BOBBY SHARES, SILLY BANDZ AND JANETTE SPEAKS RUSSIAN
This morning Pete was munching on pizza for breakfast (my kind of breakfast! I'd take pizza over pancakes any day). Rosie asked the crew what they were doing for Mother's Day. Bobby isn't going to Florida this weekend because soon he's going to go to celebrate with his parents on their 50th wedding anniversary! He talked to Rosie about how he recently took a trip home to help them fix up their house. He bought his mom a new living room set, his sisters and brother replaced their floors and painted for them. Awww, what great kids! Bobby called his mom an "organized hoarder." He said she's a collector but knows where everything is. Pete's grandparents have also been married for over 50 years! Bobby's dad has had two strokes and two heart attacks which have taken a toll on him so he's slowed down a bit over the years. Bobby said it's weird to see his parents get older.
Mother's Day used to be hard for Rosie until she had kids. Since having her own kids it has completely changed the sentiment of the day. Mother's Day has always been hard for Janette, too. Her teacher was unusually heartless about Janette and her sister not having a mother around this time of year. Rosie said her only plans are to hang out with all the "twerps" and all of Tracy's "twerps." She asked what the weather was going to be like in the area. She said that the pool is open and even if it's in the 60's her kids will still swim. They have a heated pool and sometimes her kids complain because the hot tub isn't hot enough! She joked about her spoiled children and their "problems." She said usually the kids give her something handmade for Mother's Day. She tells them not to buy her anything. Rosie joked that Vivi will probably give her some of her Silly Bandz because she got Kelli and Ro to buy her a bunch.
Someone, I believe it was Pete, said that Silly Bandz have been banned on Long Island because they're worried children are going to shoot them into someone's eye and because they're distracting. They talked about the wonders of Silly Bandz and how they retain their shape. Janette said she is going to give them to kids when she goes to third world countries because they will pack well and she knows the kids will love them. Rosie said when she was a kid she always dreamed of going to Russia and bring them Levis, calculators and bubble gum. Janette then started speaking in Russian to everyone's surprise! Janette took Russian in high school! She also dated a Russian political refugee once during her "International phase." She said it didn't last long though because the man was very possessive of her and once told her her skirt was too short. She decided she wasn't going to see him anymore so she "did" him. LOL Rosie asked Janette if she ever had guilt over her promiscuity? Janette said "no, none whatsoever." She said sex was empowering for her because she had been ridiculed always for her looks. She speculated as to whether or not that is why MMFC resonates with her. She said many of the cases are cleft lips and cleft palates and the patients in need are often so ridiculed for their looks, as she was.
COMMENTS FROM THE STREETS, LIVING WITH TEENAGERS AND COUCH TO 5K
Janette said that sometimes people still call her fat in the street though it doesn't hurt her anymore. Rosie was shocked by this. Shoshana said homeless people will often yell at her roommate and call her ugly and she's not ugly! Shoshana always gets "nice smile" from strangers on the street. She wishes people would mind their own business. Pete's wife continues to get cat calls from construction sites even while pregnant.
Rosie said that in her twenties she's been yelled at to "get a tan!" Someone once told her to "put on a goddamn bra" (when she was wearing one) and someone once said to her "look at those dykes" when she was walking with her girlfriend. She wondered how they knew she was gay. It shocks her that it's still happening to Janette because she's not a kid anymore, she's a woman. Bobby said to consider the source and who would make those types of uninvited comments. Janette said she still gets seats on the subway for being pregnant and she takes them. Rosie thinks her clothing might be part of the problem because she wears very flowy things and "they could look maternity-ish." Pete suggested that all the people on the subway giving up their seats to her might just be fans! Or that it's because she's a woman and they're being chivalrous. Janette said she will walk by a complete stranger and compliment her outfit if she totally loves it. Rosie told Janette she's weird because she's so into clothes.
Rosie said that she used to love the song Fireflies by Owl City but lately it's been giving her a headache. She said it's hard to find a radio station with kids. She said they are always fighting over changing the station because one of them inevitably hates the song that is playing. She said their family TV night has been reduced to Chelsea telling everyone to shut up. She said the whole TV hour is just Chelsea yelling shut up every time Blake or Vivi ask a question during a program. Then Rosie tells Chelsea to shut up and Chelsea stomps out of the room. Sounds like a teenager. Janette complimented Chelsea and said what a stunning young woman she is. Rosie agreed that she is beautiful and still so young - too young to even realize when men are being inappropriate.
