February 10, 2025 • 45 mins
Up next in our Love Stories we bring you Mike ‘The Situation’ and his wife Lauren. These two are so real, so raw and incredibly inspirational after surviving a prison sentence, addiction, a breakup and oh yeah – the price of fame. Today, Mike is 9 years sober and the two are happily married with three children, 21 years after they first met. The Sorrentinos have some hard-earned, powerful advice for all couples.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey, there are folks.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
In this episode, we continue our Love Stories series and
today's couple Lauren and her situation from reality TV to rehab,
from family to federal prison. Mike and Lauren Sorrentino have
seen a lot. Welcome every bide you this special Cuffing
season edition of Amy and TJ and Robes. They've seen
(00:24):
a lot, but it almost comes through in talking to
them that it seems like they had don't have a
care in the world, like we've been there, done that.
They seemed they were so incredibly strong to me and
talking to them.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Can I tell you of all the couples we have interviewed,
they shocked me the most. You know, you have expectations
and then you have the reality. And they were like
a shining light of hope and inspiration in a way
I could never have predicted or thought. I was taking
more notes with what they each had to say about
(00:56):
their relationship, their choices, how they've evolved. It was. It
was breathtaking. Actually, and they're not I mean they're young,
they're much younger than me, and yet still they had
so much wisdom because they have gone through so much.
As you pointed out something you left out they broke up,
broke up completely for years in between dating and then
(01:16):
actually dating again and eventually getting married. But you're talking
about was it up to eight years of dating on
and off before they ever actually ended up being serious
enough to get engaged.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
And people, of course know Mike the situation Sorrentino of
his Jersey Shore fame. But during that stint, that time
of their uber stardom, she wasn't in the picture.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
They were together.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
She was not along for that wild ride of his.
But they've known each other. I can't remember what age
they said, but they.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Made seventeen eighteen. It was really young, you know, with
the Jersey Shore to teenagers. They they said they had
immediate chemistry. That's one of the questions we ask all
of our couples, what it was like the moment you met,
And it doesn't it's not all the same. They were
the fireworks story initially, but there was a long break
and you know, to find out, she came back to
him at probably one of the lowest times of his
(02:08):
life and she stuck with him. And it's really cool
to hear about the foundation of their love and the
changes and commitments they made to one another. But to
themselves as well. That led them to where they are today.
And it was I mean, it was inspirational to see
where they are today.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
And like we said, I mentioned at the top of
their federal prison was a part of the story. Yep,
she made the choice to marry him knowing he was
about to go into prison. This wasn't a situation where right,
she agreed to marry him and then all of a
sudden these everything changed. No, No, they made a conscious decision.
I'm going to be here when you get out. We
might as well go ahead and get married. Now, this
(02:44):
story is a hell of a story.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Oh I On a lighter note, so we have noticed
a theme we haven't talked about this yet among our interviewees,
where they're all happy. That was one of the reasons
why we wanted to interview them. They had all gone
through something and they all were happy. There was one
issue in the household that seemed to throw everybody off,
(03:08):
tripped everybody out, tripped everybody off up. Sorry, and Mike
and Lauren have the best answer yet about how they
handled this particular household chort.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
So men listening and any woman who has a man
living in the house with you Mike, the situation has
figured it out.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yes, without a doubt. It was a mic dropping moment.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
So they are.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Now added to the list of our diverse group of
couples that we are talking to asking the exact same
list of questions about the relationship, about fights, about household chores,
about finances, sex, Yes, all of it. We've asked them
the same questions and the answers are fantastic so far. Again,
to remind you, we dropping a new episode every day
(03:57):
of the week Monday through Friday leading up to Valentine's Day,
and today we had a treat for you, so enjoy
our conversation with Mike and Lauren.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Mike and Lauren, thank you for being with us today.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yes, thank you for having us.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
How are you guys doing right now?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Oh, we're doing amazing.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
Yeah, we are thriving. We are now a family of five.
Speaker 5 (04:23):
They have a family of chickens in our backyard as well,
eight chickens, so we are just like a busy little
circus of a farm over here.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah. We are going on our seventh year of marriage.
We've been at hometown, New Jersey for about six years.
I'm also going on ten years of sobriety this year
at the end of this year was really big for
me as well. So we are really just thriving. But
at the end of the day, we take everything one
day to time.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Congratulations on all of the above. Seriously, those were all
individually amazing feeds, so that's awesome to hear that update.
We're going to start with the questions We've asked all
of our couples to begin with. I love this first question.
Can each of you give me three words to describe
the current state of your relationship? Michae will start with you.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Solid. Also, I would like to describe our relationship as
very loving. And also does true love sat count as
two words or one word?
Speaker 1 (05:32):
You can make it one?
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Yeah, yeah, I feel that we're love so kind of.
We have so much history to drop on, so you know,
definitely rock steady. We've built our foundation on on on that.
And also we're a very loving family. And also I
(05:55):
consider us true love.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
All right, lady, passionate, connected and strong.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Connected and strong.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
That's amazing. After how many years again, seven years marriage.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
Seven years married, about twenty one we've known each other
for twenty one years, not together for twenty one years collectively.
But I met him when I was nineteen and I
just turned forty last month, So yes, I've known him
more than half my life.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
All right, So what you all are saying now takes
us directly back into our next question, which is, was
there immediate chemistry when you first met?
Speaker 3 (06:39):
One hundred percent? We met in college math class, and
she was the first blonde that I had ever wanted
to date. I had for burnettes, and we were in college,
and I was just drawn upon her and I had
to make my way to somehow sit next to her
(07:00):
and then eventually try to get her number, which I
eventually did.
Speaker 5 (07:03):
But we're always opposite, like he said, So I was
sitting in the front row, he was in the back row,
but we instantly had a connection and a chemistry.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Yeah. I like club music and she likes country, so
it's kind of, you know, we have to make it work.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yeah, we have very different music interests as well. I
love yacht rock and he loves anything else.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
Okay, very cool.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Love that it can still work. That is one difference
that actually is surmountable. I would say, yes, Okay, who
said I love you first?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
It was probably Mek. It was definitely me. I'm a cancer,
I wear my heart on my sleeve and I'm not
afraid to show some of my cards. And she was
definitely I think my college sweetheart, not that I think,
but I know you were my college sweetheart. And then
when we had broken up around my Jersey Shore discovery face,
(08:00):
I was always longing for, you know, our connection, which
we eventually got back together years later.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
That's so cool.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I think that's been consistent. It's mostly the guys who
ended up saying I love you first, and most of
the conversations we've had with the couples, that's been consistent.
How long give us your timeline line here? How long
did you date before you got engaged? How long were
you engaged before you got married?
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Oh? Wow, wow, do you want to answer a lot
of people get confused with our story. Oh my god,
you guys were together, you know, your whole Jersey Shore days.
You know, it's like no, no, no.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
So we were together for about three years the first
time around college, and that was in college, that was
pre Jersey Shore. That was like two thousand and four,
five to eight, and then he coincidentally went to rehab
his first time two thousand and eight, got out of rehab,
went right into filming Jersey Shore, so we were not
(08:55):
together all of that time Jersey Shore started finished.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
We got back together in twy thirteen.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
May of twenty thirteen, and.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Then we got engaged Valentine's eighteen year.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Oh Valentine's Day.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
I'd say twenty eighteen.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yeah, and then we got married the following year.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
We know that year. We got married November.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
First, that fall, Yeah, a couple of months later.
Speaker 5 (09:22):
Yeah, So we were ready. We knew, I think we
always knew we were each other's person. Yeah, but we
needed to like have our life figured out. Yep, you know,
we were kind of going through a lot of different things.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Yeah, all for those years. All the relationship is definitely
very battle tested. We've been through a lot of things together,
and we definitely draw upon that a lot of the
times because you you can also be grateful and sort
of understand the big picture and step back that we
have so much history together and obviously the chemistry as
well as the relationship is very passionate as well.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
That's so cool. So you had three years initially then
another five years before you actually got engaged, So yeah,
that's that's a remarkable timeline, and the fact that you
went and made it through all of those years is
a testament to where you are today. That's really cool.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yeah. Yeah, we got married in two thousand and eighteen. Yeah,
and then a couple months later they had I had
went to prison for almost a year, and so our
first year of marriage, I was inside technically, And you know,
a relationship really has to be strong to go through
(10:33):
something like that, where the first year of marriage I
was in prison, you know, paying my debt to society
and trying to write my redemption story.
