

  What?

• 1:42Ed Mylett?

  Well, it's had a little interesting run here the last four or five years. And I want to, I want to learn about the behind the scenes a little bit. You guys all know her from probably ESPN. What, 16 years at ESPN? She's covered everything from the Masters to the NBA Finals. You name it, all the best sporting events in the world. She's a really interesting woman. I've had a chance to watch her speak a couple of times now. We've been on the road together at different events, which is actually what we're doing here.

• 2:09Ed Mylett?

  But I want to pick her brain about what happens, everybody, when your whole life kind of gets flipped upside down. Because I know a lot of you that are driving in your car right now, or you're on the treadmill. Maybe you're at that point in your life where you're, I need to make a switch, or life is switching on me. And that's what happened to this woman. And I want to pick her brain about what it felt like, what she did, and how she got through it with Sage Steele. Welcome to the show.

• 2:30Speaker 03

  Thank you so much. I didn't even know that you knew who I was before, like, two months ago, when we met on the road.

• 2:37Ed Mylett?

  Of course I did.

• 2:38Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 2:39Ed Mylett?

  So, your life kind of blew up.

• 2:41Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 2:42Ed Mylett?

  Right? The first part, I guess, before we go through the blow up, tell everybody sort of the genesis of what happened before the blow up. What happened?

• 2:51Speaker 03

  September of 2021. So if we think, I mean, how much has our country changed since then?

• 2:57Ed Mylett?

  So we're in COVID at the time.

• 2:58Speaker 03

  We are deep in COVID, and I am working for the Walt Disney Company. Because those who don't know, ESPN is owned by Disney. So is ABC. And they had mandated that we all be fully vaccinated by September 30th, 2021, or I would, we would all lose our jobs, be fired. And we had plenty of notice about it. I remember in the summertime, talking about it with my agent, thinking, this can't be real, right? Like, they're not forcing us to do this. I mean, this is all so new, and we don't know enough about it to force it, do we? And I kind of ignored it. And then it got closer and closer. My agent's like, you, you got to make a decision. And of course, he assumed I was going to do it. And I did a lot of homework, honestly. Like, I, it's not just for me, but I have, I have

• 3:41Speaker 03

  three kids. At the time, they were high school and college. And I, like, I have to do my homework. That is my job as a parent. And I just realized that a simple Google search taught me a lot, that the FDA, FDA on average takes between six to nine years to approve a vaccine, usually. And we're shoving this down our throats in a couple of months with a lot of, and I think even at that time, I felt political pressure that Donald Trump had originally been under in 2020 when it all hit and they were like, get it out there fast. And he did it, Operation Warp Speed, I think it was called. And then when Biden came in and it was a whole different vibe, but hey, we're going to force it. And it just didn't feel right. I'm no doctor. I'm no scientist. I'm the opposite of that. I talk about football and basketball and

• 4:25Speaker 03

  baseball. Like that is not my lane. But I, it just didn't feel good. And so I said, I don't want to do it. And my agent said, well, you're going to have to get some sort of exemption and religious or medical. And I said, well, neither one of those really applies. It's just that I think it's wrong to force someone, to force somebody to do something to their bodies, period. And at the end of the day, I took the shot.

• 4:53Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 4:54Speaker 03

  And still haven't fully forgiven myself for it, for caving. But I was afraid.

• 5:02Ed Mylett?

  You're afraid.

• 5:03Speaker 03

  And I had, like I said, three kids. I was recently divorced and a hundred percent of the financial burden was on me for everybody. And so what do you do? You weigh it, right? And okay, I'm going to stand on my principles because I'm afraid. Maybe the shot's fine at that time. Maybe it's not. We don't know. It just doesn't feel right. But I have three mouths to feed and a lifestyle to keep up as I'm sending three kids to college.

• 5:27Ed Mylett?

  That's real.

• 5:28Speaker 03

  It is real.

• 5:30Ed Mylett?

  It's real for a lot of people too. It's one, I ask you, I don't want to interrupt you, but a lot of people, you know, are in situations where they might like to speak up about something.

• 5:37Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 5:38Ed Mylett?

  But they've got this choice between, you know, staying in line in their life, even being on social media for some people. I'd like to speak up about what I think or what I believe. But I think a lot of people, by the way, including myself, I don't. I just decided after a while, it's like, that's just not the lane I'm going to be in publicly.

• 5:52Speaker 03

  Well, I think it's smart.

• 5:53Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 5:54Speaker 03

  I mean, what I've done is not exactly brilliant in many ways as far as speaking. I mean, once I got to a certain point, yes, but I always say to people like, do what you're doing. You know, I mean, I am the poster child for what happens when you speak up and I'm one of, one of many. So I don't want to deter people from it, but

• 6:10Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 6:10Speaker 03

  The reason why I assume you decided that is because you see what happens. You see the ramifications.

• 6:15Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, I think also probably in my case, I just feel like there's enough people filling that vacuum in my space, in the, in the podcast space, that sometimes people want to come, kind of like sports, frankly.

• 6:24Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 6:24Ed Mylett?

  Sometimes people would just like to watch the game and not know all the time what every athlete thinks about every single issue. So I think sometimes on my show, but I really admire somebody says, no, you know, this is what I think. And eventually you did that, right? You were on a podcast, I guess is what happened, right?

• 6:40Speaker 03

  Mm hmm.

• 6:40Ed Mylett?

  Made mention of this.

• 6:42Speaker 03

  Damn podcasts, see what happens. You just loosen up and you just start talking.

• 6:46Ed Mylett?

  Thing you know.

• 6:47Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 6:47Ed Mylett?

  And so, so you kind of say something on the show and then tell them, tell them what happened.

• 6:53Speaker 03

  Yeah, I had actually come from getting the shot. September 30th, 2021. That means you had to, pretty much. Yeah, it means I had to be fully vaccinated two weeks prior to make sure it all was in my system. And I, and I was to the point, literally, I didn't know as I was pulling into the parking lot at a grocery store where they're administering these shots to get it. And I sat in my car for 20 minutes crying, like, what do I do? And when I walked in and, and, you know, the woman, she was wonderful. I'll never forget her. I wish I had gotten her name. She looked at me and my eyes were red and she said, are you okay? And I said, no, I'm being forced to take this shot and I, and I, and I don't want to do it.

• 7:38Speaker 03

  And I'm crying like a baby with a stranger. And she looked at me and she said, that is so wrong and I'm so sorry. And she held my hand for a second. And then when she put it in my arm, like it sounds dramatic, but I felt something change in me at that moment. I changed. I didn't know it at the time, but I, I'll never forget that feeling.

• 8:04Ed Mylett?

  What do you mean?

• 8:06Speaker 03

  Anger. And I'm not an angry person. I'm a happy, go lucky person. But I had never experienced what it felt like to be forced to do something. It's one thing when you're, you know, 12 years old and you're forced to clean your room if you want to go hang out with your friends at night. Like, that's a different thing. This is my body. My body, my choice, right, guys? So I hugged her afterwards and she was so upset. Like, she was doing a job that she needed too. Like, when you go dive deep on it, into this stuff, it's heartbreaking for a lot of people. But I got in my car and I had committed to go on Jay Cutler's podcast, the former NFL quarterback, who had just, was just starting a podcast and I was doing a favor for his publicist who said he needed a woman on the show.

