Leanne Morgan: Why Your Best Years Might Start After 50

Leanne Morgan spent more than 20 years pursuing comedy before her career exploded in her 50s. Now, at 60, she's selling out arenas, starring in her own Netflix series, and living a life that once felt almost impossible. In this conversation, we talk about what changed when Leanne stopped worrying so much about what everyone else thought and started trusting herself. We get into menopause, imposter syndrome, aging, ambition, health, family, and what happens when a woman's life gets bigger at the exact age she was taught it should start getting smaller. In this episode: Leanne's 27-year road to successAlmost giving up in her early 50sMenopause and finding confidencePrioritizing health while touringAging, body image, and longevityWhy Leanne won't “fake peace” anymoreFamily, friendship, and learning to say noReinventing yourself later in life_ MORE ON LEANNE MORGAN Leanne Season 2 Airing on Netflix https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/81752004The Time of Our Lives Tour https://www.leannemorgan.com/What in the World?! by Leanne Morgan https://www.leannemorgan.com/bookInstagram: @leannemorgancomedy https://www.instagram.com/leannemorgancomedyFacebook: @leannemorgancomedy https://www.facebook.com/leannemorgancomedyX: @leannecomedy https://x.com/leannecomedyYouTube: @LeanneMorganComedy https://www.youtube.com/c/LeanneMorganComedyTikTok: @leannemorgancomedy https://www.tiktok.com/@leannemorgancomedyFor more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: https://www.drmindypelz.com/ep375/ _ CONNECT WITH DR. MINDY Join Reset Academy https://resetacademy.drmindypelz.com/reset-academy?utm_source=libsyn&utm_medium=podcast&utm_term=&utm_content=loc-description&utm_campaign=reset-academyWatch the episodes on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@DrMindyPelz?sub_confirmation=1Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dr.mindypelz/Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter https://www.drmindypelz.com/ Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

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

• 0:01Mindy Pelz?

  Can I be honest with you for just a second? So many of the women who have come to me have literally already tried everything. They've done the diets, they've worked themselves out to death, they've done the programs, they've diligently followed the advice of their doctors, and yet they are still exhausted. They are still hormonally lost. They are still wondering why nothing seems to work for them. And here's what I've learned after two and a half decades of working with women. It's not a willpower problem. I promise you, it's an education problem.

• 0:42Mindy Pelz?

  Your body has a very specific set of needs, and most health advice out there was never designed with those needs in mind. And so this is exactly why I built my Reset Academy. It's my monthly membership community where I teach you how to use fasting, food, and lifestyle to genuinely work with your female biology. Every month, you get new trainings, live Q and A's with my team and I, and a community of incredible women who are all in it with you. They're doing the work, they're seeing the results, and the best part is they're cheering each other on. If you're ready to stop guessing and start actually

• 1:26Mindy Pelz?

  understanding your body and finally getting results, come join us over there. All you have to do is head over to resetacademy.drmindypelz.com, and I would love to see you inside the community and help you accomplish your health goals and fall in love with your body again. So that's resetacademy.drmindy.com.

• 1:57Mindy Pelz?

  Hey, Dr. Mindy here, and welcome to the Live Like a Girl podcast, where I bring you icons, disruptors, educators, scientists, and doctors that show you what can be possible when you love and celebrate the female body you are blessed to live in. Let's dive in.

• 2:20Mindy Pelz?

  There is a myth I want to dismantle right out of the gate. The myth that your window for a big life closes somewhere in your 40s. That if you haven't made it by then, you missed it, and the rest of your years are just about managing decline gracefully. I don't believe that. And today's guest is living proof of exactly why. For 27 years, she sold jewelry out of people's living rooms, not because it was her dream, but because she was a young mom, isolated, far from home, and it was a way to meet people and pay

• 3:02Mindy Pelz?

  the bills. What nobody knew, including her, was that those living rooms talks were actually a stage. She was funny. She was a storyteller. And slowly, over decades, in comedy clubs most people never even heard of, she kept chasing the one thing that lit her up, even when nothing about the outside world was telling her to keep going. Then she hit her early 50s, and she hit a wall. She sat with her husband and cried and said, "I don't think this comedy thing is ever going to happen for me." 27 years in, and that was

• 3:46Mindy Pelz?

  the first time hope actually ran out. And then in her 50s, everything she had built for decades exploded into a life bigger than she ever let herself imagine. Not despite midlife, because of it. Here's what I know from my own research into the menopausal brain. Something shifts in a woman's confidence during her menopause transition. We stop being so addicted to what everyone else thinks of us. We get pickier about who gets our time. We finally trust ourselves enough to bet on the thing we've quietly wanted the

• 4:30Mindy Pelz?

  whole time. This is not coincidence. This is biology finally working in our favor. This is exactly why I have brought you comedian LeAnn Morgan. LeAnn Morgan is a stand-up comedian, she's an actress, and a New York Times bestselling author, whose Netflix specials and hit show have made her one of the most beloved voices in comedy today, all after building the foundation for decades before the world caught on. In this conversation, we talk about what it actually takes to keep believing in a dream nobody else can see

• 5:12Mindy Pelz?

  yet. How to know the difference between giving up and simply needing a different door. And why midlife might be the exact moment your confidence and your dream finally catch up with each other. I have to tell you, listen all the way through, because I also did something really unique and special with LeAnn in the second half of this episode, and I cannot wait for you all to hear it. It is my true honor to bring you LeAnn Morgan. Okay, LeAnn, first, I have to welcome you to my Live Like a Girl podcast, which is the perfect name for you. Thank you for joining me.

• 5:57Speaker 01

  Thank you for having me, Dr. Mindy, you smart thing.

• 6:01Mindy Pelz?

  Thank you.

• 6:02Speaker 01

  You know that I've been following you and watching everything, and every time something comes up, I think, what is Dr. Mindy saying? And I need to listen.

• 6:10Mindy Pelz?

  Thank you. I appreciate that. So I hope you realize what an inspiration you have become for midlife women. Do you get that? Like, we're all cheering you on and are so excited about your success.

• 6:26Speaker 01

  Thank you. I do feel it, and I hear it every time I'm walking through an airport or, you know, headed to a show. Women say that. They go, "I feel like I can do, live out my dream because you're doing this." And yeah, it has really been sweet how people have reacted to all this. It's very sweet.

• 6:47Mindy Pelz?

  That's awesome. So walk us through mindset. How do you go from selling, being a mom, selling jewelry in people's living rooms to Netflix's best, or biggest comedian? How do we make that journey in our mind?

• 7:02Speaker 01

  Well, it took 27 years. But I, so I was, had married Chuck Morgan, had my first baby, Charlie, and I wanted to breastfeed him and stay at home. I had a degree, but I just, I was up there isolated, didn't know anybody, and Chuck Morgan doesn't talk. And he was, had a business, he was 27 years old, running a business, had employees. And so I started selling that jewelry. It was just a fluke. One of my friends, she said, "LeAnn, you'd be so good at this, and you enjoy people, you could meet people because you feel isolated." Everything, it was just a perfect storm. And I look back on it now, and I didn't have comedy clubs, and I always knew I was going to Hollywood, I was doing

• 7:47Speaker 01

  something, but I didn't know how. And I was in those living rooms, suppose, you know, selling jewelry, and I sold quite a bit of jewelry, honey.