Speaker 5 (10:42):
Every Friday night we had our date night. I would
drive to visit him and I was just we would
hang out, we would play scrabble, Yeah, we would eat,
we would just talk for hours.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
And it was every Friday night.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Yeah, we were so excited. I was so excited to
get snacks out of the vending machine. So let's tell
you how how simple things had gotten at one particular point.
But we always had love.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah, you know what I'm gonna because of that answer,
I'm going to skip ahead to another question. We have
a little farther down the list, but it is what
has your or what was your first year of marriage
like now you all have already described some of the
practical stuff that was going on, but also and you
all describe just emotionally from a family logistics standpoint, from
(11:26):
dealing with other family members. I mean, it couldn't have
been all sunshine and rainbows, not all.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
I mean, I was super positive. My wife would take
the three or three and a half hour drive, and
I had to be positive for my wife. I had
to be a leader to let her know that, listen,
everything's going to be okay at the end of the day.
And she she was obviously upset. You know, a lot
of the times, you know, that particular time here was
(11:53):
definitely uncertainty, but also it was a means to an end,
you know what I mean. I was sentenced for, you know,
eight months of prison time to pay my debt to society,
and once that was over, we can start to have
not a happy ending, but a happy beginning. And that's
kind of that was our mindset at the time. So
(12:13):
we really enjoyed our time whenever it was, wherever it was,
and we were grateful, we were grateful for each other
and that we were going to do whatever it took
to get out of, you know, that hole. That we
were in and eventually start a family, which we did.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
Yeah, I think we.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
Were from my perspective, just like he said, we were
so relieved that all that legal stuff was behind us
because he had started on that legal journey in twenty thirteen,
the year we got back together. It was that fall
that all of that started. So it took five years
to get a resolution from.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
That and a million dollars worth of legal fees. Yes,
so he was definitely a legal odyssey and it was
very emotionally dreaming for all of us.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
But yeah, we were so happy to get married and
so happy and ready to move forward in our personal
life and just start a family and work towards that
in our future. So that first year was definitely challenging,
but I think that it was it helped us really
continue to solidify our foundation.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Yeah, but we had gone through some tougher times than that,
which we were very we stay at faith and we're
very faithful couple. You know. I feel that you know,
everything that you go through God prepares you for. And
I had went through addiction a few years before that.
(13:48):
I'm now, you know, ten years, but at that particular time,
I was let's just say around the core case, I
was what three two or three?
Speaker 5 (13:55):
Well, by the time you went away, you were two
years I just also started.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Yeah, so addiction was just so much harder to get
through that. So once we got through that and we
started to face the court stuff together, you know, I'll
be honest with you, it was almost like a muscle,
you know what I mean. We we had built up
a foundation to continue to fight together.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah, that's remarkable. I mean what the two of you
went through from just dating and a very public situation,
addiction and then prison all just to get to your
first wedding anniversary. I feel like, what else could happen
that you couldn't handle at that point?
Speaker 3 (14:38):
One hundred percent. We consider ourselves a very battle tested
couple that has gone through the storm. And you know,
and and we have turned adversity into our own power,
you know. And we had used what was meant to
be against us or for your harm, you know, God
(14:59):
had you know, turned it for our good. I guess,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Propelled us.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah, that's that's remarkable. I love that. So do you
all have an age difference at all?
Speaker 4 (15:11):
He is about four years older than me.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yep, has that played a role at all in your relationship.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
I think maybe when we were very young, like when
I met him and I was nineteen and you were
twenty to twenty three. But I know, I think we're
pretty close in age, like given the adulthood of our life.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Yeah, my wife just turned forty the other day. It's
a big celebration for us. We booked a trip to
Sicily in a couple of months. Nice, it was nice. Yeah, yeah,
we're very excited.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Tell us now here. Why did you want to get married?
Why was it important to take that step at something
some couple's debate, Hey, everything's going fine. Why do we
need some document or a piece of paper? Why was
it important to be married for you all?
Speaker 3 (16:04):
For me, I just I always as a young man,
I always dreamed of being married and having my own family,
being raised as in the Italian tradition, family is very important.
So for me, I always wanted to get married and
have a family, have a big wedding, which we did.
We leveraged my employer, MTV, and we did our wedding
(16:25):
on TV, which was a massive, beautiful wedding. Even though
I was going through all those tough times with the
case and spending a million dollars on lawyers, I was
still able to strategically leverage my celebrity and my employer,
MTV to have this beautiful wedding. So yeah, no, I
(16:46):
don't know. I loved our wedding was beautiful, and I
do understand the question of a piece of paper.
Speaker 5 (16:52):
Yeah, yeah, both of us our values were always aligned
no matter what age we were, whether we were nineteen
or in our four We both came from large Italian
Catholic families raised in New Jersey, and he had he
was one of four siblings. I'm one of four siblings.
(17:12):
I had three girls, one boy. He had three boys,
one girl. Like the family dynamics, So there was just
like a lot of similarities there. And for me, it's
just that's always been my dream, you know, to find
my dream man and get married. And the timing was
just the right timing for us in our relationship, and
(17:33):
I couldn't wait to marry him. We had parted ways
younger when we were younger, and our relationship was something
that I always had looked back on that, you know,
I always felt like a piece.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
Of me was with him. Yeah, and I think it
was a mutual thing.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
But we had to like do our lives separately minute
and thank god we did, because if we stayed together
would not have worked.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
You know, there is that phrase, you know, he let
the bird out of the cage. If it's meant to be,
you know, comes back. If it's not then you know.
But when we were dating in college, we used to
drive by these homes in home though, and they were
just beautiful homes, and we would be like, you know what,
one day, you know, it'd be great to when we
were dating in college, it would be great to settle
(18:18):
down and have a family out here. And sure enough,
twenty years.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Later, just not on the timeline you probably thought it
would be. That's really cool though for people who have
certain expectations, it doesn't necessarily happen when you think it's
going to. But that's exactly really cool. Did your relationship,
(18:46):
especially given the ins and out of it, have the
support of your friends and your family?
Speaker 3 (18:52):
You know what. I'm sure that you know, early on
there were some skeptics, you know what I mean. I mean,
I'm going to this huge court case United States is
versus the situation. Uh, you know, they're trying to penalize
me for millions of dollars. I'm sure. And again I
don't know if this has happened, but I'm sure her
(19:12):
family was worried about that. You know, that's possibly could
be in there. But you know, many many years later,
it turned out to be a good decision.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
I think, if any, the majority of the skeptics were
always kind of the fan base maybe, or like the
outside people that were disconnected or removed from what's really happening.
I think that our family and our friends, the people
close to us always saw what we had as a connection,
including my family. Had there have ever been skeptics, no
(19:45):
one ever voiced that within our world.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
You know, that's cool and that's what counts. So it's
awesome that y'all were able to separate those two things,
because sometimes people get you know, you get sucked into
whatever the PubL like images or whatever, and that affects you.
But it's awesome that it didn't for you. Okay, So
the next question full disclosure. We ask everyone this answer
it however you'd like. How would you describe your sex life?
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Oh? Wow, I would say active active? Yeah, No, I'm
trying to be articulated.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
Nice, I would I would say healthy.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yes, good word. Yeah, that is.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
The safest answer possible. That's good. Yeah, that's a good one.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Yes. I mean, listen, we have three babies. We have
a three year old, a two year old, and a
one year old, and she does such an amazing job
sleep training the kids. The kids all go go to
bed usually six fifteen, six thirty and seven, so around
seven o'clock is mom and dad time. And we prioritize
(20:57):
that time for mom and dad, you know what, I mean,
to have our relationships and to put us our relationship first,
you know, and also throughout the week besides sex life,
we always try to implement like a date day or
date nights where mom and dad go to a restaurant
and we dress up, we take pictures, we posted and
and just you know, get more time together.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yeah, all right, next question here, besides sex, how important
is physical touch in your relationship and specifically something as
simple as walking down the street holding hands?
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Do you that's good? I think everyone has their own
love language. I definitely physical touch is is mind but
I think that's very very important. Also, there's other things
like acts of service and what's the ones we called
you like? She likes quality time I like the touch
(21:52):
and acts of service, so very mindful of those things. Also,
I think what's really important is that both couple get
both the man or the women or you know, the
two people in the relationship. They get on the path
of self improvement, self care, taking care of themselves, trying
(22:13):
to look good for your significant other, going to the gym, tanning.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Laundry, GTL amazing. I love that you just got that in.
It's still alive.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Yes, yes, yeah. My wife goes to blodies at least
three times a week and I usually go try to
go to the gym five times a week. And we're
trying to look good for each other, you know what
I mean. We're trying to you know, eat healthy, work out,
get good sleep, just being good humans. You know, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
So we'll ask about the flip side as well. How
often do you fight and is there something you fight
about most?
