Welcome, welcome, welcome to armchair expert I'm Dan Shepherd, I'm joined by Major Mouse, Major Mac. Yeah. Welcome home. Made your mom. I'm home. I missed home. We missed you terribly.

It was really nice. So nice to be home.

I felt guilty about leaving my parents this morning.

Oh, you did so good. You felt guilty for being away from us and then guilty. Yeah, that's the dream. Lose, lose. That's the goal.

I got to tell you something. I've loved Robin Thicke music big time. Yeah.

But I also think I had an opinion of him and I don't know what it was really based on, but I found him to be incredibly humble and honest and I really enjoyed this.

I did, too. And I thought the exact same thing. I kind of had some preconceived notions preconceived that were not right and previously conceived notions.

Yeah, I'm really glad we got to talk to him. And those were shattered. Yes. Yes. And of course, Robin Thicke is a singer songwriter, record producer, dancer, musician and an actor. He has collaborated with numerous artists such as Nicki Minaj, Christina Aguilera, Pharrell, Usher, Jennifer Hudson, Brandi, Mary J.

Bly's and more. He's also on Masked Singer.

That's right, FOX. Yeah, but most importantly, he's here because he has a new album out called On Earth and in Heaven.

So please enjoy Robin Thicke. We are supported by Figgs. Now Figgs celebrates the one hundred percent awesome health care professionals by making scrubs they actually feel excited about wearing. It is so bizarre that I would be able to personally attest to a pair of scrubs. It is strange.

Tell people the story. Molly and I, we are a spade's team. Yeah. And we started calling ourselves the Spayd Surgeons and then some Figgs scrubs were purchased to look the part when we play.

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We are supported by a liquid death. Oh my goodness. What a wonderful solution to the plastic bottle problem.

Yes, and I love it because it's very cool looking. It does.

It feels like you're going to crack open a tallboy of beer, which I love about it.

When I talk to these guys, they tell me a really funny story where a kid was drinking liquid death on Zoome and the teacher thought he was drinking Pouncer.

Oh, boy. Yeah, well, it's actually mountain springwater and it's absolutely delicious.

Look, you may even start noticing there are strange tallboys of beer in bottled water sections in your local stores. And it's a beer. It is mountain spring water. You may ask yourself, Monaca, why is it called liquid death?

Well, that's because it will brutally murder your thirst and they're infinitely recyclable. Tallboy cans are helping to bring death to plastic bottles. I love it. They also donate 10 percent of the profits from every canned sold to help kill plastic pollution.

Well, listen, it's completely delicious, but if I'm being honest, I just love grabbing a tallboy out of the fridge and chug, chug, chug in it.

I love them. I'm completely into it. But bioplastic. Hello, delicious and refreshing. Liquid death. Liquid death is available at 7-Eleven nationwide. So go to your local 7-Eleven to pick up some cans. He's an outrageous.

Oh, there we go. I'm glad you're going without Buddz and going proper. Well, you know, I'm in my studio, so this works out. Yeah, you might be shocked, though. Some of the musicians we interview and they've got the shittiest setup imaginable for this happened.

What happened?

Where are you at? Are you in L.A.? I'm at home. I'm in Malibu at our rental. We lost our house in the fires, so we were still renting and rebuilding.

I read that. Yeah, awful. Were you, like, away at a hotel? No, no.

We were there that morning. You know, my son was getting ready for school and my lady was keeping track of it through the night and in the morning. The smoke was so bad in the air. I was like, we're not going to school. We're going to go to your parents house. So we started packing. Anyway, about an hour later, we were told that it was a mandatory evacuation. So that's when we started to pack everything we could fit into two cars.

Oh, my gosh, I had a false alarm once where my neighborhood was evacuated. Yeah, it's a weird question to ask yourself, like, what am I going to take out of here?

Well, I was lucky because my father had having passed away, I had gathered many of his photo albums. So it was on my mind. And so I made sure I got my computer, which has all my music. I packed the computer, packed a few guitars, got my dad's photo albums. I told my son I was like back up as much as you can.

He got like a pair of underwear from his favorite pair. Yeah, he is a minimalist. Yeah.

He was like it was a weekend getaway is what he planned for. But no, but, you know, it was tragic.

And in its forms, as you were driving away, did you had a sense like it was going to happen or what would you have given the odds at that point?

At that point, I was still 80, 20 that it wasn't going to happen. I mean, I'm an optimist by nature, so I just believe, no, this can't be happening. It's not going to it's not going to come all the way over here to us. But when we saw from the satellite image, it was literally a beeline from where it started. The wind just took it straight to our neighborhood and crushed our neighborhood. Oh, how long had you lived there?

We had lived there three years, you know, but I mean, we had just had our daughter, Mia. I had moved from the Hollywood Hills with a third of an acre with a great view, you know, the bachelor pad. And I moved out to an acre and a half in Malibu overlooking the ocean. So it was like, this is our dream family home. Yeah. But, you know, luckily the property's in good shape and we just broke ground.

Finally, after years of planning, we just broke ground. And so there's there's a new positive, hopeful energy. Yeah, we'll have a home again someday.

And I'm sure people listening in like the Midwest are going, why would you rebuild there when there's a fire every half hour in Malibu?

It is rather questionable just but I guess just like anything when you have the memories that we started there and my fiancee and I fell in love there, that was our it was our home. And it's just great for kids. Like, it's just a beautiful property for kids. So we're going to rebuild and build fire safety codes and just hope for the best when I'm two years older than you.

So we're roughly in all the same stuff. But I don't know. Do you remember when Madonna and Sean Penn's house burnt down and roughly and then he just put an Airstream on the property and just lived in an Airstream?

Yeah. Forward. Oh, yeah. Wait, a pivot. Very pan.

That would be great. And we would save a lot of money. But it's I have four kids.

That's just not we don't think you can do it in a Airstream, not by choice.

I was there anything you wish you had taken that you didn't.

The irony of it was that we have a carport sitting out where we put our cars. A carport was untouched.

I could have put every oh everything, everything in the house I could have put under the carport and would have survived.

But no, the one thing that obviously I missed was my piano. I had had this piano for twenty years. I had all of my songs on that piano. So that hurt. Yeah.

What did you have, like a superstitious panic like? Oh, I will never create again because I don't have that.

Oh, no, I need the money. So I have to create, you know, the luxury to not create. No, there's no luxury to pout. That's pretty good.

I think when we meet people out here that are from L.A., it's always interesting to us because we obviously looked at it from the outside Monacan it land on me in Detroit and it was such a mythical kind of place. And then so to have grown up here, not just grown up here, but as close to you could as being a character on nine. On two.

No, I mean, you are. Set, were you? Oh, yeah, I was close friends with Brian Austin Green. You guys had a hip hop group?

Yeah, we were for like a month. We had a summer. We had a hip hop. He was going to be a rapper. I was going to be Michael Jackson. And so we we did a song together in a Growing Pains episode. And that was the end of our our career together. Yeah.

So obviously, most people know your dad was Alan Thicke. I think you and I share a lot of things that we're going to ultimately cover. But definitely one is I lost my dad as well. From what little I know about your dad, sounds like there was a little bit similar in that my dad, he was a player. He was 300 pounds and bald.

But he he he had charm. He he drove a Corvette and he had charm.

And he spent most of his waking hours dedicated to cohabitate even with girls.

But and then they were divorced at seven, I guess.

Yes. My mother and father were divorced at seven years when I was seven. Who did you live with. It was a 50 50 split down the middle. Yep, I would go. Luckily, both my parents lived about 15 minutes away from each other and school was in between. Yeah, it was rather convenient to be able to go back and forth per week.

Did you prefer to be at one or the other? Well, my dad's house, of course, was looser and he was gone on the weekends. So once I hit 13, 14, that was the place to be.

Now, is this I've been saying this word. I want to get it right this time. Is it apocryphal that there was a hot tub in your father's bedroom?

There was a hot tub in a few rooms? Oh.

Oh, that's right. It was. He had a gym that also had a sunken in tub with the fountain in the gym. So, Dad, you know, he was a family man in every sense, but he did have a few years there when Growing Pains was at its height. And after he got divorced, there was a window there.

There's such tasty irony who he was playing on growing pains. Yeah. Yeah. It makes me kind of think of full house.

Yes, exactly. Yeah. Bob Saget, the Bob Saget of it all.