• 7:56Mindy Pelz?

  I bet you did.

• 7:57Speaker 01

  There was a lot of earrings for $19.99, and people love a gold earring to give themselves a pop. So I started selling that jewelry, and I got to meet people, and I am a talker, and I like to have a good time. And I developed some of my first 45 minutes of material in those living rooms, because I had an audience of my peers, you know, and women that were getting pregnant and breastfeeding and, you know, all that, the same thing that I was going through in life. And it was perfect. It was better than a comedy club, I think. And then I eventually got in comedy clubs, and then, you know, 20 years of trying to

• 8:41Speaker 01

  grind it out, honey, and I just, the whole time thinking, I know I've got something, I gotta keep going. I loved it so much, I would have done it for free. It's just something that I'm a storyteller, and I just loved it. I loved being on stage and connecting with an audience. And I, you know, had three babies, but I just kept going.

• 9:01Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah.

• 9:02Speaker 01

  You know, then I got in my early 50s, and that was the first time in 20 something years that I really got down and thought nothing was going to happen. And I had shot a Drybar special, which is clean comedy online. I didn't even know what, how the internet worked. We thought nobody'd ever see it. We, you know, they gave me a little bit of money to go shoot that thing. And that gave me the money and a little bit of notoriety. Not, I couldn't sell tickets, but I got, I had a lot of gigs from that. But it weren't, they weren't good gigs. They weren't what I wanted to do. And I got so down and out, and I said to Chuck, I cried, and I said, "I don't think anything's going to happen."

• 9:47Speaker 01

  That's the first time I felt down and didn't have hope. And, because I'd had television deals and stuff, always something brewing, even if it didn't make it, it gave me hope. And he said, "No, you gotta keep going." And that's when I invested in myself.

• 10:06Speaker 01

  Things changed. I can talk about that if you want me to. And then, honey, it blew up bigger and better than anything I ever dreamed of. It in my early 50s.

• 10:18Mindy Pelz?

  So here's what I hear. You had it something you were doing for many years that lit you up. That there was like, you were in a flow state. You were like energized by making people laugh. Would that be accurate?

• 10:32Speaker 01

  Yes, yes. I loved it. I didn't care if it was men that spoke Japanese and made carpet fiber. I didn't care, which that was a gig and that was horrible.

• 10:42Mindy Pelz?

  But they understand you.

• 10:43Speaker 01

  Yeah, I want, I loved it so much that I, anything anybody asked me to do, I would get up and do it. Because I loved it that much.

• 10:53Mindy Pelz?

  See, I think that's important because a lot of women in my community are trying, I hear them all the time say, I don't know what I want to do. I don't know. The kids are gone. I don't know what I need to be doing at this point. And I think I just want to point out, and you add to this, that it's the things that light us up that don't feel like work. Follow the crumbs of that.

• 11:14Speaker 01

  Uh huh. And I also think, Dr. Mindy, that things you drink, you love doing as a child. I've heard that before, like, things that you really, that set you on fire. Growing up, that that might be a clue of, you know, of what you want to do. Cause I've had friends that said, I wanted to be a nurse. But I didn't have the confidence and I didn't think I could make it academically and that kind of thing. And I've got friends that went back and then became a nurse and then a nurse anesthetist with a CRNA. Is that how you, cause I, with honey, three kids and, you know, in their 40s. And going through that difficult curriculum and having to lock themselves in a basement.

• 11:57Speaker 01

  But they felt they, you know, couldn't do it when they were 20, when they went to college. But now they have the confidence to do it and they did it.

• 12:04Mindy Pelz?

  Yes, that's the key. I mean, that, this is, this was the whole point of my book, Age Like a Girl. Is if you look at how the brain rewires itself through menopause, you start to feel more confident because you're not addicted to everybody else's opinion of you. Did, did you feel that when you said you hit that dip at 50? Uh, and you hit a wall there? Was there like a fuck it attitude? Like, I'm just going for this? Or what do you, what'd you do in that moment?

• 12:33Speaker 01

  And when I turned 50, I, the day I turned 50, I felt like, like I could unload like friends that were really not my friends.

• 12:47Mindy Pelz?

  Amen, amen.

• 12:48Speaker 01

  Like, you know, I, I made my circle smaller. I only wanted to be with people that give, you know, and not suck the life out of you. And I realized that I had a lot of, you know, when your kids are in high school and you're, you're, and everybody's on cheer team or whatever, and you have to deal with people and it's, you know, and they're not really for you. I think the best thing that ever happens to you when you turn 50 and you shed all that and you don't care what other people think and you want to spend time with people who love you and you love them. And that was what I learned in my 50s. And then after I had that little slump and thought, this is, you know, I can't be going and riding in an Uber with a man high on marijuana

• 13:33Speaker 01

  as a, as a female by myself. And then they put me in a motel that looks like I'm going to be murdered. That was why I got so down. It was just not, you know, I thought, is this really what I'm going to be doing in my 50s? I don't want this. If this is what it is, I don't want it. And then, um, when COVID hit, I mean, I was, I, the, I had hired these social media boys that I'm still with, that put out my stuff and I thought I'm going to give them three months. If it doesn't make it, uh, because it was expensive. I thought if it doesn't make it, then that'll be a sign from God that it's time to move on. And you also having a grandbaby. And they put out one video that went viral about me taking Chuck Morgan

• 14:15Speaker 01

  to go see Def Leppard and Journey and everybody had plantar fasciitis and looked sick. And that, that boomed. And then people, you know, were finding, uh, what else I had done. And then they were calling every comedy club and I started selling out all over the United States. But, um, then I got my first day, my first deal for a big two or 100 city tour called the Big Panty Tour. Cause I was talking about my big panties. And then, um, it, COVID hit and everything shut down. And so I just sat on my back porch and with no makeup on, I didn't even realize what I was, I mean, I just thought, everybody's hysterical. It's a terrible time.

• 14:57Speaker 01

  I was taking care of elderly parents, cooking for them, you know, nobody could go anywhere. And I just started making videos of like, you know, what are y'all doing? I'm making a chicken casserole. And my mom and daddy have got their thermostat on 78 and I'm going through menopause and I feel like I'm gonna. And that's when I think I really connected with women and men, but mostly women. And it was that authenticity and that I don't care if I don't have on makeup. I don't, and I think people related to that. And I, and so that, yes, in my 50s, it was like, I don't care what people think. This is it. This is who I am. I've got elderly parents. My mom has had a stroke.

• 15:39Speaker 01

  Uh, you know, I know I'm having a grandbaby, all that, like everybody else is going through. And I, that's what I talked about. And I think it grew, I know it did. It was more, more like a community that grew. It was bigger than stand up.

• 15:52Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah. You know, I found you during that time. I, I, that's when I found you because I decided during the pandemic, I was like, I need to get humor into my brain. I gotta stop watching the news, being worried about what's going to happen. And so I started, I got addicted. At the end of every day, I would go on and just scan YouTube for different comedians. And that's when I found you. And, um, I'm like, this woman's hysterical. And I had decided in that moment that one of your gifts, and I think this should be a gift of all women, is calling yourself out, laughing at yourself. Like, that is the gift, I think, outside of your reinvention story that you offer all of us,

• 16:36Mindy Pelz?

  is an opportunity to say, well, LeAnn Morgan made fun of her husband, your poor husband, by the way. Um, and, you know, and she's still married. Maybe I can joke about this marriage. Has, has anybody ever given you that feedback?