Speaker 3 (23:04):
We don't fight a lot. I feel like we're we're rare,
rare breed. We don't fight much. If I put it
on like a scale of like the whole year, it's
like we don't fight ninety five percent of the time,
so and a whole year, it's very small there's like
one here, one there. I'm trying to think what we
(23:25):
fight about the most. I don't even know some you know,
we don't have big fights, so it's more so it's
probably if you put down to it, it's probably comes
down to, you know, miscommunication sometimes probably, and then also
just humans have emotions, and those emotions can be tricky
(23:47):
sometimes and you don't know, you know, what type of
day your sweetheart is having, and you know, sometimes you
gotta get context.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
I think that any argument in our relationship has happened
is almost always a miscommunication where we're truly speaking different languages.
I mean, get our guard down and explain early, like
what meant by whatever you were saying. Yeah, And it
also only happens if, like we're really busy and we're.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
Not making time for us.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
I always recognized that, So it's always a sign that
we need to slow down whatever we're doing and get
back into our routine for us.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Oh lord, lord, I am dying inside because this happened
to us today. You describe the exact thing we did.
We were caught up busy in the midst of doing
something else. We're trying to communicate. She finally said, TJ.
We're talking about two different things. Like literally we're talking
about like just pump the brakes for a second. That
(24:48):
is hilarious. All right, So when was the last time
next question here, either of you remembered you had to
say I'm sorry to the other.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
You know, I think it's important to say anytime. If
if you said to me, give me some advice to
any couple, I would say to be the first to
apologize in a fight, you know what I mean, At
the end of the day, it's really not that, it's
not really that worth it, you know. So I think
I think we both take turns, you know, because we
practice what we preach in our family, and we both
(25:21):
take turns, Like she's gonna say I'm sorry, and then
I'm gonna say, you know, I'm sorry. You know what
I'm saying. It's really not that big of a deal.
You always revert back to, you know, we have this
really special love and we have such history together, and
it's really not that big of a deal. So you
just got to take a step back, take a take
a breathe, and realize, like what's happening. A lot of times,
(25:44):
like she just said, you're speaking different languages and it's okay.
Sometimes you know it's.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Okay, Lauren, you remember a time that you had to
say I'm sorry or a recent time, well, the last
time you had to say I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
I think I often say I'm sorry.
Speaker 5 (25:57):
I'm a mom of three small beats, so I'm often overstimulated, overwhelmed,
you know, a lot of just crying with the babies
all the time. So oftentimes, like I'll be like, you
know what, I'm sorry. I was distracted with them or
in the moment with them, I couldn't give attention to
what we were talking about, what you were asking me.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
So I feel like.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
I'm often doing that, and I'm I'm happy to do
that because I'm also raising these children and I want
them to see open lines of communication where you know,
if you don't react the way that you planned or
intended to, it's like you need to go back and
repair that relationship.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
You don't just blaze over it.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Not as good advice, that's amazing good advice. You know
how when we look back, I think the way we
were raised, you know, it's parents had to be strong, right,
they're authoritarian, and apology or saying you were sorry was
weak or somehow seating that authority. But it's so interesting
when you actually have a parent apologizing. It teaches you
(26:58):
that it's okay to apologize. It isn't weak, it's actually
really strong to do that. I love that.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Yeah, we're definitely big on accountability in this family. You know,
if you're mad, if you're I guess wrong in some way,
it's not a big deal. You know, we're human, you know,
we're imperfect human, So it's okay to be like, hey,
I made a mistake, I'm sorry, I was tired, I
was angry. You know, my emotions got the best of me.
Let's talk this out, you.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Know, all right, all right, next question here. People feel
strongly about this one way or another. But do you
all go to bed angry?
Speaker 1 (27:34):
No?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
No, no, no, I would say rarely. I would say,
I don't like I do ninety seven percentile.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
No, yeah, but you make it a point to not
go to bed angry.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Yes, yes, yes, yes I.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Do.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Percentiles because as a family and a couple, is very
rare that we fight, and if we do, that's why
I put the percentile on there, because it's like up
in the ninety something percentiles, that's awesome, But it does happen.
You know, it does happen.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Every now and then. Rare real off period isn't a
bad thing. What do you each love most about the other?
Whoever wants to go first.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
I love how my wife is. She is strong, she's assertive,
she's beautiful, and she's the rock to this family. She
straightened me out. I mean god, I mean she's the
one that straightened the situation out. She saved my life.
So I'm I'm forever grateful that I have this beautiful
(28:39):
woman by my side.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
I would say.
Speaker 5 (28:44):
Mike's strength, his resilience to overcome anything and everything, which
I've always seen inside of him and it just took
him a little bit longer to find it on his own.
But really just how he's our sturdy leader of our family.
I never, under any circumstances that we've gone through in
the past or that we will go through in the future.
(29:07):
I never worry about where we're going because he's our captain,
Like I always know that he is going to protect
us and he's going to make sure that we're solid
in any environment.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
I love this all right. Next question, here's a practical
one that every couple deals with how do you all
handle finances? Is all shared account family or are their
separate accounts?
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Oh? Wow, Well that's because I had some issues with
finances early on in my career. I let my wife
handle everything. Okay, there is total there is total trust
there with my wife. Everything is you know, fifty to fifty.
(29:50):
And another fun fact was I haven't stepped in a
bank in eleven years. I've not stepped in a bank
because when I was going through my case, one of
the key uh, I guess what was it? The witnesses.
(30:11):
Uh was one of the only one. Yeah, one of
the only witnesses they had against me was they said,
I came into the bank with a big bag of money,
and anything that's over ten thousand dollars you got to
fill out a form. Now I got nervous because I
didn't know, and I think you were very high and
I probably was also very high, and I was nervous.
I said, give me back my money and here's nine
(30:32):
nine hundred. I'll come back at another time, and they
use that against me. So I don't step put in
the bank now.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Yeah, wow, I mean that's a pretty good reason. That's yeah,
So I get it.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Yeah, I don't. My wife handles all the finances. There's
total trust there. Everything is fifty to fifty and that's it.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Yeah, that's awesome. Okay, how about household chores, Like we're
talking who cooks, who cleans, who does the laundry?
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Oh? Good, good question. I think that is cooking? Is
my wife? Cleaning is like fifty to fifty because once
I come home from work at five o'clock, from five
to seven, I clean and I help put the kids
to bed. Yeah so uh. And then seasonal duties and
(31:22):
things like that around the house the man does. So
I handle everything from you know, sprinklers to opening the
pool to the lawn, any additions to the home like
they put they put up a fence recently, Just making
sure that I handle all those duties. And she pretty
much handles the kids, the caretaking, the food, grocery shopping.
(31:49):
And then I come in almost like a picture at
the end of the game, to help. I'm the closer. Yeah,
and she my wife's like been with the kids all
day and she's tired. I'm in a five and I'm
the closure and I clean up and I put the
help put the kids to bed, and then clean the house.
(32:10):
To make sure it's ready for the next day.
Speaker 5 (32:12):
It's very collaborative and I'm very grateful because it took
you know, we have starting your family and growing.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
You have to find your groove.
Speaker 5 (32:20):
So we're definitely in a very good routine now where
we both do our share because it's a lot maintaining
the household of five.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Yeap, Yes, the one thing you didn't mention. We're just
curious about is laundry.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Laundry, Oh, laundry. She does the kid's laundry, the kids laundry.
She does the kid's laundry, and I get ours, uh
taking out to make it easier on my life, and
I take that out so so to make it easier
for mom. She handles the kids laundry, which is you
(32:56):
know is doable. But then I get my laundry in
her law and dry cleaning. I handled that and I
take it to wash and fold and I do thry clean.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
We're laughing because this has been the stickler.
Speaker 6 (33:09):
It's hilarious, Like this is the question were compatible of
all couples that all of them have started to like
turn on each other when it came to talking about laundry.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
But Mike, I think you figured it out.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
Yes, I'm telling you that is a very big it's amazing, amazing.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
We started to do it because we had so many
babies so quickly. We have babies back to back to back.
So as not a present, but I wanted to take
certain a load off of my wife to make it
easier for her. And the laundry definitely piles up. So
I'm like, okay, fine, so we wash and fold and
I get ours dry cleaned, and be honest with Jude,
(33:51):
has been like my secret weapon.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
It is it is that is really really cool. Again,
I mentioned tease at the top, but this is the
one thing, laundry that has been the most interesting answer
we get from everybody. All right, next question here, how
much time do you all find you need, if any
apart just a little time, a little break from each
other over time.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
It's over a period of time of of of a year,
it's ninety eight percent. Probably we're never really apart. I mean,
I work a lot, but i'm away, but when I'm home. Yeah,
there's it's really not like that.