Yeah. But I wouldn't want to distort it. It was a period, not a lifestyle that forever, you know, he just was handsome and charming and he loved going out to all of the golf tournaments, tennis tournaments, every hockey game, every basketball. He just loved Hollywood and everything it had to offer.

He had come from Canada, so he's like me. This place was like land of unicorns. Proud.

Yeah, it was like John Wayne and that's what he wanted to be. I realized after he passed, I started watching John Wayne movies for some reason and I realized that that's what my father was doing the whole time. You're doing drugs good.

Head on down the OK Corral and have a little. Yeah, I realize my dad was just doing his version of John Wayne the whole time.

Well, aren't we all doing we're trying to do a version of somebody and then it just goes through our filter and it ends up being something novel and unique. Exactly.

Then we find ourselves through mimicking others that we admire. Yeah.

Yeah. Like you're giving it your best shot to be that thing. But then you cannot help but infect it with your fingerprint, which becomes your thing. Exactly.

Now growing up around all that, I know you acted a bit in that you were on Wonder Years, which is so exciting.

If I was a kid who got to be on Wonder Years, this is the best job it gave me this morning.

What wonder years. Wonder years like. Very nostalgic, huh?

Was that one of your favorites? Monica when I'm trying to see I feel like you're hinting around that this was your sexual awakening. No.

Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no, it wasn't.

There was something about the wonder years. It was a little before my time. So it would pop up and it made me feel like kind of yucky. Oh, wow.

Oh, this is exciting. This is a horrible time to bring it up on it.

But there was something about it that gave me the feeling that I have now named the feeling. And it's not a very good feeling.

Do you think it's that it was too mature? I think there was something about it that was at that time for me, too earnest or something. Oh, who did you play on Wonder Years?

I asked a girl to go steady in the hallway and that made Fred Savage's character want to ask another girl to go steady.

You know, you're a Catalyst's. Yeah.

And obviously I assume you would go see your dad on set and your mom on set.

I lived on the Growing Pains set. Yeah. Luckily, my father lived five minutes from me. I'd come home from school, hop on my bike, ride my bike to set, and then I would ride my bike around the set. I'd ride in the Old West town like, you know, the security, the security would come in, like, tell me to stop. I'd be. Passed the Chevy Chase Christmas vacation house, passed the karate kids house them Pat Merida's house on the lot.

So I did live a very interesting childhood being on those sets.

Well, in the best part is it sounds like you had the presence of mind to enjoy it.

Oh, man, I was having a blast. Well, that's the thing. Like, my brother and I were a little different that way. My brother shied away from my father's success. It made him uncomfortable, maybe in some way where me I embraced it as an opportunity to do stuff, you know. Yeah. Be around fun people.

So when you would do these acting roles at that point or you set on becoming an actor?

No, I just got some opportunities. But it wasn't my home. Music was what I wanted to do for for sure. Like from what age? From around 10, 11 years old. When I was 11, I taught myself to play piano and I started writing my own songs. And by the time I was 16, I had a recording contract. I was placing songs as a writer and a producer. You know, I got off and running pretty early.

Yeah.

And so the high school experience, what was it like, you know, having your dad being the hit show of the day and well into Hollywood.

If you're at a private school, you probably some other kids there, too. So, yeah, Sly Stallone's kid was there or, you know, like or Dionne Warwick son, I remember was at the Campbell Hall, you know. So, yeah, it's just part of the culture in Los Angeles that you're going to end up around some of that Sly's kid was hijacked because it was OK.

Yeah, he had the hair. He had the slicked back hair and he was guy, you know, you could say, good, good, good.

He was a cool kid. I like to. All right.

So I probably became aware of you musically from cocaine. I don't know what year that was, but that was the evolution album.

It came out in twenty six and then it was a success in twenty seven. It took some time to get going. Yeah, I'm twenty seven when it hit well and I really loved it.

But at the same time I'm so distracted by the notion that you're Alan Thicke son. And I just wonder like I bet in some ways it was helpful and then in other ways it was probably really a bit of a burden.

Yeah, because as a musician especially, you want that mystery. You know, you want to come from nowhere. And it all be about the music. You don't want my dad smiling face hovering above my music. Yeah. Playing, you know, and obviously I had to contend with some of those challenges. But in hindsight, you realize that it's all B.S. and stuff that's in your head. It really doesn't matter. It doesn't change the catalog of music you create.

And you should embrace those things more than shy away from it. Yeah.

Ultimately, the music does the talking, which is great. Right? It is a meritocracy in that way. I just think in your business in particular, the story's so intriguing. Yeah. Especially in R and B, you know, where you come from and it being maybe hardscrabble or these different things they add to the story. Yeah. And not only was your dad famous, but he was also playing like the squarest dad on TV. Yeah. Yeah.

So you're kind of like, well, how's this guy got all this rhythm? Why is he so high on this on the social spectrum?

And his dad's like the whitest guy ever to live.

But you know what's funny about that? If you go through my DNA, I come from six generations of musicians, of jazz trumpet players. My mother is a soul pop singer. So we've been trying to make black music for six generations. Yeah, yeah. I read I thought was funny about use.

You early on worked with Brian McKnight and they. Yeah. They called you Brian MacWhite. Yeah. There was something of that just for me.

Soul music, soul singers, gospel take six that just touched me and I wanted to sing like them, you know, to me. And I wanted to sing with that kind of passion, with that kind of feeling, with that kind of soul. And so it was really the singers that I just fell in love with that I wanted to be like them.

This has nothing to do with anything. But do you love Daryl Hall? I love Daryl Hall. Absolute I love Michael McDonald. Kenny Loggins. I mean, when I got to meet Kenny Loggins, I didn't recognize him at first. He came in, we were doing some morning show together and he came in and said hi and told me he really liked my music. And I was like a nice guy. Who is that?

They can get them back.

I went right into his dressing, was like, oh, my God, oh, my God, man.

You know, it's all a lineage or even the Bee Gees. Did you see the documentary? Phenomenal. So great to have them admit that the reason they were singing in falsetto was because of all of the soul singers they were emulating. Yeah. And so I think that's just natural.

Yarbrough Daryl Hall, because he was named in Philadelphia. Blue-Eyed Soul. Yeah. And was winning all these acappella contests as one. The only white entrance, yeah, and yeah, I find him incredible. Now, one thing that's just juicy for me because I absolutely love him.

Your first demo was paid for by Al Jarreau, which are only in Hollywood.

So Hollywood, I went to a boys to Men Joe to see concert at the Hollywood Palladium. I end up meeting a table full of 18 year old black guys. I sing for them in the club at the Palladium. We make friends. We start a band together when I'm like 14 and two of the members of our group, their godfather is Al Jarreau. So I end up at their house. Sometimes I'm hanging out with Al a little bit and my dad does not want to pay for a demo at 14, right?

My dad too soon. It's too soon. We're not going. I'm not giving you fifteen hundred dollars to record music. No. So Al Jarreau gave us the fifteen hundred dollars. We cut the three songs Trickey Stewart, who ended up producing for Beyonce and Rihanna and one of the biggest producers, he was just getting started at the time. I cut a couple more songs with him because he heard those songs. And next door, Brian McKnight was recording at the same studio.

Brian heard those songs. Yeah. And thus it all began.

OK, so there's so many elements how your childhood set you up to be where you're at, because the notion you're out at 14 clubs singing for people also not everyone's allowed to tool around town.

Yeah, like I said, dad was gone on the weekend.

I have a question that maybe dicey.

We can kind of cut anything out.

I'm here open kimono.

But now that we live in a very scrutinizing time and cultural appropriation is a big thing. Is it hard to be a white musician who's been doing soul music for this long and now it feels like, oh, am I going to get called out for cultural appropriation, even though I mean, I think music is all about pulling influences from other people and other things, but it's just so heightened right now. I feel like it'd be scary. Yeah, but you know what?

There's just something about music and especially this generation, because we've all grown up on hip hop. It's just different now, you know what I mean? And like, I've been on bet for 20 years. Yeah. It was the first to play my video. I had a Sprite commercial on IBT is the only place I play. So I was on The Real Husbands of Hollywood with Kevin Hart on Betsie. So for me, that is my family. That is my home.

My new video that just came out, Betty premiered it even 20 years later. It's still Betty is the place that I get the most love and that is home to me. I think it's it's going to be other white people maybe that are still trying to figure out where they fit.

Again, I think the music does the talking, right, because if you're Eminem, no one gives a fuck. And if you're Mac Miller, no one gives a fuck. Look, if you're good and you're adding something to it, not just ripping. Yeah.