• 16:50Speaker 01

  Yes, everybody says to me every day, everywhere I go, I am married to Chuck Morgan. I married, I need to do a T-shirt on tour that says something about Chuck Morgan because I'm making him into a folk hero. I think everybody, and there's in Chuck Morgan, you know, nobody closes a garage door right. Nobody took the trash out. He's got to be grumpy, curmudgeonly. He doesn't understand menopause. I hate to tell you that. He has never understood. I know. And I could beat him to death. And I'll say, I put in my vaginal estrogen, Chuck. Leave me alone. Um.

• 17:30Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah, he probably wants to leave you alone at that point. That's a good way to bat him off of you.

• 17:38Speaker 01

  I know. I put in my vaginal estrogen. And then also, you know, he's, Lord, he's on testosterone and he's barely tripping around because he tore two Achilles in a tent, playing tennis, but he still plays, but he's got inflammation. Honey, I have to tell his doctor what to check. He needs a sleep apnea test. He doesn't tell his doctor anything. I have tend him like he's a toddler. But yeah, I think everybody relates to that. And then I swear, Dr. Mindy, I think I was the first person to talk about perimenopause.

• 18:09Mindy Pelz?

  I think you were too. Cause I was, I was deep in studying perimenopause and helping my patients and, because nobody had really, I mean, the only book out there was Christiane Northrup's Wisdom of Menopause. And we weren't really talking about it. And so I, I was having conversations in my clinic with women. And then I would go home and watch your comedy. And I'm like, oh my God, you're better than a supplement. You're better than the, than HRT. Like, you just got to watch this woman and just laugh about this. So I do agree. I think you helped us all.

• 18:45Speaker 01

  Thank you. And I, I was so lucky that I had a nurse practitioner in Knoxville, Tennessee, that was going to medical, she was, uh, her mom and dad are both doctors. She was going to medical school. Somebody heard her sing and said, you've got to, you've got to be an opera singer. And so she went and was an opera singer and on Broadway. And then in her like 40s, decided to go back to school and become a nurse and then a NP. And she sat and studied hormone replacement and women's health and would read all the time. Brilliant. And I happened to get in with her, honey, going through perimenopause. And then I, my career was basically in the toilet. And I said, hey,

• 19:27Speaker 01

  what if we did a podcast together? Nobody's talking about perimenopause. And you've got the information and maybe I can make it fun. And we did a podcast called Sweaty and Pissed, Menopause and More years ago before, and I got so busy, I couldn't do it anymore. And I think if we had stayed doing that, it's no telling what that thing would be now because she had the information. I tried to make it fun and I was the layman, you know, that would ask questions and get, because she's very clinical. And, um, but I realized there was a hole there that people weren't talking about it. And I thought, why would people not be talking about perimenopause? Everybody's going through it. Everybody's going to have to go through it. It's a nightmare.

• 20:08Mindy Pelz?

  Right.

• 20:09Speaker 01

  But now, now thank the Lord, everybody's talking about it.

• 20:13Mindy Pelz?

  Right. Yeah, absolutely. And I think you, your career turned out okay, not necessarily doing the podcast circuit. I think you're in the right place. So.

• 20:22Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 20:23Mindy Pelz?

  So how do you, help the woman who's like, listening to this and is like, I have something I want to do, but the imposter syndrome shows up. Surely that happened to you.

• 20:34Speaker 01

  Yes. Honey, I get it all the time. Coming out on this third, third tour, because I'm going into arenas. And that really, I did some arenas in the last one, but this is really heavy in arenas. And I never dreamed that big. I'm a big dreamer, but I never thought I'd be in arenas and I. Um, I really had a hard time. I was, um, shooting the second season of Leanne. And we, I shot that in LA from January to April. And on the weekends, honey, at 60 years old, then I, I'll be learning a script during the week and then I go to clubs on Saturday and do two shows and try to work out new material because I had to start touring as soon as this show wrapped.

• 21:15Speaker 01

  And I really, um, worried about it and thought, am I good enough? Is this, you know, this is a, uh, this is my fourth hour that's been, that will be taped. That's a lot of material over somebody's life. Now people just throw out these comedy, um, specials, but it's hard. It's hard to hone something and it'd be good enough to be on Netflix. And I just was like, is this gonna be any good? People are gonna pay ticket, big money and, and I've wanted, I want them to love it. And yeah, I went through it again and I've got a good friend in comedy that has been my best friend for 20 something years now, a comedian out of Chattanooga, Karen Mills.

• 21:58Speaker 01

  And I called her and said, I don't know if I could do it, Karen. She goes, Leanne, you go through this every time. You have imposter syndrome every time before you're starting to shoot a movie, before you start shooting your series, you do it every time. And I do, I have to work through it and think, okay, I know I'm supposed to be here. I've put in the time. God wouldn't put me in something that I'm not supposed to be in. I have to, I really have to go through that every time. So when you have, your audience worries about that. Everybody goes through that, I think.

• 22:32Mindy Pelz?

  Thank you.

• 22:33Speaker 01

  But you gotta push through it. You gotta push through it and know in your heart, you're meant to be there. You're meant to be doing that. It's okay. And I also say this, Dr. Mindy, if, if you fail, okay, you learn from it. Keep going. You know, that's not a big deal.

• 22:51Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah.

• 22:53Mindy Pelz?

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• 23:38Mindy Pelz?

  And some of these forms aren't even really bioavailable. That's why Qualia Magnesium Plus is hands down the most comprehensive magnesium supplement ever made. It has 10 complimentary forms of magnesium. Yes, 10. So you don't have to figure out like, which one do I need for sleep? Which one do I need for stress recovery? It's all in this one supplement. Plus, they added 70 trace minerals and it's now clinically tested. So here's the cool thing about this supplement. Just two capsules a day. I take, honestly, I take mine at night and you're getting the most

• 24:21Mindy Pelz?

  diverse bioavailable version of magnesium supplement I personally have ever seen. So head on over to qualialife.com forward slash Mindy. They're giving our community up to 15% off if you use the code Mindy. Yay. Thank you, Qualia. And all of their supplements are backed by their 100 day guarantee. So that's Qualia Magnesium Plus code Mindy at qualialife.com forward slash Mindy. Enjoy.

• 24:58Mindy Pelz?

  You know, one of the tricks I always did, because I was, I had a fear of public speaking and now I loved public, give me a good audience and I, and I'm, I'm excited, is I would make, have a conversation with fear. And I'd be like, I hear you. I know you're there. We're gonna do this together. Let's go. Like, like it was almost a partner in the process.