Speaker 5 (34:28):
Yeah, we're one of those couples, which it doesn't work
for everybody, but we are each other's best friend first
and I think that's why we love spending that much
time together, because while we can be intimate and passionate
and have that part of our relationship, we also are
truly interested in like our everything, like everything about each other.
(34:50):
We're just kind of about each other's best friend. And
I really don't like time apart, like we miss each
other quickly.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
But also it's important to note to note that, you know,
my wife, she goes to her pilates classes, she gets
her nails done, her hair done, you know, throughout the day,
and I'm pretty much, you know, also doing some of
those things as well. And then we come back to home,
you know, with our kids and our family, and I
don't know why we would be a part at that point,
(35:18):
but you know, some.
Speaker 4 (35:19):
People do in space, but we are with each other
a lot, like Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
I mean, listen, if I want to watch a movie
in the living room and she's in the family room,
I don't count that, you know.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
Yeah, all right.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
Have you guys ever gone to couples therapy?
Speaker 5 (35:44):
No, actually, couples each done therapy like individually, but not couples.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Yeah. I've done various forms of therapy over the years,
but not couples.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
You know, well, all right, next question here, have you
ever threatened to break up, leave, or even get divorced
in the middle of a heated argument.
Speaker 5 (36:06):
Oh no, that's good, that's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
I love. That is amazing. You know.
Speaker 3 (36:13):
That's like on the in the book of What You're Not.
You just can't go there. You just cannot ever go there.
And if you think you're going to go there, go
take a shower, go take a walk. If you say
something that you don't mean, sometimes some of those hurtful
(36:33):
words can come back to haunt you.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Yeah, successful couple seem to know the answer to that
question immediately.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Really really interesting. We'll switch it up and ask each
of you what's the sweetest thing the other has done
for you?
Speaker 3 (36:49):
Well, my wife, I mean listen, she used to drive
three and a half hour to spem in prison. Okay,
so that's one way. So we're talking seven hours to
see me in prison on a weekly basis. I mean,
just her taking a chance on me was probably the
(37:10):
sweetest thing that anyone can do, you know what I mean.
I was going through so much trouble, and I was
going through addiction and again this woman saved my life.
So you know, she's my true love, you know, so
she has my heart. So I think I listen, I
can't think of anything sweeter than that. I mean, you
(37:31):
used to drive three and a half hours each each way.
It's seven hours. That's crazy. Yeah, yeah, to visit your
felon of of a husband in for instance.
Speaker 5 (37:46):
So I think that for me it changed. It has
changed over the years because so much has changed with us.
But I used to always like to reminisce on our
engagement because it was on Valentine's Day and it was
during a very chaotic period of our life, and he
just made sure to make all of my dreams come true.
(38:08):
And he made note of all of these little things
that I had said over the time that we were
back together in those five years, and all the things
that I envisioned, and including down to our wedding, like
really making sure all of those things happened, and amidst
all the legal stuff and like the recovery stuff and
everything else that was already on his shoulders. For him
(38:29):
to make sure that these little things were made to
happen to make my dreams come true was very sweet.
And I think that he's kind of carried that over
into when we have our kids.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
Yeah, I mean I do that on a daily basis.
Speaker 4 (38:42):
I just, yeah, just cute little thing.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
I text my wife every day at eleven eleven the
heart eleven and then eleven, and then I love you
every day at eleven eleven.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
That's really sweet.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Way because I'm like, I don't know if that's superstitious
or what, but eleven eleven, and if it's eleven twelve,
but it don't count, it's got to be eleven.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Eleven any time zone, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
I yeah, I listen. I catch her usually eleven eleven.
I never thought about it if I was in Cali
and she was in But for the most part, it's
been working.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
You know.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
I do the eleven, then eleven, then another heart and
then I love you and I all try to make
it fit before it turns eleven twelve.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
Really cute.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
We had a good story going, are you.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Some times I was thinking, I went to like a
place like what happens when you travel and you.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Are and now I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have
to accommodate that. When I am in l A, I
have to be like, okay, eleven eleven is.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Eight eleven is what eight eight eleven?
Speaker 3 (39:56):
Yeah, eight eleven.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Yeah, that's and above.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
And beyond another time zone. You're like, all right, you're
doing calculations in your brain. All right, it's eight eleven.
Now I got a minute to get in.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
All right, last few week got for you here. I
don't want to use the word warn, but if it applies,
let it. But what would you warn or make sure
you told another couple to consider before marriage?
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (40:26):
Wow, I'll start it. I would say your values on
raising children.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
Yeah, yeah, you're so right.
Speaker 5 (40:37):
You're so right children Because some people, I think you
might not always have that conversation and get married, and
then one person might think you know kids and no
kids or whatever.
Speaker 4 (40:49):
You know.
Speaker 5 (40:50):
So I think, though, I think it's always important to
have a conversation about family and values.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
Yeah, what was the question? Sure?
Speaker 1 (41:00):
What would you what would you tell a couple who
was considering marriage, What would you warn them about or
ask them to consider before actually getting married?
Speaker 3 (41:11):
I think, I mean, I think I do this a lot.
I always say, like, communication is key, be the first
one to apologize. And I also say, have the couple
get on the path of self improvement, whether mentally, physically, spiritually,
personally or professionally. You just have their own goals and
(41:31):
then they come together together usual I say that, yep.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
I love that. So everyone always focuses on, oh, you're
in the honeymoon phase. How long did your honeymoon phase last?
And what would you just describe the phase you're in now? Oh?
Speaker 3 (41:47):
Wow? You know what I'm going to say that that
I don't really put us in like a box, you
know what I mean? As in, you just described like
a hunt emon phase. I mean, you know, so I
wouldn't even like put us in a in a box
(42:07):
right there, as as it relates to who's to say
we're not always in the honeymoon phase? You know what
I'm saying? You just don't. I don't know, you know.
I mean, I'm we're always happy, and I feel like
we've been through so much that we are so grateful
for each other that like again, we are just so
happy that we have each other, our beautiful kids, the
(42:30):
life that we worked so hard for. So every single
day we are making positive decisions to build upon that
two for for us and our children. So it's almost like.
Speaker 5 (42:44):
Like a solid box, Like it's like the honeymoon phase
turns into the solid box and it's both together.
Speaker 4 (42:50):
It's almost like it should be like the old I feel.
Speaker 3 (42:53):
I feel like it's almost like we're working on our
happily every after type of box. What I mean, like
every single day we're bold, like I'm devoted to my
wife and my children, and every decision I make is
for the betterment of us and our family. And the
same applies to my wife in every area of life.
(43:15):
So you know, and there's so many areas of life
you know that you can and there's mentally, physically, spiritually, personally,
professionally negativity we kick aside. So I think the box
that we're working on is the happily ever after box.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
You're in your happily ever after face. That's really cool. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (43:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
The last one here is obvious. It's to be expected.
It's a little cliche, but it has to be asked
because anytime you come across a successful couple, everybody that's
in a relationship ask the couple this question, what's the key?
What's the secret to relationship success? So if somebody came up, yes,
(43:55):
you all don't have twenty thirty, forty fifty years of
a marriage, but you got an if that you all
could steal, what would you tell somebody who adds, hey man,
what is the key the secret marriage success?
Speaker 4 (44:07):
I would say you have to remember mindful.
Speaker 5 (44:10):
You have to be mindful, yes, but I think you
have to always remember that you're on the same team,
and that there's no stronger person rooting for you in
life and in your relationship than the person next to you.
Speaker 3 (44:27):
I think the most important two things I'm going to
try to simplify it is being grateful. Being grateful attracts
more abundance, and being mindful. You know, you could throw
being loving in there as well, but those three.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
Yeah, it's so good, and we are writing everyone's advice
down because it's so true and you all have lived it.
You have walked the walk. You're not just talking to talk,
so we really appreciate it. Thank you. It takes a
lot to be open and vulnerable about all the intimate
detail tells about your day to day life, the things
(45:01):
that people don't necessarily see on cameras. So thank you
both for sharing that with us. We really appreciate it.
We love getting to know you better.
Speaker 3 (45:10):
Yeah, I think I think that everything in life takes work,
you know, and and relationships do as well. Successful relationships
take work, but I think a good phrase is the
grass is only green or wherever you water it, and
that lies.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Really. Thank you all so much, Mike Lauren. We will
see you all plenty down a row and congrats on everything,
all right, yes, thank you guys.