And Justin Timberlake and Justin Bieber, I think this generation, it's a collaboration. It's different from when it was it used to be Elvis with a band of white guys on stage doing black music. Now it's a collaborative. Now there's black directors doing our videos as black songwriters, as black producers. We're on stage. We're in the videos together. It's all a collaborative, positive life force now.

And I don't I don't think it's anyone on the inside saying anything. It's only on the outside. Yeah.

And those are the people that are still trying to figure out where they fit into this American culture. And, you know, but really, if you treat everybody with respect and you give everybody the same kind of love and equality, then you won't have these questions in your head. You just treat people the way you're supposed to treat people and it won't matter.

It usually takes us an hour to discover this, but you have zero chips on your shoulder. Would you agree, Monica? Yeah, just like a positive take away of nearly everything. Have you strove for that or have you always been that way?

No, no. I mean, I've always been very positive. But I just went through my darkest days, my father, my house, my mentor, my addictions, just everything at the same time all hit the wall. And I, I don't want to be that person ever again.

Yeah. When you carry those chips, you're suffering. No, none of the people you have a chip on your shoulder about suffering.

No, I have to remind myself to go easy on myself. Oh, God. Is that the biggest chip now is against me? Oh yeah.

So I think I was listening to Stern you on Stern and then I had found out that you had been sober for some period of time. Right. I guess you went like at a young age. I identified that you are an addict or anything. No, no.

I wasn't until. My thirties, I was in good control of my faculties, you know, I was a beer and a glass of wine kind of guy, but it wasn't until the touring and the partying and the lifestyle. And you just think you can manage it all. You think you can keep going at that pace and then your habits catch up with you. Yeah.

Opiates have the illusion of being manageable, don't they? Yes.

And the illusion of normalcy, of some form of normalcy. You know, you don't have to hide in the bathroom. You're not falling down or slurring your words. It's not on your breath. It's not on your breath. Yeah. You can't necessarily see it in the eyes. Yeah.

But at least for me personally, even though you're doing all those things, you're not actually present for them. In my recent brush with it, I was doing all the things I'm supposed to be doing and putting the kids to bed. I'm I'm washing dishes. I'm interviewing people and I'm telling myself, wow, this is so manageable.

And yet now obviously I have the clarity to say, well, I wasn't really present for any of it because all I'm actually thinking about is like where we are.

When am I taking another on? Where am I going to take another one? It actually is playing in the foreground and my life is playing in the background.

Yes. And I just wondered if that was your experience.

Well, yeah. I mean, I want to be considerate. I don't want to be reckless with my statements. I want to be careful just to be honest and careful about the time line, because I think it was when I moved out to Malibu and April and I were having our honeymoon because the Blurred Lines stuff, that was a pill thing that was like people drinking my back was hurting and started from traveling on long flights and back pain. And then it just became a bad habit.

But once all the Blurred Lines madness stopped and I moved to Malibu, I had a really nice honeymoon with April for a while. And then the honeymoon slowed down and the drinking increased. And then my father passed. And now I'm out kind of out of the business. I put on fifty pounds. I just kind of lost myself. I was making music that wasn't even like from my heart anymore. And that's where I kind of lost myself for a while.

And it wasn't really until covid and my mentor passed away that it all became very clear.

Aha, that was kind of the bottom.

I was functioning. I was doing like you said, but I wasn't all day. It was more like take care of the kids. Once they're asleep, I'm going to drink myself to sleep. Sure, sure. But then you're cranky in the mornings, then you're arguing with your lady and you don't remember what you said. And then it's just like this isn't a life for a family and I can't be the dad. I want to be like this.

Yeah. What was the experience? Because you were successful for decades, right?

Yeah. And then Blurred Lines is to launch out of a fucking cannon.

Right? I mean, I yeah. I can't remember a song that was more ubiquitous and I mean it was just. Yeah. It was an avalanche of everything.

Right. Yeah. That can be hard to manage.

Now knowing what I know now, I could have managed it all better. It turns out that I still had a child inside of me that needed unrealistic things. I had unrealistic desires and then they got more selfish. The more successful I became, the more selfish my desires became. Yeah. And with the little therapy and some self realization and just some some reality slapping you in the face, I have finally woken up and now I can be myself. I love myself.

I can be the butt of the joke and be OK with it. Finally, that was hard for me. I held on so tight to my music in my art that I couldn't laugh at myself and being able to laugh at myself is become my new superpower. That's what gets me through.

That's one of the greatest qualities someone can have. Absolutely.

But you know, the experiences that you've been lucky enough to have that I've been lucky enough to have, they are so heightened and they are very unique. And most people don't really experience those. You know, if you walk on stage and you're playing the thirty thousand people, that's just such a heightened experience. Yeah. And I almost feel like to avoid some crash, you just start trying to amplify every other pocket of your life because. Yeah, it's so stark in contrast to what you're experiencing.

Yeah. And I think that some people can manage it. If if you don't have those drugs and alcohol to try to balance yourself out, then you won't have those issues. My father's life long mantra was always balance, balance. And then of course, when I lost balance, everything went out of whack. And now that I focus on my balance, I focus on getting enough rest being present with the kids, being present in my work, even on the messenger, making sure that I'm enjoying it instead.

Being up there like men, I never thought I'd have to do something like this Reja. Yeah, because when I started, I, you know, I still thought, hey man, what am I doing here? Yeah, I'm a singer. And then now I was totally embraced it and I'm having more fun than ever. The producers are happier than ever. So you realize you are standing in your way. Yeah, and that's what my issue has been.

I've been in my way for too long.

I imagine there's a layer for you that say I didn't have like my dad hadn't navigated and managed that kind of attention perfectly. And then I came along and did it bad. I guess if I were you, I'd probably feel like I had really disappointed him on top of whatever I've done to myself. Right.

But with all due respect to my father and through some therapy, I realized that he was gone a lot by choice. And as a son, that hurts, like, why do you have to keep going to another cool person's party? Why do you have that? Why can't you hang out with me? Why can't you take me places? So through therapy, I realized that I was still searching for his attention, for his approval. And here I am trying to be a rock star to make him proud of me.

And because maybe if I'm a rock star, he'll hang out with me.

Yeah, yeah. Stay tuned for more armchair expert, if you dare.

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It's like it's almost the most maddening part. Yeah, it's bizarre. You're like, I'm attached to this other way I live and I have anxiety about my old Weli. Yeah, it's all crazy now.

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Oh, my God. So this is fascinating because I imagine when Blurred Lines happens, you have created this fantasy where if that ever happened, you were going to feel like this might be the coolest to my dad, finally.

Yeah. And none of these fantasies ever are. What, you think they're going to be right? No, of course not. Can I ask what he died of a heart attack or a heart attack? Yeah, it was very sudden. I'm very sorry about that.

Luckily, right before he passed, even though I was drinking a lot, I was going through a gratitude period for my parents because I was having a tough time. I really appreciated how they had kept it together for so long. And I had some great talks with my dad leading up right before he passed about how much I appreciated him and looked up to him and how I don't know how he made it that long, keeping it all together. Yeah.

And I got to let him know how much I appreciated him. So that felt gladly.

Have you found that like for me, having kids is also provided this opportunity to forgive him in all these ways?

I don't think I could have if I hadn't had kids even more so my mom, who had a very difficult childhood, isn't the type to deal in too much emotion because it's overwhelming for her if she has to deal in emotions. So I always wanted more from my mom and my mom. Give me a little more. And now that I have kids and I've been through the wringer and been in the same business that she's been, and I have so much love and respect for my mom's grace and her dignity and her keeping her head on her shoulders and not becoming an addict and not losing her cool.

You know, just I have so much admiration for my mother that I don't know. I had until I had children.

Yeah. I was so helpful. Let's talk about Farell.

I'm kind of obsessed with Farrall not knowing a ton about music, but there's just something about him that seems I feel like we've got like a Picasso among us or something. Yeah. Yeah. How did you meet him and how is that friendship and working partnership.

My first album was critically received very well, didn't sell a lot but on the inside circles I had a lot of respect in the soul music community. So Pharrell was a fan of the first album and then he was signing his New Deal with Interscope Records for Star Trek and Jimmy Ivin, who owns Interscope Records. He was always great at pairing people together. He would put Eminem with Dre, he would put 50 Cent with Eminem. So he put me with Pharrell to have Pharrell put his arm around my shoulder and present me to the public that way.