• 25:19Speaker 01

  Yes. And I've done that too. If I'm torn up and I feel butterflies, that's like, okay, my engine's going. Let's do this. I do. I feel, I've, I had to make peace with that. And so, and yes, that's a good way of putting it. Like now I have a partner, we're in this together. Because that, that does, that drives you, that gives you adrenaline. Because right before I go out on stage, I get kinda sleepy. I heard Tim McGraw say that one time in an interview. And I thought, is that your body kinda getting ready or something? You start feeling tired and I'll yawn. And then that audience, you know, they say my name and my adrenaline goes up. I've got butterflies and that, that fuels me.

• 25:59Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah.

• 25:59Speaker 01

  I gotta do this. And I got, I've got one life, one time to do it, honey. And I'm gonna make the best out of it. I'm going big. I said when, 27 years ago, when I met my concert promoters who I have now, who are the biggest concert promoters for comedians in the world. And they asked me, what did you wanna, how did, what do you wanna do out of this, Leanne? It's probably about 25 years ago. And I said, I'm going big. I'm not, I'm either, I'm not doing it or I'm going big. And I just, you know, and that's hard, I think, for a woman my age from the South. We're, you know, we're very polite and-

• 26:37Mindy Pelz?

  Don't take up a lot of space.

• 26:39Speaker 01

  Yeah. And so it's, it's, it's, I'm finally feel like I'm coming into my own to say what I want and what I need. I'm running a team of 25 people, never ran a company or anything like that. I'm doing that now. But I, I think, yeah, I can do this.

• 26:57Mindy Pelz?

  Amazing.

• 26:58Speaker 01

  I can do this. You know, and people ask me all the time, they go, what would you say to that 17 year old? When I would say to my 17 year old self, it makes me wanna cry. I wanna say, you are so smart. You know, I just didn't know, then I just didn't have the confidence and I, and I was made, you know, to feel like you, oh, be pretty so you can get a husband that can take care of you and all that. And I did, and I know how to flirt. Um, and I used that, I used that, Dr. Mindy.

• 27:30Mindy Pelz?

  Work to your advantage.

• 27:31Speaker 01

  Did. Yes, my fanny is big, but that helped me get a husband with health insurance.

• 27:38Speaker 01

  But I look back and I think, I wanna tell that little girl, you do, you got it. Your instincts are right. Your gut is right. Listen to it. Because, and that's what I did, you know, I would be so self-conscious. I, I went on and got an undergraduate degree. I loved my degree. But I always had this burning desire. I'm, I'm gonna be in show business. I'm gonna be in show business. And there would be times in the Appalachian Mountains where there was no way. But I just kept thinking, I just had faith and I kept thinking, something, if something's gonna happen, something's gonna happen.

• 28:12Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah.

• 28:13Speaker 01

  And so, you know, women-

• 28:14Mindy Pelz?

  Believe in yourself.

• 28:15Speaker 01

  Yes. Yeah. And it doesn't have to be show business. You know, I've meet women all the time that say, I've always wanted to be a yoga instructor. Well, good night, go take classes. Wouldn't that be fun? Go learn it, you know?

• 28:29Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah. Step into the energy of that. Get her, get into the vibration of what that might feel like and then see where you go from there is always what I say is like, take the next step, see how it feels and then take the next step. And pretty soon you're, you've got a life that you're loving, absolutely loving. Yeah. For sure. People have asked you, how are you doing, being on tour with being post-menopausal? Like, how do those two things mix? Uh, I'm just gonna go through brain fog, word recall, hot flashes. This one, I'll tell you one, I gave a presentation to a thousand people

• 29:07Mindy Pelz?

  in a room, which is, was a lot for me. And I was in a perimenopause moment and I had a silk shirt on. And literally there was just pit, like stains on the, on my armpits. And I was a, looked down as they were miking me up. And I thought, oh, fuck. Okay. I'm just gonna call it out. Like, I can't, I can't pretend I don't have these big water stains on my arms. So how are you managing?

• 29:38Speaker 01

  And I bet they loved it. I bet they loved it when you went, look at this, I'm having a hot flash.

• 29:44Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah.

• 29:44Speaker 01

  But what were you asking me?

• 29:46Mindy Pelz?

  So how, like, how are you, like, do you, I mean, there has to be intense word recall in your acts? Like, do you lose your memory? Are you tired? Like, how are you sustaining this?

• 29:59Speaker 01

  Um, well, thank the Lord. They bought, they got me a girl who I love. Lisa is her name, who goes over lines with me.

• 30:08Mindy Pelz?

  Yay.

• 30:09Speaker 01

  And we, she figured out, I got her about halfway through first season, because I was like trying to learn how to do a script. I didn't know.

• 30:16Mindy Pelz?

  Right.

• 30:16Speaker 01

  And I, and my, my youngest child is my makeup artist, and she's in the union in LA and, um, uh, real bad mama jama makeup artist, thank the Lord. She's with me, does my makeup, but she was helping me with lines. We didn't know how to do it. So they hired somebody that really helped me. But, but it's a lot. And so I have, you know, my endocrinologist that does my hormones, I do a, a testosterone cream on my inner thigh in the morning. I do two flicks of estradiol on, in the morning, one at night, and I have progesterone that I take orally at night before I go to bed to help me sleep. And I feel like, like, all my friends from Tennessee would say, girl, how are you doing it?

• 31:00Speaker 01

  Are you drinking wine? Get yourself a glass of wine. I said, if I drink wine, then I don't sleep well at night. I don't get enough sleep, and then I can't learn. I can't retain this. So I, there's no alcohol. I don't do any, very rarely do I. Sometimes I've got to have a margarita with a chip. But I don't do that during the week. I don't, I'm not, and I, I really prioritize my sleep. I rent a house in LA that, thank the Lord, they don't care if I run that thermostat. And I mean, you could hang me in that bedroom at night.

• 31:33Mindy Pelz?

  Yep, yep.

• 31:34Speaker 01

  And I, because Chuck Morgan doesn't do that at home, and that's, we need to go into therapy over that. But I love that room to be cold. I have a weighted eye mask called a nod pod that I've fallen in love with. I have, I have, um, red light therapy. Sometimes I put a red light on me. I take a hot bath at night with some magnesium flakes. Uh, um, I take, then in the morning I take, or in the daytime at lunch, I take vitamin D, K3, my fish oil. I added fish oil because they said that was good for all kinds of things, and brain and heart.

• 32:12Speaker 01

  And I love a supplement, Dr. Mandy. I love a supplement. And so I, I, in my B12s, I've got that MTHFR, methylation thing. And thank goodness somebody figured that out about me. And I really try to eat whole foods when I'm filming.

• 32:29Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah.

• 32:29Speaker 01

  I, on the road, it's hard.

• 32:31Mindy Pelz?

  It's so hard on the road.

• 32:33Speaker 01

  It's so hard on the road.

• 32:34Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah. That, that's one of the, one reason I stopped traveling. I'm like, I can't get my food dialed in. It's really hard.

• 32:42Speaker 01

  It's terrible. And you do the best you can. But it's, you know, when I'm in the green room, and before my shows, I have fresh vegetables, and I, they make fruit, cut fruit for me, and we have a little bit of cheese, you know, just to have something on my stomach so that I don't burp in the microphone. Because if I ate a big meal, I'll burp in the microphone. And then, and it made me have some gird come up. And then, um, I try not to eat late at night because I know that I'm, I don't sleep well when I've got a full stomach. I feel like I'm trying to digest, and I, I can just tell the difference in myself. So I try to, you know, time out my food. But when I'm home, I really try to eat whole foods and do the best I can.