Speaker 3 (45:36):
Have a great day.
Hey, there are folks.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
In this episode, we continue our Love Stories series and
today's couple Lauren and her situation from reality TV to rehab,
from family to federal prison. Mike and Lauren Sorrentino have
seen a lot. Welcome every bide you this special Cuffing
season edition of Amy and TJ and Robes. They've seen
(00:24):
a lot, but it almost comes through in talking to
them that it seems like they had don't have a
care in the world, like we've been there, done that.
They seemed they were so incredibly strong to me and
talking to them.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Can I tell you of all the couples we have interviewed,
they shocked me the most. You know, you have expectations
and then you have the reality. And they were like
a shining light of hope and inspiration in a way
I could never have predicted or thought. I was taking
more notes with what they each had to say about
(00:56):
their relationship, their choices, how they've evolved. It was. It
was breathtaking. Actually, and they're not I mean they're young,
they're much younger than me, and yet still they had
so much wisdom because they have gone through so much.
As you pointed out something you left out they broke up,
broke up completely for years in between dating and then
(01:16):
actually dating again and eventually getting married. But you're talking
about was it up to eight years of dating on
and off before they ever actually ended up being serious
enough to get engaged.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
And people, of course know Mike the situation Sorrentino of
his Jersey Shore fame. But during that stint, that time
of their uber stardom, she wasn't in the picture.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
They were together.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
She was not along for that wild ride of his.
But they've known each other. I can't remember what age
they said, but they.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Made seventeen eighteen. It was really young, you know, with
the Jersey Shore to teenagers. They they said they had
immediate chemistry. That's one of the questions we ask all
of our couples, what it was like the moment you met,
And it doesn't it's not all the same. They were
the fireworks story initially, but there was a long break
and you know, to find out, she came back to
him at probably one of the lowest times of his
(02:08):
life and she stuck with him. And it's really cool
to hear about the foundation of their love and the
changes and commitments they made to one another. But to
themselves as well. That led them to where they are today.
And it was I mean, it was inspirational to see
where they are today.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
And like we said, I mentioned at the top of
their federal prison was a part of the story. Yep,
she made the choice to marry him knowing he was
about to go into prison. This wasn't a situation where right,
she agreed to marry him and then all of a
sudden these everything changed. No, No, they made a conscious decision.
I'm going to be here when you get out. We
might as well go ahead and get married. Now, this
(02:44):
story is a hell of a story.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Oh I On a lighter note, so we have noticed
a theme we haven't talked about this yet among our interviewees,
where they're all happy. That was one of the reasons
why we wanted to interview them. They had all gone
through something and they all were happy. There was one
issue in the household that seemed to throw everybody off,
(03:08):
tripped everybody out, tripped everybody off up. Sorry, and Mike
and Lauren have the best answer yet about how they
handled this particular household chort.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
So men listening and any woman who has a man
living in the house with you Mike, the situation has
figured it out.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yes, without a doubt. It was a mic dropping moment.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
So they are.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Now added to the list of our diverse group of
couples that we are talking to asking the exact same
list of questions about the relationship, about fights, about household chores,
about finances, sex, Yes, all of it. We've asked them
the same questions and the answers are fantastic so far. Again,
to remind you, we dropping a new episode every day
(03:57):
of the week Monday through Friday leading up to Valentine's Day,
and today we had a treat for you, so enjoy
our conversation with Mike and Lauren.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Mike and Lauren, thank you for being with us today.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yes, thank you for having us.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
How are you guys doing right now?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Oh, we're doing amazing.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
Yeah, we are thriving. We are now a family of five.
Speaker 5 (04:23):
They have a family of chickens in our backyard as well,
eight chickens, so we are just like a busy little
circus of a farm over here.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah. We are going on our seventh year of marriage.
We've been at hometown, New Jersey for about six years.
I'm also going on ten years of sobriety this year
at the end of this year was really big for
me as well. So we are really just thriving. But
at the end of the day, we take everything one
day to time.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Congratulations on all of the above. Seriously, those were all
individually amazing feeds, so that's awesome to hear that update.
We're going to start with the questions We've asked all
of our couples to begin with. I love this first question.
Can each of you give me three words to describe
the current state of your relationship? Michae will start with you.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Solid. Also, I would like to describe our relationship as
very loving. And also does true love sat count as
two words or one word?
Speaker 1 (05:32):
You can make it one?
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Yeah, yeah, I feel that we're love so kind of.
We have so much history to drop on, so you know,
definitely rock steady. We've built our foundation on on on that.
And also we're a very loving family. And also I
(05:55):
consider us true love.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
All right, lady, passionate, connected and strong.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Connected and strong.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
That's amazing. After how many years again, seven years marriage.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
Seven years married, about twenty one we've known each other
for twenty one years, not together for twenty one years collectively.
But I met him when I was nineteen and I
just turned forty last month, So yes, I've known him
more than half my life.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
All right, So what you all are saying now takes
us directly back into our next question, which is, was
there immediate chemistry when you first met?
Speaker 3 (06:39):
One hundred percent? We met in college math class, and
she was the first blonde that I had ever wanted
to date. I had for burnettes, and we were in college,
and I was just drawn upon her and I had
to make my way to somehow sit next to her
(07:00):
and then eventually try to get her number, which I
eventually did.
Speaker 5 (07:03):
But we're always opposite, like he said, So I was
sitting in the front row, he was in the back row,
but we instantly had a connection and a chemistry.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Yeah. I like club music and she likes country, so
it's kind of, you know, we have to make it work.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yeah, we have very different music interests as well. I
love yacht rock and he loves anything else.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
Okay, very cool.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Love that it can still work. That is one difference
that actually is surmountable. I would say, yes, Okay, who
said I love you first?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
It was probably Mek. It was definitely me. I'm a cancer,
I wear my heart on my sleeve and I'm not
afraid to show some of my cards. And she was
definitely I think my college sweetheart, not that I think,
but I know you were my college sweetheart. And then
when we had broken up around my Jersey Shore discovery face,
(08:00):
I was always longing for, you know, our connection, which
we eventually got back together years later.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
That's so cool.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I think that's been consistent. It's mostly the guys who
ended up saying I love you first, and most of
the conversations we've had with the couples, that's been consistent.
How long give us your timeline line here? How long
did you date before you got engaged? How long were
you engaged before you got married?
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Oh? Wow, wow, do you want to answer a lot
of people get confused with our story. Oh my god,
you guys were together, you know, your whole Jersey Shore days.
You know, it's like no, no, no.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
So we were together for about three years the first
time around college, and that was in college, that was
pre Jersey Shore. That was like two thousand and four,
five to eight, and then he coincidentally went to rehab
his first time two thousand and eight, got out of rehab,
went right into filming Jersey Shore, so we were not
(08:55):
together all of that time Jersey Shore started finished.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
We got back together in twy thirteen.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
May of twenty thirteen, and.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Then we got engaged Valentine's eighteen year.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Oh Valentine's Day.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
I'd say twenty eighteen.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yeah, and then we got married the following year.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
We know that year. We got married November.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
First, that fall, Yeah, a couple of months later.
Speaker 5 (09:22):
Yeah, So we were ready. We knew, I think we
always knew we were each other's person. Yeah, but we
needed to like have our life figured out. Yep, you know,
we were kind of going through a lot of different things.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Yeah, all for those years. All the relationship is definitely
very battle tested. We've been through a lot of things together,
and we definitely draw upon that a lot of the
times because you you can also be grateful and sort
of understand the big picture and step back that we
have so much history together and obviously the chemistry as
well as the relationship is very passionate as well.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
That's so cool. So you had three years initially then
another five years before you actually got engaged, So yeah,
that's that's a remarkable timeline, and the fact that you
went and made it through all of those years is
a testament to where you are today. That's really cool.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yeah. Yeah, we got married in two thousand and eighteen. Yeah,
and then a couple months later they had I had
went to prison for almost a year, and so our
first year of marriage, I was inside technically, And you know,
a relationship really has to be strong to go through
(10:33):
something like that, where the first year of marriage I
was in prison, you know, paying my debt to society
and trying to write my redemption story.
Speaker 5 (10:42):
Every Friday night we had our date night. I would
drive to visit him and I was just we would
hang out, we would play scrabble, Yeah, we would eat,
we would just talk for hours.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
And it was every Friday night.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Yeah, we were so excited. I was so excited to
get snacks out of the vending machine. So let's tell
you how how simple things had gotten at one particular point.
