Hi, friends, and welcome to the final eminem hour of twenty twenty five with our dear friend Mandy Slutsker.

Hi, Mandy, Hello.

I am here from sunny Naples, Florida.

Oh y'all.

Mandy sent me picture she is in sunny Florida with a gorgeous pool and a hot tub, and I was like, next year, I am coming.

To you because nice.

Here.

We're in Northeast PA.

We have had a historic amount of snow at this point and today, so right after we podcast, I have to go to the store because we are getting a foot of snow on top of the already six inches and four inches and this and that that we have.

So I am jealous of your Florida lifestyle right now.

I'm just you have such a beautiful, happy family, and I just love that for you.

I'm so I just I love that for you.

So today what Mandy and I are going to do, We're going to talk a little bit about the holidays.

We're going to talk a little bit about Potomac.

But I will say on Mandy's podcast is this real life with Mandy Slutzker.

We talked a lot about Potomac.

I had some real thoughts on Wendy's Mom and Amanda and some other things on Potomac.

So we won't totally go over that here, but I did want to talk about the scene with Wendy's mom because that's Boker's and then Mandy and I are also going to talk a little bit about, you know, some insights from the year lessons learned, you know, going into twenty twenty six, because we're filming this the day after Christmas.

So I just had Christmas yesterday and I am completely exhausted because little children are They're beautiful, but on Christmas they're just too much.

They're too much, y'all.

But phill Us and Mandy, you all celebrate Hanukah and Christmas.

Tell us about your holiday.

Yeah, So Hanakah is not that big of a deal, like in the Jewish religion and culture.

It's just not as big of a holiday as a lot of the others.

So it's just kind of fun.

You light the candles, you play dradle, you make glacas.

I don't make glacas anymore because they stack up your house.

It like everything smells like hash brown.

It's just and it like doesn't go away good.

I'd rather buy ones that other.

People to not smell like potato.

There's these donuts called souf ganiout which are like jelly filled donuts with powdered sugar that you also are supposed to eat.

I didn't have any of this year, but that's fine.

So it's just not as big of a thing.

Like it's, you know, nice celebration, but it's not like Passover is like a big thing and yumky poor and Russia Shana and you know that kind of thing.

So uh yeah, it's just nice to be around family.

During this time.

We celebrated my dad's birthday, and then for Christmas, I spend it with my dad and Joyce and she has relatives down here in Florida that we get together with.

Then it's just it's really fun.

And then her favorite tradition now is doing Jewish Christmas where we have Chinese food.

And then yesterday we got to watch the Vikings and they very much unexpectedly won in a very odd way, and it was I don't know if people got to see.

It was on Netflix, which was interesting to have Netflix, Yeah do a live broadcast of the Vikings science game, and they had a halftime show that is worth stopping what you're doing and watching it was so well produced.

It was like with Snoop Dogg, K Pop Demon Hunters, some country artists that I am not familiar with, and what's his name, but Shelly the tenor the Italian and and his son.

Yeah, and it was and then like Snoop Dogg's like in the middle of the it's just it's so it's it's perfect.

You know.

What's so crazy to me that Snoop Dogg, like when we were growing up was like don't listen to him, parental advisory, like he's a demon, and now he's like a national treasure.

And I find that such a hilarious turn of events.

And it's just like just watching him with like gray hair is also interesting.

And then the broadcasters were asking players like what their favorite Snoop song was, and like the players are too young to know Snoop Dogg, basically like they'll know, but it's almost like asking about oldies.

Right, They're like the Gin one, the gin in the something, and I'm like, oh my god, I feel elderly.

This is so funny.

So yeah, it was great and I think people should watch it.

Well now I will.

It's great.

It was so fun because that seems to me.

My husband is a die hard Eagles fan and obnoxious, just as all Eagles fans are completely obnoxious.

So anything that's not Eagles, like, he'll watch all of football, like he just loves all of football because he used to play.

That was one game he didn't force me to sit through.

It's funny because I would rather watch not the Vikings play because I'm too nervous when they play, or like I care too much, So I'd rather just enjoy watching football and like not care about the outcome.

I think it's more enjoyable for me to watch other teams well, and that's.

The beauty of not caring about it because I don't like when I watch it.