Yeah, his son opened up doors for me and then Blurred Lines. You know, we got lucky with that years later, but it was really just him ushering me into the world saying, you got to check this guy out, you got to listen to this guy. What happened? He just helped me out in every single way.

That's interesting because we just interviewed Timberlake and he has the exact same story that between Pharrell and Timbaland. Yeah. That kind of gave him the pass or at least gave him a neutral like we're going to listen.

Well, the great thing about Justin was that Pharrell produced that first album and they just had great record because I remember hearing also the words some of those records must be from Michael Jackson. Yeah, Michael turned him down and then he did them all on Justin. Then Justin has a ten million selling album. So, I mean, those are still today. Those records play in their Batta. So they just knocked it out of the park with Justin's first album.

I remember watching Justin because I was like, all right, let's see what this guy does. But then when I heard the records, I was like, damn good, right? Yeah.

If I were you, I would have been real position to hate him, like, oh, OK. He's leaving this boy band. I've been doing this for fifteen years.

Well, the good thing was, is that I had the long hair at the time. I saw myself as some other thing. My first album, I even went by the name Fiqh. You know, I didn't even go by Robin Thicke because I thought I was like Beck. Sure, sure, sure. I thought I was the artist artist. I thought, OK, Justin, he's a superstar pop star. I'm the artist. And we're two different worlds.

Yeah, of course. Then years later, here we are, the synergy and everything that you want to accomplish. You realize that your past are more intertwined. Yeah, not.

Was there someone's career that you wanted or that you thought you were emulating?

Oh, yeah. No, not really. I think there was somewhere in between Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen is my dad's favorite was Bruce Springsteen.

That feels very on brand for your dad. Yeah. Yeah.

Bruce Springsteen is everything. A poet, a man's man, a man of the people. And so that was a very much a part of who I am. But then I wanted to be the superstar of the showman that Michael Jackson was.

What about Prince? I feel like you were going more after Prince because he was a little sexier. And yeah, the musician side of Prince, also a pill addict.

Yeah. So we're so similar.

OK, so as you said, the last run you've been on is just every conceivable thing that could happen. By the way, I did not know you gained 50 pounds. Was that done? Pleasurably or slowly immediate?

It was slowly. Yeah. I mean, I just procrastinating, like, I'll get back to it, I'll get back to it. And then all of a sudden five years went by and the messenger was so great for me because it made me get off my butt, put a suit on, go to work, have to see myself in the mirror and go, gosh, what happened to you, buddy? Yeah. And so then the self-hate, the self-loathing that kicks in.

And so, like I said, it really wasn't until a year ago when covid struck and my dad was gone. And then my mentor, my executive producer, my best buddy, godfather to my son was gone. And that was just like I I have to change my life and I got to live more.

Can you tell me how he was a mentor to you? I've not had one. And I'm curious, like musically or spiritually or in every way.

He showed up and he owned Uptown Records, which was Jodeci father, M.C. Heavy D guy, all these great music from the 90s. Then he ran Bad Boy Records with Puffy. He gave Puffy his first job and he mentored Puffy. He signed Mary J. Blige. So he was a soul godfather and a music godfather to so many. So he meets me when he's moving to L.A. to start. His L.A. movie had been in New York for 20 years.

Puffy is at the height of Puffy fame, and Andre comes to me, hears me sing. He sees something special and he makes me feel like finally somebody gets me right. This is before I've released any of my own solo music. Can I ask what age you are then? About twenty to twenty three.

I think we met in ninety nine or two thousand. It was right around then and so I was just starting to dedicate my time to my own solo music. And I met him and he taught me how to walk, how to talk, how to dress. He took the photos. He helped me with every song, what it was missing, what I was trying to accomplish with my music because I was all over the place. And he actually said, OK, well, what are you trying to accomplish then?

You want to go here with it and then all of his connections. So I threw a Halloween party. I've got Naomi Campbell, Mariah Carey, Ted Demi, Paul Thomas Anderson, SEAL CEO at the height of SEAL.

These are the people in my studio before my album comes out, OK, at right wing party. So Andre's friends are everyone. And now I'm got long hair and I'm fabulous and I got all I'm thinking. They're my friends do everybody's loving the music and then the album drops and we don't sell anything.

And Jimmy, I've spent five million dollars and the money and the album is a total commercial flop. And then that's where the evolution of Robin Thicke songs came. And that's when I finally started writing my best material. It was when I fell on my face.

Man, you've been humbled, a bunch of them. And it's good for you.

It's an art form to honestly, I know it's cliche and everyone says it, but it's it's so much more admirable to watch someone repeatedly get up.

Thank you. Thank you. Well, you know, it's funny is that like we were saying, you know, growing up in the semi privileged life and wanting to be a soul singer, I probably needed these things to happen to justify. Yeah. Yeah.

Now, my life has justified my music finally not to harp on Blurred Lines, but again, it was just such a spectacular thing and was so spectacular in those moments where you like, OK, this is it. Like I'm Jay-Z from going forward. Yeah, yeah.

You get a little cocky and you start thinking everything you touch is gold and then you stop focusing on the details and then you just start saying yes to everything because the check is big.

I will make an excuse for you, which is you had spent 20 years getting by and you don't know that that's ever going to happen again. It's very fucking tempting. Yeah. Yeah.

But more than that, I think I just wanted it for so long. And then when it came, I was already in a crumbling marriage, you know, we were already at our end of the road. And then this hit when we were just struggling to hold on to our marriage and then the drinking and everything magnified. And I just wasn't the person that I set out to be anymore. I had such great intentions. You know, when I got started, I was a hippie.

I was all about love and equality and positivity and hope. And then all of a sudden just I lost the message. I lost it.

It can happen. And you want to talk about Paula. But I did not have any idea that you guys have been together for twenty one years. Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah. And you were, what, 14? And she was 16 when you were when we met.

You are 14 and 15 again, out at a nightclub at 14 at a nightclub owned by David Faustino.

Everyone wants to agree, I mean, it was called ballistics, it was a summer club for teenagers. Oh, that was my spot when I was 14.

Oh my God. I was with the girl for nine years. She met me. I was a fucking loser. I then became successful while I was with her. And one of the things that really broke my heart about that not working out is I cherish the idea that this person knew me from the get and was along for the ride and knew the real me. And I hated losing that.

Yeah, well, you know, what's funny is that because we both were in the business, we both changed. The business does change your outlook, your desires. It changes the way you think about yourself. It just changes things. And her and I had so much love and positivity and the quintessential Hollywood romance. I helped her with her lines before auditions. She helped me with my courses when I got stuck. I mean, we lived the dream then it didn't work anymore.

The great thing is, is that I've been lucky enough to find somebody in April who could care less about. Yeah, about that stuff. She likes the father in me. She likes all the other things in my purse, my sense of humor and what a dad I am. She could care less if I ever hit the stage again.

Well, the thing that you just kind of said, which is so true, is it's a business that actually requires you to think about yourself and to too fucking much, way too much.

But it is almost a requirement of the job. Like, you can't just show up on stage and have not thought about what you're going to look like, not thought about what you're crafting and all that stuff.

So, yeah, vanity is ugly. Ugly thing. Yeah. Have you started to do embrace getting older. Yeah, it just happened to me. I saw Grey in the side of my hair and I was like, I think I'm going to keep it now. I'm ready.

I'm still working on my self-image. Yeah. I'm too extreme with myself. I either love it or I hate I got to find a steady horse in the middle of a neutral ground. Yeah, I'm getting to a neutral guy. Well, I finally have shut it off a lot of the way this last year because of not drinking and and just taking better care of myself. But really, the best thing, like I said, is just being able to laugh at my imperfections.

And that's been the biggest change that I just wanted to be so cool and so perfect and so fly that I didn't want him to know I had a limp in my knee. I didn't want anyone to know that. Now I'm like, you know what, I'm a dad. It's I'm just letting it all wash off and I'm holding on to whatever bit of cool for dear life. But that's what's cool about the IRA.

It's great in writing yourself and then that becomes cool. And that's what I realized, is that when I was trying to be cool, I was actually turning people off. Yeah, I didn't realize it. If I just would have been myself and I would have slowed everything down. But I had to be something all the time. There's freedom in letting it all go.

Yeah. Yeah.

You're kind of sending a signal like I love me so I'm worthy of love. And you're probably going to love me too. Yes.