• 8:49Speaker 03

  I was like, I crushed him in his bear highlights for years, so maybe I should go on and be nice. And so I said, that's why I said yes. And he know, I mean, I had a Band-Aid on my shoulder because I'd just gotten the shot. It was still warm weather. And I forgot. I raced and flipped up my laptop and pushed the Zoom. And then he asked me. He said, what is that? And I just kind of, you know, again, I took a deep breath and your mind goes, careful, careful, careful, careful what you say. And I said, listen, I had to take the shot today that I was forced to take if I wanted to keep my job. And here's what got me, got me in trouble. I said, listened, listen, we're owned by Disney.

• 9:33Speaker 03

  And Disney requires it. And I think it's sick and wrong for any company to require their employee to do anything to their bodies. But I have a job that I need and a job that I love. And I took it. And that was it.

• 9:48Ed Mylett?

  And then, just think about this, everybody. I mean, just for speaking up for what you believe in. By the way, this has nothing to do with whether you agree or disagree with one's opinion. It's whether or not somebody has the right to speak their mind. I guess to some extent, they could come back and say, well, you represent us as well, right? There's an element of that.

• 10:06Speaker 03

  While complying, though. And that's the key. I complied with the rules.

• 10:10Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 10:11Speaker 03

  And just that I disagree with it, but I'm going to do it.

• 10:15Ed Mylett?

  In hindsight, true answer, wish you didn't say anything?

• 10:19Speaker 03

  I'm so grateful I said it. I swear to you. I am so, I literally would not change a thing. Including.

• 10:28Speaker 03

  The moment that I got the call from my agent again, who said, hey, um, this isn't going over very well, and the executive in charge number two wants to talk to you. And the feeling, I remember where I was, I pulled over the car, and I remember where I was parked, I remember every moment of it. I remember when he said they're gonna pull me off the air and suspend me for an unlimited amount of time at that point.

• 10:54Ed Mylett?

  After 16 years somewhere, I mean, that's, that's a big move.

• 10:58Speaker 03

  Yeah, and honestly, like, I'm not trying, I was a model employee. I was easy as far as a teammate, I'm a coworker, I was proud of that. I mean, I'm an army kid, that's how we're raised, you are, you are part of a team.

• 11:11Ed Mylett?

  I've been around you now for a couple of months on these speaking things that we do. I think you probably have a tendency to be somewhat conservative in your politics, I think it's safe to say.

• 11:20Speaker 03

  Yeah, I, I think I come out of the closet a little bit as a conservative through the years, but I always thought it was super important to not talk about it, in particular on air. I never once did on air in 29 years on local, regional, and national TV, because as a sportscaster, that's not why you're tuning into ESPN.

• 11:39Ed Mylett?

  That's a fact.

• 11:40Speaker 03

  Period. And I used to say that to my bosses, and I would beg them, and I would hear on the street, every time I'm out at a game or at an airport, wherever, like, would you guys just stop? I just wanna get the highlights or the interviews with the coach. And I'm like, yes, that's why I got into the business. We all have opinions, and our opinions are based on our experiences.

• 12:01Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 12:02Speaker 03

  Like, that, that's just very basic to me, so we might disagree on, you name it, whatever it might be, politically or culturally, but I'm gonna respect it because yours is based on maybe something that you experienced that was difficult, that I'm not a part of. So who am I to judge? And I really feel so strongly about that. And, yes, it had come out, but...

• 12:23Speaker 03

  My, I think professionalism and I just, I loved being friends with everybody. Everybody. Well, I was. The crew is better than half the people I worked with on TV. I'm sure. And so that's important to me. And so I never would bring that stuff up because it doesn't affect how I think of you as a human being. Right. So yes, people knew, but I still was respected and liked because there were more important things for a while. What you said about my coworkers at the time, speaking up politically on TV. So that's where everything changed because I was suspended. I was pulled off the air. I was made to publicly apologize. And of course, they distributed it to the LA Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Washington Post, and New York Times. And, you know, here,

• 13:06Speaker 03

  let's make her apologize and we're going to crush her and then we'll let her back someday. And it was about two weeks later when they let me back. Then they were going to take assignments from her. And that was the key. I'm like, wait, I apologize. We moved on, but you're still going to take hard earned assignments from me. Which one is it? Are we allowed to talk about That's a fair point. our personal beliefs or not? And oh, by the way, that was happening on ESPN airwaves. What I said about my opinion on being forced to take a COVID shot was on an off day, on a side podcast. So all I ever asked for was consistency. And when they continued to allow that to happen on bigger and bigger levels and more consistently, my, I talked to an

• 13:48Speaker 03

  attorney and he said, you know what? If you just apologize to her for the double standard, she's good. And they left and laughed again. So that's when I had decisions to make about, do I stand up here because of the hypocrisy? And I also, and I knew, like, I was just, I was one of a handful of conservatives there who had been so fearful of speaking up and were silenced. So I thought, this isn't actually just about me. I had probably the highest position or the biggest role, I guess, the biggest platform at that time. And it hit me like, I am here for a reason for these other people who are whispering to me, thank you. And young women in the bathroom who would whisper and make sure

• 14:32Speaker 03

  all of our mics are off, like, thank you for what you're doing. You're helping me. And that, like,

• 14:39Speaker 03

  That hit me hard where I felt I would be a failure to them if I didn't speak up. So that's why I sued the Walt Disney Company, not for making me take the shot. It was the hypocrisy of what came after.

• 14:53Ed Mylett?

  I think that's fair. You know, I'm wondering, that's just stressful. So I want to kind of bring it to where someone listening is, how's this apply to me? Right? One, evaluating, speaking up, speaking your mind. And by the way, supporting people who do, even that you disagree with.

• 15:08Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 15:08Ed Mylett?

  It's fascinating to me that I actually love hearing people's ideas. I don't try not to watch too much political TV anymore because it just stresses me out. But when I do, when a story comes out, I love to watch like Fox News and hear what they say. And then I go, I'm gonna flip it to MSNBC.

• 15:24Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 15:25Ed Mylett?

  And I want to just hear how they both, you know, frame something.

• 15:28Speaker 03

  Is that hysterical?

• 15:29Ed Mylett?

  It's hysterical. It's fascinating. And then, and so I'm actually, I like free speech. I want to hear people's ideas. So I would support it whether I agreed with it or I disagreed with it. And that's the point of what I wanted to ask you about. But the other point of it is, I know what it's like to be in the public eye. And I know what it's like to get a lot of hate and disagreement and pushback. I don't know what it's like to be the breadwinner in my family and lose my career, though. And then lose my marriage around the same time. And so your world's crashing in. There are people listening to this right now that their version of what you went through is happening. Something in their life just fell apart. Someone died that they love. There's a relationship that ended, a career that didn't, a business that failed. How did you get through this?

• 16:14Ed Mylett?

  And what advice would you give to somebody that came up to you at a Starbucks? They said, Sage, your story inspires me and I'm going through my blow up of my life, my life Armageddon. What would you say to them?

• 16:25Speaker 03

  Yeah. Well, there isn't just one way. That's for sure. It might be different for each person, but.

• 16:33Speaker 03

  Prayer that I was doing, but not enough of and to really mean it.

• 16:40Speaker 03

  And to really give up control and ask for help and guidance and clarity. And it came awfully fast when I did that. Yeah. But it started at the darkest, darkest moment. So when I was suspended,

• 16:54Speaker 03

  you know, and at the time Twitter, I, it was still Twitter, not Elon's X and it just a different world. And my, I mean, I had colleagues I was working with who went on Twitter and said all the things about me. And it was allowed once again, like all the and, and threats. I mean, threats to me, serious threats, threats to my children. And I remember just curling up in a ball, put the blackout shades down and curled up in a ball in my bed and was sobbing like, what have I done? I'm so stupid, like this is my fault. And I was as sick as I've ever been in my life from COVID.