I'm like, I couldn't care less about this.

I mean, I understand why people get obsessed, but I'm like, I always tell him his mood will literally because the Eagles have been playing like absolute crap, losing games that they shouldn't have been, things like that, and he'll be devastated.

I'm like, you know, we don't like our lives don't change whether they want or lose.

We don't own steak in the team, like, this isn't our livelihood, but he really cares about it as it is.

But the other thing I love about my husband is that he also, as much as he loves football, he loves Taylor Swift equally as much.

And he was the one who's like, we have to watch this Taylor Swift eras docuseries right now, and I was like, I love you so much, let's do it.

So we watched oh gosh, maybe three episodes and have you watched it as well?

You watched the whole thing?

Okay, yeah, we're well, we're saving it so for so for us, we just celebrated both of us.

We just celebrated Christmas yesterday as of this staping, and so we wanted to save it.

You know, the week between Christmas and New Year's is kind of like that amorphous week.

It's like I don't know what day it is, what my name is or whatever.

So we're like saving it for then.

But from what I saw, I just I couldn't love Taylor Swift anymore as now.

I'm like, she is such a remarkable person.

I am truly, and she's so like self actualized.

You know, you're like, wow, you know what is you know?

Good for you?

What's not good for you.

You like her deciding to step away from social media like in the last ten years is brilliant.

She doesn't pay attention.

Everyone spends so much time dissecting every little thing, and you know, people have these parasocial relationships, and we feel like we know her, and we feel like we know her boyfriends and her family, and we know what's good and bad, and we want to call her out.

And I just don't get why fans didn't realize that what was this song in Tortured Poets Department?

My favorite was the the Daddy I Love Him and it was basically like, you know, all these people are judging me, but like I don't care and I would rather you know, Like what was she saying?

Like She's like I can't handle like one more second of listen to Elvis bitchin and moanin.

And That's how I feel like reading crap about her, because I'm like, you guys are spending all this energy hating on her, and she will never know that you hated because she doesn't live in that space and she doesn't put energy towards.

Not only that, because that's such a good point, but like Taylor Swift might be the best human on earth.

Like, so, you know, old white men hoard money and I don't know what they do with it.

I have some ideas, but we won't mention that here.

But Taylor gave her dancers huge, huge bonuses.

Every single person who participated in the Heiress tour, from truck drivers to dancers, to everyone she gave.

She gave one hundred and ninety seven million dollars of bonuses, just in bonuses.

Yeah, is not in addition to what they got paid.

And I saw all over the internet she donated like a million dollars to the American like Heart Association, she donated a million dollars to feed America.

This woman is not only doing what's best for her, her family and her cats.

She's literally doing group therapy on stage.

And I wanted to reference this also.

I'm glad we are talking about it because like she did a three and a half hour show for every single show of the Heirs tour for her fans, her feet ached.

It was hard work, but at the end of the day, she was so humble and she was like, they need this, and I want to give them every last drop of what I have.

And that is a truly selfless, absolutely gorgeous human being, and I thought I couldn't love her more.

And now I'm like, well, I understand that this is parasocial, but you might be my idol.

Well, it's also just nice to see her family.

You know, I don't know that much about her family, so it was nice to see her relationship with her mom.

And I know that her mom had been sick a number of times, and you know, people are like making weird comments online about how she's too.

Close with their mom.

I was like, is there such a thing like good?

Please?

Like, there's so many situations where you've got parents who steal from their child stars, right, and then you've got this family that is just like nurturing her and watching out for her and you know, doing the best that they can with supporting her and setting her up for success.

And I love that all the money that she made on the Aras tour was able to be used to purchase her music back and that she is now kind of whole because she has her music and her masters and all of the other pieces of that.

And you realize how important that is, because this is what makes her whole.

Like being a musician, being an artist, her songs, what she's written, and so even though she had her own tailor's version of everything, I love that this came full circle for her.

And it makes me full of rage that she even had to do that, but I love that it's hers now and I hope she feels complete, and I just she's the most beautiful person.

I just can't say enough about her, and I can't wait to watch the rest of it, because we started to get to the episode where they were showing like clips of her when she was little, because she's always been she's just always loved music and performing like it was in her bone since she was little.