I'm not so bad. Yeah. Yeah, there's worse. There's worse out there.

OK, so you have a new album for the first time in six years on earth and in heaven. Yes. And you collaborate again with Pharaoh's first time since birth.

Yeah, well, actually we started this record in the same sessions is Blurred Lines back in the day we did three days and we wrote three songs. This was one of them. And then we got together four years ago, went back in the studio, added horns and guitar, added a cooler intro and just made the record come alive. And then I just put it in my pocket and I was holding it until I finished the album, which I finally did.

And what was it like this process? Because life is so different now. It's all very different and I'm just still adjusting to it. First time I put an album out and there's no celebration, there's no party, there's no friends around, there's no Andre, you know, Dad. So it's all very new and sometimes it's a little sad. But I keep putting my energy into my kids and into my friendships and the time that I miss with Andre and the times that I miss with my dad because I was drunk or I was hung over.

I was didn't like the way I looked and I didn't spend time with them. Yeah, yeah. No, I don't want to ever be like that again and miss the opportunity to spend quality time with people I love. Yeah. So really quick.

The Mars singer.

So here's what I know about the mask center singer when I go I it was that that's the only one I'd say once a week I go on Twitter and most of the questions are, are you this week's Mars singer. I can't tell you how often people and I'm the worst singer in the world. You'll know if I'm ever on it.

I'll start guessing. You were often. It's a real funny. And on that show, right, people just they have to know who it is. Yeah, it's fun. Who's been the funnest masked singer thus far?

Well, I mean, we just actually wrapped last night. Oh, you did? Yes. Season five. Do you have an audience? No. The audience is filmed from previous shows. Oh, they're virtually set in. So we're just there. The panel, we have our social distancing and, you know, we get tested every day on set and everything. So we feel safe. And I'm so lucky to have a job right now. It's just nice to have a job.

Oh, we feel the exact same way. Yeah. The fact that we were able to pivot and do this over Zoom has been so lucky. So who was the biggest masked singer? The biggest?

Well, I can't talk about anybody from this season, of course, but little Wayne was great for me. I didn't guess little Wayne. He's one of my favorite artists of all time. We've done six records together.

I was going to say, you guys have worked together. Yeah. And I did not recognize a little way out is pretty funny. Yeah. But, you know, just having, like, Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight and, you know, being able to see these people in person sing for us in a bee costume, you know, it's so outrageous and fun.

And the reason that I think it's been a great success, too, is because the people we're so goofy and silly, we're not taking it seriously except for the journeys and the and the emotions that are coming from the stories. But we're up there just laughing our butts off.

Who are you proudest of yourself for guessing? Bob Saget. Bob Saget, because Bob's been a family friend for many years. I got Bob.

But is it because he said fucking cocksucker three times in a song? God, I love you.

Such a great guy. Oh, it's the dreamiest gig ever.

It's awesome. I mean, just laughing with Ken and wearing a suit and trying to guess who's under the mask. It's the best job I've ever had.

Yeah. I hope you get one hundred seasons out of it. Yeah. We've got to put the girls through college now, you know. Yeah, that's right.

Seasons eight through 12 will be four that you can circle back. All right.

Well, everyone should check out on earth and in heaven. No chips on your shoulder.

Just a nice and positive. Yeah, impressive.

No, I'm impressed that you're talking to us after the few years you had there, man. It's really impressive.

Well, you know, I got some great advice from Jay Z to name drop because I signed with his management company when my manager passed away and he just gave me some great advice is like, whatever you've been through, you need to let people know if you want to be embraced. If you want to get back out there and you want to put your music and put yourself back out there, be willing to tell the truth. Yeah, and that was good advice.

Did the note rhyme?

He's my number one hit. Oh, my God. He is Picasso walking around. Yeah.

Because also he sees the world with such consideration. He is so considerate and thoughtful, just like Barack Obama or Michelle Obama, like that kind of every room they walk into, they know who they are. They don't change who they are. They give you positive energy and some form of good advice. You know, five minutes, ten minutes from Jay-Z is lifetime advice. You know, we're dying to have him.

Yeah, please, please call him when we hang up and tell him that, you know, he needs the exposure.

You know, he really does. I think he's just about to make it.

He's at a different point. And I think this show, this show, take him right over the top, right?

Yeah. He would have one point four billion dollars of our show and said at one point three.

Well, listen, Robin, huge pleasure talking to you.

I wanted to say to you, too, you know, when I heard about your story of last year and turning it into this and being able to tell your truth, what my album and what I've been doing is taking everything life is throwing at me or that I've thrown it myself and turning it into something positive. You know, now you're helping people. You're turning what you've been through into something positive. And I want to say thank you and give you a lot of credit for that.

It's hard to do. Thank you, brother.

Yeah, because you growing up with Austin Green and a band and your dad's on TV, I can't relate at all.

But the fucking shitty three years and your dad, your mentor. Now you have something to help me with, you know.

Yeah. Yeah. Now my records will make sense to you now. Yeah. Well, cocaine made a lot of sense to me.

But, you know, it was funny about that at that time I had never even tried it, never even tried it. When I wrote the song, it was just about the dangers and the luring possibilities because I had started to see it around me and I saw it as a very dangerous thing. And that's what that song is about.

It is indeed dangerous as most fun things are.

Well, thank you so much, Monica. Thank you. Yeah, take care. Bye, guys. Lots of love.

Stay tuned for more armchair expert, if you dare. We are supported.

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And now my favorite part of the show, the fact check with my soul mate Monica Padman. Editor's note about this fact check, we were doing it as if it were for another gas, but we still enjoyed so much of the stuff that was talked about during it that we're going to leave it in.

But if you're hearing the Dingding things and going those are not Dingding things for Robin Thicke, you're right.

And now I give you the wrong fact check. She's so fine, there's no telling where the money will simply irresistible. Hi.

We decided diarrhea can really be described as irresistible. You can't resist when it's when it's there. It's undeniable that it's irresistible. And I don't think many people have previously labeled diarrhea as irresistable.

So I feel like we're on to something novel, a term like rob and pee, as we always, always strive to do.

And he is an MP.

Yes, it's yet another notch in our ENPI bedpost, so we're still far away from each other.

Two thousand miles as the crow flies. You went to the mall outside the mall, went to an outdoor mall to just walk around.

Sure. You know, get back to basics. Really?

Yeah. Remember who brought you to the dance? Right. And I wore a mask and I went into a store and I bought a mug that has two hedgehog's hugging and it says hedgehog's.

Yeah, I well, first of all, you are the perfect person to have that. But I was also trying to think who else? Like, if you had to give that to anyone we know, who would you give to Kristen? Kristen.

She likes animals a lot. Yes, she does. She does.

But I want someone with more of a child, like, OK, like maybe Molly would be the perfect person.

You would like hedgehogs. Yeah, it's very innocent. So I'm feeling guilty. Like I should give it to her. Yeah. She is picking me up from the airport. Oh my God.

She is. Well you should definitely present her with that. That. Yeah but I want to drink out of it right now. I'll drink out of it then wrap it up and it'll be like the left handed mugs.

We said, oh I'm so torn, I'm so torn by love of gift.

Giving is really conflicted with my desire to keep that adorable mug, the unstoppable force meeting, the immovable object.

You're your No.

One calling card is your gift giving and then you're also a brat, a spoiled brat. So that's the that's the immovable object.

So what will this little brat to want to keep the thing you bought for yourself with your own money?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. But you're a little mouse. That's like, I want that lamp. I'm going to get that lamp. Yes, I am. But I'm not a little mouse says I want that lamp.

Buy me that lamp. No, you don't want anyone to buy it for you. That's not what you're asking for. That to me.

Is Brad spoiled? Yeah. Well, OK, Brad is also just a tiny bit where you go. Like, that's way too expensive. Who cares. I want it.

That's a little bratty, right? Interesting. We have different we have different definitions.

We are deferential to Brad. Yes. We have different definitions of Brad. Yeah.

Well, OK, let's take a few steps back. What do you want to dance.

Oh sure.

Of course. Yes. OK, I can break this up. So one is you were spoiled. Not now you're not because you're a woman of means but but you were spoiled as a kid. Your mom would run upstairs and make your milkshake.

You scream better. You got a bunch of money from your grandma in my.

Oh, my gosh. You're pretty spoiled by my recollection.

You got cars given the you didn't have to buy them. Yeah.