• 17:32Ed Mylett?

  From COVID.

• 17:33Speaker 03

  After I got the shot that was supposed to prevent all this. So all of this at once, I, it was the darkest moment. And I just was like, I'm sorry, God, I'm sorry. I'll do what like, whatever it takes, like just, do you want me to keep apologizing? Do you want me to like, just fix it? So scared.

• 17:51Ed Mylett?

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• 18:34Ed Mylett?

  Go to ro.co/milet to see if you qualify. That's R O dot C O slash my let to get started on Ro. For side effects of GLP-1 medications, including boxed warning, go to ro.co/safety, ro.co/safety. So when I end up buying the island, we had to do all of our outdoor decorating. And I spent a fortune in the first half of the place. And I'm like, I don't want to do this anymore, but I want the best stuff. And that's where Wayfair came in. My wife wanted to get this new garden bed and Wayfair was the place that offered the perfect solution. Wayfair also helps you create a home that stands up to real life with quality products, great value and trusted reviews. Wayfair verified products are hand vetted by product specialists. They use a 10-point quality inspection system. Here's all I can tell you. The stuff has lasted over time.

• 19:18Ed Mylett?

  It looks great and I get compliments on it. Shop thousands of products across every style and budget, whether you're trying to refresh your space for fall or transform your space for Halloween. Use filters, custom photos and reviews to find the right fit for your home. More than 20 million verified five-star reviews, 20 million. So transform your space with the pieces that hold up to real life. Join Wayfair Rewards today and get 5% back on every purchase. Head to wayfair.com or shop the Wayfair app for all things home. That's W A Y F A I R dot com.

• 19:51Speaker 04

  Wayfair, every style, every home.

• 19:54Speaker 03

  And my mom and dad are my life. Besides my kids and my husband, obviously, but my mom and dad have picked me up at times when I didn't think I deserved it. And they, my dad still is, but at the time was undergoing chemotherapy. Oh, my gosh. And he and my mom got in a car and drove up and picked my butt up off the ground because I was broken and I was done. And I wasn't allowed to see other people because I was contagious. And so my kids were with their dad and I was alone for eight days. My mom and dad said, no, and came and picked me up. And, you know, my dad, who's an army, a retired army officer, a West Point grad, tough guy, tough as nails. He has empathy.

• 20:37Speaker 03

  I'm his little girl still, but he's like, okay, you have a choice to make here. Like, are they going to win this? Are you going to let them do this to you? Are you going to stand up? Like, get back to work, put your, you know, keep your head up high. And I was like, I mean, I walked in there, lost 10 pounds during that time. I was scared to death. And then what happens? You have to, when that light goes on. Ready or not, and so, yeah, everybody has issues in their lives and problems and relationship issues and kid issues and whatever it is, but with our job, when that light goes on, like if you aren't ready and don't perform, two hours of live national TV every single

• 21:19Speaker 03

  day, you're out. So I had to compartmentalize. I became a much better actress than I thought. So I would pass that along too. Like you're gonna go through it, but you still have to function. So figure out ways to put it in the back, like kick it to the back of your mind for whatever that time period is, and go back and deal with it. It's not gonna go away unfortunately, as much as we might wish it away, right? But I learned a lot about myself during that time. Which you learned. That I'm a lot tougher than I ever dreamt. And to walk in there every day, knowing that half my coworkers, if not more, hated me just for my opinions, and still having to go on and, you know, and sit next to them. And make, but it was, once I got in there,

• 22:02Speaker 03

  I would feel this like calm, peace, power come over me. Yes. Because I loved my job so much, it still gets me to the, to the very last day. Like I loved it. So how could I let them take that joy from me too, when I knew I was good at that? I was good at telling stories, and good at doing highlights, and good at interviewing people, even if I only had four and a half minutes before break, to make them feel comfortable enough to give me something different that they hadn't given to another anchor. So I kept feeling this strength that I would gain every day that I would walk in there. The last thing that I would share is this story with my, my son.

• 22:47Speaker 03

  Fast forward a couple of months, and when I decided to file the lawsuit, and the night before I filed it, I spoke to each of my kids separately. My oldest was a freshman in college, my son was a senior in high school, my youngest was a daughter was a sophomore in high school. And the girls were pretty emotional about it because what happened is every time I had spoken up about something or gotten in trouble, in this case, people come after them. And Mama Bear comes out and I want to hurt everybody that, you know, teachers, coaches, friends, parents would say things to my kids about me, like, really, shut up. Come talk to me if you have a problem. But in particular, I went to my son, who I always say is, you know, in the middle of these two psycho girls, psycho sisters of his.

• 23:30Speaker 03

  And I said, listen, this is what's happening tomorrow. There's going to be some headlines. And I want to apologize now for what is going to come our way. And you don't ever have to defend me. Just tell people who give you crap. My mom has a right to her opinion. I don't always agree with my mom, but she has a right and so do you. First Amendment, freedom of speech. And I said, but I'm sorry, buddy, for what's going to happen. I just have to stand up for this. This is wrong. And my son put down what he was doing. He looked at me and he said, Mom, it's about time you stood up for yourself. Wow. One of the greatest moments of my life as a mother, for sure. I'm so proud.

• 24:12Speaker 03

  And it also taught me that I had been living the wrong way. Meaning? I'd been quiet. I'd bitten my tongue for so long, doing what I thought was the right thing, to protect my kids, protect my livelihood and my job, but protect my kids, protect people who love me from getting a shrapnel, right? Yeah. And what was I teaching them? I'm preaching them to stand up and be tall and be strong and stand up for yourself, but then I'm practicing the opposite and I'm silent. What a cop out, what a sellout. You could be crying out, look at you. So at that moment, I knew, I'm sorry, like, I knew at that moment that no matter what happened with this insane lawsuit of little old me, David versus Goliath against

• 24:55Speaker 03

  the Walt Disney Company, that even if they crushed me, which they did a good job of financially within 0.5 seconds, right? It's Disney, how am I gonna? But even if I lost, I would have won because my kids saw that their mom was like, enough, no more. And then I know now that they're not going to wait till they're 50 to take a stand. And then I didn't lose. I settled out of court. Like, it was a win, but in... For the sake of principle, not money or anything else. It's like, don't you dare. So that's why your original question about, I wouldn't change a thing.

• 25:38Speaker 03

  Because most importantly, my kids, they're gonna live differently because of what they saw me.

• 25:43Ed Mylett?

  That's so beautiful. By the way, what the heck happened to us as a culture?

• 25:47Speaker 03

  I know.

• 25:48Ed Mylett?

  What the heck happened? Like, I probably only cried five or six times on the show. You just got me.

• 25:54Speaker 03

  I'm sorry.

• 25:56Ed Mylett?

  I'm just picturing you at that time stage, just the way, it's different just when you hear a story. But I can picture it, like, the world's crumbling and this woman's gonna stand up. And what happened to us? We're like, you know, I think one thing about taxes or whatever, and you think another. And now we hate each other. What the heck happened? It feels like it's the last 10 years or so this has happened. This wasn't, when I was a little boy, this was not how we treated one another. It was.

• 26:26Speaker 03

  You're right.

• 26:26Ed Mylett?

  It's just crazy.

• 26:27Speaker 03

  I mean, honestly.

• 26:28Ed Mylett?

  It makes me so emotional how humans treat one another now.