But we always had love.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah, you know what I'm gonna because of that answer,
I'm going to skip ahead to another question. We have
a little farther down the list, but it is what
has your or what was your first year of marriage
like now you all have already described some of the
practical stuff that was going on, but also and you
all describe just emotionally from a family logistics standpoint, from
(11:26):
dealing with other family members. I mean, it couldn't have
been all sunshine and rainbows, not all.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
I mean, I was super positive. My wife would take
the three or three and a half hour drive, and
I had to be positive for my wife. I had
to be a leader to let her know that, listen,
everything's going to be okay at the end of the day.
And she she was obviously upset. You know, a lot
of the times, you know, that particular time here was
(11:53):
definitely uncertainty, but also it was a means to an end,
you know what I mean. I was sentenced for, you know,
eight months of prison time to pay my debt to society,
and once that was over, we can start to have
not a happy ending, but a happy beginning. And that's
kind of that was our mindset at the time. So
(12:13):
we really enjoyed our time whenever it was, wherever it was,
and we were grateful, we were grateful for each other
and that we were going to do whatever it took
to get out of, you know, that hole. That we
were in and eventually start a family, which we did.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
Yeah, I think we.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
Were from my perspective, just like he said, we were
so relieved that all that legal stuff was behind us
because he had started on that legal journey in twenty thirteen,
the year we got back together. It was that fall
that all of that started. So it took five years
to get a resolution from.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
That and a million dollars worth of legal fees. Yes,
so he was definitely a legal odyssey and it was
very emotionally dreaming for all of us.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
But yeah, we were so happy to get married and
so happy and ready to move forward in our personal
life and just start a family and work towards that
in our future. So that first year was definitely challenging,
but I think that it was it helped us really
continue to solidify our foundation.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Yeah, but we had gone through some tougher times than that,
which we were very we stay at faith and we're
very faithful couple. You know. I feel that you know,
everything that you go through God prepares you for. And
I had went through addiction a few years before that.
(13:48):
I'm now, you know, ten years, but at that particular time,
I was let's just say around the core case, I
was what three two or three?
Speaker 5 (13:55):
Well, by the time you went away, you were two
years I just also started.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Yeah, so addiction was just so much harder to get
through that. So once we got through that and we
started to face the court stuff together, you know, I'll
be honest with you, it was almost like a muscle,
you know what I mean. We we had built up
a foundation to continue to fight together.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah, that's remarkable. I mean what the two of you
went through from just dating and a very public situation,
addiction and then prison all just to get to your
first wedding anniversary. I feel like, what else could happen
that you couldn't handle at that point?
Speaker 3 (14:38):
One hundred percent. We consider ourselves a very battle tested
couple that has gone through the storm. And you know,
and and we have turned adversity into our own power,
you know. And we had used what was meant to
be against us or for your harm, you know, God
(14:59):
had you know, turned it for our good. I guess,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Propelled us.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah, that's that's remarkable. I love that. So do you
all have an age difference at all?
Speaker 4 (15:11):
He is about four years older than me.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yep, has that played a role at all in your relationship.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
I think maybe when we were very young, like when
I met him and I was nineteen and you were
twenty to twenty three. But I know, I think we're
pretty close in age, like given the adulthood of our life.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Yeah, my wife just turned forty the other day. It's
a big celebration for us. We booked a trip to
Sicily in a couple of months. Nice, it was nice. Yeah, yeah,
we're very excited.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Tell us now here. Why did you want to get married?
Why was it important to take that step at something
some couple's debate, Hey, everything's going fine. Why do we
need some document or a piece of paper? Why was
it important to be married for you all?
Speaker 3 (16:04):
For me, I just I always as a young man,
I always dreamed of being married and having my own family,
being raised as in the Italian tradition, family is very important.
So for me, I always wanted to get married and
have a family, have a big wedding, which we did.
We leveraged my employer, MTV, and we did our wedding
(16:25):
on TV, which was a massive, beautiful wedding. Even though
I was going through all those tough times with the
case and spending a million dollars on lawyers, I was
still able to strategically leverage my celebrity and my employer,
MTV to have this beautiful wedding. So yeah, no, I
(16:46):
don't know. I loved our wedding was beautiful, and I
do understand the question of a piece of paper.
Speaker 5 (16:52):
Yeah, yeah, both of us our values were always aligned
no matter what age we were, whether we were nineteen
or in our four We both came from large Italian
Catholic families raised in New Jersey, and he had he
was one of four siblings. I'm one of four siblings.
(17:12):
I had three girls, one boy. He had three boys,
one girl. Like the family dynamics, So there was just
like a lot of similarities there. And for me, it's
just that's always been my dream, you know, to find
my dream man and get married. And the timing was
just the right timing for us in our relationship, and
(17:33):
I couldn't wait to marry him. We had parted ways
younger when we were younger, and our relationship was something
that I always had looked back on that, you know,
I always felt like a piece.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
Of me was with him. Yeah, and I think it
was a mutual thing.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
But we had to like do our lives separately minute
and thank god we did, because if we stayed together
would not have worked.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
You know, there is that phrase, you know, he let
the bird out of the cage. If it's meant to be,
you know, comes back. If it's not then you know.
But when we were dating in college, we used to
drive by these homes in home though, and they were
just beautiful homes, and we would be like, you know what,
one day, you know, it'd be great to when we
were dating in college, it would be great to settle
(18:18):
down and have a family out here. And sure enough,
twenty years.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Later, just not on the timeline you probably thought it
would be. That's really cool though for people who have
certain expectations, it doesn't necessarily happen when you think it's
going to. But that's exactly really cool. Did your relationship,
(18:46):
especially given the ins and out of it, have the
support of your friends and your family?
Speaker 3 (18:52):
You know what. I'm sure that you know, early on
there were some skeptics, you know what I mean. I mean,
I'm going to this huge court case United States is
versus the situation. Uh, you know, they're trying to penalize
me for millions of dollars. I'm sure. And again I
don't know if this has happened, but I'm sure her
(19:12):
family was worried about that. You know, that's possibly could
be in there. But you know, many many years later,
it turned out to be a good decision.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
I think, if any, the majority of the skeptics were
always kind of the fan base maybe, or like the
outside people that were disconnected or removed from what's really happening.
I think that our family and our friends, the people
close to us always saw what we had as a connection,
including my family. Had there have ever been skeptics, no
(19:45):
one ever voiced that within our world.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
You know, that's cool and that's what counts. So it's
awesome that y'all were able to separate those two things,
because sometimes people get you know, you get sucked into
whatever the PubL like images or whatever, and that affects you.
But it's awesome that it didn't for you. Okay, So
the next question full disclosure. We ask everyone this answer
it however you'd like. How would you describe your sex life?
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Oh? Wow, I would say active active? Yeah, No, I'm
trying to be articulated.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
Nice, I would I would say healthy.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yes, good word. Yeah, that is.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
The safest answer possible. That's good. Yeah, that's a good one.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Yes. I mean, listen, we have three babies. We have
a three year old, a two year old, and a
one year old, and she does such an amazing job
sleep training the kids. The kids all go go to
bed usually six fifteen, six thirty and seven, so around
seven o'clock is mom and dad time. And we prioritize
(20:57):
that time for mom and dad, you know what, I mean,
to have our relationships and to put us our relationship first,
you know, and also throughout the week besides sex life,
we always try to implement like a date day or
date nights where mom and dad go to a restaurant
and we dress up, we take pictures, we posted and
and just you know, get more time together.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yeah, all right, next question here, besides sex, how important
is physical touch in your relationship and specifically something as
simple as walking down the street holding hands?
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Do you that's good? I think everyone has their own
love language. I definitely physical touch is is mind but
I think that's very very important. Also, there's other things
like acts of service and what's the ones we called
you like? She likes quality time I like the touch
(21:52):
and acts of service, so very mindful of those things. Also,
I think what's really important is that both couple get
both the man or the women or you know, the
two people in the relationship. They get on the path
of self improvement, self care, taking care of themselves, trying
(22:13):
to look good for your significant other, going to the gym, tanning.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Laundry, GTL amazing. I love that you just got that in.
It's still alive.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Yes, yes, yeah. My wife goes to blodies at least
three times a week and I usually go try to
go to the gym five times a week. And we're
trying to look good for each other, you know what
I mean. We're trying to you know, eat healthy, work out,
get good sleep, just being good humans. You know, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
So we'll ask about the flip side as well. How
often do you fight and is there something you fight
about most?