Those things are all true that you just said. Yes. OK, ok. OK. Are you offended yet. No, I'm just repeating some stuff I know about you.

I'm not offended. OK, it's all relative. My mom and I were actually just having this conversation because she even said, like, remember when you were younger, you'd always want stuff. And I'd say no.

Like she acknowledges that about her like like designer clothes and designer limited, too.

Well, that's that's not that I'm sure when you were in junior high in high school, that was the shit. No. Was it not? Yeah, it was, it was, it was, but I don't know that I could I could ethically qualify it as designer now that I developed.

And I know what that means.

Right. Like you weren't with the second hand store. No Kmart or big lot.

I had some pants from Sam's Goody Sam goodies.

Did you have any pants from big lots? I don't think so, but all my furniture for college came from big lots. OK, great. Yeah. Really trusted name in college furnishings.

Oh yeah. So the point is, I was very privileged. I was ok. I don't, I don't know that I would say.

Well I know it's tricky. I know why. You know why you just said it relative. Because there were other people in your school that were more spoiled. There were kids that probably had sports cars.

Oh, I mean, the reason my mom is acknowledging that she didn't do that is because my friends got those things. So relative to them, you know, she'd buy me like a shirt and they would get 40 shirts.

And so I did not feel spoiled.

I'm now having, like, a real time realization. I have the problem, which is I don't think I deserve things like I have to really wrestle with buying. Well, you know, my Mercedes station wagon, I wanted it for six years. I could have afforded it for 15 years and I wouldn't buy it for myself. For some reason, I was like you. You don't deserve a fucking Mercedes AMG. So eventually Christan bought it with money she and I both made on these commercials.

But I don't know that I would have ever bought it. And I realized that's my baggage. I don't think I feel worthy of a lot of things. And so I think your baseline is healthier. Like the lamp is a funny one because you go like, oh, I saw this lamp, but it's way too expensive. I'm going to get it, I just think of myself in that situation and it's just so foreign to me, I would go like, oh my God, I really want that lamp.

But there's no way I can't buy a lamp that's expensive, you know what I'm saying? Like, I go through this whole thing. Sure. Yeah. Yeah.

I don't have much of that. I do I, I have a oh my God, this lamp is so expensive I can't afford it if I can't afford it.

Right. And that's like practical. It's like oh I want that. That's so expensive but I can't afford it. It's not. Oh my God. I want that. It's so expensive. So I shouldn't buy it. I shouldn't buy it because it's so expensive. I don't have that. I have like I can buy it or I can't buy it. Right. Right.

Well it's tied to some of that is you don't have the same fear of financial insecurity as I do because you've had much security. So you if you can afford it, you don't go. I can afford this today. But what about in four months? What if I don't work as much? Will I be regretful? I spent the money on this expensive lamp and I didn't prepare for the future. Like, I guess that's in my calculus at all times, too.

If I was only acting, I would not I would feel a lot more scared to make big purchases like that.

But since I have a consistent job, I feel much more willing to. And getting deeper than that, I guess what I really don't have a fear of is finding employment right.

Like, I really, really don't have a fear at all that, yeah, I'll I'll be someone who can't get a job.

And that is probably arrogant and I'm sure it is. And I'm not saying I'll have the best job, but I know tomorrow I can I can get a job somewhere, even if it's to feed yourself.

Exactly. I know that I'm capable of doing that, so I was super scared. Sure, sure they'd be. Yeah, that'd be great. It's close.

It's that close where the pier went so close to us.

By the way, the place is almost invisible that Pier one is not a pair appear on.

Right. Every time I pass it, I'm like, how long has that place been closed? When are they going to take the sign down? There's never been a car in the parking lot. It it is looked close for the 16 years I've lived in the U.S..

Yes, but it's not it's still kicking and it's in the shadow of my 7-Eleven and which is a very dicey place. Yes. It's not as you know, I've I've had some physical altercations there. I've had a lot of stuff happen at that 7-Eleven. Yeah. Which is kind of why I like it.

I told you right. When Aaron and I retire, we're going to we're going to work at 7-Eleven. Oh, that will be fun because we figured out that's where you see that shit like stuff is going down at 7-Eleven like every forty five minutes in L.A. at least I can't speak for other places, but there's much activity. I tend to avoid it.

Yeah, there's like people are passed out and some of the aisles, there's fistfights, there's like sex acts going on. There's people showering in the commode. There's I mean it is just there's so much fervor of activity at all times.

Ding, ding, ding. Sort of. I was watching with my parents the dock on the hotel. Cecil in Los Angeles. Oh, my God. I mean, I knew the story about the girl who gets put in the water tank.

Yeah, but there's just so much that goes on in that hotel. Yes. Because it's right off Skid Row. Yeah. And a lot of a lot of stuff of action. A lot of action. You might want to consider retiring there.

Instead, we might take a night shift there and the day shift at 7:00 or just keep it light and do three and three. Oh wow.

OK, I have so many ideas about my retirement. Another one is what you know about is I've long fantasized about when I retire volunteering to mow the lawn at the veteran's cemetery on Wilshire in the 405 there, because I love mowing grass so much.

And it is you know, it's the biggest plot of grass in Los Angeles. And every time I drive over that pass, I'd be like, man, what? I like to ride a lawnmower there for a few hours a day. This is a ding, ding, ding.

And I'll tell you why, because you tend to think much more about work, about whether you're going to about retirement. Like I've litter and you're older than me.

So maybe. No, thanks for reminding me. Oh, I'm saying you're older than me.

So maybe that's why I have I'm about to say I've literally never, ever, ever, ever thought about what I will do in my retirement.

Right. And yeah, that comes with age.

I'm saying I don't think it's that I think it's back to the the obsession of, like, having enough so that I can make it to that period where then I don't have to worry. Like retirement to me symbolizes a period where you don't. Secretaries.

Yes, yeah. Yeah. The false security. Yeah. And in that time I'd like to mow the grass work at 7-Eleven. I also want to drive a cab and not an Uber a cab. OK, because again, people are like people plan to get in an Uber. Sometimes people are jumping in a cab because they just committed a crime. They're trying to get away from somebody. There's like, again, it's it's just a hotbed for action.

A cab. Hmm.

I it's weird you write that I desire to be. Well, I'm a little sad that those are your plans, because I don't know that we're going to be that close anymore if those are your plans, because I can't be there for any of that. I'm not interested in any of the things you just said.

It is not for you, but I only work like four hours a day. It's my retirement. So there'll be all kinds of social time.

It sounds like it will probably lead to your demise pretty quickly.

I don't know if there's anyone that was born to navigate stressful, violent situations. It's Aaron and I. Would it make you feel better if we were together at all times like that? Also be interesting. You get in a cab and the cab driver always has his friend with him.

Yeah, that would make me feel like maybe it is that he has a job at 7-Eleven.

I have a job at the Bates Motel and like we just hang out with each other during each other's shifts, you know, like we're not even officially both employed there.

We're just together. Like he's got his Seven-Eleven vest on. And I don't I'm in like a flannel shirt. Oh, man. This is this is a fun life.

I really hope you enjoy it.

What do you think? You're not going to be a part of it. Just that's just four hours a day. I'd be like if I took up golfing. Most seniors take up golfing, which takes like five and a half hours a day. I just have a feeling it's going to change you. Oh, really? I do. I do. Oh, OK. I guess like enjoy the time we have together.

But you think for the worse, I think it's a way for me to be of service. Yeah, I think it will be of service. I think it's going to harden you a little bit in a way that might make it less enjoyable to OK to have social time.

I might bring the job home.

I do think that, OK, all the things I've seen, the horrors I saw on 7-Eleven and in my cab.

Yeah, that's right. All right. So going back, you are. Oh, my God. This is a ding, ding, ding. Because this is my kind of there's so many different Dingle's, so many Dingle's Ting Ting Ting Tingle's.

This is a chatur. This is something goes on in your head.

There's a nonstop chatter happening about this.

I've had more conversations with myself in my head about this retirement plan than I've had in real life, about my children's um, like I can tell you, like probably three to one. Yeah.

And just in your feeling of money and work and. Oh, that's it. That's it.

Oh, it's the ultimate chatter. I will say, though, great, great strides for me personally over the last few years. I'm all but over that.

That's great.

As you've seen me spend recently, I mean, I bought a beautiful motor home I've been wanting for a decade that I never would let myself get. And I don't look at it and go like, oh, that wasn't safe, which is great. In the past, I would've looked at that and said like, oh, that makes me feel unsafe. Yeah.