• 33:27Speaker 01

  Because, honey, I've got a lot going on. And I do, I made that connection with food, you know, I can't, and I, I'll eat a cookie, and I'll eat a caramel turtle, you know, but I, but I try to do the best I can, you know? But I try, I really, I think, sleep has been the main thing.

• 33:45Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah. And what I heard in all of that is you prioritized your health because you could not do this if you didn't prioritize your health.

• 33:52Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 33:52Mindy Pelz?

  And that's, that I, I think is so key because everybody can look at your life and be like, I want what you're doing. But they don't necessarily see the, the backfill of what it takes to perform at that level at your age. So.

• 34:07Speaker 01

  I do need to do more. I love exercise, and I love, like, group places in my gym at home. And I love dance, and I, you know, like jazzercise and zumba for my brain. But I, I know that, and I like to lift. But it's real hard when I come into a hotel and I've been traveling all day, and I'm like, I want to lay down so bad and get my mind right. But I try to go to that gym and do something, even if it's a little 10 minutes here. I, on the set, I would do squats.

• 34:41Mindy Pelz?

  Good job.

• 34:42Speaker 01

  Like little Tim Daly that plays my love interest, who everybody in your audience would love to make out with. And let me tell y'all that it's fun. It is fun making out with Jim Daly. And he is as beautiful as you can imagine.

• 34:55Mindy Pelz?

  I, I, so is there tongue when you make out?

• 34:58Speaker 01

  No. Darn it.

• 35:01Mindy Pelz?

  Shout.

• 35:02Speaker 01

  I know, but he is so precious. But I, he, he gave me this tip. Like, he'll, if he can't remember something, he'll get down and do pushups and do something to, you know, to get his blood going. And so, um, and little Glenn Powell, I did a movie with Glenn Powell. You talking about Darling Two and Cute in His Pants. And he said, do you want one of my protein balls, Lynn? He eats well. He, he hydrates. He's got electrolytes and a big old glass, mountain valley water. And then he, his nutritionist makes him little peanut butter balls with protein in it that are too diaphor. But anyway, little, I would look over and he would be doing jumping jacks. So I try to do so many squats a day.

• 35:42Speaker 01

  Like, even if I'm just in my, you know, just to do something, you know, because I got to have longevity, honey. I want to live long and die quick. You know what I'm saying? I don't want to die long. And, you know, I, and so I know I got to keep doing that kind of stuff for my mental and my, I love to walk, and that helps with my stress. But these keep these muscle.

• 36:06Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah, yeah. And then you, and if you don't fight for it, it goes away. So I absolutely agree on that. So, um, okay. So I want to do something fun with you, uh, because, uh, you're the perfect person to do this with. So when I did Age Like a Girl, my big thing, that book was really, I think you read it, was really about how we reinvent ourselves in menopause. And so I was like, what are we going to do with all these women when they read this book? And then they're like, how do I reinvent myself? So what I did with my publishers, we came up with a card deck. And it's called, it's called, it's a conversation card deck, and it's looking backwards on the screen, but it's called.

• 36:46Speaker 01

  Who are you becoming?

• 36:48Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah. So I'm going to ask you some questions from my card deck.

• 36:52Speaker 01

  Okay. And before you do that, when you told me about cavemen, like, the whole thing of when, of, or maybe I watched YouTube, but I don't, can't remember if, okay, but that was fascinating to me, and that made perfect sense to me about how your brain changes.

• 37:11Mindy Pelz?

  Hypothesis. Yeah. And how your brain changes. And my, my big plight for menopausal women is I actually think our, when you look at the way our brain changes, you are built for leadership more in your post-menopausal years than any other time. So my, this is why I love your story. I'm just like, come on, it's our moment to rise up. It's our moment to do what we want to really, truly do. We've given our lives over to family and careers. And now let's do what lights us up. That, because you're neurologically wired for that now. It's amazing.

• 37:48Speaker 01

  That's amazing.

• 37:49Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah. Okay. So here's my question. Uh, so we have them in different categories. This one's category is called Igniting Your Power, and the question is, what are your greatest fears about aging?

• 38:06Speaker 01

  My greatest fear about aging, I don't, my mom had a stroke, a debilitating stroke. So I, I'm, but I don't have any blood pressure problems and all that. But I, it runs, I guess it runs in our family. Her dad had one. So I, I want my health to be right. And watching her being in a wheelchair, and she works so hard and goes to physical therapy. And my mom and dad were working people. They had a meat processing plant, and so they worked manual labor. Um, and our whole family worked in it. It was a very successful business. And I remember when she had the stroke, her physical therapist said, because you worked so hard, Lucille, all of your life,

• 38:46Speaker 01

  it'll help you in your physical therapy and to get over this stroke. And she did, and she was walking again. And then something happened, pulled, flew and pulled back there. They had to go back in, do a, a surgery. And that's when that, it really took a toll on her. But she goes to physical therapy. She's there today, honey, and works like a meal. Like, she's training for the Olympics. But I don't want to, when I said, live long, um, I want to live long and die quick. I don't want to suffer and I, and go through what she's been through because it's been so hard on her. So I think about that, and then I don't want my mind to go, but I don't think it's going to because I work so hard.

• 39:27Speaker 01

  And, you know, doing what I'm doing. And it made me realize that I, if I'm not, if I quit doing all this, and I'm going to have to learn the drums or a language or something, we all got to keep learning and doing.

• 39:39Mindy Pelz?

  Agreed.

• 39:40Speaker 01

  And then, you know, I don't find, I don't like having white hairs, and I'm finding white hairs everywhere, and it's weird.

• 39:46Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah.

• 39:47Speaker 01

  And I don't want.

• 39:47Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah, I was going to say, like, how you look, are you, are you, I mean, I don't see the white hairs, but do you worry about, you know, a lot of women worry about getting wrinkles because then they'll look old, and then they're worried they'll be tossed aside.

• 40:01Speaker 01

  Yes, and I, in this season two of Leon, the first episode, they put prosthetics on me and Kristen Johnson that plays my sister and made us eighty year old women.

• 40:13Mindy Pelz?

  Uh oh.

• 40:14Speaker 01

  And there's a picture of me, and I mean, it was the bad Mamajama Hollywood people that do Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and they did a whole, and people can watch that first episode and see me, what I'm gonna look like at eighty, going into an assisted living. And it, and it was freaky seeing it. But there, I do struggle, like, I see myself on TV and I think, oh, my neck, oh, my under eyes getting creepy, oh, but you know, and we have an episode in this second season about us going to see if we want plastic surgery. So I do think about it, and then I think, no, I wanna, I don't mind, I mean, I think it's wonderful if people wanna do that, but I think, I kinda wanna be my agent of myself.

• 40:55Mindy Pelz?

  Yes, yep.

• 40:57Speaker 01

  And I wanna have expression, you know, I can't get, I don't, I've never had botox or anything 'cause I gotta be able to express myself when I'm on, doing stand up. And so I think I'm, I'm not as worried about that, but I do see myself sometimes in the mirror and I think, Lord, where did time go? And that probably, that motivates me to think, oh, there's so many things I wanna do, I gotta do them, I gotta do them, you know? But yeah, I do think about that, but, and it gets me down sometimes, but then I think, I'm okay.