And when you see good things happen to good people, that makes me really joyful, because you know, we see a lot of things in this world, a lot of terrible people hoarding money, and you're just like, oh, but she is someone who it's like, you're doing so much for these fans.

I literally say that it's group therapy.

And I just love her.

And it was fun to see also not just her as a child, but like all her dancers and backup singers, and they show clips of them as children and what they you know, their dreams, and you know, being young dancers and all of that, and then at the very end they do this montag of like all of the clips of them as kids and then them on stage, like you know, they always wanted to have that.

They all have this dream and yeah, it's amazing that they made it and that they're living out their dream.

And the other I'm glad you mentioned that because it was as much about the other people in her orbit as it was about her, because she the one thing I love about Taylor, She's humble enough to know that these people are here because of me.

But I can't do any of this without everybody else, right, Yeah, and so she and plus I don't even think she'd say these people are here because of me.

She'd say it's because of everybody.

But I love that she's so humble and she's she wants it to be about all those beautiful people who are on stage.

And the thing that I love too was that she talked about they hire dancers of all shapes and sizes and ethnicities and backgrounds because that is what the world is.

And I love that she didn't just want these like stick thin white ballerina types.

I loved hearing about some of their stories and seeing there was a gentleman with his mother and she came to the Oh my god.

I was just like, I love you, while you're so amazing, Cam Cam, thank you.

I forget names.

So I'm bad like that, but so I can't wait to watch the rest of it.

It's so good Taylor.

For anyone to hate on Taylor, I'm like, you are not a happy person if you hate on Taylor Swift.

There's literally nothing to hate on.

That woman is a gem.

It's a very.

Specific like online thing, like people who's been too much name online, just like they complain about things like no one else will complain about, or focus on things that no one else focuses on.

And yeah, I wish all of those people could just put their phones away and just like go outside and just be and just beat some son on their face, take a breath, like, spend time with your neighbors, talk to other people.

Yeah, it's just wild how we've put ourselves in these little like bubbles and silos where we can't connect to other people anymore because we assume that they're terrible if they think any differently, or they look differently, or they act differently.

And it's just like, come on, you.

Know, come on, you know it's funny you say that because I you know, I try to take breaks from Instagram.

But what Instagram does I don't know, Like you're really good about this, so maybe you don't notice this.

But when I take more than two days off Instagram shadow bans me, and they also forget my sign and information.

They forget it if I don't sign a never day.

I don't even know what shadow banning is.

Shadow banning is where.

So like, I have people that subscribe to me, so my oh when I post, I should show up first for them, I won't even show up in their feeds.

Weird.

Yeah, oh, so it's like you for not for not being a slave to the system, and I just refuse to to do it because the one thing I can recognize is that, you know, this phone here that I'm holding in my hand is this isn't real.

I open it up and I have fifteen point eight thousand followers, and I have people.

There's people yelling into the void of why don't you do this and why don't you do that?

And it's like, well, because I'm trying to stay alive over here and also live my actual life.

One of the things that I am looking to do more in twenty twenty six personally is I just don't want to ever prioritize social media like I want to prioritize me and real life.

To me, this isn't real life, but it's such a big part of my life now, you know what I mean.

So it's kind of it's a really big challenge, but I just refuse to take things personally, like I get people who come and harass me on multiple platforms if they're really upset about something that I've said, and I'm just like, I'm not doing this, you know what I mean.

So for me in twenty twenty six, I'm not a believer in resolutions, Mandy, because I feel like they're set up for failures, Like people make big, sweeping resolutions that it's like in general people in therapy, they bite off more than they can chew, and change actually happens in small, discernible bites and it has to happen like slowly over time.

So I think that it's good to have ideas of what you want to try to accomplish in twenty twenty six, but we got to make it really manageable.

You know what I mean.

Yeah, So for me, I want to hear some things from you, like in twenty twenty six, as we bring out twenty twenty five, which I feel like has been a complete dumpster fire.

Goodbye.

Please, I want to say goodbye Kyle to twenty twenty five.

Goodbye Kyle in the new year.

Do you have any things that you're you know, thinking on focusing on?

Yeah, I am.

I feel like it's an opportunity like recalibrate, you know, And I want to have more balance in my life.