• 26:30Speaker 03

  It breaks my heart, too. And it started, I think, people didn't feel it, but probably 2008, 2009, 10. That's when I felt it. And I guess we need to, at some point, as a society, dig into the why. But the key is, where are we today and what do we do with it? I will say, like, I, I'm mad at myself for taking so long to figure it out. But it takes what it takes. And the journey is the journey. But during that time, when I lived in fear, long before the cancel, that official cancellation, there were a couple along the way, but that was the big one. But when I started to speak up on other things, I remember walking in airports. I lived in Phoenix at the time.

• 27:15Speaker 03

  I was hosting all of our NBA coverage in Los Angeles, but lived in the Scottsdale area. I didn't want to live in LA, so I just did. And I was always at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, you know, twice a week. And I remembered, after I'd said something that I thought was pretty innocuous that got me in trouble, walking through the airport, eyes down. Eyes at the ground, so afraid of making eye contact because what I saw on social media and what my bosses and friends told me was that I was a pariah and I was hated and I believed it. So I, that's where I, another moment where I get choked up if I think back to like trying to do the right thing. And be true to myself. Everybody else is allowed to be true to themselves, right?

• 27:59Speaker 03

  If you think a certain way, but, and, and going to do the job that I love, but like walking in, in fear everywhere. And I don't want anyone else to ever feel that way. It's, it, it can take over and I feel so blessed and fortunate that I got out of it, you know? Again, by the grace of God.

• 28:20Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. I think everyone, your advice is incredible, by the way, and I think this is the other thing, lessons for those of you that are going through it. Just listen to what she said, because I'm around her now. I see her now. This will pass. This too will pass. And if you're faithful and you surrender the things that God that are out of your control and you take control of the things that you can. My dad was an AA. He was sober for 35 years and always mess up the saying, but essentially it's, you know, discern between the difference of the things you can control and you can't, and give up the things you can't control to God. It sounds like you really did that.

• 28:49Speaker 03

  Can I ask you a question?

• 28:50Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 28:51Speaker 03

  Because the, one of the most beautiful things to come from the chaos and the fear and all that is, I've, I've finally gotten over that fear of being disliked. And that's what people also have to think about too. It is scary for all those of us pleasers in the room, you know? But in general, it's a whole new world. It doesn't mean that I don't care and have empathy and I, I really do. But I cannot control what you think of me, even if I treat you like the President of the United States, whatever, the king. I still can't change it. So if you don't like me, I gotta let go of that. I assume you let go of that.

• 29:32Ed Mylett?

  I had to do, you know what I learned to do is in speaking. Like if you're walking out in front of 20,000 people, if you're worried about what every single person in there thinks, right? Like, yeah, I think I don't, well, let me be honest. Let me, let me be honest. I think I've gotten better at that.

• 29:47Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 29:47Ed Mylett?

  I think there are still occasions where I'm too concerned with what people think, even in my mid 50s, but far less than before, just because I know that I can't control it. I actually don't think it's really any of my business, but I also listen to it a little bit because at least in my youth, there were probably reasons some people held opinions about me. So I like to look at it and go, is there any validity to what they're saying? And if there isn't, then I'll let go of it. But I make enough mistakes from time to time that even yesterday, one of the speeches I gave here, I made an error on stage. There was a guy with a phone in the front row on his phone. And as a pro with, you know, thousands of people in there, you just keep talking. And I just couldn't take my eyes off this guy. So finally I called him out in front of the entire.

• 30:31Ed Mylett?

  And I told him I loved him, et cetera, et cetera. But it was really my ego and my, my temper, just for that flash second, getting a little bit better of me. So if that guy didn't like me, he's probably justified not to. So I, I'll listen to it a little bit. But for the most part, I've let go of that. I really care what, what God thinks of me. And, and, and some close people that I know that'll tell me the truth, right? Like, hey, you overstepped here or you've made a mistake. But for the most part, I think I've let go of that. My year for the, my word for the year last year was surrender. Meaning just because I'm a control freak and I think successful people love to be in control. But you can take that to a point where it's so painful and it's excruciating, like what you were going through.

• 31:16Ed Mylett?

  I also think, I heard this story I wanted to ask you about. And I want to hear you tell, because I haven't heard you tell it. I heard it through third party. But you might've been a little bit built for this, a little bit, in the sense that. Your parents are biracial, if I'm right. Your father's black, your mother's white.

• 31:31Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 31:32Ed Mylett?

  And they chose to do that at a time where it's not quite as acceptable as it is today. And even today, for some people, it's for some fringe crazies, it's still not acceptable. But there's this story about, tell the story if you would, about your dad writing a letter to, to your mom's dad.

• 31:50Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 31:50Ed Mylett?

  And this, this is built in the sense that this is somebody giving grace to somebody who doesn't like them also, right? I think for the wrong reason. So it's not just not caring what people think, but actually the, maybe the elevated level where your dad was, or where I'd like to get, is where I can even give grace to people that do ill towards me.

• 32:10Speaker 03

  Yeah. I, I, I'm, I have some work to do.

• 32:13Ed Mylett?

  So do I.

• 32:13Speaker 03

  In that category.

• 32:14Ed Mylett?

  So do I.

• 32:14Speaker 03

  I need to ask my dad.

• 32:16Ed Mylett?

  Sounds like your father did a lot of work on that, though. This is an incredible story, if I heard it right.

• 32:20Speaker 03

  Yeah, thank you. It's something that I didn't know about with my parents until they were interviewed by NFL Films. My brother, one of my two brothers, is the senior vice president of public relations and communications for the Baltimore Ravens.

• 32:34Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 32:34Speaker 03

  And he's been in the NFL for 25 years in PR. And so the NFL Films was doing a story on him. And in doing so, wanted to talk to my parents and then discovered this story.

• 32:43Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 32:44Speaker 03

  I didn't know it until they told it on camera.

• 32:47Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 32:48Speaker 03

  And basically, 1971, October of 71, my parents got married. And my mom's parents were not there. They chose to not be there. They were against her marrying a black man. And again, a very different time. I believe we do need to give some grace, especially when people change and evolve, and we're all capable of that. And my family's proof of that. But my dad, of course, was upset. This is his wife, and he wants to protect her, and of all people, to not support her as her mom and dad. So they got married. Anyway, they did not show up. My mom's brother came and walked her down the aisle.

• 33:30Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 33:31Speaker 03

  And by the way, I think about strength and my mom being 22 years old and having to make that decision. Are you kidding me? So there's so much.

• 33:38Ed Mylett?

  There's a lot there.

• 33:39Speaker 03

  I'm so humbled with my little spat with Disney. Like, look at that. That's it. I mean, you're 22. And so then, you know, my dad's in the military, a young officer, and they moved to Panama, where I was born. And my mom called her parents to say, I'm pregnant, and she's the oldest of four, and I'm gonna have your first grandchild. And her mom hung up the phone.

• 34:02Ed Mylett?

  My gosh.

• 34:04Speaker 03

  And, again, I think about myself in that situation, and I just, I've sobbed thinking about that.

• 34:12Ed Mylett?

  Sure.

• 34:12Speaker 03

  Because my mom was there the moment I gave birth, all three times, you know? And so that upset my father, as you might imagine, as it should for any man.

• 34:20Ed Mylett?

  Simply because of the color of his skin.

• 34:22Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 34:22Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 34:23Speaker 03

  But he wasn't as concerned about their why. He was concerned about their decision to do that to their daughter. And so what he began doing is writing letters, penning letters, pen and paper. We weren't on computers then, right? Once a month, to my mom's parents, and sent them from Panama, Canal Zone, Panama, to West Springfield, Massachusetts, where they lived in their small town.