• 41:25Mindy Pelz?

  Just keep going.

• 41:25Speaker 01

  I'll be okay. And I don't wanna have unnecessary surgery that I don't have to have.

• 41:29Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah, right, right. Like, throw that into your tour schedule.

• 41:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:34Mindy Pelz?

  That's a little bit much.

• 41:36Speaker 01

  Now, I do love a laser, honey. Every once in a while, they burn my face off at my dermatologist.

• 41:40Mindy Pelz?

  Great.

• 41:41Speaker 01

  And I do love a good laser and a RP, whatever that, all that mess is. And I suck on gas 'cause it hurts so bad.

• 41:48Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah. And look how beautiful you look because of it.

• 41:54Speaker 01

  It's time for another laser.

• 41:56Mindy Pelz?

  Next question. What parts of your body have you grown to love more as you've aged?

• 42:07Speaker 01

  Honey, I love my arms. I've still got, I've still, that was my good part, you know, if you, everybody's got a good thing that they can, like, women that have pretty legs, I think that's wonderful. I don't, my legs are not my, it's my arms, and I'm proud of them because they're my daddies. I took after my little daddy who cut all that meat up, honey, and worked three jobs. And I, um, and I'm, I think, you know what, I'm strong. I can lift these grandbabies. Now, my fanny needs some toning.

• 42:42Speaker 01

  There's some jingly legs, honey. I think, it looks like somebody moved out of my legs.

• 42:49Mindy Pelz?

  Well, maybe they moved to your arms.

• 42:50Speaker 01

  Maybe it did, maybe it did, but I need to do some inner thigh work.

• 42:54Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah. Well, you need a thigh master. That would be quite easy to just bring on tour with you. You could do a whole skit around a thigh master.

• 43:02Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh, are they still making those?

• 43:04Mindy Pelz?

  I'm sure they are. I am sure they're out there somewhere, for sure.

• 43:08Speaker 01

  Oh, my Lord. Okay.

• 43:10Mindy Pelz?

  Bring, I see a whole skit coming on with the thigh master, 'cause it's a funny little piece of equipment, but it does work, the inner thighs. It really, Suzanne Somers was on to something.

• 43:20Speaker 01

  Okay, ordering, ordering today.

• 43:23Mindy Pelz?

  Excellent. Okay, next question. What truth feels harder to suppress now?

• 43:31Speaker 01

  Honey, I cannot fake peace anymore.

• 43:35Mindy Pelz?

  Hmm.

• 43:36Speaker 01

  I have, you know, I think as women, we make sure that everybody else is okay, and if anybody else is upset, we tamper it, you know, we make it, you know, and, um, I don't wanna fake peace anymore. I want real peace. And so when somebody says something to me that I don't like, normally I would've, okay, and I, you know, I'm a peacemaker and I like to diffuse and all that, but now, I, I feel like I have the guts and the strength to go, no, no, I'm not doing that. And that does not feel right to me, or I don't agree with you, I'm doing this. And that was very hard for me.

• 44:20Speaker 01

  And now I feel that is like my thing now. I'm not gonna fake peace anymore. I want real peace. I don't know how much time I've got left on this earth, honey. I want it to be peaceful.

• 44:32Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah.

• 44:33Speaker 01

  You know, you hear women say all their lives, I've heard it at the swimming pool, my kids had swim lessons, somebody'd say, I just want a condo and some peace. Now I finally get what they're saying, you know? It's, you only have one life to live. It needs to be peaceful, whatever that takes.

• 44:50Mindy Pelz?

  What was unpeaceful for you? Was it doing what everybody else wanted you to do?

• 44:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, and just, yeah, and not making decisions, like, feeling, you know, like I had to hand everything else over to other people, and, um, and, you know, Chuck Morgan is the, is, for me, as a Christian in the South, it's biblical, you know, for the man to lead and all that, and he's been wonderful at that, but I can lead alongside him, not behind him.

• 45:23Mindy Pelz?

  Hmm.

• 45:24Speaker 01

  Alongside him, you know, and that's what the Bible wanted us to do, and it says in the first two chapters of Genesis, I just didn't read it because.

• 45:33Mindy Pelz?

  You didn't think it was necessary?

• 45:35Speaker 01

  Dr. Mindy, and then it is, you're supposed to walk alongside and be a team. And I, um, so, yeah, if there's some things that Chuck will go, no, we're gonna do this, or whatever, I go, I, no, I, I want this, and, you know, but compromise, and not just mow over him, but I'm finding myself, um, more confident and more, um, and, and I've got an elderly daddy who is precious, but he's, he's gonna be eighty six. He's struggling, he was my mom's caregiver the last seven years. We do have caregivers for her too, but he wouldn't let them do anything.

• 46:14Speaker 01

  He had to do it. And he is, um, you know, it's, he, he knows he doesn't feel good, he's difficult sometimes to deal with, which we understand why, he's got a lot on him. But I find myself going, no, Daddy, we're gonna do this. You know, as a, as a daughter, you don't wanna disrespect your dad, but you're gonna have to start making decisions for him, you know? So my sister and I are dealing with that. So that kinda stuff, like, I'm gonna take charge, and I'm gonna, you know, and I'm not gonna just say, okay, and fake this peace, let's have real peace, you know, and.

• 46:49Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah. And that, you know, that was a large part of age like a girl too, was that the people pleasing neurons in the brain as estrogen goes down, they go away, and all of a sudden, you're speaking truths that you're like, oh, my God, is, am I gonna say this? Am I gonna say this? Okay, I'm gonna say this. And then you say your truth enough times, I can do this, this is what I'm in charge of, just like you said, and then it starts to become second nature. I think that's the beauty of being post-menopausal, for sure.

• 47:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's no telling what my sister has said at Mahjong.

• 47:27Speaker 01

  Honey, she went through it, and she didn't get on HR team, which I begged her to, and she had a doctor that did not believe in it. And, um, and she told everybody everything, honey, and I'd be like.

• 47:38Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah, right, I was, that's what I'm thinking.

• 47:40Speaker 01

  You're ripping everybody in your butthole bands, and maybe you need to pull back, but, but she still gets invited to Mahjong, so everything's okay, but.

• 47:47Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah. So true. You know, it's funny, when I was talking to a friend about the brain changes that happen when estrogen goes down and how we just start blurting things out, and my friend said, oh, yeah, because we were all drugged on estrogen, so we kept quiet. And then estrogen went away, the drug went away, and all of a sudden, we're like, hey, we gotta talk now, we have some things to say. But I was like, yeah, that, I was drugged on estrogen, wasn't I?

• 48:11Speaker 01

  Uh huh, that was a good time on that estrogen.

• 48:14Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah, it was a good time.

• 48:15Speaker 01

  That was a good time.

• 48:17Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah.

• 48:17Speaker 01

  We didn't know how good we had it, did we?

• 48:19Mindy Pelz?

  And we did it. And then you can't, I mean, you can rub all the creams you want on you, but it's just not the same as your own coming out. Yeah.