I need to find ways to compartmentalize my work and not bring it home with me and not think about it all the time because it it makes me unhealthy, and so I need to And the way that I have found that has worked for me is physically leaving Washington, d C.

Physically getting out and being in a different area and being around different people who are not focused on the things that I'm focused on in DC.

That has been so helpful.

So like the first few months of the year, I have like getaways that I'm doing things like that are really really helpful.

And then I want to move more.

I find that in the winter I hibernate a bit and you know, it's dark out, so I don't want to go on walks in the evening, and you know, I still need to get out and move.

I got a walking path that I haven't set up yet, but I'm hoping to, like, yeah, just to move a bit, you know, even after five pm when it's right.

So like that kind of stuff, I think, and just having a little more balance, having you know, maybe meal prepping more, that kind of stuff.

And I think I might get like, you know, for the phones.

You know, they have a thing called brick where like it it's like makes it so you can't get into your phone for certain things.

Oh and I'm like, oh, maybe I should do that for social media or email, you know, like after a certain period at night, like just make it so I can only respond to text messages.

I'll have to look into it more.

But I find that like I'll scroll and it's not making me sad or anything, but I'll just like scroll and scroll and scroll, and pretty soon forty five minutes have gone by, and I'm like that is crazy.

And now I'm all hunched over, you know, and and this is forty five minutes like spent doing something completely different that is probably better for my health and well being.

So I think, I yeah, that kind of stuff, but nothing like huge just you know, I learned in twenty twenty five that my mental health and physical health are very intertwined.

And so when things got really bad, I got really sick.

And it's been six months since I've been very, very sick, so that's been good.

And I'm you know, like the first time I had a cold and just like recovered.

I was like, oh, I'm on back.

I'm back, you know, I'm back, baby, And like this is I'm not on Like I'm not in the hospital.

They don't have me on any breathing stuff, like I can just recover.

And I didn't get sick from BRAVOCN, which was like a huge, huge deal for me.

So I felt like I handled the you know, I just I need to rest more.

I need to Yeah, you know, I'm just going go and going all the time, and.

You are, but listen, because I think the one thing you said that it really resonates with me is like the balance of it all because when you are surrounded in DC by that like frenetic very like now everything must be done now, you need to dive in head first, Now, it's like you could really get sucked into that, and I am you're human.

You do need to get done now, Like that's the thing, Like it does right.

Right, And so it's like, how do you balance the needs of that daytime job and that career that you've worked so hard for.

But I think what you just said, you know, is a really great example of these are very realistic goals that you can work on because you're already working on them.

And as your friend, I'm really grateful to hear you work on the mental and physical health part because that last time you were really really sick, I was really concerned about you.

I know, we were recording and I didn't know how bad I was, and you could tell I could.

I was like, Mandy, I hate this, like, can't go to the hospital, like I I didn't know how bad it was, you know, I know, but like it.

That is so funny that sometimes we get so lost in the sauce that we lose our ability to see objectively.

And that's when we have to rely on our friends and family to intervene and to say, listen, this is what we're noticing.

Because to make yourself so frenetic that you're sick all the time and your health is impaired.

That's just you know, that's just not Nobody wants that for you.

But it is so easy.

And that's why I find myself too not wanting to be on social media because it does upset me.

Like I'll scroll and I see things because you know, my whole algorithm is like human rights and.

The opposite of what's going on in I keep separate.

Like my Instagram is mainly housewives stuff, some Taylor Swift, some Architectural Digest, some house things.

You know, like it's not I do not use it for news.

I think I need to change my algo, my algorithm to be what yours is.

I needed to be Taylor Swift, housewives, puppies, animals and absolutely zero news.

Yeah.

I don't follow work.

I follow like a couple news things, but most are not.

You know.

Problem is Twitter, and I do still like I don't post anything as much.

You know what.

I posted something and someone got so angry at me that I was so shocked and taken it back by that I was like, this is why I don't engage in this platform.

I posted something about the White House correspondsenter so this person was talking about how Ashley Darby sucks and is terrible because she supported the White House Course Center and she claims to be a member of the LGBTQ community and whatever, and I'm like, okay, but the White House Correspondsenter doesn't have to do with the White House.