Speaker 3 (23:04):
We don't fight a lot. I feel like we're we're rare,
rare breed. We don't fight much. If I put it
on like a scale of like the whole year, it's
like we don't fight ninety five percent of the time,
so and a whole year, it's very small there's like
one here, one there. I'm trying to think what we
(23:25):
fight about the most. I don't even know some you know,
we don't have big fights, so it's more so it's
probably if you put down to it, it's probably comes
down to, you know, miscommunication sometimes probably, and then also
just humans have emotions, and those emotions can be tricky
(23:47):
sometimes and you don't know, you know, what type of
day your sweetheart is having, and you know, sometimes you
gotta get context.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
I think that any argument in our relationship has happened
is almost always a miscommunication where we're truly speaking different languages.
I mean, get our guard down and explain early, like
what meant by whatever you were saying. Yeah, And it
also only happens if, like we're really busy and we're.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
Not making time for us.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
I always recognized that, So it's always a sign that
we need to slow down whatever we're doing and get
back into our routine for us.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Oh lord, lord, I am dying inside because this happened
to us today. You describe the exact thing we did.
We were caught up busy in the midst of doing
something else. We're trying to communicate. She finally said, TJ.
We're talking about two different things. Like literally we're talking
about like just pump the brakes for a second. That
(24:48):
is hilarious. All right, So when was the last time
next question here, either of you remembered you had to
say I'm sorry to the other.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
You know, I think it's important to say anytime. If
if you said to me, give me some advice to
any couple, I would say to be the first to
apologize in a fight, you know what I mean, At
the end of the day, it's really not that, it's
not really that worth it, you know. So I think
I think we both take turns, you know, because we
practice what we preach in our family, and we both
(25:21):
take turns, Like she's gonna say I'm sorry, and then
I'm gonna say, you know, I'm sorry. You know what
I'm saying. It's really not that big of a deal.
You always revert back to, you know, we have this
really special love and we have such history together, and
it's really not that big of a deal. So you
just got to take a step back, take a take
a breathe, and realize, like what's happening. A lot of times,
(25:44):
like she just said, you're speaking different languages and it's okay.
Sometimes you know it's.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Okay, Lauren, you remember a time that you had to
say I'm sorry or a recent time, well, the last
time you had to say I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
I think I often say I'm sorry.
Speaker 5 (25:57):
I'm a mom of three small beats, so I'm often overstimulated, overwhelmed,
you know, a lot of just crying with the babies
all the time. So oftentimes, like I'll be like, you
know what, I'm sorry. I was distracted with them or
in the moment with them, I couldn't give attention to
what we were talking about, what you were asking me.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
So I feel like.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
I'm often doing that, and I'm I'm happy to do
that because I'm also raising these children and I want
them to see open lines of communication where you know,
if you don't react the way that you planned or
intended to, it's like you need to go back and
repair that relationship.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
You don't just blaze over it.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Not as good advice, that's amazing good advice. You know
how when we look back, I think the way we
were raised, you know, it's parents had to be strong, right,
they're authoritarian, and apology or saying you were sorry was
weak or somehow seating that authority. But it's so interesting
when you actually have a parent apologizing. It teaches you
(26:58):
that it's okay to apologize. It isn't weak, it's actually
really strong to do that. I love that.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Yeah, we're definitely big on accountability in this family. You know,
if you're mad, if you're I guess wrong in some way,
it's not a big deal. You know, we're human, you know,
we're imperfect human, So it's okay to be like, hey,
I made a mistake, I'm sorry, I was tired, I
was angry. You know, my emotions got the best of me.
Let's talk this out, you.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Know, all right, all right, next question here. People feel
strongly about this one way or another. But do you
all go to bed angry?
Speaker 1 (27:34):
No?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
No, no, no, I would say rarely. I would say,
I don't like I do ninety seven percentile.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
No, yeah, but you make it a point to not
go to bed angry.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Yes, yes, yes, yes I.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Do.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Percentiles because as a family and a couple, is very
rare that we fight, and if we do, that's why
I put the percentile on there, because it's like up
in the ninety something percentiles, that's awesome, But it does happen.
You know, it does happen.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Every now and then. Rare real off period isn't a
bad thing. What do you each love most about the other?
Whoever wants to go first.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
I love how my wife is. She is strong, she's assertive,
she's beautiful, and she's the rock to this family. She
straightened me out. I mean god, I mean she's the
one that straightened the situation out. She saved my life.
So I'm I'm forever grateful that I have this beautiful
(28:39):
woman by my side.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
I would say.
Speaker 5 (28:44):
Mike's strength, his resilience to overcome anything and everything, which
I've always seen inside of him and it just took
him a little bit longer to find it on his own.
But really just how he's our sturdy leader of our family.
I never, under any circumstances that we've gone through in
the past or that we will go through in the future.
(29:07):
I never worry about where we're going because he's our captain,
Like I always know that he is going to protect
us and he's going to make sure that we're solid
in any environment.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
I love this all right. Next question, here's a practical
one that every couple deals with how do you all
handle finances? Is all shared account family or are their
separate accounts?
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Oh? Wow, Well that's because I had some issues with
finances early on in my career. I let my wife
handle everything. Okay, there is total there is total trust
there with my wife. Everything is you know, fifty to fifty.
(29:50):
And another fun fact was I haven't stepped in a
bank in eleven years. I've not stepped in a bank
because when I was going through my case, one of
the key uh, I guess what was it? The witnesses.
(30:11):
Uh was one of the only one. Yeah, one of
the only witnesses they had against me was they said,
I came into the bank with a big bag of money,
and anything that's over ten thousand dollars you got to
fill out a form. Now I got nervous because I
didn't know, and I think you were very high and
I probably was also very high, and I was nervous.
I said, give me back my money and here's nine
(30:32):
nine hundred. I'll come back at another time, and they
use that against me. So I don't step put in
the bank now.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Yeah, wow, I mean that's a pretty good reason. That's yeah,
So I get it.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Yeah, I don't. My wife handles all the finances. There's
total trust there. Everything is fifty to fifty and that's it.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Yeah, that's awesome. Okay, how about household chores, Like we're
talking who cooks, who cleans, who does the laundry?
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Oh? Good, good question. I think that is cooking? Is
my wife? Cleaning is like fifty to fifty because once
I come home from work at five o'clock, from five
to seven, I clean and I help put the kids
to bed. Yeah so uh. And then seasonal duties and
(31:22):
things like that around the house the man does. So
I handle everything from you know, sprinklers to opening the
pool to the lawn, any additions to the home like
they put they put up a fence recently, Just making
sure that I handle all those duties. And she pretty
much handles the kids, the caretaking, the food, grocery shopping.
(31:49):
And then I come in almost like a picture at
the end of the game, to help. I'm the closer. Yeah,
and she my wife's like been with the kids all
day and she's tired. I'm in a five and I'm
the closure and I clean up and I put the
help put the kids to bed, and then clean the house.
(32:10):
To make sure it's ready for the next day.
Speaker 5 (32:12):
It's very collaborative and I'm very grateful because it took
you know, we have starting your family and growing.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
You have to find your groove.
Speaker 5 (32:20):
So we're definitely in a very good routine now where
we both do our share because it's a lot maintaining
the household of five.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Yeap, Yes, the one thing you didn't mention. We're just
curious about is laundry.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Laundry, Oh, laundry. She does the kid's laundry, the kids laundry.
She does the kid's laundry, and I get ours, uh
taking out to make it easier on my life, and
I take that out so so to make it easier
for mom. She handles the kids laundry, which is you
(32:56):
know is doable. But then I get my laundry in
her law and dry cleaning. I handled that and I
take it to wash and fold and I do thry clean.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
We're laughing because this has been the stickler.
Speaker 6 (33:09):
It's hilarious, Like this is the question were compatible of
all couples that all of them have started to like
turn on each other when it came to talking about laundry.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
But Mike, I think you figured it out.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
Yes, I'm telling you that is a very big it's amazing, amazing.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
We started to do it because we had so many
babies so quickly. We have babies back to back to back.
So as not a present, but I wanted to take
certain a load off of my wife to make it
easier for her. And the laundry definitely piles up. So
I'm like, okay, fine, so we wash and fold and
I get ours dry cleaned, and be honest with Jude,
(33:51):
has been like my secret weapon.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
It is it is that is really really cool. Again,
I mentioned tease at the top, but this is the
one thing, laundry that has been the most interesting answer
we get from everybody. All right, next question here, how
much time do you all find you need, if any
apart just a little time, a little break from each
other over time.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
It's over a period of time of of of a year,
it's ninety eight percent. Probably we're never really apart. I mean,
I work a lot, but i'm away, but when I'm home. Yeah,
there's it's really not like that.