• 48:26Speaker 01

  I don't know if I'm absorbing this or not.

• 48:28Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah, exactly, exactly. Okay, next question. Uh, this one, I think, is gonna be really interesting for you. Where in your life are you feeling instinctive pull towards slowing down solitude or simplicity?

• 48:45Speaker 01

  Okay, when I think of that, I, I'm loving what I'm doing, and I'm busy, and it's crazy, and it's fun, but I am making more time to be with my grandchildren. And, 'cause they are three and a half and five, and they are yummy, and they live ten minutes from me, and so I have told my team, I need more time at home. I've been going like a banshee, honey, for, since that this blew up before COVID. And I, it has been nonstop. And I, and I still wanna work, and I'm still, you know, doing touring and all that, and I hope I get a third season. And I love doing movies, I love doing parts in comedies, but I'm gonna take more time, big

• 49:30Speaker 01

  chunks of time, and prioritize my family. Because these babies, honey, are growing up, and then my girls will marry, and they'll have babies, and I wanna be there for that. And, um, and this has been such a blessing for this to, to blow up at the time it did, 'cause my children were grown and they didn't need me like they did. And when I had television deals in my forties, and young forties, when they were in elementary school and sixth grade, when I look back and think, if I'd, if that had made it, I, I could not have raised them and had this pressure and learned all this, and shoot and block and be on set and all that. So, um, this was the best time, and that this happened to me when it did. And, and I wanna go,

• 50:15Speaker 01

  I wanna be Betty White, that's who I wanna be, I wanna be Betty White, funny movie.

• 50:19Mindy Pelz?

  You have like a, you have like a guru, that, like, a mentor.

• 50:22Speaker 01

  Yeah. Yeah, and so I can still do this, but I can have family time too, and that's what I wanna prioritize. 'Cause I missed a lot in the last few years. This has been wonderful, but I miss, and my friends, I've missed my friends. We always go out for somebody's birthday lunch and bring a candle, or, you know, or a little tea towel and a little gift, and I've missed that. So I would like to do more of that.

• 50:46Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah, I could, it's like a trade off, right? You got this amazing life, and, but there is a moment you get to decide how to integrate it all, is what I'm hearing.

• 50:54Speaker 01

  Yes, and I now know that I can say, no, and I'm gonna do this, and I've got a wonderful team, and they, they want me to have, they know, and they're really good to me about it.

• 51:06Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah. Okay, next question. This is under what lights you up. What kind of impact matters more to you now than income?

• 51:18Speaker 01

  Well.

• 51:22Speaker 01

  Okay, let me think about that because I do think about what I say and what the material that I do, what I wanna say. And I do want it to be, of course, funny first, but I want it to be, um, loving. I'm not a, you know, I'm not political and I, and I don't, you know, roast anybody or anything. And I know there's a place for all that and that's great and wonderful. But that's just not who I am and I like to bring people together.

• 51:54Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah, you do do that.

• 51:56Speaker 01

  Thank you. And what is so precious is I have, I have more women come up to me and go, my ninety year old Diane loves you, my eighty year old Diane loves you, my eight year old loves you. And so it's sweet that, like the television series, laying in like a whole family can sit down and watch it and we don't have a lot of that. You know, today.

• 52:14Mindy Pelz?

  So true.

• 52:15Speaker 01

  And so I think that's the impact I wanna make. I wanna be able to provide that kind of entertainment that is, um, funny and gives people a break. And whether that's in stand up or, or the series, I think that's important right now because the world feels like it's on fire. And everybody has to hear horrible things all the time on social media. And I think we need a, a break from that. I think it's ruining people's mental health. And I think we all need to get outside and hike and then watch a fun show and laugh. I do think laughter is medicine. So that's the impact I would like to make.

• 52:51Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah, well, you're doing it and, and you're, I would say that your, your style is inviting, not polarizing. And it, it gives you, again, I'm gonna go back to what I said in the, it before is it gives you an opportunity to laugh at yourself and laugh at each other. And I think as opposed to some more caustic comedians that, you know, are funny, but they leave you in a little bit of discontent and agitation. I never feel that when I'm watching you. So, uh, yeah. And you know, I used to watch Golden Girls with my grandma all the time.

• 53:26Speaker 01

  Was that not a wonderful show, honey?

• 53:29Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah.

• 53:29Speaker 01

  And people watch it all the time now. People love it.

• 53:32Mindy Pelz?

  Oh, they, on reruns. Interesting. Yeah. So Betty White nailed it. So.

• 53:36Speaker 01

  Nailed it, honey. All of them. Weren't they all wonderful? And they were in their fifties. They looked a hundred, but they were in their fifties. Little Sophia. Was she not a doll?

• 53:47Mindy Pelz?

  They were in their fifties when they started that show.

• 53:52Mindy Pelz?

  Huh? And how long did the show go?

• 53:54Speaker 01

  You know, I don't know, but I mean, a long time, but I, I don't know that. But I, people talk, bring that up in interviews that they were, you know, like fifty.

• 54:03Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah.

• 54:04Speaker 01

  And they, and, but they made them look, you know, so much older and you just don't think, and now, I remember my little grandmama who was farming people and she could wring a chicken's neck and then fry it, oh, pluck it, fry it right in front of us. And, um, straw, I mean, just strong, short, round, cook three meals a day for field hands and all of that. But I remember her just always looking so much older. And then now you see somebody sixty, seventy, and they look like movie stars. I mean, everybody, you know, we're younger, younger feeling, wanting, you know, to be vibrant.

• 54:43Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah, it's a new world. It's a different, we're not in the Golden Girls era for sure. Yeah. Okay, next question. What abilities have you accumulated post-menopausally that you are excited about? Like what qualities do you feel like you have now that you didn't have in your younger years that really excites you about this stage of life?

• 55:04Speaker 01

  Um, I, I think I am, I know that I am so much more confident.

• 55:09Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah.

• 55:10Speaker 01

  I'm so much more confident and I know that I am smart. I mean, I, you know, I was not the best in school. I mean, I did fine. But I just never thought of myself as, oh, my gosh, like, I think I'm good at business. Well, I know I am. I, I, when the, the instincts that I've had in this comedy industry. And I, and it was after menop-, it was going through menopause and after menopause that I made the decision to get the social media people. I, I saw that people were not watching television, listen to the radio as much, the newspaper, and I, I made the decision,

• 55:50Speaker 01

  I'm getting social media people. What are these people doing that's so successful? They've got social media people. So I'm gonna do the same thing. I feel like, um, um, without, I don't mean to sound arrogant, like I couldn't do what you're doing. Honey, I couldn't go and be a doctor. I couldn't do that. But, but I am, um, I realize that I am smart, that I trust myself. Uh, um, I feel very competent and I feel very confident. I, you know, I really do.

• 56:18Mindy Pelz?

  Me too.

• 56:19Speaker 01

  And I hope everybody feels that way, you know?

• 56:21Mindy Pelz?

  I think that's the benefit of menopause that isn't talked about enough is you get to the other side and all of a sudden you don't care, you're confident, you, you, I feel the same thing. I'm like, I could learn anything that I wanted to learn. I, I just, if I put my mind to it, I could do it. Oh, my God, my twenty year old self did not think that at all.