Shoshana and Pete are going to run after the show today. She said they are doing the Couch to 5K program. Pete sounded less than thrilled. Shoshana said it is a 9 week program that allows you to alternate walking and running that incrementally gets harder. Rosie's never run but said that Rachael Ray recommended that to her too. Rachael has worked up to it and now runs 5 miles a day and says she feels so much better.
CHELY WRIGHT
Chely's latest CD Lifted Off The Ground was just released on May 4th! Rosie announced to the audience that Chely has an announcement that she is coming out! Rosie said she read Chely's book Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer and she called it "very honest" and "very touching." Chely said she always knew she was different as a young child and would ask God every night to make her not gay. She said she didn't have the word "gay" in her vocabulary, she had the word homosexual. The word homosexual was always strung together with the words of evil doing and not something someone would choose to be. So she would walk out into a horse pasture and pray to God out loud thinking the prayer might be even stronger if she said it out loud. Rosie remembered the first time she said "I am gay" for the first time in the car alone with the windows rolled up. She said she said it to herself out loud so she could feel what it felt like to say the words out loud. Chely talked with Rosie about her own self-loathing because of being gay and how it nearly killed her.
Chely also always knew she wanted to be a singer. She said she knew at the age of 4 and its all she's ever wanted to do. She knew for certain that this was her life goal. Rosie said she knew that too and they talked about the similarities about how they both knew what they were going to be at a very young age. Chely said she has looked back at her yearbook and almost everyone wrote how they can't wait to buy your records someday. Or, "I better get free tickets to your show!"
Chely said that God has been whispering in her ear to come out. Rosie asked how homosexuality is viewed in Nashville. They talked about how there has never really been a country artist who came out. But Chely said going by statistics, one out of every 10 people are gay, you have to figure she's not the only one in country music out there who is gay.
Chely started dating a woman at 19 years old. It was a short relationship and then she "totally freaked out" and then she fell in love with a woman named Julia when she was making her first record. Chely told Rosie how it was hard for her to write about her mistakes she's made in her life. She said she has reeked havoc on herself and on others in her hiding about her sexuality. She said that when you hide you damage people and she wrote the book so that she could share her truth.
Rosie and Chely then talked about her suicide attempt that she so bravely shares with readers in her book. Chely wrote in the book how she was once at the point when she would have rather have chosen death than be gay and live her truth. Chely said that she used to judge people who committed suicide and think that they were Godless and not strong - and then she found herself in that spot. When she had a problem her mother gave her the intellect to find solutions. Eventually, she had so masterfully painted herself into a corner with her lie that she couldn't figure out a solution. Rosie totally related to Chely's dilemma because she wasn't out when she began The Rosie O'Donnell Show either. However, she thought everyone already knew she was gay because she more easily fits the traditional stereotype of a gay woman. She thinks people were more shocked that she had lied to them through omission, not that she was gay. Chely said that because she LOOKS straight and men think she's straight it was another obstacle she had to get over. Chely said when she had lost her girlfriend and couldn't figure out how to make it work, she contemplated suicide. She put the gun in her mouth (the gun her dad had bought for her after being mugged) and she looked in the mirror at herself and everything flashed through her mind. She started to cry. Julia went through her mind, her family and sunshine and the thought of music. And she heard a pounding and it was her heart pounding in her chest and she saw herself crying in her reflection. She put the gun on the mantle of the fireplace and she thought "Tonight, I won't do it." And the next day, she got on her knees and she prayed out loud. She told God "I'm not praying for a miracle or how to get trough this. And if I lose my career I don't care. I just need one moments peace." And she went out in her pajamas and she rode her bicycle and she felt alive. She rode 13 miles in the snow and she had peace.
In the early months of 2006 the songs that came to her and that bike saved her life. She has also found that when she gave into her truth, everything started to get magical. She surrendered. Rosie asked Chely's sister what that would have done to her and her children if their Aunt had committed suicide.
Rosie said that she too struggled with thoughts of suicide at one point in her life and what kept her alive were the faces of her niece's (she had no children of her own at the time) and she thought "I cannot let them live with knowing they had an Aunt that killed herself." Rosie had an Aunt that tried to kill herself many times and eventually did. Rosie said it is interesting how grace arrives to save you when you least expect it.
Chely hasn't told her mom that she is gay personally but she and her mom aren't that close. She's also not sure she'll be supportive. Chely said she loves her mother very much and she'll either come to peace with it or she won't. Rosie stressed how she has to give her mom a little time too, just like it took her time to face that she is gay. Rosie proposed that this could be the thing that brings them together. Chely said she has to allow for that and she probably doesn't give her mom enough credit. Rosie said that Kelli thought her parents would never be accepting of her and now they can't get them to leave!