It's about the correspondence.

It's about journalists, it's about raising money for journalism scholarships.

It literally is not at the White House.

Ashley either misspoke or didn't know what the hell she was talking about when in that one episode of The Were Houses of Potomac where she's like, well, I'm going to support the White House no matter who's in the White House.

I was like, this has nothing to do with that.

This is about journalism and about correspondence and about the independence, you know, the importance of independent journalism.

And so I was like, Hey, for people like outsid DC, maybe you don't know, but the White House Corresponsenter is like not actually associated with the White House.

It's not even held there.

The President doesn't even come like anymore, you know, It's just it's completely separate.

So showing up to it is not making a political statement.

If anything, it's it's supportive journalism and not of this way and free speech.

Yeah yeah, yeah yeah.

So this woman just like apparently she also lived in DC, but I didn't realize that.

Was like you think I don't know what the White House Courtspon Center is and was just like crazy angry at me, like quote tweeting all this stuff to like get people to come after me.

And I was just like, oh my god, but you clearly don't know what you're talking about, because you made it sound like you're trying to dunk on Ashley Darby.

Dunk on her in a different way.

Go after her for something else, don't go after her for this.

But this is not an example.

About ignorant people.

Is they think that they know and they'll talk so vociferously, like from their soul.

But then it's like, well, you're not even accurate and honestly to me, Twitter or x or whatever it is.

It's such a swamp if I refuse.

I was on Terra one day and I was like, why are people here so so angry?

You can't say anything without someone literally losing their mind.

I was on for one day and then I completely deleted my account and I was like, I don't care if this prevents me from growing for the rest of my career.

My sanity is worth more than this.

No, and it's so true.

And then but then other people wrote me and they're like, oh, thanks for explaining this.

I actually didn't know.

Of course, why not everyone knows all these things.

This is a minute little thing that like, I just assume most people don't know because they're not paying attention to this section of society, right like this like weird nerdy journalist thing, like it's not.

And then someone was like, oh, so, why are celebrities there?

And I was like, oh, well, news outlets get tables and then they invite people to sit at their table like a gala because it does, you know, raise money and that kind of thing.

I was like, that's why Ari Automattox was there in twenty twenty three, after you know, Scandavalt broke, Like that's you know that they invite Kim Kardashian's been there, you know, all these different celebrities that have nothing to do with journalism or with politics, you know.

Friends.

So people were like writing and being like, oh, you shouldn't you know, apologize to that person who is yelling at you because I did.

I was like, sorry, Like, wasn't trying to be rude.

I just felt like I didn't want to be like, you were sharing in accurate information, but she was sharing an accurate information.

And I'm just like, if you're going to go after Ashley Darby for being anti LGBTQ, then like, give an example of her being anti LGBTQ.

This isn't an example, And this is to me, like such a snyle of how it happens, where Ashley Darby couldn't be more of an ally.

First of all, she is bisexual.

She identifies as bisexual.

She has hosted fundraisers and participated in drag shows.

And like, what I don't like about the internet is you paint someone with a brush.

Like someone came to harass me because when in OC because I didn't like Katie, because I can't stand people who lie a lot, that's just a personal thing.

Someone came and said that I was racist because I didn't like Katie, And I'm like, yeah, me, uh huh, Like am I the one who's taken hundreds of hours of cultural competency trainings or is that you like right?

And so then I blocked the person because she was just like she kept saying I had a fragile ego.

I was like, that's also hilarious, and then so I blocked her, and then she followed me on other places to harass me about the same thing and then leaves a bad mind for this.

But that's what I'm saying.

Like, so for me in twenty twenty six, I feel like my whole life is a balance between living and managing my chronic health issues, and so that balance sometimes feels like a tightrope that I'm constant falling off of.

And I'm trying to do this podcast and it just never seemed to work.

But I feel like for me, what I really learned is that I need to spend less time listening to the noise, focus on the people who matter my patreon, you know, the people who loyally listen to this podcast and ps.

I love differences of opinion.

I love to agree to disagree.

I love to hear other people's thoughts, but this isn't that, And so for me, I think I'm just going to unapologetically hold boundaries with you know, social media and people on social media and really stick to what I love and what's important to me, which is this, and so that's going to be because what happens is so like you, where you would like go balls to the wall and then you would get super sick.