• 34:47Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 34:48Speaker 03

  And my mom, as she says on this NFL Films piece, which is still out, I'd love if people took a look at, Gary Steele is my dad's name, and it's the most beautiful piece that I cry every time I watch it, and I've watched it 10,000 times. And my mom says on the piece, like, I don't know why he did it. I kept telling him, they're not gonna read it, they're not gonna answer, and you're wasting your time.

• 35:10Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 35:10Speaker 03

  And my dad looked in the camera and said, They needed to know that I was taking care of their daughter. This black man was taking care of their daughter. And then he said it was, it was the harder right because he's ticked off. The harder right comes from West Point where he graduated. And that's part of the cadet prayer that I try to share whenever I'm given any platform. Help me to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong and never to be content with a half-truth when the whole truth can be one. So in that moment, my dad chose the harder right, once a month, to write that letter. Almost seven years later, there was a meeting.

• 35:53Speaker 03

  My mom's youngest sister hosted Thanksgiving. Didn't tell my mom and dad that the parents were going to be there. Didn't tell the parents that my mom and dad were going to be there. They walk in, assigned seats. My aunt sat my dad and my grandmother next to each other. And in this family, we hold hands when we say grace, a blessing over a meal. And her mother wouldn't do it. And she said, the younger daughter said, Mom, in our home, this is what we do. She did that to my dad and he held her hand tightly.

• 36:27Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 36:29Speaker 03

  And later that day, on Thanksgiving Day, my grandfather, my mom's dad, kind of apologized. We found out later, it really wasn't his idea. This was more my grandmother who struggled so much. My grandfather went along with it. And he said, listen, Gary, I'd like to put all this behind us and, you know, start over. And my dad said, okay.

• 36:54Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 36:55Speaker 03

  But we will move forward. I will never forget what you did and didn't do for your daughter, my wife. But I will forgive and today is day one and we go forward from here.

• 37:10Ed Mylett?

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• 37:52Ed Mylett?

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• 38:35Ed Mylett?

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• 39:11Speaker 03

  So, my parents, and that's when it came full circle, right? Again, something that I believe what I went through is much less important than what my parents went through. But if they could do that alone, early twenties, they were babies, not a penny in their bank account. By the way, if you're trying to get rich, you're not joining the military, okay?

• 39:33Speaker 03

  Like, who am I to live in fear? Who am I to to choose the easier wrong? So the harder right was to say, wait a minute, Disney. This is what you're preaching.

• 39:45Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 39:45Speaker 03

  Yeah, so so I don't know, was I made for it?

• 39:48Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. Well, that adage that God doesn't give you anything you're not capable of handling clearly is because of the way that you were raised, though. I mean, that is one of the easily greatest stories I've ever heard in my life. And the way you tell it, by the way, I can, I guess, you know, what you're doing to me today. Sorry. I can picture your mom and your dad at that age and that time. And then calling to be excited that you're gonna have your first baby and have your mom hang up.

• 40:12Speaker 03

  Breaks my heart.

• 40:13Ed Mylett?

  And then your dad to give him that grace, though. But to say it like a man, too, though, you know, hey, you know, I don't forget.

• 40:19Speaker 03

  And my dad, if you ever meet him, and he hopefully he'll come to one of these.

• 40:21Ed Mylett?

  I'd love to meet your father.

• 40:22Speaker 03

  Oh, my gosh, he would love to meet you, and I want him to see what all of this is about. He has since shrunk. He's seventy nine, but at his peak, when he played college football at Army, broke the color barrier, first black man to play varsity football ever at Army.

• 40:38Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 40:39Speaker 03

  I know, he's amazing, but he was six, six and a half, two hundred and twenty pounds. And you think about that in the mid sixties.

• 40:44Ed Mylett?

  Oh, so giant.

• 40:45Speaker 03

  A giant, absolute giant, you know?

• 40:47Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 40:47Speaker 03

  Now he's about six, three, maybe six, four.

• 40:51Ed Mylett?

  A big man.

• 40:52Speaker 03

  Still two, two forty now, and he looks, he looks great, even with all of his health issues. So I picture my dad as that with that calm, but firm voice, looking down at my little six foot, three inch Irish grandfather, saying, what he needed to say. By the way, I have actually never told the story because it's always on the video clip that I play.

• 41:20Ed Mylett?

  Got it.

• 41:21Speaker 03

  So.

• 41:21Ed Mylett?

  I'm so glad you did.

• 41:22Speaker 03

  I thank you for asking me to. It brought me back to it, to hearing, like, that was my dad's voice that you just heard.

• 41:30Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 41:30Speaker 03

  Because.

• 41:31Ed Mylett?

  But your face changed, too, by the way.

• 41:33Speaker 03

  Did I get tough and strong and mean?

• 41:35Ed Mylett?

  You did.

• 41:35Speaker 03

  But he's not mean. He's the biggest teddy bear. Well, it's because I'm his favorite child, obviously, so he's nice to me.

• 41:40Ed Mylett?

  We should send this clip to your brother, then, for sure.

• 41:42Speaker 03

  Two brothers.

• 41:43Ed Mylett?

  I'm gonna ask you, by the way, I'm just taken aback by that story and it is, you know, that adage that success leaves clues, strength leaves clues, there's, there's footprints in your life that that prepared you for this time. That's like,

• 41:56Speaker 03

  I just didn't know.

• 41:57Ed Mylett?

  Isn't it kind of obvious to you, though, like as you tell that story yourself, like, that's, come on, I mean, what you went through is unfair and wrong, regardless of the political part of it. Who cares about that part of it, right? Like, the point is, should somebody be able to speak up or stand for what they believe in or not? Should it cost them their career? And why is it okay, no matter what side you're on, that one side can speak their mind the entire time? And the other side can't even give a peep, not even on the platform?

• 42:24Speaker 03

  Correct.

• 42:24Ed Mylett?

  That's just wrong.

• 42:25Speaker 03

  And that's what I do need to clarify one thing, and that is what the lawsuit isn't about. You know, oh, you suspended me in unfairness. It was about that hypocrisy, but more so the suspension of me.

• 42:36Ed Mylett?

  You weren't on air.

• 42:37Speaker 03

  For, I wasn't on air. And there is a fascinating, it's First Amendment, but not in the constitutional governor, you know, like government way, obviously. There's a statute in the state of Connecticut, and it's it's employment related that I, I didn't know when I was saying any of this. I didn't care. I was just being me, but being respectful, saying, hey, this is my opinion, not my company's, and I'm complying. But you are allowed to be critical of your employer if you are complying with their rules.

• 43:07Ed Mylett?

  In Connecticut.

• 43:08Speaker 03

  In the state of Connecticut. Check your state. Of all states, right? Of all states, Connecticut. Are you kidding me?

• 43:13Ed Mylett?

  It's surprising.

• 43:14Speaker 03

  And so I had no idea, but that's what the lawsuit was based on, because everyone says, you're an idiot. First Amendment doesn't apply, and it's a private employer. Yeah, absolutely. Where you live and where you are employed matters, and that's how we did it. And it wasn't, again, I don't care about the legalese.

• 43:29Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 43:30Speaker 03

  The principle of this, and my hope was, my goal was at that time, to file it, was to just make employers think a little bit. And remember, you have human beings here. Yes, we all have numbers and, you know, goals to reach, et cetera. But at the end of the day, every employer, you get more out of your employees when you treat them like actual human beings. I always say, just pretend. And like you care, even if you don't, right?