Rosie asked Chely if she was fearful of what people in the music industry's response is going to be and Chely said she's very afraid of what will happen to her career. She said there have been rumors about her being lesbian for a long time. She said the whisper of her homosexuality has been controlled in Nashville but she has decided she will no longer allow who she is to be a whisper. She said it's important for her to speak her own truth. She hopes the book will help someone in the end who is also struggling accepting themselves.
Rosie told Chely to try not to ingest all the the negativity that may come with her coming out because there is so much positivity in the reasons that she is doing this. She said the truth is the objective for all humanity. Chely said that she has no room in her heart for anything negative. She said her latest record Lifted Off the Ground is the best record she ever made because it's made in truth. Her life is magical now because it's true.
Chely dated country singer Brad Paisley at one point but broke things off with him because she knew she was gay. She said she wants love in her life. Rosie said she got an advanced copy of her book weeks ago and felt such anxiety because she was holding this big secret and didn't want to let it slip out by accident! She said it was so stressful for her. Chely now lives in Chelsea, New York "at the corner or gay and gayer." Rosie thanked Chely for coming in and telling her story and offered to introduce her to some of her lesbian friends!! It was a truly fantastic interview. I love Chely!
Broken by Chely Wright
NIKKI YANOFSKY
Rosie then introduced Nikki Yanofsky who is a 16 year old Canadian jazz-pop singer from Hampstead, Quebec. She and her mother were in the studio to have a chat with Rosie. Nikki has been singing all her life and started performing in shows at age 11. She co-writes her music now and talked to Rosie about her influences. Nikki speaks French but her first language is English. Rosie then started speaking French to Nikki but it sounded more like Pepe Le Pew than French! Nikki started her career singing at charity concerts and has helped in raising over 10 million dollars for various charities that she is passionate about! Nikki was discovered when she was asked to perform with someone's band in a Montreal talent showcase when she was 12 years old and Andre Bernard was there who runs the Montreal Jazz Fest. He asked her to perform at his festival! Nikki also recently sang at the Olympics! (see below)
Nikki Yanofsky at the Olympics
There were about 3.2 billion people watching the opening ceremonies and Nikki said for the first time she was nervous. She said she never gets nervous, but that time she was. Nikki's parents have been married for 24 years and have 3 children. Nikki's father is a musician by passion but in the toy business by profession. Nikki's mom was a stay at home mom but now she's hanging out with Nikki on tour. Rosie told Nikki's mom that she seems like a good mom and she does not get the "Dina Lohan vibe" from her (in reference to Lindsay Lohan's mom). Rosie told Nikki her voice is astounding and Nikki said that she hopes to touch people the way that music has touched her. Rosie said that she feels the same and she can't sing, not that it stops her! LOLRosie asked Nikki if she has a fanclub because she wanted to join and Nikki said that she does have a Facebook page and she does Twitter. Rosie told Nikki she doesn't get Twitter but said she will be keeping an eye on her so make sure she doesn't hear that she's doing anything bad (like some young celebrities) or she's going to come take away her phone and she'll be grounded from texting! LOL Rosie, always the mom.
Rosie ended the interview telling Nikki that she knows she's going to be a BIG star. Nikki's latest album Nikki is in stores now!
Nikki and her band performed the song "For Another Day" live in the studio.
It made me cry it was so beautiful!
It made me cry it was so beautiful!
CALLERS
Rosie chatted it up with a caller about several things like Little League, Mother's Day, the Lohans and Long Island.
She then spoke to another caller about the gender of her squirrel Shady and Elisabeth Hasselbeck and whether or not she's naive. Rosie talked a little about how The View worked in the mornings before the shows. She said they would have a meeting and they would talk about what each person's opinions were about topics in the news. She said Bill Geddie and Barbara Walters would then choose which topics they would choose for the show that day. Rosie said before the year she hosted they never really talked about politics. Once they did switch to more serious topics she said the show was much more successful in the ratings. Rosie said that Bill gives Elisabeth "a little private meeting" every day to tell her her talking points. And obviously, she follows his advice.
Rosie closed the show.
and that's what you missed - kw
Posts
Fantastic recap, Kelly! Not sure if you got to hear The After Ro Show yesterday, but Phillis and I had almost the exact same conversation about Elisabeth. It was kind of freaky! LOL
ReplyDelete: ) P
thanks, kw- xo
ReplyDelete