Can I ask you love my lamp. It's fucking beautiful. Is worth every penny. It really was, it was a is a great purchase and I think it might even be gaining value.

Exactly. Thank you for saying that. It's a great investment that way. Um, yeah.

You know, it's also, you know, your, you know, your whole theory about which comes oh my God, I am I'm almost embarrassed to say it, but this is it.

OK, OK.

This came up in this episode where where you're talking about being tall and like if someone says you're sure you just like it just rolls off your back because you could care less because you know, it's not true and. Right.

It's interesting because knowing myself, I should be getting a little more agitated by you saying I'm spoiled or a brat.

Oh, a little like there's a little something that that piques, but. Yeah, but but I think for me, it's it's that tall analogy. Maybe you're not going to like this, but I'm just like. I'm not. I'm not.

Yeah, that's great. I love that because I don't want at all. I'm not trying to make you feel bad at all. Yeah. I just hear these what I think are adorable stories about you shouting at your mother that you need milkshakes. And that's just a funny to me and bratty, but in a very cute way.

That is, of course, bratty. Yes. Like make me a milkshake. Yes.

But that's like a funny story, you know, also, like, what were you watching? And we found out there wasn't another episode and you had a tantrum that was deserved.

OK, right. But to have a tantrum is, you know, it's it's it's one of the hallmarks of bradie.

But sometimes I wonder if it's because you're leaning into it.

Yeah, I was also I was also making everyone laugh and I was joking.

It was a performance, really. It was. Well, I was let's be honest.

Was it 30 percent real and 70 percent performance?

The emotion there was real, but the the physical tantrum was all a performance.

Right, in immigration.

I thought it was kind of like doing a character which you always want to do. It was a great one.

It was the character was bright, was your bratty character, was too good of acting and you thought it was me. This happens. Yeah. OK, do you want to.

I feel like this is going to backfire, but I have one more example. Like you being bratty was you went on this family vacation to New York and you guys were all sharing a hotel room and you just you had a nap and you just checked up, moved down the street. I did. It's it's funny.

I love it. And it's a little bratty, right. Yeah, it is. But I think you would have done the exact same thing. I'm bratty, but, you know, you hear me, I constantly am you admitting Latinos? I bringing up all the time, like, oh, I was really Braddy on set or I'm about I'm about to be bratty. Like, I'm on high alert for when I'm bratty and I am I am buratti.

Yeah. For sure. I'm entitled.

I'm mom. You know, I'm delusional. Entitled. I mean I don't think I have to do anything anyone else does. Like I do not have to wait in traffic. I understand traffic is a real thing, but I don't have to wait in it. I will ride a motorcycle so I don't have to. I just I am so entitled and I'm so bratty about so many things.

OK, then I'm definitely bratty too then.

If you are, I think it's a good club that we're in the Bratt's. Remember the Brat Pack. She could be the Brat Pack. Yes. They didn't mind being there, but there was no shame in being in the Brat Pack.

Or you'll just have like you'll have like a long story that involve like a food item that wasn't warm enough or something. And it be like a whole thing.

I drove all the way over there and I was desiring this thing and then I got there and then the moccia was blah, blah, you know, there's there's oh oh.

I never realized that. These are the things I always think are really adorable about you, though, and I always call it out. You'll be like really revved up about like a, you know, a dessert item that wasn't on the menu that day. Oh, all the time. They'll be like they'll be a thing about all time. Oh yeah. They got the pudding for a while. Is very upset by that. Yeah. Exactly. Sure.

Yeah. That's all true now.

But you hear me say it, I'm like furious that that fucking Kabuli salad is sometimes available at Squirrelled and other times not. And there's no explanation. There's some the ingredients don't seem that scarce to me that this would not be a consistent item. Never. It's very proud of me, I guess, I guess it is I never have thought of it as bratty, but if that's the definition we're going with, then then. Then I am. Yes.

Yeah.

Like, I'm like put out by this menu item, which I think is funny.

Yeah. I think a lot of people would be like, oh it's not on the. Yeah, I didn't have it.

This is a bad thing to say, but I don't want to live like that. Like I don't, I don't want to not care about the pudding. Like I like that. Yes.

Well herein lies part of our reoccurring thing is so often I make observations that I do believe you think our character assessments, like for me, being bratty isn't even a negative thing. It's just like an observation about how we feel that there is injustice sometimes about very trivial things, which is funny and bratty. But it's not a character assessment.

It's not like, oh, I think less of you because you're mad about the bread pudding. I just observe it butterscotch.

But yeah, I wouldn't have care very much. Yeah. Yeah, but Frattini's is considered a negative trait. Yeah. Yeah but so is entitlement.

But again, I don't think I'm a bad person because I'm entitled. I think I'm aware that I'm entitled, although I will say even entitlement is worse to me on the spectrum than Frattini's for me for sure it is.

I don't know that I think you are. I wouldn't have said that, that I'm entitled. I mean, when you use that when you use the example of the cars. Yes. But I don't think of you as an entitled person. There are people I think of as entitled people that I know. And I would not put you in that category at all.

Yeah, we almost a third rail because, yes, some people have done nothing and think they deserve a life. That to me is entitlement.

That's what entitled the definition is to me. Right. So here is my most recent bout with entitlement. I drove all the way to Utah to check into the hotel for our stay while shooting in Utah. And it's a dump.

It's a dump. Here's the level of which is a dump. There's no Kleenex in the room. Like I need Kleenex. I have allergies. I'm constantly blowing my nose. And I'm like, well, this place doesn't even have Kleenex. And then I and then I go in my head. Well, I know that SAG requires that they put you in at least like three or four star accommodations. So now I'm going through the reasons that I deserve to be in a better hotel than this.

I'm building a case for why I am entitled to be somewhere else. And I'm always trying to check my readiness and entitlement. So I want to compose a text message to the producer, Jamie, who I love and is so goddamn helpful and wonderful.

And so I'm trying to compose this text for, I don't know, twenty five minutes where I can basically tell them I hate this hotel. I want to be in a much nicer hotel without sounding like an asshole, and it's taking me so long to figure out a way to do that without sounding like an asshole that I just get the idea. Maybe I should Google hotels near me to make sure that this isn't actually the best option.

I do that and it turns out it was the best option.

They couldn't have put me anywhere else.

Yeah, but I did have a good half hour where I felt like there was an injustice, that they were trying to cheat me, that they were trying to save a dollar at my expense of not having Kleenex.

I went through this whole thing like I've been working in this for twenty years. Yeah. And then, you know what?

Fuck it. I'll just pay for my own hotel. It's going forward. Like I can afford to stay somewhere with Kleenex.

I'll just do it and they won't, you know, whatever. I have that whole circus, the chatter, you have the chatter. I actually think that story is is Braddy, but it's not entitled.

OK, I think I mean, we're getting into the weeds, but I like that's where we love to play around and we love the weeds. To me, entitled is when you expect something that you haven't earned. Like to me, there's just such a clear difference because I mean, I just have people in my head who I'm like, oh, they're just so entitled. And it's so different to me than being bratty. Like, I don't even know that some of those people are bratty.

But they're entitled. And I would and maybe it's because I am bradie, as we're discovering, but I would much, much prefer Frattini's right entitlement.

Mm hmm. OK, I'm going to start because we got to start. We got to start thinking about when we kind of oh, my God, oh my God, what happened?

Oh my goodness, something so exciting happened.

This isn't a fact check for Ethan. This is a fact check for Rob and think, oh, my God.

So all these ding ding dings. I think we should leave. We have to. We have to. OK, now to Robin that Robin Thicke, which I guess the good news is we talk so much, but we didn't do any facts, which is. That's true.

Which is how I realized I just pulled up my facts and I'm like, oh, so how long was growing pains on the air? Growing pains began in nineteen eighty five September, two years before my eyes. Before your birth. Right. And final episode, April nineteen ninety two.

OK, seven years. Yeah. Good run. It was very formative in my youth because that takes me from ten years old to seventeen years old.

And remember Leonardo DiCaprio was on it. Yeah.

He was a wayward homeless kid. So sexy sexy. I want to ask you a really weird, bizarre question. This will be like a Jonathan Haidt thought experiment. Moral thought experiment. Oh, start dating. You start you start dating Leonardo DiCaprio. You guys are even married.