• 43:55Ed Mylett?

  That's so true. By the way, what I just keep going back, listening to you. And by the way, we all live through this. So we know it, but like, what in the heck happened to us? Like in your case, it's like a medical decision. I mean, it's not even that controversial, really. It's like, we hate each other over politics now. Like, what are we crazy? I remember a long time ago, Clinton said, Bill Clinton said, and I'll mess up the quote, but it's there. He's like, and I'm not even saying he was actually virtuous in doing this. But I remember him saying, I'm like, I agree with that. I don't even know if he meant it, but along the lines of this shouldn't be about right. Like who's good or bad? But like, who's right and wrong about something? And even if you think someone's wrong, it doesn't make them bad or evil or sinister or your enemy.

• 44:38Ed Mylett?

  It's just, especially people of faith. What's wrong with us? Like this is your brother and or sister in the body of Christ, and you're going to hate them? Cause they got a different opinion about a gun or a different opinion about taxes. What is wrong with you?

• 44:50Speaker 03

  Well, but there's the, the problem is, is sometimes when the truth does come out, and in this case with COVID, there's no accountability. Like I was actually right.

• 45:00Ed Mylett?

  You're right.

• 45:00Speaker 03

  And I wasn't rocket science, by the way, it doesn't take much, but like, sometimes if people come back with contrition and are accountable, then, then that helps. I mean, that's the human element of it. But it's much bigger than that. To me, in my humble opinion, this is an intentional evil, deliberate attempt to take God out of things. That's what's missing.

• 45:26Ed Mylett?

  Let me have some fun with you about something. I want to ask you about something funny, since we've been so serious today. So when you're on camera enough, you're going to make a screw up.

• 45:32Speaker 03

  Oh, somebody.

• 45:33Ed Mylett?

  No, watch this. I'm gonna give you mine. So I've had a couple, but like zillions of hours on camera, right? So I'll start with mine and then I want to ask you about yours. And the reason I'm gonna ask you about this is, I want people to know, it's, you're okay to make mistakes and just own it, but it make mistakes and move on. And you can survive through the things you're even the most afraid of. So here's mine. I had a book out called The Power of One More Did Great. And, uh, but I'm doing a million hits for the book, podcasts, TV shows, you know? And I told some stories about the book. Anyway, I'm on one of the shows. It's my eighth show that day. I'm tired. I don't remember which story I've told on which show. And a good friend of mine, it's Tom Bilyeu, he has a show called Impact Theory. He sets this

• 46:15Ed Mylett?

  question up. He says, hey, people are probably gonna think you're crazy, but you have this way that you manage time. You almost manipulate time in your mind, the way that you do it. I'd like you to explain how you do it. And so there's this clip of me that went like hundreds of millions of views. I just look like a complete moron. And I say, yeah, I'm manipulating time. And, and I go to tell this story, and I misspeak. I say, and so you're like some guy living in a cave 300 years ago. I meant to say 3 million years ago, which I'd said on 150 other podcasts.

• 46:46Speaker 03

  Of course.

• 46:47Ed Mylett?

  But I misspeak. So this viral clip goes out of me sounding like a complete idiot. Valid. I was an idiot. And it was pretty embarrassing. And so I had to get over the embarrassment of making this mistake. I'm watching a clip of you with my dude Dana White.

• 47:03Speaker 03

  I knew it.

• 47:04Ed Mylett?

  Okay, I just gotta ask you, but I wanna know your opinion about it. This is real. And so you're about to interview Dana White, and you call him Joe Rogan. You had to be embarrassed when you did this. What's the story behind that? And then the reason I ask you, I'm getting you right now.

• 47:17Speaker 03

  I love it.

• 47:17Ed Mylett?

  You didn't know I was gonna ask you. So mine's worse than yours, okay? My, and by the way, my clip was more viral. But we both sit here as two people who looked pretty damn funny on the internet, right?

• 47:26Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 47:26Ed Mylett?

  And so a lot of whatever each of you fear in your life right now, you'll be okay, because we've both made this mistake.

• 47:32Speaker 03

  You're gonna be okay, yeah.

• 47:33Ed Mylett?

  What happened? I'm like, what advice would you give to somebody? Seriously? Who's right? Because you and I, I said people live in caves 300 years ago, and I can manipulate time, and I'm, I'm not crazy. You're like, I just look like a complete wing nut in this clip. You don't look very favorable in that clip. So what would you say about that?

• 47:49Speaker 03

  Well, yeah, 10 years ago.

• 47:51Ed Mylett?

  Great question. You didn't know I was coming.

• 47:52Speaker 03

  I, I didn't. But as soon as you said the embarrassing moments, I'm like, okay, here we go. Because that was, that's probably number one.

• 47:59Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, that was my number one.

• 48:00Speaker 03

  For, yeah, I mean, and that's okay. There might be more to come. Who knows?

• 48:04Ed Mylett?

  Oh, maybe this is.

• 48:05Speaker 03

  Is this live? Hold on.

• 48:06Ed Mylett?

  Maybe our interviews, maybe it's in this.

• 48:07Speaker 03

  Okay, first of all.

• 48:12Speaker 03

  Yeah, I've gotten crushed for she didn't even know who she was interviewing. What an idiot, typical broad sports. I booked Dana. I've been friends with Dana for years. As Dana sat down, we were chit chatting and chit chatting. And it's like, fine, like, okay, let's start the interview because we could talk all day. And he had a protein can of whatever that drink was. And so I asked him, I was like, what is it? He's like, yeah, Joe Rogan made it. And I was like, oh, and I took a sip and it was good and we kept going. And then the viral moment was 90 minutes in. So when people say she didn't know who she was interviewing, I'm like, guys, this happened at the end of the interview. However, apparently, I had said it earlier after he did the drink thing because he said Joe Rogan.

• 48:57Speaker 03

  And so Joe Rogan's in my mind. They work together. Dana hired Joe. Like, they look somewhat similar, like stocky, muscular, bald, white guys, right?

• 49:07Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 49:10Speaker 03

  Dana said it.

• 49:11Ed Mylett?

  We all look alike.

• 49:13Speaker 03

  Hey, trust me, I hear that all the time, you know? And so I didn't know, and Dana didn't know that I said it earlier in the podcast, after he had said, yeah, this is Joe Rogan's drink. Fast forward 90 minutes later, and it was just a total brain fart from the beginning of the episode when he, I'm like, Dana, this is your fault. You put that name in my head. But when I noticed, I didn't even notice it until he reacted. And it was just the most classic reaction. And I won't quote him for obvious reasons, those of you who have seen it. But he's like, she just called me Joe Rogan? And it hit me at the feeling in my chest, in my soul. I started sweating everywhere. I was like, and he's a friend of mine, but I knew, like, you can't get out of this one.

• 49:57Ed Mylett?

  But that's great context. It's 90 minutes in.

• 50:00Speaker 03

  It was at the end of the interview.

• 50:02Ed Mylett?

  Didn't know that.

• 50:02Speaker 03

  Right. You said, you said the beginning of the interview, like, no, hold on, let me clarify. Because the clips, there's never any context, right? And that's how it is, same with yours. And so at that moment, he goes, did you just call me? Did she just call, did you just call me? And I go, I did. Because what are you gonna do? Like say, no, I didn't.

• 50:21Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 50:22Speaker 03

  You know, get your hearing checked? No. Like, and he, and then he, it went on and on and on. And then I, but I tried to change it. Like, what is Dana White?