That happens to me when I come back I do the podcast, I tend to go balls to the wall.

I do too much.

I try to please everybody, and then I burn myself out and then I have to take a huge break.

And so this year I am working on doing that very differently.

But what's crazy is and I didn't we didn't get to talk about this on yours, but so as we speak, I'm having like a pretty significant medical issue so long.

And the short of it is that my body loves to do really weird, heinous things on a holiday or Friday at six pm every time I was on chemotherapy, like for my first cancer and then I've been on immuno therapy for six years for the CLL.

The chemotherapy I had was toxic to my auditory nerves.

So I have some hearing lost in my right air and some tonightis and things like that, but it was like pretty manageable.

And then I woke up out of a dead sleep.

It sounded like a bomb went off.

And it was in my ear drum and I woke up and then I couldn't hear out of the ear and I still can't, by the way, as we're podcasting right now.

Yeah, I know Mandy's face, so U but no cure.

No, well let me.

This is healthcare in America, okay.

So I called to try to schedule an ent appointment, right and I had an ANT because I have a growth in my face that we're not sure what it is, and we're still not sure what it is, and I was seeing this person for that.

But when I called to get the appointment, literally, I was told, you cannot see this person for this new issue.

You have to get a referral from your p Oh no, Mandy, it gets so much worse.

You have to get a referral from your PCP and then see eant.

So I call my PCP and they say, well, we need to see you first, and so I end up going.

Yeah, I end up going to urgent care, which I know that they're not going to be able to help me, but it was just trying to get this ball rolling.

I go to urgent Care and the guy says to me, first of all, he leaves the room for about twenty minutes because he has to consult with an emergency room physician.

I am a very complex person.

Even though I look healthy and I look really normal, I'm very complex.

So he says.

He comes back in and he says, well, there's a chance that you could have had a vestibular stroke.

Oh my god.

And he said you would have to go to the er and get a CT scan.

But guess what, I am allergic to CT scan.

Die.

I need to retreat before I get a CT scan.

And also I'm immuno compromise, so going to the er is yeah, it's it would be worse for me than a vestibular stroke.

So I today, this is the day after Christmas, still have not heard from anybody about this thing that is still happening.

So the reason why I share this is that I podcast through literally everything, and people usually have no idea what's going on.

The reason why I share this is that being a professional patient means that the system is worse than what I experience.

Right, if I experience something and then could get it treated and could have actual medical care, that would be great, But that we're in a very broken system, and so I may now lose permanent hearing because people can't.

But at to me, if you go to the er, though, can't they consult with an emergency E and T like there's always people who are on call for the er.

They could, they could, and so I may need to do that.

I think you should.

Well yeah, and so I just ask up and go yeah.

But I'm waiting because you know so obviously yesterday was Christmas, and before it was Christmas.

Even so I'm waiting today to see if maybe I can hear from somebody.

But if not, what I will have to do is go and sit in a new yr for probably for twelve hours at cold and flu season, risk my health to just actually figure out what is going on.

And so when I talk about like with not caring about social media or whatever, it's like I literally, on a day to day basis, am just trying to keep myself alive.

And because if it weren't, if it weren't for my very loud voice my self advocacy, I would have been dead multiple times over.

My cancer treatment is starting to fail and the cancer in my blood is slowly increasing, and like it's just it's a mess.

But here's the message that I want to give everyone is that I am learning how to be happy and mentally well no matter what my body is doing.

And so for me, that is the biggest win that I could ever ask for.

Yeah, And it informs my decision too with the people that I want to spend my time with, right Like I want to podcast with the people that I want a podcast with.

I want to spend my personal time with the people I want to spend it with.

And I don't want to spend time arguing with strangers on the internet.

My life is too valuable for that.

One hundred percent.

And I always point out to them when they do weird stuff.

I'm like, you're the one that is wasting your time listening to someone to me that they don't like.

Go do something you enjoy, turn off the podcast.

You don't have to listen to this if you don't like it, you know.

But also for me, when people are so harsh on me, it's like, I really am lucky to be alive, and when weird things like this happened to me, it makes me very very aware of that fact.