We're having sex in the Tyrannosaurus Rex skull pretty regularly. Yeah. All right. So you guys are married. In addition to him collecting t rex skulls, he also collects time machines. Oh, wow. You tell him, oh, my God, you were so cute on that episode of Growing Pains when you were fifteen. Mm hmm. And he says, I give you permission to go in the time machine and go seduce him.

Me as my age. Yeah. Oh, no, I wouldn't do it.

OK, it's morally reprehensible. So the future. OK, good. I'm fine with that answer. I just want to see if can the future self give consent to a young.

Oh, so. Well, here's the thing. I think I think we've talked about this as far as like if you're married and your wife had taken nude pictures of herself at seventeen.

Right.

What's the moral line there to look at those and enjoy them if she goes, OK, go ahead, look at them.

Yeah, they're me and we're married, right? Yeah, I, I'm sure a lot of people are going to have stuff to say about this. I yeah, I think it's fine. There's something about going back in a time machine and actually doing it like being because it could harm them.

Exactly. That's like that's changing the.

OK, but but but knowing yourself. Right. So I know me at fifteen you would not be harming me. I'm already fucking as often as I can. I'm so into it and I would love the experience and I would by no means would I feel preyed upon. I know.

But just ethically, you're interacting with a teenager. Minor. Yeah, that that's bad.

But the they are sure of your spouse. Yeah, I find that.

I think I would even want I wish Kristin wanted to stare at the pictures of me in high school. I think it's fine.

I mean, I feel like that's the definitely the wrong answer. But yeah, I think I think I would be OK with my husband being attracted to pictures of me at a young age, because here's where I would say from a moral debate stance that you could take is there's simply no victim.

There isn't a victim. That person hasn't existed for twenty years.

And I think I mean, really, you're already attracted to the person. So part of it is just seeping in. It's not like, oh, my God, that random picture of a random seventeen year old is hot. It's like, oh, this person I know and love and turned out to be this. I love that person and oh my God they're so cute as a you know.

I don't know, I just think it's different. Oh I know we did have this conversation because my question to somebody we interviewed was what if you as the owner of those pictures, wanted to release those pictures? Those are technically child pornography.

Yeah, I don't think that's good. Well, no, I don't.

Well, because you don't want to give fodder to the Prozac's. Exactly. But if it's your husband, you know, they're not you know, they're a safe person like it. That's. Yeah. And they're not going to use that to do any kind of weird. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. OK, all right.

Although you never really know because the husband who killed the wife and the kids. You never know.

You don't know. OK, who is the biggest celebrity who's been on Messinger. There's been a lot of people on it. So like LeAnn Rimes was on it.

Nick Carter, Aloe Blacc. Also, so Brian, Austin Green was on and, oh, yes, and they're best friends. I really want wish I could play a clip of them rapping together. You know, they were in that rap group. Me, too. But I just can't find that. And I don't know that they even recorded anything. They might have just declared they were a group, perhaps. Yeah, kind of like cowbell.

Well, let's see what Brian Austin Green rap song.

Well, he had his own little rap. Oh, OK. Then I think even rapped on nine two.

At the Peach Pit. This sounding familiar. Oh, I loved him. Oh, I bet you did. I loved all the guys. He looks like Ben Affleck a little bit. Yeah, I liked all the guys. I liked Jason Priestley. I liked Luke Perry.

I liked he was the best for me. So he was sexiest. It's unethical to talk about a person who's deceased, right?

No. OK, no, no, no, no, no, no. What a historical figure would you most want to sleep with?

Oh, my gosh. Let's see. I got mine already.

I didn't think I was going to be able think of one, but I got mine, I think. Oh. I got I got three. Oh, my. Oh, my God. Amelia Earhart. Oh, really? That's not that's not what I would have expected. OK, Joan of Arc. OK. Cleopatra. I thought Cleopatra would be in there. Tell me about Amelia Earhart. She's a beast. She's so confident she flew across the ocean, no woman had done it.

Or did she? I don't know. She made it. She did disappear. She disappeared. No one found her.

Yeah, but the to me, that spells confidence and confidence to me. Smells like smells. Smells a good time in the rack.

That's great. OK, I would pick the obvious like easy answer is JFK.

Yeah. OK, good. Yeah. He's your guy.

Well JFK Jr. is my guy but I don't know where we're counting him. So JFK would be up there I have to suggest. OK, give Julius Caesar wait. Didn't Julius Caesar stab, although he got a market marks Mark Anthony, stabbed Julius Caesar on The Ides of March because he was fucking Cleopatra, I believe. Ding, ding, ding. Oh, my God. OK, maybe.

And then my next one is Genghis Khan or Genghis Khan, as they said in the book. And I'll tell you why. Because he fought so much. I don't think anyone in history has one more thing. I don't think I would like that. Well, he would be so good at it, is my assumption.

Yeah, but that that. No, I don't.

It's a turnoff for you. I don't like I'm talking about just the experience, though. Yeah. Just the physical experience of sex.

Yeah. I mean I think I would OK, if it's just sex I'm going to stick with JFK on that. Oh. Or what about MLK. I might be very well.

He fucked that until he thought why. It's that like they especially him like I would be so attracted to his couldn't you know, like oh he's changing the world.

He's so good. But that wouldn't be Gandhi though. Yeah but that would be handsome, strong, handsome and strong.

OK. Oh God.

But Gandhi was arguably better than MLK, even as far as is how many people he helped used.

Six hundred million people don't think he would want to have sex with me. Gandhi No. He seems like a terrible liar.

No, don't say that. Yes, that's a man. Yes. He doesn't even look like he he's emaciated, is on a hunger strike. I doubt he can get it right. I do think he's fragile, you know, lift you up. He would be OK. He has other priorities.

Yeah, he has other priorities. I'm trying to think of like a brilliant scientist or like maybe Einstein, but he looks so crazy like, would I be scared of him? I don't know.

But more like Isaac Newton maybe. Yeah. Or Edison. OK, that's freaky.

Galileo. The problem with a lot of the the great enlightened and rather the Renaissance people, Leonardo Da Vinci of many of those guys are gay. Oh, right. He did have a beautiful body. He posed for a lot of who. DAVINCI Yeah.

What about like Hemingway too. Too MONCEAU He's not for me. Van Gogh. Van Gogh is weird.

Yeah, the artists are odd. I think I would be more attracted to one of the scientists.

Yeah.

I think I think let's just stick with JFK. There's a fun game. There should be like a board game.

I keep thinking on this because there's so many people I have. I'm just not. My brain isn't. Yeah but I'm missing. Hold that. MLK and JFK. Oh this is a very provocative one.

Oh OK. Yeah. This is dangerous. Jesus. Oh, no. Wow. But you'd have to imagine if he truly was the son of God, he would be transcendent in Iraq, especially if he's the son of God.

No.

Why? Because why? Why can't the son of God have sex? No, he can. But I don't want to have sex with him. That's like a lot of pressure. Like, if I did something a little wrong he wouldn't like it would banish you to hell.

But but Jesus. The real Jesus. The historical figure. Yeah. Yeah, maybe. Well, it's a good one on your list. You would have had a nice ring at a party Mediterranean look.

And I and I would have liked that.

Probably beautiful olive skin, soft, beautiful hair. OK, the reason I'm scared about JFK.

Well, a lot because, you know, there's stuff that's come out about him that's not great.

But also on the crown is the depiction of him on the crown is not great. Like he was not nice to his wife.

Well, that's very well documented. He was a shitty husband.

Well, yeah, the crown. And I doubt the crown. Yeah, you go ahead.

Yeah, the crown does really good research. I think everything on the crown is pretty much exactly correct. So I'm only saying they didn't break any new ground with that revelation.

Oh yeah. No, I don't think they were trying to and they never are trying to. I think they're really just trying to show that. But was seeing it was not great. Yeah.

JFK, his worst thing was probably not even how he treated his wife. There was a 60 Minutes piece on that woman who lost her virginity to him in the pool of the White House.

OK, well, we've set it all well, we we really have said it all we've said to fact checks worth of stuff and then a great exploration, both morally and historically.

There's no more facts for Rob. And I really, really enjoyed him. And I I guess I'll say maybe this isn't nice to say, but I had a different expectation of what the interview was going to be and who he is. And I was really like, oh, my gosh, I like this person.

The exact same experience. It reversed a lot of preconceived notions I had about who he was. Yeah, yeah. Same same, same, same thing.

Same days. All right.

All right. I love you.