• 56:40Speaker 01

  Mine didn't either. Mine didn't either. That's why I wanna, when I, when they ask me, I wanna cry for her. Because I, and she didn't know what she had, you know? It's probably a good thing I didn't know what I had, honey, because I was, you know, and I was at a club in the eighties. Um, but yeah, I, I believe that. And I also think that we find those relationships that are important that people that love you and lift you up and they don't suck the life out of you. I don't know what it was in my forties, but I was around a bunch of ding dongs, honey.

• 57:13Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah.

• 57:13Speaker 01

  And people that really didn't care, you know, and we're not gonna invite her or her kids are not coming, but my kid. All that, miss, I don't have any of that, honey. I got rid of all that.

• 57:26Mindy Pelz?

  So I'll be fifty seven next month and I have several friends that are in their forties. And they will say, they will tell me situations and I'm like, oh, you'll, you'll get over that. Like, like it seems like a big deal. You're just gonna get over that. It's so ridiculous. I think the forties are about reassessing your, who you wanna hang out with because the drama gets high.

• 57:48Speaker 01

  The drama gets hot. Everybody's in perimenopause and it's like middle school. And it's awful. And I write about that in my book. Uh, there's a chapter in What in the World? And there's a chapter about a heartbreak of a friendship that I thought was real and it wasn't. And it was, and it, and it was based on really my husband's, uh, her husband worked with my husband and it was political and, and things that I had no idea. And boy, was that a blessing when that ended. It, it broke my heart at the time, but oh, my gosh, then I found the friends that really cared about me and my kids and Chuck and, um, what a blessing that was. I shared all that.

• 58:31Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah, agreed. So this podcast is called Live Like a Girl because I wanna make like a girl like a power statement, not a derogatory one. So what does it mean to you to live like a girl?

• 58:46Speaker 01

  Honey, I just, I really am coming into this and I think about it all the time. Boy, are we strong.

• 58:52Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah, we are.

• 58:53Speaker 01

  When you think about that, that you have kept peace for everybody, you have made sure everybody was fed. You have made sure that everybody got educated. You did all these things. You birthed, you breastfed. You, you did all this out of your body. And then you, you know, take care of everybody and then you go through the change. And you make it through that and then you become better and smarter than you've ever come in. Man, aren't we something? Aren't women something?

• 59:26Mindy Pelz?

  Yep, agreed. Absolutely agree. That's exa-, I'm like, if you, if, I always say to my following, if you could go inside my head and see how I see the female body and brain, you would never doubt yourself again. We are, we just need to accept it and step into it. And we, we should be ruling the world personally, I think. So it's, yeah, spot on.

• 59:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, and I, and I have a son and grandsons and I love men and we need men and they're strong in their way. But we're strong in our way. And I'm just realizing it's a miracle, really, what we do and what we can do.

• 1:00:08Speaker 01

  And that we get to give birth, you know, and, and nurse. And, and then, you know, I, and I, yeah, I went through perimenopause and it was rough, but I did it.

• 1:00:18Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:19Speaker 01

  And I, you know, and I'm okay. I feel good. I can still go and do and, you know, and I want to take care of myself. I want to go into my eighties and my seventies and eighties feeling good and active and learning and engaging. I want that for everybody.

• 1:00:35Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah, agreed. Amen, sister. Well, you, you have to know that we are cheering you on. We are laughing with you. We are so grateful for you. How long's the tour go?

• 1:00:46Speaker 01

  Thank you, my darling, you angel.

• 1:00:48Mindy Pelz?

  No, you're just, yeah, how do we go see you live and be in your, your humor?

• 1:00:54Speaker 01

  Um, leannemorgan.com is my website where women and men can click on, that goes to the right and not these third-party

• 1:01:04Mindy Pelz?

  Oh.

• 1:01:05Speaker 01

  weird things, because that's really a, a problem.

• 1:01:08Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:08Speaker 01

  And so leannemorgan.com. I'm touring right now through December and they're about to announce all of 2027 dates. When we find out if I do a third season of Leanne's, because I got a chunk out that time and film in January to April, but I don't know if I've got a third season yet. I'll find out in a couple of weeks, but I will, um, tour for sure, all over the United States and Canada. I need to do a European one, but I don't have time right now, but they want me over there. I'm big in Australia and UK, honey. Who would have thought that? And then, um, uh, I'll shoot a third special for Netflix at the end of this tour. And it's a hundred and twenty, it's about a hundred and twenty cities, but they're

• 1:01:52Speaker 01

  adding shows. So I don't know what it's going to end up, 150, 160 shows. And, and I, and it, yeah, and it's crazy. And it's in, uh, theaters and small arenas and some big arenas.

• 1:02:05Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:06Speaker 01

  And we're having a ball. And I call it the time of our lives tour, because I feel like this is the time of our life, honey, is now. And, and let's have a good time, is what I say.

• 1:02:18Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah. Amazing. Well, again, know that we're cheering you on. Know that we're laughing with you. And thank you so much for what you're bringing forward to all women. I mean, really, you are inspiring women to get off the couch, get out of the doubt, and to step into their brilliance, just like you have. So appreciate you.

• 1:02:35Speaker 01

  Thank you, my darling. You doll, that pretty smile. Thank you.

• 1:02:39Mindy Pelz?

  Thank you.

• 1:02:39Speaker 01

  You, honey, you don't know what all you do for us. Thank you for everything you do. Because you give so much information and it, and we need it.

• 1:02:49Mindy Pelz?

  Yeah, thank you.

• 1:02:50Speaker 01

  Somebody's got to tell us.

• 1:02:51Mindy Pelz?

  Thank you. It's my, it's what I feel like I'm in my purpose. So, you know, it's the same thing. We're doing the same work, just from different angles.

• 1:02:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:03:00Mindy Pelz?

  So, amazing. Thank you so much for joining me in today's episode. I love bringing thoughtful discussions about all things health to you. If you enjoyed it, we'd love to know about it. So please leave us a review, share it with your friends, and let me know what your biggest takeaway is.

• 1:03:25Mindy Pelz?

  When I was a little girl, a boy told me that girls don't surf. And unfortunately, I believed him. Now I'm in my 50s, in the middle of writing a book about menopause, about what happens to our brains and our bodies as our hormones shift. And I picked up a surfboard and something miraculous happened out there in the water that I did not expect. I felt calm, genuinely deeply calm, in a season of my life that hadn't felt anything but calm. And then I realized, this is what the book, Age Like a Girl, is actually about. This is what menopause is actually offering us, if we're willing to receive

• 1:04:10Mindy Pelz?

  it. A chance to go back and find the little girl we left behind. And to say to her, I'm coming back to you. That's what Age Like a Girl is about. Yes, there's science in it. The neuroscience of what's actually happening in your brain during this transition is genuinely stunning, and I can't wait for you to read it. This book is an opportunity to finally ask yourself what you want and how you want to live. And maybe this is a question that you're asking yourself for the first time. Age Like a Girl is available now at drmindypelz.com/books. And no, it is literally a piece of my heart. It is my vision for women as we age. I hope

• 1:04:55Mindy Pelz?

  you enjoy the book. And again, drmindypelz.com/books. You'll find Age Like a Girl there.