And it's like I understand people aren't going to be nice just because of that, but I just can't.

I just have to.

I just have to block all that out.

Yeah, like who cares?

It's what other people?

Yeah, who cares about it?

And so I'm just grateful, honestly, And I said this on at the end on your podcast, but every year, my most listened to episode is always eminem R every single year, and I just love So I just want to thank you Mandy for being like not only such a good podcast partner, but a great friend at this point, someone who I really value and I appreciate you.

The Bishes they love you.

I mean, they couldn't love you anymore.

Everyone loves you, and so I just want to say to you, thank you, and to everyone listening, the people on Patreon, the people who really know me, who really support me.

It really does lift me up and it means the world.

In times like this, I do feel like I have a community.

I do feel less alone, and so I'm just thank you to you all, and I'm just super grateful for everyone.

I'm so grateful to have you too.

I Mean we started as maybe a year ago I think so yeah, and it was just I was like, why don't we just like do this, you know, like, let's not make it a whole like separate podcast, Like I don't have the energy that it would take to like come up with new branding.

I just I don't have it, right, I just don't have the time.

So I was like, let's just let's just do it.

Let's just get on the mic, let's chat.

And you know, if no one listens, no one listens, who cares, you know, But I don't care.

I don't care if people don't listen.

I'm just like this has been for me.

This is my little escape from you know, my corner, right.

It literally makes us happy to do it.

So the fact that people just happen to love it, I'm like, well, mozzle the great.

I'm so I know, And I can't believe they still watch.

Like I never wear makeup, were a single thing, and makeup.

I'm wearing my workout clothes because I'm going to Pilate's with Joyce right after this.

Yes, And you know, I'm always like kind of a mess, and I never have good lighting because I don't have good lighting wherever I am.

You know, that's beauty of us.

It's like we are solo maintenance in terms of like I literally rolled out of bed put on a sweatshirt, I have no makeup on you and I were just like, we're just gonna wing it right, yep, okay, start and it's just flawless.

It's just I've never had anything like this with anyone else, So this I am extremely grateful for you and for us.

I can't wait to see what twenty six brings for em and m hour And in the last couple of minutes, you know, let's just chat a little bit about Potomac because Wendy.

There was a scene with Wendy and her mom and her sister, and we talked about it at length on Mandy's podcast Is This Real Life with Mandy Slutsker, So listen to that.

But the one thing that I just wanted to say here is that when I watched the scene with Wendy, Mandy and I had a lot of empathy for Wendy.

And my take on this is that Wendy's mother, the love she has for Wendy is conditional, and when you have a parent that has conditional love, you learn to jump through hoops because we all need love and support from our parents literally until the day we die.

It doesn't matter, it just we always will and Wendy's mom, I believe is the reason that Wendy over achieves, because she feels she needs to know jump through hoops to earn her love.

I think the reason she redid her house is to kind of make her mom proud.

And then when her mom came over, started screaming in front of the kids, and then the sister co signed the bullshit.

It was so so wid Yeah, I just Mandy shares some thoughts on that.

I just I feel bad for Wendy.

I feel I mean, as much as I've always wanted Wendy to be more authentic with us, I think this is the most authentic we've seen her.

I believe that everything that she does is to try and please her mother, and then she fail because it's never good enough, you know, even her being a professor yeah four degrees, Like it's it's she's never going to be enough for her mother.

And I just want her to live for herself and do what she wants to do.

And I do feel like her mom contributed to her, I don't know, ending up in a place where she has to act like she has more money than she does, and you know, maybe act as if the jobs that she has are more prestigious or more important than they are just to try and gain some notoriety, like for her mom to love her, you know, because like she I think lied about being tenured.

She was not tenured professor.

She was a visiting professor.

Like there's just so much and not that any of that is bad.

Like like, girl, do what you want to do, you know.

Right, And you know what's interesting, Mandy on your podcast, you brought up how Gina from OCI did this so differently.

But you know what I want to mention about Gina.

She has very loving parents.

Yes, that is very true.

And Gina made some huge mistakes.

I mean she had the duy I she but they loved her anyway.

Yeah.

Yeah, And when you have a parent who will love you anyway, through mistakes, through whatever.