• 50:32Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 50:32Speaker 03

  Thinking, okay, I can edit that out. No one will know. He wasn't having it. And so we were, I mean, it was hysterical. We're cracking up. We get done with the interview and we were high fiving and he's hugging me. Like, we've known each other. So it was literally fine.

• 50:48Ed Mylett?

  Got it.

• 50:50Speaker 03

  That was the first episode of The Sage Deal Show.

• 50:54Ed Mylett?

  No way.

• 50:55Speaker 03

  I taped a couple of other ones, but I wanted to do Dana first. It was the biggest name I'd gotten up to that point. And it still kept my foot in the door with some sports stuff, but he's an entrepreneur and all those things. And it's The Sage Deal Show. It was my first episode. I have full editorial control.

• 51:11Ed Mylett?

  You could have taken it out.

• 51:12Speaker 03

  I could have taken that out.

• 51:13Ed Mylett?

  Ah.

• 51:15Speaker 03

  If you can't laugh at yourself.

• 51:17Ed Mylett?

  I totally agree.

• 51:18Speaker 03

  For public consumption, you're in the wrong business.

• 51:21Ed Mylett?

  I totally agree with you.

• 51:22Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 51:22Ed Mylett?

  I totally agree.

• 51:23Speaker 03

  So when Dana, he told me later, he called me later, right before, he's like, you're airing this first, right? I was like, yeah, yeah. He goes, you're leaving that in, you know, you're effing leaving that in. And I was like, of course. Like, I'm not gonna, if I'm not gonna let someone else come on my show and edit stuff out, which unless it was something personal, I'm like, no, we're all, come on. Then why would I do that for myself? That's not fair.

• 51:45Ed Mylett?

  I feel better because I did the same thing. When we were doing it, he's like, we can cut that. I go, no, man, leave it. It's funny. I don't want it to be that funny, but it was funny.

• 51:53Speaker 03

  Yes. That's the way to do things.

• 51:55Ed Mylett?

  Okay, good.

• 51:56Speaker 03

  Don't you think?

• 51:57Ed Mylett?

  I do, by the way.

• 51:58Speaker 03

  You're more of a pro at this than me. You've done a million more shows than I have. I'm just saying, like, leave it in. And when you show people that you're human. Like, I feel like people appreciate you more because they sometimes view us.

• 52:10Ed Mylett?

  That's correct.

• 52:10Speaker 03

  As like these robots and we never make mistakes and everything's perfect. It's like,

• 52:14Ed Mylett?

  Incorrect.

• 52:14Speaker 03

  I'm the opposite of perfect.

• 52:15Ed Mylett?

  Likewise. Likewise. That's why I asked it.

• 52:18Speaker 03

  I'm so glad. See, I get to clarify again that it was the end of the interview.

• 52:21Ed Mylett?

  You're such a good sport because the fact of the matter is, I, mine was editing too. All right, last thing. By the way, this has been so good.

• 52:27Speaker 03

  I've had so much. I could talk all day.

• 52:28Ed Mylett?

  I don't, I don't cry all that often. You got me. Like, I cry cried right there. Like, that was cry cry. It's good now for you. So let's look at the other side for a second. You're now remarried, happy. Your career seems to be flourishing. I assume everything in your family is great. I know your dad's health you said wasn't great, but like, take us to the other side. Like, is it somewhat sweeter from the standpoint that, you know, your whole life, marriage, finances, career, all goes away and now you've got it back. God's been so good to you and you've worked your you-know-what off as well. What's it feel like? Because the same people watch this. I want to get to the other side. What's that like?

• 53:09Speaker 03

  My lawsuit settled. I was in a mediation in a court in Los Angeles, California on August 14th, 2023.

• 53:17Ed Mylett?

  Hmm.

• 53:18Speaker 03

  And when it settled, I put my head on the table and I just sobbed. I sobbed. I won. And I was so heartbroken that it took that. And I haven't thought about that moment often because it's hard to, even though it was like a good moment.

• 53:37Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 53:38Speaker 03

  But it was like, gosh, did it have to come to this? And now what the hell am I going to do with my life? I worked up to the very end with the pending lawsuit for 16 months, every day. I was still on TV. So I couldn't afford mentally. I didn't have the energy.

• 53:56Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 53:57Speaker 03

  Or the ability mentally to focus on what's next because I was still on live TV every day until that day. And I didn't know where to go. I didn't know what to do. I thought about another show at some point to try it on my own, but never to do it on my own. Like I thought I'd work for someone and they'd help me with the show. And I just remember getting back on that plane and just to go back to the East Coast. I lived in Connecticut where ESPN was and like, what's next? So, you know, it's amazing how, how God works.

• 54:33Speaker 03

  Two days later, I went on Megyn Kelly's show. We had the same attorney. If you ever get canceled, I have an attorney for you guys. Megyn Kelly, me, he's Tucker Carlson's. Chris Harrison, my dear friend who married us four months ago, who was canceled from The Bachelor, the host of The Bachelor, and what he went through. Brian Friedman is your attorney, trust me. Good to know. And he had had conversations. I went on Bill Maher's show about a month after I settled. And when I was on his show, again, Diversey of Thought, right? He brought me on. And during the podcast, he's like, you know, you need to do a podcast under my network. I think you're great. And I was like, whatever. He sits there, drinks and gets high his entire podcast. He's not going to remember that he's saying this.

• 55:18Speaker 03

  And we get off the air and he says it again, and he meant it. So somehow, I go from fear that day, sobbing on the table after I settled with Disney, to an offer from Bill Maher to be the first podcast of his new Startup Network Club random. And he brought me on, and here we go. We have a man who thinks completely differently than me that's giving me a platform to do my, to do the Sage Steel Show, and he's going to run it for me and everything else. Ended up leaving. A lot of changes with him, and we're still friends. It's great. I really respect him. Left and went, okay, now what am I going to do? I got, I'll just wait for the right person to come. And I had some potentials out there for some networks who are going to bring on my show and do all the advertising and all the stuff that overwhelms me with this space.

• 56:03Speaker 03

  And it took longer than I wanted. And then they came, and I realized, wait a minute. I've had to keep myself alive financially to do these shoots, to travel, to find a crew and lighting and editing on my own. Wow. Why am I now going to give it away to somebody? Let me just try to build. Because if nothing else, I know that it's not going to kill me. I'm going to fall on my face again, probably, you know, a thousand more times. But what I learned through this process, even when the world says you're done. You still get back up. So I kept it going and now, yeah, I am on my own and I just, I honestly, like, I could never, I never wanted this. I never wanted to do it on my own because I was afraid.

• 56:48Speaker 03

  Afraid of taking on this challenge of running your own business and I, I suck at it. Like, I'm really bad. I'm like, I'm definitely the creative and I was a producer before I was ever on air. Like, let me do that. And now I have, you know, a nice, small team of people who are helping me and when I say small, I mean my husband, who is a former CEO in corporate America. He knows, he knows how to run a business, thank goodness. And then two other people who are like my, my family, my teammates. So I'm, I'm, I'm learning and letting go with that. Still so much fear every single day. And on January 1st, 2024, exactly two years ago, you know, I, I got all, all three of my kids off to college. I never thought I'd be 51,

• 57:33Speaker 03

  52 years old, alone. And

• 57:39Speaker 03

  I had met my first husband when I was 20 in college. So from 20, first boyfriend, 20 to 47, that's all I ever knew. Clueless, clueless in that whole world. So went on a couple of dates, awful. I'm like, I'm an idiot. This is terrible. And on January 1st, 2024, I lived down in Fort Lauderdale and I got in the water, in the ocean and I said, Lord, please, take control. And I said, from a personal perspective, I hope I'm not alone, but it's up to you. And I said, please don't bring me anybody until you bring me somebody. And just make it really clear because I'm an idiot. And that was January 1st, 2024. When I say it was like the Sahara Desert.