Speaker 5 (34:28):
Yeah, we're one of those couples, which it doesn't work
for everybody, but we are each other's best friend first
and I think that's why we love spending that much
time together, because while we can be intimate and passionate
and have that part of our relationship, we also are
truly interested in like our everything, like everything about each other.
(34:50):
We're just kind of about each other's best friend. And
I really don't like time apart, like we miss each
other quickly.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
But also it's important to note to note that, you know,
my wife, she goes to her pilates classes, she gets
her nails done, her hair done, you know, throughout the day,
and I'm pretty much, you know, also doing some of
those things as well. And then we come back to home,
you know, with our kids and our family, and I
don't know why we would be a part at that point,
(35:18):
but you know, some.
Speaker 4 (35:19):
People do in space, but we are with each other
a lot, like Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
I mean, listen, if I want to watch a movie
in the living room and she's in the family room,
I don't count that, you know.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
Yeah, all right.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
Have you guys ever gone to couples therapy?
Speaker 5 (35:44):
No, actually, couples each done therapy like individually, but not couples.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Yeah. I've done various forms of therapy over the years,
but not couples.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
You know, well, all right, next question here, have you
ever threatened to break up, leave, or even get divorced
in the middle of a heated argument.
Speaker 5 (36:06):
Oh no, that's good, that's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
I love. That is amazing. You know.
Speaker 3 (36:13):
That's like on the in the book of What You're Not.
You just can't go there. You just cannot ever go there.
And if you think you're going to go there, go
take a shower, go take a walk. If you say
something that you don't mean, sometimes some of those hurtful
(36:33):
words can come back to haunt you.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Yeah, successful couple seem to know the answer to that
question immediately.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Really really interesting. We'll switch it up and ask each
of you what's the sweetest thing the other has done
for you?
Speaker 3 (36:49):
Well, my wife, I mean listen, she used to drive
three and a half hour to spem in prison. Okay,
so that's one way. So we're talking seven hours to
see me in prison on a weekly basis. I mean,
just her taking a chance on me was probably the
(37:10):
sweetest thing that anyone can do, you know what I mean.
I was going through so much trouble, and I was
going through addiction and again this woman saved my life.
So you know, she's my true love, you know, so
she has my heart. So I think I listen, I
can't think of anything sweeter than that. I mean, you
(37:31):
used to drive three and a half hours each each way.
It's seven hours. That's crazy. Yeah, yeah, to visit your
felon of of a husband in for instance.
Speaker 5 (37:46):
So I think that for me it changed. It has
changed over the years because so much has changed with us.
But I used to always like to reminisce on our
engagement because it was on Valentine's Day and it was
during a very chaotic period of our life, and he
just made sure to make all of my dreams come true.
(38:08):
And he made note of all of these little things
that I had said over the time that we were
back together in those five years, and all the things
that I envisioned, and including down to our wedding, like
really making sure all of those things happened, and amidst
all the legal stuff and like the recovery stuff and
everything else that was already on his shoulders. For him
(38:29):
to make sure that these little things were made to
happen to make my dreams come true was very sweet.
And I think that he's kind of carried that over
into when we have our kids.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
Yeah, I mean I do that on a daily basis.
Speaker 4 (38:42):
I just, yeah, just cute little thing.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
I text my wife every day at eleven eleven the
heart eleven and then eleven, and then I love you
every day at eleven eleven.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
That's really sweet.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Way because I'm like, I don't know if that's superstitious
or what, but eleven eleven, and if it's eleven twelve,
but it don't count, it's got to be eleven.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Eleven any time zone, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
I yeah, I listen. I catch her usually eleven eleven.
I never thought about it if I was in Cali
and she was in But for the most part, it's
been working.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
You know.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
I do the eleven, then eleven, then another heart and
then I love you and I all try to make
it fit before it turns eleven twelve.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
Really cute.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
We had a good story going, are you.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Some times I was thinking, I went to like a
place like what happens when you travel and you.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Are and now I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have
to accommodate that. When I am in l A, I
have to be like, okay, eleven eleven is.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Eight eleven is what eight eight eleven?
Speaker 3 (39:56):
Yeah, eight eleven.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Yeah, that's and above.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
And beyond another time zone. You're like, all right, you're
doing calculations in your brain. All right, it's eight eleven.
Now I got a minute to get in.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
All right, last few week got for you here. I
don't want to use the word warn, but if it applies,
let it. But what would you warn or make sure
you told another couple to consider before marriage?
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (40:26):
Wow, I'll start it. I would say your values on
raising children.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
Yeah, yeah, you're so right.
Speaker 5 (40:37):
You're so right children Because some people, I think you
might not always have that conversation and get married, and
then one person might think you know kids and no
kids or whatever.
Speaker 4 (40:49):
You know.
Speaker 5 (40:50):
So I think, though, I think it's always important to
have a conversation about family and values.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
Yeah, what was the question? Sure?
Speaker 1 (41:00):
What would you what would you tell a couple who
was considering marriage, What would you warn them about or
ask them to consider before actually getting married?
Speaker 3 (41:11):
I think, I mean, I think I do this a lot.
I always say, like, communication is key, be the first
one to apologize. And I also say, have the couple
get on the path of self improvement, whether mentally, physically, spiritually,
personally or professionally. You just have their own goals and
(41:31):
then they come together together usual I say that, yep.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
I love that. So everyone always focuses on, oh, you're
in the honeymoon phase. How long did your honeymoon phase last?
And what would you just describe the phase you're in now? Oh?
Speaker 3 (41:47):
Wow? You know what I'm going to say that that
I don't really put us in like a box, you
know what I mean? As in, you just described like
a hunt emon phase. I mean, you know, so I
wouldn't even like put us in a in a box
(42:07):
right there, as as it relates to who's to say
we're not always in the honeymoon phase? You know what
I'm saying? You just don't. I don't know, you know.
I mean, I'm we're always happy, and I feel like
we've been through so much that we are so grateful
for each other that like again, we are just so
happy that we have each other, our beautiful kids, the
(42:30):
life that we worked so hard for. So every single
day we are making positive decisions to build upon that
two for for us and our children. So it's almost like.
Speaker 5 (42:44):
Like a solid box, Like it's like the honeymoon phase
turns into the solid box and it's both together.
Speaker 4 (42:50):
It's almost like it should be like the old I feel.
Speaker 3 (42:53):
I feel like it's almost like we're working on our
happily every after type of box. What I mean, like
every single day we're bold, like I'm devoted to my
wife and my children, and every decision I make is
for the betterment of us and our family. And the
same applies to my wife in every area of life.
(43:15):
So you know, and there's so many areas of life
you know that you can and there's mentally, physically, spiritually, personally,
professionally negativity we kick aside. So I think the box
that we're working on is the happily ever after box.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
You're in your happily ever after face. That's really cool. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (43:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
The last one here is obvious. It's to be expected.
It's a little cliche, but it has to be asked
because anytime you come across a successful couple, everybody that's
in a relationship ask the couple this question, what's the key?
What's the secret to relationship success? So if somebody came up, yes,
(43:55):
you all don't have twenty thirty, forty fifty years of
a marriage, but you got an if that you all
could steal, what would you tell somebody who adds, hey man,
what is the key the secret marriage success?
Speaker 4 (44:07):
I would say you have to remember mindful.
Speaker 5 (44:10):
You have to be mindful, yes, but I think you
have to always remember that you're on the same team,
and that there's no stronger person rooting for you in
life and in your relationship than the person next to you.
Speaker 3 (44:27):
I think the most important two things I'm going to
try to simplify it is being grateful. Being grateful attracts
more abundance, and being mindful. You know, you could throw
being loving in there as well, but those three.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
Yeah, it's so good, and we are writing everyone's advice
down because it's so true and you all have lived it.
You have walked the walk. You're not just talking to talk,
so we really appreciate it. Thank you. It takes a
lot to be open and vulnerable about all the intimate
detail tells about your day to day life, the things
(45:01):
that people don't necessarily see on cameras. So thank you
both for sharing that with us. We really appreciate it.
We love getting to know you better.
Speaker 3 (45:10):
Yeah, I think I think that everything in life takes work,
you know, and and relationships do as well. Successful relationships
take work, but I think a good phrase is the
grass is only green or wherever you water it, and
that lies.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Really. Thank you all so much, Mike Lauren. We will
see you all plenty down a row and congrats on everything,
all right, yes, thank you guys.
Speaker 3 (45:36):
Have a great day.
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Amy Robach
T.J. Holmes
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