I think the difference between a Gina and a Wendy is that Gina her parents didn't give her conditions on love, and Wendy had to be like a trained seal to you know, get her mom's love.

And even then her mom started yelling and screaming in her house in front of her children, which if that were me, that woman would not be welcomed back in my house, and I don't care who you are.

I don't care if your mother, a father, my sister, whoever.

You're gonna talk to me in my house in front of my kids, you are not welcome back.

You know, the Nigerian culture of it all withstanding, you know, because we do have to keep that in mind.

But one thing I want to make it clear is that Wendy's mom, I believe has really serious narcissistic traits and tendencies.

Because when for those listening to this that have parents like this, when you do something that they don't like, right, they lash out at you, and then you get upset about it, and then they get even more angry, And those are some real narcissistic traits and tendencies.

And when Wendy was crying and her mom literally was saying fuck you, I was like, Wendy, free yourself from the baggage of this family that you've been born into.

Be with Eddie, be with your family, make your family what you want, and let all of this stuff go and you'll be happy.

And I hope that she can figure that out.

It's not handbags, it's not dresses, it's not beautiful.

Homes, it's not a New Ring for their fifteen year anniversary.

When he said that in the episode, I was like, no, no, don't talk.

It's just making it look so much worse.

Indeed, every episode we see them doing things that it's like, I'm so glad you pointed that out because when I heard it and I was like, this is why you're in trouble stuff madness.

I also don't like their attorney.

I don't know.

I don't know if they're what the point of it all is to fight it, Like I would just be like guilty, Like I'm guilty, What do you want for me?

Can we have a deal?

I don't know why they're fighting it the way that they're fighting it, and the attorney they.

Don't want the blowback.

I don't.

I don't think Wendy is ready to admit that they did some really shady financial stuff.

I don't think she's ready.

Yeah, really.

Yeah.

I just don't like the attorney is constantly trying to make it seem like the judge and the everyone's out to get them, and it's like, no one sought you out.

You you know, said that your home was burglarized and then people found that it wasn't and so then they started digging, so don't act like people are trying to get you.

And then they make it a race issue, which is just I think, really shitty because then it makes race not be considered a serious issue when it actually is an issue, right, Like, no one's going.

After family because of their race, right, And then you're it also gives someone the ability to not have to be accountable in ways that they need to, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, Like, we still have to be accountable for stuff, and clearly they made mistakes, and so you know, here's here's how we'll wrap this up is that in twenty twenty six, for everyone listening to this, I hope that we are all able to live authentic lives that serve us, that free us from shackles of generational trauma, from you know, family dysfunction, from dysfunction on the internet, from all of these things that don't serve us.

I think my message is that life is precious and we really need to be mindful of how we're treating ourselves and other people.

And I think the greatest gift we can give ourselves is the gift of self love, acceptance, healing, and validation, and especially if we don't get it from family, we have to do it for ourselves.

And I promise I'm living proof that it is possible.

So Mandy, thank you so much for being just not only a great friend, a great podcast partner.

I wouldn't want to end this year with anyone other than you, So just thank you so much for being here, my friend.

You're welcome.

Please tell everybody where they can find you in part one of our episode.

Yeah, so you can listen to part one of eminem Hour on is this Real Life with Mandy Slutsker, which you can get wherever you listen to podcasts, And you can find me on Instagram at Mandy Slutsker.

That's spelled Mandy m A n d y and then slut slut scare Mandy slutt and you find me and there and it's super easy and hit fellow.

And of course you can find me at your bish therapist on Instagram intermittently, of course.

But really, where I thrive and where I am most of the time is on Patreon.

Patreon is where it's at.

They're my people, they're my community.

We have a key key.

So if you love bish nation, you want to be a part of it.

And you know Instagram, I haven't responded to dms.

I've just not been doing a lot.

Come on over to Patreon and join that.

But for every single person who supported Mandy and I this year, we want to sincerely thank you.

It does matter, We appreciate you, and we can't wait to see it all at the end of January and let you know how the first month of twenty twenty six months.

So happy New Year, Merry Christmas, happykwan's It, Happy Honakkhah.

Just love you all and thank you so much all the things.

Take care everybody.

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Melissa, operator of YBT, is unable to provide any therapeutic advice, treatment, or feedback.