• 58:25Speaker 03

  From January 1st to November 12th, 2024.

• 58:29Speaker 03

  Not a, not a phone call, not a text, not anybody sliding into my DMs, not a, nothing, not a date, not a nothing. Bad grammar. Until that night, at a charity event for veterans in Nashville, Tennessee, where I wasn't supposed to be. I'd just come off the campaign trail with Trump and I was tired and I canceled the speech. First time I've ever canceled anything was at my kid's college. I knew I could reschedule it. And I went with my girlfriend to this charity event for veterans. And this man walks up to me and says, hi, my name is Dave. You don't know me, but we have a lot in common. And I'm thinking, ugh, what line is he gonna throw at me? I've heard them all.

• 59:11Speaker 03

  His mother and my mother, thirty-two years ago, in Leavenworth, Kansas, where our fathers were stationed in the military, volunteered at a convent for retired nuns and stayed friends for thirty-two years and we had never met. What? And when he walks up to me. What? At this charity event on November 12th, 2024, saying that not only did our mothers do something that involved God, nuns, nuns who were part of our families, like came to holiday dinners, watched my brothers play basketball. Dave and my brother Chad played basketball against each other in high school. I was in college, I'm three years older, he was in high school. We had never met and thirty-two years later at a charity event, he walks up to me. He'd been married for seventeen years, two kids. I'd been married for twenty years, three kids.

• 59:56Speaker 03

  That night, I knew. You knew? Yeah. God is so good. We were engaged five months later to the day and, and married less than ten months total. So, September 5th, 2025, after meeting November of 24. So, I'm sorry, that's a long story. I needed you to know that because I knew you'd appreciate it. It's a great story. But like. It's not too long. I. Gave up control of that aspect of my life, too.

• 1:00:26Speaker 03

  And didn't know what I was doing anyway. I was so clueless. Like, my 21-year-old daughter, the one guy I dated between divorce and meeting Dave, I was, we had just started dating and I was sending, returning a text and my daughter, who was 21 at the time, she looked at me and she's like, let me see that. She's like, are you gonna send that? She's like, you don't know how to do, you don't know what you're doing. I've dated more people than you. Delete, delete. I'm gonna rewrite this and now wait two hours. And I'm like, is that what this world is? So that's, I'm so clueless. And so, like, I literally had no idea. That's why I was like, Lord, Jesus, take the wheel, you know? And so I look at that ad and you know what? What if? What if I hadn't canceled that speech and rescheduled it that night?

• 1:01:12Speaker 03

  My kids understood. What if I had never stood up to Disney? What if I had kept my mouth shut about that shot they made me take? I wouldn't be here talking to you because I'd still be sitting like this robotic in a chair and making a lot of money and doing great, right? And being happy because I got to tell sports stories. I would never have met Dave. And my kids right now, what they're gaining from having me around more, to be there to help them move into their dorm in college because I would have had to ask for vacation time before, to be there for my parents dealing with their health journeys right now, to have met him. Like, I have no words and I hope and pray people, like, listen to your gut because we usually know what the right thing is.

• 1:01:55Speaker 03

  And beautiful things come from the ashes. I'll never forget the head on the table crying after I settled with Disney. I'll never forget being in that bed with a terrible case of COVID after taking the shot that was gonna prevent it and people sending death threats.

• 1:02:13Speaker 03

  Like, all those things brought me to this beautiful new life. So take a chance on yourself. Believe you're gonna get back up. And don't take so long to talk to God about it. Like, He's just waiting for us. I hate that it took me so long, but the good thing is that my kids saw. And now it's not taking them as long. It won't take them half a century. They're there. And I'm like, thank, thank God for all the crap.

• 1:02:42Ed Mylett?

  Thank you for doing this. You just reminded me why I do the show.

• 1:02:46Speaker 03

  Thanks for making me cry.

• 1:02:48Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, you made me cry. You know what? Today reminded me why I do the show. Sometimes you just, you know what I mean? You're doing, this was extraordinary. You're amazing.

• 1:02:58Speaker 03

  Thank you for having me on and allowing me to share and to clarify Dana White Joe Rogan.

• 1:03:08Ed Mylett?

  I mean it.

• 1:03:09Speaker 03

  He calls me, he literally sends me a clip once a month and he's like, look, this one has 20 million views. And he always says to me, he's like, I'm so proud of you because most people would have cut that out. It's the best business decision you could have made.

• 1:03:21Ed Mylett?

  You never know. Maybe Joe Rogan and Dana White lived in a cave together 300 years ago.

• 1:03:24Speaker 03

  300 years ago.

• 1:03:26Ed Mylett?

  It is possible. If you manipulate time enough, they could live in that cave.

• 1:03:29Speaker 03

  He's good. You talk about full circle there.

• 1:03:31Ed Mylett?

  That was pretty good. You're awesome. This was so good today. I just pray everybody stayed to the end and heard the entire Bo put around the story. Where do you want them to go see you? Sage Steele's show? Was that where they should go?

• 1:03:43Speaker 03

  The Sage Steele Show on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Do you do Patreon?

• 1:03:47Ed Mylett?

  No. Do you?

• 1:03:49Speaker 03

  Well, I'm trying.

• 1:03:50Ed Mylett?

  It's where you generate the big bucks, what they tell me.

• 1:03:52Speaker 03

  That's what I, you already, you already have the big bucks.

• 1:03:55Ed Mylett?

  I don't know about that.

• 1:03:57Speaker 03

  No, Patreon, I have a young, very young Patreon channel, but Instagram, like I am super myself on Instagram too, which can be, I'm very much an idiot a lot too. And Facebook, yeah, I'm, I'm learning all of these different platforms still. I've become such a rookie in this, I'll take all the advice I can get from you.

• 1:04:12Ed Mylett?

  I'm here to help you.

• 1:04:13Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 1:04:14Ed Mylett?

  You're awesome. This was an unbelievable conversation. You're welcome for this one, everybody. This was darn good. Make sure you follow her. Make sure you share the episode. And I want to tell you, God bless you. Max out your life.

• 1:04:35Speaker 05

  Ahora en McDonald's te puedes llevar dos pares de carne, salsa especial y papitas medianas y una bebida por ocho dólares. Así que llévate una Big Mac Extra Value Meal. Solo en McDonald's. Precios y participación pueden variar. El precio de la promoción puede ser más bajo que el precio del mio.

• 1:04:50Speaker 06

  Mr. President, my company told me of the explosion on our rig on October 2nd. Causing massive water displacement and triggering a tsunami. They all heap the blame on me. Tom Cruise is.

• 1:05:00Speaker 07

  Digger got us into this mess and Digger's gonna dig us up. From the director of Birdman and The Ravenette.

• 1:05:06Speaker 08

  What would happen if I stopped drilling? You stop, you freeze in there, that's what.

• 1:05:10Speaker 07

  With great power comes great deniability.

• 1:05:14Speaker 08

  I'm not the first daddy.

• 1:05:15Speaker 07

  Digger. See the trailer online. Only in theaters October 2nd. Rated R. Under 17. Not a middle without parent.